Bring us more HUD !!

Hey community,

I published few weeks back first version of my prototype here in Itch.io. It's been played (viewed!) quite many times already and the feedback I got from different channels was very positive. Thank you for trying it out!

I know it's a pre-alpha prototype and there's many things on the backlog (more of the backlog later) but I wanted to address few things that came on the comments in the first update ever. And this is now out and playable! 

First patch now includes improved HUD. So, few additions: I have added a weapon inventory element which basically highlights what weapons you have unlocked and what are their respective level. The weapon inventory can be seen on the right top corner under the XP bar. Should make it more easier by glance to see your weapons! Let me know what you think!

Then I actually added some tweenings to the HUD. When weapon is upgraded the level number scales up and down to make it easier to catch it by eye. Same with the coins. When you collect coins the coin meter scales. I hope these improvements, even if small, provide better UX and playability.

One thing requested I didn't have time to implement was see the buffs player has somewhere on the screen. Probably the HUD would be the place. This is a bit more complex thing to do, and I will try to see how it would work the best. Game currently has different types of pickups and some are instant (like eating food for health) and some have some additional effects like "angel wings" which give you a temporary movement speed multiplier. It would be great to communicate what buffs player has currently on.

So, yeah, try it out and tell me what you like of it :)

Regarding the backlog. I will highlight some things on the works to bring more visibility and transparency to the project.

• Game balancing (prio 2). While game works, some weapons feel underwhelming like Axe and some are OP like meteor storm. Scaling of the enemies isn't what I like either. 
• Art pass (prio 2). I want to polish some currently used sprites. I am not happy with everything, so I try to polish some assets.
• Hero animations (prio 3). Characters need to be animated at some point. Works now, but would be better with an animation.
• Player buff feedback (prio 2). Communicate the player buffs to the player.
• New weapon (prio 1.) While I need to implement many new weapons, I am planning to cap the weapons at some point, maybe 10 or so, and the try to build something unique to the game which makes it stand out from the rest of the similar games. This weapon I have in mind requires a bit of refactoring of the systems as well and hence is important.
• New items to pick up. New buffs for the player. (prio 4). 
• Settings screen accessible from main menu and maybe from game. Music, SFX, volume levels and mute toggles. (prio 4).
• Credits screen. (prio 4)
• Tilemap editor or better system for creating maps / levels. (Prio 3)
• Prototype something that makes this game unique (Prio 3).

That's about it for now. And of course if you encounter any bugs, I will prioritise them in order of criticality, but currently I don't know if there's any bugs.

Let me know what you think. Please, try the game out and leave a comment!