Torch of Shadows Devlog #3 – The Demo Has Landed!

Hey Torchbearers!
Big news: a playable preview demo of Torch of Shadows is now live on Steam. Come try the Light vs Dark tug-of-war, defeat the Twin Warden (Boss), and tell us what breaks (so we can fix it before it breaks you 😅).

Wishlist on Steam: Torch of Shadows

Highlights

  • New 32×32 tilesets across the board, crisper, cleaner, moodier.
  • Arena polish: we trimmed 64 px off the playfield to kill those edge of screen weirdness gremlins.
  • Controller aware UI: menus and prompts adapt to gamepad or keyboard automatically.
  • Faster, spicier combat: enemy spawns doubled, player attack cooldowns halved. Same purity of design, more chaos per minute.
  • Four maps in the demo, the rest are marked “Not available in demo.”
  • Languages: English, Turkish, German and French have been added, with a language switch on the Main Menu.

Quality-of-Life & UI

  • Removed the mysterious white navigation circle. (It knows what it did.)
  • Pause Screen now experiments with a bottom stats strip: quick glance, zero clutter.
  • Main Menu makeover: cleaner layout; Extras got tucked under a single Extras button.
  • Simple Options menu added (finally).
  • Credits are in! If your name’s not there yet, it will be after you tell us how you broke the demo.
  • Loading Screen replaces the old tutorial with:
    • Key mapping display (no more “what was Dash again?”), and
    • Game hints that rotate to keep things fresh.
  • Navigation on UI screens is more free-form. On the Map screen, you can now move between items fluidly instead of getting stuck in rigid rows.

Map & Progression

  • New Map screen art (fresh paint!), and the Main Upgrade access moved into the Map screen for a tighter loop.
  • The percentage change in the unentered region was reflected directly as 5%. This was updated to increase the percentage of the control form for the unentered region by 5%.
  • When a region hits 50%, it no longer falsely locks into a “balanced” state if conditions change, bug squashed.
  • Demo flow: If you reach 50% on a map and defeat the Twin Boss, you’ll see a “Congrats” demo completion screen with a friendly nudge to follow us, then choose New Game to dive back in or call it a day.

Enemies, Bosses & Behaviors

  • Twin Warden (Boss) encounter at the 50% mark is in for the demo.
  • Enemies now push each other more sanely; we simplified the old shove logic that could cause memory leaks in extreme crowds.
  • If enemies bunch up too hard, they enter a short scatter behavior to spread the love (and the danger).
  • Critical fix: If you die during a Boss fight, returning to the map and re-entering now resumes properly (instead of… not).

Content Status (Demo)

  • Achievements: placeholders are in (badges are brewing).
  • Collectibles: placeholders are in (final art incoming).
  • Maps: 4 regions are playable; others are gated with a clear “Not available in demo” tag.

Changelog (Nuts & Bolts)

  • Refreshed all tilesets to 32×32; world pass for readability and collision clarity.
  • Playfield reduced by 64 px to eliminate edge visibility issues.
  • Controller/Keyboard-aware UI implemented game-wide.
  • Pause Screen: stats moved to a minimal middle bar.
  • Region growth logic refined to +5% of total map area on return (not a flat percentage tick).
  • Language options: English, Turkish, German, French + Main Menu switch.
  • Demo build uploaded to Steam for preview.
  • Only 4 maps remain for demo; others hidden with “Not available in demo.”
  • Achievements & Collectibles: placeholders wired.
  • Demo completion: beating Twin Warden (Boss) after 50% control → Congrats screen + CTA, with New Game to restart.
  • Main Menu reorganized; Simple Options added; Extras consolidated; Credits added.
  • Spawn rate x2, player cooldowns −50% for snappier pacing.
  • Tutorial removed in favor of Loading Screen with keymap + rotating hints.
  • UI Navigation made freer on grid screens (esp. Map).
  • Enemy push (anti-stack) code simplified; resolved memory-leak edge cases.
  • Scatter behavior added for heavy enemy clustering.
  • After killing the Twin Warden (Boss) and picking up the collectible at 50%, the map closes as intended.
  • Fixed a 50% control “balanced” lock bug that ignored subsequent shifts.

Thanks for carrying the Torch.

If the demo made you smile, scream, or switch forms at exactly 1 HP, please wishlist and leave feedback. It helps a ton for our tiny studio and shapes what ships next.

👉 Play / Wishlist: Torch of Shadows on Steam

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