Yes, I did remember to do another post ^_^

Changes & Tweaks
Okay, we're getting ever closer to that next demo release. Busy weeks are busy though. x_x But anyway, a few more changes.

- You don't have as much knockback as before when taking damage. (I'm still tweaking this too, I may knock it down a bit more from the current change.)
- On that subject, you have a shorter flinch time. This mainly takes effect when you take damage in the air since you recover when you hit the ground anyway. For those that have the faster flinch recovery skill, you will still benefit from the skill and will definitely notice a way shorter flinch time.
- The skill "Flame Pillar" has a slightly higher spirit and element cost. (The damage output for this is quite insane.)
- The element cost of all the first elemental spells has been lowered slightly.
- The boss fight in Vegetable Garden has been made easier. He has a longer recovery time on his attacks and his Physical Power has been lowered slightly. (I think I said this once already.)
- The first boss now has a hit stun. Well all the bosses have one, I just realized the first didn't. Note: Bosses have a different kind of hit stun than normal enemies, but it's there.












Extra/Optional Level
A new one may not be in this demo, however if it is, note that I was frustrated this week so a lot of that frustration went into it. I hope you like losing over and over. That's right, I'm taking out my frustrations on you, the player. Enjoy.~ <3 (Remember, it's only optional) ^_^

Also the end boss of this demo will give you a run for your money. It is the first one to make use of every element as well as a constantly changing elemental weakness and Cripple Point. It has a Physical and Spirit Defense way off the chart compared to what you have faced, but don't fret, you can do it! Observation is the key to beating this one.

First Weekly Update

Not much to actually talk about for this week. Things are coming along though, and a new demo is definitely within sight. Possibly within 2 weeks!

I do have 2 screen shots to show!






















You can click on the images to make them bigger. That's what she said... wait, that doesn't even make sense.




You know... adding in screen shots to this blog is kinda clunky. Anyway, I will have more to say next week... or maybe after work tonight. o_O

Random Game Stuff

I was watching my roommate play Majora's Mask on the virtual console and I suddenly had memories of when I first played that game. While not as great as Ocarina of Time, a certain part of the game always stuck with me.

It was that very first 3 days without the Ocarina. I remember how hectic those first 3 days felt. Here I was, stuck in an unfamiliar world without friends, stuck in a Deku Shrub's body, I have no clue what's going on and the only person who seems to be able to help me is a nut job mask salesman. On top of this, in 3 days this giant moon is going to crash right in the middle of this town that I can't leave because some asshole guards says its too dangerous for a lonely shrub to leave. "FML" says Link.

Apparently I needed to get on top of the clock tower, which only opens up on the night of some festival, which coincidentally happens on the same night the moon is going to hit the town. (no pun intended) Now when the tasks to actually get up there are put into perspective, its all incredibly simple, but remember, we don't know that. All we know is that we're alone, we don't know how to get up there and this moon is going to end the world. I remember the sense of dread that the time limit placed on me. Every moment counted, I frantically ran about trying to find someone or some clue that could help me get up there. A flying deku thingy will let me up there, sweet! But he wants a Moon Tear? wtf is a Moon Tear and how do I get one? Okay, go find a missing fairy, got that. Go find these 5 hiding kids... THE MOON IS GOING TO HIT IN LESS THAN 48 HOURS, WTF!! I just want to ask this guy in your hideout about a Moon Tear, stop hiding you little fucks! I'm sure you remember when a new day starts and it does that boom sound and shows you -24 hours remain- . I saw that when I had one kid left to find. Needless to say, I just wanted to find this damn kid. I find him finally, I've only got like 17 hours left. Damn it! Okay, I run in the hideout, piss off Skulltulas! Okay, look through this telescope... NO, give me the Moon Tear you old fart, we only have 12 hours left to live! I start to make my way to the flying deku thingy when just then, the doors to the clock tower open and the festival starts. Everything has this red tint, the music has this low creepy (and somewhat sad) tone to it and maybe... 2 people are out. Everyone is gone. The clock has disappeared and been replaced with a timer. I have less than 6 minutes left to get to the Skull Kid. I get the Moon Tear, and bring it to the flying deku thingy. Yay, he moved! I fly up to the clock tower and run to the top. I get bombarded with these 4 locations and bringing something here. Dude, we have 5 minutes left to live, wtf are you talking about. Now this section is actually very easy, the Skull Kid doesn't actually do anything here, but again, we don't know that, we're freaking out. 5 minutes to get my Ocarina back? wtf do I do!? Oh... just hit him with a bubble. I play the Song of Time and poof, I've suddenly gone back 3 days.

