DragonflyProject Update Jun2023 (Patreon)

This month was a very productive one, though not in many of the ways I intended at first. I've elected to share a video of the current build instead of releasing it for download for a couple reasons.
1 - It's kind of a pain to package it up.
2 - It's easier to show what are usually only a few big changes or additions than to have you download and set everything up yourself.

I do intend to release more builds for download but only when I feel the content deserves it. Anyways here's the video:

https://youtu.be/MfdexhbIS4M

First big addition is the proper saving and loading of game data. Now player characters can be properly unlocked and saved when you close the game, as well as game stats, achievement progress and remembering your settings.

While I wasn't able to add any new boss patterns, I was able to create and revise the stage enemies. Now the vultures are far more fun to dodge, there are new enemy patterns and waves. Now the stages feel really fun, I just need a few more variations of existing acts and it'll be good to go. I'm also in the middle of adjusting some of the less interesting boss patterns, namely Our Last Deadly Caress and Tender Shoot Lattice, I'm happy with where the former is at but the latter still needs some work. After that I'll be happy to make more patterns for Flytrap.

Another fairly big addition is the bullet glow, though it was very simple to do but I feel it'll make a big impact on visibility. I didn't think this would help as much as it does but it is really a huge difference, definitely going with this moving forward. I've also managed to revamp the audio framework and fixed all the previous issues with panning sounds, so now spatial sounds should be positioned correctly and I have a lot more control over the effects I can put on them. I could even do some wacky underwater or phasery effects with this engine it's very neat.

And of course lots of small balance and QoL changes and a few fixes, you can check the changelog for them if you're interested.

I don't have a plan for what I'll work on next, it seems I work much better when I just do whatever I feel like at the time. There is a song in the works finally, and I do hope to have it done soon, but I won't make any promises.

CHANGELOG:

- v0.1.3 -

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NEW:

- Added saving and loading of game data including:

    - Unlocked players and last selected player.

    - Game stats like total enemies killed, total deaths, etc.

    - Achievement progress.

    - Collected items (for potential codex in future).

    - Remebering your settings.

- New Playable Character: Roach. (but for real this time)

- Added customisable rank to the practice menu (press left and right to change rank)

- Added a subtle glow behind all bullets.

- Added a very violent explosion when things die.

- Added a few new Sunder stage acts.

CHANGE:

- Player characters now require you to have beaten them as a boss to unlock them. (since not every boss exists, players without a boss will be unlocked by default)

- Enemies on the practice stage no longer scale their health with rank value.

- Removed slowdown upon defeating a boss in the practice stage.

- Time spent waiting before a boss attack actually starts is generally shorter.

- Made most patterns generally faster.

- Removed glow effect on pickups.

- Stages now sort the order of acts such that they won't repeat until the act selection has been exhausted.

- Reworked many Sunder stage enemies and acts.

- Increased the cost of all items by 25%.

- Reduced the health of most boss attacks.

- Laser warning lines are now deleted when their laser is deleted.

- Voiceless' bomb's reflected shots now deal damage based on the size of the bullet destroyed.

- Fonts are now loaded from info provided by the current language file.

- Revamped audio framework. This will fix panning and provide more control over how sounds are played.

FIXES:

- Removed many instances of duplicate texture loading.

- Fixed particles not being updated upon first emit.

- Fixed item stacking causing item events to stack more than they should.

- Fixed Heartbreak killing you too many times and too quickly.

- Fixed screenshake interferring with many positioning based things.