Hello! I just released the first version of Lazarr!, after I first posted this game for the Minetest Game Jam 2021: Version 1.3.0. If you followed the Game Jam, you notice the game was very harshly criticized back then, and I basically agreed with everything because I basically just hastily put together this game on the final day … :D
In this post I am going to share what I have done in the past months to improve the game a bit. Because I was not happy the way the game turned out for the game jam (obviously), I wanted to improve on it, at least a little bit. Note this is not really one of my main projects so I'm not sure how much attention I will pay to it in future.
I have done a couple of things, here's a changelog of version 1.3.0 compared to version 1.2 (the game jam version):
- The 10 original levels have been replaced completely (including the unsolvable level 9) (I still don't really like the new levels that much tho ...)
- Levels have names now
- Objective changed: The level ends now when you found all golden treasures (previously: level ended immediately if you activated all detectors)
- Level selection screen
- You start in the captain's room with a level selection book
- Level start block added (player starts here)
- All special laser blocks like mirror can now be either "fixed" (they can not be taken) or "takable" (they can be taken)
- Level sizes other than 10×6×10 are now supported
- Levels now support different level borders (other than wood)
- VERY crude level editor (see README.md)
- Changed sky color slightly
- Removed pulverize command
- Add a setting to make laser beams opaque
- Add a setting and command to toggle ambience sounds
- Add the missing menu images
- New sound effects
- Laser updates faster when the player did something
- Simple effects/animations when all treasures were found
- New GUI graphics
- Mirrors now have proper meshes
- New decorative blocks like ocean stone, palm, leaves, grass, dirt, etc.; other old blocks removed
- Plants and cobwebs disappear when touched by laser
- Barricade now burns down when touched by laser
- New block: Crystal (redirects laser everywhere)
- Experimental block: Skull (walkable if in contact with laser, passable if not) (not used in any level right now)
- German translation
- A lot of other small things (I am too lazy too list ...)
This is a lot of things, but I'm still not quite happy with the game. My main problem right now is the lack of high-quality levels. There are still only 14 levels.
I don't know if I want to touch this game in future again, it probably depends on level ideas. Sadly, I have a hard time with coming up with good levels right now. :-( Maybe I backed myself into a dead-end?
Maybe there is only so much you can do with basic mirrors; probably more game elements might help, but I don't think I actually exhausted the good ideas with basic mirrors so far. On the other hand, I don't really want to spend even more time coding this game and want to continue with other projects again, as this was just for a game competition anyway.
So, please don't set your hopes too high for this new version, but I still appreciate thoughts and comments. If you have ideas (e.g. for blocks or levels), I also like to hear it. Although I don't promise anything, I'm still interested to read what you think. :P
EDIT: Version 1.3.1 released, with a few typo fixes and the border of the Palm level changed