I've been neglecting this a bit for the feedback thread, which is much more exciting to me. Anyway:
ALPHA 3 (16th-23rd)
16th(post-release):
Put up a video and start a feedback thread # DONE
Recolor secret item gold # DONE
Order another set of those plastic shelves...those are serious home-organizational tools, man.
17th:
High-octane mode: increase the speed of enemy choreography. # DONE
Display tutorial text as rescaled bitmap font, not system font. # DONE
Add additional line breaks to tutorial text. # DONE
Display menu text as rescaled bitmap font, not system font. # DONE
Display conversation help as rescaled bitmap font, not system font. # DONE
Realign all HUD text. # DONE
Reverse ship tilt. # DONE
Add drop shadows and bilinear filtering(via abuse of rotationX) to all text # DONE
Colorize and add scaling to chain count. # DONE
Thicken the size of the targeting dots # DONE
18th:
Started on some better preloader music that uses more of the musical ideas I have going # DONE
Pickup popup
Add timer # DONE
Add display # DONE
Fixed an issue where pickups following the drone would add themselves to a list repeatedly, causing a memory leak # DONE
Fixed sometimes incorrect alignment of tutorial text # DONE
Reworked the game timing method to use ENTER_FRAME instead of TIMER(this seems to be more reliable) and adjusted framerate limit to 45FPS.
Updated game timer to use 45fps seconds.
Secret items now add 2500 points, other items add 250 # DONE
Clean up the environment-collision box generation algoithm. # DONE, needs some more testing
Fix Swarmer accels to player but not to drone # DONE
e1m3 collision # DONE
e1m3 lighting # FIRST PASS
e1m3 ents # FIRST PASS
19th:
Add a "target and select the targeted ent" toggle to the tool. # DONE
Remove the useless prints when placing tiles in the tool. # DONE
get the boxes in e1m1 positioned a little more realistically. # DONE
Begin investigating forum hosting - Vanilla looks promising
e1m4 collision # DONE
e1m4 lighting # FIRST PASS
e1m4 ents # 20%
Took a break to learn a little bit about Scala. It seems pretty straightforward for a Java/JS/AS3 user if you start by focusing on the simple stuff(basic types, computations, method calls) and leave the rich type system, OO, and functional/concurrent stuff for later. Library usage is frustrating for someone unused to the Java environment, though - you have to learn Java instantiation to work with Java libraries....
Broke some ground making an asset server for DeepKit. It serves both an index of data files and the files themselves over HTTP. This will enable a poll-based real-time update of game assets.....
Pulse the battery icon as it gets more power # DONE
20th:
Tuning pass on e1m3 # 80%
Level clear music should play on music submix, not menu submix # DONE
Add debug-mode teleport player key Ctrl+Z # DONE
21st:
Was at a convention starting today. Got tons of useful feedback.
Added hidden mines to e1m3 and e1m4! (You use the sonar to see them)
Added hidden mines to tutorial too.
Adjusted some tutorial layout stuff
Some additions to e1m3, e1m4 ents # DONE
Take down drone sonar noise by 75% # DONE
Fix tutorial collision # DONE
Find a way to add more tutorialization of "dock with the ship again". # DONE
Maybe add something that forces the player to fire, instead of mines?
Create "BasicTarget" # DONE
Add a recovery station to the tutorial level. # DONE
New art for recovery station # DONE
New art for ingame menu trim....2 passes, I think the second works by virtue of simplicity # DONE
Made menu icons "hardlight" instead of "add", it gives them a slightly transparent look.
22nd:
I finally did it. I figured out how to make a sick Hollywood fireball-type explosion with Blender particles/halo. It is the defining moment of my existence. *proud*
Make large explosion # DONE
Make HUGE explosion # DONE
Implement mike_bay mode # DONE
Implement UI # DONE
Smoothed out the "back" icon. # I think I actually like it less now
Playthrough stopper: a change to crate collision made the last sequence in 1-1 unwinnable. # FIXED
"Finished" new preloader music. It's never finished!
23rd:
Swarmer enemy
Create/reuse asset # DONE, Using "Scanner"
Make "Scanner" brighter!!! # DONE
Worked on a new iteration of "K." # 15%, basic outline, needs costume
New explosion for shots # DONE
Water full-screen effect # ATTEMPTED
Gave up, my first attempt was demolishing performance and still wasn't doing anything visible yet(but maybe I did something wrong)
Some iteration + refinement in e1m3 and e1m4 - they're starting to look roughly like final gameplay now
24th:
Make and render a "fat" Manta on its side to resolve all confusion over orientation and hitboxes. # DONE
Fix up resulting collision issues # DONE
Fix cannon+targeting overlay positioning # DONE
Make sure all drone passages are exactly two tiles wide, no more no less # DONE
Tutorial # DONE
E1M1 # DONE
E1M2 # DONE
E1M3 # DONE
E1M4 # DONE
Fix some missing collision in tutorial. # DONE
Do a pass on all hitboxes. # DONE
Add a number to the battery meter. # DONE
Explain one-shot gameplay and cancelling up front. # DONE
25th:
Finished out my convention-going experience. Got some more feedback. Went home. Slept.
26th:
Slept. Recovered.
Find more ways to avoid breaking the tutorial by running ahead with the drone.
Complement "find secret item" requirement with "shoot hidden target" requirement. # DONE
Place targets in locations impossible to reach with straight shots. # DONE...