Devlog: Version 0.3.9 and Beyond

My hard drive crashed just as I was nearing the completion of 0.3.9. I had to wait for it to be fixed, which gave me a few weeks to design on paper and write. Many sleepless nights were spent crafting the core of the game. Now, after much effort and nearly two versions' worth of content, I'm excited to present this massive devlog. While this is 0.3.9, it includes a lot of what was originally planned for 0.4, leading to changes in the goals for that version. More details about these changes will be provided at the end of this devlog.

A) Major Additions in This Version

1) Characters, Lore, Enemies, and Bosses

• Pity of the Evermother: This system serves as the game's mercy mechanic. When you experience a "true death" (restarting from the first room of Chapter 1), you now have a chance to receive a free item of your choice. Most of these gifts are items that make the game easier or reduce the impact of death.

• Salem and Kafir: These two characters, a brother and sister, are separated by their past and share a secret, each for different reasons. They will have the most interactions with the player, their own questline (Salem's quest has an early segment available, where the player retrieves an important key for Salem), individual opinions and attractions toward the Voyager, specific roles in certain endings, conflicting views on the world and their destiny, various sets of sprites for each of them, their own room or hideout in the game, connections to aspects of the lore, and additional encounters related to their affinity for the player.

• Algrannog the Stonemason: The brother of the demon blacksmith can now be found in their familiar workshop in the Golden Fortress. Unlike his brother, he is not a merchant but has a quest associated with him.

• Toth and Giggs: Two demons, a brother and sister, can now be found in their respective areas. Toth is a drug dealer skilled in crafting gadgets, while Giggs is a pyromaniac and explosive expert. Both will have their own side quests eventually, but they can be encountered in the game.

• Astracrabis Cosmicarapax: This friendly, giant crab, recognized by the melody he constantly whistles when alone, can be found somewhere in the Garden of Gore. Meeting him before heading to the Arcane Academy will enable him to help you bypass the academy's spell that restricts demon entry. He will later appear within the academy to continue his quest.

• Ultra Early Boss: An early stage of a boss has been added between room 2 and 3 in the Lower Sections, in the first chapter named "Death's Door." While it can be defeated, it lacks polish, especially in terms of sound effects. It will be completed in version 0.4.

• Divine Bells: Three divine bells and their paths have been incorporated into the major areas' catacombs. No further details are needed here.

• Wandering Merchants: The typical merchant camp is not the only source of basic merchants anymore. These merchants are now affiliated with different guilds - the Metal Oath guild for the camp merchants and the Ironsins guild for wandering merchants. Both types of merchants offer common and unique items for sale. Reputation with these guilds will play a role later in the game, and favoring one guild may lead to conflicts with another down the line.

• Major Theme Warning/Disclaimer: Many recent additions to the character roster have leaned heavily toward mature themes, including violent characters, beggars, pickpockets, sex workers, drug dealers, fanatics, and zealots. There are numerous depictions in LITD of a mature nature. The permanent revamp of the game's art also emphasizes nudity, as many demons do not wear clothes. The nude sprites of various characters, including the player's base body, now depict genitals, which are covered by the clothing chosen. The drug items category and their consumption, as well as their use, production, and trade within the world, detestable characters with questionable morals, and visual representations of poverty and despair are prevalent throughout the game. This game is unquestionably mature, and I do not plan to include a censor mode (although I will consider it).

• Various Characters and Locations: Once a place of learning, the academy has transformed into a shelter for those who haven't succumbed to the bloodthirsty influence of the god of gore. It now embodies the "oasis amidst the chaos" vision, offering a change of pace from the platforming, combat-heavy gameplay, and rooms filled with traps and enemies. The academy focuses on the remaining elements of humanity, demonkind, and other unfortunate individuals trapped in the tower. NPCs, exploration opportunities, and mood enhancements are abundant in this version, especially within the academy and its inhabitants.

2) Systems Changes/Additions

• Stomach Content: Consumable items such as bread, potions, and drugs now fill your character's stomach. You must wait for these items to digest before ingesting more or use items like a cleanse clip or cannabis to reduce stomach content.

• Alchemy, Potions, Potions Grid, and Alchemist's Belt/Flasks: Potions are now a part of LITD. Players can carry up to 210 potions in their grid/inventory, and using or emptying them leaves an empty bottle. Potions come in various sizes, including small, medium, and large, with Lunderares being rare brews in unique bottles that offer better effects. Legendary potions are specific to New Game (NG) or NG+ and come in unique bottles with special effects. The Alchemist's belt, found in the witch's laboratory in the Arcane Academy, unlocks a new inventory menu option on the potion grid. This allows players to assign items to three of the four inputs, with the last always connected to the Alchemist's Flasks, a set of permanent, refillable HP potions that can be upgraded.

