+ Finished layout of first mid boss for stage 2
+ Started working on the transition to next part of stage. There is an effect I am going for but cannot quite nail it yet.
- Ton of animation to do for first mid boss
- Not going to make DD15 at this rate so sitting it out
+ 1st of 8 background layers for second stage created
+ Base second stage laid out and modified up to first mid boss
- Been writing more than I would like in my 'side-ideas' document(s)
+ Implemented moth specific mechanics gauges
+ Started the animation for the 'wake' generated by Lore's burst attack
+ Normalized Lore's burst attack damage so it is unchanged regardless of how filled her gauge is
+ As a result of the damage change now Lore's burst only gets a score bonus when it is above 3.1 (graze effect is unchanged)
+ Consolidated Blue's sword modes into her focused/unfocused states
+ Added high damage sword jab to Blue in focus mode and kept circular sword swing which grazes for unfocused
+ Increase damage of Blue's indigo beam to 2.7 and decreased her tracer shot damage to .33 to compensate
+ Made 'bombing' cost 2 resources for Lore/Sana after balance testing
+ Took a solid nerf bat to Sana and decreased her speed even further and boosted her damage slightly to balance. Auto-dust temporarily removed for re-evaluation.
+ A bunch of art that really doesn't need to be blog posted here
- Still about a week out from being able to get back into second stage layout in earnest
+ Optimized Blue's fragment sword follow behavior
+ Started reworking Blue's sword attacks
- That is about it because my new computer came in a few days ago and I have been backing things up for transfer (over 6TB of data) and re-installing & updating all of my old programs. Next week will be hyper progress!
+ Added night sky to cloud intro sequence for first stage
+ Modified main font slightly at anon's request
+ Cleaning up minor odds and ends from DD14 feedback before returning to work on stage 2 finally
- Computer is dying. Getting a new one in two weeks but my backups have become more frequent as a precaution
+ Placeholder animation for Sana's burst attack
+ Finished first pass 'rolling clouds' background
+ Finished first pass 'large city' background
+ Finished working on and implementing Arrange Mode
+ Balanced down difficulty of "Normal" Mode intro from first demo and re-implemented it as Original Mode
+ Added 'graze' SFX
+ Added 'explosion' SFX to large buster targets
+ Made it in time for DD14
+ Apparently (thankfully) Arrange Mode is fun!
- Blue wasn't ready in time for demo because she isn't fun enough to play as yet. Next time!
- Still tons of missing art/animation and sound/music assets that need to be addressed.
+ Changed life counter from blue flames to hearts thanks to the feedback from anons
+ Enemy sprite tweaks for DD14
+ Background recolored in 'normal' mode of intro stage to fit the stage theme better thanks to feedback from anons
+ Finalized the pacing in 'easy' mode of intro stage
- Still lots to do before DD14
+ Finalizing intro background redraws
- Having minor issue's getting Blue's sword fragments to return properly under certain circumstances.
- Still lots to do before DD14
+ Buffed Lore to be less punishing to play
+ Intro stage backgrounds being redrawn from scratch
- Intro stage backgrounds being redrawn from scratch (will modify where possible to lessen work thanks to anon's suggestion but this is still taking large amounts of time away from implementing stuff for DD14)
+ Finally finished Blue's gameplay and scoring mechanics
+ Increased the damage of Blue's indigo beam by 0.1, the damage of her Tracer Shot lasers by 0.3 and increased the range of her sword slash by 10 pixels for balance purposes
- Got a great idea of how to implement new movement behavior in Blue's sword fragments so will probably spend a few days experimenting with that
- Decreased the ExtraChain gain from Blue's sword slash by 0.2 per collision for balance reasons. Unfortunately this means I have to go back to rebalance and test Lore and Sana's scoring mechanics to compensate
- Considering adding a secondary selection type (simplified) to each of the 3 characters for people who want to play as a character but without their gimmicks. This would increase my scope by about 10%
- Been slowly putting ideas for a side project in a document and the urge to at least give it a week of my time to prototype it is growing steadily
+ Almost done with Blue's base mechanics
+ Finished Blue's idle flight animation
- Still need to implement Blue's Dust mechanics and I am second guessing her original design for that
- Blue's options are stutter-stopping when moving so I will need to implement some kind of easing or rethink their follow code
- Tried a new sprite for an enemy's attack pattern and it was poorly received so reverting it to orbs for now
+ Finished implementing Sana's basic gameplay and Burst mechanics
+ Added Sana to all current stage dialogue switches
+ Redid character select stats to be easier to read and more informative
+ Added 'quality of life' Hitbox always visible option
- Need to adjust powerup/item drops from enemies to be beneficial to Sana
- Help me I am about to add a third (and final) moth to play as for shot type and mechanics/gameplay variety
+ Finished Burst system overhaul
+ Started implementation of second character
+ Fixed a handful of minor issues among the mountain of feedback still to be addressed.
+ Some anon likes Archivist Chloe
- Had to re-balance Burst regeneration three times to get it right
- Have to do a ton of art (probably entire intro stage)
+ Was able to make it for Demo Day 13
+ Fixed keyboard and dpad movement issues
+ Corrected a previously unknown keyboard rebind bug
+ Got more downloads than expected and with it enough feedback to make a big to-do list. Hoping to get more feedback as the week continues
- Hardly anyone used the max upgrade options I left in the Shrine. I will have to make them activated by default for next demo
- Completely reworking the major scoring mechanic to be more accessible to casual/beginner players who otherwise would never get the chance to use it
- Need to make important controls more visible and encourage their use without alienating/offending core genre players
- Got more downloads than expected and with it enough feedback to make a big to-do list. This will take some time...
+ Spirit Coin system implemented for progression
+ Keyboard support and partial keyboard rebind in
+ Lots of menus added (sound/video/save data)
+ Shrine Offering Shop for upgrades implemented
+ Limited Archives section implemented for future VN story segments
+ Limited Extras section added for future boss art/story/stage information and scores
+ Minor art touch-ups
+ Will be ready for Demo Day 13
- Had to disable directional pad support temporarily because of unknown bug
- Verse 02 progress still on hold until everything for DD13 is finished
+ Most of the work finished on stage 02 mid boss
+ Added fragment system for story/replayability
+ Added keyboard support finally
+ Most of the menu work is done now
+ Retouching up all of the art for DD13
- Had to put stage 02 on hold in order to get the game in a presentable state for DD13
- Still need to add rebinding to keyboard
+ Massive general art update
+ Finished stage 1 boss AI
+ Started reworking stage 1 enemy art
+ Stage 2 up to mid boss complete
+ Stage 2 mid boss AI started
+ Designed and implemented second player character on select screen.
+ Started making rudimentary shmup SFX
- No music
- Need proper menus but doing my best to avoid for now
- Cannot actually use second character yet
- Sleeping 3 hours a night and drinking a lot of hot green/black tea and coffee to keep me going...