This update was posted on Kickstarter already, but I almost forgot to replicate it here. I tend to pour my full attention into development rather than talking about it. My focus has too much focus! Anyway, here are some words about what was done in August.

The war on bugs
Just like last month, about 40 bugs were squashed this August. That may seem like a big or a small number depending on your point of view. By our own standards, it's quite big. The reason is of course that this game is significantly larger and more complex than our previous projects. But fortunately this is nothing we can't manage, and the end of the list is in sight.

Some of the more interesting recent fixes include:

• The save and load system has been completely revised to prevent any loss of gathered items or hearts. And we're happy to report everything is working well. By taking such a thorough approach, it doesn't just work better, but also more efficiently.
  
• While the arcade machines required that Izzy had coins in her pocket, they didn't actually cost any coins to play. Now they do.
  
• The Dreamcast version ran out of memory. By making some smart changes and reducing the sound effects quality from insanely high to still unnecessarily high, the RAM usage was improved and the Dreamcast version once again works, well, like a dream.

Dreamcast-related improvements

• There is now an option for letterboxed widescreen.
  
• Further improved colour palettes make the DC version look amazingly close to the HD version.
  
• Sound effects now load 8x faster, which greatly reduces the initial startup time.

This is what Awesometown looks like on Dreamcast

Other Improvements
Many changes were made to improve the game experience in general. Checkpoint behaviour is more intuitive, level layouts were tweaked, menu options were added, code was optimised... But because such things are difficult to capture in a screenshot, instead here's a gif of Izzy taking a ninja by surprise:



Conventions
Thanks to our friends at Retrospiel - one of our biggest supporters and backers - a demo of Intrepid Izzy and other cool retro games were playable at the GamesCom in Cologne, Germany. And they made a video!


Additionally, on 31 August we (well, 3/4 of us) were personally present at the Dordtse Matsuri (Japanese festival) in Dordrecht, The Netherlands to show off our work. We had a relatively large amount of space at our disposal, making this our biggest setup yet (although it is of course still dwarfed by Retrospiel's).

Izzy's health just came more alive with some very nifty animation. This will help the player see what is happening with ease, and it looks real nice as well.



Say what? You'd like to collect not only health, but other stuff as well?
Good news! We are fans of stuff, and we have made a nice animation for when Izzy collects other useful and interesting items.



Dreamcast
Dreamcast specific improvements have also been made. As you may know, Intrepid Izzy's graphics are made in high resolution and then automatically scaled to a lower resolution when generating the Dreamcast version. Some optimisations have been made to improve colour palette generation and selective dithering to reduce banding. This sound a bit technical, but you can clearly see the difference in the examples below. Especially in the zoomed in pictures.









Other improvements

• We've redesigned part of the Aztec Greece level where you collect the squirrel suit to improve the flow. The chances of getting lost are greatly reduced
  
• ± 40 bug fixes and usability improvements
  
• Added sound effects when you open a door. We made the sound effect ourselves by dragging two pavement tiles over each other
  
• Added sound effects when Izzy is pushing blocks or crates
  
• A brand new music track has been composed for the level that we're keeping a secret. (You didn't hear this from us)

• This month two enemies were completed. To be specific: two more types of ninja are now walking around with malicious intent.
  
• A number of bugs were fixed: Bouncing coins no longer accidentally activate buttons, fixed a camera bug, and more.
  
• Improved town graphics, especially the hospital. By the way, the hospital will have a very cool mission, but don't tell anyone. It's a secret.
  
• Some changes were made to the fighting. We shortened the period in which the enemies are invulnerable after you've hit them, so that Izzy can hit them faster. At the same time it takes a little bit longer for the enemies to hit you back, so there won't be any cheap shots. Please note that we are talking milliseconds here, so it really is about fine tuning the fighting mechanics.

This month a lot of progress was made on the East Pole. A lot of playable areas were made, and we've been hard at work to include some nice graphical touches, such as a pretty ice bridge.

It's going to be a fun level (if we do say so ourselves), which will require some exploration and costume switching in order to conquer it. And I'm sure there will be some secret chest somewhere as well



In order to get to the East Pole  you will need some transportation, i.e. Boaty McB, which we first showed in the April update. Naturally a boat also needs a home, so we are building Awesometown a small harbour!



Additionally, some small, but difficult to find bugs have been fixed, e.g. timing and physics bugs. And we re-balanced the coins: you get four times as many, but the prices have also gone up (except for the arcade). Inflation hard at work!

We also have some Dreamcast screenshots. Please note that any banding will be fixed in the final release.

The East Pole level has been at the center of our attention this month. The graphics still need some polish, but here are some previews of what to expect.
This also comes with the promise that we won't fill the whole level with slippery ice.

The very aptly named Awesometown now has an arcade with playable should-be classics, such as Ultra Bazoop and Plerg! Who wouldn't want to spend some hard earned coins on that?



Inspired by the early 8-bit era, the action takes place on a single screen. The objective is to score as many points as possible while the difficulty keeps ramping up.



The graphics for the Chocolate Mine have received a major update. The repetitive, angular stones have been replaced by ones that actually look like they could be made of chocolate. Improved colours, more glowing lights and other improvements have given the level has a much more magical atmosphere.

After extensive testing it was decided that it would be good and quite interesting if the player had some extra incentive for defeating enemies roaming the world of Izzy. So we have added coins that sometimes burst out of defeated enemies. These coins can then be spent in the restaurant in Awesometown on some useful items.






One of the other outcomes of the previous testing was bugs. Bugs, big and small. A lot of them have been fixed this month, but some are still crawling around waiting to be crushed. Our extermination continues valiantly!

Another focus this month has been on creating memorable boss fights. We won't give you spoilers. You'll just have to find out for yourself!

Additionally, Awesometown has just become more awesome since new NPC's and Kickstarter backer portraits have been added.

This month we've done the first big testing round of Intrepid Izzy. We've had no crashes, spotted a few interesting bugs, but most of all, found that the game is shaping up quite nicely. Also, some specials were changed. The squirrel suit now comes with hurricane power 


We wish everyone a lovely end of the year and the happiest of holidays!!
See you next year!

We have  been hard at work to connect all the levels together in such a way that exploration makes sense and you will be able to find some (secret) new areas, new costumes, and plenty of new enemies to beat up.

Not only are the levels being connected, levels are also being expanded, or embiggened as some might say. Additionally, some interesting and spiffy looking platforms have been added to the creepy forest level. And did we mention the cool lightning effect?

With the Town level being practically completed, work started on not one, but two levels this month.
We would like to keep some surprises for when you finally get to play the game, so we're not going to tell you much about the first level. However, we can tell you that the graphics for this level are pretty much completed and some level specific enemies have been made. But the level still has to be designed and populated with evil critters to be smashed to pieces by Izzy!

The second level is the East Pole. This level was shown earlier as well, but the level is being re-designed to make it look prettier and also fit better with the rest of Intrepid Izzy. Both the graphics and level design still need work, so the screenshot below is only a work in progress.

Some new enemies have been designed for this level as well, but those too will remain a mystery for now. Although you can already see their silhouettes and make a guess what they're going to be.