Hello everyone!

Quick announcement to say that the original soundtrack is now freely available to listen to, stream, and download on youtube, bandcamp, and soundcloud, with other platforms like spotify, amazon/apple music etc on the way as well! Full ost Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/481IpI0QyfI Bandcamp: https://giannismavroeidis.bandcamp.com/album/cosmic-pebble-original-soundtrack SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/giannis-mavroeidis/sets/cosmic-pebble-original-soundtrack Use bandcamp if you want to download the soundtrack directly to your computer! Important note: Feel free to use any part of this soundtrack for your own creative projects, even commercial ones! You don't need to credit me if you use anything, but it would be greatly appreciated! If you want to also send me an email with your project, I'd be delighted to check it out!

2 week 20% discount!

To celebrate the release of the soundtrack, the game will also be on sale for 2 weeks for 20% off, so you can pick the game up for 3.99 USD right now! As far as updates go, right now I'm focused on getting my degree/internship finished, so I likely won't have time to update the game too much. That's all for now, thanks everybody!

[ 2024-09-17 14:48:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello fellow boomerang throwers!

Itch.io release is probably happening later today!

EDIT: Due to some ridiculous technical difficulties the itch release will happen tomorrow. It's not up yet, but you'll be able to find it here: https://gianaras.itch.io/cosmic-pebble There is also a small update with a few quality of life changes:

• Added a new submenu: Options>Controls>General.
• Moved "invert sprint" option to from general gameplay options to general controls options.
• Added new general controls option "Mouse aiming", which is on by default. Turning this off will remove and ignore the mouse cursor (during gameplay only), and make the aiming function like on controller. If you turn this off, make sure all direction bindings are set for keyboard (up is not bound to anything by default!). Keep in mind that you can still bind the mouse buttons to actions (for example, you can still throw with the left click), the only thing that changes is how the aiming itself functions.
• Added new general controls option "Allow right stick aiming", which is off by default. Before you could always use the right stick to aim on controller, but now because it's so awful, if you're a weird person and want to use it, you have to go out of your way to enable this option. This mainly exists to not tempt new players to use the right stick (sorry Mr Dets).
• Made background clouds slightly more prominent.

That's all folks!

[ 2024-08-03 15:38:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Quick Announcement Everyone!

Thank you to everyone checking out the game in this first week since release! Extra thank you to all the lovely active members of the community on the server, I've been having a ton of fun! Some of you may have noticed that the price of the game was halved a day ago from 10 USD to 5 USD. The TL;DR of why I did this is mainly from watching the stats behind the scenes and from gathering feedback. It seems that for what the game appears to be on the store page, the price was way too much, so I decided to change it now while it's early so that more people get the chance to play. If you want more details you can read this reddit post from me, but keep in mind it's a bit more negative sounding than what I actually feel right now (especially after the post I feel really good generally speaking, in part due to you guys). I sincerely want to apologize to anyone that bought the game at its full price. It looks awful changing the price so suddenly from one day to another, and I completely understand if you feel scammed. I give you my word this was never my intention, and again I want to deeply apologize. I just think that reducing the price is the best thing I could have done for the game. Again, for more context, please read the reddit post. If you can still refund, feel free to do so. Regardless, thank you so much for supporting the game. I want to try to give an exclusive in-game reward of some sort to the people that bought the game early on, but I'm still coming up with ideas.

For the rest of you, now the game costs less than 5 USD and the 10% discount is still up for ~2 hours, so if you were on the fence before, this is a great opportunity to jump in!

Again the reddit post title is a bit baity on purpose, I don't actually feel mixed I'm quite happy actually! Also, I'll try to release the game on itch soon, and the linux build should be up and hopefully stable, although likely not as good as before performance-wise.

[ 2024-07-31 14:47:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello fellow astronauts!

Small update to address some issues found by the community. I'm also planning to write another update probably tomorrow talking about the game's launch. Thank you to everyone supporting and playing the game!

List of Changes:

• The game now has a speedrun.com page: https://www.speedrun.com/Cosmic_Pebble
• There is now auto-aim for the bosses when using controller, making it more similar to keyboard and mouse.
• Fixed an issue where missile launchers / cannons would sometimes not shoot properly.
• Cannon Canyon (lvl9): Tweaked the screen before chapter 4 to be less ambiguous.
• Bubble Basin (lvl8): Made a cookie more consistent to get.
• The Spire (lvl10): Simplified the second screen of chapter 5.
• The Spire (lvl10): Tweaked the end of the first screen of chapter 2 so the intended sequence is harder to skip.
• The Spire (lvl10): Last cookie is now correctly shown to be in chapter 6.
• Fixed a bug where the final boss intro could be pre-setup to be skipped on an IL run.
• Fixed a bug where the final boss could softlock.
• Fixed a typo.

