So you saw the mysterious elevator from last week, and you probably wonder: what on earth is going on with that? Well, after a lot of thought and discussions regarding final dungeons, we pretty much all felt like maybe we’re just dragging things out a bit too much, and perhaps all you want to do is get into some action and get to that/those final boss(es).

So what gives? Well, we’ve decided that – for now at least – scrap our previous designs for the final dungeon and go with a boss rush mode, featuring slightly reworked versions of some of the previous bosses, one after another, on said elevator as you move your way up in the tower to reach Dad and figure out what the heck is going on!

Of course, if we feel like this version isn’t any good, we’ll revert back to the old idea, which we do have a bunch of backgrounds for already anyway. But for now, we’re gonna try out the boss rush elevator idea, and see how we feel about it. We’ve even more or less finalized a list of potential bosses for it:

Shadow Slime (a dark Giga Slime)
Halloweed
2x Phasemen and GUN-D4M (not at the same time, but part of the same battle)
4x Hydras (introducing the spring hydra – which we have a bunch of ideas for, ranging from it spawning green thorn bushes to spawning the poisonflowers from Tai Ming)
Powerflower, aided by bees (I’m sorry)
and Mimic, phase 2!

In other words, a pretty epic boss rush – though the exact bosses and what new attacks they might have is still in the works.

How do you guys feel about this potential change? Yay or nay?

Before I start working on those potential new final dungeon things though, let’s finish up some moew Arcade Mode stuff! Starting with the world map, which has been a work in progress for quite a while now but now we’re finally able to finish it up:

Now, before you’ve ever been to any of the arcade mode floors, they’ll be blacked out so you don’t know exactly where you’re going next, so time to make a bunch of silhouettes:

And if you have been to an area before, but not during this run, it’ll be grayed out:

Which means the map during a run where you’re currently at Evergrind Forest, but never have been past Seasonne (in any run) would look like this:

Except with a bunch of cool waves, like here, which is what the map would look like if you just defeated Grindea and got an S rank for it:

Another thing we’ve been playing around with is a “pin shelf” where you can store one additional pin without enabling its effects. Of course, in the game this has a rather crude interface at the moment:

As such, I’ve been playing around with making a couple versions of a proper interface for it, one featuring the trashcan which will be used when you first equip the pin, and one without it for the menu, where you’ll also be able to move your pins around and exchange which one is currently on the shelf:

Meanwhile, in Fred’s department we’re starting to prepare for the next big boss fight, this time in Story Mode. I’m sure you can guess who you’re gonna face off against… :)

This week we’ll be adding a bunch of improvements, starting with making the jump down from the Phaseman and Crystal boss maps a bit clearer! First up, the original:

And next, a bunch of different suggestions for clearer versions:

For now, we’ll start by adding the last one, and if it still isn’t clear enough, we’ll blend it into one of the other two after you’ve defeated the boss, to make sure nobody’s confused about where to go after they’ve finished the boss :)

Another addition is that of a temporary space in the shop, for before anything but the shop is available! Looks a bit better than the space beside the shop being completely empty:

The travelling alchemist’s shop also needs slightly more proper graphics, to show off the fact that it’s not just ordinary potions but super potions that are for sale there:

One of the things you’ve told us in regards to the current update-in-progress is that you’d like to see a slightly darker version of the Grindea boss battle area, as she tends to blend in a bit much during the fight!

As such, here’s one such darker version, which we’ll try out and see how it works:

For Fred’s Friday, we have a little sneak peek of something curious… A couple sketches for an elevator! Whatever is this all about? Stay tuned to learn more next Monday! :)

Now, time to showcase the second casino, which will feature a different kind of gamble than the first:

The Pin Collector will make an appearance as well, in a house that seems to follow its own physics (you will be able to see a background filled with stars through the darkness in the floor and walls – quite spacey! ;))

Next, with a battle against Grindea being imminent very soon, it’s high time to give her a proper boss portrait! Let’s have a look:

Next up we needed to make some adjustments to master Ji’s challenge rooms to remove the scrolling from it, so let’s resize that thing a bit!

Some more things some of you may or may not have already seen, the transition between Grindeas health bars and her cool space wings:

And weee’re back! This time, let’s take a look at some of the backgrounds you may or may not have already come across in the meatshield update, which has been up for a little while!

For information on how to access this super crude and potentially buggy version of the beta (at your own risk), come on over to our Discord and have a look :)

In either case, here’s the first of a few new backgrounds, featuring the arcade mode version of the ice cream parlour:

Next up, Master Ji’s dojo:

There’s also a mystical cave where a giant lood and its underlings hang out, ready to provide you with some loot! Let’s have a look:

There’ll also be not one but two casino’s opening their doors in arcade mode! Here’s the first:

Of course, Fred has been busy as well, making animations and other new stuff for the update, such as this ice cream eating animation and a couple fancy wings you can get yourself in Arcade mode by trading in your essence: