Punching Fridays #5

First, let me start by saying that NOTHING I AM ABOUT TO SAY IS ANY KIND OF APRIL FOOLS JOKE! 

Okay, now that we are clear on that fact.... Welcome once again to my mindless ramblings disguised as a status update, otherwise known as Punching Fridays! I have a few things to share with you guys so let's just get this party started.

Testing has already begun for the next content release (0.4.0). I began rolling out testing builds about a week ago and with the help of my trusted testing staff, we have made great progress to get this next version nice and clean for you all. As of the most recent testing build, I have included two new areas, the spider caves (still needs an official name) where you can fight and recruit the newest ally Nansi (2nd image above) the spider goddess. And the other area is the sub levels of the cathedral where you will fight the next Major Arcana entity, The Lovers (3rd image above). Defeating The Lovers will be a requirement of the main story progression as you prepare to exorcise Ghroth from within Mother Superior. I have also included the revisions for the game intro sequence. The game will now open with you being able to control old man Korvald (before the invasion leading to encountering Qhroth'un) and a few notable changes in the opening story (which will become significant later on). Many thanks to our new writer TheCrassDragon, for all of his hard work with story revisions and enhancements! After all of the planning he and I have done regarding Korvald's true backstory, I can NOT wait until we can deliver the jaw-dropping revelations we have in store for you all. If you are also a person who is truly a fan of Norse mythology (possibly even Tolkien [wink wink]) then you are going to love it!

Another noteworthy change that testers have begun to discover is the complete redesign of ally sex scenes. These are now independent scenes rather than popover presentations. And they also have new buttons that give you more control over progression through the scene as well as the ability to do it over again without having to reload the scene. New scenes were added for Nansi, Qveen, and Zhedha. Nearly every existing scene (Astrid, Ingrid, and Jette) has had some degree of revision to animations and overall polish.

Next on my list of things to finish (what I am currently working on actually) are the areas leading to (and including) the final scene with Magda. Not going to reveal anything on this one for good reason but I am doing my best to make sure it is impactful. Beyond that I still have more components to create for the rogue-like dungeons to really give them some effective variations, and retro fitting some new secret areas into existing locations where you will find some of newly added powerups/talent points. I will be discussing these when the version is ready to go simply because things are still in flux as I am testing things at the moment.

Finally, I have recently added the game to Newgrounds (4th image above) as a playable WebGL application! This allows you to play the game right in your browser, without any need to install anything. The experience does lack a few comforts that you would otherwise have with the installable version, mainly performance, but I am working on optimizing things for the web build to make it as smooth as I can.

https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/837770 

[PRO TIP]: The Newgrounds version is in fact the testing build without the cheats enabled. So if you were wanting to see some of the new stuff, feel free to check that out.

I have more to discuss but I think I will end this one here, and save the rest for next week. In the meantime, thanks for taking the time to read this and I will check back in with you all very soon! 

...Stay Tuned!