Here's what I don't want to remove: THE FUN!

My goal is to have so much cool sh*t that I don't have to gimp the game to have enough room for progression, there are SO MANY cool things that the player can advance and upgrade. I'm really excited for these systems to come online and each one is uniquely powerful in their own way, and not just some gimmicky gear check like elemental resists. In most games you just max your damage and build up enough defense to survive so you can dump damage into enemies and clear screens at a time.

Here are the unique things that will invite cool purchasable upgrades and items that will enhance the player and provide a very interesting and unique progression path each game:

Being able to deal item damage to enemies in various ways (excelling here will allow the player to excel in armor heavy areas with legion fish)

Unlocking stat exp gain. This will allow the player to enhance their power mid combat by leveling stats, unlike most games where u just get exp for dealing damage, i'm going to be implementing multiple systems that allow players to level key stats in various ways. You might find a cave where killing the fish inside it gives you exp towards a certain stat, or you may find an item that gives you stun exp every time you stun an enemy. I think it's going to be a neat randomization allowing the player to choose how they want to grow stronger, or to roll with the random elements of each play through.

Endless upgrades through randomized weapons and purchasable items. Anyway, don't want to dump all my energy in a blog, gotta gear up to actually get some work done.

Goal for today: Dial down speed to an acceptable level for a beginning player, such that the game still feels twitchy and fun, but not quite overwhelming, and there's room for cool upgrades to enhance movement speed in neat ways. Lots of little things to look over and maybe polish.

There is SO SO much to do, but the game is really coming together, it's a good problem to have. WHAT TO WORK ON!? I feel like there are a million different things to work on, but in the best sort of way, everything is getting better, everything feels to be coming online. Burned out, but the promise of tomorrow keeps me going, and not feeling like death today! Probably why I feel so much more optimistic, but the game really is coming together.

Hope I'm not jinxing it, but i'm feeling WAY better today. I hope I'm finding a groove here, no sugars, an apple a day (a tad sweet but just 1), no glutens. All meat, veggies and legumes! Salts and butters I'm splurging on. But no acidic foods, noreal or artificial sweeteners, no caffeine (god do i miss thee). So far so good, it's only been one day. And a solid, steady bit of exercise not too long, not too intense, we're going to ramp it up slowly rather than trying to make up for lost time like we did before. Actually in the best shape I've been in in a long time! Just hoping to feel better for substantial lengths of time so i can get to friggin' work!