With the release of Stage 4, we are now half way done with the 8 stages! Actually this is more like 2/3 of the way done, because a lot of the work at the start of this game development was just figuring out how to make a game to begin with.

As I look back at these stages, I am thinking that a lot of my development was less "designing a good experience for the player" and more "designing a game as I figured out how to make things work." Hence by Stage 3 I have a SCHMUP level.

On that: I really hate Stage 3. I don't think I'll omit it, but I think I'll keep the SCHMUP elements to a minimum going forward. If I find I REALLY hate Stage 3 by the end of development, I'll consider changing it somehow, but my problem is now the whole narrative of the game is based on the fact that it exists.

Anyway, I'm still on track to finishing this game by the end of the month! I wanted this to be a 10 week game, but had a ton of work as I was finishing up other games/projects. At this point, I've no clue how many weeks I actually have worked on this, but my guess is I'll have put in about 120 hours on this game's development by the time I finish up.

I am still iffy on whether or not I will incorporate music in the game - if I figure out how, or I find someone who can do it, I might consider it again. I do want the game to be GOOD and ENJOYABLE, despite its issues.

• CHANGELOG V.4:
  • Added Stage 4, Mount Sugar, and all necessary areas involved
  • Removed some difficulty to Stage 1
  • Eased difficulty to some Bosses
  • Streamlined some cutscenes and Debug Ghost entries
  • Fixed crashing on Stage 3 Boss (Maybe)
  • Fixed enemy pathing bugs in Stage 3
  • Elongated Invincibility item by 2 seconds
  • (edited the itch page some)