It's Hard Being A Dog

This game is quite early in development, there will be bugs.

IT'S HARD BEING A DOG / IHBAD

A simple 2D, roguelike, Hack and Slash game where you play as a dog... Defeat enemies and gain power by using your (dog-like?) abilities: Biting, Barking and Dashing. As you progress through waves the enemies get stronger, but don't worry, as various items spawn to fuel your limitless dog-power.

how to play

the controls are quite simple:

A and D to move left and right
SPACE to jump or double jump
Q to use bite ability
W to dash in the direction youre moving
E to use bark ability
1 to use item

current build | v1

19th april, 2022

future plans

here are a few things i have planned for the future of this game. if you have any suggestions dont hesitate to let me know :)

• finishing story mode | story mode is about 90% complete. the final boss needs some polishing and i'd like to add some more lore / dialogue throughout the playthrough.

• full controller support | there is controller support, but, sometimes the menu can be a little weird to navigate. i want to polish this.

• music & sound fx | i would like to add boss music to every boss and matching sound effects, to help make the bosses feel a little more fleshed out.

• achievements | there are only 4 achievements at the moment, i will be adding loads more soon!

• balances | still figuring out the best balances for each difficulty and how difficulty increases as rounds increase.

• story mode leaderboards | separate leaderboards for storymode showing time and difficulty.

older builds

[v1: 19th april, 2022]

✦ visual and ui
HUD	made some ability icons more visible.
Dungeon visuals	improved the look of the dungeon map.
☀ maps and enemies
New map	added new map, LIBRARY.
New enemy	added a new enemy, PRINTERBOT. a mechanical enemy made by WOGLAM, they are equipped with the company's latest technology that allows them to print organic creatures at will.
New boss	added a new boss, DOGOD.
⋈ balance
Pets	improved pet system
Artemis nerf	you can now damage artemis with all abilities, not only bark. all abilities but the bark do significantly less damage.
⟳ other
Story	added story mode and an ending!
Achievements	added multiple steam achievements.
Difficulty	added a new hidden difficulty (complete story mode to unlock).
Cosmetics	completely reimagined the cosmetic system. you now buy specific cosmetics types from specific merchants.
Discord RP	improved discord rich presence status.
Steam RP	added steam rich presence.
Controllers	implemented controller support!!!
Stats	added more stat counters to customise level.
⍨ bugs
Arachne's web	fixed a bug where the player would get stuck in arachnes web after killing it, and wouldnt be able to dash out.
Tiles	fixed bumpyness of tiles ( i think ??? ).
▶ updated announcement trailer

[v0.8: 23rd september, 2021]

✦ visual and ui
Souls UI	added $ouls amount to UI.
Dash icon	changed the look of the dash ability icon.
Tooltips	items and cosmetics have a new improved look within the inventory menu.
Cosmetics	you can now customise your dog with various hat cosmetic items!
Death screen	the death screen looks a little different.
☀ maps and enemies
New map	new "Void" map. a desolate dimension, void of life and light. aimless and lifeless, creatures wander around for eternity.
New enemy	"wanderers" are common enemies of the void, they're tall, dark and handsome. when close, they will drain life out of you, healing themselves.
New boss	"cerberus" is the new boss of the void map. he has 3 forms, the lower health he gets, the harder it'll become to fight him.
New boss	another new boss, "arachne" is the boss of the dungeon. it shoots webs at you, sticking you to the walls, then pounces, dealing huge chunks of damage.
⋈ balance
Difficulties	finally added difficulty options to the game! you can now play on easy, normal or hard.
Artemis	changed the way artemis attacks, now changes position after every shot. changed the way damage is done to artemis, full dmg can only be done at its core (center).
Dash	you can now dash through more projectiles.
Health	leveling up now only gives you +5hp.
⟳ other
New item	New health item, increases maximum health by 20.
IHBADC	new game currency, rewarded based on match stats. used to buy cosmetics and pets.
Pets	added pets to the game! pets can buff the player or change some gameplay elements.
Controls	You can now changed controls to your liking! (except move left and right(cause unity problems idk))
Projectiles	projectiles now have sound! it was about time tbh.
Ruins altar	The altar in ruins now stops charging after you leave its vicinity.
▶ update video

