Hey everyone! It’s nearing the end of the month, so I figured I’d write up another “update post” in place of a dev update video.

TL;DR: Demo #3 is coming along really well! I only have four bosses left to implement, and about 30 cutscenes to do. I also detail status effects and attack typing, as well as some QoL stuff.

Enemies: All non-boss enemies are finished and implemented. 11 new standard enemies to be exact. There are still four boss enemies that need their implementation finished. Two mini bosses, secret boss, and final boss. The animations for these boss characters take a bit more time since they have more attacks, cutscene animations, dialog portraits, etc. However, I would say I’m already about 40% done across the board.

Attack typing: Attacks now have a “type” to them. For example, any physical attack that comes from Yui will deal “Angelic Damage.” So, more damage is dealt to enemies of “Demon” type. I’ve implemented quite a few attack types, each with their own unique hit animations and sounds. The types are: Normal. Just any physical attack. Fire. Flame based, or just really hot attacks. Electric. Attacks that use electricity, like lightning or robots. Water. As the name implies, water attacks. Ice. Actual ice, or just really cold attacks. Poison. Sludge, venom, or other chemical based attacks. Angel. Attacks that come from sacred, religious, or otherwise angelic beings or objects. Demonic. Attacks that come from demons, or demonic objects. Forced. Attacks that will always do a set amount of damage.

Instead of types always having a direct opposite, they’ll instead deal damage based more on “what makes sense.” As an example, all gluttony demons are weak to Fire, Poison, and Undead. Why is this? Fire burns fat. Poison for “food poisoning.” Undead because they’re extra “fleshy,” so I imagine that zombies would have a bit more fun. On the opposite side, gluttony demons are strong against Ice, Electricity, and Demonic. Ice because they have “extra layers.” Electricity because their thick skin would make it harder for currents to travel, and demonic since they’re demons (duh.)

This is all a lot to remember of course, so it’ll be possible to view an enemies strengths and weaknesses (along with your party members) inside the pause menu.

Status effects: Since attack types exists now, it’s also possible to be debuffed with status effects! The possible status effects that are currently implemented are… Drenched: Gravity is increased for jumps, and speed is reduced for movement. You’re still free to attack. (Water debuff) Fire: Take fire damage every turn. You won’t be able to attack or dodge either. (Fire debuff) Poison: Take exponential poison type damage every turn. You can still attack like normal though. (Poison debuff) Frozen: Frozen under ice! Attacking and dodging is disabled. (Ice debuff) Stunned: Zapped by electricity! Attacking and dodging is disabled. (Electric debuff) Dizzy: Bonked on the head really good! Attacking and dodging is disabled. (Forced attack debuff) Daycore: Global effect from using the Daycore item. Music speed is at 0.75x, and everything moves at 0.75x speed. Attacks should be easier to land or dodge. Nightcore: Global effect from using the Nightcore item. Music speed is at 1.5x, and everything moves at 1.5x speed. Attacks are more difficult to dodge, but your attacks deal more damage.

So immediately you may be thinking “Wow, a lot of those do basically the same thing.” Yeah sort of. It’s mostly for variety, and strategy with what items you should carry with you. HOWEVER, there is a few extra things to note. When in an state that disables attacking and dodging, how do freestyle attacks work? In freestyle, inaction states, your movement speed and jump height is decreased by about 50%. The reason being is that a lot of freestyle attacks have tons of multi-hit capabilities, so it basically be a guaranteed death sentence if you’re weren’t able to move a little bit. The only exception to this is the dizzy effect. When dizzied, your controls get inverted! Up becomes down, left becomes right, jump becomes run, and dash becomes special ability.

Cutscenes. This is the bulk of the remaining work for Demo #3. 29 unique cutscenes required for World 2 alone. Yeah, this one is the big chunk of hard work. THANKFULLY most of the cutscenes use assets that are already created. It’s mostly just adhering to a storyboard, and making sure that it flows smoothly. A small amount of cutscenes have “branching paths” depending on your actions prior to triggering them. So dialog between characters could change, or a different cutscene could play entirely. Most of the cutscenes are small in comparison to the big ones, so it shouldn’t take a ton of time; It’ll just be a bit tedious.

Maps The map menu has been moved to it’s own dedicated button inside of the main pause menu. I felt like I should mention this, since there were a few people who just… didn’t know it existed in Demo #2. The map is super helpful if you’re looking for secret rooms and passage ways. Each room has to be manually drawn too. So as it stands now, I have about 50 rooms that need map graphics (not counting sub-rooms like houses, or rooms that shouldn’t have maps. Like dreams, or secret boss zones.) I’m intentionally saving this until last. If I decide to make any changes to rooms after testing, I don’t also have to also go and modify a map graphic.

Wrap up So yeah, Demo #3 is coming along pretty well! I’m aiming to have the majority of this stuff done before February 22nd (The development anniversary!) If you’re interested in helping test out a beta build of the game in the future, make sure to join the Angels & Demons Discord Server to get notified first!

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/4NM4bRU

If you read this far, thanks! I hope you’re as excited for Demo #3 as I am to get it released!