Devlog #10 – Polishing toward the Full Release
The public demo for Ghost Receipt is now available, and development has moved fully into the next phase.
With the demo stable and the main gameplay loop in place, I am now focusing on completing, connecting and polishing the systems intended for the full release.
Rather than adding large new mechanics, the current work is about making the existing game deeper, clearer and more complete.
Expanding the Pawn Item Pool
One of the largest recent tasks has been continuing work on the pawn item pool.
Each item needs more than just a model.
Values, categories, examination data and other gameplay information all need to work together before an item is ready to appear in normal gameplay.
The current focus is on finishing these remaining item details and making sure the expanded item pool works correctly throughout the pawn system.
The goal is simple:
More variety at the pawn counter without sacrificing consistency or balance and less repetetive items.
Factions and Reputation
Faction progression is another major area currently being connected to the world.
Different factions already play a role in the items, and customer models available to the player.
The next step is making reputation increasingly visible outside of menus like different npcs models and different pawn items.
Faction reputation will influence small parts of the world and help reflect the relationships the player has built throughout the game.
The aim is for the city and the shop to gradually reflect the decisions made during normal gameplay.
Black Market Requests
Work has also continued on the Black Market Terminal and its request system.
Requests provide additional opportunities connected to different factions and give the player another reason to think carefully about which items they acquire and what they choose to do with them.
The core request system is now polished filled with content and in place, and the current focus is testing and integration balancing with the rest of the game.
Mini-Games
The three mini-games used for item decryption are now implemented.
The next step is less exciting but equally important:
testing them as part of normal gameplay.
That means making sure they work correctly with their associated items, controller input and the surrounding game flow rather than only testing them individually. it is also possible to decrypt items at the experts.
Expert Polish
The experts are also receiving another dedicated polish pass.
The focus is currently on improving their presentation rather than redesigning how they work.
This includes:
dialogue polish for Kane,
animation polish for Dr. Vale,
and final presentation and placement work for Juno.
The goal is to make each expert feel like a proper character within Neo Haven rather than simply another gameplay function.
Preparing the Full Build
At this point, development is increasingly about connecting everything together.
Items need to fit with factions.
Faction decisions need to affect the item pool.
Requests need to produce the correct rewards and consequences.
Experts need to work correctly with the items brought to them.
And all of these systems need to survive normal play, saving and loading without breaking the player's progression.
That integration work is now one of the main priorities.
What Comes Next
The next development steps are focused on:
finishing and testing the remaining pawn items,
testing Black Market requests,
polishing the experts,
testing all three mini-games in normal gameplay,
and continuing full-game testing and balancing.
The public demo will continue to provide useful feedback while development on the full game moves forward.
There is still polish ahead, but the focus has shifted considerably.
The individual systems are built.
Now the work is about making them feel like one complete game.
Ghost Receipt is a cyberpunk grocery store and pawn shop simulator where players manage their business, negotiate pawn deals and examine unusual items.
The public demo is available now on Steam.
Wishlist Ghost Receipt and follow development for future updates.