Normally I don't share supporter-specific info, but it's a weird case because you already have the supporter-specific build but without the supporter-specific context so I think letting the situation as-is is worse for everybody.
Tldr: For now, the entire 2.x branch is a tech demo. If shows that V is capable of making a nice animated main menu (that also works as eyes/ear candy for nostalgia), that key bindings work (the old flash was stuck on WASD btw. I guess most of V's supporters are in the US, but in my area that was kinda uncomfortable to learn how to play), that the basic eye polish work on the godot engine, that the spells maniability work (like switching with wheel), that the enemy animation+sound in battle is OK and react differently depending on spells, etc.
Oh and there's now a third spell element
However, 2.0 is not a "game" yet. There's no goal, one kind of enemy, one map, etc. It's clear that not everybody reads, because some supporters asked the same question as here (how do I reach next level, etc.)
And in particular, there's no scene. There was scene examples on Patreon (the mimic for example) which then got nuked due to Patreon TOS. But none of that is in the build that supporters can download.
You launch the build, confirm there's no weird issue on your computers, have fun 3 minutes, that's it. I don't understand why that thread got updated from an old-but-playable version to a test build.
"Signifiant" versions of Divine Arms in my eyes :
2015 release (code-named v95 on newgrounds) : first release with tutorial area and arenas with Ganker
v1.9.0 : huge replacement of v95 with 3 playable ennemies, the "glitched world" tutorial is a meta-scenario as the player comes back from v95. most scenes are missing but imho it's the best flash version for mindless combat
1.9.6b : last flash release, gallery has all the finished scenes from the previous one, the tutorial becomes a hard puzzle level. arenas are lost as it was meant as a prototype, but besides that it's the one version without noticeable placeholders
alpha 2.x : test builds to show the viability of the Godot engine and the new movement/spellcasting system. for now latest is 2.3.5
That alpha test build will stay like this until
A) ViperV finished the animations (the WIP on the supporter-only most recent message)
B) Godot releases a stable version of the 4.0 engine
C) DA's engine twearks (like tilemap access, for easier map designs)
D) ViperV updates his game code to run on Godot 4.x and adds the animations
V's estimate about Godot's release was about a few months after July... yet we all know he has issues with deadlines. Because Godot released 2 days ago.
The decision to diver 80% from dev work into animation was driven by a community vote (remember old times?) that recommended doing the animation during the Godot hiatus, rather than wasting time adding game features that would be broken by the Godot update (and obv, an animation without a game is already some bonus
a game without animation didn't please everybody)
By the way, if you want to follow the dev, even the supporter pages isn't enough, you need Discord specifically as most of the time V simply writes a small reassuring message there. ViperV doesn't seem to like putting supporter announcement without anything tangible to show...
YMMV if that's a normal way to communicate, but that's what we have...
What is for the future :
1) Supporter-post with those 5-8 animations. See the list above... may be only be released at the same time as 2?
2)
Version with scenes made with the Godot update (mind you, it just released) and engine tweaks
3) (Off-screen) Creating sketches based on the discord suggestion thread
4) Supporter-vote to decide which of those suggestions are worth it
And ofc while not explicitely listed he has to do a lot of hard-to-estimate stuff, like doing map designs *depending on if the engine tweaks works as expected with the Godot update* (I'm not a game dev, but as a dev it can be infuriating to try to guess the progress of a task based on another task based on third party changes), but basically that's what he promised without any hard deadline : the 8 animations, the 2.4 scene build (2.4) within a few months and the suggestion vote. So use those as metrics if you want some.
(As I previously said, I'm a recent supporter of the kind "I don't care what the conditions are as long the project does any kind of small step". And I'm painfully aware that such behavior is basically the financial reason why some projects delayed over and over. And YES, I know that it includes Divine Arms.
You are perfectly free to have different expectations than me and not tolerate the pace of project, but could I expect the same acceptance from you and not get fingers pointed at me simply for supporting the artist I want?
DA is the only 18+ project that managed to make me WANT to pay money for supporting, so until I know exactly why ViperV's work resonated in a way others didn't, my opinion won't change. I tried a few 18+ games on Steam and it's painfully clear that "NSFW for the sake of NSFW" doesn't work. I won't delve on me too much but basically I need that weird mix of good-gameplay + interesting-lore + funny-characters with some NSFW seasoning on it, rather than the actual opposite. And, sadly, a lot of products/projects don't appeal to that.)
