It feels like it's been forever since I've actually uploaded a video. That's not to say I haven't been busy =)
Visually New
So, what's most obvious is going to be that gauge on the bottom left corner. It's far from being done as there needs to be multiple other components to it including a proper counter for the amount that is currently stored and more importantly, the number that the multiplier has reached itself. For now, it's just showing the bar that you're growing to get up to the next multiplier. Also, I've added a sort of super rough draft of a roll evasion the player can use to get out of a tight spot. It goes through mobs and objects but I don't plan on allowing it to get through world objects. Walls and such still stop the player properly and you still function up and down ledges.
How the Gauge Works
The gauge will fill up from combat. As I mentioned before in my blog about how I want to sort of handle experience, the point is to have a risk reward system that the player will be using. I haven't implemented any sort of losses just yet, but that'll come in due time. For now, it's only the gain portion that the player is worrying about, and also only with the money and not as of yet experience points. As the player attacks enemies, the damage they take gets transfarred to the gauge. Like I mentioned before, and is demonstrated right off the bat, if you use the same attack on an enemy multiple times, the amount that it adds to the gauge decreases. This will promote use of a variety of moves as opposed to just using what's most effective but only when it comes to building up the gauge. If you're just out to kill something, by all means, use what you feel most comfortable using. In addition to just repeat moves, the amount the gauge increases also depends on the level multiplier you're trying to achieve, the enemies themselves will have a variable that will change from enemy to enemy, your current combo count and I plan on adding a few other things to help with the gameplay.
How do you use your multiplier?
it's a button. At any time, you can hit the button, and it'll take your current multiplier, and add it to your stored points then transfer it to your actual points. The goal would be to build up your points and multiplier at the same time and bank it at the ideal time. Again, I haven't implemented the negatives of holding off banking immediately just yet, but that'll come soon enough. I hope =P
Other updates
There's a bunch of changes in the code. While I'm making this thing, I'm still studying and boning up on my C# and any time I learn something new, I'll go back through my existing code and put them in where it makes sense to do so. This takes time, but it also helps me remember things I've learned and cleans up my code so that it's easier to know exactly what's going on. Also, in most cases, these changes make the code run more efficiently. While I haven't even begun to reach a point where optimization will be an issue, I think it's best just to do it when I can so that it'll make things easier on me later on. A few of the things I can think of that I've touched on since my last update are. .. I'm still tweaking and fiddling with the proper way to do air combat. I've split up a lot of my combat into separate chains so that they're easier to manage and expand. I've futzed with the items a whole bunch including allowing the player to put their usage into regular combos. You can also use them in the air now. I updated the heck out of the screen safe mode so it works with all current hud elements. Obviously a lot of that exp/multiplier stuff going on in the background. I've made some touch ups on the HUD elements. I've separated (for the player at least) the shadow from all animations. (this took remaking all my sprite sheets but it's worth it). I've got a few other things as well but I can't seem to recall. I've also put some amount of time and thought into some new enemies and the story of the game but those I'm a little less inclined to share at the moment. Maybe at all -_-;;
You can prolly tell the vid quality is still a bit shakey. The game runs at a fluid 60fps on pc and 360 but for some crazy reason, I can't seem to record it properly. It looks pretty damn janky, but I promise it doesn't look like that. I plan on putting more work into this thing over the weekend. As always, comments and suggestions are more than welcome. I'll answer what I can and listen to anything anyone has to offer about the game, mechanics, etc.
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