So, at this point I’d say Bleed 2 is close to an alpha state! …you know, kind of. I left the final level half-finished to create the demo for TCAF, but that aside the story mode is playable from start to near-finish. The only problem is that it kind of sucks right now, but don’t worry (yet) because that’s part of the plan.

Rather than an “alpha”, I’m considering it more of a “first draft”, like I’m writing an novel. Now I get to “edit” it, going level-by-level refining and tightening until it’s a slick, cohesive package. I’ve already finished the process for level one since I had to prepare it for TCAF (yay!) so this week was on to level number two.

The second level is where the Kitties and Lil’ Guppies make their re-appearance, but they’re mostly physical attackers. There isn’t much to dodge or reflect for the whole level and as a result it feels pretty boring… so, I redesigned some things:

The Kitties barf up big energy balls instead of hairballs now, so at least you can reflect those! They also wear bandanas so you can tell their colour before they attack.

Now Lil’ Guppies fire bullets too! They form swarms that fire in unison, and they’ll still rush you if you get too close, but they won’t do both at once because I think that’s a bit much.

I also put together a new kind of enemy — armed Kittens riding bunny rockets! It makes perfect sense, right? Now attacks can come from anywhere, and there’s lots to reflect.

I’ll probably have to redesign much of the second level next week to accommodate the new features, but a lot of the work (like bosses, environment art and tilesets) is already done, so hopefully it won’t be too painful an experience!