Already posted one journal, so I may as well keep updating. With any luck, it should keep me motivated to see through to the end of the challenge.

As somewhat expected, my game design/plan of attack ended up being ambitious, even when using both the two button controls limitation, and the growing theme. Even so, I must admit, I managed to make a lot more progress than I had initially expected. With any luck, I should at least be able to finish the combat state of my plan. Can’t say I believe the game will be any sort fun, but hey, it’s been fun creating it, and I believe that’s what counts.

Either way, I’ve delivered on the promise of creating a GameMaker file with a few objects, and a folder dedicated to the project (I had low expectations). In addition to this, my partner has created a pile of art assets, and I’m currently working on the combat script. So far, not much happens aside from getting input, handling an action, and displaying the action’s symbol (there’s a lot of timing and state switching involved… no idea how I’m going to implement parrying), there’s also debugging commands. References to character stats (both enemy and player) are also working, so I can currently use the ‘attack’ button to diminish the opponents health (and, temporarily, use my ‘block’ button to heal the opponent).

The code itself needs to be refactored, not just for cleanliness, but also because my plan is to have both the NPC and Player run the same combat script (the script accepts two parameters: target_object, and input), so any changes to that script will carry over to any combatant.

I’ll reveal more about the game at a later date (there’s a lot of content I wanted added, but I doubt it will be). So far, the plan is to have you face off against enemies to earn experience. Earning experience levels you up. Levelling up allows you to choose one of two stat boosts. And every few levels, your character will visually evolve. This game will use only two buttons (excluding debugging commands, which will likely be quotes out prior to release).

Obligatory screenshot:

First Ludum Dare; end of day one. Attacking the opponent (ATK-CD is Attack Cooldown)