PROGRESS REPORT - THE FINAL STRETCH

Heyy, Lua here!

We're getting very close to the release window for Astral Court DX, that being the months between June and August. As things are looking currently, I think I've secured an August release but more on that later.

So, hows the game going? Well, the campaign is almost done! All of its content is complete, with 5 trials and 4 bosses to go through! The main thing is just polish and cutscenes. The plan for the rest of May is to get all of the boss trials finished, with them having all of their in-fight cutscenes done. I'll also get the game as polished as possible during this month as well. June will be mainly dedicated to getting all the menus done, along with any settings that need to be included (volume sliders, changing resolution, etc). I'll also dedicate time to create a system for efficiently making cutscenes for the game's campaign. From there (July and August) I'll be slaving away making all of the cutscenes for the campaign, along with any minor things I need to do (such as anymore polish and etc). I'll also be hard at work promoting this game the best I can during that time!

I'd also like to touch on what endless mode is like now! In 2025, people were able to play a short 9 level preview of endless mode as part of the online gaming expo SAGE. However, this special demo did NOT go well. Why? There was no difficulty progression. People who had never touched the game before would be thrusted into some of the game's most difficult trials at the time. It was very painful to watch, sorry to any streamers that had a negative experience. Nowadays though, there is actual difficulty progression! Yay!

But that's not even the main thing I wanted to talk about regarding endless mode lol, I've been working on something exciting quite recently! In an endless run, there may be a chance you get a very easy trial to go through, even if you're like 30 levels in. I wanted an extra way to spice up this mode, and add extra variety. So now, as you get further and further through a run, enemies will be spawned in that'll stay throughout every level from there on. I've also introduced an events system, where some temporary edition/modifier will be introduced at certain points in a run. These special enemies aren't just repeats either, okay well some are, there are some new faces too! Here's a look at some of them:

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This new mechanic has also inspired me to consider adding an extra "chaos mode" to endless. This mode would have more difficult trials be available from the very start, and would have wayyyy more of these special enemies and events spawn! I've tried out like a little prototype of this chaos mode, and it's sooo chaotic and fun! I'll definitely try to get chaos mode included on launch among my busy schedule.

To end this progress report off, I'd like to reflect a little! Just over a year ago now, the original Astral Courthouse had released and done SUPER well, little ol' me at the time thought "damn, I wish there was more content so I could have a thing to waste time during College with". Such a simple thought, and currently today I've been non-stop working on a reaaally cool final boss. Astral Court DX has to be one of my favorite projects of mine so far, I love its gameplay and style and characters. It's so me without feeling too self-indulgent, I'd say atleast. And yet I've been treating this like some small little side-project still. I mean it FEELS like one somehow, I guess due to the short dev time I suppose lol. I'm so excited to release this game, I really hope I can make that (at the latest) August deadline. At the time of writing, Astral Court DX has around 300 wishlists and I'd like to say thank you all!!! I really hope the game's release doesn't disappoint any of you!!

Anyway, that's all I have to say! Be sure to check out my socials for more frequent updates, especially during July and August. Have a nice day/night!