It has been an interesting week.  It started with the game getting dangerously close to that maximum memory limit (which it turn saw me taking the semi-colon to the MPAGD engine and commenting out chunks of great features that I'm just not using). It wasn't enough though... so... over the bank holiday weekend I've re-written the player controls code. This is the second time I've rewritten those controls, only this time, they feel close enough to the original controls ... and take up a fraction of the space...

Then the latest issue of CRASH magazine (from Retro Fusion Books), #21 Apr/ May 2024 popped up - and this little Duck game of mine got a mention in the previews (Sharing a page with the awesome looking Innsmouth no less).   Definitely nice to get a mention in print. It's like I've finally achieved one of my childhood ambitions.

... and then, while the going was good, I pushed on with the final four screens of the game. Still everything going well.

And... I've pushed on and completed a BETA version of the game, which can be played and completed. Which makes me very happy. Those moments where you've code to write and only a few K (if you're lucky) to write it in... are a little stressful. The first Shovel Duck game had been progressing well and then had to be stripped back a little and ended up with a few rooms looking a little plainer than I'd hoped. Getting across the finish line with the game is definitely a good thing, especially with the excess of colour and ideas I wanted.

HOWEVER, there are a bunch of screens on the third level I want to tweak / change / re-order / re-design. The first two levels have a semi-logical progression thing going on. You find someone who wants something. You find the thing they want / need. You carry on. Due to the issues with memory, a lot of level 3 ended up being "put the bits there and work out how it all works together later". 

Well, working out how it all worked was the easy part. But now I feel like I need to shuffle a couple of things around. 
It's now later. 

So... screens people won't have seen yet, will be changed into a better arranged set of screens... which should make some sort of logical sense. Or not. 

Things left to do to take this from BETA to RELEASE.

1. Everything I just said about re-arranging/ re-structuring level 3.
2. Still need to fix the worm trapping. I keep putting it off. It's probably just a case of swapping two lines of code around, but that's always a rabbit hole you don't want to go down unprepared...
3. Tweak the between levels "descending" sections.
4. Work out what I'm doing with the intro menu screen. My hopes for instructions and hints have been thwarted by needing that memory for the game. Hopefully I can keep a few bytes on one side to have some sort of an attract mode.
5. Playtesting and tweaks. While I've been playtesting (speed running) the game, there are few little niggles here and there that catch me. I'm not sure if they were always there, or if my player code twiddling has introduced something. Some other screens (Levels 1,2 and 4) might get a few tweaks or platform changes.

So not all that much, right? 

Once this releases I'll be putting together some Bonus Games that would have made it into the main game, if I'd had just a few more K available. These will probably arrive between a week and a month after the main game.

(In my speed running tests of the game. When I don't do stupid stuff and die. I'm completing the game in about 30-35 minutes; which feels not too long, not too short for this sort of a game).

NOTE. The beta version of the game is not available for download. Once the game has released, I might make the Beta version available as a bonus for a comparison. That is of course assuming there are enough differences to warrant that.