Even though I might've implied it in the past, this will be the final update until Jevilswap releases. It isn't really a full devlog, but is definitely worth a read if you care for this project.

The demo is almost done, but I'm removing any sort of deadlines or release dates that I may have implied before. Progress has picked back up as of late, with many bug fixes being completed and some great additions to the game being made, but despite all of that, I don't feel comfortable releasing this game anytime in the "near future" for various reasons.

Life Update 2: Electric Boogaloo

I've been taking a lot of time to myself lately, be it through drawing shit for friends or working on miscellanious Gamemaker Projects that go nowhere. If you didn't know, I've been on a medication that's taken a toll on my mental health. Thus, I've been taking a break from this project to attempt to work on others, but to no avail. I usually work on them for like a week, then get bored and move on.

Spending time with friends has helped me cope a lot with the symptoms, and those Gamemaker projects have served as somewhat of a distraction for my declining mental state.

However, as of late, things have gotten better. My mental health isn't as bad, but in turn I'm always crazy tired. It doesn't matter too much, since I've been taking more time out of my day to take breaks and go outside for a bit, and being even just a little active makes me feel better.

Yapping aside, all this is just to say I'm doing a little better, and have been genuinely wanting to work on Jevilswap again. No need to worry about a hiatus or nothing; if anything, the hiatus is already over, and I just never needed to tell y'all about it.

Game Progress and Complimentary Concept Art

The game itself has recieved quite a few notable updates, but is still a ways away from completion. Most of the substantial content is completed, but there are a truckload of minor bugs and features I still need to implement.

My biggest hurdle revolves around our new gameplay mechanic, which I'll try to talk about without spoiling the mechanic itself. I'm just worried that it's too basic, and there's not a lot I can do with it without fundamentally changing not only how it works, but also a ton of gameplay elements. It serves as somewhat of a third equipment alongside weapons and armor, but unlike those two, I don't want you to scrap this equipment the second a "better one" comes in. I want incentive to keep older ones over newer ones, and vice versa, where each one has a reason to be kept. I'll figure it out.

Without showing off too much, the game has recieved a visual overhaul that I really don't want to get into until the game drops. I've been toying with how to make the game have more depth for a while now, even considering making the game a 2.5D experience on multiple occasions (the screenshot earlier on in this article is a fork of that project.) I decided to take inspiration from various Nintendo DS RPGs, notably Pokemon: Black and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, two of my favorite RPGs of all time.

We redid Asgore's theme in Jevilswap to be more concise and shorter, since there are a lot of cutscenes in the game where his theme plays, and I don't want people to only hear a long intro each time they hear it.

The character designs have been recieving a ton of minor updates in the past few months, which I neglected to cover in the last major devlog. (Why the fuck did I draw Temmie like that here why do they look like that,,,,,,,)

Sketch of one of the panels y'all haven't seen.

While not much of Happstablook's fight is completed, I've made a ton of concepts for attacks and mechanics in the past few weeks. I think it'll be a blast for players.

Very old concept art from back in 2022. Terrifly wasn't a thing yet, and Vipyro didn't even have a name... Kinda funny how Seez and Ribood haven't changed a bit, however.

Happstatheatre redesign concept I never stuck with. It could've been cool, but due to story reasons I ruled it out. The current version of it is much better than this anyways.

Concept art spam aside, I'm pushing another build out to playtesters again soon, and it will be one of the last before release. This one revolves around about the first half of the demo being completely done, then the next will be about Happstablook, and the final couple will feature the entire demo complete, with a few for any bugs that rear their ugly heads.

The end... for now

In the end, life happens. No one has complete and utter control of their lives, especially as an eighteen-year-old in college. But despite that, Jevilswap continues to be a project I care about.

I'll always have those moments where I'm like "Should I cancel this?", "Is this even worth it?", or "What am I doing with my life?", but every time I'll come back around and get stuff done. It's easy to procrastinate, but nothing will get done unless you are doing something about it.

Have patience. Not just with this project, but with any projects, especially your own. I've seen certain creators rant about how "hard game development can be", but it's can be easier. I've been amazed by Project Spacetime by @spacey_432 and how efficient that games production seems to be. They make their game bit-by-bit, accepting that game development takes time, and by doing a few small things on a regular basis as opposed to one big thing and burning yourself out much faster, your project will actually make much more progress than you'd get doing it normally.

That advice has stuck with me recently, and I've been able to basically hammer out any and all bugs I've found with ease these past few days, and soon I'm going to continue regular progress with the final few cutscenes needed before the game's fully "playable". Not "finished", just "playable", since theres bound to be a buncha bugs I never thought of around the corner (thanks Gamemaker xD.)

The demo will release this year, I know that much. When? I'm still unsure, but until then, just take a nap. I'm sure it'll be done by the time you wake up.

- Jevilhumor, on behalf of the Jevilswap Team

4/14/2024