Halfway There: Prototype, Animations, and Smarter AI

Hey everyone! We’ve officially reached the halfway mark of the project, and things are starting to feel very real. With just a few more weeks until we can share the game with you, we’re excited to show the progress we’ve made since the last update.

🎮 Prototype & Playtesting

All of the core mechanics have now been combined into one communal scene, giving us our first playable prototype. This has allowed us to begin internal playtesting and see how the different systems interact together in real-time. It’s a huge milestone toward building a cohesive experience.

🕹️ Player & Enemy Animations

Our characters are no longer static! Both the player and enemy now have fully animated in-game sprites, bringing movement and tension to life. Even in this early state, the animations add a lot of personality (and spookiness) to the world.

Note: It appears that GIFs are currently not animating due to an itch.io problem.

💬 Dialogue System

We’ve implemented a basic dialogue system to help deliver fragments of story and world-building as you progress. It adds another layer of interaction, letting players piece together the bigger picture through scattered, haunting dialogues.

🧠 Smarter AI Enemy

We’ve levelled up the enemy’s behaviour significantly:

• Full AI behaviour implemented.
• Patrol routes now adapt to suspicious locations.
• Heatmap system has been improved for more dynamic tracking.
• Player detection logic refined for better tension and unpredictability.

The result? The enemy now feels much more intelligent and reactive, which really ramps up the fear factor while playing.

💡What’s Next

As we move into the second half of development, our focus will be on:

• Polishing existing systems and details.
• Designing and implementing puzzles to deepen gameplay.
• Adding more mechanics to keep players on edge.
• Creating more art assets and fully integrating them into the game.

Thanks for following along with our progress, it means a lot! We’re halfway through, and can’t wait for you to step into the mirror-realm in just a few weeks.