I added a new ghost enemy.  I've wanted the game to have a ghost for a while but I didn't have any solid ideas how it would fit in gameplay wise.  I came up with a few sprites that I liked and a fading visibility effect and started experimenting.  My original idea was to be able to kill the ghost when it was fully visible.  This would require a perfectly timed attack with a high risk of damage if unsuccessful.

Ultimately, it didn't feel right.  Also, the idea of killing a ghost with a metal scythe doesn't make sense to me.  Eventually, I flipped that idea around and made it so the ghost can hurt the player when mostly opaque but can be ran/jumped through when it's mostly invisible.

I also gave the ghost a plunge attack, where it quickly moves towards the player for a few moments before speeding madly away.  I feel like dodging them is tough but doable and the enemy behaves differently from everything else – so I'm happy with how it turned out.

Here's a quick look:

I also got around to adding death animations to skeletons.  At first, I used the same simple rising, fading effect I've used on other enemies.  It was ok.  Here's what my first attempt looked like:

EDIT: For some reason, this GIF won't show up.  Here's the direct link: https://media.giphy.com/media/3oxHQAbBXVOQUUmkZq/giphy.gif

Soon after I added the effect, I realized it would be neat if the bones separated and fell.  So, I created some different sprites and dropped them at varying speeds and rotations.  I'm pretty happy with the effect - it's definitely more visually satisfying to watch them crumble.  Here's the new and improved skeleton deaths:

It's awesome that you remade a classic game that connected with you back in the day.  I had no experience with the original, but I found the overall concept fresh and fun.  I had a little trouble figuring things out - it took me a few tries to figure out the shoot "button" wasn't a button at all. Maybe that's on me, though.

I also enjoy the drab color palette and character animations.  It definitely captures the look and feel of the Blade Runner world through an old school video game lens.

Personally, I'd like to see more variety.  Maybe some levels have different obstacles or different replicants change the game loop somehow?  I understand if that's not true to the remake vision - just my two cents.

Overall, I really like it.  Nicely done so far. 

Cool concept! The pixel art looks great, too. Definitely following.

This is so charming! Looks great.  I dig the combo attacks - very eager to see more!

The second boss fight is up and running.  It still needs some polish, animations, and visual effects but everything works and the difficulty is consistent IMO.

I recorded a video of one of my attempts at defeating it:





The fight starts pretty tame and is easy as long as the skeletons are killed soon after they spawn.  As things ratchet up and the big skull becomes more aggressive, that becomes easier said than done.

I also added some new platforming elements and sketched up a new idea to add variety to some of the game's dark levels.  I'll show off more of that soon.

This is really your first game?!?     It looks phenomenal.

I can't imagine this being a small project, but hey - if it is for you, then kudos.

IMO, you should be sure that your gameplay isn't too similar to Hyper Light Drifter.  I know that's where the inspiration is coming from, but be sure to add some of your own ideas into the mix so the final product stands out.
Keep up the great work.

Looks like a fun, fresh concept.  I'm also loving the idea of Mario Kart style power ups or care packages that descend into the match.  Maybe different game modes could go that direction and others could be more straight-forward?

Eager to see more. 

I spent a little time today tightening up the platforming.  I also corrected a bug that occurred when hitting the side of a wall just right.  While testing to make sure the bug was indeed gone, I got back into level design.

By experimenting with floating platforms (instead of corridors with enemies and traps), I've come up with some fresh ideas for vertical levels and branching paths.  I'm seeing the game featuring a few areas with different types of structures and enemies.  I think it makes sense for one area to be more focused on precise platforming and less so on enemies (although there will be elements of both).

I also got around to adding the proper animation to the skull boss fight.  I'm very happy with how it looks, although it is extremely difficult to defeat at the moment.  Clearly, I have some balancing to do.  Still playing around with different background colors as well.

I love the pixel art and I'm intrigued by the breeding mechanics.

I'm curious what the combat will be like.  I'm guessing from the UI, turn-based Pokémon style?

The skull fight now has two phases and works as intended.  I spent a few hours today tweaking the spawn rates to make the fight challenging but not overwhelming.  It's been tough.  If there's a long pause between spawns, the fight is downright boring.  It's a lot more fun with a high spawn rate, but with so few hit points, things turn fatal quickly.

