slim mirage
The first public demo of Soda-Powered Penguin, developed by one of our very own admins, @manic ermine, is out now!
Download it for free from this link:
https://sonicfangameshq.com/forums/showcase/soda-powered-penguin-demo-sage-22-flavor.1325/
Give it a shot and tell us what you think of it in this thread! 
manic ermine
past geyser
so awesome
bronze lotus
yooooo
rapid heath
Ooh
manic ermine
it is a .exe, but i can make an (untested) mac / linux build that might not work
manic ermine
not sure if the section you're interested in is in the demo, but i'll upload a mac & linux build
vernal crescent
https://twitter.com/domo_yoro_/status/1532115844800450561?s=20&t=T53040UGXPF9Y5LHSAeuQQ this part in particular
manic ermine
ah yeah, that's not in the demo haha
but there are other difficult challenges
vernal crescent
Nice looking forward to those
manic ermine
hmmm linux build won't compile bc unity doesn't have the switch controller library on linux?
but mac is fine and good
manic ermine
here u go
vernal crescent
The mac build works! Havent encountered any issues so far
sleek drum
Yoooooo that's your game!!! Awesome!!
vernal crescent
I just beat the level where it introduces bursting into walls and you press down to jump
That was such a fun level
The twist at the end tho got me
And my wrist kinda hurts after playing that but i dont mind
really clutched out this one
slim mirage
anyone that clears the demo 100% gets the banana bucks role
manic ermine
nice!!! made it just in time 
vernal crescent
My heart rate was kinda high during that time
||i was honestly very impressed that level worked so well on the way back as well||
manic ermine
||there were so many little things and tricks i had to do to pull it off, haha||
like in this room- there's this little semisolid platform there that prevents you from sliding on the wall and into the icicles from one direction. but in the other direction, it works perfectly fine bc you wrap around, and the icicles have already fallen by the time you're sliding on the ceiling they were on
vernal crescent
that is so genius
manic ermine
level design is one hell of a drug lol
bronze lotus
It's great
I was expecting the levels to be way shorter
I was pleasantly surprised
And really great level design
past geyser
Good thing in an hour and 33 minutes there will be a video on the applez youtube channel about soda powered penguin
bronze lotus
I really like the bonus areas too because they remind me of kaizo Mario Maker levels
bronze lotus
Good thing in an hour and 33 minutes there will be a video on the applez youtube...
Yoooooooo
past geyser
watch me fail at video games
bronze lotus
Hmyes I would enjoy that probably
wicked pike
Good thing in an hour and 33 minutes there will be a video on the applez youtube...
That's awesome
bronze lotus
Can't wait to see it
wicked pike
Lot of pressure, Applez
past geyser
well
its just 14 minutes of me playing an awesome video game
with some words on screen
wicked pike
I'm the most excited I've ever been
past geyser
manic ermine
manic ermine
I really like the bonus areas too because they remind me of kaizo Mario Maker le...
admittedly i do watch a lot of smm2 haha
manic ermine
ok i watched the vid
society.
also lol the extremely slow bottlecap counter on the results screen
that was fixed a little after your build
past geyser
it was suspenseful
manic ermine
manic ermine
for some reason this thread is bugged for me and i'm not joined / notified on mobile
so do ping me if u need it
past geyser
yea it refuses it show up on the channel list for me
and the follow button does nothing
manic ermine
that's wack
vernal crescent
I thought this part was cool
died 2 times at the start lol
also cool that the hub world is fun to explore with its own secrets
||I thought the key was gonna lead me to another level lmao||
btw i can share the demo link around right?
manic ermine
oh yeah totally!
and yeah, i love the bubble movement
btw there is a second bonus level
hoary cloud
someone here must beat my time on bonus level 2
bronze lotus
I've sent messages here
slim mirage
uhh wtf
yea it did archige
archive
which is weird because pinned ones shouldnt do that
i unpinned and pinned again. hopefully that fixes it
past geyser
worked for me i think
manic ermine
oh it finally stayed
manic ermine
there's a second one?
lemme know if you find it / get around to clearing it 👀
manic ermine
oh nooo now the thread disappeared on mobile for me
slim mirage
i pinned and unpinned a while back
raw coyote
lol Celeste-like graphics, but with penguin sliding, soda powers and sonic loops. It's funny how it reminds about many sort of platformers, like Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario 64, Sonic The Hedgehog, Celeste and even Donkey Kong Country.
