I'm going to start posting quick weekly updates here. This devlog is getting some attention now, and it's preferable to wasting time on social media. As I feared, that's becoming a problem. I have to be ruthless about managing my time. This works better.

Big progress on environmental art & lighting this month. On the engine side, I implemented multiple shadows, lighting tweaks, flashing lights, and also smooth party-following movement (important for aesthetics). Mostly I've been doing gruntwork, UV-mapping floors/walls with vanilla textures and redoing the lights. I can swap in different textures later but it already looks much better. I won't get too creative, just decorations, clutter, dirt & grime. These new screenshots reflect the art direction I had in mind at the outset.

The release date is definitely being pushed out to 2020. I made a content-development spreadsheet with a checklist of all the level design, environmental art, NPC scripting, and encounter design that needs to be done for all 56 maps. It's only 17% complete. A meaningless number for sure, but it needs to reach 100%. I can do a complete playthrough around 40%. Then I have to decide whether to expand the scope and come up with money for artists, just hit the stretch goals (epic "Area 51" battles), or stick to the plan.

I'm inclined to stick with the original plan -- an inexpensive small-indie CRPG with ~20 hours of gameplay in a modern setting with modern graphics. I want to see how this fares in the market before I try anything more ambitious.