First Polished Demo - A log on Ideas and Interest

 Well, here we are. Demo 0.9.01 is here. Was supposed to be 0.9, since it is a nice, round number, but found out some bugs that weren't detrimental, but still an eyesore after compiling.

My last playable demo was, in an uncomfortably broken state I mostly showcased for other developers. Bless them for still giving it a fair shake. This current one is more polished and thoroughly bug-tested. So many stuff that changed that by the time I could list them all, I could push another meaningful update. Only thing it's missing is character portraits, more assets, and more content, but what RPG doesn't want more content?

That last demo was apparently... over two years ago? How time flies. Don't be impressed by the numbers. Although they were productive, most of those two years were not related to game development. Only this year (beginning of 2025) I have decided to put my boots back on, and give this demo the work it deserves.

I am not sure if I have 100% managed to do that, but it's fine. If you ever tried to create anything, you know how hard it is to cram the perfect version you've assembled in your head, into something definite, in the real world. Still I think I managed to put it into a shape, where I think people could get an impression about what the idea behind it was.

What was the Idea?

Well, to put it simply, the idea was a Martial Art RPG.

To put it less simply, it was an RPG where instead Fireball, you cast Flaming Dragon Fist. A technique you worked for, and doesn't get phased out be Super Fireball, a few levels later, though you have to train it, if you don't want to be beaten by your rival's Flaming Dragon Fist.

An RPG where it isn't the same vanilla setting with one or two twists at most we have seen many many times. Vanilla is a nice flavour, but there is more out there. Something that is closer to the cool parts of Mortal Kombat (the magic kung-fu part, not Earthrealm Special Forces). A setting that recalls the faded parts of the Tekken 4 intro back into my mind, experiencing Kamorucho in Yakuza for the first time, or setting out to find Lan Di in Shenmue.

This idea all coalesced before Street Fighter 6 came out with its World Tour game mode, so after a fashion, I am behind schedule.

What next?

Well I have started this project 5 years ago. (Remember what I said about not getting impressed by the numbers.) And no matter how many breaks I took after the first 1.5 year of constant work on it, I could never put it to rest. I always figured that what I've made, didn't really reflect what I felt. So others won't be able to see it, and then tell me if it's worthwhile.

Now I think I have reached that point. Maybe some spit and polish here and there, a few more quests to get the two hour slice up to three-four. If after this there is no interest, then that's it. I'll push this demo through all social channels I know, and if there won't be enough interested people who like the idea, I'll be able to retire this with a peace of mind, and do something else on my weekends.

So if you got this far, throw me a comment about what you think. Or a poem, or a funny fact, or just tell me I am better served by knitting socks instead of working on this. Really, any will do.

Writing devlogs is actually pretty fun! I should have done this more often. Either way, have a nice day.