• Trinkets Belt and Trinkets: Once the belt is found, players can equip a trinket from a selection of 16. These trinkets can be swapped as desired.

• Primal Board, Schools, Perks, and Trees: Beating the game now means moving from the intro to the "final" screen, regardless of the NG level. Additional content between these two points will come in the form of NG+ and beyond, which includes the Primal Board - a perk system consisting of three simple trees (schools) with four perks each. Two of the four perks in each school are infinite, upgrading based on perk level. One of them is a complementary effect that may or may not be upgraded. One central perk in each school significantly modifies gameplay. One tree, "Undying Colossus," is already implemented, featuring the Demonic Bioplate Armor. Unlocking and upgrading perks requires perk points that can be earned upon NG completion and through other specific methods not yet implemented.

• Karma System: This system tracks players' actions, ensuring that no bad action goes unnoticed in the game world. The system is implemented and mostly in the testing phase but will affect a wide range of actions in the game.

• Player's Conscience: Players will notice a small white wisp following them, which serves as an indicator for the Karma system.

• Lockpicks, Locks, and New Chests: Lockpicks can now be found and used to open locked chests, which cannot have their locks destroyed by projectiles.

• Digisafes and Vault Breachers: Digital locks can be hacked and unlocked using vault breachers, allowing players to access safes in a short minigame/interaction.

• Damage After Time: Status effects now activate after a set period, instead of over time. The system includes both positive and negative status effects.

• Clothing System: Unlike other games where armor and clothing provide stats or effects, clothing in LITD is purely cosmetic. Players can find partial sets of clothing in the world and mix and match them to create their own style, with various slots for different body parts.

• Early Pack-Up System: This feature allows players to move, sell, or give items in bundles using items like empty bags or cases. This system is a work in progress and will include treasure bundles in the future.

• Basic Time System: Clear indicators of time have been added, including UI clocks, in-game clocks, character presence depending on the time, and tracking of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years. There is no night or day in this dimension, and "days" are 12 hours long.

3) Loot and Items Changes/Additions

• Soma: This unusual item can now be collected.

• Insight: Players can accumulate insight by exploring specific areas, improving their clairvoyance, and revealing hidden items concealed by powerful magic.

• Drugs and Drug Use: Various drugs, such as Wildfire, Blow, Dash, Cannabis, Dragonstone, Psymeat, and Pods, can now be found, looted, and used in the game.

• Seprus Gems: A new, extremely rare item type with 11 different colors of gems.

• Clips: Invented by Toth, these lootable and usable items have effects applied upon use. Clips include Whitefire clip, Vault clip, G-clip, Health clip, and Cleanse clip.

• Shards: Small shards of infused gems that, when crushed, reveal their remaining power. Shards can be looted and used, including Anti-gravity shard, Haste shard, Speed shard, and Feather shard.

• Alphas: Posalphas, Negalphas, and Neutralphas are gems of mysterious origins. When combined, they can produce any item in the game. Their associated prop, the Alpha combiner, is a work in progress.

B) Minor Changes in This Version

• Player Nicknames and Demon Identity: Players can now roll a random or enter a custom nickname when starting a new game, primarily for lore-related reasons. Demons can keep their true names hidden to maintain their power.

• Revamped Item/Gold Penalty Upon Death: Adjustments have been made to the item and gold penalties upon death.

• Geometry Changes: Many thin geometry platforms have been transformed into one-way platforms, allowing players to move through from underneath and land on top like regular geometry pieces.

• Physical Gold Coins and Purses: Gold coins and purses are now physical items that can be found and looted in the game world.

• Gold Balancing: The amount of gold obtained from various sources has been reduced, and additional gold sinks have been introduced.

• Item Polish: Various items, including fireflies and their jars, B-cubes, and junk items, have been fixed and polished.

• Collision Cleanup: Changes have been made to collision shapes and layers to address issues and improve the game's mechanics.

• Journal Apps: The apps chip for the journal now includes two new apps.

• Sound Sliders: Sound sliders have been added on the very first screen, allowing players to adjust audio settings.

• Cutscene Skippability: Most, if not all, previously unskippable cutscenes can now be skipped with a simple input or button press.

• Training Room Improvement: The training room has been expanded and improved.

• Optimization and Better Garbage Collection: Efforts have been made to optimize memory usage and address memory leaks to improve overall performance.

C) Other/Miscellaneous

There is likely a vast amount of additional work, bug fixes, and changes encompassing various aspects of the game, including art, sound, UI, gameplay, scripting, world-building, level design, and more. These devlogs provide a general overview of the project's evolution rather than an exhaustive and precise list. Despite extensive bug fixes, numerous issues may still exist, given the active development. Many placeholders are present in the game due to ongoing development, although progress has been made in bringing them closer to completion.