Development on the game continues. After the demo was released, no time was spared in its continuation. In fact, there's actually less time now than expected. This game has been in development for over a year but without much of a release date in the future and it all sounded like everything was on track. But life sometimes throws you a curveball, forcing you to change plans. In this case, the game will now be coming out this summer so there's no time to waste. However, at the moment, I am thinking of what my next move will be. I just finished a task that took me two weeks to complete and now I need time to think of what I'm going to be doing for the next few months. So I figured while I figure this out, I'll update you guys on what I am planning for the full release of the game.
But before we move on to the development of the game, I want to talk about the demo that I released two weeks ago. I can't believe that it's already been two weeks since the release of the demo because it feels like I spent an eternity to get to this point. And yet, even after a year of planning and development, one can't foresee all issues that may arise. It appears that people have experienced some bugs and mishaps that slipped in such as menus not working and controller issues. This is in part because of the time crunch I had and all that was done in a month.
But at least I am relieved that all these bugs were only in the menus because the gameplay was enjoyed by everyone. Aside from some adjustments that I made such as increasing the cost of Sakuya's projectiles, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the gameplay, which makes me very happy to hear.
But this is only the beginning as this teaser does not truly represent what the final product will be. For as much as I spent an entire year to get to this point, it was mainly for the gameplay, setting up the rules, preparing the character template to include a bigger roster, items, game controller support, pretty much everything that happens after you select a character. Everything else outside of that, like the menus, was done in around a month before the release of the teaser demo. But now that I have the gameplay set, I feel like I can now concentrate more on the quality-of-life aspects of the game. So don't get too used to the teaser demo because everything is going to be overhauled to feel more polished. And these changes will apply to all aspects of the game including, but not limited to the following.
_________________________________________
Characters
This may be the least changed from the teaser demo as the characters you have played will pretty much function the same. Minor adjustments will be made so they may feel a bit different later one, but all the same, it should be no different. What will be different is that there will be a bigger roster, which I will reveal right now. With the addition of the four already playable, the game will include the following character teams:
- Cirno and Daiyousei
- Youmu Konpaku and Alice Margatroid
- Aya Shameimaru and Nitori Kawashiro
- Yuugi Hoshiguma and Suika Ibuki
- Ran Yakumo and Chen
Controllers
Controller support will be overhauled. The current controller support either has you using the keyboard or the gamepad. This has caused many issues, especially when editing button mapping. That is why the future release will do away with this and simply have you use both keyboard and gamepad. This will require an overhaul of the current controller setting so I won't be able to update the teaser demo for this. I apologize for this inconvenience but from here on, I will be putting consideration for both control types.
Better Interface Design
Though it may not seem like much, something players simply take for granted, but part of quality-of-life improvements does include these little things. The font, the menu design, and even the sound effects. All these things are aspects I never really considered until after the demo was released. For example, the font used was something I never considered until I realized that I was going to translate this game into two languages. It was then that I realized that font that I chose for basic text was unsuitable for Spanish and Japanese. I will now be making plans to make the game easier to navigate and much more pleasant to look at to avoid the inconveniences that arouse in the demo.
Better Music
I know some people didn't mind the background music, but I left that music as a final task and didn't have time to experiment with it. It was really just shoved out as fast as possible due to time constraints. I am very dissatisfied with how the music came out. Improving the music is now on my to-do list.
_________________________________________
There's plenty more to consider but these are just the bigger things I want to address. I want to thank all players who have played the game and provided both error reports and suggestions. I read all and make note of them. Though I'm sure by now you have played all that the teaser has to offer, but I still need more players to check it out. That is why I urge you that if you see the potential this game has, please share the game on social media and let others know about it. This game is planning to be bigger than what you see but I can't do it alone. All your help is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.