Hello everyone!

It’s been an incredibly productive stretch for A Demon Hunter’s Guide to Passing Finals, and today I wanted to share a comprehensive update covering everything we’ve accomplished so far — from gameplay systems to art production, plugin development, monster design, card mechanics, and major story polish.

This devlog serves as a detailed snapshot of the project’s progress and all the foundational work that’s now in place as we move toward the playable demo and Kickstarter launch.

🎮 Core Gameplay & Systems

✔️ 18+ Element System (Fully Implemented)

• Fire, Ice, Thunder, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark

• PLUS custom elements: Time, Space, Nature, Chaos, Gravity, Oblivion, Spirit, Soul, Dream, Fate

• Each element includes:

  • Damage Taken multipliers

  • Damage Dealt affinities

  • Multi-tier weaknesses, resistances, nullifications, and absorbs

• Full integration with skillbooks, weapons, crafting, and monster typing.

✔️ Full Spellbook/Affinity System

• Spellbooks divided into Basic → Legendary, with proper scaling.

• Open-Affinity characters (Riku, Kaito, etc.) integrated into lore and mechanics.

✔️ Weather Suite Plugin (Completed)

• Custom Ash Born plugin enabling:

  • Dynamic thunder, storms, fog, snow, blizzards

  • Region-tied weather

  • Beautiful ambient cycles

• Works with VisuStella_WeatherEffects to allow pre-determined weather cycling.

✔️ Thunderstorm Event System

• Powered by real thunder audio.

• Randomized roll system (1–4 for clips, 1–60 for chance) creates natural, non-repetitive storms.

• One of the best atmospheric sequences in the game so far.

🔥 Shiny Mechanic (New Feature!)

✔️ Shiny Spawn Plugin

• Custom plugin lets monsters spawn as “Shiny” variants:

  • Palette swaps

  • Distinctive visuals

  • Rare spawn rates

• Random monster chosen (after recent fixes).

✔️ Shiny Spawn Animation Plugin

• Separate system defines:

  • Who receives the animation

  • What animation plays

  • Prevents confusion with other battlers

• Works flawlessly in test battles.

✔️ Shiny Monster Art

• Many shinies completed so far (e.g., metal slime, Gloopkin, Fire monsters).

• Transparent backgrounds, solid lines, matched poses.

🐉 Monster and Boss Art (Major Progress)

Hundreds of assets completed or refined:

✔️ Full Monster Set for All Elements

• Fire, Ice, Thunder, Earth, Water, Wind

• Time, Space, Gravity, Nature, Chaos

• Dream, Fate, Spirit, Soul

• Oblivion and Dark families

✔️ Boss Art Series

• Spirit of a Hero

• Midnight Sovereign

• Time Weaver Behemoth

• Miniature Black Hole Demon

• Eclipse Shadowmaster

• Anima Requiem

• Chrono Eater / Time Wraith

• Time’s End

• More in progress…

✔️ Art Style Standardization

• Solid lines

• No background

• Dynamic poses

• Anime-inspired with dark fantasy hints

⚒️ Crafting System (Massive Dataset Finalized)

✔️ Full Crafting Ingredient Database Complete

Includes:

• Crafting metals (Magmacite, Lucidium, Umbryllium, etc.)

• White/Dark Magic ingredients

• 18+ elemental crafting materials

• Monster essence fragments

• Trash mob ingredients

• Rare, Epic, Ultra Rare tiers

This database will fuel all weapons, armor, accessories, and consumable recipes.

✔️ Recipe Assignments In Progress

• Every weapon, armor piece, accessory, potion, stat booster, exp item, etc. will eventually have a recipe.

• Multiple new items created:

  • Mega Phoenix Distillation, Cosmic Evolution Serum, etc.

⚔️ Weapons, Armor & Accessories (Ongoing)

✔️ Full Item Database Imported

• All daggers, swords, staffs, axes, whips, bows, crossbows, guns, claws, gloves, spears, scythes, boomerangs, hammers

• All armor (helmets, shields, body armor, accessories)

✔️ Craftable vs. Shop Items Organized

• Missing recipes identified

• Expansion list fully prepared

• Spreadsheet layout for final copy-paste ready

📖 Story, Script & Lore

✔️ Opening Script Polish

• Entrance exam sequence refined with new world-building.

• Magical ailment diagnosis scene revamped (auras, lore-driven symptoms).

• Riku’s connection to magic deepened (Dawnwatch reference, heroic grandfather backstory).

• Headmaster rewritten to blend Shifu & Oogway influences — wise, steady, hopeful.

✔️ Dream Dungeon / Nexus

• Function in narrative clarified:

  • Contact with past demon hunters

  • Purging inner demons

  • Multi-world connective nexus

✔️ Additional Characters Developed

• Ren Hazuki (Malfoy meets Hermione)

• House Hikari (Hideki, Hoshi, Mei, Yuna)

• Future male cast additions planned

🧩 Plugins Developed by Ash Born Interactive

Completed Plugins

• ShinySpawn – rare spawns with palette swaps

• ShinySpawnAnimation – animation triggers on shiny monsters

• Weather Suite – dynamic weather control

• Progressive Crafting Book (found, integrated)

• Time & Weather System (found, integrated)

Future Planned Plugins

• Fast Travel System

• World Map Viewer (via key item)

• Light/Glow Effects plugin

• Bestiary plugin

• Target core, AI behavior, stat gain systems

• Scene Creator for card game

• Shop Menu enhancements

• More ABI-branded plugins on itch.io soon

🎨 Marketing & Community Updates

✔️ Kickstarter Launch Date:

November 28, 2025

✔️ New images, GIFs, and promotional posts created for:

• Shiny monsters

• Spawn animation plugin

• Weather Suite

• DHG updates

• Dev progress summaries

• Personal storytelling posts (LinkedIn, X, etc.)

❤️ Final Thoughts

This project has grown into something far larger, deeper, and more ambitious than its initial concept — and every week it becomes more real.

From the monster art overhaul…
to the full card-battle system…
to shiny variants, weather effects, crafting, custom plugins, and story revisions…

A Demon Hunter's Guide to Passing Finals is finally taking the shape we’ve always envisioned.

Thank you for following the journey.
More updates are coming soon — and the next big milestone is integrating all shiny monsters, finalizing the demo, and preparing the Kickstarter launch page.

Stay tuned, Demon Hunters.
🔥🗡️✨

— Joel & Christine
Ash Born Interactive LLC
Creators of A Demon Hunter’s Guide to Passing Finals