Sudden Plazma Burst 3 development progress poll
Added 2024-09-10 20:25:14 +0000 UTCHow do you feel about Plazma Burst 3 development progress? Select multiple options too.
Feel free to be harsh in the comments.
PS: Monthly development update is out too.
Comments
> If you can clearly state the specific financial or other problems you have encountered and estimate what time the game can be completed with how much financial support 100 stable Patreon supporters in total of any paid tier and I'll start preparing closed (at least initially?) beta, which can take about a month or less to make available. If that won't happen then I essentially just need to make story levels for the most part. Game feels to be 76% done if we are talking about proper sequel with story mode, otherwise like 99% done if we are talking about closed beta with Multiplayer, Level Editor, Skin Editor but without story mode yet with story mode spoilers. > I believe that I am not the only player who has this thought People do often have same thoughts, but it mostly feels like my replies aren't really reaching out to everyone who has this thoughts or will have in the future. Someone won't check my Twitter page, someone is isolated from Discord community, someone won't see YouTube community posts, someone will just forget it seems too. Although I guess I'll update gevanni.com with this information too now. Usually it feels like people don't really check it all that often.
UnrealCrash
2025-08-10 12:29:43 +0000 UTCHi Eric Gurt, I'm a long-time player and pleased to be able to communicate with you directly. I remember the plans of pb3 you announced around 2015, and since then, I have seen many related promotional messages. But to be honest, the released of PB3 is like going take forever for us. Every 1-2 years, I can see the news about PB3 seems get significant progress, but you have never given a specific timetable for the release of the game. This repetitive promotion but lack of a clear release date has gradually diminished my interest in PB3, just like many players' disappointment with "Hollow Knight: Silksong". I believe most players can understand the difficulties you encounter in the development process. If you can clearly state the specific financial or other problems you have encountered and estimate what time the game can be completed with how much financial support, this will help players understand the current situation better. At least give the players who are currently subscribing to you a reasonable explanation, which can also help you crowdfund subscriptions faster. Otherwise, subscribing players not only do not know how long they have to wait, but PB3 may also lose players' interest due to inappropriate advertise methods. I believe that I am not the only player who has this thought. But I think I can represent a larger silent group. I also hope you can consider whether to re-plan your overall advertise strategy for PB3. Thank you again for read and I look forward to seeing the release of PB3.
Candy
2024-11-06 14:01:15 +0000 UTCIt is a game that has been in development for many years, since I started playing Plazma Burst 2 between 2015 and 2016, I have been a big fan of the saga. It's a shame that the game is taking so many years but it's understandable, I imagine that every day that passes is important for this game to turn out quite well, I hope to be able to play it soon.
Mikop Sampiro
2024-10-23 14:36:26 +0000 UTCThe campaign and the multiplayer should be equally important in my opinion, because the campaign in Plazma Burst 2 had such a large replayability factor to it, coming back to experiment and mess around every time. What if I only use swords? What if I only use telekinesis? What if I don't kill at all? With the kit we're getting in the 3rd installment, the possibilities already seem endless. I love hearing updates though, thank you for such an amazing game :D
Nemanja Mugosa
2024-10-01 23:48:00 +0000 UTCI've been a PB fan since I was 9, I still think that PB2 is the best Flash game ever made. Keep up the good work mate, we'll wait as much as ye need.
Disson
2024-10-01 13:13:45 +0000 UTCim just happy to know Plasma Burst isnt dead
Azazel
2024-09-30 20:57:02 +0000 UTCPlazma Burst 2 runs on Flash Player, I think it could be said that it relies on some Flash Player features but still most of gameplay aspects are rather implemented from scratch. Flash Player itself is very much outdated at this point. I heard people suggesting Unity3D, Unreal Engine and Godot as alternatives. Depends where you'd want your games to run I guess. Some developers would try making HTML5 browser games still to this day. Plazma Burst 3 runs on engine that I'm making for this game specifically. It still relies on various audio/graphics/networking libraries though.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-22 15:02:25 +0000 UTCSup Eric. I've been playing Plazma Burst (both 1 & 2) for quite some time now and I still do. Its inspired me to work on my own game. I just have a question however, and that is which game engine does Plazma Burst 2 run on?
