Hello! You can read the monthly development update here! It focuses mostly on multiplayer for the game, as well as some stuff related to other projects in development.

[ 2024-02-15 01:32:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! You can read the monthly development update here! It focuses mostly on art and the file system for the game.

[ 2023-11-27 05:01:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! Here's a monthly development log for the game. You can also find more info on other news for unrelated projects at this link here! Below is just info specific to Garenburg Penitence!

Remaining Progress

I'll actually just be blunt and say the game is almost done, but still a bit away from releasing. What's left to add, you may wonder?

• The final level and a bonus level as a tribute to Irisu Syndrome
• Finishing writing the files you can read
• Level editor improvements
• Bug fixes, testing, and quality of life improvements

Yeah, that's pretty much it! We're really close to release now! The biggest focus is finishing up writing all the database files as that is what makes up the main plot, and that's just been a headache because it's a lot to write and I've had to do a few rewrites and revisions over the three years the game has been in development. I'm really happy that it's getting this far, so it shouldn't be much longer. I am hoping for an early 2024 release. But for now, I'll have some mention of the quality of life I'm trying to add.

Colorblind & Accessibility

I think it's fair to say that a game focusing on matching colored spheres isn't going to be the most colorblind friendly, and I do also know that a lot of games of the genre don't have much in the way of options for this. So, I'd like to make sure that this is something that can be a little better here, though I realize it may still be tricky due to the nature of the game. It doesn't hurt to try and add support for things!
Currently, there is support for complete customization of sphere colors! You can change them to whatever you like unless they're all the same hue or pitch black (as pitch black spheres are used with the powerup in Wave Mode).

And boom! It's as simple as that! It's really helpful for myself too when I'm working at night since I use a blue light filter. I intend to also add some default options for colorblind presets using high-contrast colors, and I also intend to add the option to have a less-detailed shooter that is easier to tell on its color, symbols on spheres for matching, a bar at the top letting you know what color is selected, and a few other things that may be useful. It shouldn't take too long to add these, and it's definitely worth it just to make it a little more accessible. The biggest challenge is going to be just determining how to handle GREEN Mode levels (which are I imagine it would absolutely going to suck for people with colorblindness for green), so I'll likely have some way to have those levels be skipped or have an alternative challenge in place of them during the Story Mode. I'll continue working at this and see how it goes!

[ 2023-10-20 02:40:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! This is a small and short little announcement, but there is now a free spinoff of Garenburg available. It's really short (around 20-30 minutes of gameplay) and was made in a little under 2 weeks, so if you'd like to give it a try, it's there! It was actually released a little bit ago, but I neglected to mention it here. You can find the download for the game, Charmolypi: Ordinary Sunrises, on Itch.io available here. As for other projects, development of Garenburg Penitence has been going well and a new trailer of it should release soon as the game finishes up all the main content and moves into playtesting and polishing before finally launching. And as for Pink Eyes, it'll still be a bit before some more information for it unfortunately as it is on the backburner, but it's not forgotten. It's just not time for that yet, as Garenburg Penitence takes priority. That's all for now, thank you for your time! - Mireille

[ 2023-06-29 05:45:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

We'll be streaming the demo for the game, with each game mode, each level (including the Garenburg Woods bonus level!) and a demonstration of using the custom level editor to make more levels. Feel free to stop by and ask any questions as needed!

[ 2022-06-19 22:08:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Do you want a chance to get your level into the game at release? Then here is your chance! Entry submissions will last from today until Jun 30, 2022. After this, no new levels will be able to be submitted. There may be additional contests in the future, but they would be only after the game launches onto Steam. Up to three winners will be chosen to have their level in the game. The levels will be featured in a bonus levels section, and each level will have a Steam achievement associated with them. You can decide on this achievement criteria! You will also be listed in the credits, and if you are in the Discord server for the game, you will be able to have a special and unique role. You will also receive two Steam keys of the game; one for yourself, and one you can give to anybody else! You can pick one of the three themes below to design your level around.

• Space
• Technology
• Plants

Level requirements:

• Custom music, spheres, or player visual are not required. If you choose not to use them, and your level wins in the contest, then they will have alternative music or art made by the game developer.
• Your level must use the theme somehow, but it is up to you to choose how to use it!
• All assets that are used in your submission must fall within Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). This is to ensure that we can legally include your level in the game! That means that using assets from other games that do not authorize you to use them are now allowed (ex. you can't use Luxor or Zuma assets in your submission but you can use images from Pixabay).

Level submission:

• Please make a post with your submission in the Custom Level Gallery discussions page!
• Make sure to put "Custom Level Contest" in your post name.
• Please include a mention of what theme you chose for your level.
• If you used any assets you do not own, please credit it in your post. See the level requirements for what is and isn't allowed for this.
• Please write the following in your post details, or it will not be accepted! "I give all rights of the level I am submitting and assets in it to Creatalsoftware Games to use in their game and other media as they please." This allows us to publish your level in the game.

Please feel free to ask questions or comments on our Discord, or alternatively on this post. Cheers!

