Level 2

Hello everyone, I did major updates and changes to Level 2 and this was the longest I have worked in Stardance in a single day so far! I worked for about 5 and a half hours today and made some really solid progress.

1. Level 2 Setup + Map Design
   So I officially started Level 2. I created the base map and started building out the layout. I also added aliens around the map to start filling the world and make it feel more alive and challenging.Right now the level is still in early stages, but the structure is there. I still need to add fire/lava sections, more environmental hazards, and set up the boss fight with the goo enemies. I also want to add extra mechanics in Level 2 so it feels like a big step up from Level 1 instead of just a copy.
2. Goo Enemy + Shield System Improvements
   I also fixed a lot of issues with the goo shooting system and improved how the shield works.
   Before, the goo had problems with detecting collisions too early, so I added a small delay using get_tree().create_timer() logic so it doesn’t instantly detect its own body when it spawns. I also adjusted the collision timing using a small time check (around 0.2 seconds) so it only starts interacting properly after it has actually left the enemy.
   The shield system now works with the goo reflection mechanic. When the player shield is active, the goo can sometimes be reflected back instead of dealing damage. I also improved how it visually flips and stays centered so it doesn’t look weird when the player changes direction or moves.
3. Combat + Collision Fixes
   I also spent time cleaning up how the goo interacts with enemies and the player.
   Now when the goo hits the player without shield, it properly plays the splat animation, stops movement, and deals damage using the degrade() system. I also made sure it doesn’t instantly re-trigger collisions by adding timing protection so it feels more consistent.
   For enemies, I started experimenting with making them react when hit by reflected goo. The idea is that when they get hit, their collision gets disabled so they can fall down instead of just standing there, which will make combat feel more dynamic once gravity is properly set up on them.
4. Overall Progress
   Overall, Level 2 is starting to take shape. The map exists, enemies are placed, and the core systems (goo shooting, shield reflection, and collision handling) are way more stable now.
   Next steps are:
   finishing the lava/fire areas
   improving enemy fall + death behavior
   adding the boss fight mechanics for goo
   polishing shield visuals so it feels smoother
   and making Level 2 feel more intense than Level 1

Level 1 Complete

Hello everyone, I just completed level 1, adding the finishing details fixing bugs, and adding a very cool parallax background.

1. Major Bugs, I didn’t have major bugs but I had many bugs, for instance I had a scene change after the player enters the spaceship, this was for them to escape earth, but for some reason the scene change never worked, and it kept saying null, even when I printed this function. To fix this bug I made a variable and before the function was called I set it, so ** var tree = get_tree() ** this allowed me to call the functions without it becoming null, I still have no idea why the function was null but I guess I will have to figure that out. Another bug was my alien. So for my level one I have moving aliens, following aliens, and I was going to have moles, but I think I will add them in level 2 to keep it simple. But the problem was my following aliens, whenever they land on the player they never made the player lose a life or disappear. I looked at the collision bodies, and the one that gives the alien it’s shape was larger than the area 2d’s body, so therefore it would have never made contact with the player and would have not done anything to the player. To fix this, I adjusted the body size of both collision bodies.
2. Parallax Background, a parallax background is basically different parts of the background moving at different speeds when the player moves. I made 7-8 layers of background, trees, clouds, bg colors, floor. To use them I used the parallax 2d in godot and set the scroll speed to different values for each, the farther away the bg element the lower the value, then you get the result as clouds moving at different paces of other elements as shown in the video. But this was not all that easy, I had a bug where the parallax elements went down so much when I started the game, I am pretty sure I am starting the player in the air, and when he falls so does the elements, so I have to place him down, also it is automatically adjusting my scroll offset.

Summary/Level 2

That is about it for level 1, I also fixed the coins in the corner, and added more story. For level 2, I am going to start with making a parallax background, and make the actual game. Thank you, bye!

Shooting, Level 2

Hello everyone, I recently finished level 1 and started building level 2, there are many new things that I am proud to announce.

