Demo strategy on a budgetđ°đ´ââ ď¸ | 'Below Deck' February 2026
[p]Ahoy crew![/p][p][/p][p]Below Deck, our monthly development newsletter, is back for 2026. This month Iâm going to open up about some of the big challenges ahead, and strategic decisions weâre currently making at Cass Bay Games. Youâll also get an early look at some new bosses and gameplay updates.[/p][p][/p][p]Yours piratically,[/p][p]Ben[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Ready for another boss fight?[/h2][p]
Nik Scarr has been cooking up some brilliantly grotesque bosses that you can look forward to facing in an upcoming playtest and in our Steam demo in May.[/p][p][/p][h3]Sea Swine [/h3][p]Meet the hog-fish boss that poisons you with every bite! The sea swine (or Porcus Marinus) has a loveable Kunekune face, but itâs not to be trifled with.[/p][p][/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]See a timelapse of Nikâs art process creating this big cutey:[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][h3]Thessaly, The Sea Witch[/h3][p]Found in a ship graveyard where time flies by and yet feels stagnant, this awful sea witch once traded Davy Jonesâ an eight pointed compass that points to a moving island. Sometimes known as The Carapace Compass or Crawling Star, Davy desperately needs Thessaly to forge another. And who better to send than his newly enslaved undead deckhand?[/p][p]
![]()
Early sketches of Thessaly by Nik Scarr[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Demo strategy and development update[/h2][p]
Last year was an adventure. We stretched our CODE KickStart grant very thin, working evenings and weekends on the game in order to also work full time jobs. With an environment/UI artist role to fill and no cash, my plans for a public Steam demo that showed a slice of our ambitious meta game have been shaken. Our demo is going to happen this May at the Steam Roguelike Deckbuilder festival, but weâve adjusted our strategy.[/p][p]
Itâs my first time doing this indie-game-entrepreneur thing, and Iâve been finding I get contrary advice. Some say donât delay and get your demo out as soon as youâve got something fun, and others say itâs best to wait until you can at least hint at everything the game will have to offer. Itâs hard to market a game without a demo, especially when so much of indie marketing seems to come down to getting the game in the hands of streamers and creators who love it. My conundrum is I know we need a demo to get some traction, but our demo doesnât yet showcase the full vision of what Davy Jonesâ Deckhand will be. I believe itâs already really fun, our playtests have shown good numbers behind the scenes, but itâs only a fraction of the game.[/p][p]
Lately I had started working towards the incorporation of our full point-and-click outer gameplay loop. However, without some serious art resourcing, itâs unrealistic to think weâll have a release-quality demo with those elements ready for the May launch. So now Iâve pivoted my focus to improving the existing combat loop to include a scaled-down meta game. The demo will have features that might not end up in the full game (theyâre more âtraditionalâ roguelike deckbuilder), but they work, and they give the player visibility of long-term goals. Itâs really nice to have stuff to work towards beyond just the survival of voyages.[/p][p]
The demo will include a new system to unlock and then upgrade your artefacts, and mid-voyage shops to purchase items from your hard-earned booty. There will be 2 new bosses, a bunch of new artefacts, and it will feature one small point-and-click environment.[/p][p]
As we develop this demo, we will also be preparing our application for the next round of CODE NZ StartUp grants. This is going to be a big deal and a lot of work. Success there will see me going full time on the game, which is a scary milestone but also a dream come true.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]A sneak peek at our new artefact upgrading system[/h2][p]
We want to encourage players to experiment with new artefacts, so our new systems for unlocking and upgrading artefacts are tied to actually utilising them in-game.[/p][p][/p][p]To permanently unlock an artefact, you need to acquire it during a run and trigger its effect a set number of times. This utilisation-counter persists across voyages, so you can continue to progress an artefact on your next run if you donât finish the unlock. Once youâve met the utilisation target, youâll now own that artefact and can choose to start your next voyage with it in your cargo by selecting it from your inventory.[/p][p][/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]And thatâs where upgrades come in. Once you own an artefact, you can now progress it toward its upgraded state by further utilisation. However the catch here is that upgrades only progress on your cargo artefacts, and not those you pick up during a voyage. So to progress different items, youâll need to change up your starting strategy.[/p][p][/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]You can view your progress towards these goals at any time from the menu, and see the new effect your artefacts will get once upgraded. You also get a handy overview at the end of each voyage that displays any new progress you made.[/p][p][/p][p]![]()
[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Welcome to the crew Simon![/h2][p][/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Iâm excited to announce that Simon Mackmurdie has joined Cass Bay Games as our new Environments/UI artist. Straight away I was impressed by his technical experience and his passion for games and art, so much so that I was secretly rooting for his art test to be great⌠which it was! Phew![/p][p][/p][p]Weâre stoked to have Simon onboard and canât wait to get stuck into the next phase of Deckhand development with him on the team.
