The graphics for the intro and endings are in place!

I'm now testing Pepper Odyssey, seeing that everything works and adjusting the gameplay. Testing requires patience as it can be done only so much at a time. I had an accident where I adjusted how the world levels up as you interact with it, turned out I broke the system and messed up my save file and had to begin testing of that story branch anew! But, oh well, that stuff just comes with the territory, and it's good to go through it now and not after release, right? On a brighter note, the game is lots of fun to play!

In between testing I'm making notes on the sound and began making another battle tune, though I'm unsure if the game needs it.

Also I'll be preparing for release, this time I would like to do it better than with Melon Head because, with it, I just dropped it when it was ready and only after checked out marketing tips and such. I'll try to get some pre-release reviews for example, and I need to set up the Steam page. The marketing side of gamedev sucks so much ass, including the pressure of ensuring that nobody feels ripped off, that I'm planning to focus on some shorter non-commercial projects after this.

That said, I'm very grateful that I've had the energy to make Menial, Melon Head and Pepper Odyssey, three long term projects that have required lots of perspiration and resilience. However, my next project will be to try and find a more relaxed creative practice, one that doesn't require some Calvinist Corporate-Executive-Spirit to haunt my body, psyche and experience.

P.S. Oops! This almost sounded like a postmortem. It's nearly complete, but I still need a few month until Pepper Odyssey is fully available!