Wait... Is "Simple Quest!" a side project by McPotato then?
Also, I don't understand what do you mean by using advanced features exactly? I think that Explore section had at least 2-3 games before "Simple Quest!" already for a very long time. Although I can agree that there were some times when there didn't appear any new games anymore for very long before now. But now we have at least 2 more games that are very potential exactly by using something advanced, special, unique.
- For example, each level I have made so far uses built-in enemies and items for servants but my game has no much challenge because of enemies anyways. The biggest challenge in my game comes with custom obstacles, scenes, challenges and puzzles which have been created by using hidden enemies, items, projectiles, tile sheets and course duplications for actions that command alone can't do yet. If not mentioning my boss battles.
- I don't know if Seggaw's main project had that much of it but he used custom music and sprites for doing some really good game design and his storyline was very potential also which gave some really good gaming experience.
- Then Antikore's Project TC came out and some more very good projects that have something unique. I don't mean enemies but scenes, physics, and rules that were created for those games. Those were not made by using just one object.
If speaking about Simple Quest then yeah, it is not very simple for a first world but several places have been planned very impressively and final boss for that world is really unique. No one hasn't created something like this. Something similar that people make for SMBX but better. My created villain gets mad and you must act faster but you don't have to change your strategy that much. I also plan a boss that uses different forms, I mean several looks, behaviors, and abilities in several health levels but haven't reached yet.
