+ new unlockable ability: electric discharge. lightning bolts arc between enemies, doing small damage that can add up to a lot in the right circumstances! hold aim button to charge (can be done during other moves) and release it by hitting a slice attack. Still tweaking this (and need to make sounds). suggestions for more abilities are always nice.
+ level 3 is starting to come together, with 2 new enemies so far, the powersuit/grenade launcher guys, and the city helicopter (which is just the normal helicopter + a machine gun and a coat of paint)
+ added an optional "slow mo" effect that occurs when you rack up enough style points
+ tweaked some stuff to make the gameplay more explosive - you no longer take damage from enemy death explosions (from tanks, helis, etc), and helicopters will now produce an explosion twice on death; once when you hit them under 0 HP and they go into their "burning out" state, the second when they actually blow up for real.
+ i am not dead yet
+ steam page essentially done, everything except the trailer is ready (and the trailer is nearly done)
+ added a training/testing environment for easier development of new content
+ barely started on a new enemy (you can maybe find him in the video ...) just to feel like i have made *some* progress today
~ did a bunch of sketching out levels and stuff in my journal but im too lazy to actually make them
~ not much actual real progress this week because i suck
+ resizing the viewport and selecting different pixel-size options implemented, now every aspect ratio and resolution within reason is supported
+ added new grappling hook enemies for level 2
~ really need to make a trailer so i can make a steam page i think
- making videogames is hard
+ these past few days were spent mainly overhauling the enemy spawn system (again). now they spawn in explicit waves
+ this is shown by the new HUD element in the top left corner, which also works as a progress bar to show how much of the wave you have completed.
+ added a placeholder "boss" which doesnt do anything because i'm not going to be done with this level before demoday. i'm not really sure if i should even include this level in the demo, considering i plan on having it be played by more than just people on 4chan for feedback, and it's missing at least one more enemy and a real boss. plz respond if you have an opinion
+ snipers actually shoot you now. they are basically hitscan enemies with a 1 frame delay, so you can either reflect their bullets, dodge using the dodge ability, or just outmanoeuvre them with sheer speed.
+ made background darker for visual readability
+ WIP enemy sniper watchtowers
+ now UFOs will fling their meat shields back at you (ﾟωﾟ;)
+ New enemy: UFO
shoots powerful projectiles downwards, and abducts nearby humans to use as a meat shield
+ added sounds for level1 boss
+ aesthetic tweaks to level2 to make it more consistent with the first level
~ my yolo code is catching up to me
im starting to feel really unhappy with the game's progress and i'm worried it sucks ass
+ added 3d elements to level 1 to keep it aesthetically consistent with the 2nd level. trying to keep it subtle and not mess up the composition too much. also i suck at blender
+ refactored the enemy spawning logic to make it easily reusable for multiple levels
+ experimenting with the foot soldiers' AI to hopefully improve performance
+ new unlockable ability: teleport dodge that allows you to juke enemies with some invulnerability/intangibility and a bit of recovery time
+ ability shop fully implemented
+ saving/loading implemented for both player unlocks and configuration
+ freeze frame on level end
~ sorry for potato quality vid i recorded on my laptop
~ level 2 next
+ new unlockable ability: "Backburner" - hold the slice button to follow-up with another charged-up slice
+ added new boss explosion cutscene
+ redid jet smoke effect
+ removed the "blood" mechanic in favor of a more traditional health & damage system w/ health pickups
+ other stuff i forgot
+ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
+ boss enemy design more or less finished (havent started on the actual logic)
+ revamped score system - tony hawk combo style is still there, just hidden for now. now its more like DMC where you build up your style meter which drains over time. prioritizes move variety and more difficult techniques
+ started work on a currency system that now replaces the score on the screen - you'll use these "blood souls" to buy new techniques, skins, etc
+ revamped controls scheme and changed how combat works.
+ you now are boosting by default. you almost always wanted to be moving in the previous build, and a button with no reason not to press it is a button that shouldnt really exist in the first place.
+ the slice button has been moved to left click, and instead of being able to hold it forever, it now has a static length with a recovery time.