I think I've landed at an appropriate rate. I've added random integers to the alarms so there's some variation between spawns.

I've realized that this fight needs something to mix it up.  The new attack patterns and projectiles make the second phase more difficult, but I feel like it needs something different to make the fight more interesting.  Maybe something with the environment?  Maybe a new type of skeleton.  I'm not sure yet.  I'll brainstorm a bit on my commute next week.

This looks awesome. Bonus points for using the dead project icon.

Looks neat. I really like the art.  The color palette, enemy design, and landscapes look great.  I would like to hear more about what kind of game this is (Adventure, I'm guessing?).  I'm also curious what combat will be like.

Good luck with the game. I'm eager to see more.

I like the pixel art. Curious to see more gameplay. 

I've succeeded at putting the big skull in motion and using it to spawn waves of smaller skeletons.  I set up a series of variables that determine when the next spawn is set to occur and how many enemies will be in a wave.  This should help balance the fight in the long haul.

It took me longer than it should have to get smooth movement along the “tracks” as well as the transition between those tracks. I have yet to add the animation, but this basically what phase one of the fight will look like:

Next up, I'll add more “tracks” of movement as the fight progresses, as well as projectile attacks and some charges towards the player.  I also need to add some kind of death animation for the skeletons and visual feedback when they are hit.

Spent some time this morning animating the skull.  This is roughly what it will look like at full health:

I might randomize the smaller skull movements a bit, but generally I think this will look pretty good once it's in motion and the player is also fighting the skeletons.  As the fight goes on and more of the skulls fall off to spawn, it will become more sparse.  I built this with a bunch of layers in Photoshop, so it should just be a matter of turning them off and then recreating this with more parts missing.

Looks great.  Are the perks random?

Project isn't dead, I've just been very busy with work and daily life.  I'm making this game as a hobby and as things have become more of a grind, it's been harder to stay motivated.

Today, I did some more work on the second boss.  First, I had to make a new skull enemy that spawns into a random skeleton enemy when it reaches the appropriate height from the ground.  I'm happy to say this worked almost perfectly on the first try.

Next, I sketched out the three phases of the boss fight and came up with patterns for the Amalgam of Skulls to follow.  The fight will be a combination of dodging the larger enemy and occasional projectile attack while dealing with a series of archers and melee skeletons that spawn regularly.

To accomplish this, I first made objects that perpetually follow the different patterns of movement.  It's not much to look at, but here's the general idea:

In the end, these moving objects will be invisible and the big skull will follow their movement and add more patterns to its movements as the stages progress.  At this point, the bulk of the backend work is done.  I have a good amount of artwork to do as the skull decomposes, but that should mostly be a matter of turning off layers in Photoshop.

[Here's how it's killed:]

Love difficult platformers, Super Meat Boy is one of my favorite indie game of all time, so this is definitely my cup of tea. The most important things, in my opinion, are to have a balanced/fair gameplay, captivating level design and most importantly solid controls. Interested in seeing more.

And is that a parody of Zelda II title screen i see?

Thanks - I think you're exactly right.  The title screen was definitely inspired by Zelda II.

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In other news, I dedicated a few hours tonight to creating the archer version of the skeleton.  There was some painful troubleshooting with animation.  I didn't realize that Game Maker's "draw_sprite_ext" function will stop animating if the current "sprite_index" has less frames.  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the archer only drew the bow halfway and stopped.  Eventually, I added a line of code and he stopped being a conscientious objector.  I'm pretty happy with the end result.

Here's how it's killed:



And here's how it kills you:

It needs some tweaking and a death animation, but with this enemy working, I can move onto designing the second boss.  I'm really looking forward to getting this amalgam of skulls up and running.

This looks great!  The sprite work is fantastic - especially the monster animations and items.  I will add my compliments to the new font choice as well - it definitely fits the aesthetic very well.

I'm eager to see more monster battles and learn about those mechanics. 

The character animations and physics look nice.  I fully support the concept also.  I'm not sold on the title, but I'm eager to see more.