Riftcast News

[h2]WHAT'S FIXED[/h2]
• Softlock from GEAR menu checking for the wrong scene name

[h2]WHAT'S NEW[/h2]
• Added coloured backgrounds for 43 areas, including Somnium Sanctorium
• This doesn't include its porch and school backgrounds
• Venture duo select can now be backed out of, outside of Touring quests

[h2]WHAT'S FIXED[/h2]
• Softlock from scene names not changing between Venture encounter menu and duo select, preventing any action
• Revision number not updating, again

This update hopefully fixes an issue with the game failing to launch via Steam at all on Windows. With the switch to an x64 executable, the .exe name was switched from RCAST32.exe to RCAST64.exe , with the default launch option changed accordingly. However, this didn't seem to stick on some users' end, so the file name's been changed back to how it was from the get-go.

Nothing's changed with the game itself.

[h2]WHAT'S NEW[/h2]
- Preparing for coloured sprites, at the cost of a slightly bigger file size and longer load times on weaker devices
- Near all species have a coloured spritesheet for each of their alts now
- Colour sprites have no animations as of yet
- Added separate toggles for species, objects and backgrounds in the reset menu
- Backgrounds and non-event/minigame items don't have coloured alts at all, however
- The Windows port now only targets x64, dropping support for x86
- Implemented a file browser on all platforms, replacing the themed, squished Godot FileDialog
- The Google Play port can access internal files, but not external ones
- Attack changes:
- Ground Crusher is now Short ranged instead of Long
- Snowball is now Blunt type
- Decreased power of Flurry and Poudrin
- Species changes:
- Mitachi's Razor Gale now functionally acts like Sharp Gale instead of Wind Claw
- Changed Vexonite's favourite food from INNARDS to NECTAR
- More playable species have at least one unique speech line
- S. SALTS no longer do anything to Puppets
- Venture changes:
- Improved previews for items, encounters and eggs
- Pressing Button A during an encounter's splash screen will lead to their DEX entry
- Fleeing is now possible during Touring quests, but will always fail
- Maybe some other changes

[h2]WHAT'S FIXED[/h2]
- Species oddities:
- Corrected Denfeld's rank from ★9 to counterpart species Torcrux's ★5
- Certain species not technically being exempt from attacking party members when they're the player character
- Alt B male Yarnix having black claws instead of white ones
- Handler Langarde having a filled white spot on their (original, B/W) idle sprite
- Dex oddities:
- Roster size only counting up to the Imago Update's 124, not the current (Spectrum Update) size of 135
- Certain species being viewable (Emperus, Nirvyras) or unviewable (Armedon) when they shouldn't be
- Also corrected Armedon's debut to the Imago Update instead of the beginning of this particular iteration of Riftcast
- Lampagore hasn't properly debuted in any major revision yet (if technically finished by the Spectrum Update)
- Alterworks Depot not having a night background
- WHACK minigame not playing any sound after losing
- Venture recruitment menu showing keys instead of translated text
- Import screen being completely untranslated
- Corrected the failure prompt for having a teammate who lacks the Slide ability
- Connection waiting screen not acknowledging the other leader's gender
- Potential game crash from attempting to import from the original or finish a Night Raid
- Save slot load screen erroneously using the last active party member's form instead of gender while picking their idle sprite
- Added a failsafe for dialogue not loading during a speech event and the ability to back out of it
- Likely some other corrections and fixes

So, everything's been kinda sorta functional now. Still some minor issues and oversights, but nothing particularly game-breaking lingering about. However, there's a few plans for the future and a critical colour conundrum you ought to know about…

[h2]Migrating to 64-bit[/h2]
From R55 onwards, this game'll only be targeting x64 on all fronts. Still ain't clear how functional the 32-bit version was on Linux, but for the longest time the game just didn't launch without debug on Windows… which may or may not have leaked in to a few older revisions. If nothing else, it'd be good to not have that (DEBUG) text in the window title at all times.

[h2]The Updates[/h2]
So, there's two big updates in the works set for releasing sometime around late August and December, the latter of the two hopefully kicking off the transition from Early Access to Full Release. There's still at least one more Minor Update to sift through first before Summer kicks off, if only to clear up some plain unfinished things like unique area backgrounds, species-specific speech lines and more actually usable/non-passive items.

There's not too many big things set in stone for now, but here's some features to look forward to…

• Better Battling: As is, both regular and quick/connection battles are totally automatic without any input from the player, or any effects in the former sort of battles beyond damage modifiers and recoil. One thing that's sure to be in the next major update is proper commanding, status effects and and other, mainly Duty-related events during regular battles.
  
• Extra Battle Facilities: Beyond the pre-set Tourneys and waves of Night Raids, there's also a proper tournament mode in Arenas with a range of regular and special NPCs alike, and a great gauntlet in the Tower, using your entire party to face the entire roster... once the final major update of the year hits.
  
• Timed Events: With the date system already in place and really not used for much beyond expiring quests and moving party members at work/school/whatever, there'll also be some new in-game events to watch out for, be it parties, special minigames or outbreaks of something rare during Ventures...
  
• Roamers: While you're idling at home, taking quests or Venturing out, other Reverians may appear to challenge your teammates or ask for assistance - and may still linger around once the deed is done as a rival, friend, or potential new recruit.
  
• Creature Creators Update: Here's a fun fact - out of the final(ish) roster of 220, 20 of them are just are variants of one specific species. More to the point, there's 20 reserved spots for… goodness knows what, really. One day, I'd like to call in some fan-made submissions to fill in some of these unused slots, perhaps during or after this year. More on that some other time.
  
• Some Other Things™: Also soon to be includes gardening at home, visiting other homelands, relations/breeding and..?
  

[h2]Full Colour Sprites[/h2]
This feature's the one's been requested above all else, and honestly? I'm not at all chuffed about that. Still, while I'm not opposed to implementing this, there's only one little problem…





…each species has two colour alts, but only one sprite sheet per species. Couple that with goodness-knows how many sprites are already completed (even including items), and it's all maybe a bit much to ask. In other words, colour sprites aren't completely out of the question, but they're just gonna take a while.

…That's about it for now. Thanks for looking, and look out for more revisional updates starting next month.