After 3 months of work since the last dev diary, I am pleased to announce that there have been significant additions and also many new planed features that I am excited to discuss.

Firstly, the most immediate news would be that a demo has been developed and currently is just in the polishing stages. The main content for the game is there and pretty much done, but UI elements and bugs just need to be worked on before release. Realistically, I would say that the demo will launch some time in May, with the latest being June. However, as we get closer to the launch of the demo, more news releases will come out.

Also, while this may be a little bit far in the feature, multiplayer is a feature that I am excited to say I am certainly considering. I have a few ideas regarding the implementation of it, but without going into too much detail, PVP matches are the feature I am most interested in and something I feel could tie in with the story line well.

Not only that, but I also took some time to make a website for Fire Frost Studio. Here is a screenshot, and you can visit it here[firefroststudio.editorx.io].

Those are the main things worked on for these months. I'll be sure to make a few other posts as the demo nears launch.

- Fire Frost Studio

Well, here we go, the first dev diary. I'm going to try to do one of these every few months or so, just to keep the community updated.

As this is the first one, there's a lot of work to sum up so apologies in advance if it's a little long.

I started the game around 1 year ago, but only seriously started working on it for 6 or so months. In that time, I have been able to get pretty much all the fundamentals of the game down. Movement, attacking, enemy ai, and friendlies all have their necessary infrastructure in place. Right now, I'm just getting the menus and stuff like that done (rebindable input, audio settings, etc). I still have quite a few enemies to implement, but at least the art and animations are done for them.

Now, comes the part of the game that's going to take me the longest. The story. In the store page, the story is quite hyped up, and I do plan for it to be a major component of the game. I will try to make it appealing, and have a satisfying ending, but most importantly, to make sure it's not predictable and boring. In case you haven't read the story on the store page, here goes.

The Dark Defender is an indie story-driven, 2D adventure game where you play as a character who has been deserted, with no recollection of your past. With the goal of figuring out who you are, you make your way through a world with friends to assist you on your journey, as well as enemies attempting to burden your adventure. On your path, you meet with various people, some wanting to help, some stopping you and some trying to make a quick buck off your ignorance. It is up to you to forge your path, to forge your confidence, risk-taking, determination and most of all, perseverance.

Audio also is a part of the game I am incredibly excited about. I have been able to come across some excellent, no royalty music sites that I really think will make the game just that much more enjoyable.
Regarding a demo, I am considering it as it really would be a great way for people to try out the game and give their feedback, but I'm a little worried that it would take too much time away from the production of the actual game. If you think it's a good idea, feel free to leave a comment in our community or join our discord and @ me.

Here are some of the enemies and a few friendlies. Some are in the game and others are pending implementation.

These three are just a few.

So that seems to be most of it. I'll try to be consistent with posting updates, but I'm sure there will be periods where I'll have my head down, working hard, and not communicating much. If you like what was said, please feel free to wishlist my game, and if you want to get involved with the development of the game, everyone's more than welcome to @me on our discord server, (as linked on our store page), create a post on our readdit (reddit link), or post a message on a update discussion in our steam community.

That's it for now, hope I'll be back here in a month or 2!
- Fire Frost Studio