I gotta admit, this game's development slowed down quite a lot last year compared to 2024 which was the year it started (we're almost at 2 years in development!), but regardless, there were still some meaningful things that happened to the project. So here's a full recap of where we've been! ;D First off, all the way back in June, I started a Discord server (which you may or may not already be on depending on where you're reading this) for the game where, for the first time in the project's history, people other than me got the chance to try the game! That's right, there's now an ongoing (semi-private) alpha testing program for ODYSEA, and honestly, it's been going great. Quite a few people were excited about the game, which honestly I didn't expect considering that it's currently in a very early stage. We've been talking about the future of the game, I've been receiving some feedback (and bug reports!), and some people even joined in on the project's development during that time! If you just can't wait to try the game, you can join the testing team too if you keep in mind the game is still very rough around the edges as it is not finished yet and you don't mind filling out this form. What we've been sharing in the alpha testing channels of the discord server is the bulk of what I will be showing you today, so moving on:

I've produced some new music for the game!

Some of these new tracks were made based on some story mode world concepts I've had in mind. For example, "Bit Depth" is meant to be used alongside a "dark forest" setting, while "Megahertz" I think would be a good fit for a fast-paced vehicle section in the game. You'll be able to find the rest of the soundtrack here (odysea.us.to/resources/music) a day after this announcement gets posted.

Emoticons!

I initially made these for the discord server, but you can expect to see them in the website's comment sections and forums as well! Not much else to say about these so next thing on the list...

ODYSEA will be open-source!

I developed BlockVine, a tool that makes it easier to put games made with TurboWarp (which ODYSEA is currently) in git repositories by breaking down the single project file into multiple parts that git can understand. So now, ODYSEA is being hosted in a GitHub repository! (private as of writing though) This has two benefits:

• It's now easier for us as developers to work together on the game instead of tossing around the file every time someone changes something
• It's easier for you to follow progress on the game's development and maybe even mod it!

The game will be released under the permissive Apache 2.0 license. Outside contributions will be accepted for fixing bugs only (not gameplay changes, but you can always fork the game and mod it!)

Screenshots!

I figured you'd probably want to see some screenshots of how the game is looking like in its current stage, so here they are! Title screen. As you can see from the top corner, the game will have deep integration with your odysea.us.to account. The game is already able to fetch and play community levels from the server! we already have some good ones lol Here's how the community levels look like in game: Now, you may've noticed that I only mentioned community levels and not story levels, and well... we don't have story levels yet :X (no really, if you'd like to suggest something for this game's story mode, please, do head over to our discord server linked above!) And here are some level editor screenshots:

ODYSEA everywhere!

Did you know there's an open source homebrew runtime that lets you run games coded in Scratch/TurboWarp on game consoles and other devices (a.k.a. everywhere)? Well that, my friend, is Scratch Everywhere!. Fun fact: I'm also a dev there :) Well, by using SE! as a base runtime, you might see ODYSEA release on more platforms than you might expect! I'm talking Nintendo Switch, PS Vita, PS4, Wii U, and maybe even the 3DS! I know, craaaaaaazy! In fact, I can show you this: I did a little test on my Vita reusing about 75% of the original ODYSEA player and level code and it works pretty smoothly! However, the runtime is still in beta as of writing and collision doesn't work well enough for ODYSEA just yet. Another thing to note is that custom extensions (which ODYSEA uses, well, extensively *ba dum tss*) are not yet supported. Here's a photo of a special 3DS version running on my 2DS: That said...

SDL rewrite

Scratch/TurboWarp is a very easy to use tool for making games, but it finds its place better on relatively simple projects... which ODYSEA is not. Believe me when I say ODYSEA has started to reveal Scratch's limits as a ""game engine"", and we've had many, many, MANY performance issues coming left and right. Can you believe a 2D pixel art game does not run at a good framerate on low-spec devices? Yeah, that's the issue we've been having with ODYSEA for the past 6 months, and is the main reason development has slowed down a lot. So, PwLDev is currently working on a rewrite of ODYSEA to C++ and SDL3! (thanks PwL :D) We don't know if the TurboWarp version I am currently working on is going to go away just yet, but this will be a HUGE step towards fixing the game's performance (and ultimately, engine reliability) issues if PwL manages to finish the rewrite! Rest assured, I will continue developing the game in parallel to his rewrite, so this will not slow down feature development. Well, that would be it for this update on the state of ODYSEA as a whole. As for the game's release, I'm now hoping we can do it by July this year, that is if I don't procrastinate as much as last year. Have fun, and take care. - Diego, lead developer of ODYSEA

You heard me right, as part of the closed alpha program, testers with an ODYSEA.us.to account and access to ODYSEA Studio can now share their own levels to the Around town section! by clicking the upload button at the right side of the site bar, you can access a pretty primitive (at the moment) version of the upload interface, which *in nerdspeak* lets you input all supported things such as the level's metadata and the actual level file into the /api/upload-level/ endpoint. Again, it's kinda barebones and unpolished right now, but it does the job, and the backend for uploading is complete for the most part. You can check out uploaded levels by simply visiting "Around town" and clicking on a level you find interesting. As of writing, these don't open an info page just yet, but they do let you download and play them! That's pretty much all I have to say, now go make some cool levels! :D Have fun, and take care. - Diego, lead developer of ODYSEA

I'm happy to announce that after the temporary shutdown of the humble htlabs server (which currently is literally just a repurposed sony laptop lol) for some quick maintenance and fan scrubbing, odysea.us.to (and the game!) will FINALLY be ready to officially launch... In a few days. Yea, I still need to work a-plenty on the actual game, since I've mostly been distracted over the past few weeks by the wonders of w e b   d e v e l o p m e n t! That's right, I've been learning a lot of html, css, and js, as well as backend development which was mostly a pain in the butt :D (and in the back, srsly im getting old) Welp, that's all I have to announce. Have fun, take care, and have a very jolly december :)! - Diego, lead developer of ODYSEA