[ 2022-06-13 12:18:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! I'm happy to say that the demo for Garenburg Penitence: The Riflebird has now released! You can go play it now! It includes:

• Four levels, each from a different world
• Four difficulty modes
• Four gameplay modes, being Classic, GREEN, Wave, and Unwind
• Level Editor! This version is lacking some features that will be available in the full version (additional mechanics, visual effects, multiple paths, etc.) but can be used without restriction. Custom sprites for spheres, the player, backgrounds with support for 3 layers, music, and more will be available!

You can find more levels for download here. One of which includes a Garenburg Woods-themed level! In addition, the soundtrack ("Archival Sample") can be found here for download! Please also check out YASUpochiGuitar, who made the guitar melodies you can hear in Unwind Mode and the File System. Aside from that... have fun! We'll be participating in Steam Next Fest soon, so stay tuned for that. Cheers!

[ 2022-06-01 22:18:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! Here's a bit of an update regarding the development of The Riflebird.

Demo Announcement + Steam Next Festival

The Riflebird will be participating in the Steam Next Festival with a demo available to play! You can learn more about the festival here. This demo will have a handful of levels and some of the game modes available to try out. The game is still heavily in development, so all feedback from trying the demo will be welcome! Please be on the look out for the demo, which will be available at some point before June 13th (the start of the festival).

Unwind Mode

This mode has been added recently. It allows the player to have a more relaxed experience. Instead of having the usual music for each world, it instead has a playlist of guitar tracks that are shuffled through. The music here is made by the talented YASUpochiGuitar! You can find his channel here! You may know him from the game Ib, as he composed various tracks such as Garry's theme, the intro music, and the credits theme. Music can also be changed to be the regular music which plays in Classic mode, the unique music that plays during modes other than Classic, or any specific guitar track to keep looping. ------------------------------------------------------ That is all for now. Take care, and stay tuned for more news next month with the official demo release!

[ 2022-05-01 10:43:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! Two things!

Custom Level Support

This was briefly mentioned in the previous information post as something that could be added later down the line and even after the game launches. Being a spin on marble poppers, map diversity and variety is essential in allowing repayable experiences and there are all sorts of ways a level can be mapped and designed. So, with that in mind, full custom level support will be available at the game launch as it has now been added and went honestly more smoothly than expected. You will be able to customize level backgrounds, use three different layers for visuals, shaders and effects, different gameplay styles that are in other vanilla levels, custom pathing for the player and the spheres, custom music, custom player/sphere sprites, and more! You will also be able to easily import levels made by other people and play them and use the numerous game modes available with each custom level. While designing the editor, the goal was to give the player plenty of control to get as close as possible to the level of strength as the development tools used to make the game, and it has turned out incredibly well so far. There are additionally plans to use this level editor for level designing contests! Players will be able to design and enter levels to be potentially added into the game as bonus levels, allowing them to be played by anybody with ease. This will be of course in the distant future, but stay tuned for them! Additionally, a few levels will be available to showcase the strength of the level editor, including one themed after Garenburg Woods and another after The Mbius Strip.

Official Discord Server

We now have an official Discord server. Feel free to drop by if you have any questions about the game or want to follow it more closely for sneak peaks, more development updates, and other various announcements. The invite can be found here, or alternatively at the invite code AJbukfAzUk.

[ 2022-03-16 06:07:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! This is a detailed post about the game in how the gameplay works. It differs from classic marble popper games such as Luxor, Sparkle, Tumblebugs, Zuma, and others. For those who have played other marble poppers, I want to make it clear that the gameplay of Garenburg Penitence is both very similar with many different mechanics for a fresh and unique experience. There are quite a few other points mentioned below that I feel is important to mention as well, so the list below should hopefully answer most questions.

• The player cannot control their movement, but instead movement speed. They will always move on a small loop and have to change their speed accordingly to be more accurate with matching colors.
• You do not need to match three colors to destroy spheres; you only need to match two. While that sounds like the game may be easier, or it may remove a lot of strategy, that is most definitely not the case.
• Powerups are only in Wave Mode and are gained through accuracy.
• You control what colors to fire. There is no RNG involved in choosing colors.
• Levels will be cleared after reaching a certain score. You can get higher scores from matching with higher accuracy, although not required (Note: the footage in the trailers is using the old score system that was purely one point per sphere destroyed. This will be different in the full game).
• Yes, there are 72 total level maps. Story Mode reuses some levels on higher difficulties for more challenge, but there are 72 unique level designs overall (10 per world + 1 No Mistakes level per world + 1 Multiplayer level per world, with a total of 6 worlds).
• There is a story and plot. It is however optional as I know the majority of games similar to this do not focus at all on story. The story is that of the Riflebird, a key character in the history of Garenburg.
• While there aren't plans for official mod support, custom levels will be supported either with the release or in an update after the release depending on how difficult it is to implement (game development can be tricky at times). It is planned to include options for level effects, path creation, custom images for the level background and music as an option if all goes well. Please stay tuned for more updates on this part, it would likely be worked on last for this game so that the base game is polished and fun.
• Colorblind support will be added either late into development or shortly after release; I need to first research accessibility methods and assess how it will be implemented.
• While the previous game, Garenburg Woods, was an RPG Maker 2000 game, this game has no RPG elements. They are two very separate games in terms of the actual gameplay.

If there are any questions about anything in specific, feel free to make a thread in the discussions tab or reach out on r/garenburg. Cheers!

[ 2022-02-26 00:09:40 CET ] [ Original post ]