So, last month I wasn't able to work on the game. I was in an Airbnb and moving to a new house. Things were a little chaotic. Even upon arriving at the house, it took about a week or so to get the basics working.

Camera and Input

One of the things I changed was the camera. I decided to change the camera size so the player can see more of the level at once. It had been bugging me for a while. I felt the change made the game more fast-paced. I also reduced the time it takes for the player to attack. I think the controls are better this way. 

I'm always pondering about the controls. You have to take into account that for every option you give the player, you'll have to support that. Meaning, you'll have to teach the player, that action will require feedback, and so on. Also, every new thing you add leads to possible new bugs. 

I'm trying to reduce the number of things you can do, but with one thing allow you to use it in different ways. For example, when you attack the character dashes forward. So it means that you can dash attack in direction of the enemy, but also away from it. So the same button is the attack and the dodge.

Skill System

The major change in this version is that I started working on what I'm calling the skill system. On every level, there'll be different challenges. Upon completing a challenge you earn a soul. You can then spend souls to activate skills. I needed to have this so the game has a proper loop. Play a level, complete challenges, earn a reward, spend currencies, repeat. 

I want the skills to be a bit more flexible. I'm starting with basic skills that just added more damage or health, but I plan to have more complicated ones. The idea is for the player to pick and choose what suits their play style best. They can also change to try a level differently. 

In this version, the basics of this system are there. I am tracking what challenges you finished at the end of the level. Right now there's a challenge for simply completing the level and another for completing within a given time.

Next

Next month I plan to finish the skill system and the UI to support it. Let's see how it goes!