You can check out some his work that first caught my eye here: [/p][p]https://www.artstation.com/simonmackmurdie[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p]
Donât forget to wishlist the game on Steam, blackmail your friends and family to do the same, and help us market our pirate game![/p][p][/p][p]If you'd like more regular updates and to chat with the team then please join our public Discord server, we'd love to have you join our growing community. You can also follow us on social media at the links below.
[/p][h3]Wishlist now: [/h3][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]Discord invite: [/h3][p]https://t.co/sBqCnmZi9T[/p][p] [/p][h3]Previous editions of 'Below Deck':[/h3][p]can be found on our Itch Devlog.[/p][p] [/p][h3]Playtester sign ups:[/h3][p]Fill out this form to access the playtest [/p][p]
[/p][p]Until next time me hearties, yo ho![/p][p]Ben and the Cass Bay Games Team[/p][p][/p][p]![]()
[/p][p][/p][p][/p]
Nik Scarr has been cooking up some brilliantly grotesque bosses that you can look forward to facing in an upcoming playtest and in our Steam demo in May.[/p][p][/p][h3]Sea Swine [/h3][p]Meet the hog-fish boss that poisons you with every bite! The sea swine (or Porcus Marinus) has a loveable Kunekune face, but itâs not to be trifled with.[/p][p][/p][p]
Last year was an adventure. We stretched our CODE KickStart grant very thin, working evenings and weekends on the game in order to also work full time jobs. With an environment/UI artist role to fill and no cash, my plans for a public Steam demo that showed a slice of our ambitious meta game have been shaken. Our demo is going to happen this May at the Steam Roguelike Deckbuilder festival, but weâve adjusted our strategy.[/p][p]
Itâs my first time doing this indie-game-entrepreneur thing, and Iâve been finding I get contrary advice. Some say donât delay and get your demo out as soon as youâve got something fun, and others say itâs best to wait until you can at least hint at everything the game will have to offer. Itâs hard to market a game without a demo, especially when so much of indie marketing seems to come down to getting the game in the hands of streamers and creators who love it. My conundrum is I know we need a demo to get some traction, but our demo doesnât yet showcase the full vision of what Davy Jonesâ Deckhand will be. I believe itâs already really fun, our playtests have shown good numbers behind the scenes, but itâs only a fraction of the game.[/p][p]
Lately I had started working towards the incorporation of our full point-and-click outer gameplay loop. However, without some serious art resourcing, itâs unrealistic to think weâll have a release-quality demo with those elements ready for the May launch. So now Iâve pivoted my focus to improving the existing combat loop to include a scaled-down meta game. The demo will have features that might not end up in the full game (theyâre more âtraditionalâ roguelike deckbuilder), but they work, and they give the player visibility of long-term goals. Itâs really nice to have stuff to work towards beyond just the survival of voyages.[/p][p]
The demo will include a new system to unlock and then upgrade your artefacts, and mid-voyage shops to purchase items from your hard-earned booty. There will be 2 new bosses, a bunch of new artefacts, and it will feature one small point-and-click environment.[/p][p]
As we develop this demo, we will also be preparing our application for the next round of CODE NZ StartUp grants. This is going to be a big deal and a lot of work. Success there will see me going full time on the game, which is a scary milestone but also a dream come true.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]A sneak peek at our new artefact upgrading system[/h2][p]
We want to encourage players to experiment with new artefacts, so our new systems for unlocking and upgrading artefacts are tied to actually utilising them in-game.[/p][p][/p][p]To permanently unlock an artefact, you need to acquire it during a run and trigger its effect a set number of times. This utilisation-counter persists across voyages, so you can continue to progress an artefact on your next run if you donât finish the unlock. Once youâve met the utilisation target, youâll now own that artefact and can choose to start your next voyage with it in your cargo by selecting it from your inventory.[/p][p][/p][p]
You can check out some his work that first caught my eye here: [/p][p]https://www.artstation.com/simonmackmurdie[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p]
Join the crew! ![]()
[p]Donât forget to wishlist the game on Steam, blackmail your friends and family to do the same, and help us market our pirate game![/p][p][/p][p]If you'd like more regular updates and to chat with the team then please join our public Discord server, we'd love to have you join our growing community. You can also follow us on social media at the links below.
[/p][h3]Wishlist now: [/h3][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]Discord invite: [/h3][p]https://t.co/sBqCnmZi9T[/p][p] [/p][h3]Previous editions of 'Below Deck':[/h3][p]can be found on our Itch Devlog.[/p][p] [/p][h3]Playtester sign ups:[/h3][p]Fill out this form to access the playtest [/p][p]
[/p][p]Until next time me hearties, yo ho![/p][p]Ben and the Cass Bay Games Team[/p][p][/p][p]
[/p][p][/p][p][/p]