[ 2024-07-30 18:53:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello fellow astronauts!

First of all I wanted to say thank you to everyone buying the game thus far, you're awesome! I hope you've been enjoying your time with it! This is a very small update but I thought I might as well push it earlier.

• Switch controller button prompts should now display properly.
• Glacial Gorge (lvl5) 5th cookie: First jump is now slightly less strict.
• Midnight Meadows (lvl6) chapter 1: In the key room, the moving portal now only starts moving after the player starts moving, to make catching the good cycle more consistent.
• Fixed a typo in the Chilly meeting cutscene.

That's all for now, happy rocket jumping!

[ 2024-07-26 19:01:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello fellow astronauts!

It's been a long long journey to get here. It was 6 years ago when I first started this project. And even though it probably wasn't the best idea, I decided early on to commit to releasing this game on steam one day. And today is that day! Thank you to everyone that helped me reached this point, my friends, who are also mostly my playtesters, my family, who has been very supportive of my silly game dev endeavors, and the tiny but awesome little community we have over on discord and youtube. I wouldn't be here without all these wonderful people. But enough talk, what are you doing, go play the game already! It has a 10% discount as well, so it's practically a steal! If you do end up playing the game, I hope you have fun. If you do, it would also help the game immensely if you left a review for it, both to help with steam visibility, and to inform other people whether or not the game is something they'd enjoy. That's all I have for now, I'll see you in-game!

[ 2024-07-24 19:11:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! Found a dumb bug so I'm fixing it!

• Removed some debug code that caused the credits to pop up in the background on certain cases.

[ 2024-07-24 18:51:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fellow astronauts!

During this June's next fest, from June 10th to June 17th @ 10AM Pacific, we'll be holding a speedrun competition for the game's DEMO! You have until the end of the event to get 1st place speedrunning the demo from start to finish, or in any of the 3 levels individually! I'm releasing a video about this at the same time, so you can watch that instead of reading this post.

Rules

• There can be up to 4 winners, one for each individual level, and one for the whole demo run.
• Enable the in-game timer and speedrun mode!
• For the full demo run, start a fresh new save. The run ends upon touching the 3rd level's flag.
• Your submission should be a VIDEO of your run, posted on the game's discord. If the file is small enough you can upload it directly, otherwise upload it on a separate platform like youtube and then post the link.
• The video doesn't have to be high quality, but should be watchable, preferably 480p 30fps or higher.
• ONLY people with a video will be eligible to win! There are leaderboards in the game, but they may prove unreliable.
• No assist options.
• If one player wins multiple titles, they may get a different looking trophy in-game (more about that in the prize section).
• Only use the demo version of the game (for playtesters).

Prizes

• Free copy of the game.
• An in-game shiny trophy displaying their name/text of their choosing. This will be placed inside the game's hub, and will be visible to everyone, immortalizing the winners inside the game forever .

Some extras:

I know the video requirement is tedious, but due to strange leaderboard bugs in the past, I cannot be certain that everything on the leaderboards is legitimate. This rule is not meant to be gatekeeping people. Discord link: https://discord.gg/6JBKE9cwMN Equivalent youtube video: [previewyoutube=IrswBn7sna0;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]

[ 2024-06-03 17:00:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fellow astronauts!

Developer playing the demo once again! I'm here, ask me anything!

[ 2024-06-02 15:49:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Fellow astronauts!

Developer playing the demo! I'll be live on the stream, so ask me anything!

