Ok, I'll try to post progress updates from here on in. I'll give some thought to where I can share videos, I'd rather avoid YouTube while the game is still in development.
The basic premise of the game is pretty much unaltered ie. avoid enemies, grab magic stars as they float past and fill your gold meter to progress to the next stage. I'm trying to create a classic character based coin-op experience whereby the core mechanic can be learned in moments but there is also plenty of depth to reward players who want to put in more time and effort. Ultimately it's about high scores and bragging rights, and that `just one more go' feeling.
A while back I tentatively took the decision to change up the platform tiles, enemies, music and some pickups each game stage. Everytime I have these bright ideas I'm conscious of the fact I'm making it harder on myself and putting the game in jeopardy of never being finished. That said I want any game I develop to achieve a certain level of polish and quality and represent the best that I can do within the limits of the hardware.
There are a lot of power-ups in the game (as far as 8-bit arcade games go). Probably close to a hundred. I may leave it to the player to discover all of their abilities beyond the obvious. The feature I'm adding at the moment involves collecting sets of four related items in order to open a portal to a number of secret rooms. Although not a primary strategy, secret rooms offer a chance to score big so should not be ignored. I'm hoping to include a Mermaid portal, Witch portal, Pirate portal and maybe a mystery portal which can only be opened with items from the other three secret rooms. Time will tell. Once I have something working I'll post an update.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)