DEVLOG .02

Another quick development update before I vanish back into debugging for another week.

Big focus lately has been combat, followed by map building, followed by lore.

I added a new Poise system along with weapon-specific impact mechanics because I realized I didn’t want every weapon to just feel like “same attack, different numbers.” Heavy weapons now cause stagger, lighter weapons feel faster and more reliable, and positioning/elevation are starting to matter a lot more during fights with custom states that impact accuracy, evasion, and damage.

Basically, I’m trying to make combat feel dangerous instead of just turning into “walk forward and spam attack until somebody falls over.” So far, it’s mostly working I think.

I’ve also been reworking the Steam page and replacing older assets now that the game finally has a more consistent visual style. Looking back at some of the original screenshots honestly feels like opening a cursed museum exhibit of bad UI decisions and placeholder art I swore I’d replace later, but finally took the steps to do so.

Another major thing that started recently is production on The Ash Dunes map and eventing.

This area sits between civilizations and the southern kingdom of Kaelor, and crossing it is basically considered a death sentence, unless you have a key. Endless ash storms, ruined landmarks, hallucinations, wandering structures, and enough bad decisions waiting for the player that I’m fully expecting people to ignore every warning immediately and march straight into disaster...still need to build some interesting enemy types here...excited about that part - but yeah, the player will ignore the initial warnings.

Which is fair - I’d do the same thing honestly...I jumped in the toilet in Fear and Hunger so I understand.

I also officially released the Mac build, which somehow became its own boss fight during development...just so everyone knows transferring from Windows to Mac has alot of issues. Turns out packaging builds is a lot less fun when you learn entirely through trial and error at one in the morning while questioning your life choices haha but my little brother plays on a Mac and I wanted him to have the option.

Overall though, the game is finally starting to feel bigger.

The world feels more connected. Combat feels more brutal. The systems are finally starting to interact the way I originally pictured them in my head months ago.

There’s still a ridiculous amount left to build:

more enemy behaviors, more boss mechanics, more consequences, more story content, and probably several more systems that will completely break the game before they finally work correctly...but I have all the bones!

But that’s part of the fun, I guess.

Thanks again to everyone following the project so far. It’s genuinely surreal watching people engage with something that only existed in my head for so long.

Anyway! Thanks for the support and I will be back in a week or two with another update.