v0.2.0 — Visual Design & Animation Update

v0.2.0 — Visual Design & Animation Update
October 17, 2026
This release updates Ashline Relay with a more detailed, animated 2D presentation inspired by the project’s cover and banner artwork, while retaining the existing first level and core gameplay.
Added
• A more detailed Black protagonist with short locs, a teal coat, amber scarf, copper boots, and a glowing pulse gauntlet.
• Articulated running animation, jumping poses, and an animated scarf.
• Dash afterimages, pulse-strike arcs, landing particles, and relay activation effects.
• Layered city scenery with illuminated windows, elevated railways, suspension cables, and a copper moon.
• Atmospheric fog, rain, subtle electrical effects, and lighting.
• A Full/Reduced Effects toggle, with reduced effects enabled by default when the browser reports a reduced-motion preference.
Improved
• Replaced the original block-style graphics with shaded, code-drawn 2D artwork.
• Redesigned platforms, patrol drones, relay cores, checkpoint beacons, and the transit gate.
• Updated the HUD and title, pause, and completion screens using the navy, teal, and amber color palette.
• Increased the internal rendering resolution to 1280 × 720 while retaining responsive display scaling.
• Added interpolated rendering between simulation updates.
• Cached city scenery layers to avoid rebuilding them every frame.
Gameplay Adjustments
• Increased the hero’s collision height and retuned jump strength and gravity for the taller character.
• Retained variable-height jumping, coyote time, jump buffering, directional dashing, pulse combat, and checkpoint respawning.
• Preserved the three-relay objective and locked transit gate.
• Preserved relay progress and defeated drones after respawning; restarting the level resets progress.
Packaging
• Added a standalone HTML edition for local play.
• Included updated gameplay screenshots, captions, build documentation, and a test report.
• Kept the build independent of external libraries, asset downloads, and build tools.
Validation
• JavaScript syntax validation passed.
• All 23 browser and logic checks passed in Chromium.
• Verified basic keyboard input and the normal animation loop.
• No JavaScript page errors were observed during those checks.
Known Limitations
• The visuals are an animated 2D interpretation of the promotional artwork, not an exact reproduction of its painted detail.
• Full uninterrupted level-completion testing, Firefox/Safari testing, real mobile-device testing, and live-demo verification remain pending.
• Audio, gamepad support, and saved progression are not included.
• This remains a work-in-progress prototype.