Dirk Dashing 2 v0.9.2 is available!

Tried the demo and found a few bugs:
1) Alarm and ambient sounds don't get turned on or off when turning sound on or off and returning to the game:
To reproduce this bug, simply start a game with game and music on, then press escape, go to the options menu, switch game and music off and return to the game.
Also works the other way around by starting a game with sound and music off, going into options to turn them off and returning to the game.
Music (normal and alarm music), thunder sound and interaction sounds (jumping, etc) all get toggled correctly, but ambient sounds like the rain and especially the alarm sound (intruder alert) remain in the same state as before.

The effect is most noticable when starting a game with sound/music OFF, setting off an alarm, turning sound/music ON and going back into the game.
It then looks as if the alarm is permanently off and even walking into the field of view of a camera doesn't turn it on!
This was actually what I first thought until I did a few more tests.

2) Locked levels remain grey when moving with a mouse over them, but not when using the arrow keys (but they do remain locked).

3) After going into the save menu, selecting a saving slot and cancelling the save, it becomes impossible to select another slot then the one previously selected with the mouse (arrow keys work).

A few suggestions:
-I appreciate the red flashing to show that the alarm is on when playing without sound, but a better and simpler option might be to simply make it an option in the menu.
When I want to play without sound, I usually just turn off the sound in the OS sound control or at the hardware level. But for deaf people, it's definitely a great idea to add visual signals showing the game status.

-The sneaking feature and riot guards are still undocumented in the "Dossiers" section.
-Autosave after finishing a level and getting to the level selection screen would be nice.
-Make disabled menu entries in the main menu grey (ex: "Save" and "Return to game" just after start)
-Add a way to restart a level without having to load a save or kill yourself. (really useful when you are going for a perfect score and don't have any save at the start of the level)
-Add markings to the colored key cards for colorblind people. (game remains playable even without that, but I did mistakenly think I had the right card at one point ^^)
-Add some completion info in the level selection screen (unless gold always means all bonuses obtained (stealth/looting/secure/health/etc)). Perfectionists want feedback on their achievements. :)

Note sure:
Some levels seem to be impossible to finish in stealth mode, notably one with laser triggers blocking the whole path and the only way to access the switch to disable them being through one of those laser barriers.
And in the boss level with the bomber lady, the alarm goes off instantly when starting the "boss fight".
I haven't played through the demo thoroughly enough yet though, so I may be wrong. Only finished the first level with all bonuses.

Wow, thanks for all the wonderful feedback KIAze!

For #1: I'll have to see why the alarm and ambient sounds are different than all the others... I thought I was turning everything off at a very low level in my code, so it should have worked automatically for everything. By the way, I appreciate your thoroughness in documenting the steps to recreate it - that's invaluable!

I thought I had #2 and #3 fixed at one point. I must have changed something that broke it again. Drat!

Good suggestion regarding the red flashing for the alarm. I had tied it to the sound & music being off, mainly because of personal preference - I play with audio on, and I found the visual feedback annoying after awhile. Making it an option is a good idea. Here's the next question: should I default it to on or off?

(Sorry for bolding - just wanted to make sure my question didn't get lost in the midst of all this text)

I'm still working on the Instruction screens - there's a lot of stuff that's undocumented (characters, moves, stuff Dirk picks up, etc). I knew I was going to redo all the menu graphics at the end, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time working on graphics that I was going to throw away.

I made a note of all your other suggestions. Good stuff! I may not have time to get them into v1.0, so they may have to wait for the first update.

Regarding the alarm lasers blocking the whole path: I should have a switch somewhere that turns them off without having to cross the beams. The only level where the alarm is unavoidable is Chapter 1-7 - and I did that deliberately. It heightens the tension, and from a storytelling perspective, it makes perfect sense that the alarm would be going off during Dirk's escape (since the enemies now know Dirk is there). I did put "N/A" for the Stealth Bonus at the end of that level.

