Progress update: stone temple, outfit colors, multi-save, and almost there...

Hey, I'm back with another progress update. We're not far off a test build now, and all tasks are almost done. I'll talk a bit more about that below.

Progress towards

Progress tracker - what work is ahead of the small test build. It might grow or shrink a little depending on circumstances.

Small - 1 day of work

Medium - 2-3 days of work

Large - 4-7 days of work

✅ MEDIUM: Make magic moves upgradeable

This is done now.

✅ MEDIUM: Create a tutorial to teach movement and magic spells

This is done now.

✅ LARGE: Create Purple Man water mini-boss

This is done now.

✅ NEW SMALL: Finish player outfit

This is done now.

✅ LARGE: Create a small trading hub with shop, service, and quest NPCs

I've finished the standing version of the Guidess sprite, but I'll delay her animation rework until after the test build. I've also added 4 small quests to the Ogre Lady so far, I'll likely add some more before the test build because they reward items I want to be available.

🟦 MEDIUM: Complete level design

I've worked more on the Stone Temple - it now has new sections with moving water wheels, sliding column doors, and floating belt lifts. I'm going to expand this a bit more before moving on to finishing up the Waterfall Climb subregion this is part of, then I move on to doing the Steppe Rise subregion where the Plant Walkers and Frog Ladies reside - and those are the two subregions planned for the test build. After that I have more subregions to do, but test build first.

An integral part of the level design is having enough spaces to place magic points in - used for spell and upgrade purchases - and currently I have about 6 of each of the two types of points placed around the map + given from quests. I''m gonna pump those numbers up, because there's around 20 and 30 for each point to be spent in the shops, so I'll have to expand various parts of the map to add more, and maybe add a couple more quests.

🟦 MEDIUM: Add sound effects to various new things

I've added a new sound effect to the jump pad here, and I'm experimenting with an SFX for side and up dashes, as well as the a vortex spell. I changed this from a SMALL because it ended up being more effort than I anticipated - that said, I won't let it block the test build if it isn't fully done by then, I'll make sure to prioritize the important SFX.

✅ LARGE: New run animation

✅ SMALL: Finish playfighting player menu

✅ MEDIUM: Create new Purple Tentacle animation

✅ MEDIUM: Create a Blessings system

✅ MEDIUM: Create new Plant Walker animation

✅ SMALL: Finish inventory and potion making systems

Otherwise

I've started working on a simple outfit color change system, so you can buy the outfit in different colors. I'll need a new NPC for that so we'll see if it makes it into the test build, but otherwise I don't expect colorizing to be much more effort.

I've added multiple save/load slots and preview screenshots to each slot so it's easier to tell them apart. Next up is storing a timetstamp/date, and testing it properly.

Started working on another two new Blessings - one to reduce exhaustion, and one to increase money dropped. They still need icons, but the functionality is there.

I've also redone the Warp NPC's sprite, she's now taller to match the other NPCs - but she doesn't have anywhere to teleport yet, so she won't be useful in the test build.

I've added a new loading screen that's a lot more 'magical' or psychedelic aesthetically.

I've also already started doing polish work in preparation of the test build - optimizing a few things like entity respawns and lights. There are some bugs around entity spawns, loot spawns, and player movement, in particular, that I consider to be 'blockers' before a test build is out, so those will be focused on in the coming weeks.

Next up

That's it for this one. Since we're so close to being done with all the above tasks, my estimate for the test build is end of May. That is an estimate, so things can change as I fix bugs and polish things, but fingers crossed. I may keep, if any, progress updates up until then short because I expect I'll be pretty busy... but I'll see you then!