Hey Everyone,
I'm still reasonably on track for release in February. I just gave a demo of a new version of the game at a fun indie event called the Whippering Indie Cup in San Francisco. Was a great time, and I got a lot of great feedback/data on the game. The thing I'm happiest to report is that the new weapon system I've been secretly working on seemed to go over really well, so I'm happy to announce it will be included in a pre-release update I'll hopefully push next weekend.
The update involves completely removing the existing weapon system, because its kind of boring/uninteresting. Ammo never felt fun, and selecting weapons less so. To solve this, and stay thematically consistent with the game, you will now be armed with the Questionable Technologies Soul Blaster x9000 (or some other name I come up with later). This gun will allow you to absorb and weaponize the souls of the demons you dispatch throughout the game. Mechanically speaking, when enemies die they have a chance to leave a soul behind (a small, brightly colored ghost). By using your guns soul-vac mode, you can fire out an energy lasso and suck the soul into your gun. The color of the soul you absorb will determine what your gun shoots, and when you run out of ammo (or want a new gun) you just need ot absorb a new soul.
Weapon upgrades will still be around, but will now all affect the soul-blaster in interesting ways, though maybe not in the initial update. Anyway, there's going to be more to the system than that, but even in its current state I think its a lot more fun, and I can't wait to get it out to everyone.
-Sean
PS: Thanks again for the continued patience. I know this has taken forever to get out the door. Managing a full-time job, family, and all the related time-challenges makes it tough to focus on the game as much as I'd like, but its definitely marching forward. I said way back at the begining, one way or the other this game was getting done, and while its taking longer than I wanted, its been very important to me not to half-ass anything and do it right. With any luck, that will show in the final product, and it will all be worth it.