α​βWheelie v0.4 - New control scheme and death mechanics

In this release we have a new default control scheme which I like to call "Natural" (compared to the old "Shift" controls). Based on player feedback, the old control scheme was not intuitive enough with double-tap α to go left, I decided to have (α) move Wheelie to the left and (β) move Wheelie to the right. That left me with the problem of figuring out what to do with jump and slam.  Mapping jump to the free button whilst in motion seemed to fit pretty naturally and (α + β) whilst stationary. Slamming was a bit trickier as I had to re-use the (α + β) input to trigger a slam which meant I had to add logic to map the input to jump when on the floor or slam when in the air.  The control scheme can be chosen on the title screen. It's starting to remind me of the Super Mario Sunshine title screen which is nice. Sadly I've had to shelve the tutorial level for now in light of the new control scheme.

Also added in this release is a cool death mechanic inspired by Yoshi's Island. If Wheelie gets hit by an enemy the player has 10 seconds to collect some health before Wheelie runs out of air. I think it works pretty well and adds a bit of tension to getting hit by an enemy, something that is missing from both Mario and Donkey Kong games. I can't wait to add some sound effects and better animations to this mechanic!

Bonus feature: A new type of collectable - vehicle parts.

Next on the todo list:

• Adding a level timer
• Adding session saving
• Move to Godot 3.0 now that it is released? Maybe, I'll investigate.

Until next time, cheerio!