most of the basic functionality you’d expect from a game interface is in place, the modal window is functioning properly and has been customized further to allow for momentary in-game announcements as well. it is basically a more generic all purpose window now and goes beyond the scope of modal as i can choose to push panel dimensions, font size, or whether or not to dim the screen behind the window.
it has taken the place of the old game over and ready splash panels i was using, as well as provided me a way to allow the player to return to the title screen. all of the gameflow decisions are behind yes/no prompts now, giving better control of navigation and enhancing player quality of life quit a bit.
it really has taken a long time to get this sort of “basic” functionality working just as i want it. hopefully i can reuse a lot of this for later projects and it isn’t all complete garbage code.
there are a few ways i can proceed with development as i see it:
first option A. no matter what, i need at least two new worlds/environments, which would include a hazard, a base enemy, a boss enemy, background music, and a background texture… all of that is on the content creation side and option A would be to tackle that stuff.
option B involves more learning and programming challenges from implementing new features to increase game enjoyability. the life bars and damage numbers have helped immensely in this regard, but they still need underlying systems and logic to make the enjoyment sustainable… such as a experience/level system, weapon upgrade system, player health, stats, etc. at the moment they are basically just a proof of concept.
option C (maybe a bit of a variant of B) is figuring out the things i know i will need to ship this game but aren’t necessarily nailed down yet, like data persistence and converting the randomised levels into static ones for late-cycle difficulty and gameplay optimization.