manic ermine
i do play a lot of platformers!
bronze lotus
Yeah it's great how you can link it to something you already know a lot of the time
Like "hey that kinda looks like [...]!"
manic ermine
familiar, yet fresh
as development went on, i tried to avoid common platformer tropes
i've played some indie platformers recently that are such a bore bc i've seen everything before
if i do take inspiration from another game, either A. it's an underdeveloped concept or B. it has a unique spin to it
you might recognize pin & fling from super mario odyssey for instance, but i mix it up by enabling pinning to ceilings, floors, crumble platfrms, etc
icicles are a somewhat common platformer trope, but not many games have you go back and forth underneath them
both are pretty simple mechanics on their own, but afaik there isn't really anything like it
similarly, SPP does have the sonic slope physics... but they haven't been utilized in a precision platformer before
which is why i included the bonus 2 level; this is something that is very unique to SPP
vernal crescent
||how do you find it||
bronze lotus
||you know the area where you get the bronze key in the hub?||
||there's a fake wall there somewhere||
stark vessel
played up to antarctic alcove
theres a bit where theres a really long stretch of icicles that you're supposed to dash through but you can just. walk. and go back through the icicles to dodge them if you're too slow
and i was like "wow thats really cool that i found my own solution but i feel like i detracted from the actual experience of doing that room"
||but then you go BACK through that room during the wario land escape sequence and you actually are incentivized to do it fast so you still get to do it||
its good!!! its good design
deep latch
https://youtu.be/_QMsvigkI-M i finally got to play the demo
manic ermine
played up to antarctic alcove
theres a bit where theres a really long stretch of...
i'm glad you enjoyed it!! i knew that you could take the long icicle room at any pace, even though the more "fun" option is to run through it
so at the very least, that first run through lets you get a hang of things before ||you gotta go back through as fast as you can||
||there's more chances for failure on the way there than the way back, but it doesn't really feel that way in practice... because you're far more worried about the timer than anything else now||
sleek drum
I finally managed to snag the game off the Itch.io page! I'm gonna play it after I finish all my exams, though.
slim mirage
final thoughts on penguin game 
past geyser
AWESOME
vernal crescent
Cool game!
past geyser
No Way
sleek drum
final thoughts on penguin game <:haa:465759344076783617>
So awesome and so cool
(Cool is no pun intended tho)
sleek drum
I FINALLY STARTED PLAYING
This is soooo goood
THE GAMEPLAY IS SO FAST I LOVE IT
OMGG
I dig the loops and the crazy movement toooo
My bottle cap collection so far
(Tell me if I need to spoiler tag something)
sleek drum
GG!!!
This game is soooo fun
I found the first secret course I think??
||Man these setups are easy||
I also kinda like how the strawberry bottle cap is basically a Celeste reference since the caps sorta act like the berries from said game
GG again!!
Really nice ||bubble challenge||
sleek drum
THE TRANS FLAG
manic ermine
sleek drum
Also I spotted a tiling error here
manic ermine
yeah, there's a few of those that I've fixed up in an update i haven't released yet
sleek drum
Looks like I also found a tiling misalignment here too
sleek drum
100% completed the Antarctic Alcove level
Good luck to whoever's backtracking for ||the key||
manic ermine
nice, congrats!
sleek drum
Great setups btw
manic ermine
ty, it's pretty satisfying to see it all come together
stark vessel
how find extra level 2
ive looked everywhere i can think and i got nothing
theres a message earlier that says its around ||how to get to the bronze key in the hub|| but i cant find That either
deep latch
how find extra level 2
ive looked everywhere i can think and i got nothing
there...
by the way it's very well hidden bcs that level's very hard
vernal crescent
havent found it yet but i will
might be the most kaizo feeling level in the demo
manic ermine
the two hints are:
||you can drill through the snow wall on the left||
&
||you can see a path revealed when standing near the first bonus level||
wicked pike
Is this thread just forever cursed
It just keeps disappearing from my side view
I don't think it's supposed to do that after only 4 days
narrow raven
past geyser
my lil kingdom hearts thread disappears pretty quickly
manic ermine
kh 358/2 days more like kh 357 / 1 day
past geyser
stark vessel
more like kh 179/1 day
slim mirage
i dont know wtf is up with this thread since it was disappearing from peoples list even when pinned
and if pinned, it should not disappear or self archive
i changed its hide time several times and it didnt seem to fix it
so i think it is cursed in a way unfortunately
feel free to remake it if u wanna @ domo
manic ermine
tbh i think im fine with the thread eventually self- archiving, people have played the demo. I'll make a new thread if / when it's relevant
although i do wanna make sure sicily & koopa get to the challenge level first
oh right, there is a video that shows going into the challenge level
@vernal crescent @stark vessel if you haven't already.... i'd love to see you both play through this gauntlet
https://youtu.be/tUUqVdsR6pw?t=1240
stark vessel
...is that where its going to be hidden in the full game?
