Twilight Monk News

To the Floating Islands of Japengo: Developer’s Log Vol. 7

☯Hello everyone!😈

Welcome to the Official Twilight Monk Team Development Log.

Follow along and get an exclusive look at the Kung-fu fantasy metroidvania game releasing in 2025! If you’re interested to see more exclusive gameplay videos and screenshots, don’t miss out on the action on our official X page!

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This past month the team has moved onto the refining phase for Chapter 5. User experience and battle adjustments have continued on since the previous month as well.

Here’s an overview of adjustments that have been made.

[h3]Progress on Chapter 5: The Japengo Islands[/h3]

Chapter 5 will feature the Japengo Islands, a series of floating islands with an exploration expedition into the Cannonballers hideout. With flying being necessary to travel through this region, we added some flying encounters into the overworld.

We were really trying to capture the feeling of the hideout being a bonafide secret base and incorporated some iconic locations with obstacle gimmicks, such as a kitchen with burning pots that spit fireballs, and a bathroom flooded with water.

Out of any of the dungeons so far we designed this particular dungeon to have the most diverging paths so players could have more freedom in what order and how they explore the dungeon, ultimately designed around opening a series of vault gates to progress deeper in the dungeon.

[h3]User Experience Adjustments[/h3]
The team have made some adjustments to the user experience this round, including a modified title screen. We wanted it to be a bit more slick and moody, the animated snowfall accompanied by the main theme instrumental really captured this well!

New NPCs were added across the main hub of Crescent Isle that give hints and reminders to encourage the player to check back in Crescent Isle to turn in Hunts, get info on the quest, earn money at the arcade, or buy BBQ boost. One example is Nora, she’ll be a character you can encounter in town. Be sure to check back in with her now and then, you might be surprised by what new information she has for you.

Two new NPCs Ketchoope and Moostarde were added for the new region. They’re a pair of adventurers constantly taking jabs at each other, a bit of a knuckle-head duo type.

We’re happy to announce there are now 28 Talismans throughout the entire game. Talismans will help improve your characters abilities but also affect your general gameplay. We really hope this will give you all a richer playthrough experience and a playthrough that feels personal to you.

[h3]Gameplay Adjustments[/h3]
Adjustments to the “feel” of battle are being handled by a dedicated member of our team now. So we are really trying to hone in on subtle elements of speed, timing, and effects to make battle feel satisfying.

For example, now the pillar attack bounces off of walls when the player is too close. The screen shakes when deflecting off of walls, and there are bigger impact slashes when the player hits an enemy, which gives an overall heavier weight to every strike and every hit.

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After a few more finalizing touches, we’ll call it a wrap for Chapter 5 and move onto Chapter 6 this coming month. Look forward to all the updates and sneak previews in the upcoming dev log!

Until the next one,
- The Twilight Monk Team
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* All images represented are work in progress and are subject to change

Completion of The Dark Forest & Giant’s Crown: Developer’s Log Vol. 6

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This past month the team has been continuing work on Chapter 4 locations the Dark Forest and Giant’s Crown. At this stage they’ve both been finalized and we’re ready to move onto the next region/chapters!

Here’s an overview of adjustments that have been made.

[h3]User Experience Adjustments[/h3]
Several adjustments to the UI were made this time around including the display of NPC portraits. All NPC portraits have been moved to be along the bottom of the screen with larger images.

Though it may appear to be a small change, this was a huge undertaking as there are already so many NPCs scripted into the game, so ALL of them had to be reworked... But with this change you can really appreciate the level of detail put into each character portrait which makes it all worthwhile.

Additionally, we added a section for talismans to the inventory, these will be used for additional skills and enhancements during your playthrough.

We finalized some key animated sequences as well, including this particular encounter with a certain forest spirit… maybe if you were paying attention in the previous dev log you’ll know who this is!

The boss battle at Giant’s Crown has been visually finalized, too. We don’t want to spoil too much, but here’s a screenshot of the boss battle with the Sky Pirate gang’s leader, Pepperoni…

It'll be very hectic, and we played on the fact that as a Cannonballer, she can literally turn into a cannonball, so naturally… we added some pinball mechanics! This battle definitely has the most components so far.

[h3]Gameplay Adjustments[/h3]
Tons of playtesting amongst the team has led to a lot of minor improvements in level design and fine-tuning of enemy difficulty. As you play we don’t want beating enemies to become mundane, so we made a lot of adjustments so the enemies’ skills and difficulty level are adjusted to all the new skills you collect as you progress through the game.

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From here on, the entire team is focused on Chapter 5 content for the month of August (the southern Islands of Japengo). Stay tuned for the upcoming Dev Log at the end of next month!

Until the next one,
- The Twilight Monk Team

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Add to your wishlist!

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https://twitter.com/TwiMonk_Game Twitter

https://twilightmonk.startgravity.jp/ Website

* All images represented are work in progress and are subject to change

A Mysterious Forest and City Under Siege: Developer’s Log Vol. 5

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This month we’ve been continuing refinement of the Eastern continent and two major locations that are directly pulled from the original Twilight Monk novel series! This should be exciting for fans of the books as they can see two iconic locations brought to life!

[h3]The Darkroot Forest[/h3]

Though last time we accessed the Jabah Dooba desert via boat, this time around Raziel will have to ride the very spooky ghost train to reach his destination…

We wanted the conductor to be a little comical, with some cheesy Halloween style jokes in his back pocket.

Stylistically, this has to be one of the team’s favorite dungeons so far! It took a lot of inspiration from games like Legend of Zelda which always have some sort of “lost forest”. You’ll find yourself a bit lost at times as this dungeon is particularly maze-like. Here’s a look at the result of polishing this time around.

