Hey everyone!
Wow! Where does the time go, eh? Turns out going from part-time day job to full-time day job really puts a hamper on gamedevving and updates! However, not to fear, I've got some great news; I'm still working on Andy Blast and have been posting micro-updates over on BlueSky for a while now. Still, I can't neglect the real Devlog or people will begin to think I've given up! So here's a short list of things I've done up to the last day of 2024!

• Added Spider enemies to level 4
  
• Added Spider "stun" state to allow the player to attack/bypass them
  
• Added more detailing art to level 4 so it's not all repeating dirt background
  
• Smoothed Andy's pump animation by adding more frames
  
• Added more frames to the reload animation (without adding more time between reloads)
  
• Revamped the pump and reload animation code to allow for easier backend changes
  
• Blocked out Level 7, finished up the main flow, added slimes and zombie enemies
  
• Got slimes working "better" they don't ceiling crawl anymore, but they're just as annoying as before
  
• Brightened the colors for the score popups
  
• Adjusted the position of the camera when player drops down to allow a better view of what's below
  
• Changed Bat attack speed
  
• Reverted Bat attack speed back because it was too fast
  
• Normalized shotgun sound (you can hear actual game sounds now)
  
• Animated more of the Ghoul (Tentacles are HARD!), still not done
  
• Added more frames to the skeleton's legs so they walk more smoothly

Of course, I'm still working on it, but I'm just one guy! Getting closer every day now, so keep an eye out!

Hey everyone!

As an indiedev sometimes life just gets hectic and you have to set things aside for a while before picking them back up again later and Andy Blast is no different!

So for today's update it's nothing major (still stuck on Level 7), but it's something; the main menu has been updated!

So what's that mean? Here's a short list:

Main menu has been moved up and to the left to accommodate other menu items. (If your menu is still centered you don't have the latest version.)
Controls were removed from the "ReadMe" area and are now in their own section under "Options".
Graphics for the controls have been updated to be more user friendly and functional.
Audio options have been moved to their own sub-menu and a sound effect now plays to let you know when you're adjusting sound what the changes are!
There's a new Boss Healthbar option! Turning it on will display a healthbar for the boss monsters to reduce some tension.
New "SpeedRun" option. You can toggle it, but it doesn't do anything... yet.
Zombies are faster! And a little more aggressive; Upped their speed and kept them at top speed once agitated/shot. Doesn't increase difficulty too much, but makes them less "stupid".

Even though it doesn't change the core gameplay, I hope that anyone who stumbles across the game will have a better experience with it with a more intuitive and up-to-date menu system than what it had before.

Keep an eye out for more Andy Blast Fun!

Hey everyone!

A while back I tried playing Andy Blast on an Intel i5 all in one computer and it ran like trash. I chalked it up to bad optimization or an integrated graphics card and walked away from the problem for a while, but the other week I showed the demo to some folks who know LOVE2D and they ripped into the code and found a MAJOR bug; the game was writing to the preferences file EVERY FRAME. I was mortified and went about fixing the bug and viola! the game runs fantastic on the i5 no stutters or issues! Because of this I'm definitely going to be pushing to have more people play the game/beta/etc to get feedback just as was mentioned last week. But until then here's a list of things that were fixed/changed:

• 
  
• Added new achievements, including secret ones!
  
• Implemented achievements throughout the game (WIP)
  
• Fixed an issue where Zombies maintained their fast walk even when no longer agitated
  
• Increased Zombie's fast-walk speed slightly
  
• Zombies will now maintain an "agitated" state if left at 1 HP (fast walk and different animation)
  
• Added health bar indicators to boss fights
  
• Added the ability to turn off health indicators for boss fights
  
• Added a copyright logo to the title screen
  
• Made massive changes to the in-game menu system to allow for more options and make current options easier to navigate
  
• Moved control layout when selecting controls from the ReadMe area to the Options area so you can see the changes live
  
• Renamed "ReadMe" to "Story" as it only contains story elements now
  
• Fixed a bug where you couldn't cancel quitting/reseting in game with the controller
  
• Found out through some nice folks that the game has been writing to the HDD repeatedly during play
  
• Fixed the file write bug in the game and the demo and reupped the demo for everyone to update their copy
  
• From feedback; tweaked the player movement calculations to calculate between frames for consistent movements on all systems
  
• Removed the hacked together frame limiter as it was placed in to fix the above issue which it did not do

Hey everyone!

