Work has been progressing very quickly on the first prototype! I've been following the schedule pretty closely so far, but I found that I occasionally needed to complete work assigned for later in order to really test my code. On the plus side, that means I'm technically ahead of schedule, which should leave extra time for making better art assets and bug testing!
At this point I've implemented basic player movement, as well as enemy health systems. I also programmed basic enemy movement patterns using the built in path system, turned out to be much simpler than hard-coding each enemies movement. There's nothing wrong with an easy solution if it gets the job done!
I was originally moving at a very fast pace - a lot of progress was made in the first few hours of work, but working from the more general parent objects to actual child objects I can use in the game is a little intimidating. I've spent some time planning ahead to make the transition as smooth as possible, but I'll still have to adapt as I go. I've had some worries that I'll lose the momentum I have moving forward, but having a schedule with tangible goals has helped avert that. Once I've completed whatever I had assigned myself, I feel free to take a break or leave a nagging issue until I can reassess it with a fresh mind.
Speaking of tasks, tomorrow I'll be working on the infection and bomb mechanics, arguably the most important and unique aspects of Gadfly's game design. I'll definitely take my time working on this step, and here's hoping everything continues to come together from here on!