It has been 2 weeks since the the 0.4 update of Darkmorrow Arena. I'm happy with how it went! I also got some really good feedback, in terms of game balance and story direction.

I think there was one big issue, which is that the new store system was pretty unfair for a Rogue-like game that keeps pushing you forward. Therefore, in version 0.4i, I reverted the store system back to what it was in 0.3.

For version 0.5, here are what I mainly aim to achieve:

1. 3 more outfits, and another set of lingerie, along with their lingerie variations.
2. 15 new scenes, 5 for each NPC.

Furthermore, here are some great ideas I've received. I can't promise if they will be in the next version, or if they will ever make it into the game. But I like the ideas, and they are on my to-do list.

1. Rogue-lite system: In this system, after you die, you can earn some global points, lets call them "Destiny Points". These Destiny Points can be used to upgrade your next character. This way, even if you die, it won't feel like a total loss. You'll have made some progress for your next playthrough.
2. Add a Bar: My original plan was that during the night, you can rest to heal, entertain an NPC for some benefit, or visit a bar to get some random event. The last part was never implemented, and it's not really thoroughly designed yet. But it could be a way to gain fate stones or info on opponents without visiting NPCs. Or, it might give you a chance to gain extra coin or random items. Or, it might have some interesting scenes. These could reflect how your character is doing so far in the story, too. The trade off is that you won't have much control over what outcome you get, unlike spending time with the NPCs.
3. Tweak balance and gameplay: I'm not entirely happy with the game balance, yet. The feeling I get is that because you start unarmoured, it's easy to train for that, and then lock yourself out of the other armour types. I might tone down the price of armoured equipment, to make them more accessible. I also want to tweak the shop to offer more items that the player can actually use. This means, the shop should offer less outfits that the main character cannot use yet, because of her lewdness. It should also offer less items that cost like 5000 coins, when the player only has 200. The game should still offer some of these items, just to show the player what is out there. But not so much that it really hinders the main character's growth.
4. Better UI and more info for the player: I also want to make it more clear in the game, that different items get mods at different rates, such as spears being more likely to get elemental damage. It's in the game info section, but it's not super clear.

That's about it!

I'm also prototyping and designing a few other game ideas. Some of them already have some art done! I'll share some screenshots next time. =)