Takimoana Edmonds
2024-09-21 10:48:43 +0000 UTCI want the multiplayer cause I remember enjoying levels like thoughs ones where you have to make it through an obstacle course and such.
zach manges
2024-09-21 00:22:23 +0000 UTChonestly i'm just waiting for the campaign. i've stopped competitively playing multiplayer games for a while now and its felt much better playing solo rather than with others. maybe it was the network issues or just everyone got busier now. my request - make the singleplayer just as interesting as the multiplayer, maybe even more so. if you think it would take much longer to do so, feel free to upload parts of the campaign in intervals - whatever works for you. publish-wise, it doesn't make a difference for me. that's my two cents.
O
2024-09-20 23:16:08 +0000 UTCHonestly a closed beta would be fire
Molisson
2024-09-15 11:53:45 +0000 UTCI think the campaign mode is as important as the multiplayer. It's like an introduction to the game for newbies and a continuation of the story.
boss of the gym
2024-09-14 22:26:29 +0000 UTCi'd like to mark the story mode option, but only bc i want a story mode in the game :'3 keep both mult and story pls
Shallow Sleet
2024-09-13 21:38:55 +0000 UTCtoo easy to bypass that
xScripty
2024-09-13 19:15:34 +0000 UTCFor some reason I have always the lowest expectations when games try to talk about quests or optional missions. Almost as if they are optional for a legitimate reason, which often did also happen to be true.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-13 16:52:01 +0000 UTCNot really, theres tons of ways he can add authentication to allow only who he wants to play. The video of course will be "leaked" but Eric said that he won't restrict videos/streams of beta either so no big deal there.
Lumari Dev
2024-09-13 16:16:28 +0000 UTCIt may be better to simply have side missions/levels instead of just hiding them, like looting the base after level and etc
xScripty
2024-09-13 15:53:58 +0000 UTCThe builds will get leaked within 5 minutes lol, imagine it will end up on nas video
xScripty
2024-09-13 15:51:57 +0000 UTCOh nice! Yeah, that's understandable I think there's a balance to be had, more than asking people to support repeatedly, having it just at the end of a cool video or something "If you want to support my work and stay informed on updates I post every month on Patreon and will have a closed beta at 100 Patreon supporters" In my opinion this is less asking and more saying hey if you're interested, there's this opportunity for you! I pledged to a random game because they did something like this I thought the gameplay looked cool and Patreons got access to builds so its a win win, I'm supporting the developer, and I get to test the game! It's just a thought of course :) I just think doing that on YouTube could reach people even outside of the plazma burst community or reach old members who aren't in the discord or something.
Lumari Dev
2024-09-13 02:51:09 +0000 UTCIt says 64 so far. Could maybe work somewhat. So far it seems like frequent mentions of Patreon can have some effect on supporters count, about 1-3 new people per month though. Kind of not a biggest fan of asking people to support repeatedly.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-13 02:20:00 +0000 UTCAs for community-made arcs - it is something I'd need to approve/correct for sure. Initial campaign could be released without them and then overtime map makers could suggest their story arcs to be added as optional. Idea of quests is nice but I also kind of don't like the concept of quests. I think PB3 story would need some sort of pressure/urgency and inevitability when it comes to what players need to do in the game. For some reason whenever I think of quests I think of boring/repetitive tasks, but that might be just me. As for filler content slider - perhaps game would just suggest few options with predicted playthrough duration, similar to difficulty level. I'll test it all out at some point in the future and will be able to say for sure, so far it is just an idea.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-13 02:15:08 +0000 UTCSounds great! Are we anywhere close to 100 patreons yet? I wonder if posting some dev videos on YouTube more often(maybe something completely separate from patreon showing some cool features but more in a gameplay way than a development technical way, and with mentioning something about Pateron could help get more people on board? Maybe even mentioning the fact that at 100 Pateron members a demo will be released.
