Polish. Polish. Hella, super maximum polish!
The day/night cycle is in, and I'm working on making certain game experiences different depending on the time of day. I could probably work on that the rest of the week, with ease. I'm not sure that's what will happen, however. To help with the decreased visibility at night, important locations will glow, or are covered in things like floating spirits, fireflies, etc. It's dangerous to wander around blindly, so the game gives you some strong hints before you royally fuck up. It's a minor touch, but stars come out at night, and fade into/out of view at dusk and dawn. I put way more time that I expected into getting the transitions just right. The whole thing is terribly subjective. I spent quite a few hours just picking out colors and testing gradients and tints, and then even more hours tweaking them... because reasons.
The night cycle is only 1/4 of the whole day, so you're not stuck there for long, and if you miss one, it'll be back around shortly. I learned that trick from the somewhat recent Conan game. Night time in that game truly sucks, and has no real benefit that I can remember, so it's nice that it's only 4 minutes long in real time. But damn if that isn't a long-ass 4 minutes
There will be 2-4 sub-bosses that only spawn at night (I haven't decided on the final count), and there will also be the ghosts who will give you hints if you happen upon them. There's also a simple trick to finding the final boss, that someone will clue you into. Honestly, it's not as bad as it sounds. You can easily stumble across it on accident
. I also plan to have several night-specific mobs, but I haven't put too much thought into that yet.
I'm rather excited to see how things are turning out. Combat is much better now, with the extra polish, critical hits and dodges, and exploration is more satisfying now that there's a reason to actually do it.
. 
. 
