- The State of Apocalypse Cow - 9 July 2024
Where have you been? I have struggled with this post for over a year now. This update is LONG overdue. Our game has some of the best fans and followers - seriously, how long have you been following us patiently? Some of you have even birthed tiny new gamers. Was that your plan all along? To wait until our fans multiply by procreation? Ha! Sadly no. The truth is, the game has been on hiatus for a few years now ːsteamsadː. Please, please don't cry. It's not cancelled. But it isn't being worked on, by anyone. Which I guess you realized with the word hiatus... duh. We have been actively working on an amazing new game, one that we'll announce soon. It shares DNA with Apocalypse Cow - think of it as a spiritual cousin, or that weird uncle. I think you will love it. We took the parts that worked from Apocalypse and made something wonderful. As for the adventure with Penny and the gang... I sim…
- #10: The New Year brings a Combat Update - 20 March 2022
"I woke up in terror from a horrible nightmare. I stepped outside to compose myself and realized… everyone in the village had woken up. Everyone." -- Baon, Village Merchant Finally an update. It was about time! He nodded as a flurry of regrets flooded his- No! Stop typing novels. Just describe the progress in two words! I see. If I had to narrow it down to two words, they would be "making combat satisfying". Great math skill! ːsteamfacepalmː Tell me more about the combat. Combat is an integral part of the game, more so than most metroidvanias. We want to go beyond the sporadic encounters with singular enemies that you destroy as you traverse. Not to say this isn't going to happen, but we have a vision!!! The combat is to be HECTIC, exciting and FUN. Quite the visionary developers, right? To that end we built a combat prototype, to rapidly test ideas for enemies, abilities, items etc. We…
- Apocalypse #9: Merry Hero and a Happy New Year! - 6 January 2022
He was pacing up and down a dark room, the only light coming from a computer monitor. On it, a blinking cursor felt like a ticking clock. Judge and jury. He knew he had messed up. “How did this happen?” he thought. “When did time disappear?”. Outside they were celebrating the turn of the year but he was restless. He could feel the coming storm... three months without an update. He was the worst. He inhaled deeply and started typing... let's appease the gods. Let's reveal the new hero. Finally an update. What happened to the old hero? He thought of Penny, the very human girl. How out of place she felt in the new, magical universe that was being magically created with code and electricity. Are you referring to yourself in the third person? He nodded as his face darkened for dramatic effect... the first attempts at updating her design failed. Miserably. Yeah these look not good. What happe…
- Apocalypse #8: Awesome September - 4 October 2021
Hello friends! For the first time ever, a monthly update that's actually one month later. It feels so weird... are we becoming professionals? Should I be worried? Finally, a timely update. So what's new? As I mentioned on the last update, we focused our work on the first couple of hours of gameplay. Naturally that means we worked on the intro video! The result was… kind of meh, to be honest. It felt a little like Star Wars 9: good looking but meaningless and you forgot you ever saw it… understandably we'll create a better version in the future. keyframe from the intro - at least it was good looking This doesn't sound like an awesome September so far! Yeah, BUT! We also prepared the first two biomes and the actual gameplay experience was much better. Good even! Which is nice because as a professional, I can tell you I've definitely heard gameplay is important for games! The first biome w…
- Apocalypse #7: Summer 2021 - 3 September 2021
