Hey there!

It’s been quite some time, hasn’t it? Almost 9 months since my last post. Pretty long break, I gotta admit. Though to be fair, I’ve started coding again sometime at the end of July, so even though it’s been quiet around here, in the background I’ve started working again some time ago.

But man, I really needed that break. It felt like a lived a different life in those months. Instead of creating games, I finally found some time to play games myself instead. In the months from January to July I finished like 20 games, when I usually play like 5 games per year. Some hidden gems, some classics, some H-games, even AAA titles. That was honestly really refreshing. It was also a nice shift of perspective, going from a creator-mindset to a consumer-mindset again. I could really feel my batteries recharging, not thinking about any (self-imposed) deadlines, just enjoying my free time however I liked.

To be honest, there were a few moments in those months where I was seriously thinking about stopping. Just letting it go and being the master of my free time again. But – I also really enjoy making video games, so after I finished playing those games, I was really getting the itch to make content again. Not necessarily to bring you the next update, but just being creative again and working on my project in my own pace.
So, I started doing that again. And I’m having a blast. For about 8 weeks now I’ve been working almost daily on Divine Caprice again, making very good progress. Obviously, stopping now is out of the question.

So, let’s talk a bit about what’s in store for Divine Caprice next.

A few weeks ago I already posted a teaser on my X-account, showcasing the next Area in the game. After the Desert and Skullbridge, it’s time for Yasmin to explore the Forest, home of the Elves. These ladies have fair skin, blonde hair, and are dressed in green/brown natural attire. Some even say magical creatures like Centaurs roam these Forests, too.

For now, I’ve finished everything for the stage layout (background graphics, background objects etc.) as well as 3 enemies. The Leafsword and Leafdart as the basic combat units (Melee and Ranged) of the Area, as well as the Leafsymbiont, a stronger midranged unit using tentacles for her attacks and animations.
After implementing this basic version of the Forest I was really eager to get going on the meta-progression, so that’s mainly what I’ve been working on these past weeks.

In the Title-menu, there is now an additional option: free mode. If you choose this option, you’ll access the familiar menu you are used to in these demos, where you can choose the area, the size of the dungeon and the mission, to play a dungeon of your choice. And you’re probably asking yourself now: then what’ll happen when I choose Start?

You’ll be transported to the new Hub Area, or Yasmin’s base. This will be the Start of all Adventures going forward. Here you’ll be able to get new upgrades, unlock new Areas, access the Gallery, and basically progress the game. For now, it’s just the basic layout, though. It’ll be home to many NPCs going forward, but that’s something for future updates. At the moment I’m concentrating on laying the infrastructure and framework.

So ultimately, what will be the goal of the game and how will you be able to beat it?
I’ve pondered quite a bit on how I want the game to progress and what I want the gameflow to be. These are my ideas, but there is still a lot of content missing to make them work, so for now I just want to tickle your imagination as I’m outlining my plan.

To break it down into the most simplest of terms, Yasmin will have to find and defeat the Bosses of the different Areas to unlock the Final Area and Boss, and then, defeat that Boss. In order to find the Bosses of each Area, Yasmin will complete missions to “Level up” the Areas, which will unlock more content for them, like new Enemies or more treasure for example, but also more difficult versions of these Areas.

If you complete a mission in an Area, that Area will get experience points, depending on the size and difficulty on the Map you just cleared, as well as bonus points for certain situations. Once a certain amount of points are accumulated, the Area will “Level Up”. For now, these Level Ups are just cosmetic, but going forward, they will unlock new content for that Area. Some of the Enemies that are in the game now will also be part of the unlocking process, for example, and not be available from the start.
At the moment it doesn’t make much sense to set all these Level-Ups into stone, since there is still so much content missing, but, the framework is now there, just like with the Base.

After completing the mission and confirming the Experience points for the Area, Yasmin will be teleported to a Camp-Area, where she’ll be able to shop, heal and do other stuff to strengthen herself for the next Area. Here you’ll be able to spend the Gems you’ve gathered throughout the Dungeon (actually, you can’t yet, there is no shop there for now, but there will be).

