Looks impressive! I'll have to try it out sometime!

I second. I'll wait eagerly for a release. I did one once with GBC graphics and your one here looks really promising.

I know I haven't been on this site like I used to, but I still make those fangames. I just finished one with Tetra and her crew -- a massive open world, 3D thing starring Tetra and using DS models. And heck, is there a better place to share it than zfgc?

Available here:
https://gamejolt.com/games/Tetra_LI/794044

The blurb:

She's back! Tetra and her crew are stranded on the Lonely Island by a mysterious storm. Now she must adventure and explore across a vast open world, finding upgrades and treasures, battling monsters and rescuing survivors, to banish the evil that dwells on the island and return to the open sea.

Can be played with WASD+mouse or XBOX-style controller. (controls are shown on pause screen, press Esc/Start) Super proud of this one. Hope you have a good time playing it.

Anyways... for whoever may see this post... enjoy!

Well, the last couple of days really flew by this weekend. It´s nearly midnight again as well. To quickly summarize: some really good progress was made (meaning I got stuff done and at the level of quality I wanted), but it's also very much clear that a demo will never be ready by April 1st.  Still working my ass of regardless.

I have been in contact with a few animators that maybe could help out with the effects animation, but it's still too early to say if it's going to result in anything, let alone anything usable.

Here's the list of remaining items till the next demo:
- 3x enemy visual to replace <-- DONE! It feels good to fully close this chapter
- 4x 1x character actions visuals <-- PROGRESS: Lots of progress on this front as well. Now it's just the hardest animation left.
- 7x effect visuals
- 10x 3x sound effects to replace <-- PROGRESS: Replaced a few more sounds and dropped another. The next sound batch is getting worked on this week.
- Text engine font update <-- PROGRESS: Added characters for a custom foreign language. I'll likely leave it at that for now and replace the font itself in a later demo.
- Full playthrough for testing

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.26.189 (17 mrt 2023)
* Tweaked skeleton sprites
* Replaced a few more sounds
* Had another playtesting session
* Added shine to key drops, to make them more noticeable
* Tweaked item drop rates
* Tweaked intro hinttexts
* Fixed small masking oversight
* Flintstones usage requires magic again
* Tweaked music calls a little
* Further tweaked hinttexts and a few more visuals

v0.26.190 (18 mrt 2023)
* Simplified coding behind the ingame menu navigation (also to slightly simplify usage)
* Fixed small visual hickup when equipping uncollected items
* Player starts with a one time usage caught sprite
* Tweaked existing skeleton soldier sprites
* Created sprites for another skeleton enemy type
* Cleaned up some old skeleton/skull movement scripts
* Finished implementing new visuals headless skeletons and floating skulls
* Added extra effect for soldiers when noticing the hero
* Floor indicator stays visible slightly longer in the HUD
* Worked on hero hurt sprites

v0.26.191 (19 mrt 2023)
* Cleaned up the coding for default soldier enemies further
* Created (and almost finished implementing) new visuals for skeleton bowman enemy type
* Worked with sound engineer to replace another sound effect

v0.26.192 (20 mrt 2023)
* Made some progress implementing sprites crossbow wielding skeleton
* Created new visuals for crossbow
* Tweaked some hinttexts
* Dropped bombs from the upcoming demo (for now)
* Tweaked some demo container contents

v0.26.193 (21 mrt 2023)
* Tweaked final boss color pallet
* Updated foreign language font
* Updated credits

v0.26.194 (24 mrt 2023)
* Finally finished implementing new visuals crossbow wielding skeletons
* Added new visuals for skeleton thrown projectile
* Nearly finished work on the spider eye enemy visuals and AI

v0.26.195 (25 mrt 2023)
* Finished work on the spider eye enemy visuals and AI
* Cleaned up a pallet swapper issues with the latest enemies
* Worked on new hero hurt sprites

v0.26.196 (26 mrt 2023)
* Finished and implemented new visuals for: getting hurt, getting shocked (for now), wall crashing, and the dying starting frame
* Fixed error when trying to use non-existent weapon
* Implemented one more new sound effect
* Disabled a few sound effects (for now to be replaced later)
* Implemented visuals for another elemental sprite

A quicky update this weekend. I've got some good and bad news to share.

