Devlog #27- Big Cob

Writing these devlogs is always somewhat of a chore that I push myself through, but weeks like these are always the hardest- The weeks where I feel very behind where I had hoped to be.

I could blame the other commitments I had over the past couple of weeks, but it was a bad couple of weeks regardless. I still made some progress but not nearly as much as I had hoped, and I think as I start to slow down I start to panic thinking that if I keep going at this pace I won’t be done for another two years and it slows me down even more.

I really would like to release the game by this year, and although I think it's possible, it may not be if I keep having weeks like these- and that's really frustrating. I’m not going to give up yet though, and I’ve got some milestones set up for this year to work towards that should keep me on track, including a recent addition:

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Steam Next Fest

I applied and got accepted to participate in the June Steam Next Fest, so I plan to really polish up the demo by then. It's basically done, but I’ll need to make sure the sound effects and music are up to speed, and probably add some more settings and controller support by then. I’d love for the demo progress to carry over but I’ll have to look into the logistics of doing that.

Also, to get accepted into Next Fest I had to remove the ‘prologue’ from the name of my game because it would be confused with other titles that use ‘prologue’ to mean ‘demo’ on Steam. It’s a welcome change actually, because I first named it prologue when it was intended to be a much smaller game.So now it's just plain Nagayami Nights, and the original game I had planned will become Nagayami Nights 2.

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Big Cob

The demo update and Wesley’s area are basically done, but I just keep finding new things to fix and adjust before I feel happy releasing it. It’s felt almost finished for weeks now, but my to-do list just keeps getting longer. Yesterday, I felt super burnt out just looking at the list and decided to take a break to do something I’ve been meaning to add for a while: Big Cob!

If you’ve played the demo to the end, you’ll remember a big area filled with corn, with not a single enemy. Well that was intentional, because this is where I always planned to put the game’s first overworld non-story boss! (I haven't finished the animations yet)  

The idea is inspired by Elden Ring and the Xenoblade series, where early in the game you'll find a really strong enemy you're not supposed to defeat until you've become stronger later. I've always loved this design, and these kinds of bosses stick in the back of my mind and motivate me to keep playing.  It also adds some challenge to the overworld area, because now Big Cob will chase you if you touch any corn in the area.

So here's the battle with Big Cob. Like other bosses, they take up two spots and have multiple attack patterns. This is the first boss that will use ‘weakspot’ mechanics: you can chip away at the corn on their head with any character attacks that target weakspots (Jiu’s gun, Rina’s bubbles) for bonus damage.

Big Cob also fights alongside some grunts known as Poppers, they’re regular enemies so I’ll probably add them to other parts of the game too. I won’t spoil any more of the battle, but you won’t have to wait long because I plan to add Big Cob to the demo with the next update!

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Goals for next week

Although it pains me to write it out, my goal for next week is the same I’ve had for the last two weeks:

   -Get my brother to playtest Wesley’s area and the new content

   -Release an updated demo

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I’ve still got a long list of little things to do, but I am happy with the direction the game is going. It’s a far better game overall than it was in the first demo, and I’ll be looking for some brutal feedback with the next release, now that there aren’t as many obvious flaws to distract players.

Thanks for reading!