Hey anybody reading this!

Just wanted to write a quick announcement regarding the update released for the demo detailing all the changes made to it. I also thought I could share a little bit of info regarding the current state of development after the demos release.

The Big Changes:

Checkpoints!
Never Forgotten now has checkpoints, several have been placed throughout the demo to minimise tedium & content repetition.
Checkpoint activated after completing one part of Chapter Two puzzle

Checkpoints have been added to:
-Completing West Tree Puzzle in Chapter Two
-Completing East Tree Puzzle in Chapter Two
-Before Amalgamation Fight in Chapter Three
-Before Husk Fight in Chapter Three
-Completing Plate Puzzle in Chapter Three
-Before/After Corpse Fight in Chapter Three
-There's also checkpoints at the start of each chapter (with the exception of the first chapter)

Combat Changes
Following feedback regarding the combat in the game, I went back and added a new mechanic that will hopefully make fights less tedious even if a player has few items.

Essentially, through certain actions in combat, you will be able to increase separate meters that can regen health, increase your ATK temporarily, increase your DEF temporarily, or reduce the enemy's DEF. These changes were made to make long fights shorter, and to help a player who is struggling with items or taking a lot of damage.

Here is how each meter is affected:
HP Regen:
-Landing attacks increases meter
-Landing critical attacks increases meter greatly
-Not taking damage increases meter

-Taking damage reduces meter
-Using consumables reduces meter greatly

Player ATK Increase:
-Landing attacks increases meter
-Landing critical attacks increases meter
-Taking damage increases meter
-Surviving a death blow increases meter greatly

-Using consumables reduces meter greatly

Player DEF Increase:
-Not taking damage increases meter

-Taking damage reduces meter
-Using consumables reduces meter greatly

Enemy DEF Decrease:
-Landing critical attacks increases meter
-Landing massive critical attacks (three crits in a row) increases meter greatly
-Not taking damage increases meter

-Taking damage reduces meter greatly

Balancing Changes!
Having watched a few people play through the demo, I saw a recurring issue that there simply wasn't enough healing items in the game - a lot of people reached the final enemy with very few healing items, as a result, I've added a few more healing items in the game that rewards players who snoop around a bit more. This, along with nerfing the final enemy as well as the additions to combat, I think will make the game much more accessible/less frustrating (there is a secret hard difficulty for those who want more of a challenge).
New secret healing item added to Chapter One

Additional Balancing Changes Include:
-Small heal added to Chapter One
-Small heal replaced Vial of Substance in Chapter Two
-Medium heal added to Chapter Two
-Final Enemy has had several attacks nerfed - their first attack gives you more time to react - their final attack gives you much more time to react

Additional Cheats!
The games cheat menu has received two new cheats that can be toggled on now. Both of these new cheats are more so for anybody intending on several playthroughs and want to save time, people struggling with an enemy, or playtesters to save them some time.
Two new cheats added to the Cheat Menu

New Cheats:
-God Mode - raises player ATK & DEF stats to 999 - allowing you to one-shot every enemy
-Super Speed - makes your sprint/run very fast - allowing you to speed through levels like never before!

Other Miscellaneous Changes:
-Some text has been altered in Chapter One
-New interactable text objects have been added to Chapter One
-Some text has been altered in Chapter Two
-Some text has been altered in Chapter Three
-New interactable text objects have been added to Chapter Three
-Fixed a typo for an item description in Chapter Three
-The Unity Splash Screen was altered - it no longer says 'Unfortunately made with Unity', unfortunately I had to make this change given the addition of new splash screens :(
-There's a save icon splash screen at start of game
-There's a flashing light warning splash screen at start of game
-There's now a Loading Icon whenever a new level is being loaded
-A save icon appears whenever the game is saving
-The player will now sit down at save benches, as opposed to just interacting with them
-If you have save data from the original version of the demo, it will be deleted upon starting the game as to avoid any errors - given changes made to the save system, old save data isn't compatible with the changes made to the save system and will lead to errors loading variables in the level, potentially softlocking the player - which is why it needs to be deleted, I apologise for the inconvenience

PROGRESS UPDATE!!
Alrighty, so now onto the progress update!
After Nextfest started, I began working on writing the rest of the narrative for the game, before the demo was released, the story had been outlined though not detailed, aside from Act One (all content in the demo), which had been detailed. I've managed to finish writing out and detailing the entire narrative for the game, which includes writing for the remaining six chapters of the game.

The final game will have Three Acts, each with Three Chapters - Additionally, there's a hidden second route with its own unique content and ending. The second route plays out differently from the 'default' route, and involves collecting certain items and avoiding enemies leading up to the final chapter of each act, from which point you use the items collected in previous chapters to access a secret area in the final chapter of an act.

Currently, the demo includes this second route for Act One, I'm unsure if anybody has found it yet, since it's relatively cryptic, though you can definitely piece together what to do solely through the game itself. To give a hint to those who're interested, avoid enemies and follow the guiding flames - once you have the 'key' & the 'framed/decorated photo', there's a hidden path in the flesh forest at the start of Chapter Three, before the Amalgamation fight. Using both items, you'll be able to unlock the way to a new path - the door will only reveal itself to those with little essence.

So, now that the story is written out, I will begin designing & prototyping each level until the game is playable start to finish - this process will most likely take 2-3 months. From that point, I will begin polishing the game and hopefully have the whole thing in a 'finished' state by halfway through next year, giving me plenty of time to vigorously test/debug the game and add in plenty of additional content. I'll also try to post updates when anything major is finished.

Alrighty, that's all from me for now. This will most likely be the only update for the demo - I just thought it would be appropriate to implement these additions for anybody new trying out the demo to make things a bit easier to understand/less tedious. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and thank you to everyone who played the demo/wishlisted - it all helps a bunch and I really appreciate the support!!

I want to give an extra shoutout to the following individuals who streamed their playthroughs of the game, thanks so much - it was a joy watching your reactions to my questionable game design!

-nekobun - Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/nekobun

-P1xelJP - Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/P1xelJP

-Bobtron - Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bobtron007


If you're interested in more regular updates - check out my YouTube channel where I post weekly devlogs/updates: https://www.youtube.com/@neverforgottengame/featured
...or you can just click the youtube link right below here.... if you're lame..........