Well I spent all day today working on the game.  The first level, and the alpha test is almost ready to be released.  What I threw in today will help me a great deal in pumping out the levels.  First, the whole level is described within an XML file.  It describes things such as, where the enemies are positioned, what background images should be used (and their associated information), where the trigger for the boss is, and the bosses spawning location.

 

As for the boss, I did something special.  I made an interface called IScriptable and gave it some methods to control an objects movement.  Then, I created an interpreter for an XML file describing the bosses actions.  In the XML, it tells how the boss should move, how long for each action.  In essence, I created a small scripting language based off of the XML.

 

I threw in some sound effects today as well.  Sounds for walking, attacking, and picking up items.  I also threw in animations, so now everything is animated (minus the boss attack sequence).

 

I plan on finishing this up by this week so I can get some play testing done.