Hello, everyone!

I've wanted to make a devlog post for a while, but haven't thought I've made enough progress on the game to warrant it.

Since the game's early access launch about a year ago, I have spent time here and there working on it when I have a moment to spare. However, this method hasn't really yielded anything too major for the development cycle. Let me share with you what has been cooking in the lab since launch...

I've been working on a dynamic mapping system that will provide the player with an accurate layout of the maze that they've explored up to that point. This was done primarily because through user testing, I found out that players were struggling with the maze layout and navigating it was more frustrating than fun. There is still a bit of problems with it like a lag spike that happens when you pull up the map due to texture updating, but I hope to squash that bug sometime in the future.
 

A throwing system!
The game to me was starting to feel a little like a walking sim, so I was thinking of ways to make the player more engaged with the environment. The answer?
Pick up brick.
Throw brick.
I feel like I can incorporate some better puzzles with this feature as well so stay tuned for that!

There has been some other stuff updated like the sprint UI, text speed, speed of lizard and player, and some other things that I probably forgot about.

I want to spend this next section talking about features that I want to add to the game to make it a better game overall.

Better puzzles: I really don't like the current puzzles in the game, so I'm gonna spend some time finding ways to make puzzles in the 3d environment. I'll probably make something similar to resident evil games/friendly neighborhood and less garten of banban (hopefully).

Tutorial area: As more and more features get developed, I think a tutorial area/prologue section would be a perfect fit for the game and give it a bit sustenance instead of just throwing you into an empty hallway.

Foliage: I've been experimenting with hanging roots but I also want to bring in some better foliage to have better landmarks/make things prettier.

Jumpscares: Ah yes, jumpscares. They're easy enough to add in, I just need to find time to animate them and port them in to the game.

Now those are all things that I want to add in the immediate future. However, I do have some plans that will take place a little bit further down the line.

More floors: I want the big room in the middle to act as a water treatment plant and then open up into a lower basement area. This will open up the game a bit to more things I will explain in a bit.

More creatures: A game with just rats and lizards is fun and all, but I want it to be more lifelike. That's why lights will be surrounded by fluttering moths, trash will have cockroaches by them, and that's not all. 

More monsters: The following information is directly from my notes app and is in no way final...

• Bottom floor with electric eels that you need to stand on obstacles until they pass.
• Camouflaging chameleons that can sit on walls (outline with some sort of toon filter to allow it to be seen?)
• Mimic rats (what could they do?) (mutate animation that turns into a big beast) (hit with brick and turns back to normal?)
• Pipe worms that you need to crouch or jump over to avoid. Hit pipe with brick in order to pass through easy. (kill? Catch you for a few seconds?)
• Grime Goliath. As tall as the corridors and picks you up to bite your head off. (special enemy only found in the depths as you are fleeing)

Now before I take off. I do want opinions on how to pursue the graphics part of this game. I have been thinking about updating the game to include a few more colors at a time such as red when blood appears. Though getting your thoughts would be desirable! Let me know with the strawpoll bellow. 

Now that's all I'm going to share for now. There is some more things in the works, but let's just keep that between my pen and paper for now, ok? Expect big changes in the future!