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Build 0.5.1.2

🕑 Added 2024-11-21 16:42:36 +0000 UTC

Comments

Brandon Cater

That particular statue is meant to be gotten much later after you find more of them along the main path! So it will be a few more builds until you can access it by normal means.

The Gunkster

In the secret dungeon with the secret statue it says that it requires 67 power to open

Brandon Cater

Ah, the NPC system likely won't be implemented until much later. I have a roadmap and I plan on adding it in around v0.9.0.0. When I do that, I'll basically be adding in all the NPCs in bulk at that point.

PerunMatt

are you planing on adding Verdite "the ghost girl" in the near future? or is it in like 0 priority rn.

Brandon Cater

Yes, currently it ends on Candimus Isle.

PerunMatt

Does the current version end at Candimus Isle?

Brandon Cater

I don't have a roadmap just yet as I was worried about over-promising, but I think that maybe I'll try and set one up just for levels and basic design that I have 100% planned out. You don't come off as rude asking about the story! I do have more story planned, though the scale of the game has increased a bit, so I will have to think of more little parts in between to keep things interesting. I do have the ending planned for sure and I'm hoping that everyone likes how it ends! I don't want to spoil things, but I do want some things to feel surprisingly connected once you reach the ending.

Helpfulgeomancer

I'm curious about the story. Do you have a roadmap of future stages and story events, or just adding things when you get to them? Hopefully I'm not coming off as rude, the moments where Illaria gets writer's block do get a chuckle out of me and I love how it's presented like a self-insert fiction. Makes me wonder what the climax of the story will be and why the Goblins kidnapped Legally-Distinct-Milan.

Brandon Cater

I'm glad you liked the puzzles! I definitely plan to have more barrel puzzles (and possibly more barrel types, just have to think of what is fun and implement it basically). Now that I have them made mechanically, making the puzzles will be easier too! What sort of questions do you have?

Helpfulgeomancer

The puzzles with the barrels were really fun! My only problem is that it's too brief, but knowing how this is a solo-developer project, I can understand. Asides from that, I don't really have any other criticisms, mostly questions.

Brandon Cater

Actually I was just testing it and I remembered that I made the direction attack change previously. Can you tell me more about not being able to turn and attack? Does it feel lagged or does it feel like pressing the movement button doesn't register or? Also are you using a controller? I do currently have it set so if you are holding left on the keyboard, then you press right while still holding left, it 'should' fire to the right. (Though it doesn't work in the other direction currently)

Brandon Cater

Thank you for playtesting again! Feedback is extremely welcome and appreciated! For the new boomerang mushroom cap, if he seems too strong, I'll give him a gentle nerf to his damage. I definitely intended him to be glass cannonish, though don't want his damage to be the primary source of his power. More so meant to interfere with your jumping than kill you. (Hit you mid air and make you fall into the chocolate) The teal mushrooms have been around since even the demo I believe. Though I have tried to space them out heavily because they really are like cutting down a tree. I'm quite glad you liked the new jelly lady and the boat ride! I spent a ton of time getting the animations for the jelly lady looking good so make me happy to see she's enjoyed! In terms of beach surface/water segments, I'll keep it in mind and maybe make it a tiny bit easier. For the hot chocolate I was actually thinking that it's probably better to have a hazard that doesn't outright kill you so that's where that came from. (Though obviously there are still death pits on candy island.) I'd be curious, but what do you feel makes the water death pit areas hard in the beach surface area? Is it having to fight enemies while doing so or just sometimes difficult to make jumps? For the black licorice, the real intent behind them is something of a trade off. Getting energy back, but you get stunned. Also as area denial so to say. Where you're at risk of getting hurt or falling if you touch them. So encouraging you to make careful jumps. I may lessen them a bit or change the way they work. (Possibly making them slow your speed down instead or something) For the battery, where it belongs is not yet implemented. I had to decide on whether I should leave that spot empty for this build and wait till I added in the thing it unlocks, or let you pick it up now or not. I figured it would be annoying to go back and do the place again later so I went ahead and put it in to let you unlock it now. (Not sure if that was the right call to make or not) As for the blueberry pie door, that's more so meant to be a world building sort of thing and will make sense later on. And hey... the battery and that sign may even be connected somehow... For the blimp form, I actually didn't original intend to implement it so early in the game, but I figured that it would make more sense to have it first show up here since I was going to add in the inflation barrels. So they kind of go hand in hand. Though yes, it's more so intended to be a debuff. Overindulging in inflation gas and all that. I want to try to avoid over-promising, but I do plan on adding in an enemy who will be able to insta-blimp you with a magic spell for example. (And I may make a secret location you can only get to by letting them blimp you) I MIGHT have a recolor of the jelly lady who is able to grab you after you inflate her twice, pull you in, then kiss inflate you into a blimp and she deflates back to normal. Then I would add some spikes above her location that you'd have to avoid for example. I can also control how long you get blimped for based on what caused the blimping for example. (I also considered making it so if you get inflated again while in blimp form that you pop too, but just wasn't sure if that was a good call.) Though again, I don't want to over-promise. So consider that just a maybe. I also have a plan for the blimp form to be used during a boss fight, but I don't want to spoil that in case I can't get it to work out. I did make some adjustments to the beach levels by removing a few enemies here and there. I also added a couple goddess symbols at earlier parts to the harder segments. Also I didn't mention it, but filimuri now have the ability to drop candy when you defeat them so that probably helps a bit too. For low mana and hyper charging, I hadn't fully considered multiple attempts. Since it is intended to be a 'hard' enemy, I could leave it that way, though it might just be a hassle. (I prefer the challenge to be in fighting the golem itself, not having to replay full segments just to retry) I'll see about adding enough mana for multiple attempts to one of the golems. Though it'll be up to the player to figure out which golem that is. The retaliatory bubbles are actually an upgrade, though I didn't put them into this build just yet. They'll likely be in the next level or the one after it though. So don't worry, you're not crazy, just not yet in the game. (Same with the heal upgrade) For the combat, this one is going to be on how the game itself works. Aria has just a bit of momentum/friction going on with her. So if you are moving in one direction, then immediately press the other, there is a small delay before she slows down and then turns to face the other direction. And currently she fires her weapon in the direction she is facing. I hadn't really even thought too much about it, but I guess that does feel off to actually control and can lead to firing in the wrong direction. I'll change the system so that she fires based on the last direction that was pressed instead. Shouldn't take too much to fix! (hopefully) For the audio, if you have it happen again or you figure a way to replicate it, then let me know! It certainly sounds annoying to deal with and I'd want to fix that if I can! And a big thank you for playing the game and giving me your feedback! I genuinely appreciate it a ton!

