A new release, would you believe it?

I am tempted to just ignore the fact that my last (and first!) update was like 10 months ago. Maybe I should just casually publish this new update as if just a few weeks passed? Better not, I guess I owe some explanation to my billions (or so) of followers.

It turns out I actually did what I promised last time: during the time I was away from my main development computer I did a good deal of work on the game story! And then I got distracted with other tasks for several months.

Anyway, just over a month ago I restarted working on Down the Rabid Hole, which still felt like a cool game project! And here’s a new pre-pre-alpha release: 0.0.2! Here are the highlights:

• More variety in the maps. I implemented a number of algorithms to generate game stages with different characteristics. The full game will feature them all; this version features two of them.
• Special attack types. You can find books that, when equipped, allow you to perform special attack types. Bombs cost Oil to throw and can hit enemies at distance. With the Cyclone attack you can swirl over enemies, causing a lot of damage.
• Improved controls. Controls feel generally much better.
• We got music! For now, only in the title screen, but that’s a start.
• Lots of bug fixes. And some new bugs, for sure!

I am still not worried about the looks of the game or any smaller details. I’ll look into these once I am happy enough with the main game subsystems and mechanics. For instance, power-ups and items are a fundamental aspect of a roguelite, so I need them to be solid. This will be my main focus for the next development cycle – and yes, this includes redesigning the Loadout Screen (which is still the same horrible mess as the previous release).

This is still all very early work, but I’d be super happy to hear honest feedback! See ya – hopefully in less than 10 months!

Down, down, and away!