Better late than never update

I'm doing a series of minor updates to some of my game jam entries.  In truth, I worked on this game for a while straight after the original jam in July 2023.  In true 'me' fashion, I never told anyone, never updated the itch download, and then grew bored & moved on.  Time to put that right.

So, what's in this 'new' update?  A big bugfix, and a lot of small presentation improvements.

Web version

You can play this game in your browser now!  Thanks to the KNI engine that provides web builds of Monogame projects.  I've found web versions of games get far more plays than download versions get downloads.  I guess its pretty obvious - play the game immediately, or take a risk and download a potential damaging file...

Fixed poor collision detection (mostly)

The most common complaint with the people who played the first version of Phasmophilia was the buggy collision detection, mostly around doors.  This was the first time I've written a grid based collision detection, and I got quite a bit wrong.  I've updated this code so it works a lot better, but it's still not perfect.

Better presentation

In the game jam I put all my efforts into the game itself, and there was no time for extras like a title screen or any instructions.  So I spent some time adding these things - now it feels like a game!  Between then & now I've made these sort of things much easier to add in my game template, so all my subsequent jam entries have had these necessities.

For the Windows download version, I've added a nice icon, fixed the name of the .exe file, and the title in the window.  Oh and added full screen support (Alt-Enter).

More variation in room floor tiles and outside vegetation has helped a lot too.  Your ghost sprite now bobs up and down in a spooky manner.

The change that made the most difference though?  I've added sound.  It is amazing how much noises can bring a game to life.  All I've added is the sound of the hunter's footsteps, opening doors, setting and springing of traps.  Now everything seems so much more alive!  

I also gave the ghost hunters torches, which they swing around in the direction they are travelling.  They can also get startled by noises from either you, or from other hunters in other parts of the house.  Its pretty funny watching them freak each other out!