Progress Report: Last Post Before Closed Beta Playtesting! & New Features: Essences System, Demon Variants, Tutorials, and Mana Fountain

Hello everyone!

Today I want to share that we’re just a few days away from the start of closed beta playtesting for Magical Girl Azalea!

After a lot of hard work (and more than a few struggles), the game is almost ready to be tested by the community.

I’m currently wrapping up some very minor tasks, preparing the itch io page, doing internal playtesting, and making small adjustments to level design and UI.

There are also a few Easter eggs, plus the final artwork for the title screen and the save point asset.The demo is around 99% complete.

It’s been a long journey, and I want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported me and believed in this project.

Your encouragement means a lot.

I’ve finally finished all the features I originally planned for the demo, and I’m really happy that people will soon be able to try it out!

Today I’d like to showcase some of the last features I've been working on:

•Enemy Variants

•Collectible Essences,

•Tutorials

•Mana Fountain

I hope you like what you see!

Demon Variants

Demon Variants are extensions of the regular demons you find in game

you can detect them by their different color palette and extra movesets

they are supposed to be stronger versions of the usual enemies and are rarer to find, be very careful when you meet them! because they scale the challange up when they are around

In the demo you will find the "Elite Capra Demon", she's between a regular demon and a arch demon in the demon hierarchy

She has a very quick sequence of claw slashes after some wind up

and she can cast a ranged earth spell called "Earth Pike" which strikes the player from bellow.

Having the Capra Demon poise protection,deadly quick attacks while still having a ranged spell makes her a quite formidable and dangerous foe

Essence System

During her Joruney Azalea will often find some small particles around called "Essence" they are a collectible object that once picked can provide different effects depending on their Type, we got:

Life essences

Small clusters of life Energy that restores the character HP upon collection

Mana Essences

Small clusters of concentrated of pure Mana that restores the character MP upon collection

Memory Essences

A Essence that can stores memories of previous battles or discoveries, their true natrue is not fully known yet but they sometimes appear around the world, they increase the character EXP upon collection

Tutorials

To help new players with controls i've created a small system that display some tutorials and the current input registered on your keybind for the action that the tutorial is teaching you

this will help new players to get on board and have a easier time figuring out the controls

The System switches the current displayed keys once you swtich the input between the Keyboard and Controller

Mana Fountain

A new interactive crystal that stores a vast ammount of mana and can charge the character MP if attacked, use it to quickly restore your MP if you see one of them around

There's also a New Item: Purifying potion

A old version of a potion developed by humans to aid in the battle against demons, it reduces the Arousal and desire and helps to clear the mind and keep focus

While the arousal system doesn't is a bit incomplete for now, you can already reset your acumulated arousal with this item and prevent your mp loss on climax and reducing the grab escape difficulty

Whats Next?

My next post will be to announce the start of the closed beta testing, right now i'm doing some small adjusments and polishing while doing some solo playtesting

And i've been working on the titlescreen, savepoint and some easter egg assets that you will find on your exploration of the Ebonwood Region!

i'll start creating the itch io page soon, to prepare for the release after the closed beta

Thank you for your support along these months and i hope you enjoy what's coming next!

Progress report: Menus UI, Keybind System and Save System

Hello again! another progress report is here!

The save system logic is now fully complete.

It stores player progress including level, current EXP, items, clothing state, and flags for cleared barriers, ambush zones, collected items, and any other events that need to be tracked later.

There is now a reusable system and component you can drop onto anything that should be trackable and checked against the current save data.

Speaking of save data: the game can now be loaded and unloaded.

To start a new game, you pick a slot and the save file is attached to it.

Every piece of trackable data lives there, like the last you room you saved, items you have collected, state of your equipment, level, exp, and flags for the ambush areas you have cleared, items you have collected, barriers you have turned off, or any kind of tracking i need to do in the future

You can load, unload, and switch between save files,multiple save slots are fully supported by this system.

Menus UI

Two menus are in place for now: the pause menu and the save file menu.

The UI can be navigated with keyboard or controller.

Getting that working was a big challenge, but i've managed to overcome it.

