@gamerjohn1991 - I’m not terribly fond of that style of cartoon inflation, so I’m sorry to say that probably won’t happen. I do plan to update the sprites as we go so that Ellie’s arms and legs match her belly at some point. It’ll come as soon as I figure out how to make “fattened and inflated” sprites that look the part.
New update, new report. I’m also going to try a bullet format myself, because my paragraphs look unorganized at first glance and it’s kinda hard to find one specific detail.
Fixes I’ve noticed:
[ul][li]Can no longer be combos by spikes.[/li]
[li]Eating two cakes before invincibility frames hit doesn’t give you two stages of fat, no matter what stage you’re at. (Haven’t tried this beyond stages 1 and 2, though)[/li]
[li]Platform edges appear to be flat now; no weird hitbox making them act like slopes.[/li]
[li]No falling through moving platforms due to weird hitbox shenanigans.[/li]
[li]Eating on a moving platform allows you to move afterwards, and hitting spikes then touching a moving platform lets you move immediately after contact.[/li]
[li]Treasure count does indeed reset upon restart.[/li]
[li]reaching stage 5 of fat and getting a game over no longer freezes you in place. You don’t get stuck in the air, in other words, and fall to the nearest floor. You can even ride moving platforms.[/li][/ul]
Bugs still there:
[ul][li]Crouching and jumping into the bottom of a platform/the ceiling still sends you up through it. Moonwalking is still included as well.[/li]
[li]It’s still possible to eat and then bounce on spikes before invincibility frames, and vice versa. Like before, this only adds one stage of fat and inflation respectively.[/li]
[li]Minor glitches with enemy AI. I know I didn’t bring this up last time, but they act weird on occasion. Nothing that big or urgent at the moment, however.[/li][/ul]
New issues:
[ul][li]Jumping into the ceiling spikes can more often than not result in you getting stuck in them for a moment, until the invincibility frames kick in to be more specific.[/li]
[li]Being raised into the spikes results in you either going up and to the left, or falling to the right, depending on how close to the edge you are on the leftmost moving platform. Might be more interactions with different placements.[/li]
[li]Crouching while being raised into spikes causes the floor/ceiling clip to happen. Being hit while rising through the ceiling does send you back down, though.[/li]
[li]Death to ceiling spikes causes you to flash after a moment of rising. Doesn’t do anything else, but still a bit weird.[/li]
[li]Holding left, right, and down puts Ellie in a crouching state, but her sprite is stuck on the first frame of her idle animation while all three keys are held.[/li]
[li]Despite the hitbox being fixed, it still feels weird when it comes to edges. I fell off the side when I felt I could still be on the platform, and going right up to the edge and turning around results in Ellie standing in air.[/li]
[li]Being on the brink of immobility with little to no inflation causes Ellie to bounce on the ground spikes twice before invincibility frames. This only adds one stage of inflation, thankfully.[/li]
[li]Might not be a bug, but I find it strange how Ellie gets pushed up to the next stage of fat/inflation after her invincibility frames run out, instead of before.[/li][/ul]
Suggestions:
[ul][li]I got nothing for the crouch jump glitch or the AI weirdness. I suspect if the former were an easy fix, it would’ve already been patched.[/li]
[li]The ceiling spikes may need a little fine tuning, maybe having them send you down no matter what and coding in special interactions for getting pushed up against them.[/li]
[li]The weirdness of Ellie’s hitbox that remains may require messing around with the sprites themselves, maybe adding some dead space to her back so she doesn’t swivel around her arm? This would probably also require readjusting the hitbox again, but that shouldn’t be too hard.[/li]
[li]Not sure if you can, but I feel it would be much more natural to have Ellie shift to the next fat/inflated state just as the invincibility frames kick in.[/li][/ul]
EDIT: Added another issue I found just after posting.
EDIT 2: Another couple of issues. I really should remember to try everything before posting.
Cute character, solid mechanics for the most part, but the idea is flawed.
It’s a game where getting hit makes you fat, which makes it harder to jump in a game about jumping, presented to a group of people whose real desire is to do just that. It’s a game where the targeted player would want to lose.
You’ve missed the portion where they said they’d like to have puzzles that depend on your weight/inflation level (i.e. heavy enough to activate a pressure plate, inflated enough to jump to a high platform). There’ll be plenty of opportunities for fattening!
[quote=“Speak_Easy, post:43, topic:1109”]Cute character, solid mechanics for the most part, but the idea is flawed.
It’s a game where getting hit makes you fat, which makes it harder to jump in a game about jumping, presented to a group of people whose real desire is to do just that. It’s a game where the targeted player would want to lose.[/quote]
guess this game is good for finding out masochists.
This looks like it will replace Tainted Elysium as my go-to alpha/beta game to watch if this keeps up.
Thanks SRP! I do think that what Atticus Arc is doing with Tainted Elysium is much cooler than anything I have going on, and that once he gets things back on track he’ll be steamrollering right over this little project. Happy to provide some entertainment while we wait though.
