Hey everyone, BenyiC03 here bringing you our third monthly progress update! We have lots of exciting new content to talk about today so let's get right into it.

First up, let's discuss the general news. The most significant development in this category is that we've been working on a brand-new engine for the game! This engine will be of the highest quality, and will hopefully be glitch-free, unlike our current one. Not to worry, it is not setting progress back at all, and the phases should be ported over with ease. Our talented coders are working hard on the engine, and it should be finished soon. As well as this, we are considering putting the OST on Spotify! It costs a little bit of money to upload music to Spotify, so let us know if you want to see the soundtrack there. We'd like to see how much demand there is before making any final decisions. I should note that we will wait until the entire OST is public before putting it there.

Alright, let's get into the phases.

Phase 1 - Over the past month, we've been spending a bit of time reworking certain aspects of phase 1. I'm sure many of you are aware of the controversy regarding the song, Homicidal Lunacy, so I won't get into the details of that. Rather, I'll inform you all that we are working on a new version of it! It will be better than both the previous versions, and will be the final version. Our musicians are working hard on it, and it will be released as soon as it's ready. As well as the song, we've been working on new dialogue, new attacks (including new heal attacks) and even a new design for Sans! Don't worry, it's not radically different. It is more of a quality upgrade over the existing one, and we plan on it being the final design. We hope to reveal it next month, in progress update 4. I should add that phase 1 will be the first part of the game to be ported to the new engine once. In fact, we've already begun this process! We will hopefully be able to share gameplay once it is complete.

Phase 2 - Phase 2 has seen the most significant progress out of any phase this past month. In fact, I'm proud to report that it's complete! That's right, development of Dusttrust is technically halfway done. Two phases down, two to go. While we do not plan to update the demo to include the phase, we are officially releasing the latest version of the phase 2 song, MANIAC'S REVENGE, as promised. You can find it in the Gamejolt soundtrack. It will be uploaded to SoundCloud as soon as the new version of Homicidal Lunacy is ready, which should hopefully be soon. As well as all this, a new design to match the new phase 1 design is in development. Like phase 1, it won't be radically different. The pose will likely stay the same, so it can support unique attacks such as the one shown below:

I should note that we also have a checkpoint system, meaning you don't have to restart the whole battle if you die somewhere far into the game.

Phase 3 - We've made quite a bit of progress on phase 3 over the past month. As well as making new attacks and progressing far into the battle, we've been planning on making some changes to it. Firstly, I'm in the process of making a new song for it! I actually made a new phase 3 a little while ago, however as of late I have decided to give it one last update. Phase 3 was the first track I made for Dusttrust many months ago, and I figured I should make it the best it can be. Once I finish it, we can restructure the battle around it. I don't expect it'll harm progress, as it gives us an opportunity to make existing attacks even better. Of course, we will still include some of its unique aspects, such as the spin attack from last month's progress update, or the Papyrus attack shown below:

Like phases 1 and 2, phase 3's Sans and Papyrus sprites will receive updates. Again, they won't be too different, they're mostly a quality upgrade, designed to match the style of the other new sprites of course. I expect we'll have much to show off in the next progress update regarding phase 3, so stay tuned!

Phase 4 - While we have made a good bit of progress on phase 4's development, we don't have anything to show off today unfortunately. We are still working on its design, and I believe this will be finalized soon. We hope to release a teaser for it in the next update, however I can't guarantee this. As well as development in the design field, we have made significant progress on the song. In fact, it's finished! The song, a collaboration between Nick, Pritxxus and myself, is the longest in the soundtrack, and we can't wait to show it off. Unfortunately, we likely won't be able to for a while, as phase 4 is in its early stages. Nevertheless, progress is being made, and I urge you to stay tuned for more developments in the future!

Anyway, that's all we have to show for this month. I am consistently impressed with the work this team does, and I am always happy to show it off to you in these updates. I'd like to take the time now to acknowledge our latest milestone, 50,000 page views. We are incredibly grateful for this, as well as your continued support. This game would not be possible without you. We've certainly had our ups and downs this past month, and your support is what fuels this team to bring you a high-quality Dusttrust game for you to enjoy. If you'd like to interact with us, or receive smaller previews from time to time, consider joining our Discord server today! The link is as follows: https://discord.gg/qZv2b3S. See you next month!