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[arseniy]

I think you should try make walls more ordered and visually pleasant(I mean the placement of walls). Those look a bit random yet. Tho, maybe wait untill some beta graphic. That might be helpfull to set their placement.

I don't understand what you mean about terrain. Do you mean that light violet background?

[deepshock]

I mean the background. I'll also need to improve the backgrounds of the other stages (apart from Sky Test and Descent. Teresa's layout works fine for those.)

Wht_Dragon's templates look nice at least in isolation, and before I do any other work on the game, I'll put those templates to the test.

[deepshock]

Here are the maps for the part of the overworld the demo will be in, the inside of a major building in the game, and the admittedly spartan Intensity demo central hub.

The central hub will have some screenshots of each level in the rooms. That should make things clear once I've decided which regions to screenshot.

[deepshock]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZaxVOdMWBw

This build consists of both the Fidelity (early campaign mode) and Intensity (concept showcase) demos, as of February 24, 2015.

To Do List for the demo before it's ready for distribution:

- Enemy, bullet and Seraphine air mode designs
- Logo
- Title Screen.

[arseniy]

I think scrolled walk mode would work for TGL sequel/remake too.
I would critic level design tho. The passages look a bit random and they are so thin in places. I think it's a bit annoyin when levels for such games like confusing labyrinths.

The walk mode miniboss(or boss) could appear with a walls closing around. I think that could be better than through screen blackout.

[deepshock]

I can definitely widen the overworld paths, and replace that minimaze w/ the premium weapons in Aerial Mass Attack with something more straightforward and less narrow (if I don't axe it altogether). Also, I might even be able to have the walls lock in in the lower right corner before Shutendoji (The ogre that I assume is who you're talking about) appears.

Thanks. 

Edit: Before I do any of this, I need to mention that the winding lanes were there to make sure you needed to choose between premium weapons in that segment. I could simply make those areas long, straight lanes with the same purpose.

[deepshock]

http://jordan.realism.is/Steel%20Seraph/Transitional/SteelSeraphFeb2015HGC.zip Here is the latest version of the demo for play.

Arrow keys to move,
Z- Repeater
X/C/V- 1st/2nd/3rd special weapon
Q- Strafe/move slowly
E + any button or two quick taps of a direction- Dodge
Esc- Pause
Ctrl- Map mode
Enter- Confirm on selection menus

1- Save
2- Load
3- Remap controls on demand (might have issues)

[deepshock]

Added joystick support, flight sprites and some hitsparks to the game.

The wings flap in addition to there being mechanical propulsion, as per Ken's current design. If this is a problem I can talk to him about it for sure.

10 Month transitional is here.

Enemy designs, diagonal movement sprites, and (if need be) damage-taking and death sprites will be next in the works, and  (as far as I know) all I'll need to -add-. Any further changes after that are bug fixes and improvements to already-existing content.

[deepshock]

11-month transitional is here:

Changes:

More visual feedback on both taking and receiving damage.

Notifications to check the pause menu when receiving equipment. Unselected equipment is marked with a "!" in that menu, and picking it up has a different sound rather than an extension of the standard item pickup sound.

Defeated regular enemies have basic explosion animations.

Enemy bullets have a clear outline.

Descent (second air level in the Fidelity demo) is now less busy.

All enemies, except for Amon in the Enemy Waves intensity demo, have sprites. Boss animation not yet done, will do after Amon's initial sprite is complete.

You can't go into the pause, map or key config menus between being defeated and transitioning to the game over screen.

If I haven't earlier mentioned better joystick control, then I will do so now.

http://jordan.realism.is/Steel%20Seraph/Transitional/SteelSeraphMay16JeffsList.zip

The Halifax Game Collective meetup in late April was an ideal time to discover new 'improvement opportunities', and most of the improvements came from feedback from some amazing people who volunteered to play the game.

In the future, there will be more debugging (of course), more testing, and I'll try to make modern versions of the game's 16-bit tunes using Fruity Loops and Sytrus so I can have an option to switch between them.

Ken Potter and Ian Johnston are two local artists who have done so much for me with this game. They're worth every dollar they ask for.

[deepshock]

http://jordan.realism.is/Steel%20Seraph/Transitional/SteelSeraphOneYearDemoPeerReviewCandidate.zip

Here's the last version (possibly) of the game demo that needs to be ironed out before I go public with it.

*In district-sized areas, any wait time (2 seconds in areas that size) between pressing the map button and letting it go to the map will be indicated by "Switching to map mode. Please wait."

*White text is outlined for easier readability.

*The Drone weapon follows a bit further behind Seraphine.

*Duplicate button assignments no longer happen. If an already-assigned weapon is assigned to another key/button, it swaps with the weapon already on that button. If that other button was blank before the assignment, the weapon simply changes position.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find time to do the walls-closing-around thing for Shutendoji. I'll try to give post-demo bosses that treatment, and likely even it, in further development of the game.

[deepshock]

It didn't take long for Morgan Stride on my facebook chatgroup to put a MASSIVE list of suggested changes (and some major important ones that I'm certain some of which were regressions) that will be the focus of the next week and likely a bit beyond. The final lap is going to be an essential part of the development.

[deepshock]

  http://jordan.realism.is/Steel%20Seraph/Transitional/SteelSeraphJune82015.zip 

After nine days where I went to all-out war on the game's remaining issues and required improvements, I've managed to get it to a far more presentable state. I'm still going to hold out for Ken's remaining sprites before I publish the demo unless he's okay with me going ahead (or I've still missed a few spots), but this should be good to present at least here and the groups I normally update about the game.

Here's a video detailing all the changes (along with a description that credits people who've helped me along the way and lists the changes made).

https://youtu.be/qyJqD13cMHU

I will register Stencyl before going public, I just want to be in a position to do so -unequivocally- before I pay the $99 required.

[deepshock]

New sprites for basic pickups, Ki-Rin turrets and the Jinn enemy
Scene names when entering a new scene
Character names when engaged in dialogue
A choice between 16-bit and standard tracks
A bugfix for score attack's score bonuses.
Turret facing bug fixed.

http://jordan.realism.is/Steel%20Seraph/Transitional/SteelSeraphCanadaDayTurretFix.zip

This is the version I'll be sending to the halifax game collective for some more exhibition before Halifax Scramble NEO

[deepshock]

https://youtu.be/EiWs_l3_rbk

https://youtu.be/Y6ZZqywdnRE

New videos of the last version's recent changes and score attack.

[deepshock]

https://youtu.be/zltpJM-YLGE

Part one of my final set of presentation improvements:

1) Changed the backgrounds on the air stages to something that 'pops' more.

2) Widened Aerial Mass Battle

3) Put gates throughout District 12 so as to lead the player to the weapons. After the portion of the game the demo ends at, I will have it so those gates disappear once Shutendoji is defeated.

4) Put the logo for the game on the title. Ken Potter is to thank for that.

Next up is changing the demo endpoint so that it ends once you exit the demo area after defeating Shutendoji, rather than immediately after defeating it. In addition, the blocking gates added to direct the player to the objective will deactivate once it's defeated, allowing you to take a look at the rest of the stage (and in the game proper, beyond). In addition, I'm going to improve the Spread Gun icon and allow for different resolutions, beyond 640x480. Finally, I'll allow for full screen play.

With that, I should finally be able to publish the game.