This whole first scenario was amazingly well done and a great introduction to the game. I liked the time limit the game had. It never got in the way even when playing through dungeons. It did give that sense that you needed to be quick. But seriously, if you slow down time, that's roughly 2 1/2 hours you have to complete a dungeon, which is more than enough.

Weekly Updates Now!!

Okay, time for something a little different... I'll be making a post here every weekend! No set time for them, just know that they will be on weekends. The posts will be various news about the game's progress, fun little facts, and anything else I can think of, and maybe a screenshot! And if you're feeling like it, leave a comment about anything your heart desires at the time. Comments, suggestions, flames, whatever you want to throw at me. (As long as it isn't a spear.) O_O The posts will have sections so you know where to find the info you want and can skip the stuff you don't want to read. :P

Distorted Travesty Stuff

Sound Effects
In the process of adding in more sound effects... finally! You've probably noticed a lack of sounds on many things. If you played The Happy Fun Game, you know how I like to use abuse sound. Probably going to add in an option to turn sound effects off, it will be separate from music of course.

Teleport
A very much needed ability will be given after the Dusty Ruins. A teleport spell! It will teleport you to the World Map... Actually it probably won't be a spell, but just something you can do from the menu. It would be rather tedious to go to the spell menu, equip the spell, close the menu, use the spell, open the menu again and switch your other spell back in. o_O It'll probably (most likely) be a hot-key that can be used anytime the menu is open. A note about the teleport. It will be disabled at certain points. Boss fights, scenarios where you are trapped, etc. I'm actually contemplating on whether I should give it to the player just after Distortion. If I do, no worries about those who are past that point as it will automatically give it to you if you are past that point.

Saving Fact
On that note: Save data is and will always be able to be transferred from one demo version to another. This wouldn't be possible had I stayed with GM's built-in saving function, it's pretty crummy.
Fun fact: I didn't want to get rid of the option of saving anywhere. But with this new way of handling save data, I couldn't have it from the menu, it would've caused some pretty nasty issues. The save room gets rid of any issue of map loading errors and random mishaps and also keeps the player from saving after every single obstacle in rooms. (Remember the option "Load from Last Save"?) Again though, I didn't want to get rid of being able to save anywhere, which is why you'll generally find a save door at the beginning of every room.

Check Points
Another thing I might add, but I'm leaning towards no on this, is check points in levels. Meaning that if you get to that point, you can return to that spot if you say... returned to the world map. If I do decide to do this, I'm sure you'll know the checkpoints when you see them. They'll be a familiar sight. :P

Stuff
Wow, that was a real update and didn't include anything from my personal life. Btw my roommate has an old fat cat that is funny to watch when she walks around... opps.

Whoa, an update

Wow, look at this, an update! Well I'm back from my summer job, (For 2 weeks now.) which was amazing I must add. Being a camp counselor is a pretty amazing job. Lots of work, but very rewarding, plus the kids are awesome. But anyway, you're not here for back-story...

A new demo may be released soonish, depending on how much time I get to work on it.

Some minor/major things changed/fixed.
- The "Load From Last Save" option now works in the Game Over menu.
- Hitting "Esc" doesn't immediately close the game now. You will have a prompt message.
- Holding up on the Save Point will not result in it multi-saving.
- Getting a Game Over has a somewhat different effect. (No changes to functionality, just a visual makeover.)
- The low health warning on screen is a little different. (Can still be turned off.)
- The higher your hit combo, the more damage your physical attacks deal. (It gradually builds.)
- Various minor makeover things that you probably won't notice. XD (Moved a few enemy spawn points by a few pixels here and there.)

Air Dashing
Some time during the game, you will gain the ability to Air Dash. To execute, hold up or down when pressing jump in the air. It takes up 1 Dash Point and can only be used once till you hit the ground again, however, if you hit an enemy while airborne, you can Air Dash again, allowing for virtually unlimited dashing without touching the ground.

Other Stuff
As always, new enemies, bosses, levels, and more! New characters introduced in a new city which will add more to the story.

Secret Levels & More Updates

Secret Levels
Everyone likes secret levels and what platformer would be complete without them? Distorted Travesty is no different. Extra/Secret levels will be placed around the world. The first will open up automatically after the completion of the Old Castle level.

These levels are completely optional for progress, but completing them will give you extra goodies. On that completion note, the extra level's themes will be chaos. Their difficulty will be much higher than the surrounding areas.

Yeah I know, lame update. Bite me! :P Oh wait, I edited more into this post, not as lame, still lame, but not QUITE as lame... you can still bite me as well.

