I need your feedback to keep improving the game, post your thoughts below. Want to design a better tutorial map? Let me know.
Rather than develop the collision resolution code myself I’ve opted to use the Box2D physics engine to handle object collisions. This will speed up development time and reduce bugs as Box2D is a well tested and solid 2D physics engine. The latest version of the game 0.5.0.21 is now using the physics engine.
I will be focusing my efforts on getting the following gameplay elements solid before adding anything new. As well I will be building a real demo level to show off each of the current elements.
Elements to focus on: doors, keys, teleporters, statues, bombs and destroyable walls, chests, signs, ice, gold coins
Elements to disable for now: gems, boots, and axe
I’ve setup a Twitter feed (@COAGame) for those interested in keeping up with live development updates and interesting indie game tidbits. I’ll continue posting to this blog every few days with more details on changes and plans for future features. As always please comment on this blog with comments and suggestions. Thanks!
I’ve now posted the current dev version of the game to castlesofadventure.net. Please give it a try and let me know what you think of it so far. There are lots of bugs, artwork is placeholder, editor interface is placeholder, etc, etc.
I wanted to post this now in its incomplete state so people can comment and suggest improvements as I continue development.
Enjoy.
The bomb now destroys the dirt wall tiles surrounding it. I have to still fine tune the blast radius. Since I’ve gone with a flexible tile system I need to adjust the blast radius to snap to the larger ground tile size of 32×32. If I don’t do this then it’s possible to set a bomb and not always get the result you expect because of where in the tile you placed the bomb.
I also need to find a decent explosion sound effect to use. If anyone knows of a good free explosion effect, pass a link my way. Thanks!
I had to take a break from CoA development for a few weeks as my day job turned into a 7 days a week, 12 hours a day crunch to finish the title we were working on. It is now completed though and I’ve had some time to relax a bit and get my energy back. Apologies for the lack of posts, you will see more development going forward now. Full speed ahead!
I’ve added the bomb to the HUD now, as you collect more the count increases. I’ve also started work on the bomb class, adding in events to start the animation playback and removal of the bomb when it explodes. As well, I ensured that you can only drop a new bomb when the previous one explodes.
I need to tweek the animation so that the shadow of the bomb disappears when it explodes, currently it hangs around for a bit. 
Then I’ll work on creating earth wall tiles and having them explode when the bomb goes off near them.
After extracting the individual frames and rebuilding them in a sprite set. I added the bomb and XAML animation definitions. Now the bomb will flash for a few seconds, then flash quickly for about .5 seconds, then explode over about 1 second. Give or take a few .05′s of a second. 
Next thing is to add the ability to place a bomb, and then activate the explosion animation.
So far the only controls in the game are using the arrow keys since doors, collectibles, chests, signs all react when you move into them. I’ll probably make the space key activate a currently equipped item, so for the bomb space will drop a bomb in front of you.
I recently got permission from Sam Cox to use his explosion animation as a placeholder for the bomb explosion. I haven’t tried it in the game yet but I think it will probably work fine. Thanks a lot Sam!
I’ll work on the credits screen soon so I can add Sam’s name to it.
