[Blog] General Update - Sick & Game Dev Stuff (Patreon)

I've been feeling sick for the last week (since November 6th) and it got pretty bad on the second or third day. That's why it's been incredibly dull here lately.

My father tested positive for COVID-19, so it is possible that I had it. I was cautious of the fact that I could potentially have died and I didn't want to say something until Day 7 or 8, when it typically gets worse. Things seem okay and I generally just have a cough and some dehydration. Still sick though.

I should really open up for commissions again soon, because I need to. It's a shame that I'm still sick, however...

I've noticed that my tablet (Wacom One) cables are apparently damaged internally, so it can lose connection to my PC and I can't see or draw. If I wrap the wire around the jack, I can get it to work again... But keep in mind that this is only a temporary fix so I may have to replace my stuff in some capacity eventually. It works for now.

Game Development:

I haven't done too much over the last week due to being sick, but a few fixes have been made here and there. For instance, accessing a staircase will now automatically move the player a few steps before giving you movement control. This may be able to fix that "Skywalk" bug from a while back.

Firebomb:

I had some issues with the y position of the resulting fire. Depending on whether a player threw the item from a standing or a jumping position and how much height the item itself fell, the fire could end up either a few pixels above or in the ground. 

So I've had to tell it: If you hit the ground under X circumstances, appear exactly on the surface of the ground. But in order to let it hit the SIDE of a block, don't do that sometimes. There's still an issue when throwing the bomb while the throwing arm is within a wall itself - it should technically bounce off the wall, right? I'll have to redo this system some time later.

There is a problem regarding the speed of the sub weapon use... Sometimes it happens fast and the player can resume moving too quickly.

Health Bar:

Although the HP bar is not the newest feature, I never highlighted it before. While the default values are set to 10-12 (Bloodstained CotM style), it is programmed to match whatever the player's health needs to be.

I could set to HP to any value, like Castlevania's 16 HP or CV: Bloodline's 20HP and it will resize itself. Heck, I can even set the value to a massive 60 HP if so desired. This means we can easily upgrade the health, like with Zelda's heart containers.

New Enemy:

I've recently started to implement a new enemy. Although simple, they are still more complex than the zombies I've shown previously, which just walk back and forth. The giant rats function similarly, but are smart enough to turn around when there isn't a floor in front of them, like the red Koopa Troopas in Mario Bros.

Instead of walking indefinitely, they need to have 2 distinct states and animations. They are supposed to walk for 3 floor tiles, then stop to idle for a second or two to look around before resuming their walk. Although simple in essence, this will form the beginnings of complex enemy states and attack patterns in the future.

Don't forget to eat & sleep.