Lumari Dev
2024-09-13 01:08:03 +0000 UTCCan't promise soon but I'm working on it.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-12 22:54:58 +0000 UTCHonestly, I did share PB2.5 flash version at one point and I believe mingo1 then later was messaged by someone who sent him screenshots. After that I only really shared videos on Patreon or did screen sharing to friends I knew in real life. As for PB:FttP/PB2 - I do feel like there could be less levels just to not make PB3 players replay them for an hour and get to new stuff quicker. I will think about all this more later. Big levels - I think so far the only issue is the loading time, but maybe I could figure out shadow map, background environment geometry and level wall geometry precaching instead. I'd really like to make checkpoints possible if not for story levels - then for custom maps.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-12 22:54:15 +0000 UTCHopefully more than PB2 if players would want a longer experience, but we will see.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-12 22:45:40 +0000 UTCYes, I will setup server and launch beta if stable (during few months) 100 patreon supporters count will happen before full game release. There is infrastructure for current/stable builds releasing so I might give access to Patreon users who have donated over ~$5 through all time. Level Editor will contain spoilers though, I think I won't be trying to cut them out of the game too much, but I might consider doing it still. Then once servers will seem to work stable enough I can add ability to invite other people. I don't think I will do new beta version releases too frequently after than, I think there still will be need to focus on doing what is generally required to make a solid complete product. I think I won't restrict videos/streams on beta either, but I will have to add some kind of watermark to the screen.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-12 22:44:13 +0000 UTCpb3 soon pls 🥺👉🏻👈🏻
rabid
2024-09-12 18:21:32 +0000 UTCI absolutely agree with the others, that you shouldn't be afraid to release the game in an early demo/multiplayer only state ahead of time. Both parts of the game and community are important, I think if you put it on the website and spread the knowledge correctly it'll be popular among PB2 fans, even ones that no longer play the game, and might bring in lots of new ones too. I like the idea with the length slider to adjust the number of levels, but I hope that more of the original PB 1&2 campaigns will come eventually, and that the PB 3 one will have as many official levels as PB 2 did.
Sparkwave
2024-09-12 12:33:55 +0000 UTCIs closed beta for 100 pateron supporters something you'd actually consider doing? And if so would the closed beta only be for the patreon supporters? Something like https://www.patreon.com/OutofAction allows people to be a patreon for early access builds, betas etc. It could be something good for Plazma Burst 3, and I would even be willing to pay more a month if we got access to beta builds and got to test things and help playtest. EDIT: I realize that link doesnt work as a hyperlink, just search of Out Of Action if you want to know what I'm talking about.
Lumari Dev
2024-09-11 18:35:50 +0000 UTCWell, I guess PB2 wasn't advertised either.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-11 16:41:16 +0000 UTCThis poll makes me understand the game will not be known until advertising.
ahmed gamal
2024-09-11 09:14:20 +0000 UTCI would personally like to see everything done for a proper release, campaign included. I feel like story is as important of an aspect as multiplayer. But I still feel like we should get some sort of demo around now, at least for all the years of wait that were put into this. Regardless, I am very happy to see it developed at all, and I look forward to playing it until the end of time should it be eventually released!
(Basilix)
2024-09-11 08:12:51 +0000 UTCI'm unsure of the current design philosophy with PB3's storyline; however, I like the idea of the player being able to choose how much "filler" content they want. A slider might be a little jarring, and perhaps you could incorporate these decisions into the game itself like event areas/side quests of sorts. I'm also unsure of an organic way to allow people to make their own story arcs. Maybe you could make the storyline it's own thing and allow people to be in a featured arcs list similar to Happy Wheels, or perhaps open a community modding framework like the Steam Workshop.
Kaxon
2024-09-11 04:35:33 +0000 UTCA steam release would help a lot with exposure for the game, though I don't know if it's possible.
