Hey everyone!

Unfortunately school hit me quite a bit harder than I expected, so I wasn’t able to get all the weekly goals done. However, like last week, I did a couple of things not originally planned for the weekly goals, and also made good headway on everything I didn’t quite manage to get done. Let’s get started!

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As discussed last week, a bulk majority of this week’s work went into the creation of the canine prison section of the Fightyplace! This room will be a spawner-based combat system, like the fights in LFG’s Shamrock Prison, but (as I’m sure you’ll all be happy about) much more fair. While it’ll likely be the most combat-intensive area besides the boss, it’ll still be a very manageable challenge for most players…which is good, since this is how you’ll unlock the dog collectibles!

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This very-bulging door is where a majority of the spheredogs the Shamrocks have captured are trapped…the cell ran out of space. In order to have the Spheredogs show up in the rest of the Fightyplace level, Capboy needs to open the door and rescue them! However, when he approaches and tries to do so, an alarm will sound and Shamrocks will swarm in to defend the room. Unlike LFG, however, they’ll now arrive in a bit more of a sophisticated way than just falling from the ceiling…

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Shamrocks (and all enemies that spawn, for that matter) will now spawn from special, distinct locations – in this case, Combat Pipes scattered throughout the battlements! I’ve spent a lot of time making this spawner system as adaptable as I can – it supports passing patrol routes to the enemies it spawns, spawning enemies only when certain kill thresholds are met, waiting (or not waiting) for the current spawned enemy to be dead, only spawning enemies up to a certain limit in the combat area as a whole, and more! Clearly, it also supports world animation and particle bursts on spawning, as well. I’ll likely also add a sound effect once I determine a proper one to add, and I’ll change the metal slamming SFX to something more proper.

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Speaking of sound effects, you’ll also notice that Capboy has new footfall SFX on the stone floor – I’ve fully implemented dynamic material detection, so now Capboy will make different sounds based on what he’s walking on! Sneaking will still always play the pizzicato strings, however, no matter what surface Capboy’s on. This cement sound effect is still subject to change, of course, as I haven’t quite decided if that’s what sound I think Capboy’s feet should make on stone. We’ll see what happens!

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Of course, these new additions to combat naturally require another one…health pickups! When Capboy runs over one of these, it’ll disappear and grant him a full heart heal – it won’t disappear if he’s at full health, but of course it’ll still vanish entirely even if he only has a quarter heart missing. Currently, I’m still trying to decide how exactly I want to implement hearts in battle/boss rooms – one idea I had was to have special armored hearts that regenerate as you kill enemies or damage the boss, simulating the dropping of heart items from enemy deaths or pots in the room. We’ll see what happens!

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The last thing I’d like to do in this MU is use this poorly shaded rough sketch to announce the next brand-new character, the Researcher! Locked away in the canine prison as well, this man was investigating the strange crystals scattered around the Fightyplace when the Shamrocks found him and locked him up in their most convenient jail. Once Capboy rescues him, the Researcher will provide valuable intel and lore about the area, in addition to providing a very powerful service. What is this service, you might ask? Well, read on to the next paragraph for some major changes to the Collectathon formula…

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The current plan for the collectibles is this: like before, they’ll be split into 3 main categories: mini-collectibles, golden sausages, and bludsausages. However, each collectible will play its own special role:

Mini-collectibles, unique to each level, will now be traded in to the Researcher in exchange for artifacts with special powers. These artifacts will be equipable by Capboy in a currently-unimplemented equipment menu, and will provide small bonuses like bonus damage against Shamrocks, or decreased stamina consumption on dodges. 2 artifacts will be equip-able at any one time, though this limit can be increased to 4 later in the game (read on!). Also, upon trading every collectible in a level in to the Researcher, he’ll provide Capboy with a key – this key opens the door to the Fantabula sublevel, where Capboy can complete a tough challenge to get a Bludsausage.



Golden sausages will function mostly the same as before – they’ll award Capboy Sausage Points which he can use to globally augment his stats in the skill tree. However, there are two key differences: SP will no longer be able to buy health upgrades, and Capboy will also be able to trade the golden sausages themselves in to Happy and Hapless Crag in exchange for new combat and platforming moves! The golden sausages and the SP will be two separate currencies gained at the same time, in order to let the player maintain maximum build diversity while also enjoying the special moves in the game.



Lastly, Bludsausages will once again regain their exclusive role as max-health-increasers – Capboy will trade them in to Hungry Crag in order to gain health upgrades! However, they’ll also have a new ability as well. In exchange for Bludsausages, Hungry Crag will also upgrade any weapons of your choosing (yes, officially and finally confirming that there will be multiple weapons!), or for large amounts give you an extra Artifact slot. Upgrading weapons will provide substantial damage bonuses, but only to the specific weapon, and upon reaching max level it will also unlock something special based on the weapon type:



Melee weapons will gain access to an alternate moveset with its own light and heavy charged and uncharged attacks! Similar to trick weapons in Bloodborne, Capboy will change stances upon pressing the proper button, and can swap between them at any time



Ranged weapons will gain access to an alternate fire mode, consuming different amounts of ammo for different types of attacks…or, in some cases, abilities that aren’t attacks at all!



Collectathon veterans will probably wonder where the level requirements have gone. In TFG, you will technically be able to beat the game without gathering a single collectible! The only mandatory progression in the game is defeating the boss of every main level. Overall, I’m very happy with this system, as it maintains my core ideal of having the collectibles useful while not being mandatory. Let me know what you guys think of this!

For next week, as finals season is kicking up, my only goals are to finish the unfinished goals from this week. If I manage to surpass that quickly, then I’ll think of some more stuff to do, but for now that’s all I’ve got planned! Thanks for reading everyone, and I’ll see you guys next time!