xianc78 @xianc78@gameliberty.club

The levels are now bigger the deeper you go. It was something that I realized that I haven't implemented yet. This is the second to last level and the video demonstrates how it's bigger than usual.

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I wonder what would be the next "indie trend" genre of video games, given that Metroidvanias and Roguelikes/lites are becoming over-saturated. Those genres became popular with indies only because of their niche-ness. Metroidvanias bring non-linear gameplay to a perspective that isn't really made for it, and roguelikes have unique mechanics, but have always been relegated to terminal games with graphics only being provided by front-ends.

I think we will see mechanics from both genres continued to be used for years to come, but as for new genres, I have some ideas:

* Ys-likes - Basically action-RPGs that play like the classic Ys games (Ys I, II, and IV to be specific). A lot of people think the whole bump combat system is archaic, but I'd argue that it keeps those games fast-paced, which is part of their appeal. Ys games also tend to be much shorter than traditional RPGs, so I can see indies pumping out Ys clones quickly. The cult fanbase of the Ys series seems to be growing so I feel like it's inevitable that a few clones will be made if they haven't already.
* Zelda II-likes - Non-linear sidescrollers don't have to copy Metroid and post-SoTN Castlevania, and while Zelda II has a lot of flaws, the basic design concept is fine enough that I can see a whole genre being built upon it.
* Side-scrolling RPGs - Same as above. Besides Zelda II, you also have WonderBoy and Ys III as examples of side scrolling RPGs.
* Vertically scrolling platformers - There aren't that many. Games like Kid Icarus have a cult following and have more depth to them than many people think.
* Point-and-click adventure games - People say that they haven't evolved since the 90s, but I think there is potential if you combine elements from other genres. Like, I can see certain parts where you confront with an enemy and it goes into an RPG-like battle or a fighting game.
* Second-person games - I thought that something like this would be a total joke because it implies that you are viewing from the perspective of your enemies and that the game would just look like you being shot, but after watching this video, I'm convinced that it could work. You could have escort missions where you see from the perspective of the escort while you control a character who is always in your view or a survival horror game where you see from the perspective of the zombies/monsters, but this would require a lot of camera work. Either way though, I think the potential is pretty limited.

https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=mC8QoRa8y_Q

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Decided to call my game Refactored Depths. The name is a mirror reference and a reference to the randomly generated levels.

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Boss now has sound effects when shooting energy balls.

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Boss now faces the player (within the constraints of 4 cardinal directions).

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Boss now teleports.

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Added the fourth (and second to final) boss. I plan on having it teleport after shooting.

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Started creating a prologue for when you start the game. The White rectangles appear presumably because the font I'm using apparently doesn't support apostrophes.

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Fixed the bug from the last video.

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Added a third boss, which can be hit anywhere except head-on.

You may notice a glitch around 00:35. I have no idea how that happened. The sword is still in it's place after the last thrust but it sets the "active" flag to false when not in use, so it shouldn't be detecting collision.

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Here is some advice for any indie game developer who is drowning in the over-saturated market of indie games:

Port your game to an obscure operating system like BSD, Haiku, AmigaOS4, illumos, SerenityOS etc. There is a untapped market for games on those platforms and you can probably get a dedicated fanbase that way because those people would love to play something good, instead of Tux Racer. It's just like all the indie game companies who ported their games to Linux years before Linux even had a Steam port.

Unfortunately, this option is basically only available if you write your own engine and use tools that are ported to every platform known to man (like SDL), but I think it's worth it.

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There is now a spark where your sword strikes during the boss kill freeze-frame.

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There is now a freeze frame when a boss is killed.

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End text is now word-wrapped and appears letter-by-letter.

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Working on the end text for the game. It's obviously in a rough state right now. I need to implement proper word-wrapping (the current text is wrapped manually), and have it better timed before the credits.

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Trap door now has it's own sprite and sound effect for when it closes. The McGuffin sprite is now a mirror. (shout out to @Mr_NutterButter for the idea)

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Added a trap door to prevent the player from escaping the boss fight. It's currently using the regular door sprite as a placeholder. The final sprite won't have a keyhole.

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Created a second boss. This one is like the Dark Nut-like enemy, but you have to bomb it once, then it turns yellow, then you can strike it.

The screen goes black in the video because the game crashed due to a segment fault.

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The blue Dark Nut-like enemy can now only be attacked via bombs, finally giving the bombs a practical use.

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Finally added something that I should've added at the start: a debug menu. I don't know why I keep on putting off doing this. Debug menus are so useful, but up until now, I was debugging levels by modifying save files instead.

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