October 2024 Devlog

I've been working on the core gameplay mechanics. I was lucky to have found player movement, collision, and enemy AI source code to another fangame. The code is outdated, but should be adaptable after editing. No other assets are being imported from this code and seeing as the code is fairly basic, it's modification will still make it unique .

So importing this code was interesting because it was originally GM 8.1 code that was decompiled and converted to GM 1.4 code. Which I'm trying to adapt to GMS 2. Luckily the GML language seems easy enough to understand and apply corrections to. Some areas where things can be condensed or updated.

I've been reducing the compiler errors, warnings, and suggestions while also trying to make code more readable and adding comments. This process has been going well as I've been restructuring code and renaming variables, while trying to prepare for multi-lingual support. Some sections of code are being disabled because they are too early in development to get it to compile and test. It's preventing me from developing other aspects where I need to see what it's doing at runtime.

I've reimplemented most sprites and recreated their objects because I've come to understand that they will need object parents which will control child objects. This will make coding enemy AI easier. Differently colored sprites show the player that each color has a different difficulty, which is easier to implement this way as well.

I've also collected shaders that I intend to implement at a much later time that will allow graphics options like Scanlines, CRT, TV, HQ, GameBoy style. I'd like to figure out a way to adjust brightness and contrast, or gamma from the main menu as well and shaders might be how I do it, but I need to be sure that these can be used for the entire gameplay screen without having to modify much else.

I've also been tinkering with the idea of adding Particle effects to create illuminated flames for torches. Considering more possible effects for later use such as wind, water, fire, and earth effects that could show better visuals for various areas, especially for boss battles. As such, particle effects could later be enhanced for enemy projectiles.

As well, I'm trying to also figure out the best way to make the implement gamepads and  keybinding and maybe touch support someyear.

Honetly it sounds like I've been doing a lot, but really it's just a lot of thought, research, and backend changes that will hopefully make development easier in the future.