Arriving later this year from developer Critical Games, 8-Bit Adventures 2 [Official Site] will bring a vast and varied world inspired by classics with modern touches.
The story sounds quite interesting:
The antagonist takes the form of a video game ‘glitch’. Faced with erasure, the Glitch lashes out, distorting the world and threatening its people. It’s up to the player’s party of 7 distinct characters (3 returning, 4 brand new) to undo these distortions and defeat the Glitch. But to do so, they’ll have to brave dozens of dungeons, defeat deadly enemies, and even travel to other worlds!
The developer told me they can't promise a Linux version on release day, but if they don't manage to do so, it will be their very next priority. With that in mind, take a look at the trailer:
Direct Link
Features:
- Beautiful, Vibrant 8-Bit graphics that bring the world to life!
- Unforgettable NES-like Music with retro charm!
- Classic RPG Gameplay enhanced by Modern Design (say goodbye to grinding!)
- All New Battle System with 7 Unique Playable Characters!
- An Engaging, Character-focused Story with Great Pacing & Meaningful Moments!
- Explore Two Very Different Worlds - In the Computer World, Anything Goes!
- A Villain with a Twist - the Glitch!
- Discover Captivating Characters, and People with Personality!
- Save Anywhere - Play for as long as you want, whenever you want to!
Keeping up with the retro style, I love how their original press release can be viewed online in a format that looks like an old game manual, super cool.
It has a Steam page you can follow too.
This looks fun too, but more 16bit than 8.
Quoting: slaapliedjeI am still waiting for the Adventure II to be released for the actual Atari 8-bit computers. It looks amazing. I have been thinking recently of getting an Atari 5200 just to play it.They're clearly going more for the 8-bit NES / Sega Master System style than anything western. Looks (and sounds) much closer to that target than what stuff looked like on Super Nintendo, Megadrive or the Amiga. But I gather you might have been in the Atari ST camp in the 16-bit era. :)
This looks fun too, but more 16bit than 8.
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: slaapliedjeI am still waiting for the Adventure II to be released for the actual Atari 8-bit computers. It looks amazing. I have been thinking recently of getting an Atari 5200 just to play it.They're clearly going more for the 8-bit NES / Sega Master System style than anything western. Looks (and sounds) much closer to that target than what stuff looked like on Super Nintendo, Megadrive or the Amiga. But I gather you might have been in the Atari ST camp in the 16-bit era. :)
This looks fun too, but more 16bit than 8.
tuubi hit the nail on the head; we're definitely talking Japanese hardware rather than western. Thanks for taking the time to clarify things for everyone! Just to say, our artist has spent the last 3 years trying to evolve the standard 8-bit graphical style, while maintaining several of its key limitations – much like Shovel Knight. For example, while we use the NES colour palette, we aren’t limited by its hardware, and so can display as many colours on a single screen as we want. There was a great Gamasutra article on the subject by one of the Shovel Knight devs if anyone's interested in learning more about a similar approach, but it's definitely more about the spirit than the technical for us (even though we do spend a lot of time trying to get certain aspects of the technical right).
Quoting: GuestLooks like another one to pick up when it's out ^.^
Thank you very much! =D The plan is to release before the end of 2018, so you shouldn't have too long to wait (even if the Linux version does end up taking a little bit longer due to testing). If you use Steam and want to get an alert when the game is released, I recommend adding it to your wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/733110/8Bit_Adventures_2/
Quoting: 14Would be great for anyone who picked up one of those pocket Linux computers.
I don't know much about those sorry (devices like the Gemini, right?), but so long as the specs are up to par, then I think that sounds like a great idea!
Quoting: CriticalGamesAUHi everyone, developer of 8-Bit Adventures 2 here - thanks for the comments! =DThanks for chiming in!
Quoting: 14Would be great for anyone who picked up one of those pocket Linux computers.
I don't know much about those sorry (devices like the Gemini, right?), but so long as the specs are up to par, then I think that sounds like a great idea!
This is the one I was picturing:
Pyra
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/the-handheld-linux-computer-pyra-is-available-for-pre-order.7285
Since then, there have been a couple others mentioned:
GPD Win 2
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/the-gpd-win-2-could-be-an-interesting-device-for-linux-gaming-on-the-go.11048
SMACH Z
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/you-can-now-pre-order-the-smach-z-gaming-handheld.11670
I'd definitely play pixel games if I got a handheld device with built in controller buttons that ran on Linux. There would be more low-resources games on Linux that would interest me than what's available on my 3DS.