manic ermine
probably not, i plan on completely redoing the hub later down the line
the "hint" for getting there is from the entrance of the first bonus level- you can see fake tiles down-left
stark vessel
OOH wait now i get it
oh the second bit yeah idk i just meant the bit that the brown key is behind
the video made it look like it was a very specific part of it you have to pass through but its actually "you can dash through this whole segment" which is indicated by a collectible
manic ermine
oh right, it also relies on figuring out how to drill- yeah, haha
the drill move will be tutorialized in the full game, but for the demo, it wasn't necessary since none of the levels really feature it... it's just the hub
so it's a super cool discovery when you do find it
vernal crescent
Wow this level looks very precise and hard lmao
stark vessel
alright!
this might take a While (i havent watched the level itself) but ill do it
manic ermine
epic
vernal crescent
Id say it's a clear vid recommended. It looks very tight, way more than the other levels
manic ermine
yeah, it has a very different design process from the other levels and is beyond anything i'd put in the main game
i built it mostly for myself, because i just kept thinking of all of these cool slope setups + i wanted to do level design that only Soda-Powered Penguin could do
the level was originally 3x longer and got way harder, but i cut it back for the demo since people weren't finishing it
and just in case, i also hid the level this well bc i didn't want people to accidentally run into it. if you want to find it, you really have to be paying attention & likely have already gotten all bottlecaps in the game
stark vessel
oh that wasnt so bad
not that it wasnt difficult but i didnt think it was frustrating
manic ermine
nice! that's a pretty fast first clear time
stark vessel
i think youd be fine putting that in the game as like. bonus content
stark vessel
i did use the video occasionally but i was able to figure out most of it myself
manic ermine
for the demo, i just wanted to make sure that people know what they were getting into & were prepared for it
stark vessel
i think it was my favorite level actually because it made me understand the mechanics more
i think previously id accidentally ceiling slided and i was like "huh?? what happened" but now that i know how it works its intuitive
actually maybe intuitive isnt the word i might be misusing that
but it Makes Sense
manic ermine
intuitive is correct!
stark vessel
theres also This Room
if you just dash once on the floor its really tight
but a few times i managed to dash twice and have enough time to jump away and that made it way more consistent
im not entirely sure how it works mechanically, but i found in at least this scenario "jumping before the dash" tends to slow that first dash down and gives me time to do another one
other examples of "oh i understand the game better now!" are the frequent required uses of "dash and immediately jump" and the steep platforms you get height from dashing into
manic ermine
hell yeah
manic ermine
if you just dash once on the floor its really tight
but a few times i managed to...
interesting, i don't think i've seen anyone take this approach before
and yeah, jumping before the second burst should slow you down a bit
stark vessel
i did it on accident the first time and so i tried to replicate it because that time i managed it by a large margin except i fumbled the ending
the video does not do this and it barely manages to clear the spikes so i thought "oho theres Game Knowledge to be learned"
manic ermine
i'll definitely consider making a room based around this in the future because it is a really neat strat
stark vessel
oh i hadnt considered that i meant jump before the first dash
manic ermine
ohhh, are you referring to a aerial forward burst then a grounded slideburst?
stark vessel
yeah
im gonna run through the level and get back to that room to experiment with it
manic ermine
that's extra interesting that you learned that there then, bc yeah: it is pretty important to know you'll get more speed on the ground than in the air
btw the intent for the room in the screenshot is pretty similar to this room: you're forced to slide backwards and jump
stark vessel
yeah jumping dash into sliding dash just worked again thats definitely a viable strategy
oh thats a big mp4
manic ermine
neat!