This way, Yasmin can take on Adventures that span up to 6 different Areas. After each mission, you’ll be able to choose among a selection of different next destinations, with a random location, random Dungeon Size as well as a random Mission. In the pictured example, Yasmin is taking on a 3-Area-Adventure and just finished the first Area (Desert), and now chooses a Rescue-Mission in the Forest Area as her second destination. After completing all 3 Areas, Yasmin goes back to base and you can choose to start a new adventure. There will be different Sizes for these Adventures with different difficulty. Instead of 3 Areas with the same difficulty, there could be 4 Areas, where in each Area the Enemies are 10% or 25% stronger than in the first Area. I want to give the option of a lot of different variations of these. For now, though, it’s just the framework. But arguably, that’s the most important part.

Over the course of multiple Areas Yasmin can now also get stronger, keeping her spells as well as enhancing them to deal more damage and charge faster. And of course, there will be Artifacts she can find with many different effects as well as stat-boosts.

I’m planning for a lot of stuff, motivation has never been higher, but of course, all this can’t be added in a single update. For now, I’ll keep it at that.

What’s the plan now?
My SubscribeStar is still paused until the end of September. I’ll release the next demo sometime in October, so I’ll probably extend that break to End of October so that nobody gets charged when there isn’t a new demo out. From what I’ve seen SubscribeStar also added new options for payments, but I haven’t taken a closer look, so I’m not sure yet how that’ll affect me. But I’ll read up on that. Also, looking at my expenses for this game I’m considering changing the 2$ pledge to a 3$ pledge, but I’ll think some more on that.

For now, I’m glad to be back. Stay tuned for more updates.

Toffi

The sixth Demo for Divine Caprice is ready!
I hope you're still a bit in the mood for Halloween, since this update adds more Enemies to the spooky Skullbridge.
Grab it here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/h0zlomgupwv70c3/Divine+Caprice_v6.rar/file

After starting the Area last month, this second update introduces 3 new enemies and lots of background-variations to it, which brings its content on-par with the Desert Area. Both the Desert and the Skullbridge now have 64 Room-Variations inhabited by 7 Enemies. So, as far as Areas/Enemies are concerned, the size of the game doubled in the last two months. Obviously, there's a lot more to the game like skills/missions etc., but I'm nevertheless very happy and proud of the progress.

The 3 new enemies are the Ashknife, the Ashbrute and the Werecat.

The Ashknife is a simple ranged unit that specializes in harassing Yasmin from afar with her knives.

The Ashbrute is in size only second to the Mummy. Her punch is very strong and she has the ability to buff herself both in Offense and Defense. If you let her buff up, she's probably the strongest unit in the game on her own.

Needless to say, her size allows her to handle Yasmin how she pleases, as well.

Going from the strongest unit to the fastest unit, the Werecat is a very nimble fighter with sharp and quick attacks. She is one of the designs I posted last year as one of the fantastical designs you can expect in the game, and with this update she is here as the second Monster-Unit after the Mummy. She received a bit of a visual update, as well.
She is by far the fastest enemy in the game, matching Yasmin in her steps.

With the Skullbridge now on par with the Desert Area, I can leave this area behind for now and tackle the next Area. This time, Yasmin will enter the Forest inhabited by Elves. That will be a bis palette-cleanser. After Dark stone and Red-Haired Vampires, expect a lot of Leaves and Blondes.
I plan to release the Forest Area in two updates, similar to the Skullbridge. After that, the direction of the updates will change a bit and I'll finally start working on the Hub-Area, Meta-progression, Upgrades etc.
As you know, the Gems you pick up can't be used for anything at the moment. And the Vampires don't suck any blood, and the spells can't be upgraded, and so on.
All of these things will be added later on, but I feel like I need to lay a good foundation first for all of that to be implemented. And so, for now, the priority is Areas and Enemies.

Okay, that's it for now. If you find any bugs, let me know. Have fun!
Toffi

I've made a new post over on my Wordpress-Blog:
https://toffisama.wordpress.com/2025/08/17/divine-caprice-development-update-11/

New Demo coming soon!

Made a short update on my wordpress-blog about the second enemy to be added into the game:
https://toffisama.wordpress.com/2025/07/12/divine-caprice-development-update-8/