Intro

It's been over a month since my last devlog for my game Live, Die, Escape. So much has happened in that time, and I'm very excited to fill you in. I haven't been active due to being very busy with school, but I have been able to get some development done here and there on the side. After much grinding, especially over the past few days, the game is entering it's first real demo!

I got lots of very helpful feedback during the prototyping phase, and I took all of it into consideration when making the necessary changes to this version of the game. 

In this devlog I will briefly describe the current features of the game, their changes since last iteration, and what I hope for the next iteration. It will be relatively long, as there as a great number of features that I would like to cover. Feel free to skip around!

New/Removed Features

Map

I added a much needed map to the players heads up display. I wanted to keep it simple to read and not too overcrowded with information. This map draws inspiration from/uses the same core design as many other games of similar type. I went with a purely black and white color scheme, with some basic information for each room. The map indicates which room the player is in using the player head icon. Locked doors have a short bar in front of them. I am not sure if this choice is an obvious enough representation of a locked door to the player, so this may be changed. Each room also has a number, which is the number that is used to identify the room internally, and aids the player in distinguishing rooms for room specific items, such as the control chips or keys. Additionally, special rooms each have a letter in the center to identify what type of room it is. This could potentially be replace by a symbol in the future, but I think the letters are pretty straightforward. At the moment, S represents the spawn room, and C represents a control room. I really like this map design, as it is simple and easy to read.

Dash (Removed Running)

After feedback from several play testers about the pacing of the game and the stat system, I decided to make some pretty drastic changes. I removed the ability to run, so now the player has one base walking speed. In addition to this, the player can now dash every 2.5 seconds. I believe this is a more helpful and balanced utility than the running ability, and it removes the complexity of having to keep track of and modify your stats. I was told on multiple occasions that the stats feature doesn't really add anything to the game, which I completely agree with. I believe that this is a more elegant implementation of the kind of game that I wish to create. I also am a big fan of the dash icon I created lol. Though of course, just like anything else, it is subject to change.

Speed Powerup (Removed Stat Changing)

As mentioned previously, I removed the ability to change the player's stats every death. Not only did this just not work very well with the gameplay, but I think it could very easily be overpowered and difficult to balance. I wanted to still offer some variation in terms of the pace and strategy of the game. I opted to add temporary powerups to the game. They are brightly colored items that can be picked up, and immediately apply a temporary buff. The only powerup currently in the game is a speed powerup, which increases the player's base speed for 5 seconds. This seems like a short amount of time, but really has a significant impact on the gameplay. I do wish to add other powerups, however I don't have any specific plans or ideas for them at the moment. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Force Field

The force field is an item that I thought would be cool to add as a means of defense against the laser turrets. It is used as an item called a Field Emitter, which creates a stationary force field wherever the player is standing. After being placed, the force field disappears after 15 seconds, and is used to block lasers. I didn't want to give this item to the player for free, so to obtain it you must harvest it from a deactivated turret. More on this in the laser turrets section.

Signs

The game will eventually need some exposition for the story, and I thought signs or notes would be a good way to do that. That part of the game hasn't been finalized, but I thought it would be good to start implementing early. I also need a way to communicate to the player, especially at the beginning, like a pseudo-tutorial. These signs will come in quite handy.

Item Information

I added items descriptions to each item, which are displayed when you hover over an item in your inventory with the mouse cursor. A simple yet effective quality of life change. An item can be used by clicking on it in the inventory.

Item Glow

A very small change, but I think the item glow helps to draw attention to and identify items in the world.

Animations

After trying to create pixel art animations for a long time, I decided it would play more into my strengths to stick mostly to squash and stretch animations for this game. I have implemented a couple for the player, and I'm very happy with the result. They aren't final, and nothing else has these animations except for the laser turret activation animation. I do plan on continuing to create animations this way, with some sprite changes to indicate different states, but with no real sprite animation. I can't show you them here, so I guess you'll just have to play the demo to see what I'm talking about!

Changes to Old Features

Laser Turrets

As mentioned previously, each turret has its own force field surrounding it, which protects it from other turrets. If a turret gets hit with another turret's laser without it's forcefield, it will be broken and disabled permanently. Removing the force fields from the turrets still requires deactivating them first, so it's hopefully not too easy. If I feel it is too easy, I may make it harder, since I don't want the player to be able to walk around with as many force fields as they want. Although, the inventory capacity is a good way to control this problem, since there are always items the player will need to be carrying.

Disruptor

In the previous iteration of the game, the disruptor was able to be used a deterrent against both the guard and the laser turrets. I decided that this is a little overpowered, and to make it only be able to be used on the guard. The laser turrets already have an item which can be used to defend against them, that being the force field. It is possible I will give the disruptor extra functionality in the future, however, if I see fit. It also has an updated sprite.

Future Goals

For the next update, I have a few goals in mind. First of all, I would like to make the gameplay all around more interesting. This will likely consist of at least one new obstacle, one new item, and a larger first level. If I'm feeling ambitious, I may add more than this. I liked releasing weekly devlogs, but seeing how long it took me to get this one together and how busy I am at the moment, I'm not sure when the next update will come. However I do hope that the next update is something interesting, and isn't just a bunch of boring quality of life changes or whatever.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reading! If you have any feedback on any part of the game or devlog at all, please feel free to let me know in the comments :) I really appreciate all of the people in my life that show me support as I continue to work on this game, and I'm excited for the future.

- Calvin