The overworld area received a rework to have a richer purple tone, as well as a strong light emanating from the entrance to the Dark Forest so it’s a little bit easier to know where to go.

Many areas that were still in a preliminary state have been finalized with atmosphere and detail.

Refinement of new mechanics in this dungeon, as you can see there is a fireball that gets released when you’ve used the Phantom Pillar to activate it. You can kick it around and burn vine walls that block your way!

The color scheme has been adjusted quite a bit to be a little darker and moodier, and effects and details have all been added in at this stage. More NPC portraits this time around, including our cute little friend Amiku!

[h3]Giant’s Crown[/h3]

Giant’s crown is a city overrun by the “Cannon Ballers”, a group of Sky Pirates at war with the residents seeking to defend their territory - the “Blokes”.

We’ve put a lot of special attention into designing diverging paths for the player to explore. You’ll be navigating the dungeon and restoring power to various sections to activate elevators and contraptions.

Some more underwater chasms that connect to old mining areas as well! We tried to create lots of optional paths within this dungeon so we hope when you play you’ll enjoy going back and discovering all the secrets.

[h3]Additional Content[/h3]

Besides these two locations, we’ve added in some new content including these cute little guys, Bojo Birds!

They will be collectible throughout your adventures in Speria, so see if you can manage to collect them all!

To find out where they’re hiding, leave it to the “papa Bojos” who will show you the way to their locations.

Plus a few new enemies, such as these cauldron enemies which suck the life force out of Raz until he’s able to successfully destroy 5 of them.

We hope there’s something among the new content that piques your interest! Thank you always for following along and we’re looking forward to sharing more progress and sneak peaks in the next update.

Until the next one,
- The Twilight Monk Team

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Add to your wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911940/Twilight_Monk/

https://twitter.com/TwiMonk_Game Twitter

https://twilightmonk.startgravity.jp/ Website

* All images represented are work in progress and are subject to change

To the Sweltering Desert: Developer’s Log Vol. 4

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This time around, we’ll be diving into the third chapter…

[h3]The Jabah Dooba Desert[/h3]
Raziel makes his way to the Western continent via a new form of overworld travel: ship🚢

This being our largest overworld, we put special attention into making the environment as rich as possible. So we spent quite a bit of time updating the overworld from its earlier build.

As you can see, pretty significant improvements have been made. Besides the UI improvements, assets such as the swaying trees have been added, and overall contrast and brightness has been enhanced.

We also went in and finalized portions of the dungeon that were still left in a preliminary state.

More NPC’s have been added to this round of polishing with dialogues that will change based on how far you’ve progressed in the main quests.

Lastly, we finalized the underwater system! This will be an interesting contrast to the usual combat you do on land since you won’t be able to use your Phantom Pillar weapon. The ruins in the desert will have a combination of sand filled dungeons as well as underwater chasms to dive into to access different areas.

These underwater levels will of course come with new enemy types as well.

Progress is going smoothly and we’re moving right along into the polishing phase for Chapter 4. Look forward to details on the next continent in the upcoming Developer’s Log!

The only other news to report for now is that more progress has been made on the Switch port of the game, things are going well for now with steady progress.

To commemorate the fourth Development Log, don’t miss the new concept art added in the “Artworks” section; it's an early concept for the town in Jabah Dooba desert.

We hope all these new images are igniting your imaginations and painting a picture of how expansive the world of Twilight Monk is! Thank you always for following along and we’re looking forward to sharing more progress and sneak peaks in the next update.

Until the next one,
- The Twilight Monk Team

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Add to your wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911940/Twilight_Monk/

Twilight Monk Official X

Official Website

* All images represented are work in progress and are subject to change

Depths of the Icy Tundra: Developer’s Log Vol. 3

☯Hello everyone!😈

Welcome to the Official Twilight Monk Team Development Log!

Follow along monthly and get an exclusive look at development progress for the Kung-Fu fantasy releasing in 2025!

This time around, we’ll be diving into the second chapter of our epic journey…

[h3]The Mountain Pass and Sky Fortress[/h3]

This month’s focus was polishing story and game elements for Chapter 2, which explores Raz’s journey into the Northern continent of Speria, an unforgivingly cold and frozen mountainous region. Unlike in Chapter 1 where we were exploring deep underground chambers, now we are ascending high into the sky.

As you can see we used a different color scheme to express the cold environment, unlike the predominantly green tones used for the previous chapter.

Though Raz is warned of the dangers ahead by elevator operator Grim, he insists on entering the mountain and takes the elevator up.

Just as Grim had warned, the way is littered with dangers including Razor Fang, a hunter of Moonken such as Raz, convinced that all Moonken are bound to succumb to darkness.

To climb higher through the dungeon you’ll be needing to ride all sorts of elevators, platforms, and contraptions.

Raz will continue his ascent until he reaches the very top of the Sky Fortress. What mysteries lie ahead and what treasures are waiting to be discovered…?

[h3]New Features Implemented[/h3]
BBQ
The difficulty level will crank up this time around, so be sure to eat some BBQ to receive buffs during your next outing

Double-boss encounter fights
Chapter 2 will include the first double boss encounter, get ready for an added layer of difficulty

Mini-maps
The dungeons will become increasingly complex, make sure to check the mini map so you don’t lose your way!

Game-plus difficulty mode
Upon completion of the game you’ll be able to unlock an extra difficult version to replay and challenge yourself!

Be sure to follow along all socials and wishlist to keep up to date on developments!

And as always, to commemorate the third Development Log, take a look at the new concept artwork added in the “Artworks” section!
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1911940/images/

Until the next one.
- The Twilight Monk Team

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https://twitter.com/TwiMonk_Game Twitter
https://twilightmonk.startgravity.jp/ Website

Add to wishlist
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1911940/Twilight_Monk/

* All images represented are work in progress and are subject to change