This post is a free part of what was posted on the Japanese creator support site “Ci-en”. If you want to see the latest production progress on the paid part, visit Ci-en.

Progress Report

Still Production

　Since the last article update, I managed to finish the stills as planned (quite surprisingly). As a result, I believe the following three can be incorporated:

1. Opening: Right after the game starts (2 stills)
2. Mid-game: After capturing the enemy’s first stronghold (1 still)
3. Endgame: After capturing the enemy’s main stronghold (1 still)

　The demo version will be playable until shortly after #2. While it might seem unsatisfactory to buy the full version only to see one more scene afterward, the final scene is a luxurious illustration featuring multiple characters, so it’s essentially equivalent to about three stills in content. However, it must be acknowledged that the number of events in the entire work is extremely low. It’s important to understand that the essence of this game lies elsewhere.

System Improvements

　In a sense, this game has been almost complete for several months now and could have been released at any time.　──Although that’s a bit of an exaggeration, the system was indeed playable from start to finish. However, there were some bugs, cumbersome parts, and unbalanced difficulty levels that even the author couldn’t beat. It definitely couldn’t have been released in that state. 　Recent work has resolved many bugs, introduced user-friendly systems, and significantly improved game balance. I’d like to introduce them here.

Enemy Deployment Animation

　Previously, enemy units appeared instantly, making it difficult to understand whether a unit had been newly added or an existing one had moved elsewhere. To address this issue, I decided to visualize enemy deployment and movement with animations. 　While incorporating behaviors that were not originally planned caused various bugs such as invisible units or using the wrong unit’s image, I struggled to eliminate them. 　Although initially intended to assist player understanding, this feature added movement to the game screen, creating a visual effect, which was a bonus.

Relaxation of Enemy Offensives

　In this game, players push forward the frontline while breaking through the enemy’s defense. Conversely, if the enemy breaks through our defenses and reaches the final defense line, it’s game over. Previously, enemies would advance as much as possible, but in such cases, once the frontline collapsed and the player’s units were depleted, it would quickly lead to defeat due to the inability to recover forces. 　Therefore, I decided to drastically slow down the enemy’s advance and have them move forward only one step per turn in principle.

▲ Enemy advances only one square per turn.

　As our forces (HP of held units) recover over time, as long as the enemy advances slowly, there will be more opportunities for counterattacks, resulting in an extremely easy balance. Currently, unless something significant happens, I don’t think it will lead to a game over. 　I myself tend to not enjoy overly difficult games, so I feel like this is just the right level of difficulty.

Grid Line Display

　In this game, you can place two units per square : ground and air units. However, to avoid overlap of these images, the positions of enemy, ally, and ground-air units were slightly adjusted, making the grid sense very unclear. 　Therefore, I made it possible to display grid lines optionally. I personally feel that it has become much easier to see. In fact, I wonder why it wasn’t there before. While you can switch between displaying and hiding with one touch, many players may choose to play with it always displayed.

Constant Display of Operation Guide

　Various operations are required in the game, such as unit retreat (displacement), position exchange, and ground-air operation switching, each corresponding to a button. Since it’s too complicated to learn all at once, I’m displaying the operation guide during the game as much as possible. Similar measures were taken in “Continen of Slaughter,” but in “In the Forest InvaderSinnemia,” it’s a more refined design. 　Moreover, depending on whether you’re using a keyboard or controller, the display switches, which is a mysterious effort on my part.

▲ The icon displayed changes depending on the device used for operation (keyboard/controller). It also switches when performing special operations like “pressing Ctrl while inputting left or right.”

Branching of Military Specialization

　It’s a minor detail, but the unit names displayed in the unit list are now color-coded. It may seem too minor to mention, but I feel that such “visually understandable” designs are extremely important. While it’s not yet achieved throughout the game, I intend to pursue it as much as possible.

Enemy Intelligence Report

　The situational report at the beginning of the turn has been implemented for some time, but I added enemy intelligence to it. Basically, enemy troop strength is concealed, but since fighting against completely unknown entities is not fun, I decided to disclose some approximate information. The degree and wording of disclosure are subject to reconsideration.

Future Plans

　The stills have been created, but the work to incorporate them into events is untouched. Text has yet to be written at all. However, considering the low number of events and the intention to keep the content simple, I think I can create it without taking too much time. I plan to finish production by mid-next month, register for preview, and start selling it either next month or the following month. Please look forward to future developments.

　In the paid section of Ci-en, you can see the latest work-in-progress images.