Hey Kinoko fans!

Although it’s been a year of both ups and downs, we’ve made some really great progress on Star Heretic’s development since we released our first playable demo back in March. From finally naming our game and registering our business, and from revamping the starsprites and overhauling our experience/ranks system, to implementing a whole new planet and creating a load of new assets, Star Heretic is continuing to shape up really nicely.

Our game is already a lot more exciting than it was back in March, but we’ve still got so much more to do before we’ll be ready to share our next playable update. Just this weekend, I finally managed to sit down and compile a game design document out of all of our scattered notes, sketches, and ideas. Now, that document is helping me to break things up into tasks and priorities, meaning we’re finally able to actually think about a timeline for the release of our second demo.

The Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE for short) is a yearly, online exhibition of upcoming indie video games. As the name suggests, it started out as an exhibition for Sonic the Hedgehog fan games, but it’s since expanded to include the broader spectrum of indie game development. SAGE 2019 notably played host to Pizza Tower, and right now, SAGE 2025 is hosting three of our friends’ demos: BaconFish’s Witchfall: Secrets of Emotica, Tetriser’s Smitty 2, and Slickygrease’s Dynamite Flare.

Assuming that there’s going to be a SAGE 2026 in around September 2026, that seems to us to be the perfect time to plan to share our next playable demo. Even if there’s not, I think it makes sense to target next September. There’s still so much we want to do, but now that we’ve got a completed game design document I feel pretty confident we can do it.

So what can you expect to be doing in the next Star Heretic demo?

The purpose of our first demo was to gauge how players felt about our platforming, so we implemented the purpose-built ‘Melodia’s playroom’ for that. The purpose of our second demo will be to demonstrate the game’s exploration and combat aspects, so we’re determined that it will take place on at least part of the planet Fungaia, which will appear in the finished game as the setting for its first chapter. I’ve been busy implementing enemies for this planet at the same time as developing the game’s mechanics, and we’ve just recently designed the first couple of boss encounters, so we’re very excited about that part.

In addition, you’ll be able to access Starlight City – Star Heretic’s hub for shopping, technology upgrades, and activities. I don’t know how much it will be possible to actually do there, since we do have rather a lot planned for it in the finished game, but if nothing else you’ll at least be able to pay a visit to the Starlight City Spaceport, from where you’ll be able to take a trip into the shrouded rainforests of Izelmyst, where legend says there stands a forgotten temple to Galaxy, still resonating with some ancient power…

Most importantly of all, you’ll be able to experience the overhauled starsprites. Although they were present in our first demo, they hadn’t undergone too much development at the time, and so they didn’t really get the opportunity to shine. In our next demo, you’ll be able to experience the full extent of Kinoko’s mysterious and powerful bond with them, benefitting not just from their protection and passive buffs, but calling upon their ancient abilities to take down enemies and solve challenges too. Above all other things, these starsprites are what Star Heretic revolves around, so we can’t wait for you to experience them for yourself.

Now that we’re now firmly focused on this for the next 12 months, we’re not going to be promising anything else like new comics or merchandise for the foreseeable future, but we hope you’ll look forward to playing our next demo and continue to follow our progress on your favourite social media platforms.

And with that, I’d better get back to working on it. Until next time!