TheBlimpFaerie

Been eagerly awaiting the new build and was happy to dive into it and spend probably about three and a half hours on it yesterday evening. I gave my overall thoughts of the previous build last time, so this time I'll mainly comment on what's new (or feels like it might be, it's unclear what from the previous dev logs made it into the build beyond what you explicitly stated). Starting with the new enemies then, the Boomerang Mushroom was actually a lot more threatening than I originally expected. All the mushrooms so far have honestly been a bit of a joke/just random chaff you blast through but otherwise don't really add much challenge. This one however you actually have to respect because while it dies as easily as the rest, it actually does an absolute obscene amount of damage. I died a couple of times tonight due to getting caught on the return trip of the cap after the mushroom itself was already killed. They seemed to do around quarter of my health in a hit or some similarly noticeable *chunk*. They're kind of in a weird place IMO, they hit as hard as or even harder than some of the bigger enemies like the Trident wielders but die like chaff (real glass cannons for sure) and that feels kind of jarring to me. Would be interested to see what others think, but personally I can't work out whether I like that they hit so hard or not. Is one of the other mushrooms new too? Unsure if that was the recolour you were referring to, but the green and blue one seemed to be extra durable, tanking a lot of extra hits which again caught me out at one point as I'd been running through that final beach cave and suddenly one didn't just splatter as I murdered my way through the cave. The new special enemy was actually a lot of fun to fight, not hard at all but fun to watch puff up for certain with each barrel launched at her. That she also seemed to enjoy it was a really fun touch, she's an absolute cutie and I'd love to see more enemies like her in the game. I could see a large boss with more complex attack patterns requiring a load of barrels to immobilise and defeat potentially being really fun. I remembered reading about the Boat scene previously and I think that came out quite nicely in the end, using it to transition between the beach and candy island was a good choice and I really enjoyed getting to chat with the NPCs and learn about what was coming up ahead on the island, that was a really nice touch! The Candy Island then, that one was a ton of fun to play and I really enjoyed the new mechanics in play with the various platform types and especially the jelly blocks. I really appreciated the physics behind those blocks, how the angle and force you came at them with affected how hard they launched you and in what directions. I especially enjoyed bumping into the corner of the block while blueberried and getting kinda cannonballed at the mushrooms in that one little pit toward the end of the first proper area of the island. Being able to jump out of the hot chocolate was nice, I appreciated that opportunity to save yourself at the cost of some damage, admittedly I wish the water's *surface* at the Beach biome behaved similarly to make all those death pits less obnoxious in those levels. Out of all the biomes so far, I think this was by far the most interesting for gameplay, all the different interactive features like the collapsing blocks and platforms, the bouncy blocks, the hidden paths and routes requiring careful use of spells and power ups to access - definitely a big success in my eyes, it felt like you really made really good use of the biome theme and was very satisfying to play through. Possibly sets a hard standard to beat going forward! That said, I thought the introduction of the Black Liquorice sweets was funny with the dialogue, however I'm afraid they feel kinda… pointless mechanically? I'm so damn thankful they seemingly weren't poisonous or damaging as that would've been insanely obnoxious, but unless they're thrown by a goblin and catch you mid jump over a gap or something, they aren't positioned in a way at any point I can recall to actually do anything meaningful. They're quietly amusing for Aria's reaction to eating them - and I have to emphasise how much I enjoy her reactions to everything in the game again - but otherwise as they are don't seem to serve any great purpose. I really want to comment on the Processing Facility, in general it's a really fun vibe and I especially enjoyed the Challenge Room on the upper path, I spent a good bit of time in there just playing with the helium barrels and new Blimp Form admittedly! The juggling barrels mechanic is actually a lot of fun if a bit clunky (but that is a symptom of how movement and attacks work in this game), bouncing the barrels across distances to blow up blocks or inflate the cutie slime were both very satisfying to pull off, I'd love to see both kinds of barrels and perhaps others scattered around the rest of the game too, just sniping that goblin with the exploding barrel at the start of the bottom path felt good and having the occasional strategically placed barrel to soften up big groups of tough enemies would be neat. I especially enjoyed the Challenge Room and getting to practice and refine the juggling of the barrels via several consecutive hits to open up pathways to progress through it. Combining it with the Wingmilk with the extra added factor of the limited duration meaning you