Quick Overview:
Hey again!

So, I've been away from Itch for the past 5 months while I continued the hard-work on TurtleRun and improving my game development skills.

Back in March, I decided to start learning game development and Itch was a great home at the time. I was so excited to be developing and uploading the TurtleRun proto-type and writing DevLogs.

Eventually TurtleRun got to the point where I decided to commit to taking it all the way through the full development and release process. I know a lot of people make a bunch of games before ever attempting to release anything but I started to feel a really strong connection to the game and decided that there's nothing to lose by giving releasing the game a shot.

Somewhere along the way I decided to integrate the Steam API into my game and truth be told, I didn't realise how easy it was to still create a build for Itch. It's been a task on my list for months now as it's always been my intention to release the game on both platforms. I definitely found myself getting a bit caught up with the inner workings of integrating Steam, particularly creating achievements and recording stats.

I had a random urge tonight to get things going again on Itch and so here we are, I'll be keeping TurtleRun on Itch updated with the same build that's on the Demo page of Steam, so that's exciting, especially since I generally tended to get a bit more traction on Itch, even if it was just DevLog views, the numbers make me happy okay?!

Progress:
When I first started uploading to Itch, TurtleRun was but a shell (pun intended) of what it has become now. After over 600 hours of work and staying true to the solo-developer process by doing everything (except music) by myself, I've been making so many gains that I never would have thought possible in such a small amount of time.  After many long nights fighting with Aseprite trying to make parallax backgrounds that look good, as well as plenty of focussed coding sessions to add new bosses and mini games, I'm starting to feel extremely proud of the game and honestly I can't wait to have it out there for you all to enjoy. 

I also decided that in an attempt to not have my game fly totally under the radar, I would take the plunge into making YouTube content and trying to gain some exposure there. This was really difficult for me, especially talking to the camera. But I've really found myself coming out of my sh...No, enough with the turtle puns. But I'm not here to plug that, you can check it out if you like, I've got a DevLogs playlist that I'm regularly updating when something interesting comes along: https://www.youtube.com/@CappicheGames.

TurtleRun now has 3 of the 4 zones fully completed, with the final zone currently in development. Note, only the first two zones are available to play in the Demo/Itch version. Here's the latest Gameplay Trailer that I've put together so you can get an idea if it's something you'd like to give a try.

Moving Forward:
Itch will now be getting a lot more of my attention as I'm over the honeymoon period with Steam and I think both platforms have their own set of benefits and users that can both offer different perspectives and feedback on the game. I'll be entering TurtleRun into Steam Next Fest this October, where I'm hoping to build up my wishlist count over there, for any of you non-Itch purists who'd like to play the demo on Steam instead or fancy adding to my humble wishlist count (currently 70), you can do so here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2977440/TurtleRun/.

The main thing I hope to gain is your feedback and thoughts on the game. I don't take anything to heart and I know when to ignore non-productive criticism. Anything constructive regarding features you think could be improved upon or added or generally just any feedback at all that you'd like to give, I'm all ears!

Stay tuned for a lot more devlogs to come, I'll posting the changelog notes in future posts as well, similar to what I do for the testers in the CappicheGames Discord server when a new build is available for testing. 

If you're interested in becoming a tester, reach out and I'll hook you up with a key that will give you access to the latest non-demo build prior to release. I've started to build up a solid team of testers and their feedback has been beyond valuable to improving the quality of TurtleRun. You can reach me via the CappicheGames Discord where I have various channels dedicated to tester feedback and bug reporting: https://discord.gg/KtWgKPkWnA.

In Summary:
I'm really excited with how everything is going and also to be back on Itch and writing these DevLogs. Keep an eye on TurtleRun and if you'd do me the honour of giving the game a go, I'd be beyond grateful.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this and I thoroughly hope you enjoy my current and future games.

-CappicheGames