Devlog – Pause Menu, Checkpoints, and Bomb Tweaks! 💥

Hey everyone! 👋
This update brings features (that I mentioned in the past that I would be adding) that make BitJump feel a lot more like a real game: a proper pause menu and a checkpoint system! Plus we have a change to the bomb and its blasts.

Pause Menu 🎮⏸️

Until now, hitting pause just returned the user to the previous room. Now there’s an actual pause screen with a darkened backdrop and a clean little options panel in the middle.

You can use either the keyboard or the mouse to navigate the menu, and the options adjust depending on what type of room you’re in. For example:

• In a level, you’ll see Unpause, Restart Level, Back to Level Select, or Go to Title Screen.

• In the level select, there are options for testing rooms and returning to the title.

One nice touch: the game world freezes in place, so the background doesn’t glitch while paused. 

Checkpoints 🏁✨

BitJump now has checkpoints in levels! These are little posts with a little flag/orb sprite that start inactive, and when the player touches one it becomes active:

• It plays a celebration sound 🎵

• Bursts out some confetti 🎉

• Updates the respawn position

If the player dies, they’ll restart at the last checkpoint instead of the very beginning of the level. That means tougher levels can have fairer pacing, and you won’t need to replay the same opening section over and over.

Checkpoints are saved per level, so even if you exit to the level select and come back, your progress in that stage is remembered. If you ever want to clear it and start fresh, you can just use the Restart Level option from the pause menu.

Bomb Explosions 💣

One last small change: how bombs explode.
They used to reverberate outward in strict cardinal directions (and still do a little bit), but now explosions cluster more tightly around the initial blast. This makes them much better for clearing away crumbled blocks, and feels more natural when you’re blowing up tight areas.

Why This Matters 🚀

All of these features push BitJump further from “tech demo” territory and closer to a full game experience.

• The pause menu makes the game feel polished and player-friendly.

• The checkpoint system balances challenge with fairness, and adds some nice celebratory flair when you activate one.

• Bomb tweaks make them more fun and useful for puzzle-y block clearing.
  

Next up I’ll be experimenting with adding even more enemies (I already have one completed that will be part of the next wave of new enemies)!

UPDATE:
Squashed a bug for this HTML5 build of the game. Pausing the game was working well on my native Mac OS version however after exporting the game to HTML5 it was completely bugged (all instances in the game rooms disappeared and no pause menu showed up). With one simple code change, it is all better. Whew!