Updated Visuals

Tutorial Videos

For most of the tutorials in the game, I have a video that shows info about the action. Since the game visuals have changed in the last couple of months, it only made sense for me to update the videos. 

I already have a couple of custom scripts that allow me to hide or zoom in on the camera. That speeds up the process a lot. 

I know it's nothing much, but I am proud of this screen. It looks very professional and similar to what you would find on bigger games.

Shop Item Indicator

In Yurei, you have gear, amulets, and lucky gods. Gear works like upgrades. Once bought, the effect is applied all the time. Amulet and Lucky Gods are like equipment. After you unlock them, you can equip them or not. 

Since I use the same shop screen for buying as I do for the equipping, I need a different icon to indicate that the player bought an item.

I came up with this simple solution of adding this triangle shape at the bottom left corner of the item. I added a strong color and a fade in the animation. I might change the color slightly in the future for being too strong, but I am happy with it.

Perfect Charge Dash 

For a long time, I struggled with a solution to indicate the perfect charge dash timing. When you hold down to charge your dash, if you release the moment it reaches the max threshold then it's considered a perfect charge dash. 

A perfect charge dash is stronger than a regular charged dash. I decided to add this VFX when you do manage to execute it. It does the job, differentiating it from the regular charged attack.

Wave Counter

Last but not least. I've had this wave counter on the top left for a long time. For the most part, it just sat there, and I would set its value when the wave changed.

I decided to update that to a tween instead. Now, the circle smoothly transitions from one position to the other. It looks pretty smooth!

Playtests

I started playtesting the game this week and tracking the stats I would get for each level. This is going to be essential moving forward so I can balance the levels and economy of the game. 

The intention of this type of playtest is more about the game feel than about finding bugs. Of course, bugs will pop up, but if it's not a blocker, I should not stop the playtest. 

This is a good sign. It means that once I playtest the whole game, it will be closer to the finish line.

Side Note

With work slowing down on Yurei, I started working on a small tool to help me with Yurei and future projects. It's a tool that will generate a dependency graph of your project. 

With that generated, it should help you find issues like circular dependencies so you can improve your code and game.

The tool is called Lumen, and you can find its first version here on itch.

Closing

The plan is still to get the game done by June. By done, I mean past June there won't be any code changes unless it's a fix. 

So after June, it would all be about improving visuals, audio, and localization. In the meantime, I want to keep trying to find a publisher for Yurei.

Of course, as more time becomes available, I want to start working on the next project. I also want to practice pixel art. In the future, I want to be able to do art for my games. 

My goal for the next three games is to be able to produce a game in 6 months and have the gameplay around 2 hours. 

I don't plan on stopping here. I still have plenty of ideas and projects I want to explore. 

If you like samurais, ninjas, and Japan, why not wishlist Yurei? Maybe you know a friend or two who like it, why not recommend it to them?

Wishlists are the make or break for the game release. If you feel like helping out, please wishlist Yurei on Steam.

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Thanks for reading all the way. Keep an eye out on Twitter @brightflask.