had to work fast to solve the last part was a really nice touch, I felt that area was very creative and stuff like that is definitely something I'd like to see more of. I confess I spent over an hour of my playtime combing the Candy Island and both paths trying to work out if the Battery was usable somewhere in the current areas without success, so I'm either really dumb and missed it or it's not in yet I assume. Spent probably a good quarter of that time trying to get through the tiny gap in the roof in the final area of the lower path to reach that tantalisingly placed Control Rod, was very satisfying to finally succeed! I'm really looking forward to seeing what's up with the greyed out Blueberry Pie door, I was so desperate to get it open haha. It probably goes without saying that I was really excited to finally get to play with the Blimp Form, was a lil disappointed that it's seemingly only possible to activate in the final zone currently and doesn't seem to serve any significant purpose like the other power ups. Do you have a vision for how it'll fit into the game in the long run, or is it just a neat little addition ultimately? Seems like with the uncontrolled rising, extreme vulnerability and harsh health cost for popping that it seems well suited to being a debuff rather than a power up, was that the intent (or will it have a practical application in the future) and if so is there any possibility of enemies that inflict it upon you (throwing potions, grabbing and puffkissing etc)? I'm really interested to see how that fits into the game as a whole at any rate. Moving onto the rest of the game as a whole, I touched upon how dying and being respawned super weak felt really brutal, I'm unsure if it's just being more experienced with the game this time (and choosing the underwater path at the beach this time) but my playthrough on a new save felt a lot smoother, I had far fewer deaths overall and when I did die it didn't feel like such a chore to rebuild that momentum. If you adjusted stuff earlier on to accommodate that, then I think you did a good job. I didn't buy it until late in the run but I appreciated seeing the powerup in the shop that buffed attacks while you were below full strength. The shop felt like it was placed a lot earlier in the game, unsure if that was actually the case (I swear it wasn't before the first boss before) but it definitely helped a lot with the difficulty curve I feel, being able to pick different 'default' weapons and upgrades earlier especially was handy. My only lingering gripe with respawning at present is how it leaves you without mana, which means in certain sections like before the first golem you meet that if you want to hypercharge it, you pretty much have to do it and beat it on the first life otherwise you'll not be able to gather enough mana to actually hypercharge it after you die (and probably struggle to beat it when weakened). Whether that's how you want it or not to promote challenge is up to you though! I really like the idea of each Spell having an upgradable effect you can buy to change playstyles (like Phoenix Dive having damage resistance as a passive), that feels like a great idea to be expanded upon, as might having more hidden trinkets to sniff out in the world throughout and encourage replaying sections to do the route you didn't take the first time (bonus points if they require later upgrades to be able to reach). I saw the dev video with the Retaliatory Bubbles but couldn't get those to work so assume they aren't implemented yet in this build, but that seemed like such a good (and fun!) way to spice up that spell and make it more flexible. Is it intended to be a default state eventually, or will it be tied to an upgrade? After two playthroughs, I've got a couple of other broader pieces of feedback and the first is about combat. I've found fights to feel somewhat clunky now and again, a lot of the time enemies will rush you and get in your face and you have to try and jump and dodge to avoid taking hit after hit, which is fine and would understandably make getting in attacks become a matter of skilful positioning and timing, however on multiple occasions moving and then turning to attack in the direction you'd just come from felt somewhat unresponsive, like she doesn't reliably turn around on time. Lots of occasions where I'd move, try and turn but just end up not turning and end up firing an attack the wrong way, it's extra painful with the Charge Shot weapon which is already so slow and I think that is probably the worst offender due to how long it animation locks you to boot. To be clear it happens with other weapons too, not just that one. No idea if that's just a me problem (more used to playing games with mouse targeting for this sort of stuff) or if there's anything at all that can be done there, just thought I'd mention it as a slight pet peeve. I've not experienced many bugs so far, the only one I did have was my audio in the game suddenly died during one of the beach levels while fighting a Trident wielding enemy, unfortunately it was so sudden I wasn't able to work out if there was a specific action or moment that could've caused it. As ever, it's been super cool getting to give this game a go and I continue to be impressed by the quality of it even in these mid-development builds, I'm super excited to see what comes next for the game and how the NPCs and other teased features will all fit in. Cheers!

