No not Bass...



I'm generally pretty reluctant to make too many updates on this, firsly because there's often not a lot to report, secondly I don't wanna make crappy empty updates and have nothing interesting to show/talk about and lastly - even when there is a newsworthy updae I don't wanna give everything away in blogs, screenshots and stuff and leave nothing to surprise/entertain potential players later on in the game itself (for the record, we worked on this game for a good few months in secret before posting anything to RMN or elsewhere, so I guess that habit has kinda stuck with us later into the development process)... But seeing as tCoCL has just got a Dev Spotlight I thought it was probably a good idea to drop an update, luckily there is some sorta substantial stuff to report!

So... as of today stage 1's end-of-level boss has all-but-one one of his animations and behaviors, is fully functional, and beatable. All that remains is the make the second half of his death sequence and it's all pretty much good. This means that once a couple more core functions are implemented the game can be sent to a handful of testers to see how the first stage actually plays from start to finish.

What I'm personally really pleased with is how the movement of the boss sprite turned out once all of the battle behaviors were implemented by kazesui. it's a lot smoother, cooler and has a lot more personality than I expected... BUT I'M NOT GONNA SHOW YOU HERE, because I'd rather have players than watchers :>

But I'll show you this death thingy, I guess, because I feel like I should share SOME in-game content in this update (although this is only part of the sequence):



Also some collectibles I made a while back:

Both of which are ammo collectibles for weapons, the first is a powder horn and the second is a shot flask.

Considering level 1 is almost complete I suppose now would also be a good time to talk about the level itself or something.. So here goes:



The first stage of the game, tentatively titled "Ledge Above the Deep", currently features six normal enemy types with varied behaviors (4 swimming, 1 land-based moving, 1 land-based stationary) a sub-boss and an end-of-level boss. You also will obtain your first non-starter weapon half-way through the first stage (you start the game with the cutlass and pistol).

You begin the stage emerging from the wreck of your former vessel and advance along the sea-bed; hacking and shooting your way to the end of the stage to face the first real boss of the game: Final Bass... and that's pretty much it right now :D (which reminds me, we probably could do with some updated screenshots of the first level, it's come a long way since the video preview where the same group of three fish get shot over and over again with different weapons.)

As for the rest of the game's content, level 2's background is coming along decently, I pretty much know what enemies I'm gonna have to sprite, and plans for the levels after the first have somewhat expanded. Not to include more levels but rather to add more depth to what happens in them, hopefully lessons learned getting this first stage to completion will carry over into the next lot and make things go a little smoother as we approach the more complicated and interesting stages.

I think that's about it for now. There may be an updated video showing a big chunk of the first level in the near future if all goes well so keep an eye out for that :>