Yis! And I say that as someone from the ZX Spectrum, not the C64 camp! XD

I missed them too! I know it's too much stress to commit to it again fully, but somehow limiting it to just the summer (while I'm back in Slovenia) makes it feel cozy. And amazing work on Songs of Conquest, I'm enamored by that game's art!

@@Retronator thanks a lot, haven't been freelancing for songs for 2.5 years though. While I made a lot of the EA map assets and units, later they had a lull with art needs and I was out of work. In the meanwhile I took up art direction for Streets of Rogue 2. But they had an amazing team, love to think back of my time with their art team.

Thank you! I hope to have it released in Early Access in a couple of months and that it'll live up to the expectations.

Yes! I'm glad I'm doing this again, so much cool stuff (even though I won't have time to play most 😭).

My pleasure! I also discovered a few new titles just checking out what's been trending on Steam in pixel graphics these days.

I really hope to get around to play that one, I've been following them on Twitter/X for so long now, absolutely gorgeous take on HD-2D!

YES! Me too! 😁

Not sure if that's good or bad. :D

Yeah, it's not everyone's cup of tea. You will probably enjoy Learn Mode much more (you'll get a Steam code with your $10 purchase when it releases into Early Access in a few months): store.steampowered.com/app/2330360/Pixel_Art_Academy_Learn_Mode As for getting around to the Cyborg Construction Center, I think you can talk to the captain again (unless there's some bug, which is quite possible). Otherwise, ask Burra in the cafe. There's also a map of San Francisco there. The video above is old and you always go to C3 to create your character, even for a pre-made one.

@@Retronator Yeah, I like text adventures, but I was hyped to lay down some pixels and the early parts are more Academy than Pixel Art. I think you're right about the Learn Mode - keen to check it out (and the pinball project is lookin' nice too - never owned a Macintosh). Talking to the captain again gave me a bunch of dialog choices to repeat previous things, but no option is showing to explain the C3 location... feels like I missed unlocking an option somewhere.

I'm glad you think so, thank you!

Some variety can't hurt. 😆

Indeed, sometimes life just gets the best of you.

Yes, absolutely! I've refocused a bit now and am first releasing the polished version of all the learning components (things that happen on the PixelPad). You can wishlist the Steam version here: store.steampowered.com/app/2330360/Pixel_Art_Academy_Learn_Mode

@@Retronator - wishlisted, although, I don't particularly like steam, possibly think about a gog release in the future sometime 🙂

@@Uhfgood It'll also be available in my online store, eventually, once I get the web version available on my website (like Adventure Mode).

You're very welcome! KZbin works in mysterious ways.

It sure seems like I'll go for more than that. Since then , it took 2.5 more years of working on it including all the new learning materials in the Study Guide and now it'll be 1.5 years working on Pixel Art Academy: Learn Mode. When it gets out in Early Access on Steam later this year, it will be 9 years. And I can easily see just Learn Mode for the pixel art fundamentals content to take another year or two. Only then can I get back to the whole adventure game (now called Adventure Mode).

It's quite fun, but there are still more things that need to be fixed/simulated better to play like a proper pinball. The flippers right now are simulated as rigid bodies, but that doesn't account for how the rubbers around them affect the ball trajectory, so right now it's still a bit uncontrolable (random) where the ball will go off the flippers. Hopefully I have some time in the future to mess with that some more.

Just some throttlers on function calls and CSS filter magic. 😁

I definitely am planning for it, although it's questionable that it'll make it to the Early Access launch. I'd love to add it soon after though if people are having a lot of fun with the pinball project. I also have plans for ramps so that you have 2 vertical levels and variable table sizes so you can have a 0.5 x 1m table as typical instead of this more square design.

Yeah, it's nice to know some tricks to get more control. I'm sure there are more, but this one is enough for my needs.

Love this comment and thinking like this is what caused the expressionist art movement so 10/10

Me too, me too! :)

Happy to hear that! I love the more theoretical stuff and trying to break down aesthetic, why it works the way it works (instead of just 'feels better'). I hope I can explain things in an understandable way. Looking forward to you playing it!

Glad you like it!

Haha, yeah, sometimes I put a little bit more effort into making a custom one when I feel I actually explain something in the video that can be useful on its own (not just as a devlog). Nice to have you here!

@Retronator caught my eye in my boring reccomendation, love your stuff!

Let's hope nobody minds that I have scans of old catalogs and magazines in there. :)

@@Retronator For sure haha

Happy you feel that way! Thanks for watching the video!

Thank you Tim, really appreciate you for following along!

Hello Ula!!! Yes, give it a go, it's the best version of the game yet!

Thank you, I'm glad you feel that way!

I really hope so! We'll find out this year!

Interesting idea indeed, will see if it makes things too crazy or just lovely colorful (I love spectrums!).

I'll do my best! Right now it thinks too many things are mistakes since the algorithm doesn't really understand context. I'll have to do some more filtering of edge cases out so it doesn't annoy you too much but is just useful in general. Let's hope we get there!

@@Retronator 🎉

Doubles troubles! 😁

Tomzi!!! Yeah, as the demo release started getting closer I 'panicked' and started composing vaporwave myself so that it would not be silent in the game. I didn't get too far into it when Anna messaged me that she wanted to do some vaporwave anyway, so she offered to do a test track for it. And it works great! I still hope you and l will get to work together in the future some day when things and finances and schedules align to give it the right opportunity. Miss you, friend!

The demo is already available on Steam! 🥳 store.steampowered.com/app/2330360/Pixel_Art_Academy_Learn_Mode

Thank you, I'm glad the passion shows through, I really hope I'm able to keep working on it close to full-time!

Same, so glad to have Anna on board!

Yes, she did a wonderful job capturing what I imagined. 2024 will be all about Learn Mode, but eventually I'll get back to the adventure too!

@@Retronator Awesome :D

You should be able to complete lessons in tutorials. Once you finish it, a green checkmark appears in the top-right corner and a new lesson opens. Once all the lessons in a tutorial are done, new things will unlock. You can see what you currently need to do in the notebook on the home screen of your PixelPad. Are you stuck at a particular point?

@@Retronator i have finished the first space invaders pixel art and NOTHING has happened

​@@AbsnormalCoolest Hm, hard to say without seeing a screenshot. Maybe you can drop by the Discord? Or look at this playthrough and compare what you're doing: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIbQqnSGnt-SfNk But it sounds more like a bug since usually people don't get stuck at the very first lesson.