oh i think i uploaded 1080p 60fps lol
its not really a developed clip, i just used it for one part of the trailer i made back in june
stark vessel
slide backwards? where
past geyser
classic left headphone video
manic ermine
yeah listening to this now i am realizing that the audio problem might have just always been there. God
manic ermine
slide backwards? where
on the slope on the right; after you do the forward burst, your best option is to land on the steep slope and jump to avoid the grinder
stark vessel
oh yeah that is a thing you do
it doesnt feel as much like the Intent of the room though? that feels like the natural option i would think the primary "you have to think about this" challenge is getting there in the first place
manic ermine
yeah, getting there is the main challenge for sure
it'll probably go through some revisions in the future
stark vessel
i am not
for as much as i enjoy the main levels and the bottlecaps i find along the way i havent felt much like scouring the levels for every single one
how do i check the total number ive got?
manic ermine
no worries, everyone has a different playstyle
i haven't added a global bottlecap counter you can check yet (working on save file displays rn), but there is a counter that pops up when you collect a bottlecap
you can see how many bottlecaps you've collected in the current area on the pause screen, and how many bottlecaps are in a given level from the hub door
stark vessel
trying to screenshot rn but my screenshot button makes me dash
full screenshot because i cant get a cropped one
manic ermine
nice
manic ermine
you should be at 31 rn then if you have everything in the hub
stark vessel
i do
manic ermine
epic
stark vessel
idk i did get every strawberry in celeste which evidently this game has a similar design philosophy to
i dont remember how much i looked up though and naturally this demo isnt going to have an extensive walkthrough
it might be to do with celeste telling you which checkpoint they're in after beating the level
that might be a purposeful omission to preserve challenge or some other reason + it may be compensated for somewhat by bottlecaps not being identical but i think it could be helpful
manic ermine
oh yeah, i definitely wanted to add that but it wound up being a pretty technical problem to solve, so i couldn't get it done in time for the demo
stark vessel
fair!
back on the topic of the secret level
now that i think about it im not sure if it would even need to be bonus content?
because consider
the gap between, say, antartic alcove and bonus level 2 isnt that big
past geyser
My video has every bottle cap in Big Beginning .
stark vessel
it would be tough going directly from one to - yeah i saw that but you're not a 100% Soda Powered Penguin walkthrough channel also i forgot to mention this because i forgot what channel it was in but your voice is deeper than i expected - it would be tough going directly from one to the other but if you have an entire games worth to learn the mechanics i dont think it would be that hard
unless you are referring to the elusive developer edition thats much longer and more difficult
#releasethedomocut is i think how this meme goes idk i dont watch movies
manic ermine
lmao
and true.
i think it being optional is still the best course of action since it's designed very differently from the main levels, but it's not necessarily postgame. i dont think i'll have the longer version as a single level in the full game, but the cut rooms will probably be their own challenge level
i could also bump up the difficulty a little to set it apart more, but also: i've already seen one player get nearly 1000 deaths on that level 
stark vessel
@mint talon hi im putting you on the spot would you like to tell the kind people of the thread what you think of the game
mint talon
it's neat
stark vessel
thanks restless
mint talon
glad to help
stark vessel
(i shilled the game to two people but only one of them is in this server, ill pass along anything the other one has to say on it once they play it)
mint talon
definitely buying it when it comes out
mint talon
I beat Koopa in death total on final level apparently he's malding
stark vessel
i am NOT!!!! IM NOT!!!! IM NOT MAD i beat it with like 13 deaths on future attempts!!! im good at this videogame
mint talon
yeah he's maldin
stark vessel
we have what could be generously described as a rivalry
manic ermine
lol, and koopa already had a pretty low death count on first playthrough
manic ermine
nicee
and yeah, i used WL4 music as a placeholder for a whole year for that section haha
mint talon
I think I was just playing it in my head
manic ermine
ultimate classic theme regardless
the countdown section seemed like a pretty good way to push the game's mechanics further, and it wound up being a playtester favorite
mint talon
yeah even more so than WL4 game made for go fast
at least like you can take your time before and then the countdown at the end means hurry tf up
manic ermine
wario would be proud
mint talon
the "hurry up!" fight or flight kicks in
manic ermine
oh did you see the key challenge btw
mint talon
which one
manic ermine
within the countdown section
mint talon
don't think so gotta go back
Like I did take a random detour to get a cap
which I'm not sure if I just missed on my first way through or if it was only unlocked after you get to the end
I had like 10 seconds left so I didn't go in the blocked off part at the very start gonna have to go again
manic ermine
probably the former, there's only two caps on the path back and they're very short detours
ah gotcha
mint talon
is there a point to the coins rn or no
I assume probably something that'll come later
mint talon
fuckin hides a bottle cap in the main menu