1. Level 2 Intro Animation
   I added an introduction to level 2, so after we leave earth, we end up in the alien spaceship, where the player vows to come back to earth and save his home planet because he couldnt do anything on the planet. Then he is in the spaceship and looks around, then he goes to the other planet.
2. Alien Space Shooter
   So this is the new character the ALien Space Shooter, idk what to call him yet, the acronym for Alien Space Shooter is pretty bad… Anways it gets the difference from the player and the alien, and it shoots the ball that way, but if the alien is on the other side the difference is negative so the code figures out the position and where to shoot, currently I am working on the splat feature on if it touches the shield or the player or a wall/item it splats and stops moving.
3. Shield + MC Adding’s
   I am adding a shield to the main character, so here is the plan, when the alien shoots out the goo, if the player is presssing the button to use the shield, (I am probably thinking control button) then they are blocking, the shield will have a durability, and they can use the shield for as long as they dont use all the durability. But here is the good thing, if they block the goo then there is a 1 in 5 chance it reflects the goo and it hits the alien and makes it vanish. This is a realy useful feature as the only other way to destroy an alien currently is the walk into and lose a heart.

Summary + Updates

I plan to make this more polished, as the splat for the alien’s goo shooting, and the shield for the character. I also need to make these all clear, and make the animations much more better and professional, bye guys!

Level 2

Hello everyone, I am starting Level 2. For the past few days Lapse has not been loading on any of my browsers, and I had no idea why. Then today I tried Chrome and it finally worked, so now I can actually post updates again.

Anyways, today I was mostly fixing bugs and finishing up Level 1. I had a weird bug with an Area2D where it kept triggering when it shouldn’t have been. I spent a while checking collision bodies, Area2Ds, animations, and positions. In the end I just rewrote the code and renamed some things, because I think Godot was getting confused about which body was which. After that it started working normally.

I also finished the boss section. The Alien Knight now has an introduction cutscene, camera changes, animations, and the goo obstacle that chases the player. There were a lot of small bugs involving AnimationPlayers, Area2Ds, collision shapes, and things resetting to the wrong position. Some of them took way longer than they should have, but eventually I got everything working.

I also added some more details to the ending of Level 1. The character now says, “Where am I, what happened to my home Earth?” before leaving on the spaceship. It is only a small detail, but I think it makes the game feel more connected and gives a better transition into the next part of the story.

The boss fight is also much better than it was before. Originally all you had to do was sprint and hold the key down. Now there are obstacles, platforming, timing, and hazards that make it feel more like an actual challenge. I think it is way more engaging than just running in a straight line.

I also spent some time working on hearts, checkpoints, and restarting parts of the level. I am still deciding exactly how I want that system to work, but I think it is heading in the right direction.

Now that Level 1 is basically finished, I am starting work on Level 2. Right now my plan is to have a scene inside the spaceship before the next level begins. I want it to explain more about the aliens, what happened to Earth, and what is actually going on. I think having some story between levels will make the game a lot more interesting instead of just jumping straight into another map.

Overall, after spending so much time fixing bugs, collision issues, Area2Ds, animations, and cutscenes, it feels good to finally move on and start making new content. I am excited to start building Level 2 and expanding the story of Space Travel.

Anime Intro

Hello everyone, after what I did today I feel so motivated. Let me explain it to you guys.

If you see the video, you will see a very professional introduction to our character, Alien Knight, along with his message. Someone recommended that I do this type of thing, so I spent about an hour creating it, and I think it looks really nice. It makes the boss feel much more important, and gives him a proper introduction instead of just appearing out of nowhere.

I also worked on the boss cutscene itself. I learned how to switch between cameras during cutscenes, make animations play multiple times, and get everything to happen in the correct order. There were a few bugs where animations would instantly skip or stop after running once, but after a lot of testing I got it working.

Besides that, I was fine tuning the map, getting rid of what we don’t need, making it shorter, and making the game make more sense because I don’t want the first level to be overwhelming. At one point I even misplaced about half of the TileMap and had to move it back where it belonged. It was annoying, but the level flows much better now.

I also spent a lot of time fixing collision bugs. Some Area2Ds were detecting StaticBody2Ds instead of the player, which caused things like random restarts and enemies triggering when they shouldn’t. After adding proper player group checks and fixing collision layers and masks, everything is working much more consistently.

