I know some of you are probably wondering about the fate of this project.

Ascension III is far from dead, in fact it’s been my primary focus during the past couple of months. Most of the recent work has been on the framework code rather than the game itself, but I’ve been working through some things in the background.

The concept is firming up, finally. It’s changed a lot since its inception in 2016, and even more since the earliest ideas years prior. A lot of elements have been tossed out but it’s a lot more focused now. At the same time the setting is pretty well established, the storyline is basically locked down and the script is being written.

I finally have something resembling an elevator pitch for this game: Intense gunfights with dragons. Also, a story about a princess, ancient ruins, and spaceships, all very well aware of how over-the-top it is. This is actually quite a relief; I’ve struggled at times to explain what Ascension III is and I think for many of those times I didn’t know myself. It’s been more a loosely connected collection of ideas than anything.

The immediate focus is now on putting together a vertical slice demo together for this fall. It will consist of one of the game’s six islands, with a small settlement with NPCs, a dungeon with puzzles and monsters, and a dragon fight. There’s also an in-game music player planned, so you can do all of that to your choice of music.

I’m not sure if all of that will make it in, but I’m excited and I think the demo is going to be pretty fun. I’m still far away from committing to a tangible release date for the full game, but we’re finally starting to make real progress toward that goal.