Sin Spire - Dev Log 18

Hello everyone! Another week has passed and we're nearing the final week of November. As I mentioned previously, my plan was to release the next alpha build by the end of the month. However, since I typically post on Sundays, I'll be shifting the release date to December 1st. This means that in a week from now, the new Alpha Build will be available! As a result, this will be the last Dev Log for the next couple of weeks.

Before diving into what to expect in December, let's review what's been worked on in this week. First, the Witch Boss fight that I mentioned last week is mostly complete. It's fully playable, and defeating the Witch will unlock the next dungeon. However, due to time constraints, I've used placeholders for the Stagger and Purification animations, borrowing them from the Witness.

I’ve also implemented the Stalker from the second dungeon, visible at the top of this post. She’s quite different from the Witch; she’s slow during her roaming phase but speeds up significantly once she starts chasing you. Her background is that she’s forlorn—jealous, sad, and angry. There’s more to her, but I’ll let you discover that in the game itself.

The Manor, the dungeon in which she roams, is much wider compared to the claustrophobic Catacombs. This makes it easier to evade enemies and rush for the door. However, this isn't ideal and feels too easy, so I've added new elements to increase the difficulty.

The first addition is a new trap that covers a large area and deals significant damage. The main change, though, is the introduction of Keys. Starting with the Manor, there's now a chance that the door to the next floor will be locked. In such cases, you'll need to find an "Obsidian Key," a new generic key item for locked dungeon doors. On floors with locked doors, a key will spawn somewhere and you'll need to explore to find it before progressing.

I've also made the keys purchasable from Savina. The whole system is a bit of an experiment and will need tweaking to find the right difficulty balance. Engaging with each floor is great but I don't want it to come at the cost of overall enjoyment.

Most of the gameplay features for Alpha 0.0.2 are complete, so next week I'll be focusing on bugs, tweaks and, hopefully, animations. While I had hoped to introduce a new enemy type and the second major boss fight, these will probably not make it into the next build. Instead, I'll prioritize the above, including unique sex purification animations for the Witch and Automaid. The build will be banked on Saturday, so there's still some time.

After this build, the next one likely won't release until January. December will be a busy month for me, so while I'll continue working on the game and writing Dev Logs, it's best not to expecting anything playable beyond December 1st. On the plus side, Alpha 0.0.3 should be a lot more polished.

That's it for this week! Next week there won't be a Dev Log, as the next build will be released instead. Thank you all for your continued support and I'll see you soon. Take care!