Managed to release a new version, here's 0.6.10

The second major release for Crystal Daze is here!

v0.4 feels like so long ago now. Since then, the dark days rolled in and there were rains and rains and rains. Gifts came and went among the remaining evergreens. And all the while, we huddled together among the ice and told each other tales of summer.

This update, v0.6.9 v0.6.10, adds in a bunch of things I wanted to add in since the beginning, plus some stuff I hadn't. It's still not version 1.0, or even 0.7, as in some ways it's still a fairly bare bones, raw and untested experience. Without sound.

But it does feel more like "a game", and I think I'm feeling ready enough to open it up to beta testing. So ... mine away! Explore those depths! Impress the King!

And do please, please drop me any feedback, bugs, questions. I honestly have been working on it for way too long and have no idea whether it's playable, fun, or what... Catch me as 'scribe' on the Playdate Squad Discord, or comments always welcome on itch.

Hope you enjoy it!

(WARNING: High scores will be reset if you've played the game before. It made sense to do this as the scoring system has changed so much.)

Here's what's been added in over the wintry months...

Major stuff:

• There's now a whole endgame, after running through a more complete set of levels that get gradually harder.
• A "Score Attack" mode gets unlocked after completing a few levels - this puts you in a room with no exit, and ramps up the difficulty every 10 seconds.
• You only have 1 life now, to keep you on your toes.
• A lot of under the hood optimisation to try to get all the random tile stuff working without too much lag.
• Added basic mining animation and more crystal animation when being mined
• Movement speed is faster.
• Scoring system has been updated.
• High scores are more accessible, and some basic in-game instructions have been added.

Minor changes:

• The upgraded axe power-up effect is now cumulative - picking up a second axe extends the life of the effect
•  Coins collected are now displayed in game stats
• Added left/right facing player, and direction-facing bugs
• Remove start menu options on selection, and default to Continue when possible
• Various little bug fixes