Madlem Update Jan2024 (Patreon)

First things first, I'm trying out a proper distribution method that isn't just handing you EXEs without washing my hands, so from now on I plan to have it available through itch.io. The project is private of course but this link should allow you to download the game.

https://blindvoid.itch.io/madlem/download/9tAKLtKz16ytTco3O0JFt3kyA9LOZ64uoRL6_5m6

However, I am stupendous so it's possible I messed something if so please do let me know ASAP.

With that out of the way, I'm sure you're aware of the new character designs and portraits, now everyone has one except Entity which is on its way. On the topic of designs, I've been playing around with the player sprites for Moonguide as well only to realise they all look really stiff and sometimes silly. Voiceless is still the only one I'm truly happy with, perhaps this could be that I suck at drawing people from behind? Or perhaps the taller characters become harder to create animations for and need more refinement. I'm gonna focus on Flytrap and Moonguide first as they are the most likely to be in the earliest playable version of the game so expect some experimentation over the next month.

Apart from that I've tidied up the stage intro and boss warning visuals and have ended up with something I'm really happy with. Turns out everything really can be solved by adding in inky splatters all over it.

A lot of new proper player shots have been added as well, though not all of them are in yet and the ones that aren't look kinda janky after the changes. As long as you stick to the first four playable characters you'll be good.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I managed to make a lot of small changes while kinda ignoring my very important TODO list. More rank changes that now let your performance on killing enemy waves and clearing boss spells affect the rank significantly while now losing lives will cause rank to plummet. There are more details in the changelog attached to this post (because I forgot to include it in the itch upload i guess), but as a final note there is also this now:

Hold F8 to speed up the game by 6x :)

Remember to press F1 to enable god mode before you die instantly.

This next month I plan to focus purely on visuals and maybe build up my confidence with music some more.