So after watching lots of feedback videos as well as pouring over the seemingly ever-growing TODO list of features, tech, and bugs I've finally hit a point in the development where I really feel things have moved from the realm of 'Minimum Viable Product' to a true 'Vertical Slice'! For the first time since I started I've actually managed to check off every single item on the aforementioned list and I have to say - it feels great. To be sure, More things are popping up even as I type this, but for the first time ever, they appear to be just minor hiccups, or small tweaks to already existing elements.

A large portion of the updates were under the hood. Bug fixes, feature additions, and some system revamps that will more easily allow me to craft interesting and varied encounters and events throughout the project. These are all things I'm very excited about because some of them were issues that had been hanging around for a very long time. Getting past all of that has lifted a great burden from my back. However, I realize that such details probably aren't directly noticeable or even interesting to the average player so I'll skip that for now. Perhaps I'll cover it in a more detailed dev log in the future.

On the more visible side, I've revamped a lot the sprites - adding outlines to indicate status effects, adding more feedback to player when they get hit, and reworking the timing of some of the animations. Perhaps one of the best aspects of the update is also the new difficulty setting. While it has yet to be balanced (the hardest difficulty is absurd even for me) I'm happy to know that I can now make a game that is accessible to a wider range of skillsets while also being able to push out a truly challenging experience for those die-hards that want more.

Sadly, I've had to cut the second level out of the demo due to some broken parts in it as wells a a general lack of polish that was more present in the first. At this point I think I'll be wrapping up this alpha demo with a boss fight and maybe a few more tweaks and surprises and then leave it at that. It really is to the point where I have no excuses left for not just focusing on raw content so I think it's time to put the demo to rest and really work on the real deal.