Dev Log #40 - Goodbye Demo 2, Hello Demo 3!

 Hello everyone!

Today is the release for the final version of Demo 2 (v2.8.5), which means that after today there won't be any updates to it since I'm now shifting focus to the third and final demo.

This final update has some really cool additions that have been fairly long overdue.

Release Notes:

1. Added - CRT Effect
   
2. Added - Options Menu
3. Added - Title screen animated Press Start
4. Added - Setting for V-Sync
5. Added - Setting to toggle CRT Effect
6. Added - Rebindable Input
7. Added - Reset Input to Default button
   
8. Added - Game Time tracking
9. Added - Item Collection Rate tracking
10. Added - Demo Completion Screen
11. Added - In-Game Pause Screen w/ Options Menu
12. Added - Replaced ability text with animated banner
    
13. Added - Item Ability Cutscene
14. Added - Options toggle for ability cutscene
15. Added - Charge Beam attracts pick-up items
16. Change - Removes some colliders in some rooms
    
17. Change - Updated mini-map background sprite
18. Change - Plasma beam piercing damage stacks
19. Change - Updated Ability Item sprites
20. Change - Removed DiveBat upwards attack
21. Change - Title animations slowed down and randomized
22. Change - Slightly increased jump height
23. Change - Speed-boost loss on direction change (left vs right)
    
24. Fixed - Missing audio on some doors
25. Fixed - Couldn't start sprint mid-slope
26. Fixed - Sprint cancelled after climbing slopes sometimes

Animated Press Start screen

Demo Complete Screen

Ability Item Cutscene

In-Game Pause Screen w/ Options Menu

That's it for Demo 2, work on Demo 3 starts next weekend!

P.S. I did a speedrun of the demo, beat my time if you can!

P.P.S. I benchmarked the game:

Min. Requirements (768p, 60FPS):

• Intel Celeron N2830
• 512MB RAM
• 50MB HDD Space
• Windows XP

Dev Log #39 - It's Optional

Hello Everyone!

I've been updating the game over the weekend with some quality of life improvements, namely an Options Menu where you can toggle the CRT Filter and V-Sync on and off.

Updated the Mini Map background to make it cleaner and easier on the eyes:

Left is the new, right is the old.

The title screen has also been updated with an animated 'Press Start' button that transitions into the rest of the main menu:

That's it for now, working on more improvements!

Dev Log #38 - It's Coyote Time!

 

A minor but important update just released, v2.8.2 includes a couple of fixes for Plasma Beam piercing damage calculation, along with the addition of Coyote Time (also known as Ledge Tolerance).

With Coyote Time now added to the game, it will make precision platforming more reliable as the game won't seem like it's eating inputs when you jump off the very edge of a ledge.

Known Issues in Demo 2 (v2.8.2 and prior): Playing above 120FPS can make the player stick in specific parts of the map.

Dev Log #37 - The Prodigal Son Update

Dear Players,

It's been nearly two years since I've posted a devlog update,
but not to worry because NiTL is still in development!

Completely redone title screen

It's been a tough couple of years so far but work on the game has been slow and steady. The demos were silently updated a few times with v2.8.0 dropping last weekend. A lot of things have improved and been overhauled. Special thanks to a couple of friends giving me some much needed inspiration I'm resuming regular work on the game and will be posting more updates in the future.

Below are the release notes, I've condensed them down to the most notable changes:

General Updates:

• Entire codebase rewritten for performance, readability
• Updated project from Unity 2019.2 all the way to 2020.2
• New animated Title Screen
• Updated Credits Screen
• Updated Game Over Screen
• Added WSA Certification for Xbox One builds via UWP
• System-wide optimisations, 3-4x last update's performance
• Removed compression artifacts on some assets
• Demo 3 map layout structure is complete
  

Gameplay Updates:

• Fixed wall detection bug causing player unable to move
• Fixed Player Run SFX playing incorrectly
• Fixed Morph Mode bug clipping in shafts
• Fixed Camera Fade jump when entering new rooms
• Fixed Dive Bat slowing down when against a wall
• Fixed Enemy player detection
• Fixed Wall Jump freezing the game in shafts
• Fixed Crumble Blocks not reappearing
• Fixed Arm Cannon being mirrored when player is facing camera
• Fixed entering credits meant you can't go back to the title screen when using a keyboard or controller
  
• Wall Jumps can now be done more reliably
  
• Completely overhauled Crawler AI
• Finalized Player Ledge Grab and Climbing mechanics
• Player Ledge Grab and Climbing Animations added
  
• More reliable ground detection (Boxcast vs Raycast)
• In-game HUD redone to make it cleaner and more readable
  
• Pause Screen full navigable with Gamepad/Keyboard
• Changed how damage knockback on player is applied
• Increased Morph Bomb hit duration for easier bomb jumping
• Increased Morph Bomb jump height
• Dive Bat HP reduced from 10 to 8
• Enemies now have terminal velocity, no longer speed up infinitely when falling
  
• Added Zero Damage SFX on player attacks
  
• Added Zero Damage animation for Player Beam
• Added Zero Damage animation for Player Missiles
• Added Save Station animation and SFX
• Added animated Save Station prompt
• Can now save via Gamepad/Keyboard using the save prompt
• Plasma Beam penetration damage locked to 60 times a second, previously scaled infinitely with frame-rate
  

New Save Station animation and Save Prompt

Ledge Grab and Climbing Preview

It's definitely a monumental task to work on finishing the whole game, but going step by step I'll finish it eventually. I'm happy to say that the third and final demo should be finished by the end of the year, a lot of the planning is done and I've finally got some money to put a budget together for the art and audio.

Stay tuned for more updates!