My immense apologies for keeping you waiting. Between moving halfway across the country and starting a new full-time job, the kinda-solo dev life has not the easiest around here!
Moving on.
Today, I'm thrilled to bring you version 0.9.9 of Praecantor Lila ~ Bell Spell.
In this version, those of you who have cleared the game before should now have access to the new chapter, Valediction. It takes place 3 weeks after the end of Bell Spell's main campaign, and follows Lila as she ties up a loose end or two.
Additionally, the Ultra Mode difficulty is now accessible. In order to play Ultra Mode, you must have cleared the game on Super first. It is absolutely not for the faint of heart. GPU, perhaps, also.
This update also includes Steam Achievements and Leaderboard support. Unfortunately, the in-game trophy case isn't close to ready yet, so I'm afraid the Steam client is currently the only way to view your achievement progress.
Once you've obtained a specific achievement, the Green Label arrange mode will be available for selection from the Arcade Mode menu. This mode will swap out ALL your magical spells, and change the behaviors of the Bells!
The Tutorial has been refactored - it has been split into two sections, the first teaches basic controls and the second goes in-depth about bell mechanics.
Accessibility Options have been split off from Casual Mode and can now be toggled regardless of difficulty setting. Additional Accessibility options have been added to the Configurations menu, as well. Accessibility modes will not directly affect unlock or Achievement progress, but they will affect your scoring potential.
New art assets were added for nearly all of the bosses in the game, from portraits to in-game sprites! Animations and expressions remain underway, and backgrounds and menu polish are still pending.
Please enjoy! Fingers crossed, our next updates should definitely come faster than this last one.
Soon, we aim to bring the fully-realised Stage Practice, and Pure Invocation Attacks to Spell Practice. Following that, Story Scenes, and the full Ending and Credits Sequences.
Thank you for your support!