Madlem Update Apr2024 (Patreon)

Bit of a shorter one this time, not too much to show but we're getting closer to an announcement. Also no download this time, but I do hope that the next version will be the playtest version and ideally later this month though I can't guarantee that with my current schedule.

You can however watch me play through stage 1 of the game that shows the new stuff (muted unfortunately cause sfx and bgm are still wip).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Eb5z4YQAU

Player sprites for Flytrap and Roach are complete. Implemented Second Order Dynamics to animate some of the wobbly bits like Roach's antennae and Flytrap's hair. End result is pretty much exactly how I imagined them, with a nice mix of procedural and hand animation so it's not too hard to make more in future.

 Now as long as I can finish Flytrap's bomb sprites in time we'll have two fully featured characters. I'm not in too much of a rush to get Moonguide done in time since Flytrap and Roach are varied enough in playstyles to test with.

With the new sprites I've also removed some of the player visibility stuff like the outline and the glow behind the player. I find with the new larger sprites the players are quite easy to spot on the screen and the outline and the glow were kinda getting in the way, though I would certainly add options for those visibility features if they are needed.

There's also some new title text.

And on the topic of title, though it may seem like I'm extremely indecisive and you'd be correct, I'm thinking of changing it (again) to Madlum. Madlam was originally just a made up word based on vibes and it became Madlem cause it was slightly easier to pronounce but Madlum kinda has some meaning behind it however minuscule. Originally when building the world of the game I had the concept of everyone being trapped in this labyrinthine void cave and light was revered and used as a weapon (hence the big bright bullets flying everywhere). Since then I've kinda left it behind, the world is a bit of an afterthought I'll admit I mostly just design around vibes I think are cool but I think the themes of "light that's gone mad" (Mad Lum) will be a cool basis going forward. It's not going to make a big impact but I'm just pedantic about this kinda stuff, I like things to be cohesive even though I'm just making stuff up as I go along.

The very last thing that has to be finished is the sounds and music both of which I'm steadily making progress on.

Sounds are interesting, finding the right sounds to replace the Touhou-like sounds has proven difficult. I imagine I simply won't play sounds for a lot of enemy attacks but I would like some punchy audio for some of the attacks. I've got the slashes down currently but the others are tough. I have managed to add audio for a lot of the UI elements, a good amount of gears shifting and metal clanks make the in-game frame feel way cooler, I just hope it's not overbearing.
I've been using Metroid Dread as my inspiration for sound design. It really is a masterclass in fast-paced action audio with the exact kind of fleshy/biomechanical style I wanted from my sounds. You may have even noticed I did actually use some of their sounds for enemy explosions early on (which certainly need to be replaced at some point), but they do feel good right? I'll certainly be studying their sound design in future, though for now I want to fill everything out before a test version gets out.

Music at last, I have been plodding away at it, and I'll likely only have one track done for the testing version being the stage tracks. The boss can keep the wip track for now since it's honestly decent as is. I have a lot to say about my struggles with the music thus far but I'll just say it's a struggle and leave it at that. I've been neglecting to post wips cause I just don't like where its at ever, there's always small things wrong with it. Right now I do think there is 1 or 2 sections I can post snippets of to get a gist of what I'm going for but for now all I can do is pray I can have something worth showing by the end of the month.