It's been a bit over a month since I released Manalith's Public Alpha Demo. To those that tried out the game, (As few as you may have been) thank you for both playing the game, and for the feedback I managed to receive, showing me that this game is onto something and will be more than worth my time to finish.

To give this game page some activity, I'll try to make a post like this every month, showing what I've been working on until I'm finished with the game's development. I'm currently not employed, so I've dedicated most of my weekday time to developing Manalith.

What have I been doing?
After releasing the Public Alpha Demo on Halloween, I've been hard at work on continuing the game's development. The game's roadmap at the top of this post summarizes my next step, and that's releasing the second Manalith Demo. This one will be a more proper Demo with more quality and a better vision at what the final product will look like.

What new features will the Second Demo include?
First and foremost, the Second Demo will have upgraded graphics for... Pretty much all menus! Though, without a doubt the most important graphical upgrade is in the Watch Crystal system AKA the Cameras. Now the enemies aren't just in samey rooms, they also are in different positions and even poses depending on the Watch Crystal they're in!

The Second Demo will also introduce the achievement system! There will be 10 Achievements in total, and the list of them will be in the Extras Menu. Some you will get by just playing the game, while others are tied to doing certain things.

As for Gameplay itself, the Second Demo will introduce Nights 2 and 3. Both nights will introduce a new enemy and Familiar each. Night 3 will also introduce a second upgradeable Defense. Furthermore, Manalith and Aerous will be evolving further and learning new ways to make your experiment difficult, should you choose to. Full disclosure, though: Manalith will be the only enemy to change appearance as it evolves. There's a reason for it, but don't expect the other enemies to change their looks.

The Second Demo will also rework the AI for Manalith and Aerous to make them less reliant on RNG; particularly, their movements. Instead of using the Movement Opportunity system that was used in the Public Alpha Demo, they will now have interval-based movement, which will make them more active on Nights 0 and 1, but make them far more consistent to handle in return.

Lastly, I added a few quality of life improvements to the main night's UI elements to make turning around and using the Crystal Ball less annoying to do. The Mana Display also has its own graphic, which will react to things like Manalith draining your mana or when your mana is running low, while the Elemental Walls Indicator will now react when you're unable to create more walls due to the wall limit.

Release Date?
As for a release date for the Second Demo? I've not settled on a specific date, but it will definitely be out by mid-March 2026. Due to my progress, though, I might be able to release it sooner in February, or even late-January. The Second Demo is close to being in a state that I'm happy with releasing, but I'll need to perform more playtests to make sure everything works as I've envisioned, and squashing as many bugs as I can find.

The road will be long for the full release as it currently stands, so I can't say for certain when the full game will release, but I'm aiming to release it within 2026.

And that's all for what I've done in November and these first two weeks of December! I'll be going on vacation for the Holidays towards the end of December, and I'll be returning home to continue development after New Year's. That's why I've decided to combine November and December just for this occasion.

Happy Holidays, everyone! May the year of 2025 end well for all of you!