Progress Report Ben X 0.06

Free post this month. First off, the pic.

It's from our studio's entrance. Guy downstairs from us buys and sells antiquities, rare maps, barber chairs, wardrobes full of old magazines from the 60s... and apparently adult-sized TNMT costumes with NO EYEHOLES. You can't see through the eyes, you can't see through the mouth, so my guess is they were used by a gang of blind shaolin monks thieves trying to impersonate the turtles to give them a bad rep.

Secondly, Discord link in case you don't have it:

DISCORD

I've shared a couple of videos showing a bit of our new engine and devtools there. I'll put them on the MEGA folder this month since I've prioritized the game over the Goodie Pack and there are no new GP illustrations today. But if you aren't a patron, you can see them there for a click and a scroll on Discord, Ben X channel.

Speaking of the engine. It is... so cool. I mean, we've already made a platformer with it, with pixel art cutscenes too (it has a timeline, layers, effects... pretty advanced stuff we've always wanted to see in an Aseprite or After Effects but that wasn't quite to our liking), but with the RPG and Visual Novel stuff we are adding thanks to our work "translating?" Ben X to it, it's starting to become something pretty powerful. It's the benefits of working on real games while developing an engine instead of having a hundred expert coders being asked to just start adding stuff "people might need" without creating a good base to stand on first, or you know... having to work with a base that's already 50 years old with all their baggage to have to deal with.

We want it to make 2D games, with ease of use and agility always as the main focus. We also love how Articy does script and we are adding a great script manager... Alright, enough about the engine. Ben X time.

Today, after a month of non-stop work, and 20 hours straight today, we have successfully played the game from start to finish. It still has a shit ton of small tweaks that need doing, and the rollback (which works pretty much like Ren'py's) makes things dissappear sometimes when you roll back then forward, we could add more small bits to it before 0.07 but we probably won't... but it works. No GAMEBREAKERS left.

Porting a Ren'py game. To a new engine we are making. From Ren'py. A code that was already forcing Ren'py do things that it was never meant to do. It's been tiring as fuck. But also really, really fun.

For the first time in AGES we are making quick progress, even if we've had to kind of redo the whole game again. And it feels good, guys. It feels so good.

August 2026 is the month, guys. We are maybe a week or less to a 0.06 release (we'll keep at it full-time, 12 hour shifts until it's done) and while -and I keep emphasizing this because I don't want you guys to be disappointed- the new content is just a new episode (the 7th so far), the way we are preparing the engine is meant to allow me to send you guys new releases every 2, 3, 4 months at the most complex?

I write the script, add characters and expressions, add whole PSDs that the engine reads, turns into a spritesheet of sorts and categorize automatically (no exporting, importing and blind placing, Akanoes, can you IMAGINE?), assign sounds, music, BGs, play straight away and from any point without needing savegames or starting the game OVER AND OVER AND OVER, tweak, add a bit of perfume, give it a kiss, send it your way. I only bother New Guy when I come up with new mechanics, or need a new devtool, or can't remember how a shortcut went owaityoumadeatutorialformetofollow.

Anyway. Sorry. As I said, I've been awake for 23 hours and counting and I'm in a bit of a manic writing spree. Bottom line is: Ninja Turtles have blind people inside, Ben X 0.06 is coming in a week or less, just one new episode but a whole new engine (if we did our job properly, you won't notice the difference save for a few improvements here and there), no new GP but I'll share the link anyway for the new patrons in a post right away, Delux-O stuff will have to wait until tomorrow because my head's about to roll off my shoulders and carried away by my dog. Possibly to be buried somewhere. Maybe to be peed on as a defiant sign to the current power dynamic.

So, so tired. So, so lucky to be making Ben X. Thanks, guys,

Newman.