Feed the Dragon v0.8.2 - New interactions & code rework

Link to the game (hosted on gd.games) : https://bubblebloat.itch.io/feed-the-dragon-patreon-exclusive/patreon-access

⚠️ If you encounter any problem to access the game, any bug or glitch in the game, please report it to me in Patreon DM or on discord ! I'll do my best to fix the issue.

Huge thanks to collaborators on this project :
• @Frogmaster11200 for his help on sprites for update v0.8.2 ! We should be able to collaborate for future updates.
• Gusdelcor for his help on sprites since the first release of the game.

Patchnote FtD v0.8.2 :

• Reworked a good chunk of the code for the main level to make the game more scalable. This is necessary to make the game scalable but isn't visible in the update. It will allow to add new missions, bosses and possibly a sandbox mode in an other update.
  Parts of the code that got reworked to be scalable (not visible in game) :

  Boss behavior, Boss interaction, bounce physics, Interactive Screen (partially), mobs physics, mobs behavior, Mission selection, Building interaction, Game pausing, UI, black fading transition.

• Added slapping interaction in Malika defeated interactive screen. Clicking on her upper tummy to trigger it.

• Added poke interaction with petallis in the overworld (after choice box).

• Added the inventory menu. It can be toggled by pressing [ i ]. Items collected during the level will be stored there, which is the powder and the cake for now.

• Created a new pixel font for the game.

• Increased the size of the dialogue box.

• Increased the surface and depth of the ground sprite and reworked its colors.

• Changed the way mobs, boss and player interact with the ground. Bosses now have their own line behind the player. Mobs will be either on player line or below.

Bug fixing :

• Fixed a bug where fist collision could be registered 2 times in a row on a single mob.

Sprites that are still WIP :

• Portal needs to be adjusted to new ground height

• Overworld trees tilemap

Why are updates taking so long ?

TLDR : lotsof rudimentary code to rework, engine quirks and more ambitious scope.
I wanted to give some insight on why progress has been pretty slow so far and why I haven't been able to provide as much content as I wanted until now....... >_<

So as some of you may already know, Feed the Dragon was initially made for the 2023 gain jam. At the time, I had wayyyy less experience with Gdevelop (the engine I use to make the game) and coding in general. The ambition of the game was also way smaller, and the Gdevelop engine was less powerful to make bigger games at the time. but it wasn't my initial goal so it wasn't considered a problem.
    In the meantime, a year passed. I kept occasionally adding some content to FtD, but still without huge ambition in mind nor a defined development plan, so the code was still pretty basic (even if it doesn't look like it, it really was) but it was a great way for me to learn.

      In the meantime I also made the 2 other games during which I learned a lot too, improved some workflow habits for coding, and the engine got updated with a few more tools to make scalable games. That being said, it's still an engine that isn't the best to make large-scale projects and requires careful setup to make things work.

       So those are the main reasons why a portion of the development has to be spent on updating old code and making solid features that can be extended upon in future levels and missions. The previous update 0.8.1 Also took longer because I underestimated the time it would take to make the tilemap.

Why FtD development should progressively go faster (hopefully)

As you probably noticed, I decided to stop making art post during development of the previous update 0.8.1 to spend more time on gamedev. I also recently found some help to make some sprites for FtD. And finally; while features are progressively being implemented and the code being reworked, more and more time will be spent in future updates to actually use said mechanics and add new missions, characters, and the juicy content you are all waiting for !

   Update v0.8.1 took more than 2 months to be made. Update v0.8.2 took about 1 month and a week. I can't promise the next update will only take 1 month or less because of how impredictable gamedev is, but that's what I'm gonna aim for.

I'm also eager to design new characters for the next missions, and open OC commission slots again in the future to use the full potential of all the features the game will have :D

Parts of the code that still need to be reworked

There are still a few sections of the code that contain old code and may need to be reworked at some point, but it won't necessarily slow down the next update too much. I'll try my best to focus on additional content too. I'm listing them here to provide a general overview :

• Mob spawning

• Player

•  Interactive screen

• Dialogue system in the main level (such as dialogue for the boss, during the intro cutscene, etc).

• HUD

•  Victory screen

• Defeated screen

• Main Menu

What now ?

I'll start working on the next FtD update ! I will be posting mini progress reports on the discord channel like for previous updates. I am also still planning to release a bigger devlog on Patreon once the writing of the first new mission is ready.

I am extremely thankful for all of you who trust and support my projects beside the initial slow development !! 🩷🩷🩷