Devlog #2: Light Refined, Shadows Reimagined

The team at Covenant Studios has made some significant progress since our last update. With the first demo successfully completed, we’ve taken time to reflect on feedback, polish the core mechanics, and set the stage for further development. This devlog covers the major changes we've made in preparation for our next demo, as well as a look ahead at our immediate development goals and priorities.

Shadow Form 2.0

Our 2D shadow form has undergone a major transformation this week. The original implementation was buggy and unreliable, especially when interacting with walls, and trying to fix those issues quickly became a time sink. After extensive testing and iteration, we've replaced it with a more polished version that’s already paying off. The new shadow form now moves smoothly along horizontal surfaces, instantly climbs any wall it collides with, and responds far more predictably to the environment. Naturally, this improvement comes with some tradeoffs. We’ve lost the ability to climb across ceilings, and precise wall scaling is no longer feasible. Some puzzle ideas had to be reimagined or cut entirely, but in the context of a public showcase like Level Up, we believe this was the right call. It keeps the player experience more stable, reduces bugs, and ensures we’re putting our best foot forward.

Old Shadow Form	New Shadow Form

Reworking Mechanics: Letting Go of the Spotlight

Another major change was the removal of a controllable spotlight mechanic that had been part of our previous build. This spotlight allowed players to rotate and reposition a light source to manipulate the level layout in creative ways. While it sounded promising on paper, in practice it created a steep learning curve and disrupted the game’s flow. Players would need extra time to grasp its use, and it pulls attention away from the core mechanic of switching between light and shadow. In the context of a short demo experience, this quickly becomes a liability. Rather than force an underdeveloped system into our level design, we’ve decided to set it aside for now. This gives us room to focus more deeply on what Truth and Shadows already does well, and opens the door for smoother gameplay and more intuitive puzzles.

Solidifying the Light Mechanic

To further reinforce the game’s central duality, we’ve introduced a new rule: the player’s physical body must remain within areas that are fully lit. While this sounds like a minor tweak, it adds clarity and consistency to how players engage with the environment. By making this rule explicit, we reduce confusion around boundaries and create stronger contrast between the light and shadow forms. On the technical side, our dev team has been refining the underlying light detection system, making it more accurate and reliable. We've also implemented darkness detection to support this pivot and help improve interactions between objects, environments, and the various player forms.

Level Design: Our First Complete Level

We’re proud to share that we’ve completed our first fully playable level. While still in its early stages, this version brings together the major systems we’ve been developing and puts our core gameplay loop into action. It’s given us a solid framework for testing how the mechanics connect and how the pacing holds up in practice. One major narrative addition is the introduction of memory shards. These glowing green orbs, shown in the image below, must be collected at the end of each level. They replace the previous door-based exits, anchoring the gameplay in a more story-driven objective and adding a stronger sense of purpose. With this structure in place, the level design team is already sketching out new layouts and building on the foundation we’ve set.

Soundtrack Integration

This week also brought a major boost to the game’s mood and tone with the introduction of our first in-game soundtracks. Our audio design team has been hard at work composing tracks that match the emotional and visual aesthetic of Truth and Shadows, and the results are already elevating the experience. With music in place, the world feels more alive, more grounded, and more immersive. Moving forward, we plan to explore dynamic audio that reacts to player actions and narrative moments. It’s a subtle but powerful tool for drawing players deeper into the world we’re creating.

Next Steps: Bringing the World to Life

Here’s what’s on the horizon for Covenant Studios:

• Finalizing interaction mechanics, including movable blocks, switches, and buttons
• Incorporating feedback from our upcoming demo
• Building more levels
• Developing visual assets, including character design, environmental art, and UI polish
• Integrating the reversible poem into the interface in a way that’s meaningful to the narrative
• Adding controller support
• Beginning structured playtesting

That’s it for this week’s devlog. Our light is getting brighter, our shadows more clever, and our world more alive with every build. But Truth and Shadows is more than just puzzles and mechanics. At its core, it’s a story about contrast, connection, and self-discovery. And we’re just getting started.