Battletits [0.1917]

Hello everyone & UPDATE ++ Sorry for the long wait!

VIDEO:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dOPLqTzKmMKAlf_aZjC-QF1wCRY5dk_9/view?usp=sharing 

DOWNLOAD:

https://mega.nz/file/1g9jTbAR#JJVBFnVJWzlQPG-rDIiVrxlYHs_FgxJjfwe2stunkoc 

Just to address the lateness of this update, and the upendedness of the radio silence.. It's been almost two months since I last made an update and you all deserve some explanation for this.

There was a brief period of tumultuousness internally following the latest update, Progress was moving far slower than I Would have anticipated and I was really suffering with a sort of writers block or just needed some sort of break.. For some reason I was finding it very hard to stay focused and steady so I picked up a little side gig to tide me over. It wasn't so bad honestly, but having to manage my time more efficiently proved a little too difficult especially as what is still a somewhat early stage of development so, in layman's terms, I had to go through some issues/resolve them in order to release this update. I'd rather not go into too many details but it unfortunately was NOT an efficient process, but I've come out the other side stronger, I can genuinely promise you that. I also managed to resolve my issues both inside and outside of the development box so hopefully things can start looking up a bit more from this point forward.. You can never tell what's around the next corner, but at least I am more in control of myself from this journey of mine

The update itself is rather big, it's a hefty update, that brings a lot of improvements, deprecations and a few changes. Please read the changelog for the full lowdown and watch the video for anything else. As always, I hope you enjoy and again sorry for the delay -- I wanted to release something last month but I never found the right opportunity to do so. But what's done is done!


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0.1917 Changelog

This is actually a rather chunky update as far as progress is concerned (as you'd probably hope for 1.6 months of radio silence) but the features implemented I hope will have made it worthy of the wait.

- Changed the in game menu in world/character scenes.. Menu can be accessed, options menu, etc, etc.
- I've added a world map instead of just the boring old level select tab.. It's very cool and fresh looking! Check it out!
- Zoom is in/back in if it wasn't already.. Seems to be working okay as far as I can tell. Just scroll the mouse wheel etc. Nothing to it.
- Frivolously went towards further improving the appearance of the character model, namely including some funky armpits on the torso etc etc. I don't know if it is perceptible right now, but if it is then great! I just really wanted to add some nice funky armpits/better looking torso lol
- Further to the above several other things have been added to the character to appear more 'fleshed out' and less jagged overall.. Some missing Midtones have finally been added, as have some other things to make the overall picture more whole. Obviously there are things that are still missing (such as Eyes, hair, mouth, etc) but these will be added over time in future updates.
- Added some better flow to animations, they should now look a bit better/mildly less jarring, the majority anyway. The arms still sit limply by the characters sides, this is not intentional, I just haven't gotten around to animating them yet.
- I'm not sure if this was in before (?) but player shadows should now be visible
- Area transitions now visible on the map and usable. Check for blue/gray transparent regions on the map. You can't miss them if you head towards the passes in each map, they'll lead you onto the world map or some levels intentionally lead into other areas//loop.*This is especially important because the level pick UI has been deprecated (read below)
- Area collision is IN (for the most part)
- Objects should now be placed over/under the player (perspective wise) properly, as opposed to previously.. So visual glitches IE player appearing on top of/below areas they shouldn't should now no longer occur but this isn't fully comprehensive so don't go in expecting 100% at the moment.
- All areas have received a significant coat of paint and finish, especially since tilesets have been deprecated in favour of sprite shapes (read more below)
- (a few) primitive map shadows are now in, bask in the glorious shade that I manually crafted!

# probably some other fixes changes I'm glossing over but aren't currently memorable to me at the moment.. There was quite a lot, but the main hurdle was implementing the animations for a time until I managed to do so efficiently I basically had to create an animation player suite and play the animations on top of one another, but this also means I have a primitive UI canvas that can play animations for map characters.. Could be useful in the near future


Deprecations:
- Tilesets have been deprecated in favour of sprite shapes, which have proven to be far easier to implement and use and create with only a minor amount of difference in terms of visibility.. In fact, I believe sprite shapes offer FAR more potential in world building than tilesets alone, and now I potentially have access to both tools which is pretty groovy
- East/west Animations are no longer mirrored on the x axis, meaning that left is now left right is now right as opposed to it being inverted previously. This should be (currently) impercetible to the player as there is nothing yet exclusive to the right or left side, but it is important to carry this out sooner rather than later as I do intend to implement this in the near future.
- The.. Level testing UI that allowed the player to warp between zones has been deprecated in favour of a WORLD MAP system (That's right WORLD MAP) that the player can traverse and choose which area they want to enter from there etc. It's very cool, but obviously as of right now there isn't much to explore.. Lol
- Can't think of many other things, but if you find any let me know LOL
- Map animations, IE water, grass blowing etc.. The sprite shape tool doesn't allow for this, unfortunately. I'll think of a way to combat this if the lack of animations on map is really causing visual fidelity to fall below acceptable levels. I'll also include WAY more shadows with the sprite shape tool now that I know it's possible.


Known Issues:
- Some areas have yet to include collision/layering with the player. This will be rectified in later updates.
- Some visual issues still with the character model, these will be rectified on the next upcoming update/s
- Some animations are still incomplete/quality inconsistent etc. Still very much WIP.


As To the more sexy/sweet stuff -- Cumming soon I really just wanted to make things a little more comprehensive to start off with before propelling into other areas again. My primary mission at the moment is integration and connection of all features currently developed and that I wish to include in the final product. As it is, I had to have a bit of a sort out of the game folder because there are some things which are just not useful in there/won't be used/need to be redone.



Looking forward, things may be looking optimistic. I just hope we're on the right track

*Custom colors etc are only available in the CORE versions, but if you change race you might have a diverse color pallette to choose from! I didn't try it out when I played but give it a shot!