Some super exciting news for today's devlog! ACHIEVEMENTS!
That's right, one of the big things that was looming over me was implementing Steam API/Achievements into the game and, luckily, someone out there made a LOVE2D/Lua plugin that works with the Steam API that's super easy to implement and works great!

Of course, there are a few other things I worked on as well and here's a short list:

• Created a new boss encounter including new level, sounds, and animations!
  
• Began work on Level 7!
  
• Corrected issue with pause menu showing Andy's "You are here" head in the wrong place
  
• Set the game to grab the mouse and make it invisible so it's no longer in the way visually
  
• Integrated Steam API for Achievements/Scoreboard
  
• Created the first set of achievements for the game w/appropriate artwork

It's important to note that a big hurdle for me was the level 6 boss fight and it's now implemented, but may need some tweaking which brings me to another point; Beta Testing!
I'm looking into how to implement some "open"-ish Beta Testing to make sure the game works and is fun and playable to more people than just myself. Stay tuned for news on that front as well!

Hey everyone!

You might be wondering why this "weekly" devlog hasn't been every week. Well, a couple of reasons, but the main one is; gamedev is hard and sometimes things get stuck. The other reason was, while stuck, I made a quick Adventure Game for MAGS in Adventure Game Studio and you can check that out for free here: https://4kbshort.itch.io/the-zoo
However, I have also been working on Andy Blast again and here is a short list of recent updates:

• Changed the color of the brick wall in front of the tree in level one to show it was a foreground/blocking item
  
• Increased speed of Ghouls after detection to "Ludicrous"
  
• Adjusted gibs spray upon monster death to be more visually appealing
  
• Assembled level 6 framework/platforms/etc
  
• Created art assets for levels 7/8
  
• Adjusted colors of some previous assets to current palette
  
• Minor visual adjustments to some enemies
  
• Added "Y"/"N" keys to confirm/cancel quitting due to old habits

In addition, I'm super happy to announce that I've been able to finally figure out level 6 which has been causing me no end of grief (and the reason I had to take a break because it was holding up the rest of the game) and with that I've also been able to figure out the final boss!
So hopefully quick progress will be made on the remaining levels/bosses/etc and I can finally release the game!

Hey everyone!

I joined in Nextfest not expecting much from my tiny game and 0 advertising budget (it's just me doing all this, remember), but I was surprised to find that at the end of Nextfest the wishlist count for Andy Blast DOUBLED! Wow! Absolutely fantastic and super surprising to find so many people stumbled on my game over the week!

For the weekly update here's what I've gotten done over the last two weeks:

• Fixed minor animation bug on Ghoul normal walk-cycle
  
• Replaced Monk sprites with correct Skeleton sprites on level 5
  
• Worked on fully animating Ghoul after detection. Current animation is limited and jumpy.
  
• Worked on updating Skeleton animation frames
  
• Crafted and uploaded a new trailer for Steam NextFest!

The new trailer can be found on YouTube and has also been added to the Steam store page so you can watch it there if you like!

On a personal note, as an Indie Dev sometimes things can get overwhelming or you can get stuck on a feature or update in the game that is either difficult due to your skillset or not your favorite thing to do. Right now I'm stuck a bit on animations and level design; two things that need to be done in order to make the final three levels of Andy Blast.

Three levels may not seem like a lot, but it's designing, implementing, testing the flow, then designing monsters, animating them, writing their AI, etc. It is a lot for one person to accomplish, but I will not give up and am working, even in small amounts, towards completing the game! Just don't be surprised if the list of things I accomplish at the end of each week is sometimes very short as things get harder and there's more to do, but less to report.

