Work and Pacing

Edit: (May 16, 2010) I should have the area ready in a few days. Still ahead of schedule! Nothing else to say at this time.

Edit: (May 14, 2010) Frustrating job is frustrating this month. Anyway, GOOD NEWS!! The next part of the game will definitely be released by the date I originally set, most likely a few days (maybe even a week) beforehand. There is not much left to finish up and most of the debugging and fine tuning has been completed.

A new control feature has been implemented as well. You will now be able to cycle through your abilities without having to go into your menu. You cycle through your abilities much like you do your elements, in this case, it will cycle through the spell list of the active element. If fire is active, it goes Fireball -> Flame Fillar -> Blast Off, etc. If none of them are selected, you will cycle through your physical skills. They are currently mapped to "Q" and "E", back and forward respectively. I will probably add them to the key configure list, especially for those people that either moved the default WASD set up or are using the arrow keys.

Question: Would you prefer the setup I explained up there, with a forward/back cycle button, or would you like one button to cycle forward through the current active element and the other to cycle through your physical techs, regardless of the active element?

Edit: (May 02, 2010) The main part of this area is almost done and the map system and all it's components are completely done. There are only a few incomplete maps, but story sequences and a few scripted things will need to be put in place afterwards. The boss battle may take some time to make. Planning and all that is finished for it at least.

Here are 2 screenshots showing those Element Doors I mentioned. The graphics may or may not be final. Leaving them in links.

http://gyazo.com/114ad92396dd2d2c115fa562830f6bae.png

http://gyazo.com/1708aff0ef1c376ec9e305d007e21820.png

Work is going to pick up this week, but a lot of progress has been made and the pacing is going well. I may actually have this area ready by the target release date.

Progress
Developing this area has been very enjoyable, the play testing isn't as bad as I thought it would be either. Though this area isn't all that hard. (Which makes it easier to test.) I can easily say that this area will give you a break. You may have to stop for a moment to think on some of the puzzles, the further you go in, the more elaborate they become. Most of them only require observation and some timing.

New Item
You can get an item here that will help you locate items. It will make a chime when you enter a map that you do not have all the items in. This can be turned off from the options menu, which will be added when you get the item and will be on by default. It will only alert you to optional items, story related items and keys are not included.

Here's a screenshot showing one of the new abilities you will get here. Yes, finally an effective water spell!

A new type of door/barrier will be showing up soon and unless I change one of the puzzles, they won't appear until after Veiled Detritus.
It's a door that is only open when a certain element is active. Simple concept, but very effective for puzzles.

I'm going to release a small update soon, you'll have 10 floors to try in the Spire and Zephyr will be fixed again. (I broke it, don't use it in version 10.2 or 10.3, it will crash the game.)