Another week of work behind us, and I have lots to report! 

Firstly, I've been hard at work on some of the tools I use to set up various parts of the game. This has allowed me to automate tons of the manual processes in creating mages, enemies and bosses. I've also added a terminal for inputting commands. This will make my job testing changes much easier, and will also allow for easy implementation of cheats, which I plan to add eventually. 

Then there is the matter of the roadmap. I considered what was left to get the game to a point where I could release an alpha build. Here is the list of remaining major items: 

1. Main Menu

2. Settings Menu

3. Saving/Loading
         - I've been handling the player's data with this in mind from the beginning, so should hopefully  be a simple process of finishing this.

4. Minimal Intro/Tutorial
         - While I plan to have a full story intro, for the first alpha build I will keep it short and sweet. 

5. Music/Sound Effects
          - I've already got a collection of open license music that I plan on using. 

6. Mage Basic Progression
          - Most if not all of the logic for this is there, I just need to fill the content out! 

7. Combat Polish
           - There remains some necessary changes to the combat mode to get things fully playable, namely I need to finalize particle effects for the spells, and I need to set up a UI for the transition between encounters/regions when the player receives resources etc. Then I'll need to do some initial balancing. 

In addition I would like to add at least one more Overworld region to explore, which thanks to my work this week shouldn't take long! 

Then, after the alpha build, there would be three things I could focus on to get to a full 1.0 version. These are:

1. Endgame Update   - Add the final boss to the game, with unique mechanics and endgame cutscenes.  

2. Story Update - Add in the cutscenes for the player's backstory as well as fill out the stories for all the mages. I want each to have a satisfying arc and sense of developing relationship. 

3. More Mages Update - There is always room for more mages! I already have plenty planned, and am considering allowing for community voting for which will come first. 

I could do any of these three in any order, so I could have the community vote on which to prioritize when we get to that point! 

I'll keep plugging away at these remaining items to an alpha build release, see you next week!