The bad: It has become clear that the last required sound effects will not be available by the end of March, as intended (due to personal circumstances for the sound engineer). Despite the challenges that exist he did deliver more sounds this week and expects to deliver more by mid  April. There are more challenges still to tackle so it´s not all due sound effects (!), but it is what has made clear that the next demo will have to be delayed past April first. By how many weeks is still unclear.

The good: Massive progress has been made on the enemy visuals. I had expected it to be a fairly easy affair, but ended up spriting over 50 frames this weekend. Complete one boss battle (including small tweaks) as well as two regular enemies. With the spritework for two more enemies already progressing quite nicely.
Also, another playtesting session has been completed and the demo is proving to be quite stable.

Here's the list of remaining items till the next demo again:
- 5x 3x enemy visual to replace <-- PROGRESS: Two more enemies finished. Spritework for two more has already been started.
- 5x 4x character actions visuals <-- UPDATE: Dropping the net item from the next demo to save time
- 7x effect visuals
- 14x 10x sound effects to replace <-- PROGRESS: Yet more sound effects replaced
- Text engine font update
- Full playthrough for testing <-- PROGRESS: Yet another session finished.

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.26.185 (6 mrt 2023)
* Tweaked small tiling oversight in demo dungeon
* Worked with sound engineer

v0.26.186 (10 mrt 2023)
* Created new sprites for common skeleton enemy actions
* Created various skull sprites

v0.26.187 (11 mrt 2023)
* Tweaked skeleton sprites to make the movements more readable
* Replaced visuals (+tweaked) Murray boss fight (NOTE: not in upcoming demo)
* Fixed credits not triggering at the end of the demo
* Fixed incorrect music playing after boss fights
* Made various more smaller tweaks/fixes based on the latest playtest session
* Boss helper death now brought more in line with regular boss deaths
* Made more progress on updating character death sequence

v0.26.188 (12 mrt 2023)
* Created and (almost fully) implemented new visuals for two more skeleton enemy types
* Implemented new sound effect

Last week I said we were on track with the sound effects. This week I decided to really make sure of that. So basically spending a lot of time finding (and creating) sound effects on my own to bring the remaining work down as much as possible. I'm quite proud of the jump in remaining work, given how challenging sound engineering is for me (and how time consuming asset hunting can be). The sound engineer should easily be able to complete the remaining work this month. And if not, then I've already picked out 4 sounds that can be pushed back to the next demo without too many players really noticing.

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Here's the list of remaining items till the next demo again:
- 5x enemy visual to replace
- 5x character actions visuals
- 8x 7x effect visuals <-- PROGRESS: New enemy death visuals finished and implemented
- 38x 14x sound effects to replace <-- PROGRESS: Good progress has been made. One batch of sound effects is already being worked on by the sound engineer. With another smaller final batch planned during the rest of the month.
- Text engine font update
- Full playthrough for testing  <-- PROGRESS: Expanded the pool of early playtesters a little. Tweaked the demo based on their feedback

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Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.26.180 (26 feb 2023)
* Finished implemented death and revival sprites
* Disable sword charging (for the upcoming demo only)
* Added extra demo boss impact effect
* Fixed potential visual issue when switching windows while dying
* Made progress working on the new death sequence
* Implemented new batch of sound effects
* Put out next sounds commission package

v0.26.181 (28 feb 2023)
* Created and implemented two sound effects

v0.26.182 (3 mrt 2023)
* Fixed and tweaked a number of small points after playtesting sessions
* Reversed descision for some health and magic items to not dissappear after a certain time
* Tweaked hinttexts slightly
* Expanded collission coding behind ledge jumping
* Player can now push objects while standing on small stair tiles
* Worked with sound engineer

v0.26.183 (4 mrt 2023)
* Replaced more sound effects
* Fixed issue where thrown containers would break against “the floor” before falling into an abyss or deep water

v0.26.184 (5 mrt 2023)
* Replaced more sound effects
* Implemented new enemy death visuals

I'm not sure how much time I'll be able to spend on development today so here's an early update post. Also, I'm not completely tired while writing these for once. Yay, progress!

