Aloha!
After a fairly unproductive week I've finally been able to sit down and make a bit of progress.
Boomerang Enemy - UpdateI've added proper artwork for the boomerang enemy (last seen
here). I've also improved its behaviour a little.
I wanted to make sure they are a significant threat, so now when they see Leilani they throw the boomerang sooner. They can also randomly choose to throw the boomerang high or low, so you have to watch carefully and react quickly - you can't rely on always rolling underneath the boomerang. However the boomerang's path is easier to predict now (most of the path is straight lines).
The detachable helmet is also new, this gives Leilani the option of defeating it by bouncing on its head a few times! This can be tricky though as Leilani can be rebounded off the top of the enemy at an awkward angle. This is inspired by the
Chargin' Chucks in Super Mario World - which Mario could kill by jumping on them repeatedly.
I've also been inspired by the Chargin' Chucks to make some varieties of these enemies that can do different things! One example that I mentioned before is one that would throw bouncing spanners rather than boomerang-style projectiles. I like the idea of being able to add a good amount of enemy variety without having to develop brand new artwork for each one.
So I have put together the final artwork for this boomerang enemy with this in mind. The sprite is modular so I can easily add new bits.
The helmet and projectile are separate, so it's really easy to add new helmets and projectile types later on.
In terms of the sprite itself, here are the various iterations of its design.
With the final iteration I aimed to simplify it a little further (to make it more in keeping with the general art style of the game), and make it a bit less of a koopa/bowser ripoff. The new helmet is meant to evoke a bit of a hard hat vibe; these robots are general grunts that are responsible for helping construct the battery towers and buildings on the island. The cross on the chest is more obvious as suggested by people earlier in the devlog. I used the helmet to cover half of the robot's eye to make it look a bit more grumpy - but I like that it looks kinda goofy once it loses the helmet.