Some more fun with incremental design! So, one thing I've been wanting to do was create these enemies I called living shadows.  The original plan is for them to sap the light from your lamp, making you blind in the dark when you're in the Labyrinth of the Blind Witch, and most especially during that boss battle. She can create and control these shadows on the fly, sending them after you, and attempting to even the playing field by making you blind as well.

So, I coded that, and it was pretty cool. And then I thought, what if the shadows want to devour the light, right? They're not just sapping the light, they're eating, devouring the fire that powers it. So I changed the design, gave them fire in their stomachs. And when they died, their bodies fade and the fire floats away into nothingness. Then I thought, okay, these things aren't corporeal, right? So arrows and swords and other weapons like that can't hurt them. But, what if something haunted by ghosts can hurt them? What if the bones scattered around and used as a weapon are the only thing that can hurt them?

Oh, I liked that. So I coded that in pretty quick. Then I thought about the lantern- they're feeding on the light, attracted to it. So obviously when you turn it off they don't follow you, I already coded that in and I knew that to be a major part of that boss battle. But what happens if you drop it? You can pick up and drop all items, right?

Well, the ghosts should follow that. So, blammo, you have a strategy for fighting these things. You run over, drop the lamp, run back. They go after the lamp, hovering around it, devouring the light. Then you can hit them with a skull or a boomerang bone, killing them. This would make the boss battle very interesting. The room will be the darkest of them all, so even with a dropped lamp it's going to be hard to see. But in order to not get killed by the shadows, you need to drop the lamp elsewhere and use it as a trap, and then fight the boss herself in the dark.

Oh this, will be fun. And interesting. And very, very different.