[v0.7: 1st june, 2021]

✦ visual and ui
UI	New UI for settings menu, options, leaderboards and game stats.
Ability HUD	Now shows cooldown in seconds.
Death screen	Cleaned up death screen a little, removed leaderboards and now shows items from match.
Incoming damage	Can now see incoming damage (damage done to you). Works similarly to how enemy damage indicator works.
Low health indicator	Low health screen now shows at 1/3 health instead of 1/2.
Shop GUI	You can now interact with and click items in shop GUI.
☀ maps and enemies
Forest map	I redesigned the forest map and added detail to it. Added: flasks, blackboards, blood, fire, floating islands, debri, more trees, mysterious objects/entities.
New enemies	Forest enemy, Ohmni. Forest boss, All Seeing Eye. Ruins enemy, Deer Statue. Ruins boss, Artemis.
New map	Ruins. Remains of a colleseum belonging to a long-forgotten god of the past...
⟳ other
Difficulty	Nerfed some enemy's difficulty incrementation.
Leaderboards	Each map has it's own leaderboards now. Can now reset score and view score online.
Tutorial	Now has a proper ending.
▶ update video

[v0.6: 30th september, 2021]

✦ visual and ui
UI	Completely changed the way items look within the UI menu. You can now see total stacks, as well as item information. Handy.
Low health indicator	Your screen will now become red as you lose health below 50% and get closer to death. Enemies now have new effects when their projectile is destroyed. It looks pretty cool now.
⋈ balance
New projectile FX	The health item has changed a little, it now restores 0.5hp per 0.5 seconds instead of 1hp every 1 second.
Health item	The lifesteal has been revamped. Instead of instantly getting back health, orbs now spawn on every bite and make their way towards the player, you are only healed on collision.
Lifesteal item	Enemies will begin to grow stronger past round 7. Their movement speed, attack speed, attack range, and damage will all gradually improve.
Increased difficulty	You can now dash through orange projectiles!
⟳ other
Dashing/Dodging	I forced my dog to bark and recorded it, so every in-game bark is a real-life bark.
New barks	DNDY strikes again with his talent and has provided ihbad with amazing music! Dungeon, Customise, Tutorial and the new Forest map all have new tracks. Check them out!
New music	You can now work towards unlocking rewards for your dog! There are multiple varities of unlocks so you can work your way towards the top.
Customization and rewards	Within the customization level (aka "Playground") you can see your total stats for your entire game progress, cool right?
Total/Record stats	Also within the customization level, there is a small mini-game, test your movement skills and complete the trial.
Parkour	A new map has been added to the game! It's called "Forest". This map has a mysteriously abandoned lab in the middle of the woods, What were they doing here? Weird.
New map	The mini-boss sprite will change. I'm just too lazy to make a new one. It's called "Charged Alpha Phoenix", it is overflowing with electrical energy. Contact with its charged projectiles will slow the player for a few seconds. The projectiles charge remains static after contact, and will only disappear with time or with a powerful bark!
▶ update video

[v0.5: 17th july, 2020]

✦ visual and ui
UI	Fixed the leaderboards looking weird in different resolutions.
Items	Some items have a new look.
⋈ balance
Bark	The bark ability has increased in range a little.
Enemy waves	The blue bird will spawn more frequently at and past round 7.
⟳ other
New enemy	New spider enemy. The spider is very fast, the bone item will help evade them. They do little but quick melee damage, so don't stand still for too long. They have very little health. They'll begin spawning from round 7.
Goblin shop	After completing the golin's quests he will open up shop. Each item initally costs 25$ouls, but will increase by 5 after each purchase. It's called tax :( ($ouls are obtained per enemy kill)
Cinematic bars	There was a lil bug where the cinematic bars stay after leaving the goblin area. This has been dealt with B).