Brandon Cater

Oh gotcha! I had intended that to be a temperature symbol (like fire) but I can see how it would be confusing. I'll have to give it another go for making it look more clear! Though now that you talk about having a hidden map in the background, maybe I'll have to try and put something like that in the game somewhere... I was worried it might be a little too hard and tried to spread some candy around, but didn't wanna clutter the area up too much. I might tone that first encounter with her down just a little bit if I can and then make later encounters a little harder to compensate. Yeah it does give you energy, though I might make that amount a bit bigger to make the annoyance a little more worth it. Later iterations I'll have a reduced amount too so they're not just blocking your path. Mostly just wanted to make it clear what it did.

Jattoska

Oops, yes I was talking about the lines with a "?" - I thought it was a (unfinished) map but if it's just decoration that's just me looking too hard into it. The juggling wasn't too bad, it was just the issue of dodging the projectiles at the same time and occasionally having it fly too high and hitting the wall instead. That being said, this is not a bad thing and actually is intuitive to making the encounter interesting and solvable by different means - ie: juggling while inflated was something I tried too. As far as the black licorice, I actually didn't realize it gave you energy so your intentions of a mixed benefit pick-up makes sense.

Brandon Cater

Thanks for taking some time to try it out! Glad ya like the new enemy type and hopefully juggling the barrel wasn't too hard. I tried to make it really slow falling to compensate for it being a bit difficult to hit. 1. Yeah I was worried about this one. I tried to make it so they were just tiles and use damage zones, but I see now I should've made them individual objects so they could 'glow' as dangerous similar to other hazards. I'll fix that. 2. Still definitely experimenting with the black licorice. If it's pretty annoying, then yeah I'll try and see if I can figure a way to make it more of a 'buildup' or just reduce the amount of them in general. Just need to figure a good way to show the buildup without cluttering things up too much is all. I may also make it just a debuff that slows your movement down temporarily or some other thing. I just wanted to have a 'trade off' powerup that gives energy at a cost. 3. I'll have to look into that. I think that it would probably have to do with it interacting with the barrel itself. Something I hadn't really realized might be a problem is the barrels are actually 'solid objects' (to help with hitting them) and you can actually jump onto and 'catch onto the ledge' of them when they are mid air. I am likely going to change it so when you hit them they turn into projectiles instead. But the reason this would cause them to disappear might be their unstuck code malfunctioning when touching the barrel. I'll look into it more! A map? Do you mean the glowing lines in the secret area?

Jattoska

I got to try the DEV build, and I really like the new area. The new special enemy was a good use of the new barrel mechanic, the physics being both fun (and frustrating at times). As far as things I feel need adjustment: 1) The various spikes (on the ceiling and the floor candy cane ones) were not readily apparent as hazards, and I was wondering why I was taking damage at times. 2)The black licorice is pretty annoying (which is probably the point) - although maybe having it only affect you after a certain amount of it eaten can be an option? 3) The spear lamia enemy near the end disappears when hit by the inflation barrels - although I don't remember if it mattered whether or not it was a direct/indirect hit. Overall pretty good build so far, I imagine the area will be expanded (hah) even further, since I did see what looked like a map in the "secret area".