📢Development Update!📢 Another part of the battle system is finished - finally, all the death & revive animations are completed! This time, instead of a generic crystal, a special rejuvenating balm is the item needed to wake your friend back up.

We hit 600 followers on bsky!! Thanks so much to everyone who believes in this project, we're gonna keep at it and hope we can make you all proud!

We're finally back in action! And with a new bit of progress: enemies can now be hit on the overworld, and the battle transitions have a little jingle leading into the battle theme! There's also one if you're the one that gets hit, but we'll let you discover that one yourself in the game.

Random-ish enemy formations!

Thanks to the help of our incredible discord community, Tara and Vyn now have their own little spot in Wplace! If you'd like to come and add anything in the space that's available, go to wplace.live?lat=35.97238... and add in your own Varminal doodles around our big mural!

Another bit of progress, getting poisoned and all animations accompanying that are implemented again. As well as different portraits and health icons to match! Little touches we hope will give more charm to the UI. #indiegame #indiedev #indiegames #jrpg #rpg #marioandluigi #mario #devlog

In between us adding and re-implementing other animations and features, we finished both characters' item using animations. Now they can throw them to each other, just like before, and also have a new animation for drinking stuff! Just to add that little bit of extra charm. #indiegame #rpg #indiedev

Tara's Jump counter has been re-implemented as well, but now with new animations! In the old beta, we just reused the regular jump sprites, but Paro wanted to go the extra mile, and we think it was worth it - stomping the enemies feels more satisfying than ever! #indiegame #marioandluigi #indiedev

Next on the list, the Goouls! Complete with new sprites and slightly better attack tells! (missing a few sfx for now) As well as a much nicer test background courtesy of @gardy102.bsky.social ! We keep getting closer to re-implementing everything the old demo had, but now looking SO much better!

Melee fox bug

Items are usable yet again! Complete with a new, more expressive and fluid animation. We're getting closer and closer to getting back where we were with the old battle system... but now with so much more style and charm! #Varminal #Indiegame #Indiedev

With a new art style and more skill on the team, we were finally able to finally make the menus according to the first concept behind them - now Plink displays every option, not just the move icons! A small diegetic touch to tie UI and the game world a little. #varminal #indiegames #indiedev

2022 vs Now: #Varminal #indiegames #gamedev

With the base overworld mechanics close to being fully implemented, we're ready to finally start revamping the battle system as well! Here's a look at some new animations, new UI, and new.. well, everything! (though the background is currently just a placeholder.) [🔊Sound on!]

Another move has been fully implemented! As we've said earlier, as the replacement for Mario & Luigi's bros. moves, Plink will transform into various tools for our heroes to use on the overworld. Here's the first one you'll receive in this game - the Plinkoline!

Got the critical hits back in! Originally inspired by the flashiness of critical attacks in Fire Emblem and SMBZ

Was scrolling though our old assets for the older battle demo and found the recording i made for an unfinished boss fight, sadd

Fanart Friday!! Today’s fanart, @animalrpgdev.bsky.social !! I absolutely adore how this game looks so far, I can’t wait for the full release!! #Varminal #fanartfriday #furryart

It aint much but it's honest work... Got the rolling numbers effect back in from the old version! Had to actually rewrite all the code for it because of the new UI and the numbers being slightly tilted, but it looks nice I think #Gamemaker #Varminal #screenshotsaturday

Just finished re-adding jump attacks for our new updated version of the game! Also added a semi in-depth explanation on how I did it for those who are interested! (and all those ML fan games still stuck on the overworld movement :^)

We have our own version of this classic Deltarune meme now, mom we made it (credit to Dumbass Productions in our Discord)

Mini Mario's 2D segments will also be returning (as they were, in our humble opinion, probably the most memorable gameplay segments in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga), in expanded 2D platforming sections, that will be a little more challenging to make use of Plink's new platforming abilities!

As our way of adapting Mario & Luigi's field actions, Plink the robot will transform into different tools for Tara & Vyn to use! Furthermore, replacing the Mini Mario ability, you'll be able to control Plink on his own! We hope his level segments and unique abilities will be a fun change of pace.

