Hi everyone! 👋 It’s Cesar Torres again, back with another update on my journey as a beginner game developer working on Legions Survivor. 🎉 Over the past weeks, I’ve made exciting progress, faced new challenges, and learned even more about game development. Let’s dive in!

What’s New in Legions Survivor ⚔️

Here’s what I’ve been working on since my last update:

• Enemy Spawner: 👾👾👾 I’ve implemented an enemy spawner that periodically spawns enemies. There is still much to be improved but for now, this will help me to playtest. I plan to implement a way to spawn different enemies and make sure that the enemies don't spawn on top of the player or too close also I  want to increase the enemies' stats as time passes so the game is increasingly difficult.
• Homing Projectile Spell(Arcane Missile): 🚀✨ The player’s first spell is now functional! This homing projectile tracks nearby enemies, adding an exciting layer to the combat system. Balancing its speed and accuracy is still a work in progress.
• UI Elements: 💖 I’ve added a health bar and an experience tracker to the interface. It’s basic for now, but it gives players clear feedback during gameplay.
• Pick-up System: 🎁 Defeated enemies now drop health and XP pickups. Creating this system was an adventure in itself—I had to ensure items spawned correctly and interacted with the player.  Spawn rates its something I will have to play with later on in level design but for now, 95% of the time the enemies will drop experience and the rest will spawn a health-pickup 🍄. I will play with these numbers later and add more options in future updates!
• Added some VFX: Added visual effects when the enemy dies and to the Arcane Missile. 😎
  

• BGM: Added background music for the play session to enhance the game’s atmosphere. 🎵

Lessons Learned 🛠️📚

As always, I’ve learned a lot during this phase of development:

• Game Balancing is Hard! Finding the right balance for wave intensity and spell effectiveness takes time and iteration.
• UI Design is Tricky: Even a simple health bar involves a surprising amount of setup and testing to make it responsive and clear.
• Persistence Pays Off: Every bug squashed and every script tweaked is a step closer to the vision I have for Legions Survivor. 😊. 
• Keep your folders organized: As the game grows so does the amount of files in it that is why is important to classify each file and allocate them to their corresponding folder so that when you have to go back to something you worked on days/weeks ago you can easily find them. 
  

What’s Next? 🚀

There’s still so much to build and refine, and here’s what’s on the horizon:

• Spell System Expansion: Introducing 3 more spells for the player to unlock and experiment with. ✨
• Spell Upgrade System: A core feature of the game, this system will allow players to choose upgrades from a pool of options. These upgrade types are the ones I'm working on:
  • UnlockSpell: Adds a new spell to the player’s arsenal.
  • SpellUpgrade: Modifies one of the player’s existing spells, adjusting stats like cooldown, damage, or speed. This system is designed to encourage experimentation and replayability, giving players control over their play style. ✨

Follow Along! 📈

It’s amazing to see how far Legions Survivor has come, and I can’t wait to keep sharing my progress with you. If you’re enjoying these updates or want to provide feedback, I’d love to hear from you! 💬 Your encouragement and advice mean the world to me.