Sin Spire – Dev Log 23

Hello everyone! It’s been a while. As some of you may know, I got sick a few weeks ago and have only recently started recovering. Unfortunately, this was a major setback, as I wasn’t able to work while I was ill. But I’m happy to say that I’m well enough to get back to development, and there’s plenty to update you on.

Gameplay Adjustments

First off, I’ve made some balance changes based on feedback. After seeing how many players considered the shotgun to be “the only good weapon” or “overpowered,” I decided to nerf it slightly while boosting the damage of the other guns. This should make more weapons viable without completely gutting the shotgun’s usefulness. I’ll continue tweaking these numbers as needed.

Another change is that enemies no longer collide with each other. This might seem minor, but it solves an issue where enemies would get stuck on doors—not because of bad pathing, but because they were blocking each other. With this change, navigation should be a bit smoother.

The Old House

Now onto the more exciting content: the newest dungeon, currently called The Old House. This dungeon is styled after a traditional Japanese house, featuring paper doors and wooden walls. I wanted to repurpose the sliding door functionality I originally made for the now-cut school area, and this setting fit perfectly.

In terms of layout, The Old House is a mix of the first two dungeons—combining claustrophobic spaces with open areas, but with an added hazard: floor traps. If you’re not paying attention, you might fall to your death. This, combined with new enemy types, makes for a more intense experience.

New Enemies

With a new dungeon comes new threats. These threats have been designed to make use of the trapped environment.

• The Smiler: This is an enemy I’ve shown before, but haven't discussed her AI or how she's meant to play. She doesn’t attack you physically. Instead, she deals damage to your sanity from a distance, making it harder to navigate. In an environment full of traps, this can be deadly.

• The Wraith: The game's first true ghost-type enemy. Unlike other enemies that have to path through doors and obstacles, the Wraith ignores objects entirely, phasing through walls and steadily pursuing the player. This has led to quite a few jumpscares during testing, as she can easily sneak up on you while you’re distracted. You can see what she looks like at the top of this post.

The Duchess Boss Fight

I’ve also started work on the Duchess boss fight for the second dungeon. This fight has been tricky to design, and I’m still tweaking it.

Initially, I wanted The Duchess to be a non-combative boss who only summoned minions to fight for her. However, in practice, this made the fight feel underwhelming. Right now, she follows this pattern:

• She stays in one spot until the player gets close, then runs away.

• Ranged attacks won’t work—she has a shield that blocks projectiles. The only way to disable it is to get in close and hit her.

• If you get too close, she pushes you back, sapping your stamina and staggering you.

• Meanwhile, she continuously summons minions to keep the player occupied. Up to four at any given time.

Mechanically, this all works, but gameplay-wise, it’s a lot of running and chasing, which reminds me a bit too much of Micolash from Bloodborne—and that’s not exactly a great thing. Those who've played the game will know what I mean. If I have time before the next update, I’d like to make this fight more engaging.

What’s Next?

While I can't say that I'm back on track, I’m confident that the next update will be ready by the end of the month. Since I've been doing hotfixes and patches after the release of every update, I imagine the same will happen after 0.0.3.

The next few things I need to do before I can safely bank a build are the following:

• Finish the third Stalker's AI

• Edit and Implement voice lines for the Duchess boss fight

• Animate the Duchess defeat sequence

• Improve the Old House's gameplay and enemies

An additional stretch goal is to implement more of Savina's lines as a lot of her dialogue was recorded not too long ago. I haven't been able to work more on the script since I was sick but now that I'm mostly better, at least enough to work, I plan on getting back to that soon.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!