[p]Hey, everyone! It's Ryan, creator of Wicked Seed.[/p][p][/p][p]Happy New Year! [/p][p][/p][p]Well it's time for the final progress update. I'm really excited to have you all play the full game and I'm very appreciative of everyone who has followed along with the development this past year.[/p][p][/p][p]Before we get into it, I do want to announce that the Randomizer game mode will not make it in time for launch, but will be released shortly after. Technically it's working, but it needs more attention and more play testing to make sure that runs won't be soft locked and such. In order to make sure I can address feedback and potential issues with the main game, I want to hold back on the randomizer for launch. Perhaps what I could do is offer the randomizer on a separate beta branch for those who want to check it out early? I'll see what I can do there.[/p][p][/p][p]So what will be in for launch?[/p]

• [p]First playthrough is estimated to be around 7 to 10 hours, but totally depends on a lot of things. If you like searching every nook and cranny, explore optional areas, etc. then it may take over 10 hours.[/p]
• [p]Despair difficulty is unlocked after completing the game. For those who checked out the demo, Despair difficulty rearranges the item, key item, and enemy placement, and adds in some new items and gameplay mechanics to create a fresh play through experience.[/p]
• [p]After completing Despair difficulty, a game modifier called True Survivor is unlocked and applicable only to Despair difficulty. It removes some save points, adds a new consumable item that must be used to save your game and you can no longer "Retry" on a fight if you die, you must load a previous save. For those who are into this kind of mode I think you'll enjoy it![/p]
• [p]New Game Plus. After completing the game you can create a save file. Loading that save file will put you at the beginning of the game with your current level, inventory, weapons, upgrades, etc. The only thing that doesn't save are progression based key items. Each iteration, up to NG+5, will get progressively harder with increased rewards. You can use NG+ to complete the bestiary or find costumes and statues you may have missed the first time around, or just for the fun of leveling up really high and destroying everything.[/p]
• [p]51 costumes. All unlocked through gameplay, such as exploration, achievements, etc.[/p]

[p][/p][p]For the steam deck players, I'm still seeing what improvements I can make to the first (demo) area, but I am still targeting 45 fps there. However most other areas of the game I've been able to get 60 fps at native resolution at 70% res scaling with High quality on textures. I'm still working on improvements where I can, but the game plays quite well on the deck in my opinion. I'll most likely create a separate post aimed at steam deck settings and what I've found to be the best balance between quality and performance as I get closer to launch.[/p][p][/p][p]For the achievement hunters, I have 82 achievements set up. They correlate with the in-game challenges so you can earn the points needed for costumes and other unlocks while earning the steam achievements.[/p][p][/p][p]There's not much else I can share about what I've been working on, as this month I finished up the final boss fight, credits, and that kind of stuff, and besides that, it's been play testing the game every day making sure everything is unlockable and challenges are tuned properly. I've been focusing on using all the weapons to make sure they each have strong build options and doing everything I can to continue adding polish.[/p][p][/p][p]There are still costumes that haven't been shown yet, but most will have to wait for the full release! Here's a look at our final costume preview: Undercover[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In the final three weeks I'll be continuing to play test and see if I can get some content creators to check out the game for launch![/p][p][/p][p]Talk to you all again soon![/p]