Gun Monk has been plodding along in the background over the holiday break. I've really enjoyed working on it and polishing it more and more into a "real" game. I think I want to take it all the way to Steam release, but it probably needs one to two months more polish before then.

Since the Game Jam, we've added: A more defined gameplay loop, basic gunsmithing, updated graphics, updated sound effects, three new NPCs, and one new gun! It's been surprising to me what changes make Gun Monk feel more like a "real" game, that's something I'll have to noodle on. The cutscenes, in my opinion, really take it from tech demo to game game somehow. I need to figure out why so I can get to that feeling sooner next time.

The next major release is right around the corner, hopefully within the next few days! I need to add a few safety rails around the new gunsmithing functionality before I'll feel comfortable with a full release. In the meantime, the current build is actually live on itch.io if you want to check out the latest updates, just be warned that there may be some serious bugs that haven't been sussed out quite yet. If you're the type that prefers waiting until the game is in a more playable state, I'd recommend waiting a couple days.

In the meantime, here is a sprite that I put together yesterday! I'm super proud of it! The spark effect was taken from a VFX pack and modified to better fit the style and use case for the game, but the character itself was all me  Everyone, meet Kajiya, the Gunsmith!