🛠️ Devlog – Prototype V0.0.3 Release

Hey everyone!

We're excited to drop Prototype V0.0.3 of Relicborne—a big milestone that reflects both growth and growing pains. This update brings more stability, combat polish, and new monsters to experiment with, but it also exposed a few of the dragons we've been quietly fighting behind the scenes. Let’s dig into it.

⚔️ Where We’re At

This version includes:

• Expanded monster behaviors and more complex turn logic

• Early UI/UX iterations for relic capture and party management

• The foundation of biome traversal and exploration events

• Better input handling across keyboard, mouse, and gamepad

• Numerous under-the-hood systems prep for mid-run monster swapping and Aura progression

But development isn’t all just building—sometimes it’s wrestling with structure.

🔄 The Struggle of Async Development

Our team’s been operating asynchronously, spread across locations, time zones, and disciplines. While that gives us flexibility, it’s not without friction. Syncing systems like turn-based combat logic, procedural map spawning, and UI transitions takes serious coordination.

Without real-time feedback loops, seemingly small decisions (like how we store monster passives or handle end-turn effects) balloon into delays when different systems collide. We’re building pipelines to catch these earlier, but async work always comes with trade-offs between freedom and friction.

🐉 Scope Creep: Monsters & Mechanics

We love monsters. Maybe too much.

What started as a tight pool of simple creature types has evolved into a rich, complex bestiary—each with unique skills, passives, and potential synergies. That's great for long-term gameplay, but for a prototype? It stretched us thin.

The turn-based system followed the same path. New ideas like reaction passives, speed ties, and team buffs are cool—but each added layer increases the risk of instability and delays polish on core mechanics. We're learning to trim, prioritize, and lock features down earlier in the dev cycle.

❌ Missing Endgame = Missing Closure

One of the loudest absences in V0.0.3 is a meaningful endgame condition. Right now, a run feels like it just... stops. That’s a problem.

Without a climactic boss fight, meta-progression hook, or clear "you won/lost" scenario, players aren’t getting the full roguelike arc. We’ve made strides with the Aura system and biome structure, but this update reminded us how important strong bookends are for pacing and player satisfaction.

🧭 What’s Next

Here’s what we’re focusing on next:

• Defined run completion: Building in clear goals, boss battles, and transitions

• Streamlined combat rules: Solidifying and simplifying the turn structure for clarity and balance

• Monster management tools: Making it easier to swap, store, and evolve your collection

• Dev workflow improvements: Tighter version control and more async-friendly task flows

🚧 Final Thoughts

Relicborne is growing into the game we imagined—but like many prototypes, it’s had to take a few detours to get there. V0.0.3 helped us identify friction points, over-scoped features, and areas needing player-facing feedback loops. We’re grateful for every bit of insight, every bug you report, and every crazy monster combo you test.

Until next time—relics up, eyes forward.

—The Relicborne Dev Team