R. Watson

Hobbyist game developer. Working on Rogue of Vallas, a 90's DOS-style adventure platformer

Idosra: The Electric Renaissance now has a release date... releasing 4 November, 2025!

Check it out/Wishlist on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/280

#gamedev #indiedev #madeinstencyl

Idosra Ad

It's election season in the Vallas Empire, and Marika finds herself in the crossfire between two opposing bodies. On one side is a government that is taking advantage of a recently rediscovered force of nature: electricity. On the other side is a faction that wants to seize control of this knowledge for itself.

Marika has been tagged as an "enemy of the state".  Does the empire suspect Marika has a power that even she herself isn't aware of? Or, is this a terrible mistake-the fault of newly-installed "electric eyes" and other technological toys the empire has unearthed, but does not understand?

Join Marika through over 70 levels packed with action, adventure, and intrigue. Step carefully! Your best chance of success, and Marika's, is in her ability to learn how the new technology works-and the role it plays in the Vallas Empire's plans.

Illustration for #Idosra -- Marika gains the "Mana Run" ability when the player completes Level 7-1. (Shown skill effect combined with "Wall Jump" for extra fun!)

#gamedev #indiedev #gameart

Marika gains the Mana Run skill in Level 7-1 of Idosra

Free idea for a dystopian story: reclusive teen boy meets a girl online; through their relationship he is able to build confidence in engaging with others and find the courage to break out of his shell; arranges to meet her in person; turns out she is an AI-generated bot account.

I revisited this illustration I did a couple of weeks ago. Normally I keep the backgrounds simple, because in-game they get squeezed down to 432x240 pixel. This turned out to be a favorite, though. It just says "action platformer".

The illustration shows after the Gas Plant level, so I added pipes and chemical storage tanks to the background. I gave it a color scheme and vibe similar to the actual level it's based on.

Illustrated with #krita

#idosra #gamedev #indiedev #gameart

Marika jumping through the Gas Plant

Happy Groundhog Day!

When the groundhog sees its shadow, it's six more weeks of programming.

#idosra #gamedev #indiedev #groundhogday

A groundhog laughing at Marika

When someone is looking over your shoulder to watch what you're drawing.

I recently updated my graphics tablet, so I decided to go ahead and try using Krita instead of GIMP for digital art.

So far Krita is growing on me. I recently discovered the perspective tool.

This is my first illustration for Idosra that I completed using Krita, with GIMP for some final touches.

Marika is making her final escape from the gas plant (Level 5-1).

#gameart #idosra #madeinstencyl #krita #indiedev

Marika escaping the Gas Plant, Level 5-1 of Idosra
R. Watson boosted:
2025-01-20

Looking for something to do in the holidays? :D Check out my #game, A Winter Haunting, if you're in for a subtly #spooky #adventure!

store.steampowered.com/app/279

#screenshotsaturday #gaming #games #indiegame #indiedev #pointandclick #HashtagGames #mastodon #solodev

@midnightspire The "after" is much easier for me to decipher.

@midnightspire Thanks! I don't think I got the light quite right. I got some good feedback from the Stencyl Discord... so I've been experimenting a bit more with it.

Marika contemplates new technologies.

I've been working on cutscene illustrations for Idosra: The Electric Renaissance for the past couple months.

I've illustrated over a dozen by now, which has been good practice and experience.

I decided to push myself a bit further with more complex poses and lighting than previous illustrations. I like how this one came out.

I usually remove the text before sharing (spoilers), but I left it this time.

#gamedev #indiedev #idosra #madeinstencyl #gameart

Marika sitting on a high ledge overlooking a town

I reduced one of my cutscene panels to 2 colors instead of 256 and it came out looking like classic Macintosh style clip art

#gamedev #pixelart #idosra #indiedev

Marika confronted by a Vallan guard

@xilebo I was thinking about how I could use other browsers to test the site, but just changing the size is such a simple solution. 🙃

@xilebo Interesting... I thought it worked okay on phone browsers. At least, mine seemed to scale everything correctly. I tested it with the default browser on Samsung Galaxy phones.

The site is a mix of hand-crafted HTML and output from shell scripts I wrote way back in 2006. I thought about using Jekyll, but it seemed too complex for what I wanted.

@lnklnx Thanks for the support! 🙂

I registered idosra.com and (finally) made a webpage for the game.

Any time someone has asked about it, I've been giving the link to the Steam page. Having a proper website would be better as a hub for the game, though. I can group all my social media links, etc. to it.

Plus, it gives me a place to put some extra art and other bits that don't really belong on Steam. I've been drawing a lot of graphic novel-style art for cutscenes, etc.

#gamedev #indiedev #madeinstencyl #idosra

Marika, carrying a book and looking to the side

When you're Level 80 and go back to a Level 5 area...

I wanted to test some code that automatically captured screenshots, so I added a feature that plays a recap of Marika's victories if you complete a level with an S or P rank.

This was just a test feature, but I kinda want to keep it now. I think the victory pose wallpaper and 80s montage music adds the right amount of whimsy to counter the darker tones of the game's story.

youtube.com/watch?v=Np8QTZMQF7

#gamedev #idosra #indiedev #madeinstencyl

I made an "ad" for Idosra: The Electric Renaissance. I also made a website for the game, something I've neglected for far too long (before I always just sent people to the Steam page).

The goal was to make something that would look like the back of a "big box" physical PC game release.

(Updated to correct typo)

#gamedev #indiedev #gameart #idosra

Ad for Idosra: The Electric Renaissance

It's election season in the Vallas Empire, and Marika finds herself in the crossfire between two opposing bodies. On one side is a government that is taking advantage of a recently rediscovered force of nature: electricity. On the other side is a faction that wants to seize control of this knowledge for itself.

Marika has been tagged as an "enemy of the state".  Does the empire suspect Marika has a power that even she herself isn't aware of? Or, is this a terrible mistake-the fault of newly-installed "electric eyes" and other technological toys the empire has unearthed, but does not understand?

Join Marika through over 70 levels packed with action, adventure, and intrigue. Step carefully! Your best chance of success, and Marika's, is in her ability to learn how the new technology works-and the role it plays in the Vallas Empire's plans.

Getting to the last major 'todo' on my list for #Idosra -- Cutscene panels for level clears and key points in the story.

Here's Karada, the bully, and Marika, the protagonist. They're the two most dynamic characters.

Then there's one of my favorites--Marika defeating the second spider boss, a late-game foe.

#gamedev #indiedev #solodev #gameart #madeinstencyl

Karada, the bully, and Marika, the protagonistMarika defeating the spider boss 2

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