Hello everyone! I’ll open today’s Dev Log with an admission: I’ve been distracted.
Not completely – it’s not like I’ve spent the whole month goofing off – but things that
should be simple have been taking longer than they need to.
A few logs ago I mentioned that as we got closer to the finish line, things became strangely harder to work on. Now that the game is closer than ever to completion, I’ve found myself slowing down a bit again – unintentionally, but noticeably.
That said, plenty has still been done, and I’d like to share what’s been accomplished, what’s coming next, and what’s been distracting me (it’s still development-related, don’t worry).
What’s Been Done
I’ve been mostly working on bug fixes, content additions, and general polish.
But there
has been one pretty major change to the end of the game:
When the credits finish rolling, you’ll now return to the Starting Hall with Savina instead of the Main Menu. I still need to write a note explaining this “post-game,” but essentially, you’ll be able to re-run every dungeon you’ve cleared so far – including the final one – and continue upgrading your character and talking to Savina.
You can also technically complete Ophelia’s quest if you missed it, though she’ll still act as if the final boss hasn’t been beaten. On that note, Boss fights are disabled as you’ve already basically beaten them but there is still the Boss Rush available from the Main Menu.
A few players have also reported a nasty crash at the end of dungeons, right before the Boss fight. Thankfully, that issue has been fixed — the solution was staring me in the face for a while. There was a similar crash months ago that I fixed, but didn’t realize the fix also needed to be applied to the Boss Door.
On top of that:
- I’ve fixed (as best as I can) all major cloth clipping.
- Projectiles are now automatically removed when cutscenes start, preventing them from interrupting or damaging the player.
- Ophelia’s quest now has its end sex sequence implemented – no more placeholder text. You’ll be able to see that scene in the next build.
Upcoming Builds
With the game nearing completion, there will likely only be a couple more builds before release. If the Steam review process goes smoothly, I’ll spend some time implementing API features like achievements, but otherwise, the public release build won’t be drastically different from the Patreon builds.
If things don’t go as planned and I have to release through other means, I’ll have to rethink a lot more than just the release of Sin Spire. But for now, the next test build will mainly focus on small bug fixes and micro tasks rather than new content.
Distractions
I mentioned being distracted earlier, but if it’s any consolation, those distractions have been
productive ones.
Lately, I’ve been experimenting with ideas for my next project. It’s far too early to start pre-production, but I’ve been researching and doing some early in-engine tests for visual style and rendering workflows. The next game won’t share Sin Spire’s aesthetic, so I’m trying to make sure Unreal can manage what I want to do.
That said, I know it’s the wrong time to get side-tracked. I still have
Sin Spire to finish, so I apologize for the delay – especially to the translators who’ve been waiting for updates. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
Credits
As many of you know, I’ve been collecting names from my
Supporter-tier – both past and present – for inclusion in the credits. I’ll be closing that window soon so I can format and time everything properly.
Thank you to everyone who responded! If you’ve supported me in the past few weeks, I’ll try and message you about your credit as soon as possible. Anyone joining today or tomorrow will also be included in that, but soon after, I’ll be finalizing the credits with the names I’ve collected up to that point.
What’s Next
I’ll likely prepare another small build soon. Not much has changed content-wise, but I’d like to keep testing updates until I’m ready to send the review build out.
It’s a bit of a shame that I missed the October release window, but in hindsight, it might be for the best – Steam Next Fest pushed a lot of games that would’ve drowned out visibility for
Sin Spire since I don’t have a demo.
There are still plenty of bugs to squash and purification animations to finish, but progress is progress. See you all next time.
