Mothers Day Update
This Build was actually finished a while ago, Sunday the 14th, but I passed out before uploading anything. However that also means, since I'm not on as terrible of a time constraint, I can publish the update post and the update itself at the same time.

The Mothers Day Update is adding a small form of parenting into the mix in the game. First of all, Spickles have been made nearly permanently weaker than they were prior. I want Spickles to be the creatures that lay as an icon over the games head. Every update seems to Nerf them but I want this one to be a final Nerfing.

Outside of this, the update also entails a continuation of the missions, so player aren’t specifically told to close out of the game after beating the Spickle when more content is certainly imminent. The game will start to show off more and more features that’ll certainly be refined, but also re-used throughout the lifespan of the game. Afterwards, I’m going to start working on a clear cut story to the game so we’re not sitting here testing out different features for another eternity. But the new Storyline will be thrown inside of the next scene soon to come. So on the good news, repetition in the production of these maps can soon increase to a withstandable level. On the downside, the public beta is going to periodically be losing its continues updates. If new features happen to be added in its lifespan, they will be added. I might also allow one more level for payers to try out as well. But I want to focus on making this game a longer and more intriguing story that wont take forever to make.

Once the base story line is added, I can post it as an Early Access title. Preferably a 2 hour gameplay experience at the most. When all is said and done, it shouldn’t be too terrible to beat, but a second play through of the game should only take a maximum of 30 minutes after understanding all the systems and being able to predict previous enemies.
After we finish the main storyline, I’m going to start adding the features I wanted to add in the game from the start. I want to start adding a roguelike aspect to the game with scripted parts in between. But until then, I want to say the early access should be out by this Summer for people to FINALLY get their hands on the completed version of the game. It’s all just going to be repeated leveling up, solving puzzles and fighting creatures, but with a mixture of elemental plays in the mix.

What had happened?
The last update on B0.5.2 unexpectedly had a game breaking issue that wasn’t clearly tested until after its released, while in its editor, the error wasn’t actually spotted.

Because steam is so closely integrated in the games programming, when steamworks client begins to fail, everything else does as well. The problem wasn’t necessarily Steams fault however but the Steamworks.net client implementation itself. Steamworks documentation wasn’t entirely the greatest and for some reason broke. I had to get the AppID implemented into the steamworks scripts so if you don't own the game, you can’t play it. But it also helps relate where your achievements are and where your scoreboard stats get saved online. With that broken, you don't actually get an achievement for killing your first spickle, and since you don't get the achievement, the spickle can’t die, because it wants to give you the achievement before it kills the Spickle and so on. I was about ready to eliminate achievements but that seems like a HUUUUGE part of the player base. It proved a difficult situation and I gave myself a break from working on it for a bit and cleared my mind. I got back to it and almost instantly figured out that it was an issue with not having strategically placed parenthesis -_-
Thus, B0.5.2

For the Future?
I want to add a few more unlockables at different prices. That’s however going to be a big change in the scripts and take some time to complete. Just a few things like using the mouse to cause large amounts of damage to creatures surrounding it, or pressing down on the keyboard to launch your player faster towards the ground, making breaking the ground easier. And I want some of these to be unlockable at will, not forced like the first 3 elemental upgrades. These should come in future updates in the coming month.

I’m liking the 2 week pattern between updates however I can’t promise much. The first important implementation is the town however. Once the town is finished, and the new items are implemented into the scripts, I need to fix certain things that are actually a bit game breaking in the long run. A lot of the newer updates after this are going to be behind the scene implementations over future levels.
Have fun trying out the new update for those of you who weren’t aware there was actually more to test out. And for the others, there’s still a spawner at the very end to test your wits.