New Major Update: Early Access v0.65.0

Well, there's no denying we're living in some strange times right now. I know some vague platitudes from a no-name indie dev won't do you much good, but I promise you that this isn't forever.

If you're feeling stressed, panicked, depressed, whatever - that's normal. Give yourself grace and patience. Just chill out at home and play some relaxing games - I can think of a few :D

On a personal note, although I live in one of the hardest hit US states (Washington) I have no plans on suspending work on Village Monsters. One benefit to being a solo indie dev working from home is that I've been following all these social distancing requirements for many months now.

Anyway, enough doom and gloom. Time for some patch notes!



[h2]Game Feel[/h2]
Since November I've received a steady stream of feedback that the game feel isn't quite right yet. This is to be expected for any unreleased game, but I don't want to wait to the end before polishing things up.

Here are some changes I've made to improve the game feel of Village Monsters.

• Drastically adjusted the inspection range to improve behavior and make it easier to inspect the object you mean to
  
• Player movement now has acceleration and friction, meaning movement should now have more "weight" to it and feel less swim-y
  
• Improved interaction points with merchants / services NPCs
  
• Improved the deadzone when using a gamepad
  
• Made camera a bit more dynamic and smoother
  
• Added support for changing the camera speed to account for fluctuation in FPS
  
• Lowered player's default max speed slightly (sprint is unaffected)

[h2]New & Improved Features[/h2]
Every update brings more features and systems online. Here's a few of them new to v0.65

• Villagers now reply to your letters. Their response depends on what they thought of your letter / gift
  
• Your mailbox is now properly saved on game exit - you will no longer miss new mail if you quit the game before reading it
  
• A new Odd Job for Treasure Hunting (Tutorial) has been added
  
• Sending Feedback / Reporting Bugs is now accessible via the main System menu
  
• A number of new gifts have been added to the store
  
• Added a large number of new potions. The most useful might be the Potion of Agreeable Affections which makes it easier to befriend people
  
• New entries for villager profiles have been added
  
• Added a large number of new effects for the Dr. Klaus Human Experimentation job
  
• Added a huge number of new treasures to find, including new rings, amulets, and more
  
• Added or improved description and lore of existing treasures
  
• Each region now has their own distinct list of treasures to find
  
• Added a new message for unlocking post office boxes and added more items to discover inside
  
• Dig spots now spawn at a slightly higher rate

[h2]Cutscenes[/h2]
Village Monsters now has cutscenes - it's finally like a real video game!

Most of my time was spent creating the infrastructure itself to support cutscenes, so there aren't many in the game yet, but that'll change soon pretty quickly.

• Added the concept of cutscenes to the game
  
• There's a new intro cutscene involving the mayor when starting a new game
  
• There's a new cutscene that plays when encountering the glitched bridge in Firetree Forest for the first time
  
• In general, story cutscenes will only trigger for new game files. In the future, other cutscenes - like for villager relationships, etc. - will trigger for existing files
  
• Cutscenes currently can't be paused or skipped, though that will change in the future
  
• Cutscene conditions are saved between sessions - meaning you'll never risk missing one before bumping into its trigger

[h2]Improved Graphics & UI[/h2]
I improve the graphics with every release, but for this one in particular I spent a lot of extra time with art assets that have been around since the early days - this includes UI elements like the timepeice, many villager sprites, critters, shadows, and more.

• Improved the sprites of many villagers, notably Umbrae, Edmund, Bugs, Trundle, Lindwyrm, Mayor Ludo, and others
  
• Added movement sprites to a number of villagers
  
• Added a brand new clock & calendar UI element and retired the old one
  
• Added a new "virtual keyboard" for gamepad users
  
• Completely redid the exterior and interior of the village library
  
• Added an enormous amount of new furniture and decoration
  
• Greatly improved Dio's home interior
  
• Greatly improved Zigi and Bug's room
  
• Improved the Active Effects page + descriptions for each effect
  
• Improved various tiles in the spring tileset
  
• Improved the look of several critters and fish
  
• Changed (and standardized) a large number of fonts
  
• Improved the look of a large number of buildings in the village
  
• Improved a number of "flat" sprites by adding proper outlining or shading
  
• Upcoming World Modifications are displayed in the End of Day summary
  
• Added new & improved keyboard and gamepad icons
  
• Updated a number of portraits for non-NPCs
  
• Improved journal fonts across the board
  
• Most list elements (like the main menu and dialogue choices) now properly loop

[h2]Bugs Fixed[/h2]
As usual, I took the time to fix an absolutely shameful amount of bugs. The following will no longer plague the land.

• Further reduced memory footprint by booting unused data structures to the curb. Get a real job, losers!
  
• Fixed text formatting issue with the Donkey Fly
  
• Fixed name and description of the Mail Key treasure
  
• Fixed issue where player character could interact with objects during the end of the day transition
  
• Fixed a number of instances where Zigi was incorrectly referred to as Zero
  
• Fixed a large number of typos hiding in some new idle dialogue
  
• Fixed an issue that could result in infinite confirmation boxes when performing Odd Jobs
  
• Fixed villager relationships not increasing the proper amount when receiving gifts
  
• Fixed portraits for a number of inanimate objects, like mailboxes
  
• Fixed rare issue when the mayor would erroneously send cancelled holiday letters in the mail
  
• Fixed issue where fish would not bite in the ponds of Firetree Forest
  
• Fixed a number of missing words and typos caused by Valentine's textual glitches
  
• Fixed a collision issue with ladders and other rotated objects
  
• Fixed coloring issues in Vara's house
  
• Fixed some furniture weirdness in Mock & Birdie's house
  
• Fixed wallet display issues
  
• Fixed collision box surrounding player mailboxes
  
• Fixed tile issues in Saley & Stapes home
  
• Fixed issue where UI elements would overlap objects in Saley & Stapes' home

Stay safe, keep cozy, and have fun!