+ now right-click is used to "aim", which stops your thruster and allows you to wait in place for a moment, left-clicking during the aim puts you in a "lunging" state, where rocket forward and stab quickly but you cant control your direction. there's a recovery period that slows you down if you don't hit it.
+ all current and future attack moves can be cancelled into one another (with probably a few exceptions), because that's just awesome.
+ added the MOJO METER which powers you up into an ultra-powerful MOJO STATE where you have increased control over the sword and can manipulate your movement velocity whenever you hit an enemy, allowing for high-skill combo chaining on multiple enemies
+ made it easier to tell when you are being damaged by enemy fire (as opposed to the healthbar draining normally)
+ small tweaks over time to make the sword easier to control
+ toned down lock-on mechanic - now it is more of an "auto-aim" that the player shouldnt even notice. just guides your sword somewhat closer to the enemy under your cursor while locked on. this shouldn't make the game easy - it's basically unplayable without some amount of assistance.
+ tweaks to visibility. i am doing my best to make the game visually read well despite my poor art skills, and this has been an ongoing battle lol. bunch of users said they were having trouble keeping track of their crosshair and character so tweaks have been made to both the crosshair and camera to solve this. also, the cursor is confined to the screen while the game is unpaused.
~ sketched out a good number of enemy concepts in my dev journal, i will try to make at least one new enemy this week
+ uploaded new demo to ivysly.itch.io/rocketsword
+ added a title screen which took all fucking day because UI sucks
+ added an options menu
+ added a temporary written tutorial in the menu which i plan to replace with a real one
+ added tanks which you can pick up and toss onto other enemies
+ added announcer voice and lines
+ I have been doing general tweaks to how the sword handles, as well as changing the awkward lock-on mechanic to function more like auto-aim. user shouldnt really even notice it anymore, even though it's still pretty insanely helpful
+ fleshed out the enemy infantry to be more lively and move around, many have jetpacks. further plans to give some of them RPG's etc
+ added helicopters that take multiple hits of damage which leads to cool looking and fun combos
+ you may play tennis with the helicopters by swatting their missiles back at them
+ added more juicy hit effects
+ added pseudo wave-based enemy spawning, placeholder but actually works pretty well already
+ checked a single box in the project settings that improved performance 1000x
- i cannot draw helicopters
- i still have not done any level design nor do i even know where to start with this game
+ uploaded for demoday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! itch.io/jam/agdg-demo-day-39/rate/1110611
+ changed background to nighttime for visual readability
+ added sword trail, also for visual readability
+ helicopter missiles now explode
+ helicopters now explode
+ explosions knock you back
+ enemy explosions can hit other enemies, and you can set up helicopter death/missile explosions to score big
+ small tweaks to the infinite enemy spawning
+ added scoring system stolen from tony hawk's pro skater
+ added proper death screen
- my physical and mental health are deteriorating at an alarming rate & i need to take a break lol
+ even more blood particles
+ never-ending tweaks to game-feel and manoeuvring the sword
+ enemies shoot at you now, but it doesn't do anything yet
+ remade some assets for the ground/background, improved the jet flame sprites for readability/distinguishing them from blood sprites (webm zoomed in for better preview)
+ began work on mockup for HUD elements and a health mechanic (so that this may actually be a game someday)
+ set up very basic object pooling to optimize certain nodes that need a lot of instances at once
- had plans to go out and record foley for sound effects/death screams with my friends, but they pussied out because the weather is apparently "too hot"
+ slightly increased gore
+ implemented basic health system (no death/gameover yet)
+ drew health bar and wrote a simple shader to make it look more like blood
+ experimenting with a super chunky hitstop effect, probably will tone it down a bit
+ created more background assets
+ refactoring and cutting out obsolete systems/scenes
+ better optimized for many enemies
+ more blood splatters
+ more gore effects
+ now there is a difference between stabbing and slicing - enemies sliced will be cut in half, but stabbed enemy corpses will last longer (this will be meaningful when i implement a "combo" system)
+ implemented offscreen enemy indicators
+ lock-on mechanics virtually finished
+ started design doc sketching out plans for enemies and additional mechanics (yes this is progress if you're yesdev)