My apologies for the long silence. As previously mentioned, I am implementing new rendering techniques. Here is a render of Aurora's new outfit. We wanted her new outfit to be more functional. I love scantily clad ladies in video games, but I wanted her to be more practical than sexual.
Gone is the bone whip. Now players whip using a scythe on a chain. This gives more options for attacks besides just a whipping animation. Not only that, players can now use the scythe to stick into walls and slide down, while also allowing for wall (double) jumping. Notice the wrist mounted crossbow on her left arm. This is a permanent secondary weapon that shotgun blasts bolts in a huge spread, though ammo will be limited. More powerful than the knife subweapon, but doesn't use a subweapon slot.
Regarding the game itself, I am totally revamping the engine to make gameplay faster and more intense. I'll give a quick breakdown and touch on a few of the changes...
While this game started out as a Castlevania clone, it is our desire to make a game that stands on its own legs now. There are still many influences retained from Castlevania, such as the whipping, subweapon slots, item crashes, etc. Instead of the usual subweapons as you previously have seen; you now obtain interchangeable powers throughout the level that give players offensive and defensive abilities. Offensive subweapons (for lack of a better term presently) include swinging your whip around the player sprite in a circle, firing a projectile from your whip or adding extra hits to your attack, basically auto combos. Defensive subweapons include creating a shield to absorb projectiles and unleashing a horde of souls to possess enemies onscreen and freeze them in place. (instead of just copying the stopwatch)
Item crashes are now known as Deathbringers. They now act independently of your subweapon and are obtained in a different manner. These will have many new mechanics ranging from summoning the ye olde dragon as you've seen, to an auto-revive should your health be depleted if it is selected in your HUD. With the new method of obtaining Deathbringers, once a player obtains them, they always have them and can select from their inventory at will in real-time.
With all of the new changes you will soon see, I will be updating the website, trailer and everything related. The game now draws influence from not only Castlevania, but Mega Man and Ninja Gaiden to name a couple. Since the story names Aurora as the new angel of death, the intention is to make the player have a multitude of empowering abilities that, simply put, make you feel like a nearly unstoppable death machine.
Oh, and stairs are gone. Because they slowed the flow of gameplay down way too much.
The changes may come as a shock to many, and I understand completely. We no longer want people to look at Anathema and call it a copy-cat, even though that was the original intention. Now, we want people to play a game that is more like Shovel Knight; a game that obviously has its influences, but can 100% stand on its own without being called a rip-off.
Thanks everyone for reading! There won't be any updates for a while due to the revamp, but rest assured, the ante has been upped.
(and yes, the techniques used for the image you see are the same that are now used to render in-game graphics. Let me also say I realize the hood looks a bit large here, it is the angle and the in game sprite looks proportionate.)
EDIT: I am considering doing a devblog per DarkManX's suggestion. Let me know if that's something you guys and gals would like to see.