Another bug I tracked down was with animations moving my character to the wrong place. For some reason the player kept spawning where an old animation had moved them. After a lot of confusion, I found out it was caused by a RESET track inside the AnimationPlayer. Once I removed it, the player spawned where they were supposed to again.

Overall, I feel like today’s work made the game much more polished. The boss introduction feels better, the map is cleaner, the cutscenes work properly, and a lot of annoying bugs are gone. There is still a lot to do, but seeing everything come together is really motivating.

Boss Fight

Hello everyone, as usual I am just fixing bugs and making my game better. “I have some ideas, a couple of suggestions, to fight instead of fleeing west.” Just a quote, but it perfectly matches my game right now.

So currently I had sprint, and it was required to hold it down to beat the boss. All you had to do before was run, but now you have to do an obby, in a certain amount of time, while dodging the boss. If you complete all of that, you get to the spaceship. This is much better and more engaging than just holding sprint and running.

I also added heart pickups. If you don’t already have 4 hearts, you can pick one up and restore your health. While adding this, I fixed a bunch of bugs with collision layers, Area2Ds, and enemy detection. Some enemies weren’t detecting the player correctly, and at one point they were even falling through the map because I forgot to give them the right collision setup. After a lot of debugging, everything is working properly now.

I also improved some of the enemies. The aliens now stop following the player if they get too far away, and I worked on patrol enemies that move left and right. There were some issues where they would get stuck on walls and spam flip back and forth, but that is fixed now.

Another thing I spent a lot of time on was cutscenes and dialogue. I added text that the player can skip with Tab, boss dialogue, and a boss intro cutscene. I also learned a lot about AnimationPlayers, AnimatedSprites, camera movement, and even how reset tracks can accidentally move your character to places you didn’t expect.

For the boss fight itself, I am still thinking about lives. Right now, if you die, you restart the level. One idea I have is giving the player two lives. If you lose the first life, you restart the level, but if you lose the second life, you restart the entire game. I might stick to restarting levels, but I haven’t decided yet.

Right now my main goal is just making the game more fun and polished. Every time I add a new feature, I end up finding three more bugs to fix, but that’s just part of making games. Overall, the boss fight is much more engaging than before, and I think the game is improving a lot with every update.

Finishing Level 1

Hello everyone, im coming close to an end of level 1, today was a big day, and I should be able to finish it tomorow by fixing a few bugs and adding a few things to make it a functional starting tutorial scene. I have got almost to the ending part of level 1, I have made the boss fight/scene (it is not a cutscene, that will be for other levels), but its not finished, because there are many glitches for the user to stay alive but not reach the end, resulting in bad votes so I need to fix that. I finished the map probably just need to add a few things here and there but most of it is fine. I fixed the aliens and for each one, I can stick with the default settings (speed, how far they move both left and right) or I can put custom variables, using @export var, which puts an variable on the node. This was good, as before I had a problem of an alien walking through the wall, but now that is fixed. SO basically I just need to add armor, a laser item, for the user to use to shoot, but right now I am just doing the basic things for the game and sticking with my little tutorial for level 1!

Character Fixes and Level Progressiveness

Whats up Yall, today was a good day, and it helped me develop my project even further, making me so happy and confident. In the picture, you can see there are 8 hearts, coins, aliens moving (well its an image) and coins on the top of the screen, so let me break it down.

Aliens

I was building the map, and then when testing I realized that the aliens would walk through the walls, so I was learning and testing some code, but then the alien glitched, I tried to fix it but I couldnt, so I went back to my old code and just made the room for it to move larger, because I was trying to get the little steps done, then I would fix the main problems!

Coins + Aliens

I drew the coin animation today and it was fairly simple, but for both the coins and aliens, I added area 2d body so I could detect when they touch the player, and singled the player out by in_body_(player) then I made them disapear, then either add a coin globaly or lose a life globaly, then I disabled the area 2d with monitoring. Area 2d.monitoring = false, so this made that they could not be used or detect anything until I turn it back on, so no extra coins or more loss of lives.

General

I drew more items for the map, and will use the atlas for all worlds, will just change colors and add few more items. I was also working with text skip, so now, the text does not go to the next dialouge until user presses tab (skip). But anyways those are all the changes I made, thanks bye guys!