Overview page

You can see a summary of the player: attributes, equipment, items, level, and EXP.

Tooltip support is in so you can hover and see what each element means.

Some attributes sit outside the main overview for now, like, movement speed, jump, and physical/magic damage amplification or reduction there's a few atributes that i'm not displaying yet but as the project goes on the UI will evolve and i'll make a dedicated page to attributes only so you can check and compare values more precisely

Settings page

Here you can change / toggle:

•Resolution

•Window mode

•Sound volumes, plus enable/disable audio

•A few save-point options, such as whether clothes are restored

There are also Resume and Return to Main Menu options.

Controls page

A keybind system is in place.

You can remap keys for keyboard or controller.

Settings save as soon as you change them, and you can reset to defaults if you want.

Save Menu

This is where you can select the slot you want to use to save your game and also load your save data

Progress Report: Level Design is now Complete!

Hello, i hope you had a Amazing week!

This week i've managed to reach a big milestone of the project development: Completing the level design for the demo.

Also the previous system that managed the rooms present in the game and its connections has been greatly improved so rooms are easier to place, link, maintain and change making my time as a developer way easier

The post preview you can see the one of the debugs that show the connection of the map and where it leads to

The game demo will contain:

•24 rooms to explore

•A few tutorial-style rooms at the start to teach controls and mechanics

•About 2 rooms reserved for the upcoming save point feature

•Two main pathways toward the end of the map, they interconnect in places and meet again at the end of the demo

•Plenty of ambushes and items scattered throughout, so go mess around and find out!

Every room is decorated with the tilemaps and assets I made earlier.

I also added a bit of atmosphere with particles like falling leaves for the forest part of the region and a firefly-like motes in the cave areas.

NPC Emotes

Characters can now use emotes. It’s a flavor feature, but it also helps at a glance:

whether you’ve been spotted

if a lewd attack is incoming

if an enemy’s poise broke

or if they just reactivated

I’ll keep adding more over time.

Emotes give enemies more personality, and watching their reactions is honestly a lot of fun.

Some of these were inspired by the MMORPG Ragnarok Online.

Whats Next?

The demo closed beta test is getting close.

I was aiming to release it last month and missed that deadline as it still a very difficult thing to estimate and i still have diffictulties with it, but development is moving fast and nonstop!

A closed beta should be ready soon.

Before that, a few important features still need to go in.

Save System & Save Points

Save points will sit in the rooms reserved for them.

Like most games, they let you save your progress and pick it back up the next time you play.

The save system will store:

Your current save room (this also acts as the checkpoint when you get defeated)

Player level

Ambush zones you’ve cleared (once cleared, they stay cleared)

Current equipment durability

Barriers you’ve opened

Save points will also work as a hub where you can:

Restore all your items

Restore all HP / MP

Restore all equipment (optional)

Title Screen

This is the screen that opens when you launch the game. From here you’ll be able to:

Start a new game

Load a saved game

Tweak a few basic settings

I’m skipping title-screen artwork for now so the demo can come out faster.

Player Pause Menu The pause menu will show a few information of the player, like:

Level

Attributes

Current equipment durability

Equipped items

Return to title screen

And will allow you to tweak some basic settings from the game as well

I’ll also add some small handling for BGM and environment sounds.

After that, I’ll start intense playtesting.

Once everything feels solid, the closed beta can begin!

Thank for your Interest in the project

and a Special thanks for all my supporters, i hope you can enjoy the playtest soon! 🙏

Level Design, Consumable Items and more camera features

Level Design Sneak Peek

I’ve started putting together all the systems and assets I’ve been developing over the past months to create the actual rooms for the demo.

A couple of rooms are already ready, and I’m currently working on the overall concept and layout of the area that will be featured in the demo.

I might still adjust some rooms later based on feedback and as the project expands with new features or regions.

I’ve been using LDtk to plan the macro design first, then carefully building and refining each room.

Once the rooms feel solid, I’ll move on to the final stage of demo development: the save system, main title screen, and player pause menu and some minor tasks on the development list

Consumable Items

To make exploration a bit more rewarding, I’ve added a consumable Items!