As for this week, I’m working on a few features that have come up in the thread:
1. Breakable platforms
If Ellie is over a certain weight, she’ll break through weather-beaten platforms. Breakable blocks might expose a trap that leads to bad things or they might open up a way to get to areas that a thinner Ellie wouldn’t be able to reach. Breakable blocks will likely have a subtle change to their sprite and will shake a second or two before they break.
2. A New Scorpion Enemy
The next enemy to make its appearance is a temple-dwelling red scorpion. They move faster than the mummies and will sting Ellie if she gets too close. I’m still deciding what effect the stinger will have (choices include a classic slow-bloating poison, a venom that multiples fat or gas effects, or a hallucinogen that incapacitates her for a bit). Whichever one I end up with though, you can be sure it will be bad news for Ellie’s waistline.
3. Different food attacks for Mummies
I got bored of the mummies throwing the same chocolate cake over and over again. So now they throw one of two types of cake or one of two types of ice cream bar. Each food type is thrown on a slightly different arc and at a different speed to give the mummies a bit of variety.
4. Bug Squashing
Thanks JoeRandom for keeping me honest with these bugs. I’ve actually taken up a lot of your suggestions in squashing many of the latest bugs on the list and will make an attempt to not introduce anything horribly game-breaking in this upcoming build.
V
Some people just like cute platformers rather than interesting text-based RPGs. So don’t worry about either project ‘steamrolling’ the other one.
The breakable platforms sounds like an interesting idea. Kind of like a reverse Sonic the Hedgehog. Making the fatter character not explicitly worse is a good choice; I’ve seen plenty of fetish and/or erotic platformers that get this wrong. Speaking of Sonic… perhaps you could do something like a ‘roll down slopes’ attack if Ellie gets REALLY large. Could lead to interesting gameplay.
Hoo boy, definitely not a fan of the “lewd is a bad thing, try to avoid lewd scenes to progress through the game” system that some games have. FUCK Trap Quest! Fuck it with a rake!
I think the scorpion enemy should have continuous buildup until the player fully rests but at a slow pace.
As well as fat build up
If the player ignores the weight buildup it is added to a secondary buildup that requires full rest.
While the “gas” buildup could have it’s own level where it gradually builds up and lifts the player for a second or two in the air and then descends giving interesting platforming opportunities and enemy target practice if left alone
Also possibility for enemies that follow via jumping the player and simply suicide.
Perhaps a vase of possessed cupcakes?
New build is up with some of the features i talked about last week. Also made a relatively large adjustment to the way damage works so that you can’t fatten Ellie to maximum weight and jump on spikes four additional times before she becomes immobile.
Thank you for your patience as always. Any and all feedback is appreciated.
Cheers,
V
Looks good, the only thing I see wrong so far is the endless void to the right, but I’d imagine that’ll become something some day.
Looks nice so far, as always. It’s too bad the first stage had to go, but I’m fine with it. The two states being combined sounds like a good idea in general, and it’s executed nicely, though I think Ellie should look a little different when she has two stages of fat and one stage of gas compared to one fat and two gas. But of course, there are always a few bugs with every new feature. This time, I’m going to try something new with the list, see if that helps keep things organized better.
Issues Fixed:
[ul][li]Crouch jump clipping is gone! Don’t worry, Ellie can still moonwalk.[/li]
[li]Invincibility frames start so early, I wasn’t able to eat and then hit spikes, and vice versa. Could still be possible, but it would require perfect timing or a better setup if it is.[/li]
[li]Ceiling spikes send you straight down when hit. Much better in my opinion, compared to hoping you’re launched in the direction of a platform.[/li]
[li]Being raised into ceiling spikes and crouching while being raised into ceiling spikes both keep you right where you are on the platform. Functioning as expected.[/li]
[li]Death to ceiling spikes does not cause you to enter invincibility frames post mortem.[/li]
[li]Holding left, right, and down at once correctly puts Ellie in her crouching animation.[/li]
[li]Hitboxes feel a little more natural now when interacting with ledges, at least to me.[/li]
[li]Ellie’s bumped up to the next state immediately after being hit, no longer having to wait for invincibility to run out.[/li][/ul]
Leftover Issues:
[ul][li]Mummy AI weirdness. Sometimes they don’t even throw any food at you, like last time. No idea what causes it.[/li]
[li]That’s it. Probably should’ve mentioned the last part of the above in my previous post of version 12/27, but that’s the last bug from before that might need fixing later. Very good job.[/li][/ul]
Moving Platform Issues:
[ul][li]If you manage to get between the bottom of a moving platform and a static platform (only possible in the top left corner of the map right now) you get pushed through the ground as the moving platform reaches the bottom. It’s not enough to drop through the platform, but you still go inside it. Once the moving platform starts rising, you slowly ascend to the top, and can be pushed back down should you remain where you are. Ellie can also moonwalk any time during this.