Quoting: CriticalGamesAUHi everyone, developer of 8-Bit Adventures 2 here - thanks for the comments! =D
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: slaapliedjeI am still waiting for the Adventure II to be released for the actual Atari 8-bit computers. It looks amazing. I have been thinking recently of getting an Atari 5200 just to play it.They're clearly going more for the 8-bit NES / Sega Master System style than anything western. Looks (and sounds) much closer to that target than what stuff looked like on Super Nintendo, Megadrive or the Amiga. But I gather you might have been in the Atari ST camp in the 16-bit era. :)
This looks fun too, but more 16bit than 8.
tuubi hit the nail on the head; we're definitely talking Japanese hardware rather than western. Thanks for taking the time to clarify things for everyone! Just to say, our artist has spent the last 3 years trying to evolve the standard 8-bit graphical style, while maintaining several of its key limitations – much like Shovel Knight. For example, while we use the NES colour palette, we aren’t limited by its hardware, and so can display as many colours on a single screen as we want. There was a great Gamasutra article on the subject by one of the Shovel Knight devs if anyone's interested in learning more about a similar approach, but it's definitely more about the spirit than the technical for us (even though we do spend a lot of time trying to get certain aspects of the technical right).
Quoting: GuestLooks like another one to pick up when it's out ^.^
Thank you very much! =D The plan is to release before the end of 2018, so you shouldn't have too long to wait (even if the Linux version does end up taking a little bit longer due to testing). If you use Steam and want to get an alert when the game is released, I recommend adding it to your wishlist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/733110/8Bit_Adventures_2/
Quoting: 14Would be great for anyone who picked up one of those pocket Linux computers.
I don't know much about those sorry (devices like the Gemini, right?), but so long as the specs are up to par, then I think that sounds like a great idea!
Okay, I looked at the actual video some more and it looks more SMS than NES. It is really the Pallette that I was commenting on. No way the 8bits could display thelat many colors at once. Love the dig at the Atari ST... but to be fair I now own many Atari computers and one Amiga 4000. But it is with a 68060 and Radeon graphics.. also, I have an Atari 130XE that is probably pretty close to a stock A1200!
Quoting: CriticalGamesAUHi everyone, developer of 8-Bit Adventures 2 here - thanks for the comments! =DGood luck with the release, and keep us posted! I failed to mention this in my previous comment, but I really like what I see.
Quoting: slaapliedjeLove the dig at the Atari ST...Sorry, couldn't resist even if it made no sense. :P I actually had a foot in both camps and never took part in that particular war.
Quoting: 14Thanks for chiming in!
This is the one I was picturing:
Pyra
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/the-handheld-linux-computer-pyra-is-available-for-pre-order.7285
Since then, there have been a couple others mentioned:
GPD Win 2
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/the-gpd-win-2-could-be-an-interesting-device-for-linux-gaming-on-the-go.11048
SMACH Z
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/you-can-now-pre-order-the-smach-z-gaming-handheld.11670
I'd definitely play pixel games if I got a handheld device with built in controller buttons that ran on Linux. There would be more low-resources games on Linux that would interest me than what's available on my 3DS.
Impressive stuff! Yeah, I agree, that could be a really great Linux gaming device. If you end up picking up the game, you'll have to let me know how it goes. But at a glance, I think that'd totally work =D
Quoting: slaapliedjeOkay, I looked at the actual video some more and it looks more SMS than NES. It is really the Pallette that I was commenting on. No way the 8bits could display thelat many colors at once.
Oh, you're right - the NES and Master System definitely couldn't display as many colours as we do at once (although there were certainly some skilled developers that got close). But 8-Bit Adventures 2 does specifically uses the NES colour palette, not the SMS palette. As I said before, I'd recommend reading this article by one of the Shovel Knight devs to get the idea of a similar approach - if you're interested =) https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DavidDAngelo/20140625/219383/Breaking_the_NES_for_Shovel_Knight.php
Quoting: tuubiGood luck with the release, and keep us posted! I failed to mention this in my previous comment, but I really like what I see.
Thank you very much tuubi! I'm really glad to hear you like the look of the game =D I'll definitely keep you guys posted as we approach release - via Liam, of course haha.
Any chance for the first 8-Bit Adventures to be ported?
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: CriticalGamesAUHi everyone, developer of 8-Bit Adventures 2 here - thanks for the comments! =DGood luck with the release, and keep us posted! I failed to mention this in my previous comment, but I really like what I see.
Quoting: slaapliedjeLove the dig at the Atari ST...Sorry, couldn't resist even if it made no sense. :P I actually had a foot in both camps and never took part in that particular war.
And I wasn't particularly picking on this game, it's just I've seen a lot of games that say '8-bit' to be retro, but there is no way they could actually be made to run on the real hardware.
8-Bit Invaders is a perfect example of this. In fact there is absolutely nothing 8-bit about it. It's not even really retro.
This game looks much like Phantasy Star! So I'm interested for sure.
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