Update Log 11/1/22

Hey, it's been a while, but I've been hard at work on A Trip to the Mall at Night. In the few months since I released the demo I've made a pretty good amount of progress. When it comes to main story content the script of the game has been 100% completed and revised, and the game itself has reached around 30-35% completion of main story. The game will have a lot of sidequests and stuff to do other than the main story however those will be added after finishing the main story content to make sure development doesn't get sidetracked. I have no ballpark release date. I'm very busy, as I've just started college and this is a project I make in my spare time, but rest assured I will complete it. One day. To make the process smoother I am no longer the only developer of the game. It's now a two person job. I do the story, art, maps, scenes, and music and the other guy does the more gameplay side of things, fights, balancing, items, skills etc. He's a smart guy, and it's a hell of a lot more efficient than having to stop in my tracks completely and do trial and error game balancing. 

So with all that out of the way, what have we done so far? Well the game obviously majority takes place in a mall so I suppose I'll tell you a little bit about that.

The Mall is a superstructure, a giant building the size of a city. It was created by a man named Seymour Bangks, the richest man to ever live. Originally it was just a massive hub for entertainment, but one day that all changed. When a major event occurred 2 years ago the mall went into lockdown. People can come in, but no one can leave. Inside this mall there are 5 floors and each floor is guarded by one of Bangks' appointed guardians. When Guy and the gang arrive they decide that they will team up and reach the top of the mall where they will confront Bangks and convince him to set everyone free. On this quest to the top they'll learn a lot about the world, the past, and themselves meeting some wacky characters along the way. 

On the first floor we have your typical shopping mall, with stores, a food court, and access to the mall's exclusive sewer system. This floor's guardian is a disgruntled minimum wage pizza delivery guy who doesn't really care who gets through. He'd let you through if it weren't for the fact that a certain someone has decided to take over the food court and locked all the enterances. You'll have to go into the sewers to find the key to get past this floor.

The sewer is a very populated place, filled with all sorts of creatures. Rats, Alligators, Banana Peels, even Cockroaches. Most of them are friendly, but every once in a while some might attack. The sewer is a non linear dungeon, eventually you'll have to explore both sides, but they can be done in either order. 

After navigating the sewer and helping out the people of the first floor you gain access to floor 2: The Park

The Park is an artificial environment created to simulate the feeling of the outdoors. People have setup tents all around the park, better living conditions than the first floor, but only marginally. The park is guarded by the mysterious T4. A man who operates the park's entertainment hub, The Night Club. The only way to reach the 3rd floor is through the notoriously difficult to navigate Funhouse and T4 is the only person who can grant someone access to the Funhouse. So the gang will have to travel to The Night Club to meet T4.

The Night Club is a popular spot and in this section of the game we slow down and get to know our characters a little bit better. There's a bit of action as well, but I'll let you discover that yourself when you play the game.

Conclusion:

So I don't really know where else to put this stuff so I guess these are some closing thoughts. I don't really know how I want to do devlogs for this game. I suppose I'll do another for the 3rd floor but after that we get into some major spoiler territory so there will be another gap in updates, however I will try to give a little bit of content to people who are interested in the form of some world buildy posts. Those will not be on this itch.io page though. They'll be on my tumblr blog which I'll link below. It makes it easier so that people who only care about progress can come here and people who want some fun little windows into the world and characters to tide them over until the game is actually out will be able to go there. 

This game overall is very different from ATttSaN, obviously there's the factor of gameplay, but it also has a more focused plot with conflict and more developed characters. That might be a bit of a disappointment to the 2 ATttSaN fans out there, but I think if you liked that game you'll really like this one. 

Also I've uploaded a few of the songs from the soundtrack to my youtube channel in a playlist, which you could probably tell from the embeded videos of music from the game, so if you want to hear some of those here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCGPZBdmn1E-Be0R-9dr8c-R7aBB5vesg

Anyway, until next time, Goodnight.

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/the-eternal-wormlet