{"id":501,"date":"2026-09-20T16:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T16:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/?p=501"},"modified":"2026-09-22T09:12:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T09:12:42","slug":"steam-demo-coming-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/20\/steam-demo-coming-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"More than just a final boss (Steam demo coming soon)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One year and 3 months have passed since my last post. It feels like a different time. I didn&#8217;t even need reading glasses by then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You would be forgiven to think that things didn&#8217;t go according to plan. I had to read the post to even remember what kind of plan I was on about. I was done with mobile, and had just decided to get on with a Steam version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well I did work on the Steam version, only very sporadically. But I am pleased to say that all the expectations that I had in terms of content have been fulfilled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It&#8217;s not like the game at its core is fundamentally different from the mobile version, but some extra content has been added, as well as several options. The most notable addition is the new final boss, which was the one thing that I was certain about at the time. I knew I wanted some kind of snake that charges dangerously towards you, leaves the screen, re-enters etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It wasn&#8217;t particularly easy to design, the game being a fixed shooter with a boss that moves in a way that needs to create a challenge while remaining fair so it&#8217;s always possible to dodge. I briefly considered the idea of allowing the ship&#8217;s movement on 2 axis (adding vertical) during the final boss battle, one of these ideas that doesn&#8217;t make any sense and that doesn&#8217;t have any justification in the context of the game, but my thinking was like &#8220;well if it makes the ending more memorable, it&#8217;s my game, I can do whatever I want&#8221;. Most people I asked were leaning towards being against the idea, and it is true that it would have required being tutorialised, for a sequence that you don&#8217;t get to experience before the final boss. Not the best moment to learn something new. I had coded the boss so that I could switch its movement patterns to work with either control scheme, so it was easy to give up on the idea, and stick to the good old trusted horizontal axis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The result is a little different to what I had in mind, but the centipede I ended up with exceeds my expectations in terms of graphics and gameplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is a snippet of the final boss:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-f56f613f wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video height=\"720\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 500 \/ 720;\" width=\"500\" controls src=\"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/alexus-steam_new_3_lowquality_2_1_2-1.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other additions include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A new ship with its own modifier and power-ups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A new score system called &#8216;Classic&#8217;, which uses chaining combos, while the old score system is now called &#8216;Simple&#8217;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Concept of loops: while the game is meant to have an ending, it is now followed by entering the next loop where everything becomes even harder.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Auto-fire, classic shoot&#8217;em up style: not fully automated like the mobile version, you need to hold the button down for repeated firing, or spam the button if you are willing to (which might increase the frequency while your wrist can handle it).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Steam leaderboards: you still enter your 3-letter initials or random rude words, now for everyone to see.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In-game soundtrack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talking about the soundtrack, my plan is to rework the music that I made for the trailer (see below) to make it sound even more in the 8-bit style of the game (even though it is technically 100% 8-bit already, using emulation of the NES sound chip). So that is still work in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now it has to be said that as far as the least glamorous part of game development is concerned, the interface had to be entirely redesigned for PC, not only to adapt the mobile version, but also to add the options that are needed to be on par with the expectations of a Steam release. We&#8217;re not talking about an interface-heavy game, but it is still the thing that took the most time overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Finally in terms of visuals, something I had entertained the thought of but that was only a vague plan ended up as the awesome arcade style illustration made by Goran Gligovic to fill the borders due to the game being vertical on a 16\/9 aspect ratio, as seen in the trailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trailer of Alexus 2040 on Steam:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alexus 2040 on Steam\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0i6DLP2LulA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goran Gligovic is an amazing artist, you should check his work: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gorangligovic.com\">https:\/\/www.gorangligovic.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The demo is now ready and will be made available during the Steam next fest in October<\/strong>. As for the final release, there&#8217;s no set date yet, but it is likely to be for the end of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can wishlist the game on Steam. As a developer, it helps me a lot. Thanks in advance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I know it&#8217;s a personal decision, but if I was you, I would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3584730\/Alexus_2040\">https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/3584730\/Alexus_2040<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-f56f613f wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/widget\/3584730\/\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"646\" height=\"190\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks for your interest in the game!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One year and 3 months have passed since my last post. It feels like a different time. I didn&#8217;t even need reading glasses by then. You would be forgiven to think that things didn&#8217;t go according to plan. I had to read the post to even remember what kind of plan I was on about. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":93,"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":620,"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fairlyavailable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}