[ 2024-06-02 14:17:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

...Yeah... sorry for going radio silent for so long! Luckily, I've been hard at work over the past months, making sure the game is as good as it can be before release. I also plan to release a youtube video soon talking in depth about all my progress and future plans and events, but I'll give you a short briefing here as well. THINGS THAT I'VE DONE: - Optional story dialogue - Major reworks to two levels of the game - Boss reworks - Immeasurable amounts of level design across the entire game - Complete rework of gamepad controls (game will be 100% playable with gamepad with no issues) - New character portraits for Sophia the astronaut - Assist options that should offer an enjoyable experience to almost everyone - Updated visuals throughout the entire game - Tons of bug fixing and polishing WHAT'S LEFT: - Marketing - More polishing - Attempt to port game to Mac and Linux - If I get the chance, some end game secrets WHEN WILL IT COME OUT: I'm pretty sure I've found the release day/release window, hopefully I'll also have a release date trailer out at some point so I can reveal it! But it will be released in the summer! Surely! Stay tuned for the release date. STEAM NEXT FEST: The game will be featured in the next fest from June 10th to June 17th. I have plans to hold a speedrunning contest (winners will get a free copy of the game and probably some exclusive in-game cosmetic!) during this time and maybe schedule some steam livestreams as well. I hope to see you there as well! That's all for now. Expect more videos, a trailer, a release date, and the steam next fest stuff soon! Hope you have a great rest of your day. Also, here's a link to the game's discord in case you'd like to join: https://discord.gg/6JBKE9cwMN

[ 2024-05-21 22:48:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! Yesterday I pushed an update for the demo of the game that addresses a lot of the issues with the gamepad controls. Using the right stick is still possible, but now you can just use (X)/(square) by default on your gamepad to throw the boomerang in front of you, and angle upwards or downwards with up/down. I also cranked the aim assist up to eleven. From testing it works pretty well, and since a lot of people suggested aiming with the movement buttons to begin with, I hope this solves most of the issues. Also, if you've already played the demo I suggest going to the controls options and click on the restore defaults button to avoid confusion. I've also added a disclaimer at the start that low-key recommends keyboard and mouse, because these changes make the game way easier with controller. That being said, if you want a more casual experience, controller is likely the way to go. It's on my to-do to add an invert-sprint option as well. Thanks to everybody for your patience, have a nice day!

[ 2024-01-23 14:54:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello steam gang and happy holidays!

Here's a heads up on what's been going on lately:

• I have released a demo for the game, you can play it if you like!
• I have finished the optional dialogue for the game, so that's off the to-do list.
• I just released a new video about the game's story and how I struggled to write it. It's my most ambitious video to date, and may be the only one of its kind, so if you like storytelling and devlogs, I'm sure you'll love it. I'll link it below.

I've been thinking about waiting to release the game on a steam next fest, the one after the one in february, but I still want to try to finish the game before April 2024. I still have to:

• Visually polish the entire game
• Dynamic soundtrack (maybe)
• Assist options? (maybe after release?)
• A ton of small quality of life changes and polish that are too many to list here

Thanks for reading, have a nice day and a happy 2024! [previewyoutube=myH1d_C1iX4;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]

[ 2023-12-30 14:31:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Heyo, Just letting you steam bros know that I overhauled the game's UI, making it essentially final. Here's what remains to be done: - Optional dialogue - Visual improvements on one of the levels - Dynamic soundtrack (maybe) - Optimization - More Polish (more things in hub area, character portraits improvements, + other more minor stuff) Still aiming for early 2024, although there's been a lot of stuff going on lately and I'm struggling for time, and now I got marketing to worry about too so who knows I'll work on another youtube video next and then I'll start working on the optional dialogue, which should be a lot of work. Have a nice day!

[ 2023-10-30 19:58:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! I just released the first proper video for my game on youtube! It covers the prehistory, history, and current state of the game (the latter I also addressed in the previous announcement here). There's lots of memes and educational tips in the video, so if you're interested in learning more about the game, this is a great way to do so. The channel is basically brand new so if you want to help me and give me a headstart, I would really appreciate it if you checked it out. Thank you. [previewyoutube=iUSqwvGrZmE;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2023-10-05 22:39:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! I'm Giannis (the guy). I thought I'd try using this announcement thing, so I'll quickly talk about the state of the game and my release plans. I just finished the story finale. This means that the game is essentially content complete. All that's left is marketing (oh no), polish, bug fixes, etc, which include:

• optional dialogue
• better UI
• rework of the hub area
• steam features like achievements and leaderboards
• maybe making the soundtrack dynamic

How long will this take? I don't know, but I'm hoping these will be done by the end of the year. Will I release this year? Probably not. I could probably do it, but I don't want to rush. The current vision is releasing early next year, as early as I can. Since I'm done with the game's content, I'll start uploading videos on youtube as well, to try to get some eyes on the game. I'll try to occasionally post here too. The store page needs an update as well. I also have a discord server for playtesters but it's not public yet. Stay tuned for that. Thank you for listening to my TED talk. Have a good one. o7

[ 2023-09-08 20:24:02 CET ] [ Original post ]