Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've written anything so I thought I'd get you all up to date on what I've got cooking.

Besides fixing up all the problems people have had with the current demo (I'm still trying to fix up Royal Hunting Ground LWG), I've also been trying to implement new unique gameplay elements and to help make my game more unique. One thing that I've begun working on is a Monster Capture System. It was originally meant to be a simple sidequest that had you scan monsters and receive prizes. Truthfully, I felt something was missing and the concept seemed kind of bland. I've attempted expanded upon the original concept by having players scan monsters and then capture them to use in battle. Each monster has a unique ability which can be used to strengthen your party or damage your enemies. It's a different way to gain the upperhand on your foes; if your allies don't have any natural or magical skill that is effective against your opponent, you can call upon the aid of your captured monsters to help you win the battle. I've tried to find ways to add a challenge to monster capturing. Here's what I have so far:

Food Type - using a scan crystal, you can study a foe's strengths and weaknesses. However, that's not all. You can also gain info into the types of food they eat. Once you've figured out their specific diet, you can throw their favorite food to them to distract them, then capture them with a Capture Sphere. It's kind of a mix between Pokemon and Chocobo hunting. There's going to be a wide variety of baits and food to use. For example, some monsters will only eat a specific kind of meat while others will be satisfied with any kind of meat.

Respect Level - however, before you even need to start worrying about bait, you'll have to make sure the level of one of your party members matches or surpasses the Respect Level of the monster. Basically, monsters won't accept food from those they find weak. This will prevent players from capturing a super powerful monster early game and wiping out the opposition.

That's all I have so far for that. I also plan on making prizes for the number of different monsters captured and also creating a tournament where you can only use the skills of your monsters against the skills of your opponent's monsters. Anyway, I'm hoping this sidequest will help spice up the gameplay and prevent it from being a boring grind session (that's the plan, at least).

Monster stuff aside, another area I've been working on is the character battle animations. Now I know there wasn't really anything technically "wrong" with the current demo's character sets but I thought I'd improve upon it by making animations smoother and more fluid. It's kinda hard to explain so you'll just have to wait and see what I mean ;)

I've also changed some of the in-game music and character themes to help better match the dark undertone of the story's plot. I got rid of a few notable songs (*cough JENOVA *cough) and replaced them with songs that are lesser known but just as powerful. I've also condensed the size of most of my music files which will cut the amount of space my game takes up by at least half.

Probably the area I've slacked the most on is the plot advancement. I know where I want to go and for the most part how I want to get there, but there are a few plot points that I'm struggling to make cohesive. That's not to say I haven't made any progress, it's just not as much as I had hoped.

Anyway, that's about it for now, I'm going to continue to expand upon the monster system (hopefully, this sounds interesting to you, the reader), and finish the animations. Once I've progressed further in the story, I plan to release another demo, just because my current one is extremely dated and a fellow maker suggested I update it (you know who you are, dhm). Sorry to ramble on. Thanks for reading and keep checking back for more updates!