Steam Winter Sale and News About the Great North Update

[p]Happy Holidays, Traveler![/p][p][/p][p]First I want to thank everyone for this exciting year, which has brought lots of improvements to Chronicles of Vaeltaja. I've been working long hours like crazy for the past few weeks on the Great North content update and I wanted so much that it would be ready for the Steam Winter Sale, but here we are; still without the update. I can't say that I'm surprised, because the Great North is the biggest update during the game's whole Early Access period, but I'm still keeping the hope up that I could finish and release it by the end of the year, or at least while the Winter Sale is still on. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but if I won't make it, then the release will happen during January.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Anyway, the good news is that the Great North update is coming along really well, and I'm actually a little surprised that it's now more complete than I thought it would be when I decided to postpone it a few weeks ago. The overworld areas are finished (I just need to replace all the placeholder loot) and main story dungeons have been built, but they are still missing some stuff, such as puzzles and loot. Enemies have been designed and sprites created, but some of them will still need couple of secondary attack skills and balancing. Speaking of enemies, I may cut some corners for the update, meaning that some features, such as enemy attack animations, will follow later. That said, some of the new enemies already have their attack animations.[/p][p][/p][p]I'm also happy to tell that some of the most tedious work is already behind: Area maps and battle backgrounds. Not that they are difficult to do, but for example, creating the battle backgrounds for every overworld area with different daylight settings, and then implementing them to each enemy mob separately, is a very time consuming task. Area maps have their own quirks, but I won't bore you with the details. Instead, I want to tell you more about the update itself.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]So, what does it mean that the Great North is the biggest update during the whole Early Access period? For starters, it brings three new overworld areas (Candle Spruce Pass, Autumn Valley and Winter Wilds) which are separated in smaller areas. This means that the update will bring 10 areas, including a small village of Leaf Pond where the player can talk to NPCs and visit shops that sell new equipment. Candle Spruce Pass contains two areas, Autumn Valley contains three and Winter Wilds contains five. Each of the areas have their own unique visual style and atmosphere.[/p][p][/p][p]The main story will progress through three dungeons, which are less focused on puzzles, but that doesn't mean just mindless monster slaying. For example, Autumn Valley's main dungeon is filled with route blocking roots that the party must find a way to remove them to proceed. Each of the dungeons will offer their own challenges and secrets, not to mention the enemies. And talking about enemies; the update will bring 12 different enemy types, including couple of boss enemies. For example, in Autumn Valley the party is confronted by corrupted mages and in Winter Wilds they will face the thread of the cult of Marras, so encounters with the knights and priests of Marras are guaranteed. The Great North is also inhabited by other creatures than humans; the notorious Staalos have lived there longer than humans, but generations ago they retreated to underground and do not welcome outsiders.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The upcoming 'quality of life' features include option to swap turn and strafe controls, reset camera button and the improved Magic Map. Once the update is released the player will finally be able to write map notes and the map will automatically mark levers, floor plates, buttons, locks and treasure chests once the player has interacted with them. Entrances and exits will be marked on the map too. Considering the Magic Map, there is one thing I haven't mentioned before: Every time a dungeon floor is mapped completely, the party receives coins and experience points as reward. As before, the Magic Map can be obtained from the Royal Cartographer in the Twin Falls Castle's east wing. One 'QoL' feature I haven't mentioned before is the option to speed up or disable the battle animations, which will make the combat play out faster. And the mouse turning bug will be fixed too![/p][p][/p][p]It's weird to think that after the Great North update, Chronicles of Vaeltaja is only missing one overworld area and three main story dungeons. This means that there will be only one more content update coming for the main story and couple of updates to bring the rest of the side content. I must admit that there were times when this large update made me doubt myself and feel that it's never going to be finished, but now that it nearly is, I already feel revealed. I am very thankful that every time I felt those moments of doubt, I received positive feedback about the game that helped me get through![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]So, now we just have to wait and see if the Great North is ready for release by the end of this year. If not, there is a possibility that I will release a smaller update during this month to bring those 'QoL' features, but that depends on how exhausted I get during this last crunch. Whatever happens, I will let you know on the game's Steam forum.[/p][p][/p][p]To celebrate this exciting year, Chronicles of Vaeltaja is 40% off during Steam Winter Sale.[/p][p][/p][p]Thank You for the past year and all the feedback![/p][p][/p][p]Happy Holidays to everyone![/p][p][/p][p]Jani/Witchgrove Games[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]