So I had originally hoped to have Spooky finished by Halloween. That didn't happen. I've actually become quiet invested in making a suite of 2d platforming tools within JME which has resulted in Spooky taking a LOT longer than originally anticipated, and also means the scope of Spooky is probably getting bigger than originally planned as well. Making games is fun!
I have the foundation for a much more robust Sprite system than I've done before, and I've implemented Tile Maps with a custom collision system that is looking very promising. The platforming aspects of Spooky are something I've wanted to do in games for a long time, but I always used pre-made physics systems. Using physics is great for some games, but in games where you want more deterministic responses to collisions and the environment they tend to make simple things more difficult. Hopefully this makes Spooky's controls much tighter and more responsive than Dungeon Hordes were.
The month of November will likely not see any major updates to Gothic as I had expressed last time. I still really want to sit down and work through all my poorly realized net code and incomplete understanding of ES systems to make Gothic the game it deserves to be. For now it has been moved from "Probably in November" to "Maybe in January". Not the best news but that's where it's at.
Reindeer Rearing will still very likely see updates come December. A large amount of work I am doing for Spooky should be directly applicable to Reindeer Rearing. I'm honestly excited about the chance to clean things up and really fix some of the more game breaking bugs I had left due to time constraints. (Reindeer Rearing was originally made for a Jam).
My current schedule looks something like this: Continue working on Spooky with the hopes of getting a vertical slice level by the end of the month. Once December starts wherever I am at with Spooky will go on hold until I can at least clean up Reindeer Rearing and tackle some of the bigger bugs as well as re-do the sprite system to be in line with Spooky's sprite system. Once RR has seen enough polish to warrant another update, go back to Spooky.
Next update will have some screenshots no matter how ugly they are!
