Since finishing Battle Tower Royale's title theme, I have essentially siloed myself away in my house these last several weeks. I've been working at a furious pace to bring the game to the state that I have envisioned since starting development. I've built so much momentum watching everything getting built and seeing my game reach a state where it finally looks like how I always imagined it!

I've made substantial progress working on the game's next major feature - the Character Creation Screen. Until now, you've only ever had the choice of playing as a boring human with no special stats or abilities. Once the next update is pushed, this will no longer be the case - you'll be able to choose from four different races initially, with a total of seven planned. Each race will come with their own bonuses, a special feat that you can take, as well as the ability to modify your base stats and start with a basic spell. This will enable you to change your in-game experience for the better, and it also adds a degree of replayability!

I can confidently say that this is the last major feature that will be included in the demo. However, it is by no means the last feature to be added overall, nor is it the last of the work that needs to be done. To wit, I wrote up an internal document detailing the remaining work that needed to be done. I referenced earlier design documents and tester feedback to ensure that the remaining changes align with the things my playtesters want, provided it's reasonable and wouldn't require a massive scope change.

------------------

As of 2/26/2024, these are the remaining features that need to be finished:

1. The character creation screen. This is what I am working on currently, and a substantial amount of code has already been written for it. What remains is implementation of the bonuses, testing of the new spells, and creating animations and portraits for the remaining races.

2. Wearable armor sets that will show up on your character whenever you equip them. The animation work will take a while to do.

3. Fixing of some long-standing bugs in the enemy's code. The boss and the Armored Skeleton stand out as the primary offenders, though their glitchiness hasn't been enough of a problem to merit a fit up to this point.

4. A few new NPC dialogues to flesh out the game's world. This has already been done for the most part, but there are a few more I'd like to put in before I call the demo finished.

5. The Gelatinous Cube needs a new set of animations as well as a new traversal algorithm. This is because the current code renders it unable to travel corners, making it easy to cheese. The animation issue isn't particularly bad, but it's definitely noticeable to me. I really want that fixed because it's probably my favorite enemy sprite in the game so far.

6. A new composition for the character creation screen. I have some ideas for the penultimate stage of the game (1-9), but I'm still undecided if I want to finish the material I've already got for it.

7. Enemies need to drop potions. Redox tells you that this is a thing, but I never actually put it in. None of my playtesters called me out on that, so I haven't really bothered to put it in yet.

8. Various small animation fixes. A lot of sprites were drawn a ways back, and I've corrected tons of issues in the player sprites since then. The NPC equivalents haven't been updated yet.

9. Adjustments to existing feats. Not too much to do here, just giving the player a few more things to take. Rip and Tear is going away - I haven't implemented anything related to that, and knowing the colossal amount of animation work that will have to go into it just isn't worth it. It will be replaced with the race-specific feats that you will now be able to take.

10. Small combat and quality of life tweaks based on user feedback.

11. Refactoring of the game's internal code. This is an ongoing process, and some of the game's internal systems (dialogue, stores) have already been hit. I still need to change the item and spell systems, because it's still using the same core logic from the 2018 prototype! The code around it has been enhanced in many different ways, but the core logic powering it is still the same...and seeing how dependent the game is on that logic I'm bitterly regretting my choice to keep that system as it was. It was necessary to get the game running, as I had been out of Gamemaker for nearly five years and didn't really know how to do it better then, but that's not the case now. It needs these changes, especially when the Forge is implemented...but that can wait. This is probably the last change I will make, and one that I may even make after the full demo is released.

------------------

Whew. To be honest, this isn't really that much compared to how much has already been done. It's an amazing feeling to know that the end is genuinely in sight for the game's demo. Once it's done, then I can finally begin adding new levels to the game - this will be so much easier to do now that I've got the game's internal systems set up to make adding new content easier. I promise, adding new levels will go by so much quicker!

I know you guys have had to endure this giant wall of text, so here's a preview of the character creation screen to tide you over. It's obviously incomplete, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what's to come! The character portraits are still being worked on, but I've gotta say that I just LOVE how the kobold one turned out.

The new build will be released soon. I hope to have it out within a week, but I also need to make music for it as well as find a way to smoothly integrate it into the start of the game. Don't hold me to that target. Included in the upcoming v0.04 release will be:

-The early implementation of the character creation screen. Will include four playable races and three new cantrip spells. Frigid Air is being made a cantrip and taken out of Minotaur Mike's shop.
-A fix for the sound effects slider in which some dialogues weren't properly muted.
-Lots of small animation fixes for player sprites.
-Small dialogue change with the bouncer to make it more clear that you need to get a weapon if you try to talk to her again.
-Possible balance changes since starting characters are now stronger due to racial bonuses being implemented.
-Gradual implementation of the game's colorblind mode.
-A few other small details I forgot to write down.