Merry Monday!

Hi Spirit Swappers!

We have emerged! It’s now spring, and like the beautiful butterfly, we

Wait.

While yes, we are emerging like beautiful butterflies with lots of cool things to share, we also wanted to say that it’s been a while because we’ve been heads down developing Spirit Swap in addition to balancing our day jobs and Life(™).

We’re sorry for the quiet period, but happy to say that we’ve gotten to a point in the game’s progress where we’re able to hop back into sharing mode. We’ve got a lot, so let’s get started!

Polish Till It Shines! 👀

Updated environments? IN! World map? DONE. Amazing emotes? CHECK. Gradients for days? YES.

In addition to working on core features, a good chunk of time has been on polishing and making sure the game looks colorful, joyful, and full of that *special sauce*.

We could just sit here and describe it all to you, but I remember learning in 5th grade about ‘showing, not telling’ so why not show you a few gifs to illustrate what we mean?

Just as a reminder, check out our world map before:

And here it is NOW:

We LOVE how it’s turned out, and would love to know: where would you want to head to first? All the environments and locations have also been updated and fully implemented, like Leon’s Tattoo Parlor:

And here’s the updated take on Ishk’s Beach!

Now that the world is all there, what we’ll be focusing on is getting all of the narrative in, and testing, testing, testing.

Once Upon a Time …

Speaking of narrative! Alex has been finessing the story of Spirit Swap, and while we can’t tell you TOO much about the specifics (this is a spoiler-free zone!) we CAN share this:

Okay, jokes aside, we’ve been really pleased with how each of our characters have come to life -- in addition to getting the story into the game to playtest it, finalizing VO is also up next, and we can’t wait for that!

Versus Hype

In addition to working on story mode, Versus has been getting lots of UI/UX love so you can swap your hearts out (either with a friend or with a CPU!)

Check out this character select screen!

And as you pick your characters, you’ll be able to customize how chill (or not!) you’d like your board to be.

Out on the Town

Rejon and Jenny attended GDC!

Rejon gave an INCREDIBLE (actually got people teary) talk about Spirit Swap titled “Inclusive Nostalgia” as part of a wider panel titled “Game Design for Inclusive Representation”.

Jenny - along with the rest of the Wholesome Games team - talked about why wholesome games matter:

The SpiSwa team also got to hang out with Adanna and Jenna (members of the Spirit Swap narrative team) for the first time ever in-person, enjoying some delicious ramen together! ;-; <3

See you next month

WHEW! We’re excited to really ramp up sharing news with you all now that spring has sprung. Thanks for all your patience, and we’ll be back with more dev updates at the end of May!

Until then, find us on Twitter, our Discord, or here in the comments if you have any questions. Stay hydrated and safe!

Love,

The Spirit Swap Team