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Hey, everyone! I’m back from 2D Con! I missed WIP Wednesday last week because I was so busy preparing, so I thought I’d write up an early postmortem of my experience at the convention for you.
2D Con!
2D Con was an incredible three whole days of indie game action down in Bloomington, Minnesota. I brought Atmocopter (the game I’m making) there again this year! I’m a bit of a convention veteran at this point- I started demoing games at conventions waaaaay back in 2014, and have pretty much never stopped aside from a hiatus during the pandemic. I always get a lot out of them, and it’s endlessly fascinating to watch players both new and old play my games. I had steady traffic at my table throughout the convention, and got lots of great feedback!
To help charge up my motivation engine, I use conventions as pseudo-deadlines or milestones, and set out lofty goals to complete by convention time. I always bite off a little more than I can chew, but that’s intentional! I didn’t get a new world or new levels in the game in time for the convention, but I did get the first iteration of Mission Control (part of the hub world) in, and I got it integrated with the main game loop.
I was also able to add two NPCs: Noggin and Orbert! With the addition of a dialogue system, they can also talk. I also learned (perhaps re-learned) an important lesson: Players don’t read. Or rather, they won’t read, if reading isn’t necessary for progression. Mission Control may be integrated with the game loop, but it’s not really integrated until I give the player meaningful stuff do to there. That’s a good lesson to learn as I flesh out the world outside of the levels, and I’m going to have to keep it in mind. World-building through optional dialogue is important of course, but it’s not for everyone. Quests, shops, and plot progression, on the other hand, will help to really tie Mission Control and the greater hub world in with the rest of the game in meaningful ways.
Hit “Continue Reading” for LOTS more pics and GIFs!
Game Development Panel
I also participated in a panel as a panelist for the first time. I don’t have a pic unfortunately, but I can describe it! The panel was comprised of two videogame developers (including myself), two tabletop developers, and a moderator. We fielded tough questions about development. My favorite was “How do you tell when something in the game isn’t working, and you need to pivot?” I had a lot to say about that! Atmocopter wasn’t originally the platformer game it is today. It was originally conceived as a “lander” type of game, where you hold a button to give Atmocopter “thrust” by spinning his propeller, then you can steer in midair. It really felt a lot more like a helicopter back then!
It was fun, but in a “ha, this is really janky” sort of way and not a “dang this game is slick” way. The game was also mostly dodging- You dodged obstacles, you dodged hazards, and you even dodged terrain. Hitting walls too hard would damage you back then! It was all kind of one-dimensional, and that’s when I knew things needed to change. From there, I added free movement (no gravity) and an attack, and the gameplay started to kick in quite a bit better.
In this phase of development, I had something that I could iterate on deeper. I added a boost so you could move faster. I added new and dangerous enemies and destructible hazards. I even had a boss in the game! It was fun, but there were a lot of sticking points in this version. The biggest one was that I found it difficult to design levels: Since the player could move freely in each room, it was common for players to fly right past a enemies I laid out, or fly right past a puzzle without interacting with it. Grounding Atmocopter with gravity again and transforming the game into a platformer last year when I rebooted the game was the best decision I could have made- Levels are much easier to design, and players are having a blast!
Photo Dump!
Here’s some of my favorite players and cosplayers!
The convention was awesome- Definitely recommend it! One of my favorite games there was Squid x Squid. Go check them out!
What’s Next for Atmocopter?
A lot! I’m going to be shifting gears, now that 2D Con 2026 is in the history books. I’m putting Atmocopter not on the back burner… but more like, in the slow cooker. I’ll be pausing actual development on it for a few months, but I’ll be continuing to work on the game design document and really flesh things out for the remainder of the first world and the next few worlds. I’d also like to give the story a second pass and do some rewrites and polish it up. When I come back to Atmocopter, I want to pretty much have the design done for a good chunk of it, and be able to knock tasks off of my checklist. I’m expecting to really get back to work on it early next year.
I’m still experimenting a litte bit first, though! A common request at the convention was a charge shot. I’ve also been thinking about a dash or boost, some kind of movement ability like the old version of Atmocopter used to have. Because these two things came up kind of at the same time, I had the idea to try combining them! What if you could charge up your attack, and when you release the button you charge forward and deal damage to enemies you hit? It could solve both problems, but we’ll have to see how it feels. Doing some initial tests with this today!
What’s Next for Will?
…Also a lot! First off, I’ll be returning to pixel art! A new Effects Gigapack update will be coming your way this week, with some simpler animations this time since I still need to recharge from the convention. I’m also going to start working ahead on Effects Gigapack v3.0.0, which will release in late September and have ten brand-new high quality animations! Can’t wait to draw them!
With Atmocopter in the slow cooker, I’ll be using my coding time to continue work on SparkBolt Studio. My goal is to try and get it functionally complete by the end of the year. After releasing it, you’ll be able to use it to make sprites, tilesets, and levels for your games! And I’ll be able to use it too, for Atmocopter. I’m really excited about bringing this project across the finish line- It’s about time.
Later on in September I have some freelance work to do, and in October I’m planning to bring you a new project similar to the Effects Gigapack, but for a different kind of asset. The Effects Gigapack has been very successful for me and I love making new stuff for it, so I’m hoping I can make lightning strike twice and have another pack that I love making stuff for!
That’s all for this postmortem. Thank you all so much for reading and for supporting me! Can’t wait to bring you more art, and SparkBolt Studio. And eventually… Atmocopter!
See you later this week with the Effects Gigapack update,
-Will