Oh boy. Not gonna lie, this week wasn't as good as I would have liked. I'm dealing with a few things so work was kinda put on the side for now. Still, it wasn't a complete loss.
THIS PAST WEEK
The boss is more or less ready. Adjustments can and probably will be made all the way up until the demo's release as I do more playtesting. That aside, the opening cutscene is done as well (as you probably saw in the tweet related to this diary entry). It feels a bit short, so I'll work on another gameplay cutscene for screenshot saturday tomorrow.
That said, I did get started on revamping some maps, starting with this one here:
I thought about making the pond a full on river, but then realized that'd make the map too similar to another map when it comes to stage layout. An impassable pond does make for some extra strategies though, so I think it'll do for now. Unfortunately the third special attack got left out this week, I'll have to save that for later.
THE NEXT WEEK (or rather, in two weeks)
Next week I'm flying home to my family. I haven't been home for two years and some family stuff came up recently so I need to go home. I probably won't be writing a dev diary that week, so this one will pull double duty.
That said, when I get back I want to finish revamping the maps. I already have an idea for what I want to do, so it shouldn't be too hard to pull off. I might have to go back into Sims to make a 3D model though (yay for elevation and cliffs). I also want to make some destructible barricades which can be used to make things more interesting, and I already have most of the code done for it so it shouldn't take too long.
Other than that there is one more cutscene I need to make. The groundwork for which is mostly done, so all I need to do is add it in. Times like this is where I'm thankful I put in the extra work to make a "generic" object so new stuff can be added in just by tweaking a few variables. I probably do need to add in a few lines of code here and there so things flow better, but that shouldn't be too difficult.
Another thing that needs to be done is getting more sound effects so they fit the various enemies and attacks. Once that's done the demo will be mostly done, but!
I'm also going to be adding an "arena mode" where you can fight waves of enemies and see how long you last. You'll earn points/coins/something for killing enemies that you can use to purchase unlockable powers and extra potions. It's not much, but I think it can complement the story mode nicely which is quite short by itself. I don't think this new feature will take too much time to implement, but I've yet to start working on this so we'll see.
SUMMARY/TL;DR
Completed This Week:
- Tweaked boss/special attacks
- Revamped one map
- Finished opening cutscene
To Do Next Time:
- Revamp another map
- Add destructible barricades
- Make another cutscene
- Add more fitting sound effects
- Make arena mode
Thanks for reading, and understanding my need to take the next week off. I should be able to meet the planned early February release date for the demo still, so look forward to that. See you guys next time!