Okay, not on a monthly schedule yet but we're getting closer! I survived moving to a new house, I survived a spectacularly crazy heatwave (global warming is a myth) and I'm back with my team, creating this wondrous universe. What have you been up to? Up until now we were working on various, disconnected parts of the game. We were trying to test particular moments that we felt were exciting, to gain a broader understanding of our game. And although it was fun, it... ultimately pissed me off. Have you seen an angry game designer before? We look like angry squirrels! Enter, the Summer of '21. We focused on the first two biomes to fully flesh them out, adding the special rooms, the challenges, the unlocks, the bosses, the NPC's… it feels great to see things coming together. Feels like a game! Anything more specific you can share? Well, speaking of NPC's, here's one you'll find in the first…
- Apocalypse News #6: Still Rolling - 24 June 2021
This post feels like proof of life. Still alive folks! Alive and working on the game, making it more awesome every single day! Your new year's resolution was "monthly updates"… And it's been 6 months without one. I know. It was the end of the year and… everything seemed possible. But I shall strive to do it! And that's a June 24th guarantee! I would never lie on (googling) Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester's birthday. He was... my favorite Earl. What's the game looking like now? Like this! Excuse the blur - I don't want to spoil the new look of the hero just yet. Do you like it? Hope you like it! Do you? Do you do you do you do you? We'll be cool either way (prepares ceremonial dagger). What new hero? Oh yeah. With so much redesigning, we accidentally redesigned the hero too. I didn't plan to but our concept artist slipped, fell on his Wacom and through the power of his left chest a conc…
- Report from the Trenches - 27 December 2020
Hello dear fan! I know you have questions. Let’s get the most obvious thing out of the way: Τhe game is NOT canceled. We’re still working on it exclusively and full time. And yes, we are as shocked as you that we haven’t finished the game yet! ːsteamsadː But why the delay? Was it Covid-19? That's a common question and it would be a convenient excuse, but no. We can't blame this horrible situation, we were already working remotely. Then what the heck is wrong with you? My therapist hasn’t figured it out yet and he's good, he went to school and everything! The project we’re making is different from what we started with. It was a cool, fun little platformer. We’ve expanded that to a beautiful metroidvania with an immersive world to explore. I guess building a universe takes time, especially when you're both inexperienced and trying to create something awesome. Work in progress screenshot w…
- Apocalypse News #4: New Visual Direction - 31 December 2019
Hello GameWalkers, Lets start with the obvious. We won't make our 2019 release goal. Which I think you've guessed by now, but still makes me feel like a bad Santa. You wanted a game? Here's a delay! ːwinter2019sadyulː I know it sucks. I can't sugar-coat it... but I'll try. Lets take a first peek at our updated graphics! New visual style As you know we're reworking big chunks of the game (updating the story, adding enemies, bosses, abilities etc). All of these gradually shifted the tone of the game and what started as a silly comedy is now an epic action saga that combines fun with awe. To reflect the new quality and tone, Konstantinos and Christopher are pushing our visuals to the limit. We're trying to capture something... nostalgic, wrapped in a modern style. Something that feels current but also classic. And I think we got it. I'm very happy with the universe we're building. It's one…
- Apocalypse Cow News #3: Animations - 14 June 2019
Hello incredible fan! Here's another update for you - proof that we're busy working and not vacating somewhere tropical. Because who cares about Fiji when you can develop games in a basement! Okay, okay - what have you clowns been up to? Lots of stuff. Like, all of them. All teh stuff! Creating and updating characters. Reworking all of them animations. Extending the lore and the story, ironing out any wrinkles still there. Testing out bigger maps with optional exploration. Wait - why rework the animations? Alex (our animator, known as Animator Alex) always wanted 3d models in his workflow. He claimed he'd do a better job with them or something, I don't know - I kind of phase him out when he's saying things.