Yes, I can see the red flashing becoming annoying. Two alternatives:
-A simple GUI element showing the alert level (Hitman 2 had a little bar in the top right which increased depending on how suspicious others became of you. But a simple alarm on/off picture would do in your case. Maybe a bell or something like that.)
-Flashing lights ingame on the walls. Since you said you spent a lot of time working on lighting effects in your game, this could even look very nice. :) Of course, it might become just as annoying. The alarm switches on the walls are already some sort of visual indicator, but not that visible.

If you do leave it in as is, I think I would default it to off. Most people play games with sound on.

Another suggestion I forgot:
-The ability to play as agent K or even coop or even switching between characters to solve levels (à la Trine/Lost vikings or even Commandos! :D). But that's a big change and more likely to be something for another game.

Graphically, I also noticed that when jumping close to a wall, the character seems to go through it, but that's really not a big issue.
You did a great job on the sounds. I don't remember hearing all those ladder climbing and jumping on metallic objects sounds last time I tried the game. :)
(and factory sounds in the second level (fifth floor on the left) from the third level?)

edit:
-Additionally to the level restart option: return to level selection screen. I like the ability to save anywhere in games, but for games split into levels, it just makes sense to make it easy to switch between unlocked levels or restart a level. cf Super Meat Boy, Super Mario, and even Half-Life 2 (with its chapters)!

-Using elevators changes the position of some enemies (most of the time they are not in front of the lift anymore). Makes sense if you consider the time it takes for the lift to go up, but is a bit strange sometimes. Minor issue. Also make the game a bit easier. No need to wait for the guard to move before taking the lift.

Hey there my first time posting not first time talking to you :-). I would have to say the game looks great just two issues for myself and that would be it.

1. I have talked to you before about when you are pushing a item there is no animation for him to push the box. It is not a big deal but this kind of takes away from things just saying.

2. You should allow people to gift the game so people can buy the game for people on your site. I am aware that you can buy it then give them the game but it would be nice for a gift system like Humble Bunle has.

Other then these two issues great looking game will be getting soon. Oh and you should look at getting your games on the Ubuntu Software Centre ASAP :-).

KIAze: I actually tried some rotating red alarm lights at one point, but OpenGL only allows 7-8 light sources, so it became a bit of an issue to do that reliably. And there are also outdoor areas where it would be difficult to place such lights. I like the idea of showing/hiding an alarm icon. I like that better than what I've got now! Thanks for the suggestion!

The audio on the 2nd level, 5th floor is a bit of an indicator that there's more there to explore. In fact, there's a pretty sizable hidden area there, where you can actually get up on the roof...

When we implemented the interactive audio engine in v0.6.3, my musician Jesse Hopkins and I spent a lot of time enriching the sfx and adding multiple sound layers (ambient noise, footsteps, ladder sounds, sfx for most moving objects, etc) to help fill the void when music isn't playing. Glad you like it! I think it adds a ton of character to the game...

I'll definitely try to add a level restart option - if not in v1.0, it will be in the first patch. I actually had a hot key that I used for awhile to "abort" a level and return to the level selection screen, so I've already got code for this. Just need to hook it up a bit better.

When using the elevators, I check if there's an enemy in the way, and if so I reset them to their original position - didn't want Dirk coming through the elevator and getting hurt, particularly if the elevator happened to lead into another tile map.

Mark: I definitely want to add pushing animation for Dirk. I like that idea, and it's one of the items on my v1.0 wish list. But it might have to wait until the first update - there's still so much left to do, and I've only 12 days left until release!

Regarding gifting, I'm not familiar with the Humble Bundle system. I'll have to check it out. But there is a gifting option on my BMT Micro shopping cart page. It's a little giftbox icon next to the product in the shopping cart. There's also a checkbox about midway down labeled "Purchase is for someone else".

There's nothing wrong with delaying an official release to add in a decent new gameplay mechanic like pushing animations.

True. Except that I could easily spend another 3-4 months adding enhancements, tweaking stuff, etc. I've already spent 3+ years working on this game. At some point, I've got to draw the line and say "it's good enough". Otherwise, I'll never finish. :)