I’ve changed a lot in the game—though it might not look like much on the surface. The early gameplay has been reworked quite a bit, and the parts I wanted to focus on feel much closer to what I originally intended. One of my biggest struggles when showing trailers or releasing the game was this: I never meant to emphasize action, but people always seemed to focus on it. I didn’t even include combos—just a very basic action system sprinkled in like seasoning. But through this revision, I’ve come to understand why.
Some of the feedback mentioned it, and I think they were right: the trailer mostly highlighted flashy swordplay. The trailer leaned too much on visually intense moments—so it ended up giving the wrong impression. So once this update is done, I plan to make a new trailer. Who knows how it’ll turn out, but at least it’ll be closer to the original vision.
Because of changes to the movement—jumping, wall-running, etc.—I had to revisit every corner of the level design. That was a journey. I still need to test everything, but doing it alone mostly just means making sure nothing is completely broken. With all the changes, I’m sure plenty of new bugs came with them. I don’t expect players to enjoy it right away, but I hope they’ll come to like it as I keep improving it—especially Metroidvania fans. This genre has been a huge part of my life, so I really hope it speaks to them.
This past week was tough—emotionally too. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this kind of mental fatigue. All of it was a hell of my own making. The hardest part was that persistent thought: “Even if I fix all this, will anyone play it?” But watching the game evolve makes it impossible to quit. Not that I have anything else I could turn to, honestly. I have a deep respect for other solo devs—how they survive this emotional hell and still manage to finish and release their games is incredible.
Anyway, I also fixed a huge number of existing bugs—some based on feedback, others I found while reworking the action and level design. Numbers aren’t everything, but my checklist says I fixed about 120 issues in the last 10 days.
Aside from a little daily exercise, I’ve been working nonstop. It’s been a while since I felt any real inspiration—until I watched the Marathon trailer. I was floored. I don’t remember the last time I rewatched a trailer multiple times. The color, the direction, the narrative, the music—everything. As for the game itself, I did think the lower texture usage might be a plus for development, but since I’m not really into FPS games and don’t play them well, I’m not sure what the unique gameplay hook is. Still, the trailer left a strong impression.