[v0.4: 15th july, 2020]

✦ visual and ui
UI	Cleaned up the options menu a little.
Bark FX	The dog's bark effect has been changed a little.
Visual FX	Added some post-processing to the game, makes the game pop out a lot more (very visually appealing imo). You can turn this off in settings.
⋈ balance
Gameplay changes	I've made multiple small gameplay changes to make the game a lot easier and smoother to play. These changes are: The player moves a little slower, easier to control/less buttery. The player's jump is higher, allowing you to reach new heights. The player's Bite attack has increased in range a little. the player's Bark attack does a little more damage. You now start with 2 extra jumps instead of 1. Enemies are slower. Enemies shoot at a slightly further distance. Enemies projectiles are slower. Enemies firerate is slower.
⟳ other
Music	I've finally added music to the game! You can now jam out to some game music while endlessly fighting birds (this has added quite a bit of replayability for me IMO :) ) . Can we all thank DNDY for providing IHBAD with great music

[v0.3: 9th june, 2020]

✦ visual and ui
UI	Moved around some elements to make the UI looks cleaner and more organised.
⟳ other
Leaderboards	I have now added a leaderboard system to the game. Your highscores will be added and saved to an online database. Compete against others for the top position!

[v0.2: 30th march, 2020]

✦ visual and ui
UI	Great changes have been made! Everything is a lot smaller and cleaner. The entire UI has been now moved to the bottom left of the screen, leaving less distraction for the player :).
Bite ability	The bite ability now matches the style of the game (8-bit / pixelated look).
Items	All items now have icons that accurately represent them. A sparkly effect has also been added to make them pop a little.
NPC Goblin	New cool cinematic effect when you approach Stinky Goblin.
Combat log	A log has been added to the game, it displays live events such as item spawns, round changes and item statistics.
⋈ balance
Bite ability	The bite ability is now only decreased by 0.05s (instead of 0.1s) and has a minimum cooldown of 0.2s (instead of 0.1s).
Dash ability	Does a little more damage.
⟳ other
New map	The map has gone through a drastic change. It is now a lot larger and has multiple height levels. The player has a lot more space to play around with! :)
Quests	The NPC, Stinky Goblin, now offers the player quests to complete and rewards items. The quests are as follows: 1st quest, reach level 10. 2nd quest, reach level 15. 3rd quest, obtain 3 or more jumps. 4th quest, complete the round. He will continue to reward the player for doing this.
Bone item	The first active item has been added to the game! This item is obtained by eating a bone found in the bottom-right corner of the map. When used, the player gets a speed and jump power buff for 5 seconds (30s cooldown).Press the '1' key to use the item.
Dash cooldown	Item added to reduce the cooldown of the dash ability.
Controls	You can now change the bite button from Q to Mouse1 (Left click).
▶ update video

[v0.1: 31st august, 2019]

✦ visual and ui
Blood FX	Blood can now collide with the ground and player so killing enemies feels more satisfying and rewarding :)
Jump FX	A jump effect has been added for when the player jumps, this makes jumping feel jumpier.
Damage indicator	You can now see the amount of damage you do whenever you hurt an enemy using any ability.
XP indicator	Similarly, you can now see the amount of XP you get whenever you kill an enemy using any ability.
Battle log	Text to indicate whenever a new round starts, a new item spawns and what the item picked up does.
Dungeon level	The default map has changed into "dungeon", new tiles were made to support this look and feel.
Death screen	A death screen displaying your final stats now shows after dying.
⋈ balance
Game rounds	Enemies now spawn in rounds. As the rounds get higher, more enemies will spawn per round and their spawn-rate will increase.
Enemy damage and health	Both enemies' damage scales on your player level. The higher your level is, the more damage and health they will have.
Power item	The power item now gives +5 power instead of +1.
⟳ other
Game sound	Sound was finally added to the game. You can now hear your player bark, bite, dash, hurt enemies, kill enemies and more.
▶ update video