[/li][li]Pretty big one. If you very carefully make your way to the very edge of a platform as it’s rising, you quickly fall through it. You also fall through any solid ground that might be underneath. The above happens in this case, too.[/li][/ul]
Falling Block Issues:
- None. It works as intended, and the blocks themselves are identifiable if you know what you’re looking for. Good job.
Game Over Issues:
[ul][li]You freeze in place if you’re in the air when you die via being immobile. A bug that has been fixed previously, yet has come back with a vengeance.[/li]
[li]Death via being immobile while having the mixed third stage (two fat and one gas, or two gas and one fat but the death has to be to food) results in the first part of the inflation end animation playing, where Ellie’s belly swells in and out rapidly, yet she doesn’t move vertically at all. Doing this at the top of the screen via jumping into ceiling spikes does not cause the second part of the inflation end animation to play.[/li][/ul]
Scorpion Issues:
[ul][li]Being stung while completely inflated (three stages of gas) causes Ellie to freeze in her pain animation, softlocking the game.[/li]
[li]You can be stung while invincible. This also puts Ellie in her hurt animation.[/li]
[li]Dying from immobility and then getting stung puts Ellie in either her third stage fat or mixed animation, depending on which one you had before the game over. Have yet to replicate this with the inflation end animation, due to the difficulty in actually doing so.[/li]
[li]While testing the above, I found out that apparently the scorpion’s sting extends far above where its hitbox should normally be. Either that or Ellie’s own hitbox is just weird during game over. Picture of Ellie in the air, in her hurt animation, and the scorpion in its sting animation, included.[/li]
[li]Unsure if this is a bug or not, but the poison triggering while you’re already at full capacity just locks Ellie in her hurt animation for a second and gives no invincibility.[/li][/ul]
@JoeRandom - Thanks for the rapid bug report as always. I uploaded a hastily-put-together bugfix build up since there were so many game-breaking bugs in your latest report.
V
Hello! Just discovered this game and can say that it looks like things have progressed quite a bit since the first build came out, and I like the direction it’s going both from gameplay mechanics as well as the “cute, platforming” style.
I’m wondering if there are plans for specific body part inflation/spherical inflation, bigger size threshold, as well as ways to actually integrate these into gameplay.
Looking forward to what the future brings!
No problem. Always happy to help. And good job on the new patch. Every last problem I mentioned is gone! With the exception of enemy AI, but that’s no big deal at all. And yes, the mixed immobility game over animation does look pretty weird.
A couple new glitches popped up upon further scrutiny, however, but one’s really obtuse and the other’s nigh unnoticeable and may have been there from last patch, with me just missing it. Dying via being over-inflated and flying up while on a moving platform seems to freeze that platform at the very top of its path after you leave the screen. Doesn’t affect gameplay at all, but it looks weird. And holding left, right, and down results in Ellie crouching and facing right, but she’s stuck on the first frame of her crouching animation.
Took a look at the game knowing the genre isn’t my cup of tea.
I didn’t have too much fun with it (a shocker, to be sure. 
) but I did enjoy the artstyle quite a bit. One thing that bugged me was the fixed jump heights though. I always kept hitting my head on the ceiling spikes.
I also found a bug where jumping off the edge from a higher platform got me out of the map. Maybe just make the area down there an instadeath pit? Inflation spikes tend to delay the restart.
While I won’t really be sticking around, I wish you and your fans the best with your game, and I hope to hear of great things! ;D
Thanks for the feature suggestion and encouragement regardless. Since you took the time out to test this WIP program out of kindness and curiosity, I think I owe it to you to put that feature fix in place. Variable jump heights have now been implemented, as have some minor fixes that JoeRandom reported.
V
Just popping in to say, good idea on the varying jump height. I feel as though just tapping the button sends you a little too high, however. And her max height seems to have been decreased just a tad.
Also, the mummy AI fix just made them a little weirder. When you enter their field of vision, they sometimes spaz out for a while, though they usually fix themselves by the time they throw the second piece of food. This happens seemingly at random. That and they still occasionally become unresponsive when hit with a bullet and are not knocked down. I think I’ve seen them become unresponsive without any bullets being shot every now and then, but I can’t replicate this with enough consistency to narrow down exactly what causes this.
On one more note, I still find it a bit easy to abuse crouch recovery. Whenever you get hit, you can usually lose a stage of fat/gas before you can get hit again. Maybe you can make it so Ellie can’t heal until her invincibility period wears off? You don’t need to add this in another minor patch, though. It can wait until the next big update.
EDIT: Just found another glitch involving the mixed levels of fat and gas. If you get to just before you lose a stage of fat, then get a stage of inflation and heal, you lose the pudge almost immediately after you lose the gas. Maybe resetting whatever values you use to keep track of the gas/fat when you get hit would help fix this? Maybe even resetting them when you leave the crouched state, nerf the healing a little more?
On both download links, Windows Defender cancels the download after it detects a trojan. I’ve downloaded it previously without issue. Details attached.