Introduction
Suprise future ghost slayers, you thought you've seen the last of us, didn't you?
We are back and we are here to slay! You! With this list of changes and new additions. This time we will try to not only stimulate your eyes and mind but also your ears.
Let's dance!

Player Experience +42
We worked a lot on the interaction with Cereza. After Gregg had dug into blend layers and had produced this bug (look at her left leg, don't worry I did not catch it at first either):

He managed to make Cereza attack while running now! This makes playing her feel smoother than the butt of a newborn (which is usually not only smooth but also quite slimy because of... ). I mean in today's rushing times no one has the time to stop while impressively swinging their sword, right? Especially when your life is on the clock ticking. 

Bao's Nerves - 10
Bao really put her nerves and time into the animation, revising it over and over to make it feel nice and tight. And we are at a point where we can say, she did!

What's on the Menu(s)?
We also took the time to put major work on the menu (or is it in the menu?). At this point, I will show you the design board(s) that Steven came up with:

And at this point, I will show you the implementation of it that we have so far thanks to our lovely Greck:

As you can see, Gregg is really good at this game. The rest of us is also quite good but we are sure you can beat us! And please beat Greck! He is so arrogant lately since he all beat us at our own game :( I fear he programmed himself a little backdoor to get dem points!

Carpet Diem? I don't know, never had Latin...
A good amount of time spent on creating a set of modular carpet pieces. A challenge has been the creation of a functional texture in conjunction with a UV Layout for all carpet meshes so that we can save on draw calls and texture space. We had Cereza slice our initial idea of texturing our carpets with a shared texture. It was just not possible. But we are happy with the results! The texture is still fully procedural and we can make changes at any time to it if we need without destroying the look of the meshes.

After some block-outs and screen tests we ended up with this:


Oh and I want you to experience the visual pleasing result of having messed up lightmaps:

The arena
While we are all working on making things look and feel better, Wout is working hard on providing additional challenges to you (and Gregggg). We decided on having a mechanic that forces the player to fight so that you have to change strategy if you thought you could just run and hide and not even touch the attack button. After all, it is Cereza's job to fight!

Bullet Pattern Change
Wout also played some pranks on our ghostly friends and now they are angry! We will leave this mess to you, future ghost slayer. You can (still) do it!

Visual Effects Update
Our VFX Queen Sunna has worked on the main effects that are working with Cereza now. She fine-tuned the dust trail and made the sword slash!

In a Land of Lamps and Tables and Chairs
We are at the point of earning enough money to decorate our hotel a bit! We decided that we want some lamps and tables and chairs first. Luckily we found a furniture shop that provides just what we want! Have a look at their catalogue:

Can we give you a suit for your case?
What would a hotel be without guests and their suitcases? Right, just a big house with lots of corridors and rooms. So suitcases it is:

But that is not all! We are planning (and already working) on a system where you can forcefully open some of them by giving them a good swing with your sword. What will be in there? Will you find traumatizing treasures? Ticking time? Ghastly ghosts? What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beee?
 

Welcome to the Cortez (Part 3)
With every DevLog comes a new iteration on the map. This time we have the already covered (haha!) carpets but there is also the first batch of Wall Trim Meshes that break up the repetitive look of the walls by adding a new layer of repetitiveness to it! How fun!

And we also made another iteration of the lighting, trying to capture the illusion that there are ceilings with super fancy chandeliers where one could swing from and fly like a bird through the night and feel their tears as they dry. Yep. These kinds of chandeliers!

I heard one sine
I have been waiting to get to this section! The time has come for us to lipsync for our life! Wait, we are not drag racing? Well, we are racing. Against the clock that is. And every race needs the right soundtrack to race to. And we got exxxaaaaccccttttlllyyyy that! First of all, a big shout out to Raphael Serra Mock who pulled the major weight in creating it! Steven gave the initial directions and made the final arrangement. We are super proud to present to you:

Ticking Life - A Time is Life Original Soundtrack

Please give Raphael a big round of applause! (And leave a like!) Shantay you stay!

Wrap up
And with that synth-drop, we are leaving you bobbing to that awesome soundtrack.
See you next week with another update. Until then, future ghost slayer.
Peace Out.

Is Time Life Dev Team?