Aaaaand… here we go!

After an extra 24 hours we’re finally back on air (so to speak), and we’d like to use this update to unveil one of the improvements the game has undergone in the past few months: a brand new HUD towering the top-left corner of the screen.

Compared to the previous interface, the new HUD is much smaller, sleeker, and the minimal background behind the weapon icon means significantly less wasted space.

While the beer mug is less detailed than before, we believe it’s a fair trade-off.

In fact, the change addresses one glaring flaw found during the extensive playtesting over the past few months; the HUD was simply too big, and could obscure important details on screen, entire enemies included.

The other visual improvements will be discussed in later posts, but we still have a small goodie to show today: HUD design is a tough job, and you only get good results through iteration and testing. So, even the previous interface wasn’t the first we tried out after switching to 2D from the top-down version of the game.

Introducing our first attempt… THE JUGGERNAUT!

For a technical problem, today’s website update will be delayed to tomorrow. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Here’s a neat 1080p wallpaper made entirely of in-game assets. To avoid spoilers, the enemy and item placement were made specifically for this wallpaper and bears no resemblance to the actual game.

Website updates will stop for the Summer, and resume August 26th.

When Dudebro was at E3, he crossed paths with quite a few bizarre attendants. He even took some pictures. Here’s one from the bathroom. How does this guy even wipe?

The last time, we left Dudebro armless and shooting bullets from his beard.

By revision 52, he could count on a fully functional arm and multidirectional aiming. Besides the eight main directions standard for these types of 2D game, we decided to use interpolation to double the number of angles you can shoot at. This would later prove especially effective for rapid-fire weapons, not just from the obvious gameplay standpoint, but also because it allows for more visually appealing bullet patterns.

Speaking of better-looking, the addition of shooting frames with a flash muzzle, highlights and a subtle recoil, sure helps give the act of shooting a bit more weight.

Revision 75 marked the introduction of a parallax effect for the background layers (in this test map limited to two, plus a skybox layer with mountains), and the beginning of a very important addition: throw-able objects!

At this point, throw-able objects (crates, barrels, etc.) were just represented by black squares with imprecise colliders. Dudebro wasn’t able to pick them up and throw them at that point, but he could push them around and the physics worked rather well.

By revision 94, these objects were finally visualized correctly, and could effectively contribute in making the test map less sparse. But, with Dudebro being the only character in the game at this point, the environment sure didn’t look lively enough. It was about time to change this, but we’ll get to that in a later update.

Even in the middle of a heated conflict, General Lee can always find some time for booze. So, here’s a toast to you all.

Note: Some of the points below clearly refer to the moment when this list was written down, shortly after Dudebro II was announced to be a sidescroller.

Here’s a list of some more facts you (probably) didn’t know about the game:

Here we have some spritework for Dudebro’s direct superior among the ranks of B.R.O. Alliance, General Lee. As the days are getting longer and hotter, he also made sure to bring along his Summer uniform. Check it out.

Here are some more comparison shots, this time showing a dark corridor with barrels. The left screen is a render made with assets from the old 3D build, and the right screen shows how the same objects look in the current 2D version. As you can see, with the new art style we tried to keep the atmosphere as close as possible to the original, maintaining an eerie industrial feeling.

Update: As you know, yesterday was April 1st, and we always join the tradition of posting a prank on the website. This time around, though, the joke was a bit different: the Smiling Pussy weapon is completely real, and fully working in the build! We hope you’ll enjoy using it, and bring more color to the battlefield.

Grimoire Assembly Forge is proud to introduce John Dudebro’s latest weapon, the Smiling Pussy!

As everybody loves pussy, the team was ecstatic to create one that actually shoots rainbows. Any similarities to another rainbow-trailing pussy from a few years back are just your imagination. We have seen that one long enough.

In fact, the team was so excited for this novelty, that they planned on renting out a nearby pet store and throwing a pussy party for their fellow developers. Unfortunately, it had to be cancelled as a few people raised the complaint it may be seen as “offensive” for some reason. How could something as adorable and child-friendly as pussy be considered offensive?

Anyway, as explained to the player once Dudebro finds it sitting on a pedestal, this lovely specimen may not be able to kill people directly, but it will certainly bring its foes to their knees. Furthermore, it’s a fantastic tool when needing to get rid of obstacles. Just press the right button and that pussy will instantly move any obstruction out of the way!

We are aware some might raise concerns about using pussy as a weapon, but rest assured: no pussies were exploited or harmed in the making of this game.