Hey All, 

Another week another great update!  So we have several new features that were implemented.  First, we now have a start screen with a menu.  Right now I'm just using the starting room background for the artwork on the start screen.  This is only a place holder and will be changed.   Right now the options to select are; New Game, Continue Game, Arena, Store, Credits, and Quit.  3 of these options currently work.  New game starts the game and continue game works as designed, more info below on how that system works.  Arena mode, the store, and credits are placeholders.  The quit option currently quits the game but that will be removed as you do not need that for a mobile title. 

Also along the same lines we now have a game over screen.  This screen also has the same artwork as the start screen (will be changed later) and displays game over text to hit the space bar to continue.  For this screen I will also be creating an animation of the main character spinning and falling on her knees.  

So now lets talk about the continue game feature.  This does exactly what it states, allows you to continue an ongoing game.  There is a save system in place for the game that is making all this work.  The save system is an Auto Save feature.  The player is not allowed to manually save their progress.  Remember this is going to be a "rogue-lite" game.  So it will autosave every time the player enters a new room.  I found it best to implement it this way as it's a mobile game and if you get interrupted, your last progress of clearing that room will not be lost and you can pick up where you left off.  If you get a "game over" the auto save is completely erased.   You cannot continue a game after a game over.  

The next thing I did was some more tweaking on the shadow engine.  I did a lot more work on this to try and get it more realistic.  Now the left wall, door, open door, room props, and enemies have shadows.  I even added depth to the shadows so if an object goes under a shadow it gets darker from the shadow being casted upon it.  Still needs some more tweaking but it looks a lot better. 

I will be creating a lighting feature in the game.  Some rooms are going to be dark.  The only light in the room will be from candles or a flashlight.  This will just add more elements to the gameplay and look really cool at the same time.  

Created two new objects in the game.  These are room hazards.  The first one was mentioned in the previous blog post.  

Mucus was created.  He does not harm the player.  He sits on the ground and pulsates a little.  If the player runs through the mucus your speed is drastically slowed down while your in the mucus and up to 1 second after you get out of the mucus.  This proves to be a huge obstacle when you are running away from an enemy or need to run from an enemy.  The second hazard which I am extremely proud of is the hole.  There will now be random holes in the floor of the rooms.  If you get to close you will fall into the hole.  I have also created the animation for falling into the hole.  Once you fall into the hole you disappear, lose 1 heart of health, then re appear at the location where you started that room.   You will also be slightly invincible while you re spawn just in case you are re spawned next to an enemy (invincible while blinking).  I am very pleased with the results of this feature and it's going to be expanded upon.  Which leads to the next feature that will be implemented......Secret Rooms!

Secret rooms is the next thing I will be focusing on.  In order to access these secret rooms you have to fall through a hole in the floor and be granted by the RNG gods that the hole does not damage you and brings you to the secret room.  If you find a secret room through one of the holes you will have the option to purchase upgrades.  These can range from +1 heart, +1 stamina, health potion, etc.  These can be purchased via coins that are collected while playing.  What will be offered will be complete random and will only be temporary for that particular play through.  This way every play through is different and you always end up with different stats and upgrades.  More on this to come. 

Two sound effects have been added to the game.  They are for hitting an enemy and using the firecracker explosives.   Which reminds me I have not talked about that power-up yet.  The firecrackers can be used against all enemies, even damage the main player, and are very powerful.  They require 3 stamina for use and do 4 damage.  Also a long with this I have cleaned up the pause and inventory screen.  I made the dim of the game darker while in the pause screen so you can see the inventory more clear.  Also I will be adding a quit to menu option here if you choose to quit back to the main menu, which can be important because doing so will NOT delete that auto save file.

I believe that was everything, if I missed anything I will add it to next weeks blog.  

Here is a gameplay video showcasing most of the features discussed in this weeks blog.  Please post comments and questions we will respond!

Thanks much!