IN HEAT Devlog 3: Ho-Ho-Homestretch

Hi :)

Where did that month go? I swear it was right here. We hope you didn’t mistake our silence for laziness, because nothing could be further from the truth. We’ve been hard at work on Arcade, and we are happy to say that we’re now finally in the homestretch. The level is done, almost all of the animations are complete, and we’re editing the audio and starting testing soon to make sure that everything we’ve been so carefully crafting fits together just how we want it to.

So, now that it’s the homestretch, and we’ve got a release window in mind (that’s coming at the end, don’t scroll down and skip to it, you’ll ruin the flow), we thought it was about time to let you know in detail what to expect when the Arcade update finally hits.

Firstly, let’s get into some housekeeping. For a long time, we’ve felt that the Security Office and Nightclub levels are a touch excessive, and with their completion being required for Arcade, we thought we’d ease the tedium and smooth out the difficulty curve a little.

So, expect a few less levels in the middle, boring bits of those two. Trust us, you won’t miss ‘em.

With this, we’re also able to make the level select a little nicer-looking, and make it easier to select a specific level you might want to try again. We’re not changing much, but any improvement is a start.

The Arcade itself will be comprised of six levels, all of which will be action-packed and unique, including a brand new boss fight, which we’re always excited to give you.

Steam post image This will be our most story-driven level yet, so the loreheads among you are going to be eating good, and for the tryhards, we hope to give you more high-paced action with plenty of variety.

With that latter group in mind, we’re also happy to finally reveal that Arcade will feature the much requested Custom Night mode, where players can set up their own dream combo of characters and difficulties to try their skills, or just enjoy the company of their favorite girls.

Steam post image We’re sure once you all get your hands on the Arcade, you’ll understand how much thought, sweat, and good old-fashioned love went into every pixel, and why that translated into what we hope will be our longest gap between updates for the rest of development.

That wasn’t tempting fate, I’m sure.

But, the people that scrolled down rapidly from the intro are eagerly awaiting the release window, so without further ado, I’ll say that we’re optimistically aiming for a release just before Christmas. This is pending nothing going wrong with testing, and everything falling into place just right, but that’s where our head is at right now, and we’re all locking in to try and achieve it.

If things change, we’ll of course keep you updated, as we always try to, and there’s always more information to be found on the Discord, or our socials.

So, keep an eye out, get excited, and most importantly:

Happy hunting!

XOXO MonsterBox