hi, its austin.

this past week, jusentari and i have been polishing the game and fixing bugs with the new undo system, so there isn't anything super interesting to show gameplay-wise.

as of today, checkmage! has 1700 wishlists on steam. that's a really big number! i'm so happy there are so many people interested in my game, im trying to use that excitement to finish this thing ASAP. there are a lot of neat characters and stages and mechanics i want to share with everyone but making the demo has taken up a lot of development time, so the game will take a little longer to get finished.

meanwhile, i will be showcasing my game in two places! it will be entered into the october Steam Nextfest (for real this time), and i will be showcasing it with the PIGSquad at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo on October 19th. i'll have a table set up, and i'll try to give out my remaining stock of laminated vinyl stickers to anyone who drops by and plays the game!

i'm so excited to see how people react to the game. i know the style and genre can be very alienating to some people, but i think the pixel aesthetic of the game will resonate with people coming to the expo to see retro games, and its inspired by a lot of retro classics that i loved playing as a kid.

and as always, workshopping unique fun battles for all the characters twice-over, giving them fun dialog and interactions. the usual stuff!

shown here are some scrap pieces, which can be captured to transform a piece into a techqueen piece. think scrap armor!

this next month will be busy, so the weekly devlogs may be delayed depending on how i have to spend my time. thanks for reading.

Checkmage! is still in active development. If you want to support me, please consider sharing with friends. The game will be released on Steam and Itch for sale when I'm done making it.

Checkmage! on Steam  - play the demo now!

Bluesky - more updates, videos and sneak peeks