KatFS Pre-Alpha v0.2.1 is out!

Hello everyone! The second chapter of the Kalia demo has just gotten its first update! Nothing too major, but a few small and fancy additions:

New Item Drop Sprites:

Fun fact: up until now, KatFS had been using the very same sprites for item loot drops that were made for its very first concept image. That's another way to say that they were waaay overdue for a re-sprite. The carrot and burger have been redrawn, the ambiguous apple/tomato thing is now finally an unambiguous tomato, a couple new foodstuffs were added for variety, and the potion bottles got a redesign, with different shapes for each type! You can expect Kalia's diet to expand in the future with additional drops that provide different boosts to her stats.

Improved Settings Menu:

A small but very needed improvement to the settings was adding text labels to the different options rather than attempting to convey everything within the buttons. In a future update, I plan on also adding tooltips or subtitles that describe what each option is in detail. And if you look at the screenshot above, you might also notice a new option...

Fast Casting (and Special Attack Buffs!):

The intense combat segments against the spiders in chapter 2 have showcased the need for more responsive controls, specially when it comes to Kalia's special attacks. This called for the implementation of Fast Casting, which allows you to fire Kalia's magic instantly with a single key press of the respective ability key. In the control settings, you'll find the option to switch between no fast casting, fast casting only for select abilities, and fast casting for all abilities. "Select Abilities" will enable the feature only for abilities that are not aimed in any way (such as Kalia's 2nd ability, the fire slam). Alternatively, you'll also be able to cast magic near instantly by double tapping its respective key, regardless of your current fast casting setting.

And you'll want to use Kalia's specials even more now that they have been slightly buffed! The fire spray's fire damage has been increased to the point it is now able to instantly set spiders ablaze, and the fire slam now leaves enemies stunned for a brief period, furthering its usefulness as a tool for creating space.

Autosave Icon:

Oh yeah, and KatFS has a fancy icon that indicates when the game has saved its data! You might have already figured out that the campfires are checkpoints, but it's always a good idea to include a spinner just to make it clear that it's safe to quit. The saving system as a whole is still due for a rework, but that's more likely to come in a future major update.

That is all for now! Thank you for your time and hope you enjoy KatFS 0.2.1!