- Status Update #2: Arcadia Concepts - 13 April 2019
What a glorious morning! It's been raining non-stop, creating the perfect mood for epic world building! But it's time I take a break and let you amazing people know what we've been up to. World Building Apocalypse Cow has not one, not four but three absolutely distinct worlds to explore and uncover their stories. Our main focus these past few months has been the world known as Arcadia. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say that every world is a rich continent split into many areas with deep lore. These are a couple of the concepts for an area in Arcadia called The Barrens. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F31211805%2Feddcea7603a81ef2c6541eb0ed31e2e2ba141178.png Inhabitants In tandem with each area we also work on its inhabitants. Through the course of this adventure you'll come across many different characters - some will help you, others will tr…
- Status Update #1: Story is Dan - 11 January 2019
The night was brighter than usual. The clock struck midnight and the crowd erupted. Amidst the celebrations for this glorious new year, a pale creature known as game developer stood apart. Hand on his keyboard, he whispered: "I swear to write more blog posts this year!". So here I am, with the first update of 2019!! Uhm… amusing. So? What's up? We recently hit a very important milestone. The story is 100% done!!! I don't want to give out any spoilers but it is an epic storyline that plays out through several years! (drools). In the process of creating the story we wrote lore going back millennia (which we might release as a short story or comic before launch), we designed many new characters and even created a written and spoken language, complete with phonology and grammar rules! I went a little insane there but I did it on my free time, I promise. Wow, you nerded out hard. So, what ar…
- Expanding the Game - 22 August 2018
You might be wondering what's going on. Despite popular belief, we are not at the Bahamas drinking Cosmopolitan manly beers. We weren't abducted by aliens (although that would REALLY help our PR efforts). We're still working on Apocalypse Cow full time, pedal to the floor. So why isn't it out yet? Are you sloths? The simple answer is, in a moment of complete craziness we decided to follow an amazing idea and started a complete story rewrite. We are turning Apocalypse Cow into a very gripping storytelling experience, honestly one of the best storytelling Hollywood has to offer! And it's been time consuming... We paused all marketing communications until we finalize the narrative, because everything is tied to it. Graphics, weapons, gameplay, everything. This marketing pause obviously hurts us but I really do hope that the end result will make up for our decision. One thing is certain: th…
- Apocalypse Cow is a 2D action game that plays like a blood-drunk cartoon - 5 April 2018
Its main villain is a cybernetic cow and its protagonist is a young girl with hair like blue taffy, yet Apocalypse Cow bills itself as a "cinematic" game. I can't say I got that impression when I played a bit of it at GDC, but I do agree with developer Monsters on one thing: it's a fun little 2D action game.  You play as Penny, the aforementioned taffy-haired girl who's also a 'GameWalker' on a quest through CandyWorld to rescue her missing robot friend. Don't let the cute names fool you, Apocalypse Cow is fundamentally about killing dudes as bloodily as possible. In some ways, it's about as basic as videogames get: move right, jump on stuff, shoot dudes, punch dudes, solve a puzzle and maybe make something explode on occasion, the occasion being a day that ends in Y. But Apocalypse Cow is held up by Penny's ability to slow down time.  S…
- Feature Highlight: Costumes - 10 March 2018
Hi GameWalker! We can't deny it. Penny is a little crazy. She's a short tempered badass that will smoke your butt if you look at her funny. But that's not all that defines her! When she doesn't rain terror and destruction, her favorite passtime is cosplaying! Cosplay in Apocalypse Cow During a mission if you come by one of the various Cosplay Phonebooths don't think twice. Get in there and, in the blink of an eye, she'll be sporting one of her many rad costumes, like a new Superman! Here's one of them. Guess who she's cosplaying as!! Need a hint? Her full name grows longer with every season! Collect Coins to Unlock While using a cosplay booth is temporary, you can use the coins you pick up from killing baddies to unlock a costume permanently. Gotta get them all! Costumes in Co-op Of course when you play co-op, Penny's imaginary friend isn't left hanging! The Kid gets a matching costume…
- Feature Highlight: Costumes - 10 March 2018
Hi GameWalker! We can't deny it. Penny is a little crazy. She's a short tempered badass that will smoke your butt if you look at her funny. But that's not all that defines her! When she doesn't rain terror and destruction, her favorite passtime is cosplaying! Cosplay in Apocalypse Cow During a mission if you come by one of the various Cosplay Phonebooths don't think twice. Get in there and, in the blink of an eye, she'll be sporting one of her many rad costumes, like a new Superman! Here's one of them. Guess who she's cosplaying as!! Need a hint? Her full name grows longer with every season! Collect Coins to Unlock While using a cosplay booth is temporary, you can use the coins you pick up from killing baddies to unlock a costume permanently. Gotta get them all! Costumes in Co-op Of course when you play co-op, Penny's imaginary friend isn't left hanging! The Kid gets a matching costume…
