Honestly, spit ‘n shine is simultaneously an understatement, and exaggeration.

Let me explain…

First and foremost: Five. Freaking. Months. Five months of long days, loss of inspiration, juggling school, and for what? Well, the changelog is coming up.

Before I just begin listing what’s new, I have a few notices to get out of the way.

NOTICES:

First off, allow me to summarize what this update was supposed to be.

-Fix things that I broke from the last update,
-Add new character,
-Add a few new details to make things look nicer,
-Look into adding a new feature,
-Add new enemies (like, two)

Relatively small in scale, especially given the scale of the last update. “Ok, fair enough,” I hear someone say. But why did it take five months?

…

So about that list!

It essentially doubled (Or tripled?) in scale.

Here is what the list is now (again, summarized)

-Fix things that I broke from the last update,
-Fix things that I somehow forgot to fix previously,
-Add two new characters, (WHY???)
-Add minimal (and broken) revamped gamepad support,
-Add new options,
-Add new items,
-Add a thousands of new details to make things look nicer,
-“Fix” Deathrow, (Actually give it life)
-Add the new feature, then do what you thought to be impossible,
-Add new enemies (like, two)
-Add A LOT to arena 3,
-While i’m at it, let’s COMPLETELY rebalance how enemies work!

Might not look that much bigger, but the scale has most certainly increased.

I’ll also quickly mention that I don’t have any gifs this time around. Because, you know, you can actually play it now, and not have to look at looping images.

…

Either Way….

With that in mind.

Enemies are stronger, have a bit more hp, and spawn in less quantities.

Why? Simple: Eventually, the game would become impossible due to the sheer number of enemies alone. I had already been thinking about this before I began work on the update, so I had time to properly think through the idea before putting it into action… With THAT said…

This new change is probably broken.

Playable? Yes, I made sure of that. But some combination of items and a specific character may be broken. This is why you’re here though! And why the comments exist.

Melee characters are also wimps at the moment. They always have been actually, just not to such a degree. Ketsu is pretty much unplayable in arena 2. Characters from arena 2 and onward break arena 1, ect. This widening gap with melee characters is a small taste of the changes I plan on addressing in the next update.

So with that out of the way…

Time to address other things.

ARANA has been, and will still be an arena hack ‘n slash. But, I can’t help but feel there could be more. I can’t promise anything, but know I want something more aside from just arenas from ARANA. Something to justify all of this polish.

Don’t expect anything soon though. Just know these are my thoughts.

So: the changelog.

NOTICE: Any frame rate higher than your monitor’s refresh rate (in my case it was higher than 60) causes slowdown with vsync.
[Features:]
-an intro plays the first time starting the game, (featuring “The Runaway” By Eric Matayas)
-reworked screenshake along with intensity options,
-90 and 120 frames per second are now an option. (60 FPS felt slightly sluggish in controls)
-option for enemy corpse degradation. Enemy corpses turn to transparent ash after so long,
-Vendor has a proper unlock,
-arena 1 and 3
-tile variation,
-revamped gamepad controls, they now work in the menu (with exception for the item equipment menu) they are, however, a work in progress,
-gamepad is automatically enabled upon use,
-when the gamepad is enabled, the title screen changes accordingly (ala Fast Action Heroine)
-most enemies have their own sound effects and more polished visual effects,
-melee enemies have full animations,
-ranged enemies have muzzle flash and sounds,
-in a similar vein, all melee collisions have been revamped, (after realizing my previous “fixes” didn’t work)
-Keeper
A mysterious figure. The guard of the cells in Deathrow.
Equipped with dual scythes, he deals massive damage but has the least stamana of all characters.
-Manager
The owner of Deathrow. Keeps track of the prisoners progress throughout the arenas.
Equipped with a revolver, he tags his enemies and gains control over them.
(does not have his proper unlock yet)
-DeathRow (main menu) details!
-pre-existing hud sprites have been redesigned,
-each primary part of deathrow has their own “owner,”
-much of the internals and some of the external design has been changed,
-toggle options now have “on” and “off” for proper distinction,
-additions to arena 3!
-new enemies!
-Beater Cyborg,
-Acid Slinger
-acid pools,
-multiple variations,
-Challenges!
Complete challenges, gain rewards! (Still somewhat WIP, need to add real challenges, not just unlock rewards)

[Fixes/Changes:]
-movement changes to work properly with multiple FPS options and items,
-rebalanced item that alter speed,
-fixed constant shop tier changing, (Item tiers are now saved)
-potion drop change is lower (1 in 6 by default)
-potions grant a tad more hp,
-item help text has black border,
-F1 and F3 no longer function. There are now in game menus (pause, deaths, etc)
-music volume is at 3 by default,
-adjusted item descriptions,
-default fps is now 120,
-loot bag effects are now synced with fps,
-Fixed bits of the title screen,
-menu movement is consistent across all fps modes,
-??? has consistent sprites,
-??? has a brighter death animation,
-ranged ??? has a new bullet sprite,
-countdown has been re-colored to white,
-tweaked character information bubbles for arena 3,
-can no longer hold down left click in the character select menu,
-fixed in game hud drawing with pausing,
-fixed issue with shop unlock and spawn,
-fixed more issues with buying from the shop, (bleh…)
-removed “gamepad” option,
-all unlocks display regardless of what is currently unlocked,
-Sal portrait has been altered slightly,
-hud font tweaks, (some still a work in progress)
-rebalanced arena 2 enemy distribution, (much less overwhelming by the boss)
-arena 2 boss:
-fixed crash with arena 2 boss bullets,
-fixed directional issues… (the all to common issues)
-added a shield effect for immune moments, (may be a bit glitchy when sprite appears)
-actually looks where it’s going when following from behind walls,
-fixed aggressive turret animations issues,
-mooore cleaaaanuuuuuuupp!!!
-removed leftover junk not used,

[Ketsu:]
-another sword mask tweak,
-more attack balancing due to experimental enemy changes,

[Shadow:]
-more health balancing,
-more attack balancing due to experimental enemy changes,

[Sal:]
-muzzle flash is now a single frame on the bullet,
-finally properly aligned bullets with gun when firing,
-more attack balancing due to experimental enemy changes,

[Maav:]
-Inverted and adjusted bullet colors,

[Trance:]
-more attack balancing due to experimental enemy changes,
-secondary no longer alters speed,

[Levi:]
-magic missile homing diameter has been reduced, (nearly halved)

[Vendor:]
-screen shake intensity has been lowered a tad,
-more unique sounds,
-gun primary no longer uses stamana,
-secondary has been revamped (as per usual), is now “quick step,” a more gradual instant teleport,
-sprite and particles for secondary use,
-particles emitted when using secondary,

[Enemies:]
-first boss spawns a tad later,
-Bow skeleton damage is nerfed,
-melee enemies can start and/or finish their attack while moving,
-mage and first boss’s fire summon sprite have more animation,
-passive turret chase distance tweaked, (no longer stutters)
-most all enemies have has health reductions,
-more enemies per-wave have been tweaked to
compensate for the previous change,
-actually fixed ??? aim this time around,
-??? no longer disappears after it’s shield hp
reaches exactly 0,
-??? no longer draws hp,
-Factory sentry has a revamped attack hitbox,