Alpha 0.0.6 Update

With this next build I wanted to fix a lot of the major issues that are present in the game. Most are gameplay related issues as I have not ran into any major bugs thus far.

PARRYING

Previously projectile parrying was framerate based, which means if you're at a lower framerate, the projectiles were significantly harder to parry. This issue has been fixed as far as I know. On the topic of parrying, projectiles were also tiny and had small hitboxes that made it even harder to parry, especially when moving. This has been changed so that the area you can hit to parry is much MUCH larger, and it also makes it far easier to hit them while moving. Parried projectiles also now have a speed boost, they did before however I never increased the maximum speed, so the speed change was almost negligible. This has been fixed so now they gain 1.5x the projectile's initial speed.

I also reduced the freezeframe to about 0.2-0.3 seconds, because before it felt like it brought the gameplay to a halt by freezing for almost a whole second. This, combined with the bigger hitboxes, should make the gameplay feel more fluid. Adjustments are yet to come based on feedback obviously.

CHECKPOINTS

A feature that was desperately needed was checkpoints. Since it was super annoying having to play right from the start after dying. I have placed them in abundance around levels since I don't want the difficulty to come from having to repeat sections, that just gets extremely annoying. So after a difficult room there'll more than likely be a checkpoint. Currently they just work by saving the location of the most recent checkpoint you passed, this means if you return to an older checkpoint, it will reset you back at that one. To revert it, you can just go to the other checkpoint and set it back there. I hope this makes backtracking a lot easier if a level has it.

ENEMY PROJECTILES

As mentioned before, enemy projectiles have been changed to be much larger and far more readable. They now have a 2d sprite instead of having a 3D model (and frankly that sphere was way too high poly) They aren't up to the visual quality I want as of yet, but their parry hitbox is much larger. However, contrary to what you'd think, their damaging hitbox has remained the same size. This means just because they're bigger, they won't hit you any easier. Currently the only enemies that shoot projectiles shoot a rather slow and predictable projectile, don't worry I have a lot planned to appeal to you bullet hell fans out there.

SETTINGS MENU

I have added a settings menu with some basic things to help those who were getting lower framerates. Currently I'm very stuck with what to do to help people with their framerate. I am developing this game in Unreal Engine 5 and the engine on its own is very demanding, however I have disabled many of the costly features. The settings menu features a quality slider which will change every single quality setting available to whatever you set it to. For those on low-end PCs, I highly recommend the lowest option. I have been optimizing the game where I can, but this might be something I'd need to sink a lot of time into to see if I should continue with Unreal Engine 5 or switch to an engine like Godot.

LOADING SCREEN

I am also currently testing loading screens to see if they work. If you encounter any issues with them just let me know. Previously the game was lacking them, so levels would most likely still be loading once you were inside them.

LEVEL CHANGES AND ADDITIONS

• a1m1 - the stomp prompt's trigger box has been extended to the first wooden planks since some people may jump down and get stuck not knowing what to do
• a1m2 - the giant pit room has been replaced with a tight corridor since players were not used to platforming and fighting so early on in the game. I intend on splitting this section into many parts throughout the level and then expanding upon it in the next level to get more diverse combat mixed with platforming elements
• a1m2 - the last fight segment has had a reduction in melee enemies, there was previously 12 which was far too many
• a1m2 - the room where you are introduced to the ranged enemies has been changed so that the pits are easier to wall jump out of. Previously the platform was smaller and you could get stuck underneath it with no way out

WEAPON CHANGES

• The default hands melee weapon has had a reach increase from 200 units to 250 units. This makes both melee combat and parrying much easier. Will balance later changes to AI when melee enemies can run and attack at the same time
• The secret pistol weapon has been removed till the weapon system is fully functional