More overworld progress! Finally, one of the enemies is in, and able to notice and chase you! They're not yet interact-able, but that won't be for long. #screenshotsaturday #Varminal #indiedev #indiegame #marioandluigi #rpg

The facelifts keep coming, and so does the game's overall progress! Take a look at our vibrant new tileset for the sewer area, made by @gardy102.bsky.social, as our duo jumps on through in a fully functional 2.5D engine, all coded by our skilled programmer MaxL0s! #Varminal #Indiegame #indiedev #rpg

So, do you guys think we maybe have improved the art a bit lately..?

The facelifts keep coming, and so does the game's overall progress! Take a look at our vibrant new tileset for the sewer area, made by @gardy102.bsky.social, as our duo jumps on through in a fully functional 2.5D engine, all coded by our skilled programmer MaxL0s! #Varminal #Indiegame #indiedev #rpg

The last panel is now an emoji in our discord server btw

Throwback to this silly comic I made about the game #Varminal, back when it was still called Hunter Chronicles

Our main duo, from 8 directions. #Varminal #RPG #MarioandLuigi

An user on our discord server somehow got our old demo running on their 3DS via streaming! Since a certain handheld series inspired this game, this is really wild to see

We got the new directional movement sprites fully animated and working now, and they really do hit different in motion, don't they? With animations this bouncy, we're starting to live up to the graphical legacy of the Mario & Luigi series! #Varminal #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

2022 vs Now... #Varminal #indiegame #indiedev The character sprites aren't the only thing that look much better - thanks to our new Tile Artist @gardy102.bsky.social, the environments also got a massive upgrade! The difference between the old and new art is night and day, isn't it?

Lastly - to celebrate our comeback, our lead artist @gattaimon.bsky.social blessed us with brand-new Key Art for #Varminal! Thank you to everyone in our community, without your support we'd never be able to get this far. Look forward to future updates, as we continue to work with renewed spirits!

Updated designs warrant updates to the game's sprites as well! The graphics our latest demo used were over 2 years old, so it was high time for one last overhaul! The new sprites are bigger, more fluid, expressive, colorful, and simply look better! #Varminal

Starting off the new updates, we're showing off the new looks for our main characters: Tara and Vyn, as well as some major supporting roles! Some of the designs got updated to better suit the story and the characters! Do you see the differences? #Varminal

"Hunter Chronicles: Tara and Vyn" returns under a new name and logo! We planned this change for a long time, and it's not the only one! Look forward to further updates, where we'll reveal a new look for the game, new character designs and more! #Varminal

Tomorrow.

it won't be long now.

Happy New Year everyone! Big announcement coming soon. Keep your eyes peeled! 👀

WE REACHED 1000 DOWNLOADS!! As this is just the first beta of the the game with a few basic battles, we frankly didn't expect it'd reach so many people, but the sheer excitement of the community completely exceeded our expectations. Your support motivates us to keep doing our best!

With the first beta build of our game finished, we'd like to start being more active on social media moving forward. We want to engage more with the community building around this game, so we'd like to ask, is there anything you would like to see (or see more of) on our social media accounts?

THE BETA BUILD OF OUR BATTLE SYSTEM IS NOW OUT ON STEAM AS WELL! We added a few extra things and fixed some of the more notorious bugs, so consider taking a look! We made it as playable proof of our dedication to getting this game made! store.steampowered.com/app/3359600/...

We're now also on Itch! If you're having trouble downloading the demo from Gamejolt, hop on over here! sleepdeprived-games.itch.io/varminal

It's finally out! After many months in the making, we finally have the battle system build polished and ready for a public release! A playable proof of our hard work, that you can enjoy while waiting for Mario & Luigi: Brothership😉 DOWNLOAD IT HERE! gamejolt.com/games/vynand...

It's finally out! After many months in the making, we finally have the battle system build polished and ready for a public release! A playable proof of our hard work, that you can enjoy while waiting for Mario & Luigi: Brothership😉 DOWNLOAD IT HERE! gamejolt.com/games/vynand...

Wanna hear how our main battle theme would sound using the Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story instruments? Now you can! Nothing more than just a quick experiment done by Paro to see how this edit would sound, but we can pretend this means the Mario and Luigi crossover is real. youtu.be/dDRwenm6sHc

THE FIRST ALPHA BUILD OF OUR MARIO & LUIGI INSPIRED INDIE GAME IS HERE! Three playable short battles which include all the features we've shown off so far! The build is already available to our 15€ tier Ko-Fi members, and will go public in a month! Support us to get it now! ko-fi.com/animalrpgdev