Version 2 is officially out of the door!

There are 5 new levels with new mechanics and types of content.  The levels are organized under 'Episode 2' to differentiate from the previous ones. The levels are longer and there are now checkpoints, so the new content is essentially double to the original.

Here's what kind of changes were made:

Bugfixes and enhancement to the jam version:

• Overflowing stability-meter: The fill sprite was wondering out of the container... Fixed that.
• Indication of incoming explosion: The smoke now changes color prior to the explosion to alleviate dependency from the stability-meter.
• Involuntary wall-jumping. 
• Missing sprites. Some of the sprites have a duplicate "package" on the player sprite. Fixed some of those. Not all though, since it was decided the pose needs more work due to the "shake" ability. 
• Left-ctrl shake: left control was added as a button for the "shake" ability to accommodate right handed directional movement better.
• Leap of faith: Added an arrow to the original final level to mitigate the leap of faith -aspect. At least they now know in which direction to jump...
• Fixed music loop: The music loop had a gap in it. Turns out this wasn't the composers fault, but actually a bug in GDevelop. Which lead me to replace "play music" -actions with "play sound". Which is kind of weird you have to do that, but at least it works now.
• Jank in the enemy AI: 
  • The enemies would sometimes jump in random positions off ledges. Fixed this by adjusting the jump point on the enemy.
  • There was a "bug" also, in which the enemy doesn't flip to face the right direction when going left after stealing the bottle from the player. I decided though, that this was too funny so I left it in. :D It's as if the enemy is 'taunting' the player. Who knows if I will fix it later by adding a timeout after which the enemy will properly turn.

New features:

• Wall-bounce: the character now has the ability to jump off walls to help navigate levels without the explosion formula. To wall-bounce: jump away from the wall in mid-air while touching the wall.
• Directional Explosion: A new formula variant, which grants the player the ability to change the direction of the explosion. Default is "away" from the bottle, so back from the players facing direction. In addition you can press up or down to achieve explosions in vertical direction.
• Stealth: There is a new mechanic in which the player can hide from enemies in certain places of certain levels. Once discovered, the hiding places become unusable. 
• Unused/new sprites: 
  • The guards from the intro finally make an appearance! They were done during the jam, but we didn't have time to implement them in any level. Guards will differ from the thieves in that they will actually take the player down on sight. Regardless if the player has secured the package or not. 
  • New functional elements like elevators and pipes to walk on. And stuff to hide behind. 
  • New types of hazards and functional elements to the levels: I won't spoil them here, but there will be frustration! :) Suffice to say, there will be at least moving platforms, rotating objects as well as destructibles.
• Checkpoints: As mentioned, the levels are longer, so checkpoints are needed.

Stuff still left out from the release/or being considered:

• Graphics: The graphics guy is doing his thesis, so not all intended art made it to the release. Here are some notable mentions:
  • Player sprites: There were supposed to be indication for when the player is  "holding up" or "down" the formula with the directional explosion package. It was now dropped due to not having time to test out the functionality to make effective looking sprites.
  • Backgrounds: Still waiting on the official backgrounds to make an appearance. Some elements were made even during the jam, but their functional use would be too tedious to implement, so I'm waiting for there to be essentially one big image to replace the current bg-image. 
  • Episode 2 cutscene: There was supposed to be imagery in the ep2 cutscene as with the intro scene. For now, just text will have to do.
  • Sidenote: I did make some or most of the new hazard etc. sprites myself as I needed them. Perhaps to be replaced/enhanced later.
• New types of formulas: There are still at least 2 types of formula left unexplored from the jam. We decided it was time to do an incremental release with the first one, as the remaining ones will take even more time to develop. We also had lots more fun ideas to expand the gameplay in spite of the formula variants. It will remain to be seen if we move forward with these. They would require a lot more graphics and that is not necessarily viable at the moment. Suffice to say, there would be helicopters...
• Mechanics:
  • Takedown: The idea was originally to have the guards 'take down' the player by throwing themselves on top of them. For now, I settled for this sort of 'tackle', where they just knock the player down. Works well enough, I suppose. 
• New game-features: 
  • I was toying around with the idea of a star system. This would have been the way for the player to 'unlock' levels as they went along. But since this is an online game at the moment, it would be too frustrating to always start over.
  • Time-attack/speedrun mode: I was thinking about adding a timer or a time to beat. Some of the levels seem very timeable, once you get a momentum going. That would have been a natural extension to the star system, as it would have been a good way to grant a star for beating a certain time. That would also then perhaps call for a leaderboard. Which, as I understand, isn't hard to implement with GDevelop.
  • Password System: Another way to have the player "save" their status in an online game. Would need to look into it.
  • Options: There were discussions about having perhaps an "easy mode", or turn off the music, or perhaps reverse certain controls. All would require an options menu.
  • Secrets/achievements/collectables: There are a few areas in the game, which would be a natural fit for some sort of achievements/collectables. Still toying around with the idea what they would then be. Perhaps a Nobel prize? Though I suppose that wouldn't be very recognizable or effective in a videogame context, I think.
  • Guide/help: was thinking about adding a "strategy guide" or a hint system to help out players who might struggle with the concepts I'm going for with the new features. Overall I'm going for a self-explanatory level design, that would function as it's own tutorial, but the game is starting to lean into a less casual direction and might warrant some additional explanation to help less involved players to at least get through the levels. Then again, that would kinda be on the detrement of the experience.
  • Easy mode: An easy mode was considered. The later levels can get quite tricky and might prove too hard for younger players. In that way a case could be made for an option for dropping the difficulty. With for example: less hazards, more checkpoints, additional platforms to aid harder sections.