We all love a little reward, don't we?

Here’s how it works:

•Find and approach an item to pick it up.

•Once acquired, it appears in one of your available item slots and can be used with the “Use Item” key.

•You can hold up to 4 items at a time and cycle through them with the “Change Item” key.

•Reaching a save point fully replenishes all items to the maximum amount you’ve found so far.

•For now there’s no full inventory system,so the items are stored only in the player’s item slots.

•For the demo we currently have three items:

Life Crystal – Restores some of the player’s HP

Mana Crystal – Restores some of the player’s MP

Magic Thread – Fully restores all clothes durability

The system is fully working, now and it's already integrated with the previous sfx and vfx system

Make sure you find them all in the upcoming Magic Girl Azalea demo!

New Camera Features

I’ve also added two new camera modes:

•Locked on the X-axis

•Locked on the Y-axis

Plus a new component that lets me switch camera modes in different areas of the same room.

This gives me much more precise control and greater freedom when designing the levels.

What’s Next?

Level design will take a little while longer to finish,I want everything working as well as possible with the current feature set.

Planning, creating, testing, and decorating the rooms takes time, but the good news is that this is definitely the last major milestone untill the release of the demo!

After that, I’ll move on to the remaining small components on the task list, do some polishing, and start internal playtesting.

Once that’s done, we’ll prepare the itch io page and begin the project’s first closed playtesting!

Thanks for your continued support 🙏

more updates coming soon!

Devlog + Capra Shaman Fashion Poll results

Hello everyone!

Today I’d like to share another progress update and the results of the fashion poll for our newest enemy: the Capra Shaman Idol.

Fashion Poll Results:

The winner is: Slingshot Bikini 2 with a total of 10 points!

2nd place: O-Ring Side Bra with 4 points

3rd place: Square Side-Bra with 3 points

4th place: Slingshot Bikini 1 finished with 0 points

Capra Shaman Idol Showcase

Speaking of the Capra Shaman Idol, I’d like to show her off a bit more.

All of her behaviors are complete and she’s fully working in-game!

She’s a stationary unit that doesn’t move.

Once she spots a target, she charges and shoots projectiles from afar and can cast a support spell that restores the poise of nearby allies, helping protect them from flinching from damage.

Along with her development came the introduction of several new systems:

NPC Spell Manager: Stores all spell-related data (visual effects, charging sounds, charging UI, linked projectile, base/max/min cast times, etc.), cast becomes faster depending on the character DEX and INT

Spell Charging Component: Originally part of the character, it was refactored into a temporary component that is created when a spell starts charging and is destroyed when the spell is completed or interrupted. It also handles the charging UI and plays the corresponding VFX/SFX.

Support Sight: Similar to the regular sight component, but detects allies instead of enemies.

Support Manager: Keeps track of current allies, registering and unregistering them as needed so their data can be used for ally-targeted actions. In the Capra Shaman Idol’s case, she monitors the current poise of allies within her sight.

Current Target UI

When Azalea hits an enemy, its Name, Level, HP, and Poise will be displayed in the bottom-right corner of the screen.

Hitting a different enemy will update the information to show the newly targeted enemy.

Objects

Work on objects has also begun, and we already have a few to show:

2 types of Lamps that provide illumination

An inactive Capra Shaman statue

A mini Capra Demon statue

A new “Clairvoyance Spell” object (still WIP) that patrols an area and spawns enemies when it detects the player

Think of objects as breakable entities scattered throughout the map.

They help populate the rooms, and soon they’ll have a chance to drop restorative particles when destroyed.

What’s Next?

The Capra Shaman Idol is fully complete and functional.

I’m also almost finished with the last two objects that will appear in the demo.

I’ve started creating some rooms, but I haven’t gone too deep into level design yet as I’m focusing on finishing the remaining systems I want for the demo first.

Once those are done, I’ll dive fully into the main course: designing the actual rooms for the demo.

Thanks for the continued support it means the world to me, i'll bring in more updates soon!

Also , if you are interested, make sure to check our discord: https://discord.gg/zpMgAWntU9 for the latest news and keep track of development and interact with the commnunity