It's been a while, welcome everyone!
For the last little while I've been heads down working away at the launch version of Sheep for the Stars! Recently, I announced that the launch day is August 7th.
There have been so many changes recently that I'm excited to share with everyone on launch. Here's a summary of some of the big changes.
Challenge Mode
Some of the feedback I received on the game previous was a mix of "this is too easy for a rage platformer" and "the high level of difficulty ruins the experience". I figured the best way to try to accommodate as many players as possible was to increase the options to play the way you want. This is a strategy I'll continue to use on future games as well.
To make the game a bit easier for newcomers, I tweaked the difficulty selector. The easy difficulty level now provides 2 additional fuel and a more lenient ambient fuel charge while falling. This will help new players make progress through most of the game's levels.
Hard mode includes the rising water level, but the stakes still aren't high enough for the more dedicated precision platformer players.
Thus, Challenge Mode was born. Once you complete all the levels in the base game, the main menu changes. The original play button changes to a 'Time Attack' button, so players can still try to achieve the best time per level. Additionally, a new button for Challenge Mode is added to the menu.
This mode is a very punishing one-shot mode through all the levels sequentially. Contact with the water from a long fall results in an end to your attempt. This amps the challenge of the game to the max. Players who practice each sequence in Time Attack will have an upper hand here.
The mode also tracks your total game time, so once you're able to finish a whole run, you can also try to beat your time. For those into speedrunning, this mode is for you.
Adding Juice
A lot of time is dedicated to polishing the gameplay feel, and overall juice in the game. Menu and controls responsiveness has been improved, more effects added, more feedback and reactive effects are being added every day.
Many things in isolation being added are very subtle but in aggregate really help bring the experience together.
Additional visual effects, level variation / decoration systems, better particles, environment improvements, and so much more.
Thanks everyone for following me on this journey so far, hope to see you all on August 7th. If you're interested in helping get the word out, that's great! Jump into any of the social channels (discord or reddit), or get in contact through email to chat more!