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First devlog post with first game update!

March 31, 2018

This first post will the copy of devlog entry from Smintheus game page in Itch.io, which was also first post there. Anyway...

I didn't came empty handed. There is a gift in a form of a new patch that was brought alongside with this post. So what's in it? Fixed couple of minor bugs and improved levels little bit by eliminating few logical errors.

There was a bug with the sound volume inside the "Victory screen". Sounds played there ignored the master volume that is set in options menu. It's not that it's critical but still, the game stability must be properly arranged.

After few runs from private testing few adjustments to levels were done. One of testers decided to save the box from the fire on level 3 and when he saved it the level was no longer passable. The box was meant to burn for tutorial's purpose. Sort of hidden way to tell that objects in this game can burn and break. That was my bad as a level designer, i wasn't attentive enough back then but sure will be now :)

There was another similar case with the same tester. On level 7, on the catapult shenanigans area, tester used thread ball only and sneaked through cat. That wasn't the point of that particular situation and the game bugged, preventing player for completing the level as intended. Although tester grabbed wrench and simply knocked off the cat, leading to victory. Thanks to this situation now there's a mighty door.

There were more minor situation similar to the ones mentioned above. I had to put extra autosave checkpoints on critical parts. Additionally, two friendly reminders were put on level 2 and level 6. Level two received reminder about quicksaves and quickloads while level 6 got reminder about the interacting with objects that can be passed. Originally game tells about it on previous level but tester forgot about it. I actually felt like putting it there before releasing beta test but... but. You know how it is, i slacked this off.

Additionally I've swapped "Last Save" with "Restart" buttons in Game Over screen. According to some observations over private testing I've noticed that players instinctively press first button once they get beaten. That lead to frustration because they got last save instead of desired restart, usually last save was lastly taken level ago. I still have no idea why they press it without thinking, must be because some games they've played in the past... oh, well!

Right now i really need to focus on making two things - do a trailer and remake my ancient website. As for trailer... It's gonna take some time because it's been quite a while since I opened video editor. Eventually it will get done!

Lastly, the itch.io user (@roy_g) wrote lovely review on his website. It gave me some good idea how to progress next generation of levels. Interesting that he pointed out RPG similarities. It's pretty much close to it! Game already has Perk system that allows player to develop character just like in most RPG games - you can observe perks in Pause Menu under "Perks" section. Alas, they are not active in the beta but they will pop out on level 9 in future! Anyway... Thank you very much Sean Wong, you're super awesome! :)

Have a happy Easter folks!

gamedev smintheus patch