Near-term roadmap + voting on first expansion concepts

[p]Hey everyone! Thanks to all of you who picked up Strange Seed in its first 4 weeks on Steam. You are all AMAZING and I'm incredibly happy that over 12,000 people have now played the full game!

We want to start working on a "big" update to the game; something that expands the amount of playable content and adds more hours of enjoyment.
[/p][h3]The 5 ideas[/h3][p]We have a list of ideas that are achievable for our team, but we can only start with one. So we want to hear what you think that one idea should be! Here they are:[/p]

1. [p]New Game + mode with challenges -- Replay the main campaign with a challenge! Challenges could include revised enemy layouts, upgraded bosses, restrictions on equipped parts, and a mystery "forced evolution" mode.
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2. [p]The Testing Arena -- Who can reach the highest damage, largest size, fastest speed, and more? The Testing Arena is a new post-game area where you break evolution's limits. A very light multiplayer feature is included, with the ability to see others' high scores. [/p]
3. [p]Scenarios -- A similar idea to the Testing Arena, but focused on challenges based on specific build limitations, such as best bipedal creature, lightweights only, climbing challenges, or becoming a niche genetic freak like a proto-giraffe.
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4. [p]The Ocean -- The most requested new area is an underwater area. We're terrified of this feature! But if everyone insists, we'll do our best. And honestly, who doesn't want to be a shark? We do too. This would be a post-game area following the final boss.
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5. [p]Creature Stage... ish -- An open-world area where you can see if your species is fit for survival! This is the least-defined feature in our minds; it could be an Iron Man challenge, or more of a chill play area. Let us know what you think! [/p]

[p]Feel free to comment with your preference here on Steam, or on Discord for longer discussions.
[/p][h3]Near-term roadmap[/h3][p]Whichever expansion idea is picked, we don't plan on going silent while we work on it. Here are some quality of life features and fixes that are coming up sooner (before Christmas):

- Location maps and world map
- Biomass and Crystal farming locations for end-game players
- New skills to support defensive tank and flyer / runner gameplay
- Updating what + / - Scale Point options do
- One or more quests for new parts
- Third round bugfixes for skins not saving correctly
- Reviving bosses for a rematch
- One more round of fixes to prevent any memory leaks / degraded performance in long play sessions
- Freeze player animations during accessory placement (already done in 1.11)

There are a few other QoL features we're trying to figure out, so I won't promise they'll be ready yet. But that group includes improvements to ranged attack and block; a new recombination machine option; and improving the terrain physics.
[/p][h3]Finally, some weirdos[/h3][p]I really enjoyed these creatures shared in the Discord. Hope you like them too!
[/p][p]Giant Squid, by Hosk:[/p][p][/p][p]Help Me, by Simmon:[/p][p][/p][p]Banana, by silly lil goober:[/p][p][/p][p]Tamatoa, by Gear: [/p][p]That’s everything for now, but we’ll see you soon with new game updates! Be sure to follow us on Twitter, YouTube and TikTok for the latest updates![/p]