Update #12
I took a bit of a break right after my previous post, things were pretty much changing in the beginning of this year and I just have to get accustomed to them. Compared to the previous year, I have been able to spend more time working on the game. Here is what I've made so far.
The third dungeon
Between February and March, I focused on making the penultimate dungeon.
Since it's the final two dungeons, I wanted to make the most out of them. Some of the mechanics were based on the sketches that I made, a lot of them were changed due to how many times I replayed them and found them repetitive. I still kept the draining gimmick. I'm quite proud of the little transition.
Some of the rooms in the dungeon have two different variants, one where it's full of water and another one that is dry. There's also a tile hidden in the hud (which I've been using to add additional attributes to each room without having to call them in the room's script) that uses crop to hide the room while it's changing. If you pay close attention to the gif, you might notice it.
New method to transpose music
Previously, the process of transposing music to Pulp would be to convert the midi file to a tracker module, limit the channels to 6, split it to 4 patterns, use xm2pulp to create a JSON file for each part, import them to Pulp, write a script that play each part subsequently (sometimes some tracks wouldn't play for some time unless it is timed with wait), and fix some notes by hand. The end result would be all channels in Pulp trying to play different sections of the midi, so I have to listen to it several times and fix some of the wrong notes.
Because the original midi only played one instrument, I came to believe that all midi music was limited to piano. Until, I started to listen to actual midi music a few weeks ago and realized how polyphonic it can sound. Since all of the midi files that I've gotten came straight from the DAW, that means that the information of each channel must be inside. After trying out with various midi editors, I found one that could display each channel (It also includes the names).
I reexported the midi file including all the channels so it can be read by other DAWs like LMMS (I recently started using it). I simplify the track to five channels, export them again for each channel. Use OpenMPT to import them, move all the pattern data to a single .xm file, split them into parts with Milkytracker (because xm2pulp can't read them without it) and finally, import them to Pulp.
It still doesn't sound quite like the original game but it's noticeably better than with the previous method, it has more steps but it's much quicker to convert a midi file to Pulp. I won't be redoing the entire soundtrack as some songs sound almost as good (like the overworld theme) as the original but this should make it easier for more complex songs.
Polishing some other stuff / Current process on the last dungeon
The reason why I prioritized the Ice Dungeon is because I made a bunch of things for it, even earlier in production. From the footsteps of the snow, to the ability to push blocks on ice. Here's a couple of mock-ups, as they aren't playable yet.
I originally wanted to make this update when all the dungeons were completed, but with Master Key's 1 year anniversary, I felt a bit obliged to make an update on the current state of the game. Once I finish them, I'll be focusing on extending the map, filling it with secrets/easter eggs/collectibles, populating the town and the final touches.
I can't make any promises, but if I can finish this dungeon by the end of the month, It might be finished this autumn.