Hey! It feels like it's been longer since I made the last devlog (why does December always feel deceptively long?).

A lot of this month was taking a little bit more me time. I'm still working my way back to being as productive as I was before and then with all the holiday stuff, sometimes I'm exhausted when I have the chance to finally sit and think about SSP. What doesn't help is the next area is visually different than all the snow and towers, so I have to basically work from scratch. Collect what I think will fit, edit it so it's cohesive, and then slowly start mapping again. I have something new I'm adding to the game here that wasn't in the original and I honestly can't wait to get back to the flavor text of this area because I want to fix it. The original was a little all over the place, but now that I know what this area was for I can better foreshadow and just do a better job (I mean, I knew what it was for but not like to the extent I know it now--SSP has two halves: the half I did before I thought of a sequel and what stuff meant and the other half which knows I have a sequel in mind and this was definitely in the before).

What I DID get done for this last devlog of 2021 is I finished balancing the Chimera boss and my testers have had full run of the place up until then which found a hilarious series of bugs with a sprite of banana bread. I still need to do the connecting cutscene, but I need to do an interior for that and I've just been so focused on exteriors. I'll give you a sneak peek because I'm happy with how this little patch turned out!

So cozy! The perfect spot for a picnic!

So, where does that leave me for going into 2022? I essentially have half the game done? We're on Chapter 5 out of 7 and to be honest, Chapter 5 is and will continue to be the biggest chapter in SSP because so much happens there. I have all the main battlers and bosses done courtesy of Low all that I need to do are monsters and maybe a mini-boss here and there. So, everything looks definitely doable. I still do not have a release date set for SSP because I know me and I know if I give myself a deadline, I'm full of bullshit.

I also know I am incredibly busy with a lot of projects and I can't afford to just ignore one in favor of full SSP. More than anything, I want to be a published author, so that is going to take precedence if the opportunity arises. It hasn't yet, but I figured I would put that out there. SSP is my baby and always will be. I am glad what I have made so far and I definitely think it's matching my vision so much more now than it ever did before. SSP's development, even back then, was always contentious, but I am glad right now that I have managed to do what I've done without too many problems! Improvement!

Anyway, I am rambling. 2022 promises more gamedev so onward we go!