As you may have noticed, Intrepid Izzy was released last month on Steam! And there was much rejoicing! Before the release, Steam keys were sent via email to everyone who backed the Steam version. We're very happy about finally releasing our game, and we're even more happy that you - the backers and players of the game - are happy: every Steam reviewer and every curator Recommended it!  And here are some of the nice things that were said in Steam reviews: Intrepid Izzy is a great game that has the old school charm with new age design, graphics, and personality - sega1dream A must for classic gamers - CtrlAltPete We've also received love from reviewers outside of steam: It's not often that I get so excited about a game that I actually go out of the way to unlock all of the achievements, but "Intrepid Izzy" from Senile Team did it! Great game, absolute recommendation for every platformer fan! - YesterPlay One hell of a lot of fun - Robo Space Kitty Arcade Games People have also been sharing their high scores of the arcade games within Intrepid Izzy. Can you beat them?  scored by YUKIxMAMI  Scored by YUKIxMAMI (again)  YesterPlay Plerging as hard as possible Bug reports Most feedback has been very positive, but we've also received some reports of bugs and places where you could get stuck if you had the wrong outfit on. Naturally we have responded appropriately and patched these bugs and stucks (is that a word?) quicker than you can say "rhombicuboctahedron". Special thanks to Kwok and Davey for reporting them! Next up: the Dreamcast version Like the unstoppable madman he is, Roel has already made great progress with the Sega Dreamcast version of Intrepid Izzy in the past few weeks. Although the game remains basically identical, some things need to be amended and optimized for this system. For example, the dialogues must be relatively larger in order to remain legible on CRT TVs. And of course the DC's unique VMU system also requires some special attention. But all in all the Dreamcast version is working pretty good already.  Here's a recent picture of the Dreamcast version on a CRT TV in letterboxed widescreen mode. The coloured bars at the bottom are for debugging: red is the amount of video RAM used to render the current frame, blue is the system RAM currently in use and yellow is the peak system RAM usage. As long as none of these get too close to the right side of the screen, it should be fine. Please understand that the final version for Dreamcast will still take some time to finish, and afterwards the discs still have to be manufactured. So it will be a while before the Dreamcast game is in your hands, but we're doing everything we can to make it happen as soon as possible! |
Big news, dear readers! We have created and uploaded all the necessary assets for Intrepid Izzy's Steam store page, and submitted it for review. And it passed today! If you have a Steam account, don't forget to add Intrepid Izzy to your wish list. For the store page, we also created the following gameplay trailer. Our next step will be the game's imminent release on Steam. This is still easier said than done, but we are hard at work to make it happen as soon as possible. In other big news... This month I, Roel, am writing the update because your usual herald of development progress, Jeroen, has his hands full with his brand new son. That's right, he is a father now! So congratulations to him and his wife! Smaller news bits Besides the aforementioned, there have been dozens of improvements, most notably improved controls.
Other improvements include:
You can help, too! Please share the Steam link with friends, enemies, and anyone who could be interested in a great platform-beat-'em-up-vania! https://store.steampowered.com/app/908560/Intrepid_Izzy/ Thank you! |
Improvements of the month As stated in our previous update, our primary focus has shifted from general development to releasing the game on Steam (with other platforms to follow). Nevertheless there were still numerous improvements made that will benefit all versions.
  Steam version coming soon The PC / Steam version is coming along nicely. We expect to have a game page for Intrepid Izzy on Steam soon, allowing users to put Intrepid Izzy on their wish list. The actual release of Intrepid Izzy should follow soon after that. These are most exciting times!  |
Hello again! Nice to virtually see you here  This month we made a number of improvements to our favourite Intrepid Izzy again, which are shown below in a handy list.
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First of all we hope that everybody is feeling well and is not already too bored during these strange times. We too are currently in the same situation as the rest of the world: working from home and wondering what to do with all that toilet paper.  This month's improvements!
Dreamcast news As you may know, throughout the game Izzy can speak to some very interesting people. Some helpful, some less so. Either way, all these conversations are coded into the game according to a dialogue tree. This tree has been growing steadily, so we got our axe out and chopped it up into smaller logs per level*. This enabled us to free up about 1 to 1.5 MB of RAM. An insignificant amount for modern systems, but for the Dreamcast with its mere 16 MB RAM, it's a big chunk. So freeing up this memory is very relevant and will help Intrepid Izzy run smoothly on the Sega Dreamcast as well as modern systems. And to celebrate this smoothness, please enjoy some Dreamcast screenshots below!     * A dialogue tree is not actually made of wood. |
We managed to make some more improvements to Intrepid Izzy this February, and you can read about it in this easy-to-read list:
  To do list "Alright", you say. "Nice that you're making all sorts of improvements, but where does it end?" Good question! Actually, we have a to-do list of thing we still want to improve before we release Intrepid Izzy into the wild.
