The Goose faces its First & Persistent Abilities System

Hi everyone!

In this devlog we are excited to share two updates in the development of our game:  A implementation of a persistent ability system that keeps track of your progress across scenes and A BOSS LEVEL!!!!

# Abilities you unlock... and Keep!

As you already know, our goose doesn't star with all ailities unlocked. It has to actívate switches scattered across the levels to gain actions like jumping, moving left or right, or even double jumping :O.
However, until now, whenever the scene changed (like when entering a new level), the goose would forget everithing it had learned :/.

Well, not anymore!
We've implemented a system based on persistent tags that keeps track of which abilities the player has unlocked and ensures they stay active across scenes. This massively improves the gameplay experience - after all, the idea is not for abilities to only work within a single scene.

This system also allows us to:

• Design puzzles that span multiple scenes
• Make the player's decisions more impactful and long-lasting.
• Start exploring non-linear levels and more open-ended gameplay!

## How Did We Do it?

We’re using a global tag system to make ability states persistent. When the player activates a switch, a tag like "can_move_left" or "can_jump" is added. Every time a new scene is loaded, we check for these tags to automatically enable the corresponding abilities.

We also added these tags to our visual debug log, so it's easy to check which abilities the player currently has active at any given time.

# The First Boss is Here!

We knew our goose needed a bigger challenge… so we decided to create the first mini-boss level!
This stage brings together everything the player has learned so far—using abilities, activating switches in the correct order, and applying some clever thinking to complete the level.

Here are some ideas we're experimenting with:

• The boss isn’t your classic melee enemy—it’s a duck wizard that attacks by throwing flaming eggs that bounce infinitely around the stage. 🔥🥚🧙‍♂️

• The player, controlling the goose, must constantly dodge the eggs as they ricochet through the map.

• The goal isn’t to defeat the boss directly, but to activate a special switch three times to bring him down.

• To reach the switch, the goose has to navigate obstacles and avoid incoming attacks.

• The switch appears randomly in different spots around the map, adding a dynamic element to the encounter.

We’re currently tuning the difficulty and making sure the boss movement, egg trajectories, and switch mechanics combine into a challenging but fair gameplay experience.

## What's Next

• Visual improvements for the switches.
• Sound feedback when new abilities are unlocked.
• Early ideas for a second boss fight... this time, with a totally different Dynamic.
• And of course... more abilities and puzles!!

Thank you for following the development of our project. 

Still Reading devlogs late at night?
We see you. 👀🛏️
Rest up