Day 4 - Adult Mode

Difficulty modes have been added!  The configuration file now allows for the configuration of multiple difficulty levels, which can be selected from the main menu.  Currently, the configuration file has two modes.  Preschool Mode is essentially the same as the game has been all week, but Adult Mode is configured for a larger maze, with all the letters of the word in the same maze layout.

I had a few challenges today, with some of the features needed for the adult mode.  It took me a lot longer than it should have to figure out the logic to set the offsets so that a larger maze will stay centered on the player icon, but will stay fixed to the edges if the player is close to an edge (rather than displaying the map on only one side of the screen, with black space on either side).

It was also a bigger challenge than I had expected to update the logic to allow you to find the letters in any order, which is necessary if all the letters are available in the same map.  I had to update a lot of the logic tracking the letters that have already been found to support finding a letter further on in the word.

I did get a few pictures of my chief beta tester (my son) playing Preschool mode.  He really enjoys "the arrow game" (as he calls it).

Tomorrow is the last day I'll have to devote any significant time to the project, even though the jam doesn't technically end until Sunday.  I might squeeze in a bugfix or two before the deadline, but most likely tomorrow's work will be it.  I'm hoping to add alternate map generation methods (based on a config section under the difficulty level), and add enemy letters to chase you around and try to infect your word (in adult mode, again based on a config setting under the difficulty level).  Hopefully I'll have time to get that all wrapped up!