Update 0.3

Hello! It's me again, here to share my new developments of Neuroverse Warriors! So, for this update I worked really really hard. I got super obsessed working on this and has been all I've done all summer. I think that I really cooked. This game looks unrecognizable! I still have a lot more that I want to do, but it will probably be a lot slower, with class starting and all. 

So, here are the things I did: 

Localization: 

Yep. It was a bit tricky to learn how, but the game is fully translated into Spanish! Now, you might be thinking that that is a lot of work for my non-existent Spanish-speaking audience, but consider that it's just as big as my non-existent English-speaking audience.

 Loading and saving:

 Yep, you can select one of three slots and your progress is saved for every enemy you defeat. I mean, it wasn't as critical for such a short game, but it's really good to have! Now you can just close the game, take a break and continue whenever you want. I'm not sure how it works with the online version though. I guess we'll see!

 Walkable Map: 

This is one of the big changes! Now it's not level based, there are enemies walking around, and if you touch them you enter an encounter. And instead of the characters you use in battle being predefined per-level, now they follow you into all battles after they're unlocked!

Look at that little chibi Neuro! So cute! Which brings me to the next big change. 

Visual revamp: 

I've re-drawn the world, the backgrounds, and all the characters! Wow, so many hours of work in a single sentence, haha. One thing I didn't change was the cutscene at the start. Those are still the very crappy drawings I made in the game jam, so please excuse those.

Also, I'm not that satisfied with how Vedal turned out. I feel like I didn't do him justice. I'll probably tweak him a bit in the future. But as you can see, there's a new face in there! 

Anny: 

Anny is now in the game! She's unlocked pretty near the end, so sadly you don't get to use her much. Hopefully one day I get to make more content after the city. But that is not anywhen soon.

 New Enemy, the Monocopter:

The Monocopter is an early game enemy. Low health, less AP. It pretty much just pads the starting area, and serves to explore the artstyle a bit. Don't get your hopes up, all the other enemies are the same. 

UI: 

I've redesigned the health bar again. Sometimes less is more, I got rid off the big "HP" letters on top, and removed the defense bar. The defense bar was a fun idea, but ultimately it was more confusing than anything. So I have removed it. I think it'll be alright, damage=attack-defense is not that unintuitive.

 Abilities:

 Evil

 Screech: Instead of having an ability that Neuro already has, Evil can now unleash a deafening screech upon her enemies, lowering their defense while making mild damage.

 Pipes: Hits the target three times with a metal pipe. Having this ability means that Evil is the only character with 4 abilities instead of 3.

 Vedal

 Overclock: Now instead of directly transferring AP, Overclock applies the Overclocked status effect, giving +2 AP each turn, but also receiving 10 damage.

 Anny

 Slap: Does little damage, but it's very cheap, being the only ability costing 1 AP 

Hype: Boost the target's attack, and also gives them a regeneration effect.

Fluster: Reduces the target's attack and defense. 

Story:

 In terms of story, we have little story. There's the pretty vague and crappily drawn cutscene at the start. Hopefully, the environmental storytelling I added gives a semblance of a story. Though it's very little stuff, mostly backgrounds and battle triggers. Sadly this update was already too packed to add dialogue. 

What's next?

 As I've mentioned before, progress will likely slow down a lot now that I will be preoccupied with college, rest assured that I do plan to keep working on this game! I've got plans. Big plans. For 0.4, I plan to add character progression, so there's some benefit to winning battles other than saving. With that, in game menus, to see the stats and other stuff. Along with the menu, I plan to add a party select screen. Which might not be very necessary yet, since I still haven't decided if the party should be 3 or 4 characters. I'm leaning towards 3. Another big thing I want to add is dialogue! Writing isn't exactly my forte, so it'll be probably pretty bad. But at least it'll have some story. And on the topic of story, I also need to re-do that starting cutscene. I also want to add interacting with the environment, and changing scenes while exploring the world, instead of it all being just the one big room. I probably should also add more enemies, since the game is lacking in that department. So I have a lot in the backlog. Those are only the things I felt like mentioning, there's more stuff simmering in my brain. I have a feeling I'll never add everything I want to add. Well, on the bright side that means that I'll never run out of content. 

When will be the next update? I ask on your behalf. Well... it'll probably take a lot more, since there's a lot on my plate with university and all. So I guess we'll see. I estimate... like 3-4 months? Maybe less, if I decide to do a smaller update with only a few of the things I mentioned. Probably not.