Thank you everyone who wishlisted the game before and during Nextfest! More updates coming soon and keep enjoying the demo!

Greetings everyone!

It's time to get ready for the next NEXTFEST on Steam! And because of that I didn't get much done with the code this week. Here's a list of things I did/attempted to do with the game through the week:

• Fixed a typo that caused the controller selection screen to not loop one way
  
• Getting ready for NEXTFEST! (Lots of non-game stuff in this)
  
• Several days trying to get a Linux version working. Did not work.

For the Linux version of Andy Blast there are ways to get it to work on Linux. The simplest being distribute the core files to someone running LOVE2D 11.4, but that requires work on the user's part and is not intuitive for a download and play from Steam.
Other ways all include variations of the above method and, hard as I tried, I could NOT get Steam to download ANY files from the depot onto a Linux system, only the Windows files with Proton support.
On the plus side I can confirm the game runs through Proton and I can also confirm it takes a small performance hit. Of course, the computer I was using to test had trouble running the game on Windows proper due to its age, but there was a difference between BAD and WORSE that I could notice. So, for the moment at least, I will not be able to get a Linux demo working for Nextfest, but it's still on my list!

Greetings everyone!
A quick list of the things that have been improved for Andy Blast! This update was focused mostly on adding sounds to the game, but also corrected some old issues that weren't game breaking, but were visually irritating to look at. Now the game plays very well, feels hard, but balanced (to someone whose played every iteration of it), and really feels like I've solidified the first five levels!

• Added sound to boss bat wave attack
  
• Increased speed of boss bat wave attack
  
• Added sound to ghost death
  
• Sped up ghost death animation
  
• Corrected Ghost death to face player
  
• Corrected Cultist death animation alignment issue
  
• Cultists will now throw daggers when shot (sometimes)
  
• Fixed issue with Cultists throwing two daggers when shot (sometimes)
  
• Added sounds to Zombies when they are shot
  
• Added new sounds for different door types
  
• Updated credits to match current assets
  
• Reset Extra Life score to 0 on death regardless if it's the last life

This Devlog is now mirrored on my website:
https://www.fordabble.com/devlog

Game Update:

Hello everyone!

Level design is, by far, my least favorite part of gamedev! But, I am slowly making progress on new levels and new enemies to fill those levels. Some things that have been added into the game since the last update are:

• New enemy for level 2 (mentioned in the last update, but not available in the Demo)
  
• Completed the layout for Level 4 and Level 5! this includes the path to the exit, secrets (Oh!), and some enemy placement. They still need to be tweaked along with the "AI", but it's working out so far.
  
• New enemy added for Level 4
  
• New animation tiles so the game doesn't look quiet so static.
  
• Some of the in-game music has been replaced/shuffled around to better fit the atmosphere of the levels they're in.

It's a slow process making levels that flow well, filling them with enemies that keep the gameplay interesting and not frustrating, and ensuring it all works together to make an enjoyable experience!

Some additional features I'm looking to add are simple, but here's a sneak preview:

• An update sound when sound volume is changed. (Easier said than done in LOVE2D)
  
• Potentially making slam fire an all-or-nothing move. Once started it does not stop until the gun is empty. Feedback on this for those who played the demo would be excellent! (Yay or Nay?)
  
• Ambient background noises for all levels. One level has this and it works. Others seem to get "noisy" so it may only be an "as needed" basis.
  
• Confirmation on Return to Title or Quit the game! Currently it doesn't ask you if you're sure and you can accidentally boot yourself out of your game and reset your score to 0!
  
• Op-tim-i-za-tion! Anyone who has downloaded the demo and it has run terribly PLEASE feel free to give feedback. I have no beta testers and thus different systems may play the game differently! Any weirdness, slow downs, physics issues reported would be greatly appreciated! Two of my biggest updates (fixing V-Sync and Slamfire) came from random people playing my game so I promise I do listen!

Stay tuned for more updates as time goes on and thank you!