Blog | Lambtaco

Dec

2024

Yes, I’m still alive 2024 edition

As some of you may have noticed, I have not posted or replied to anything online in a while. Long story short, my mental health took a pretty big hit about a year ago, and I ended up taking 11 months off the internet altogether. I didn’t even tend to the Discord server. I wasn’t doing too well before that either, having not worked on anything substantial in over a year. My issues are mostly related to anxiety, insomnia, and ADHD. I might go into further detail about this later, but it’s kinda private. I will say that I am seeing a psychiatrist and a counselor, and I have been getting better over the course of the past year.

I’m still no where near being able to put my all into gamedev (or any of my other creative pursuits) so you likely won’t see much from me in the near future. I need to put my mental health first. I know it sucks that A Koopa’s Revenge Gold, AKR2 v2.9.1, and the other projects still aren’t out, but forcing myself to make them would only cause me to burn out and delay things even further. Trust me, it’s happened many times in the past. I’m going to eventually respond to all the YouTube comments, Newgrounds reviews, and other stuff I missed over the past couple years, but I’ll be doing it at my own pace. I’ve learned the hard why that forcing myself to do even the smallest stuff can be bad for me.

One positive aspect of being off social media for a year is that I mostly missed Twitter going to shit. And because it’s such shit, I’ve decided to quit and sign up for Bluesky instead. So you can follow me on Bluesky or join the Lambtaco Discord to catch all the little updates I make and chat with me or whatever. An example of a little update: In the future (version 2.9.2 probably) I’ll be adding the option to change the mid level and end level (after you beat the level) flags in A Koopa’s Revenge 2. It’s a small thing, but I think people will appreciate it. And it’s something I’m capable of working on in my current state.

That’s all for now. More to come (when I’m ready).

Oct

2021

Ima Do a Twitch

I’ve decided to start Twitch streaming. Nothing serious. Just something to do that’s somewhat creative and doesn’t require tons of prep or post work. Linky:

Lambtaco Twitch Page

I already did a impromptu practice stream the other day (catch the VoD on Twitch while you can, though it’s not great) but mainly I plan to stream with a friend, Ben, who you may recognise from the Lambtaco Comedy YouTube channel. Our first stream will be on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on your time zone. More specifically it’s 4:00 UTC 13 October. Sorry if that’s an odd time, but it’s tough to get two adults schedules to coordinate.

We’ll be playing two SNES games: The Peacekeepers, a bonkers beat-em-up, and Kirby’s Dreamland 3, which needs no introduction. Hope to see y’all there.

If this Twitch thing goes well at all, I’ll probably start uploading the VoDs on a new Youtube channel. Maybe called something like Lambtaco Plays.

A link to the Twitch channel will be added to the main page some time (hopefully) soon. I think I still need to add the itch.io link too.

Aug

2021

My First (Finished) Mobile Game is on itch.io

I completed and published my first game in the Godot game engine, and it’s downloadable for Android on itch.io

Communist Caver n Crusade on itch.io

Sorry for the potato video quality in the gameplay footage, I was having resolution related issues. Anyway, this is actually a port of a Flash game I made 15 years ago, if you can believe it. I chose to remake a small older game because it would enforce on me a limited scope, giving me a solid endpoint for this practice game. I am a big sucker for scope creep, let me tell you.

Communist Caver Crusade on NG (Remake)

Communist Caver Crusade on NG (Origina l )

So this is my first ever mobile game too. I think I did a decent job, but let me know if there’s something wrong with it. The HTML5 version doesn’t work on mobile, so I hope the Android version is enough. I’m not really sure how to make a web game that works on mobile, or if that’s even worth doing.

Lambtaco Run

This may have you asking, what about Lambtaco Run? I still plan on making it, but I’m taking it back to the drawing board a bit before I start development over again in Godot. The feedback I received on the demos, as well as watching people play it live, informed me that I was going in the wrong direction a bit. It should be more optimised in the new engine anyway. And I’m not so far along that restarting will be a huge deal. I can still use all the art assets I already created.

That’s all for now. No need to make this post any longer than it already is.

Jul

2021

AKR3 Idea Blog #5: Lives, or Not Lives?

Welcome to the fifth installment of the A Koopa’s Revenge 3 Idea Blogs, the series wherein I discuss ideas I have for AKR3 (Ideas that are not at all guaranteed to be used in the final game, and often explicitly stated not to). Last time, we discussed and dismissed the prospect of multiple alternate endings to the game. This week, we’re talking about lives and 1ups.

It’s about time we talked about lives. AKR1 and 2 had lives systems, but only because I was blindly copying existing Mario games without questioning them, and not because of a well thought out decision making process. Personally, I believe lives can be a good design choice, when used as a resource to manage for example. But a lot of games don’t use them and wouldn’t benefit from them if they did.

