Posted September 28, 2020 by Matt Glanville
An overhaul under the hood, plus some polish and bug fixes
But the bulk of the work has gone into a complete overhaul of some systems that control just about every action in the game. The truth is I wrote all the game's code over 2 years ago and I was still fairly new to programming at the time. I've made two more games in that time, and I've learned a lot about how to write better code. Code that's not spaghetti. Code that won't leave me stumped when I'm trying to add new things. Code that's won't baffle me when I'm debugging problems.
So while this update isn't jam packed with new features, it does bring some important changes that will make it much easier for me to add new stuff in the future.
One thing to note is that the major code changes here have resulted in some timing differences when it comes to all the player actions. You may notice the game generally 'feels different'. Some actions may be faster, others slower, or delays between actions may have changed. I'll be tightening this up in future updates, and also adding controls for changing the game speed to your liking. Let me know if you have any specific issues.
I've added a little animation to all the character movements. Now every time a character moves to a tile they actually animate from point A to B, rather than popping there instantaneously. I've tried to keep it quick and snappy as it was before, but with a little more of a sense of motion. Being knocked back by attacks is now animated too, with a slow grind to a halt.
You may be aware that your players have a randomly-chosen name. There was a pretty small list of names in the game (30 male, 30 female) which meant you'd often see the same names pop up repeatedly if you played the game a lot. I've now added 90 more names for each gender, bringing the grand total up to 240 names.
Keep your eyes peeled for new enemies entering the arena soon!
Remember to follow me on itch.io, and follow the game or add it to your wishlist for more updates.
Enjoy!
Matt