This is going to be a shorter post than normal. Most of what was said in the previous post still holds up: my focus is currently on implementing the ~200 player abilities the game needs. Here's a progress update on that:
Caithe has a fully implemented and tested ability tree
Aesa and Meiku have partially (70-80%) implemented ability trees, with testing and fixes being slightly behind. There is one unimplemented mechanic currently blocking completion - need to make that part first.
Rom and Samwell have 90% designed ability trees, with implementation starting very soon.
2 Sparks are fully designed and very partially implemented. One (Ripper) is a redesign, the other (Blooming) is brand new.
4 Sparks are in mechanical concepting stages, mostly including redesigns of existing Sparks.
Each character has 3 Sparks worth of abilities, so I'd consider this process about ~45% complete. I'm hoping to have all of these implemented and tested by the next devlog.
I've also got the first half of Chapter 1 re-written. This is still a first draft state, but I should have the whole thing drafted very soon. Trying to be less afraid of "too much story" this time - story is a core part of the game.
This represents most of the progress I've made on the game itself. That being said, there's been a lot of movement outside of my normal tasks. I can't share much about this yet, but odds are very high that more will be shared in the next devlog.
Unfortunately, as you might suspect, the demo is not releasing in August. If my targets are accurate, it should be content-complete in roughly September. There will need to be a substantial polish and testing phase after, so fall is much more likely. This extreme delay is due to two things - scope creep on the demo itself, and a strong push towards making a true vertical slice this time. The goal is to start developing towards a paid release immediately after the demo drops.
Finally, here's an art teaser - a new standard enemy being added to Chapter 1! He's a bit more intimidating than the other Rimeguard.