DEADFALL COMPLETE!

Considering I haven't done any coding in about 9 months, so had to basically relearn everything I did know, I'm pleased with the result. DEADFALL started as a 'cursed Atari 2600 game' idea but didn't really stick to that ethos (otherwise the music/sound would reflect that style of game, not to mention one particular enemy's design would be a lot more simplified). It's ended up being a game with very little typical game elements - no HUD and no combat (well, not proper combat) for example. It's also an experiment in 'show don't tell' - there's no explicit reason for what's happening in the game, but hopefully the clues are there. Having said that, it's influenced by the films of David Lynch and 'glitch' games like Pony Island, so make of that what you will.

You're a park ranger who finds him( or her)self lost in the woods, which keep shifting around. There are ghosts, and evil trees, and a couple of other enemies - one of which is very hard to encounter, so it's possible you never will. You'll be safe back in your cabin...or will you?

It definitely works, but it's a bit wonky - I'm going to go into the issues I came across, but maybe you should come back and have an eyeball after checking out the game - chances are, some of this stuff won't even be noticeable or bother you! Or maybe it will, what do I know?

Still here? Fair enough. 

First things first, I'm extremely happy with the mood of the game - it's exactly what I pictured in my head. However, the rain effect sometimes doesn't quite keep up with the player movement and also, sometimes, shrinks and vanishes during other scenes. I have no idea why either of this things happen, although the 'shrinking' part almost certainly has something to do with the view changing.

Since the game uses procedural generation, there is a very, very small chance the cabin will spawn super close to the player. I think I know how to change this, but to be honest it's so rare I didn't see the point. It also sometimes spawns 'outside' the main play area, but this is probably because of the sprite size, so eehhhh.

The WEIRD mode doesn't randomly generate another map during the wood sections, which is the point, but I planned to make it 'easier' by incorporating an onscreen arrow pointing towards the cabin. I did that, but for some reason it screwed a bunch of other code up, so sorry, no arrow :'(

On later levels, the player movement slows down even more - I know this has something to do with particle effects, but I have these set to destroy on room changes so I'm not sure why they're still slowing things down. But in any case, I quite like the fact it makes the player slower, as adds to the 'can't run in a dream' feeling, so I doubt I'll try and change this.

In the cabin bits, the player moves even when they're standing still - this is definitely because I forgot to change one line of code, but eeeeehhhhhhh. Also, when you attack the effigy, blood is supposed to come out of its eyes but I can't figure out how to alter the depth so this happens (the effigy is set to be 'on top' of everything). 

And lastly: at some point, the trees were definitely solid objects - the player couldn't walk through the trunks - but for some reason, at some point, this stopped working and I have absolutely no idea why *throws hands in the air*

They're the main things - a lot of what happens in this game is time-based, which means some of the code is an absolute mess of unnecessary objects and conditions, but ironically, faffing about like this was quicker than trying to remember/relearn the 'proper' way. In making this, I did simplify a lot of my initial ideas into what the game now is, but I'm confident I'd be able to implement those ideas and rework/polish the game if I have time (I can easily imagine turning it into a straight-up Evil Dead homage).

And that's it! I hope you enjoy it, or it at least makes you feel a bit sick.