I must stress that ideas presented in these blogs are not guaranteed to be in the game when it’s finished. They’re often just thought experiments that I have no intention of acting on. Please Keep this in mind while reading.

Continue reading →

Jul

2021

AKR2 Roadmap to Version 3.0

As you may know, I rushed AKR2 v2.9 out so that it would be easy for everyone to play the game again (using Ruffle). But because I rushed it out, it doesn’t have all the features and upgrades I had planned for 3.0. Hence it’s only version 2.9. I still intend to add the things I had planned, but now I can do that at a relaxed pace over the next year or more while I also work on other projects like A Koopa’s Revenge Gold and Lambtaco Run. Anyway, here are the nonbinding plans I have for upcoming AKR2 updates.

Version 2.9.1 HD Textures, High Quality Music, Performance Improvements, and More Art

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Jul

2021

Big 2021 Catchup Post

Well, it happened again. I didn’t update the site for almost a year. Mostly because the old site was a pain to deal with. (See this post for details.) So here’s what I failed to post about since September first of last year. Mostly in chronological order, but there’s a lot of overlap here.

Learning Godot

Days 6 & 7 with Godot: Added sound, HUD, health, checkpoints, and the ability to pause to my test platformer. It feels like a game now.

The node system made sounds easy, if a tad tedious. Making the game pause was an absolute breeze compared to doing it in Flash#Gamedev #Godot pic.twitter.com/ep2wNQkN6q
— Malinbo🐑🌮 (@LambtacoMalinbo) September 11, 2020

In September of 2020 I finally started learning to use the Godot game engine. I fiddled around and started making a practice game starring Mr. Game and Watch. More on that on my Twitter, to left on desktop and above on mobile.

I’m hoping to get back into Godot once I’m done with AKR2 v2.9. I’d like to finish this little game in particular. Might be cool to have an actual game made in Godot, even if it’s just a demo.

I also started an itch.io page. But I’ve yet to do anything with it. Maybe this little game will be one of the first things I post on it.

Continue reading →

Jul

2021

Hotfix for AKR2 v2.9 lag

Long story short, I fixed one of the biggest lag factors in AKR2, and I didn’t want to wait until v2.9.1 to have the game running more smoothly for everyone, so I’m releasing an update now. Play it on NG, or download it from here. (Those using Ruffle to play the downloaded version, should be able to keep their save files by giving the new version the same file name as the old one they were saving on.)

Long Story Version

Some people complained about sections in 2-A and 5-1 lagging a lot after the v2.9 update of A Koopa’s Revenge 2. I wasn’t sure why, and I couldn’t recreate the lag at first (not to brag, but I have a powerful-ish gaming laptop). After finding a way to induce lag, I started marking down where I experienced it the most so I could improve those areas for version 2.9.1. Every area had an easy explanation like too many collisions are running, or too much vector art. But that one set of areas had horrendous single-digit-framerate lag I just couldn’t explain.

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Jul

2021

Why Version 2.9?

You may have asked yourself (or asked me) “Why is it A Koopa’s Revenge 2 version 2.9 and not version 3.0?” Well, there’s a long and a short answer to that question.

Short Answer:

Put simply, the game’s not finished. So then why did I release it before it’s done? Ruffle, the Flash emulator. I was on my way to releasing 3.0 some time in the next year or two, when I realised I could have AKR2 running in browsers just like the good ol’ days. And giving people access to the game again was more important to me than delaying it until it’s 100% finished. Perfectionism be damned.

Long Answer:

The details are a bit of a long story, but here goes. When I first heard about Ruffle, I got excited and tried to run AKR2 in it, and at first everything seemed adequate but… no dice

The map really shouldn’t be behind the level. The level shouldn’t even be there any more.

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Jun

2021

Welcome to the new lambta.co

You may have noticed the site looks a bit different. You may also have noticed I’m no longer hosting the games embedded in webpages. That’s the big thing here, so I’ll explain that first.

Where are the games?

With the so-called Death of Flash, it’s become basically impossible to use the Flash plugin online. There are ways around this (which I’ll get into the details on later) but I ultimately decided to no longer host the games the way we used to. Rest assured, the games remain as they always were, on Newgrounds.

You may still download the games on this site. With the loss of embedded games, I’ve made that a more prominent feature. It was always sort of hidden before, under “Share our Games”, because my primary intention was for other sites to grab the games from here, and embed them in their own pages.

How do I play Flash games in 2021?

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Sep

2020

Death of Flash

I am constantly asked questions about the so called “Death of Flash” and what I plan on doing about it. This is a one sentence question that requires several paragraphs to answer. But the short version is Flash content is going to be just fine. Right now, there are already functional archives and emulators you can use to play Flash games. As these resources continue to improve Flash content will be accessible and preserved for years to come.

If that answer doesn’t quell your worries, I’ve written a more detailed explanation so just keep on reading.

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