Kaxon
2024-09-11 04:20:41 +0000 UTCWhen it comes to the number of campaign levels I quite liked the 40-level long campaign. While not every level was important it allowed people to enjoy the single-player experience for longer while also being introduced to new enemy types and weapons. I also quite liked how you could kinda see the chapter change as we transitioned into the different colored levels changing up the main character and environment and potentially introducing new mechanics such as dialogue. If the new engine's performance turns out to be great you might consider going for much longer levels rather than more levels. That way you can avoid the need for 40+ levels and instead create much larger levels as a whole. This would especially be effective should you introduce the checkpoint mechanic mentioned many months ago. This would also get people immersed and engaged with the levels for longer without abrupt loading screens coming in after only a few minutes of exploration. Similar games such as Zombotron had about 20 or so levels to play but were able to make the game feel longer because of the length of each level. It also quite helped that players were encouraged to replay said levels for hidden secrets etc. If the length of each level is drastically increased it also means you can easily combine levels of PB2 into a much bigger level overall. Preventing the need for over 40 individual levels and saving a lot of time. I'm not too fond of the idea of reducing the older campaigns down to a much smaller amount of levels for the sake of time as I do believe they could definitely be remade and fit into the game properly with the new systems in place. Whether that be by combining multiple levels into one or by a full remake as I mentioned in the last message. As for the Data-Mining issue. Yeah, there is not much that can be done about that. If it becomes a big concern then it may very well be the best choice to continue keeping PB3 closed off from public until you are pretty close to release. One thing I can suggest is making a playable version of the game available only to a select few trusted members of the community. Potentially extending this list later down the line. This would achieve the goal of proper playtesting while keeping the risk of theft low.
Patty
2024-09-11 02:16:52 +0000 UTCI do consider PB2 & PB:FttP reworks due to lack of those may become a big stopping factor for new players - Flash Player EOL did show that about 80% of players simply were not going to continue playing PB2 via launcher. I assume it is just untrivial for average player to deal with Flash Player, almost like people became afraid of it. Perhaps nothing crazy in terms of remake, most levels might be even missing. Roughly, both previous games can be shortened down to about ~3 levels in case of PB:FttP and down to ~10 levels in case of PB2. This approach kind of fits well with that idea I have where story mode will only include critical missions only, and players will be able to specify whether they want story mode to be extended by optional/community-made story arc levels. Reason for this approach is to let players choose whether they have a few hours to play or maybe even weeks. -- Yes, most likely Android support is post-release. -- I'm kind of afraid of data mining for stuff meant for campaign mode, as well a pirated versions of the game from such demo (game contains server code in itself and it isn't really removable). Not even sure if I will be able to cut all spoiler content from the game. Kind of wish in case there was a release - I were not taking it down and people were allowed to play forever. Not sure if opposite is really possible to enforce. Maybe it will ruin first impression too and much less players will be waiting for the full release. Demo version won't be as polished atmospherically as the final game expected to be. Kind of feels like it might have Star Defenders 2D/3D levels of success if released unfinished. It will be disappointing to lose the possibility to make a single big release. None of largest PB2 updates did bring as big attention to PB2 as there was on initial release and thus I feel like rules work really differently when it comes to my games, like there are no second chances. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=Plazma%20Burst&hl=en
UnrealCrash
2024-09-11 00:48:21 +0000 UTCI agree with SupremeVoid when it comes to progress. While I understand wanting to make sure this releases at its best with as much quality as possible the progress for PB3 has been quite slow. Looking at the small list of requirements for release you posted I can already point out a few things that can be removed. First of all the remake of PB2 and FTTP Campaigns should be considered extra content rather than required content. They should not be necessary for release at all and instead can be introduced after the release of the game. There likely will be others who may release their own remakes on the PB3 engine but that allows you to remake these campaigns with custom assets mechanics and systems. Something more aligned with a remaster to fit the PB3 campaign standards or higher. I also believe that most of your target audience is located on Windows. I suggest making Linux and Android support come further down the line after the game release. I personally don't care if you want to take all the time in the world to make sure the game gets released or if the creation process should be rushed a little but if there is one thing I know you should definitely never consider is sacrificing the Campaign or Multiplayer to achieve release. Both are crucial for the game to feel complete and it would not make much sense to remove either PVP or PVE at release when PB2 offered both and both sides thrived. One thing you can do to alleviate wait time and entertain the people patiently waiting is to host a PVP event for PB3 to test Multiplayer out properly. Introduce a few PVP maps nothing too crazy simple factions CS vs Usurp maybe even free for all. Let the people get their first hands on the game and get some proper playtesting done for the Multiplayer PVP side of things before you get back to full-fledged work again.
