Been a long time since I've posted Guardian Cry updates. Good news! It's slated for finish by the end of April.

All the game's actual content - like, gameplay content - is done. It's playable from beginning to end. All that's left to do are:

-Opening cutscene -Ending cutscene -Polishing and bugfixing

Even the UI is done, as seen above - it's the load game menu, which includes progress indicators for each individual save to make them easier to keep track of.

Some other stuff I've done since my last update:

A rhythm game in the swamp where you can dance with crickets

Phoenix Temple exterior. I figured mud brick construction made sense for a Phoenix Temple (heat/fire linked to kilns) built on a plain with a river (source of clay) so I took inspiration from a real-world mud brick building, the Great Mosque of Djenne. The big brazier on top is part of a puzzle.

Overhauled the Phoenix Temple interior. This was the first tileset I did for the game (around three years ago!) and my artistic ability has improved considerably since then. Since the exterior is modeled after the Great Mosque of Djenne, I used Muslim prayer rugs as an inspiration for the interior carpeting.

For comparison, here's the old Phoenix Temple interior, from back when I was still using placeholder assets for the player character:

I violated a core rule of game design here. There's no secret behind this waterfall. It's just a landmark.