So I've finally been able to finish spriting the character death and revival animations. It took a long time to get it to feel all nice and smooth so I'm really happy about it. All the remaining items are the toughest things that are left so each step feels like a big triumph. The animation ended up being a nice nod to the original SNES Zelda while still being different.

Also, I've finally decided to cut the demo scope a little bit by excluding sword charging (and thus also the sword release and wall poking). I don't want to rush things and go for a lower quality, just to get the demo out there sooner. So these features will be included in a second demo way later in the year. Depending on how things progress during March I might cut down the scope a little further.

And finally the progress on sounds: development is back on track for this week and the next. Which is great because I can focus more on other things again. The progress during March will be slowed down significantly however due to scheduling and life. This was taken into account beforehand this time so I should be able to complete the sound needs by myself via sound packs and edits. If not then I might consider placeholder sounds to not let the demo development get pushed into April.

-----

Here's the list of remaining items till the next demo again:
- 5x enemy visual to replace
- 11x 5x character actions visuals <-- PROGRESS: I've pushed back a few character actions (like sword charging) and finished the death/revival animations
- 8x effect visuals
- 38x sound effect to replace <-- STATUS: The last batch of 8 sounds are practically done. The next batch of 8 will be commissions within the next few days.
- Text engine font update
- Full playthrough for testing

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Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.26.176 (21 feb 2023)
* Improved sprites elemental sprites

v0.26.177 (22 feb 2023)
* Worked with sound engineer
* Shortened wall crash sound effect a little again

v0.26.178 (24 feb 2023)
* Tweaked and implemented visuals various elemental sprites
* Tweaked visuals new conveyor belt
* Tweaked audio levels
* Animated Linden death and revive character animations

v0.26.179 (25 feb 2023)
* Worked on sound effects and started work on next commission pack
* Tweaked music volume levels
* Started work on the new death sequence

Concept is promising. I'll hope for its release eventually.

I wish you the best of luck.

Just a quickie update this weekend as (like clockwork) I'm pretty beat from working on the game all day again. You would think I'd change my ways by now, but when I get started I tend to go until I'm done.

So the biggest news this week is probably that I've finally found a suitable name for the main character: Linden.

Why do I find it to be such a suitable name? Well, the Linden is a type of European tree. Clever right? Well, it gets way better: back in the medieval days it was considered a holy tree by some pagans and the early church. Being seen as a symbol of truth, peace and justice. And if you add the fact that it matches quite well with the HUD tree and has heart shaped leafs... it's just too perfect not to use .

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Here's the list of remaining items till the next demo again:
- 5x enemy visual to replace
- 11x character actions visuals
- 8x effect visuals
- 38x sound effect to replace <-- STATUS: The next commission batch is still delayed due to scheduling issues.
- Demo dungeon flow tweaking <-- PROGRESS: Now fully done
- Text engine font update
- Full playthrough for testing

---------------------

Progress report:

Code: [Select]

v0.26.174 (18 feb 2023)
* Further refined coding behind breakable floors
* Further tweaked hint texts in demo dungeon
* Added extra type of converyor belt
* Tweaked masking tall torches (+ added extra variant)
* Finished coding latest demo dungeon rooms
* Added 2 additional NPC's from later in the game to the demo dungeon for extra (optional) player guidance
* Switched to different HUD font
* Tweaked menu controls a little

v0.26.175 (19 feb 2023)
* Worked with Kohari on new visuals
* Tweaked demo boss and cape stats
* Started implementing new shield (menu) sprites