🐺 Hot Update: Stage Borders + Playtest Feedback Improvements

This update is centered around a feature that came directly from your feedback:

✨ New: Stage Border System (Optional Visual Guidance)

One of the biggest points from players was clarity around where a stage ends—especially in heavy fog.

I’ve implemented a Stage Border system to help with that:

• Subtle light walls now appear near the edges of a stage

• They only show when you get close (to preserve atmosphere)

• They act as a visual warning, not a physical barrier (you can still fall off)

You can also customize how they behave in the Options menu:

• Default → Scales with difficulty (Souls-like = shortest visibility)

• Always On (Max Distance) → Borders are visible from far away

• Off → No borders at all

This should help navigation without compromising the intended tension and discovery.

🙏 Playtest Thanks (BitMask Games)

Huge thanks to everyone who played Daemon at BitMask Games this past weekend.

That session was incredibly valuable—especially identifying the vanishing raptor issue, which has been difficult to reproduce on my end. I’m still actively investigating that one.

A lot of great feedback came out of the event. While some of it will take more time to implement, everything that could be addressed quickly has been included in this update.

🐺 Wolf Movement (Experimental Changes)

• Increased wolf jump speed (+40%)

• Increased wolf dodge speed (+60%)

The wolf was feeling a bit too floaty, so this is an experimental pass to tighten things up.

Let me know how it feels—this will likely be tuned further based on your feedback.

📷 Camera Improvements

• Default camera distance increased (2.5 → 7)

• Added camera distance controls to the intro tutorial

A lot of players preferred a wider view but didn’t realize the camera could be adjusted—this should make that clearer from the start.

🧠 Tutorial Improvements

• Intro tutorial now includes:

  • Camera distance controls

  • Spirit Vision explanation (including Spirit Orbs guidance)

• Combat tutorial now mentions dash strikes

⚙️ Fixes & Improvements

• Fixed zombie AI issue where dead enemies could return to idle state after revisiting an area

• Continued attempts to address the vanishing raptor bug (still under investigation)

• Save system updated:

  • Saving now respawns enemies (previously only save-healing did this)

• Fixed warning spam in HitStop logic (blocking check ordering)

• Wolf dodge no longer accumulates unintended glow

• Fixed “no instructions” issue in load menu (instructions now always display)

As always, thank you for playing and sharing your thoughts—it directly shapes the game.

—Kero Team iNtuition