Summer Update: Part 2 & Alpha Version 0.0.8

Okay, big update, wow.

So, this might have taken a little longer than initially promised... A lot longer... I didn't lie for part of it though, this is still the summer update part 2. Even says so in the devlog title, see?

Not going to bore you with excuses; life happened, that's about it. Let's just talk about the changes made in this version, and the future of this project.

First up: bug fixes. Gotta get the boring stuff out of the way first, right?

• Fixed double hits
• Fixed a lot of script redundancies (Just like, so many... In short, making new enemies went from making 2-3 scripts to 1 per enemy.)
• Fixed attacking while respawning bug
• Fixed all fence collisions and layering
• Fixed ghost pea knock-back immunity (Yeah, remember when those guys weren't literally just normal peas? Well, they're that again. )

Not a whole lot of fixes, but the game was relatively stable in the last update so not too much needed to be done.
Now, let's talk additions. After over a year, the cherry enemy has finally been added (that took way too long). Bosses! Yeah, these big guys and gals are gonna try stop you from progressing; you're not just gonna take that, right!? Last thing of note, Skins! Don't like how Juniper looks by default? Lame. Anyway you can make her pink, or an ice cream cone now. These save if you're playing the downloaded version of the game too.
I know what you're thinking... "Alright lady, let's get the list already!" Fine, but be nice about it next time... >:p

• Added cherry enemies (Almost 2 years of failed development on the explosion is a lot for what turned out to be a glorified gun.)
• Added Dragon Fruit
• Added Pomegranate 
• Added Queen Ice pea
• Added King Pea Impostor
• Added night life game mode (Are you a literal baby that can't even beat King Pea? I sure hope not... If you are, this is for you though!)
• Added hurt animations to enemies (Pretty sure this existed in a single version but I don't really know. Just gonna put this in additions...)
• Added screen shake
• Added skins (Slay!)
• Added extras menu
• Added data persistence (This like, mostly works. If you wanna cheat, go to %AppData%/LocalLow/Juniper's Disciple/Juniper's Garden to edit the Data.json file.)
• Added kill counter to the extras menu (Just so you know how horrible of a person you are! >:3)
• Added hallowed eve music

Alright, finally updates to existing features. Loading screens now have some text to look at, cool! Also: Literally every single particle system in the game. Yeah they all looked bad, plain and simple. Now, they look better! Oh and King Pea, remember that guy? I don't blame you if you don't, that dude was barely slapped into the last version, mostly as a joke. He's an actual threat now... Okay maybe that's an exaggeration; he's a boss that may or may not get ran through at the start of every standard run. Lastly, I updated all the tile sets again. I just wasn't happy with them. Now there's some more contrast from the main actor sprites, as well as just generally prettying up the areas you're spending most of your time in. Unless you're some sort of freak who spends 90% of your playtime on the menus... That's right, I see you Kevin! Get out of here, you menu freak!
Okay, now with that dealt with, let's get that list!

• Updated loading screens with text and animation
• Updated particle systems
• Updated the King Pea boss fight and animations
• Updated weather effects (Should actually fade out instead of just stopping suddenly.)
• Updated some waves in the normal mode (Fire peas get sent out a bit earlier in summer to make room for cherries.)
• Updated all old projectiles to be in line with the new projectile system
• Updated the beach map to remove the trees
• Updated the game mode selection screen
• Updated tile sets
• Updated enemy follow behaviour
• Updated title card on the main menu screen

Alright, that's the update. As you can probably tell, it's kinda big. This took about 2-3 weeks of literally constant work; eat, sleep, work, repeat type stuff here. No use dwelling on that though, where's this project going? I'm not gonna promise more frequent updates this time. What I will say, is that I will absolutely try my best to make sure they do happen. You thinking what I'm thinking?
Summer (Maybe?) Update: Part 3!

Yeah, I'm great at naming updates, what about it? Okay but really, I have plans for an addition to this update that's roughly similar in scale. Luckily, I have the framework of this update to go off of now, instead of the absolutely horrendous scripting that was used before now. I mean, it's still bad, but at least I can read it this time. I'll at least give a few teasers of what's to come here.

Firstly: the bombegranate! Yeah, you're gonna hate me. You know the cherries? No? You didn't play the update yet? Well go do that. I'll wait... Back? Alright, good. As I was saying, the bombegranate is kinda like that, but instead of one big explosion, it's just a bunch of small ones; like a cluster bomb!

Next up: the blueberries! Think the game is too easy? Well have I got the solution for you! A two phase enemy that starts slow with high hp, then splits into a bunch of smaller and faster enemies! Not too much else to say here, other than good luck~

Achievements! Can't really hook them up to steam or anything yet, but you'll be able to unlock achievements within the game itself and probably unlock stuff from them.

Mini-games! Ever wanted to play Juniper's Garden but with every enemy except cherries removed? No? Too bad! Oh yeah, I guess there's gonna be dumb stuff like boss rushes and whatever too... But the cherries!

Okay last one: more bosses! I've got about 2 planned with probably one or two more that are gonna pop up during development. Hope you didn't plan on actually beating Hallowed Eve! Touhou fans, I summon you! The other one is gonna be a secret that you're gonna have to go out of your way to unlock. Once you unlock it, you'll be able to challenge it from the menu at any point, with a secret reward if you actually manage to beat it. Don't get your hopes up, though! It's gonna be a rough fight.

Alright, that's enough yapping from me. Thanks if you actually read this whole thing for some reason! I'll let you go now. Go play the update if you didn't when I told you to earlier. You did play it then, right? Right..? Alright well, that's all from me, for real this time; and as always...

Thanks for letting me cook!
- Rye