Patty
2024-09-10 23:14:45 +0000 UTCUp to date link should be here: https://www.plazmaburst2.com/?s=11
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 22:38:34 +0000 UTCI completely forgot there is a discord server, someone send me the link?
Dama Gamin
2024-09-10 22:16:47 +0000 UTCMy current idea is to make it closed beta and then grow it via invites as long as server capacity allows.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 22:15:14 +0000 UTCI really wish the closed beta is open for others for free, cuz I personally cant afford to pay, unfortunately
Dama Gamin
2024-09-10 22:08:03 +0000 UTCYes I think you should do this.
Sayon
2024-09-10 21:23:42 +0000 UTC@Sayon By online trial you mean temporary access to the game?
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 21:14:48 +0000 UTC@Sash It does feel like campaign will be spoiled before release in this case. But also that I will get a lot of feature requests and bug fixes that do not involve campaign mode anymore. And I might just never really finishing it.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 21:14:03 +0000 UTCI guess some people did play games that use mechanics that keep players play for more than they really want to themselves. It can be both story and multiplayer games, actually. Thus if let's say player does spend years of their personal life doing some grind that only really leads to time skip in real life - they might develop dislike for specific game modes. Custom textures are possible, Skin Editor lets you alter appearance of characters as well as upload .svg files to replace limbs. Skin Editor will likely have a limited functionality in ranked maps but it should be more flexible in custom maps. Zombie modes themselves should be also more flexibly due to scripting support.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 21:09:50 +0000 UTCThis is a quite interesting approach and observation ^ It does seem like a common sense but can be missed out too.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 21:04:19 +0000 UTC@DroNNI PB3 story levels will be based on PB and PB2 story. But then a surprising number of players can't simply run PB:FttP and PB2.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 21:00:13 +0000 UTCTimes have certainly changed since the flash games era. I think you should go for a release on a bigger platform like steam. You could make it f2p and then sell special skins or something. Something humane and player friendly while still monetizing your work.
SupremeVoid
2024-09-10 20:59:48 +0000 UTCNot terraria developers, but gigachad Crowno :)
DroNNI
2024-09-10 20:58:59 +0000 UTC@SupremeVoid Hmm. I wonder what could be the good way to tell about it. I can say that I never really did this intentionally with other my released games - it worked due to games ending up interesting to players naturally. I do have a way to contact ~million of PB2 players at very least I guess.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 20:57:41 +0000 UTCI think the game would do well without the campaign due immense capabilities of the editor, however the story was one of the most exciting parts that I had been looking forward. When I imagine campaign in PB3 I imagine to be surprised by all capabilities of what’s possible in the new game vs. PB2 and be blown away. And nothing like polished official levels could give the best experience of that for a new player, or returning old fans.
Bitrekt
2024-09-10 20:55:45 +0000 UTCBeing honest with you, Eric, PB3 doens't need PB and PB2 campaing levels.
DroNNI
2024-09-10 20:55:34 +0000 UTCHow can someone vote that it is not necessary to have a story mode or multiplayer mode? Both are necessary. The story mode is for the presentation of the game, and the multiplayer mode is for the continuity of the game, both are extremely important. By the way, Eric, I would like to know if there will be support for custom textures, for example, if I want to create a zombie mode, can I create zombie textures for the player, and the rest of the map? It's just an example.
DroNNI
2024-09-10 20:54:10 +0000 UTCI suggest something and that would be to release the game with multiplayer first with map making while youre making the campaign, so that way the players can have entertainment and make more maps and gamemodes while also waiting for the story mode.
Sash
2024-09-10 20:52:24 +0000 UTCI recommend that you take a few more people with you to make the process go faster. I recommend you ask for help from people you trust in the moderation team. Or you can release some kind of online trial as soon as possible.
