Progress Report

I know this is probably the longest wait I've had between releases since I started working on Ascension, but if you be just a little more patient, my next release should be more or less final, barring bug fixes and potential late-stage conceptual changes (though I hope and anticipate there won't be a lot of that). And I'm starting to get close to being ready for that release - I'm going to try real hard to put it out before next weekend. For the moment, I'd like to go over some of the changes I've been working on, and the progress I've made since my last report.

I'm just about finished hiding the secret items you have to find to get the alternate ending, which is itself pretty much finished.

I also fixed some parts in the Nastrond stage that I noticed were causing game-crashing errors (again due to the graphics file change I mentioned previously) - my apologies that the stage is apparently not playable in the latest release that's out.

And speaking of Nastrond, I'm installing a few optional shortcuts, since it's such a long, drawn out stage. Certainly, I'd like for you to experience the stage in its entirety the first time at least. But after the third or fourth time through, when you're on Hard Mode and trying for the alternate ending (for example), I don't expect you to want to sit through every bit of dialog, necessarily.

I'm also, by the way, in the process of changing around some of the dialog with Lucifer's generals, to make it a little bit more conversational and less of a lecture/text dump (since this game originally existed in the form of a written story).

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I made another minor graphics-related change so that now your save game file will include an indicator letting you know what difficulty level you're on (E for Easy, N for Normal, H for Hard). That should hopefully be a clever (and helpful) little addition.

Labyrinth is proving to be a real monster. I've been studying maze theory and I've come to the conclusion that my own amateur maze building skills aren't up to the task of constructing a convincingly challenging Labyrinth, so I've resorted to using a program to generate mazes which was created by maze genius Walter Pullen (here's his website - it's chock full of mazes and interesting maze-related information). Here's the prototype for the new Labyrinth maze. :p

Still, there's a lot of work involved in translating a maze into a playable game map, and then there are other considerations as well, since I want the maze to be uniquely challenging. I've utilized certain strategies to disorient the player, including reducing visibility and eliminating landmarks as much as possible. But there's still so many choices in deciding how to put this stage together that - like being lost in a maze - I can't figure out which direction to go!

But I should have that sorted out soon enough. So stay tuned for my big release, hopefully some time next week (fingers crossed!).