Test Build + General Update

Hello there.
So, I've been inactive since the end of the last semester, mostly from me spending awhile just decompressing after a sucky final semester.  I'm free now!  Freedom is really nice.
Well, I say inactive, I mean inactive anywhere but Discord.  I really need to get back in the habit of making progress updates random people can find without needing to sign in, but I just like being able to communicate so easily!
Basically I'm saying Join the Discord (https://discord.gg/ZkXMZRP3w6) if you want to see more frequent updates, and especially if you want to see clips of funny moments while coding.  

So, onward to what I've been doing.  I've been working on Clock Busters, mostly reworking on stuff behind the scenes and figuring out where to go from here on this.  I think a lot of assets will need re-worked and re-made, so I'm starting to figure out what I'll be using instead.  I've also been trying to work out what the core team will look like, and most of them have been busy so I've been working alone for now.  It's been helpful to focus on programming and design, while ignoring the visuals until later when I have anyone who can help with said visuals.

Which brings us to the point of this update, the focus on design.
The update I'm releasing now is by no means a "proper" release, it's me packaging what I've got and sharing it, because I want feedback and help.  I had an idea how I wanted the game to feel to play, and then I tweaked movement slightly and realized that felt better.  So rather than test a whole bunch of options and tweak values constantly, I'm being a programmer and coding it so something else can do it for me.  Namely: you.

Update: Test Build

Movement Testing:

The pause menu now lists every movement option I could think to configure that seems useful.  The left side has standard movement, the right-side the abilities.  So I want you to play around with those values, and find something that feels fun to play, and then share those values.  Preferably in the Discord but anywhere I can find it should be fine.

At the start there's a warp to the Testing map, basically just a few rooms I had slapped together that I could fit into the main game later.  I strung them together, and added them as kind of a sandbox to play with the movement a bit better.  Hopefully it gives you a good environment to experiment.

Debug mode: There's a button to warp back to the start of the game, and you start with all of your abilities unlocked to make testing easier.

And I'll list some of the other new changes.

Enemy Reworks: I'm re-working the AI, since the old AI has...  issues.  I was using some Unreal systems that were just overkill for a 2d environment, so they're being re-worked from scratch.

New Enemy: I added Wisps, enemies that simply drift toward you when you get close.  I like 'em, they're a simple fun enemy.

Damage reworks: I'm thinking I want to have an element system?  But I would want both elements and damage types, and Unreal's base system can handle one at a time.  So I'm slowly shifting everything to a new damage interface.  (Basically there's 2 ways to do damage for now, the old way throws error messages until I remove it.)

Map reworks: Where you start off now is more like what I'm thinking the Main Halls will look like, using a couple asset packs from Unreal giveaways.  And because of how I was handling it, the main hall is just a mess, pretend you don't see ways to jump off into the void.

Line of Sight: One of the first things you'll notice.  Walls now block line of sight, even if it's still on screen.  I really like how that turned out, and it's likely how I'll handle vision/lighting from now on.
This one had been annoying me for ages now, because I want the player to see where they are clearly, but other rooms shouldn't be so clear.  Designing maps around that is hard, the camera moving away from walls was intended to help with that, and darkness with a light around the player is a bit awkward still.  So hopefully Line of Sight will work well.

Reverted Level System: I used Unreal Engine's map system to load/unload levels as-needed.  I then shifted to using data-layers instead, on the assumption that they would be easier to use since I could load all of the item containers at once, or load an individual map.  And then I kept running into issues with Data Layers so I reverted back to the old map system, meaning I re-worked all of the loading/unloading code.
If something's broke, blame UE5.1 for making me do this.

What's next?  The first priority is making movement feel good, so I'll listen to as much feedback there as possible.  After that, I plan get more serious about mapping out individual rooms, or even entire areas.  Now that I'm feeling more confident in my greyboxing skills, (the basic cubic maps in the testing areas) I'm going to focus on design and gameplay rather than appearances.  Somewhere in there, I plan to take the Kraken assets from the marketplace to try to set up a proper boss fight.
There's a lot of directions to go with this project, so I'm kind of all over the place.  Sorry.

(Did I have any kind of sign-off or anything?  It's been awhile.  I think the "what's next" was basically a sign off...  I'm too stubborn to check though.)
Hope to hear from you all later, Bye!