STATUS UPDATE — Medicine, Builds, and Rabbits

ALRIGHT.

I don't like talking about personal issues or world events on here, but sometimes exceptions need to be made. For example, but did you know there's an ongoing nation-wide shortage of adderall right now? Well you'll never believe what medicine I take. And ran out of.

If you're as scatterbrained as I've been for nearly two weeks now and/or don't wanna read this there's a nice bullet pointed list of all the important parts below. I also made it bigger in case you are reading this from further away.

"OKAY SO LIKE WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS" I imagine you screaming (fsr???) Well, as a famous doctor once posted, "dopamine machine broke." Emotionally and mentally I'm doing fine, aside from my sleep schedule (annihilated) and my ability to focus (annihilated). My wicked little brain is starved for delicious reward chemical, and so I find myself constantly seeking stimulation, unable to hold onto any thought for more than a few seconds as it darts all over the place. Howtha heck am I supposed to code anything like this!! How does anyone code anything. What good are computers anyway? Well for one you can play Pizza Tower on it now so maybe computer not so bad.

THANKFULLY, while [untreated form of whatever I have] is awful for doing work that is complicated, tedious, important, or expected of you in any way, it is GREAT for brainstorming and being honest with yourself about what you want in your game. Turns out the best way to view things from another angle is to become literally incapable of viewing it the way you normally do, so I'm gonna embrace that for a bit. Probably until I regain the ability to stop doing that, if that's cool.

SO HERE'S THE PLAN, BASED ON WHAT I'VE LEARNED:

• I need to start releasing Patron builds. I don't know how soon or at what tier (though I'd like to keep it low), but I do mean it! As much as I like keeping things secret, Rainshade's gameplay is such an unorthodox blend of casual and technical that balancing it has proven VERY difficult without external input. Also, you guys have been supporting me for so long without me giving you anything new to play with and that's kinda messed up tbh. Initially, only the lop-eared player option will be playable, and major story dialogue in later areas will be dummied out to prevent spoilers.
• Turns out I really enjoy doing looser, funny/cool/contextual sprite animations, so I'm going to do more of that. More of my strengths lie in visuals than writing, and I'd be a fool not to embrace that. Though, to make the most of this...
• The character creator will need to be drastically simplified. Originally, Rainshade was gonna be a much smaller, story focused game, so more customization was conceivable. Then the umbrella was added, the gameplay shifted, and now the player char has 200+ poses and counting. OOPS. Not only do I have to draw every single pose in 16 individual, interchangeable fragments, It has turned the player character file management nightmare. Worst case, the eyes on each of the four main player options will be much more limited or even fixed, but I am going to fight my hardest to keep the option to have glasses. It's IMPORTANT.
• They're rabbits now.
• 
• Everyone wanted this. These two. They're rabbits now. (Sort of...)
• Level design needs to be moved away from big dungeons and towards smaller "stages." This is to address issues regarding scope, pacing, and variety. Areas will still be organically connected to the overworld, but they'll be divided into smaller, more distinct segments. I don't wanna go totally linear with their layouts, but they should be simple enough that you don't require a map. I'll elaborate more in the future, because there's a lot I want to talk about here!
• I wanna add a taunt button.
• No seriously I'm probably gonna add a taunt button.
  
  In a game where you generally can't attack first, waiting can be a problem! Enough of a problem that non-boss enemies were a pain to make fun. So why not TAUNT your enemies and PISS them off so they can PARRY THEM FASTER (unless you mess up in which case what happens will probably be less great for you I think)

I can't promise I'll be posting any progress on the game itself until I'm able to get medicated again. Like, literally, the best way to maximize my output with my current debuff is to promise nothing, and let ride. Untamed. Unleashed. A wild, content art, design doc, mock-up spewing beast.

AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR SUPPORTIN'