Update 8 Progress
Sorry I've been quiet lately, summer brings with it a major shift in my priorities and work schedule. I hope you can be patient with me because the next update will take a few months longer than the previous updates. This is the first update in a series of big updates. From this update on, I'll be moving to a 3 month update schedule to bring bigger, more meaningful updates for you instead of these small changes.
Right now, questing feels pretty linear, but the game is intended to be an open world where you choose your own adventure, so there will be some major changes to questing and progression.
I intend to make the Adventurer's Guild, and in fact almost all quests, completely optional for completing the game. The guild and quests will help you progress, and increase your "fame", which is a new mechanic I plan on adding. This number will replace the current "quest progress" value.
A new bulletin board will provide a new straightforward way of getting and completing new quests. Note that not all quests will be on the bulletin board, in fact most won't be. Also note that you don't have to collect or accept quests on a bulletin board to complete them.
These changes will allow me to streamline quest flow, and make it easier to add encounters for future updates. It will also make exploration more rewarding and meaningful.
The area under construction in the forest will be opened up. This area includes a new shopkeeper, more caves, a mini-dungeon, elementals, golems, orcs, and more. Most of these things are mapped out and almost ready to go, but I'm still working on what special encounters and quests will be in there.
This is a very large area and will probably triple or quadruple the amount of content in the game. Writing entire quest lines for all this land would take me months and require it to all be done at once, which is why I've come up with the quest/progression system above.
I'm designing a new skill system, which will be pretty simple to match the style of the rest of the game. It will involve you finding things, like books, that give you "knowledge" points. You will spend these points to unlock abilities. This will likely get pushed into its own update due to the complexities involved, but it's next on the list.
There will be a new interface window for viewing all the artifacts you've collected, which will hopefully add some more purpose to your adventuring.
Because I need to revamp some of the UI to add the abilities interface and collection interface, it will open new doors for other interfaces. One that I hope to add next is the ability to remap the controls. I may not get around to it with this update, but I'm hopeful.
* Items marked with an asterisk are stretch goals and may not make it to update 8.
Major Quest Changes
Right now, questing feels pretty linear, but the game is intended to be an open world where you choose your own adventure, so there will be some major changes to questing and progression.
I intend to make the Adventurer's Guild, and in fact almost all quests, completely optional for completing the game. The guild and quests will help you progress, and increase your "fame", which is a new mechanic I plan on adding. This number will replace the current "quest progress" value.
A new bulletin board will provide a new straightforward way of getting and completing new quests. Note that not all quests will be on the bulletin board, in fact most won't be. Also note that you don't have to collect or accept quests on a bulletin board to complete them.
These changes will allow me to streamline quest flow, and make it easier to add encounters for future updates. It will also make exploration more rewarding and meaningful.
New Map Areas
The area under construction in the forest will be opened up. This area includes a new shopkeeper, more caves, a mini-dungeon, elementals, golems, orcs, and more. Most of these things are mapped out and almost ready to go, but I'm still working on what special encounters and quests will be in there.
This is a very large area and will probably triple or quadruple the amount of content in the game. Writing entire quest lines for all this land would take me months and require it to all be done at once, which is why I've come up with the quest/progression system above.
Spells and Abilities*
I'm designing a new skill system, which will be pretty simple to match the style of the rest of the game. It will involve you finding things, like books, that give you "knowledge" points. You will spend these points to unlock abilities. This will likely get pushed into its own update due to the complexities involved, but it's next on the list.
Artifact Collection*
There will be a new interface window for viewing all the artifacts you've collected, which will hopefully add some more purpose to your adventuring.
Key Remapping*
Because I need to revamp some of the UI to add the abilities interface and collection interface, it will open new doors for other interfaces. One that I hope to add next is the ability to remap the controls. I may not get around to it with this update, but I'm hopeful.
* Items marked with an asterisk are stretch goals and may not make it to update 8.