Heya all!
It's been a few months since the last dev-log, so here's a short update on how development has been going. The game is looking really close to being complete!
The FINALE
So... I may have a bad habit of overscoping. But this time, the result was definitely worth it - the full game now has a final 11th stage! I won't reveal much about this stage, but just know that I am extremely excited to see how everyone will react to it. The visuals, the boss design, the music and attacks; everything about it is just so over-the-top and I love it.
Artworks!
My design choices for reward structures in games usually assumes a great deal of intrinsic motivation. You only persevere through the most brutal challenges for the opportunity to witness the next one. But I felt like it'd be nice to have something to earn, to put a bow-tie on beating each stage.
Originally I was thinking of having a little comic book styled cutscene after every stage, but I quickly realized I didn't feel like doing all that. But now, we have artworks! They're unlockable parallax cards that act as a nice souvenir after each stage - pretty nice to have when you've spent lots of time getting familiar with each boss.
Normally I like to draw everything myself, but this time the artworks are made by Psycadeluxe who's done a fantastic job with nailing the vibe of the game.
These can be unlocked in the demo right now - go get 'em!
Other QOL
If you like going fast, you'll be glad to hear that the speedrun timer now shows splits for each wave. I've never been much of a speedrunner myself, but even I found it pretty fun trying to beat my previous times!
There was also a slew of bug fixes and little adjustments to make the game feel nicer. That includes touch-ups on the stage designs, allowing the spell button to take priority over focusing, and better telegraphing attacks that some players found unpredictable.
So, what's next?
I can definitely say that all the vanilla stages are complete, so that's something! All that really remains is...
Music (touch-ups to existing tracks, and finishing up the last few)
Artworks
Playtesting and balancing
Whatever else comes with releasing a game.
So... releasing soon. Probably.
Thanks for checking out our page and demo, and reading this very professional follow-up dev-log. Wanna chat with us directly? Check out our discord!
~ abho