Update 06-02-24

hello all! i feel like firedog is in a good place for a new demo, but i want to hold off for a bit to do some more polishing. i had some people interested in streaming and i'd like to work on some overall presentation elements so that it gives a better idea of the overall experience. that said, i made a ton of progress, so i'd like to share some changes with you all.

water

water volumes are coming in the next version. probably the biggest new mechanic since water interacts with almost every system. water features heavily in level 3 and has a number of cool interactions above and below the surface. your pressure gauge remains maxed out as long as you're underwater, but your hose only shoots bubbles. even though it's not a great weapon, it helps you traverse underwater areas much faster.

not to say swimming is the only thing you can do with water. enemies are immediately defeated when you shove them into water, and when you're moving quickly, you can even skip off the surface.

more combat tweaks

something i wanted to respond to is that it's easy to take damage while moving at speed. originally i wanted enemies and obstacles to act as a reason to slow down (or pogo), but it's too easy to clip a corner of an enemy or a static fire when you don't have precise control over your character. i made a few major changes to combat that will make you more effective at speed. first, when you boost into an enemy at hose speed, you'll immediately stun them with a kick. since this also launches them with your current speed, this is usually enough to send them flying into a wall or obstacle.

second, while you're moving above your maximum run speed, you won't take damage from fire, but instead lose a small amount of speed. this means you have a small amount of resistance while boosting, letting you cut corners and get through one or two fires, but it's not enough to let you plow through a raging inferno. these two combined should make enemies a little easier to deal with, but still dangerous to approach from behind.

world map

welcome to dog city! it's a doggy-dog world out there and it's up to callie to save it. join the crew of engine 2 as you rescue the citizens of dog city. not a ton to show here yet, but i want to make the world map more dynamic, with fires being put out as you complete levels, and enemies you have to use the truck to defeat.

minor stuff

i also made a bunch of other changes

• when you start a new game, you now also select a difficulty setting. you can change difficulty at any time using the options menu (it takes effect when you restart or load a new level)
• the tutorial button has been removed from the main menu (it's now selectable from the world map)
• you now have to unlock levels by beating the previous one. progress is tracked across the same session, and you can continue an existing progress file from the main menu (or start a new one).
• s-ranking a level now requires getting all 3 s-rank medals instead of just 2 (being able to boost into enemies makes this a lot easier)
• fire now continually damages you if you stand in it instead of only when you enter
• the "action" button was renamed to "walk". working on giving it more functionality, such as letting you drop through small objects like barrels and soft drop from a ledge
• enemies should face the right direction now
• your best scores and times for each level are now tracked (it doesn't save this)
• there is now a splash screen

things i want to do before the demo comes out

• make some big tweaks to guide arrows:
  • update guide arrow placement logic so that it weights horizontal arrows over verticals
  • align vertical guide arrows so that it lines up with the guide waypoint (and doesn't block the player)
  • show vertical guide arrows above the target if it's on screen
  • handle waypoint logic with rooms instead of being a separately defined thing
• clean up the order that rooms trigger despawns/respawns so that enemies won't despawn before the player leaves the current room
• confine enemies to their current room. if they try to leave, turn them around. if they fall out or are shoved out, defeat them.
• add another variation of fuegato. long time followers might remember fuegirl, she's coming back
• in character controllers, separate "movement velocity" that represents movement intent from "push velocity" that comes from push volumes to prevent edge cases where minimum movement speeds can override world effects
• update the dialog box to work in 4:3 and update tutorial signs to fit that resolution