SODHARA v0.4.7 is out!

I am happy to announce the first additions to the development team! Viktorija Karhina has been contributing ideas and concept art, which have already been introduced into the demo release. Hunor Tot-Bagi has been doing an exceptional job with testing the game and suggesting features and improvements, significantly raising the level of achieved quality and polish. We're happy to have you on board!

This version is also significant as it is the "final" demo version before the completed game is released into the wild. More than two months of manual testing by both Hunor and myself have ensured a necessary level of features and polish, allowing us to now focus on creating the content intended for the completed release.

Features introduced:

• Climb a ledge point using Space, i.e. Jump button.
• Add message history which can be cycled with left and right bracket keys (reset on quitting the game).
• Add an object that spawns the ammo necessary for doors on dead end locations.
• Change charged rocket door barrier colour from green to orange.
• The TrackedBoolean script is updated to generate proper enemy ids.
• Enemies are tracked when destroyed in order to be respawned after PC is killed.
• Items the enemies drop on death are destroyed after PC is killed if not picked up.
• Cancel charging on weapon change and ball morph.
• Implement semi-permeable platforms.
• Implement translator with three classes of five keys each.
• Add semi-permeable platforms atop of all ladders.
• Enable damage while PC is climbing a ladder.
• Inter-area lifts are now animated.
• Enable underwater movement ability unlocking while underwater.
• Add background dust particles.
• Enable spider corridor display for debugging purposes.
• Disable morphing to spider ball on moving platforms.
• Increase ball's circle collider radius to 0.5f size.
• Enable local doors when in ball form as well.
• Save tutorial messages' state on quitting the game.
• Once unlocked doors stay unlocked (and can be opened with the basic weapon).
• Properly handle coroutines which resulted in severe increase in performance.
• Debug overlay completely overhauled.
• Implement inventory screen.
• Implement logbook screen and system.
• Implement maximum ammo and redesign weapon unlocks.
• Add controls display to Pause menu.
• Add shield charging slider - hold `B` to activate (it is still only a visual effect though and possible to unlock only via cheats).
• Add spinning animation - press `N` to activate (again, only a visual effect at the moment).
• Player "pushed out" of the tight space if hitting a ceiling with more than half of collider cleared.
• Add Blitz ability - press `V` to activate (the target is four tiles in front of PC and must not be colliding with ground).
• New HUD implemented.
• New control scheme implemented.
• Animated fulmenite (crystal) indicator implemented.

User interface improvements:

• Add the tutorial message that states that holding Space/Cross yields a higher jump.
• Add a slider that indicates the weapon is being charged.
• Gun charging slider changes direction with the character.
• Added border around the gun charging slider for better visibility.
• Lift activation trigger message is displayed only upon shooting the trigger for the first time.
• Use Return and Enter keys as Submit in addition to Space.
• The last save game on the slot selection screen is now highlighted by default on entering the screen.
• Clicking on the game window when window was previously not in focus does not move deselect the currently highlighted button.
• Display build date on main menu.
• Show current ball mode in HUD.
• Show current frame rate in HUD.
• Require crystals in order to use the map station.
• Add Sentinel map station and security scanner sprites.

Code refactorings:

• Rewrite arsenal ammo checks.

Bug fixes:

• When focus is not on the game screen and a menu with buttons is active, clicking on the game window loses the focus from the buttons and using the menu is impossible.
• PC passes through one tile thick platforms when climbing down from ladders.
• PC slides on slopes when getting into crouch from running.
• PC cannot shoot the door when too close to it.
• Map station up-arrow remains on screen even after visiting the station.
• A bug in level geometry in Area01A prevents the player from traversing a tunnel.
• Energy tanks were not behaving as intended, namely not extending maximum health as designed.
• Fix the invisible wall behind a particular ladder in 01B.
• Player health and energy tanks are now saved and loaded properly, and the game starts with 100 health.
• It is now possible to generate maximum number of bombs given that bomb cooldown is set up correctly.
• Energy tanks are now tracked in game state.
• Fixed the blaster charging not working after recent changes.
• Charging weapons on ladders now behaves as intended.
• Fixed the missing ledge grab point in the secret room above the lake in Waterfall Caverns.
• Fixed the lack of morphing into a ball when climbing into a tunnel at 01A.
• Ball form now uses its own cooldown parameter instead of whatever "main" weapon is selected.
• Ball morph ground check collider repaired - detecting whether the ball can morph to standing now works properly.
• Added lots of missing ledge grab points.
• Add missing transition from "Running, Shooting Diag" to "Climbing Ladder" animator state. Same for "Running, Shooting Up".
• Excessive jumps performed by jerking grapple beam and jumping are removed.
• Moved tutorial message so as not to get in the way of the rocket launcher ammo pickup message.
• Update level geometry in 01B to prevent spider ball artefacts.
• Fix the issue regarding security scanner state tracking in 01A.
• Pop-up Close button delay before enabled is made even.
• Update missing pixel in the HUD.
• Floating achieved by jerking grapple beam and jumping while spider ball mode is active is fixed.
• Lift trigger in Control Room now uses the flag properly.
• Adjust level geometry in 01A to make the jump near the top more smooth.
• Update ledge point in front of the trigger near the secret room so that it morphs.
• Properly reset weapon cooldown on switching weapons to avoid a few quick shots in succession.
• Repair strange jump behaviour near vertical texture and jumping on invisible tile on 01G.
• Fix the flying spider ball bug on 01F (not related to 01F in particular).
• Enable instant kill on spikes in 01A.
• Reset weapon charge slider on PC taking damage.
• Fix the bug where PC couldn't jump from ascending platforms.
• Fix the moving platform backtracking if hit from below.
• Limit the sustained jump by max height instead of jump key pressed duration.
• Reset player and enable movement on UI controller start and on scene load.
• Disable character screen while pop up is active.
• Track moving platform state.
• Update moving platform prefabs to track state.
• Disable global lifts when in ball mode.
• Disable morphing to spider ball while on unstable platforms (moving or destructible).
• Extend crumbling platform collider downwards so that it can be triggered from below as well.
• Update health slider in the HUD properly after instant kill.
• Disable weapon change and fire on scene transition.
• Disable screen shake when pop up is active, which previously caused the camera to wander off.
• Fixate position while clinging to a wall to ensure jumping away from the wall on jump.
• Update how wall cling, dash and jump work together.
• Save current weapon selection.
• Track weapon unlocks so that they do not re-appear.
• Track door trigger state properly.
• Disable ladder interaction immediately after being hit.
• Update jumps so that no particular modifiers are used based on ball type selected.
• Lower the flag on completing a ledge climb with a delay leading to better duck functionality.
• Increase base jump height to make it possible to clear four-tile high obstacles.
• Check if shield is unlocked prior to charging.
• Check if PC is in ball mode prior to changing weapons.
• Prevent ducking from resetting the camera lock area.
• Moving platform selects the next waypoint when PC is touching from underneath in all cases.
• Weapon charging reset on transitioning through global doors.
• Ability charging reset on transitioning through global doors.
• Update interact world icon.