Sayon
2024-09-10 20:52:24 +0000 UTCYes, it is quite sad that in the best case scenario in terms of success PB3 community may end up with just completely new players. There will be some of old PB2 players but probably they won't be able to play as much as they used to due to progressing in their personal life. Which is why I'm wondering if I should add variable campaign length slider thing that adds/removes more of a filler/community-made story arc levels.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 20:48:23 +0000 UTCI can agree. I think I'm wondering whether campaign mode could be longer than that, more cinematic etc. I had an idea to make a slider which could shorten/extend campaign to adapt story mode duration to match certain players' needs (because some players might not have few days to beat the whole story mode and would prefer PB2-like campaign duration instead). Basically more/less optional levels as well as more/less extra game mechanics as part of that same slider. Maybe even random community-made story arcs could be included in-between levels - I can see how eventually there can be really enough of these to extend story mode to weeks.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 20:44:45 +0000 UTCThanks for answering the questions but they were more meant to show how little of the "actual important" stuff for everyday people is known about the game. I agree with Sash, the game could just go into the void because so little is known about it.
SupremeVoid
2024-09-10 20:40:49 +0000 UTCWARNING: I am on the spectrum so im saying things that I guess should be common sense but I just don’t really know for sure? Multiplayer in games will always be the shining light. Though, story mode in video games come with lots of new activities and hobbies for people, such as speed running, I think it should definitely be added. If you feel as if you’re losing touch on what makes a good story mode, the beta testing could be without it, and you could implement story mode into the full version once you’ve seen what us, the players, have made and pretty much take influence from those. This is what games like terraria, Minecraft, and fortnite have done. Terraria’s modders abused the tools they had, and made their own boss fights lean towards more of a bullet hell experience. Then, terraria’s developers decided to release vanilla bosses like empress of light , taking heavy influence from the communities creations. So basically you don’t really have to focus on story mode too much for NOW.
Ocean Weep
2024-09-10 20:40:13 +0000 UTCDo you think you have any suggestions on how to make progress faster? Perhaps like some corners need to be cut, or anything like that.
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 20:38:15 +0000 UTCI'm aiming for PB3: - PB3 campaign levels - Reworked PB:FttP and PB2 campaign levels - Multiplayer Target platforms: - Windows 10+ - Linux - Not fully confirming it yet, but game might run on Android tablets
UnrealCrash
2024-09-10 20:36:38 +0000 UTCI hate to say this but i cant see this game having a successful launch after people have been waiting nearly a decade. Im all with development is tough and that the game should be polished. But Pb2 community is little, the game itself is barely known i mean would there even be enough people to play it and have full servers? I still hope for a successful launch and perhaps with some advertising the game becomes popular. After all it would suck if this effort goes to waste. Whatever keep it up i guess, we are still waiting
Sash
2024-09-10 20:34:59 +0000 UTCStory mode is nice, but I wouldn't make it longer than a few hours. I think it serves better indirectly as a tutorial so new players can jump into the multiplayer with more confidence. A powerful multiplayer map editor will be the primary appeal and time consumer. I also hope the networking is still somewhat random and eccentric because unpredictable events really made PB2 enjoyable and added a higher skill ceiling.
Kaxon
2024-09-10 20:33:15 +0000 UTCKeep doing what your doing man, things take time, looking forward to playing it tho.
John Ivar Flatmo
2024-09-10 20:31:17 +0000 UTCNone of these options reflect my opinion so I choose "too slow" My opinion is that the development lacks a sort of roadmap or target state that you are going for. The detailed "patch notes" are interesting but often times its too much info and the core changes dont seem to fit into the bigger picture. Did you decide if it should be PB 3 or 2.5 yet? What is the target release platform? Questions like that
SupremeVoid
2024-09-10 20:31:13 +0000 UTCI think the process is moving quite slowly. I think GTA 6 will be released before Plazma Burst 3.
Sayon
2024-09-10 20:28:29 +0000 UTC