Of course, we are presently hard at work to implement these improvements.  |
The year has hardly started, and we've already been hard at work. Roel added additional animations and graphics to several bosses: Yzzi, the Minotaur, and also a boss you haven't seen before.  Roel also smoothed the transition from the Haunted Forest level to the level we've been keeping secret from you. So there will be a bit of story and totally logical logic happening between these levels! We're very excited to get your reaction to the level once the game is released  Release Candidate In the previous update we informed you that this month we would test "release candidate 1". And if we were totally happy with the game, that we would release it. Since we're trying to make the best game we can, we were very critical of ourselves and saw some things we wanted to tweak before release. And so we will. This means that in February we will evaluate again if we're satisfied with the updated "release candidate 2". And if we're happy, it means that you will soon also be happy, because then we can proceed to release Intrepid Izzy!! |
End of the Year It's the end of 2019 and lots of content has been made, bugs have been squashed, and gameplay was perfected. Unfortunately, we're sad to say that we didn't manage to finish development and release Intrepid Izzy this year as we had hoped. However, we are approaching the finish line. It's so close we can almost smell it. So let's go check out that status update! Costumes Costumes have been completed for some time, but sometimes creative people get that creative itch, and they just can't help themselves. In short: another costume has been made. Izzy was already wearing a miner's helmet in the mine cart level, but now she can don the entire outfit! So costumes are now super completed.  It's an apt costume for this new year's eve update, too, as this costume comes with fireworks! Programming Programming is practically finished. Everything works and the big list of bugs is now greatly reduced. Just some finishing touches and we're done! Finishing touches such as achievements/trophies/goals. Whatever you call them, they're a fun little extra in games and we believe there should be a nice mix of easy and harder trophies. And most importantly, they should have silly names - but you will find out what we came up with in due time. Enemies We have enemies by the bucketloads! I'm going to call this one finished. Bosses As you've seen in recent updates, we have been hard at work on the boss fights. We are still perfecting them, and depending on how that goes, may decide to add one or two more.  Levels The levels are pretty much done, but we're still tying some things together to improve the overall progression, and creating a grand entrance to the final boss. And of course the gradual tweaking, improving and expanding of the levels will continue bit by bit until the very last moment - all to make the game the best we can. Completion: 99% Music Almost finished! We just need to create an ending with some appropriate ending music to end all ending. Release So what about the release date you ask? Well, we're not yet in a position to have an actual date. But we can tell you what the plan is. We expect to complete "release candidate 1" as soon as January. This basically means the first complete version of the game, which is to be thoroughly tested to evaluate if it is ready for release. Depending on the test results, we may proceed with release, or create revised versions RC2, RC3 as needed. First, we want to release the PC version, since no certifications or CD pressing is needed. This version will also be easiest to patch and update in case the need should arise. It will be released as soon as possible after a release candidate has passed our quality control. The second step is to create the console versions based on the latest updated version. During this step Roel will have to put the finishing touches on the PS4 and Dreamcast versions. Naturally this will require some work on specific programming and graphical requirements, but also age rating, Sony certification, CD pressing for the Dreamcast, packaging, and all the little details that will pop up during development. To estimate a timing for the console versions is even more tricky than for the PC version because we also depend on a lot of external factors. However, it will be as soon as possible and in 2020. |
As you know a working Arcade exists in Awesometown where Izzy can spend her hard earned coins. I mean, why spend it on life saving health restoring items when you can play some retro video games? This month a new retro game has been added: 3D wheel. This brings the total to three playable arcade games!  And there's more
 Music Our very own Senile Team composer Ben Kurotoshiro has been hard at work creating new music for Intrepid Izzy. We're happy to share a track with you called "Eoleon". Please enjoy the music and of course the clips of the game in action! |
We've been working on several bosses this month! First off, you may remember him from such movies as the original Intrepid Izzy Campaign video, The Minotaur. Some nifty attack patterns were created to challenge your reflexes. And challenged you shall be!  And totally in the spirit of Halloween (which you may or may not celebrate, but hey, ghosts and candy are involved so that sounds like fun) the spooky arch nemesis of Izzy herself: Yzzi. Scary, gothy, and certainly deadly. What a woman!  Another boss? Possibly! Because what do you think the chances are that Boaty McB. will arrive at its destination unhindered and unscathed?  Other terrifying facts Let's take a moment to appreciate some frightening statistics.
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