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[mushbuh]

Not a bad idea, but I don't think I can make them not look like confetti.

I changed the end of the level a bit. Instead of a finish line, the player finds a road, indicating that he's left the wilderness. It's very likely that different levels will have different endings.

I tried posted in one of the vg threads but I dont know if you saw it, basically you would just make petals rock back and forth and not flip then they dont look like confetti

[bZoo]

I love the feel of this game so far. I like that you stripped it down and kept it simple, it feels much more elegant 

What other characters do you have planned? Based on the movement and the mechanics, a part of me really wants to see a character with a lance.

Would there be bounce back if you hit an enemy that was stronger than you? I'm curious to know how tougher enemies that require more than one hit to kill will be handled.

[AD1337]

Thanks.

I don't think I'll end up adding different characters in the final version. I need to cut unnecessary features if I want to finish this.

I was thinking of how to do level selection. First I thought of something simple like this:



Now I'm considering an overworld map like in Mario games, but with tile-based movement like old JRPGS.

I mocked up a quick map. Note that the player would see this map in 4x during the game, so not even a continent would fit on screen and he wouldn't have this big picture of it.



Here's the list of levels:

Here's the level list:
1- Grassland
2- Cemetery Ruins
3- Ship Ride (Bonus)
4- Snow
5- Dungeon
6- Airship Ride (Bonus)
7- East Desert
8- Lava Lands

Then you enter a cave that leads you to another a map, like it happens in Super Mario World for world 3 and the final world.

The other map is smaller, darker, creepier and contains 2 levels:

9- Underworld Ferry (Bonus)
10-Temple of Hades

[AD1337]

Working on level 2:



Graveyard Ruins or something. Planning on skeletons, zombies and ghosts and stuff as enemies.

So far I made new stone signs because the wooden ones of level 1 don't fit and some bricks on the ground. The grass is different but I made it last week.

[mushbuh]

adding jumping and spikes could make this cool

[AD1337]

Spikes are certain on later levels. That one will have holes and/or dug graves you can fall on.

I have considered adding an item that lets you jump. I would like to have that, but I'll have to see if it's possible.

I've changed the sign to a tombstone:



Also working on an attack animation:



I'm a noob at animating.

Also, I'm giving myself the deadline of May 26 to finish this game. That's pretty much 2 more weeks, so a month of development in total. I think that would be nice.

[Konidias]

I think you should avoid jumping... Not only will it save you time for other stuff, but I would think that if you can jump, you could avoid most everything without even having to fight.

[AD1337]

That's true Konidias, but avoiding everything won't be a good strategy when I add bosses that can't be avoided. Then you would have needed to kill smaller enemies to level up and be strong enough to defeat the boss.

I've added the attack animation to the game:

[siskavard]

This is looking really fun.
I love the dude's bed-head

[AD1337]

Thanks, siskavard.



This is something I'm only considering.

[AD1337]

Some snow tiles:

[AD1337]

Bonus level: dodge icebergs and islands.

[mono]

Neat dude.

[AD1337]

Thanks, Mono.

I think I might end up skipping the bonus though. I'll leave it as an extra in my to-do list, if I have the time I'll include it.

The defeat screen actually restarts if you click now:



And this is just to show how you can "miss" a hit if you move before it lands.

[tupelocase]

So asides from potential boss fights, are the core gameplay features pretty much done?

[AD1337]

So asides from potential boss fights, are the core gameplay features pretty much done?

Yes. I'd say what's left is bosses and special enemies (poison, moving enemies, extra fast).

Also player items with different bonuses: AoE damage, faster speed, HP bonus, armor, flanking bonus and so on.

But today I think I will work on the main menu, in-game menu, level selection screen and more tilesets. I want to make a cave with bears. I also want to make a quick "tutorial", you'll see later.

Note for later: I thought of making a puzzle level before the final level as a build-up. It would have no enemies, just object interaction. The level loops forever, the signs are all wrong: instead of going down (100, 90, 80) they show random numbers or go up. Insanity!

[AD1337]

This is what I have in mind for a "tutorial": in the beginning there's a non-random encounter of an enemy followed by a heart. This shows in a second how the game works, hopefully. I remember Andy Moore saying that something awesome should happen within the first second of the game. In the latest version of SteamBirds, the first click by the player makes a plane explode or something.



I'm also thinking of scripting the beginning after the enemy+heart to include signs that show the controls (up arrow, down, left, right).

Also, good news: my musician has finished the main theme song and the victory song, and is now working on the level 2 song, graveyard level.

[AD1337]

Would I need more than this as a tutorial?



I thought of adding tips after what you see in the gif. Add another enemy and print on the screen "Run into an enemy to attack", add some food and say "Walk over an item to pick it up". Is this necessary?

[tupelocase]

That's not really needed.  As long as what's happening is conveyed clearly to the player and presented in an orderly fashion, there's no reason to point it out to them.  Makes me feel stupid when I play games..

Also, what's up with the little black lines around the hilt of the sword in the bottom UI on the right?  They change just a little in the gif

[DustyDrake]

Oh, that's a cursor, and the black lines which are changing is the gold count going up