Dev Report – August 2026

Hi everyone,

August was a slightly unusual month for development, as I took around ten days off to deal with some personal matters and, just as importantly, get some proper rest. It was a much-needed break, but I’m back now with a clearer head, renewed energy, and plenty of work waiting for me.

Despite the shorter development month, I still managed to make good progress in several areas of the next update. So, let’s take a look at what was done.

New Boss Mechanics

As I’ve mentioned more than once, I’m not a big fan of straightforward boss mechanics built around the classic “shoot the boss, run away, shoot again, win” loop.

Just like with Lotus, this boss will have its own puzzle-focused mechanic and two distinct phases. Yes, you’ll still have to shoot him, but combat itself will be more of a secondary element rather than the main challenge.

The logic behind this boss is probably the most complex enemy AI I’ve ever created, since it ties together a lot of environmental elements, triggers, and cutscenes. Because of that, I really hope the encounter ends up feeling intuitive for most players and, equally importantly, not too buggy.

VFX for the New Boss

To save some development time while still making the boss encounter look visually impressive, I purchased a ready-made VFX pack and then reworked and optimized it to better fit the visual style of the game.

I also adjusted the effects to reduce their performance impact, so they should remain visually rich without putting unnecessary load on weaker PCs.

Music and SFX for the New Boss

To complete the package, the new boss also received two variations of his own music theme, along with a set of custom sound effects.

All of them were created specifically for this encounter by a professional composer, which should help give the boss fight a much stronger identity and atmosphere.

New Decals

To strengthen the narrative side of the new location and add more atmosphere to the environment, was created a new set of decals featuring various signs and written messages.

For players who enjoy digging into the lore and paying attention to environmental storytelling, these details should add a nice extra layer to the location.

New Story Cutscenes

Four new cutscenes for the main storyline have been completed using animations created by the animator, so I hope the overall quality of these scenes will be a pleasant surprise.

There are still three more cutscenes left to finish, but the work is moving forward steadily.

Updated Spitter

After watching gameplay footage and taking player feedback into account, I decided not to postpone the improvements planned for the Spitter.

Since it usually stays on the ceiling, it can be quite difficult to notice in time. To improve its readability during encounters, I increased its size and added new VFX and sound effects that trigger when it attacks the player.

These changes should make the Spitter much easier to spot without taking away from the surprise or tension of the encounter.

Adrenaline Modulator V-12 Improvements

Once again, based on player feedback, I made some improvements to the Adrenaline Modulator V-12 implant.

The time-slow effect is no longer triggered automatically while aiming. Instead, it can now be activated manually by pressing [Space] while aiming, which should make the implant much more practical both in combat and outside of it.

Of course, this change may affect the overall balance, since the implant can become a little too powerful if used effectively. I’m still testing and adjusting its balance, so this mechanic may receive further tweaks.

New Implant – Bioregen

A new implant called Bioregen has been added to the game.

Its concept is directly tied to Oni’s infection: the implant uses harmful infected cells in the body as a biological resource and converts them into new tissue, gradually restoring physical health.

In gameplay terms, this means that the higher Oni’s Infection level is, the more Health Bioregen is able to restore. It creates an interesting trade-off where Infection is no longer only a disadvantage, but can also become a useful resource under the right conditions.

New Implant – Nox-Vision

A new implant called Nox-Vision has been added to the game.

It completely replaces the standard flashlight and uses the C-Scanner’s battery at roughly twice the normal rate. In return, the user gains significantly improved visibility in dark environments, making it much easier to navigate areas where a regular flashlight would only illuminate a narrow field of view.

The implant is designed as a trade-off between convenience and resource management: you get much better awareness in the dark, but at the cost of noticeably faster battery consumption.

Maps for the New Locations

Maps for both new locations have been created and added to the game, along with the triggers responsible for switching between them as the player moves through different areas.

This should keep navigation clear and make the transition between sectors feel seamless.

New Lore Notes

Four new lore notes have been written and added to the game. They expand on events that happened outside of the player’s direct experience and provide a little more context to what was going on aboard COLOS-8 beyond the main storyline.

As always, they’re completely optional, but players who enjoy digging deeper into the world and its background should find a few interesting details in them.

That’s pretty much everything I managed to get done over the past month, along with plenty of smaller changes, fixes, and improvements that aren’t really worth turning into separate sections.

From here, I’ll be focusing on finishing the remaining cutscenes, adding the usual gameplay essentials such as quest markers, items, triggers, and other smaller details, and then moving on to testing and preparing the update for release.

Hopefully, the testing phase goes smoothly and doesn’t uncover too many unpleasant surprises.

Take care, everyone.

Kodman