Hi everybody! Its time for the monthly devlog.

This month I started with the closed beta testing and the usability of the game has gone up drastically. Unfortunately, so did my workload, I've been working a lot more than on previous months. This can also be infered from my weekly updates on twitter and instagram where I went from 116% at the beginning of the months all the way to 145%. That's double the productivity of the previous months.

I'm also a bit exhausted so this last month before launch will probably be a little slower. However the game will still be released by the end of September given my current plan. I'll update you if that changes. Anyways, here's the changelog.

What I've worked on in August

• Fixed a bug where music didn't play when pressing continue
• Fixed a bug where the game crashed if you triggered the tutorial twices in a single playthrough. This could be done by starting a new game, going back to the menu and starting a new game again.
• Added a version to save files so I can patch things in the future
  • The idea is that if I have time I can make a script that takes demo saves and adapts them into saves for the full game. Keeping your progress.
• Added 2 turn icons in the battle app
• Polished Cider's AI
• Implemented a "Yes - No" selector for the overworld dialogs
  • Used in shops and leaf transactions mostly
• Added a warning when entering the final boss battle so you can save before or go back
• Fixed 19 typos
• Polished a script in the deepway
• Fixed final boss AI
• Balanced mini boss
• Added a custom error screen for beta testing
• Added remapable controls
• Polished early game scripts
• Added more simple secrets in hidden places in the rooms
• Fixed a bug where a battle move moved the entity a little to the right each time when used
• Added new battle moves for player characters
• Polished miniboss sprites
• Animated miniboss battle moves
• Fixed bug where a cutscene was skipped
• Reordered battle moves so older moves are at the top and newer moves are at the bottom when selecting a move in battle.
• Fixed wrong music in a room
• Fixed a bug where a puzzle mechanic didn't work the first time
• Fixed a bug that let you farm unintended items
• Recovered feature that gives oponent names
• Adjusted leaf economy
• Added random secret in the deep way, you may not find this one
• Reduced warp pads sizes between 2 rooms where the warp pads were unusually big and sometimes you would return to the current room when you wanted to go to the next room I don't know if I am explaining myself
• Fixed sweet berries drawn on the wrong layer
• Better descriptions for some items
• Fixed a bug where the text speed was sometimes set to a float what
• Polished secret boss script
• Added messages for when Mac of Amber learn moves
• Fixed a bug where the final scene was partially obscured, I can't say more without spoiling
• Fixed a bug where Mac would be in a random pose when you pressed continue
• Refactored save file so its better structured
• Now enemies have an outline when selecting them as targets
• Fixed bug where the characters in the battle app weren't ordered by y axis
• Fixed bug in the intro cutscene where the images sometimes flashed when pressing the accept button
• Fixed bug where amber disappeared after a script
• Adjusted the hitbox of some objects like leaves
  • So leaves are easier to pick up now
• Now battle actions are ordered alphabetically on the pause menu
• Fixed bug where the music stopped after a script

Checkpoint: I'm halfway through, I'm taking a little break........... ok I'm ready to continue

• Balanced final boss
• Fixed a text in the battle app where it said "Naranjina" instead of "Watermelon Naranjina"
• Added a label that says what you are selecting when in the battle app ("Action", "Target")
• Removed text speed from the title menu, I wan't to let players at least try the default text speed before they decide to change it.
• Added secret script
• Ken now detects if you use "Regain Composure" in the battle tutorial instead of attacking
• Fixed a bug where the game crashes because of a font refactor
• Composed 1 new music track
• Modified an effect of a condition so its easier to understand
• Polished "Game Saved" notification in the pause menu
• Polished the autosave feature, sometimes you could get softlocked by this
• Added a confirmation message when pressing new game if you already have a savefile
• Added little animation when eating orange segments in the pause menu so its more clear what is happening
• Polished Timed Text system in overworld dialogs
• Added 4 new sfx
• Fixed a bug where sometime the save file was not created properly and the game freaked out
• Removed 1 unused item from the game
• Updated the game's app title
• Added 4 new animations for battle moves for the secret boss
• Fixed a bug where you could get stuck in a wall
• Added 8 new battle icons
• Changed the Battle app's font so 0's and 8's dont get confused
• Made bigger enemy hp and grd icons in battle app
• Fixed more bugs in the final scene
• Fixed random pixel outside outline for watermelon naranjinas battle sprites
• Added better dialog to part of the game where most players got confused/lost
• Polished battle app's object management
• Unhardcoded a value in a script
• Polished text from battle move so its more clear what it does
• Updated "Turns" graphic in battle app so its now text and not an image, so it can be translated now if I can

What's left?

Some usability stuff and music. I think the game is in a pretty good state. September has 4 weeks, my idea is that next week I can have the last beta testing session. The game should be ready at some point during the third week of september. Finally the last week I'll playtest the game as much as I can.

I wanted to translate the game to spanish during this month, but checking what's left I don't have much faith I can do that. I'll translate it during october and release that version at some point in november. And yeah, that's the plan.

See you on release, wish me luck!