Hey, all!

I figured it was best to give an update sooner rather than later since I've made some big strides over the past few weeks. To keep it brief: Chapter 5 is more or less finished (maybe about 97% of it) and though it does feel like a first pass in some regards, it's stable enough that I can start work on Chapter 6.

I think maybe we can skip the Progress Chart this time. It hasn't hanged all that much, but maybe we can put some sort of graphic in here because that apparently improves readability. So here you go.



Chapter 6 is something of an oddball compared to past projects, as it is technically the final dungeon in the game, but it's not really a "final dungeon" in the traditional sense. The story structure for Zosma didn't really call for a big evil castle or anything like that in its narrative. So the final area in the finale ends up being something of a small boss rush. Chapter 6 ends up being "the dungeon that just happens to be the last one" but it's also when a lot of the big story points come to fruition, so I hope you'll look forward to it.

Indeed, this project is far enough along where I can almost quantify exactly what needs to be done before it hits the beta phase.

Chapter 6 is about 20% done, with half of the dungeon mapped. Some of it is evented. I'm actually glad that there isn't much more to do because boy howdy let me tell you that I'm running out of ideas for puzzles and stuff, but I think I have just enough material and ideas to get the job done. In that regard, I have one miniboss and one boss battle left to design for the chapter and then we'll be squared away combat-wise.

The finale, which I guess I should just call Chapter 7, hasn't been started at all. So that will be a big project on its own since nothing related to it has been developed yet and it will be quite asset-intensive.

Then that leaves the Expanding Void, which is pretty much complete except for balancing the battles in the sixth tier and designing the boss at the end of it.

So boiling it all down, here's what left in the alpha phase:
- The remaining 80% of Chapter 6
- The whole Finale + Ending(s)
- Postgame (two bonus bosses)

Then it's onto the beta phase and practicing the long-forgotten art of testing and polishing your game before releasing it. There's quite a bit of cleanup to do, and I do want to give some of these story scenes a little extra oomph before calling them complete.

I'm pretty excited that we're getting close to the end here! It's far from my first rodeo at this point, but it never gets any less exciting to see a project near completion. Hopefully you can play the game early next year maybe.



By the way, did you remember to wishlist the game on Steam? Making that beautiful number go up always helps.

- Sgt M