Lag Issue Fixed
Yep, if you were experiencing some lag in the bigger maps, namely the first area of the Diluted Mansion and the first area of Distortion, you shouldn't anymore. The game now runs much faster due to a new check being done before drawing sprites to the screen. (Actually the issue was sprites being drawn while offscreen.)

Change Screen Size While In Windowed Mode
I've had a some feedback from Vista users (and seen it) that fullscreen looks really bad, but most of the Vista users are using screen resolutions of like 1600x1200 and higher, so the game window is very small. Sucks for both ends. I sympathize and have found a fix for this. Anytime while playing, (excluding the title screen) you can press F3 and toggle the window size between 1x/2x mode. It just doubles the pixel size without flipping it out. (Game Maker typically blurs pixels when going full screen, but for some reason in Vista, it looks really jaggy and nasty.) Hope this little add-on helps. You'll see it in the next demo release.

Distorted News and Updates

Progress is slow yet fast... yet slow.

Story

Good news for those who want some story to guide them. The next demo section will give just that... A purpose for it all. You'll find out a bit about The Darkness and what is actually going on, which will give some much needed direction for the seemingly aimless travels Jerry and Jeremy have been engaging in.

Distortion

You will be shown the Distortion world which is sure to bring about some laughs in both it's presentation and the fact that a lot of people will fall for the many traps within. Some of the enemies there will do more than trying to damage you. You'll just have to wait and see the kind of awkward traps that lie waiting for you. (Small clue to one of them, I hope you don't mind playing in either windowed mode or fullscreen when the game decides. Just don't get close to that particular attack. :P ) If you understand how to use the spells and abilities to get yourself around easier, then a plethora of goodies lay waiting for you to take, and can also create huge shortcuts. Distortion is a very open area and allows the game's momentum based movement to really shine.

New Ability

A new ability will be obtained just before entering this area called "Wave of Awesome". It is actually 4 attacks in 1. They are executed in the same way special attacks in Smash Bros. are done. They are as follows: (btw, they are all Megaman X attacks)
Neutral: Charge Shot
Down: Spin Wheel
Forward: Magnet Mine
Up: Boomerang Cutter
They behave closely to how they originally were, but obviously with some modifications. Each do the same amount of damage and cost the same. While the base power is low, it's cost is incredibly low, and if used right, you can actually gain back more Spirit Energy from using it than the cost.

Ability Change

The Fireball spell's summoning position has been raised up slightly. It will now fly over 1 tile high from a standing position, it was bumping against them before and it was kinda meh. Which also means it may fly over shorter enemies. Overall, it's better like this. (Hey I only raised it up by literally 2 pixels.) Btw, did you notice that it is the fireball Dracula from Castlevania uses?

Experience/Level Change

The required experience to level up has been reduced SIGNIFICANTLY. By roughly 40% actually. The curve was a bit ridiculous before.

New Item Pickup

A new pickup type has been added. It will increase your max Spirit/Elemental Energy by a little. Since your elemental energy can be increased now, it's stat parameter can be monitored in your menu. All the elemental Energies are counted together, so it will show them all as one. Like the other pickups, it will be shown if you have obtained them all from an area on the map.

Random Small Game Elements

This is all about little things in the game that can help you... or something.

Aerial Bounce
This is triggered by successfully hitting an enemy with your physical attack while having downward momentum in the air. It will cause you to stay air-borne for a little longer.

Week-Day Experience Bonus
Since weekends rock ass, you get a 1% experience bonus on Saturdays and Sundays. However, Mondays suck so you get a 1% experience penalty on those days.

Time sensitive Experience Changes
Due to a glitch in the game world, at 4:04am, you will not gain experience, but only during that minute.

Awesome Experience Bonus
The more Awesome Points you have, the more experience you will get from enemies. You may start to notice a small boost after some time.

Momentum Boosts with Techs/Spells
Some Techs and Spells can give erratic movement changes. Example: Mental Insurrection will bounce you in the air much like the Aerial Bounce effect.

Kill Chain Internetz Boost
When you get higher Kill Chains, enemies will have a higher chance at dropping bigger amounts of Internetz.

Boost Spirit/Elemental Energy Recovery
Successfully hitting your enemy with any attack will give a slight one time boost to your Energies. However, having a high hit combo will significantly boost your Energy Recovery. High Kill Chains and Killing Sprees also give nice one time boosts to your Energies.

Defense Boosts
When an element is active, you get a 10% resist bonus to that element type. This stacks with any skill resists and support magic. Water Barrier also has the added benefit of giving a 10% defense bonus while it's active.

Jump Attack Invincibility
When you start to see an afterimage during a Jump Attack, you are invulnerable to all enemy attacks during the rest of the Jump Attack. Additionally, the longer the jump occurred, the longer the invulnerability lasts after the jump.