Alien Fix + Character Bugs + Level 1

Hello everyone, today I did alot I was productive as usual, and I have alot of time to work on this game. First I fixed my player added hearts and made sure all the animations for text are 4.2 seconds because if the user wants to skip they can press tab. Also I fixed some alien bugs so now it works perfectly, when I was testing THE ALIEN GOT STUCK ON MY HEAD. This would have bugged the game and the user would not be able to play, but now they go through the player, but until I make it so they disappear upon touching the player and the player loses a heart that is what I have. Now I created the starting scene with all the instructions on how to move and all of that. It was pretty easy, and I just named the narrator the voice because it is better than just putting ??? or “THE NARRATOR” so anyways, I think by taking this slow one step at a time I can accomplish what I want, and make it better quality than I would think!

Character Fix

Hello everyone! I was working on the character, and all the animations such as movement and the text, because that is part of the character. So the animations all went smooth, and I coded it easily. But the hard part was the text, I had text animations and text skips where you press tab to skip the text. I dont know how to do it where you press tab once it goes to the end of the text, then the second time and it skips and goes to next dialouge, so I just did it so when user presses tab it goes to next dialouge. This was hard and I had to look at my previous games to see how I did it (because it has been over a month since I was making games) and in the previous games I had to put a function in each scene, but in my game, I just put it in the character script, so that where ever the character is the text is. I was thinking my game looks so bad, and it is not professional, but I got reassurance from others that this is one of the best games I have ever made, and it is high quality. That makes me happy and gives me the motivation to continue, but there is one problem, I dont know how to continue. I have created the alien and the character, BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT!!! So I am still brainstorming but I think maybe I should add floating islands and an alien king for each world, that the user has to defeat, otherwise they go back to the start of the level and the scene resets. But anyways that is what I am doing, if you guys have any suggestions for my game, I am open to take it. Thank you!

Finish Cutscene

Hello everyone, I had a cutscene at the beginning of the game I was talking about, I recently finished it. So there were problems and good things

• First I had to draw the alien ship and animate it coming closer to earth and crashing (fire and burnt earth), this took some time but is now complete
• Problem, I had a problem of everytime it ended on a different frame of the animation so then the ship was in the wrong spot and it looked like it missed land, to solve this problem I called the frame right before I stoped the animation so that it ends on the frame I need.
  After these I just needed to fix the code for the loading and restarting, this is going to be my first time making a game like this where it saves data, and it is going to be the longest I spend making a game. So right now it saves I think on the cookies, and if you press restart I manually call the level and all the gear to 0 instead of just reseting the cookies. But the way I am saving it, is by after every level or something the user gains, then I add it to the save script. I started making the character, and since this is a platformer game and not a top down movement game it is hard to draw the character let alone the animation, you can see in the screenshot provided below how I drew the character. This took around an hour and I had to view my previous games to see how I wrote the code because I do it differently since I have idle animations and alot of movement. I also had to drawn the floors and make floating ones. This lays down the base of my game, and once I finish the first level I should be familiar. I am now thinking it should incorporate obstacles, instead of just enemies, and also kind of like a scavenger hunt for them to find items. Anyways that is my project, see you next time guys!

Hello everyone! I love making games and have planned out a well thoughtfull game plan that should take 3 months. So basically the outline of my game is Battle monsters through the space realm. Find your way back home. Gain multiple materials for better space gear and ships.
This game is both an obby/adventure/action game
Users start on earth, a destroyed deserted planet habited with aliens. Users have to fight and find their way out to reach the new planet with their civilization
Users unlock different planets after beating one
Users must fight through all the planets to reach the end and find their way
Aliens/Monsters randomly drop items which can be used to craft gear and after they have enough users find their first space ship and upgrade it with their spare materials
Users can choose to switch to a different spaceship and upgrade that or stick to their current spaceship. I took 2 hours to draw the scene you can see in the screen shot because it is important and serves two purposes, one it is the home scene (it is also animated) and two once you start, it will have an alien ship blow up onto it. Now you guys get the gist of the game, but I hope this turns out great and since there is a little over 3 months to finish this, I think I will do great and you guys will enjoy it! See you next time!