5.0, The Awakening becomes the Orc War
I want to take a few moments here to outline some of the upcoming changes in 5.0 which will affect all save files and manage some expectations about the game world and updates moving forward.
Getting Ready for 5.0
First and foremost, there will be an announcement about a week or so before 5.0 goes live. At that point, all active players should make a new save on the world map or in the Auria Entrance next to the Delivery Boy. Due to the overhaul incoming, it will be in your best interests to accept the Delivery Boy's offer of starting a NG+ save. This will revert all characters back to level 1 and automatically remove (NOT sell) all held items. Weapons and armor which are not obtained through questlines will be excluded from this inventory clear-out (ex: the Bolt Cutter will be lost if it has been acquired, but the Sterling Sword will be kept). All quests and questlog data will be reset to 0 and all switches set to OFF. The only things which will not be affected by this change are chests which use the self switch function, as these switches can not be undone by global changes. However, many of these chests will be altered or removed, which may permit reopening. This will be a one time event - subsequent NG+ saves will not allow for these boxes to be opened again.
Please note that the Delivery Boy will be setup to permit exactly one NG+ function per save file and will only function with items currently programmed into the game (as of today). Returning to him in this Orc War NG+ state will not yield another option to do it again. This functionality may return at a later date.
The reason this NG+ setup is being added is to allow for some major front and back end changes. Most notably are the following:
• Certain maps will become Timelost and a new similar map will take its place. (For instance: Lvell may no longer use the segmented map style, but rather be one whole city map without transitions from zone to zone besides buildings).
• Some map timelines will be condensed, others may be expanded. As of right now, there are three world maps in the game - the one from the beginning which only houses the visible areas, the one from after the final inn scene where the map is greatly expanded but travel is only permitted on the Four Kingdoms area, and one final one which has blockades during the Orc War questline. It is likely the first one of these disappears. The same concept can be applied to Den An'ura, Frost Forest, Black Forest, and other zones.
-- The reason for this can be summed up as: I have learned a great deal since using the engine for the first time in 2017. Some of my earlier work needs to be completely redone.
• The Items back-end section is finally being streamlined. I've used Deprecated Item placeholders in the past, but all of them will be wiped out come 5.0. Additionally, items will be moved to more intuitive locations in the inventory. This will cause the item you own to change as well. At some point between now and 5.0, it is advisable to sell off your entire Item inventory. Keeping items you should not may lead to save file issues which will require a new save file altogether.
- A great deal of empty space will be left between item types this time. Because of this, this will be the final item restructure CoA undergoes in its lifetime. Items that overflow the current available inventory as of 5.0 will then be placed at the bottom of the back end list (and therefore appear at the bottom of the Items menu) even if logic would suggest they appear near the top or elsewhere.
What to Expect Between Now and the Release of 5.0
- Nothing. There will be no new patches or DLC until 5.0 is released. Please continue to report any bugs discovered either here on Steam or in my Discord in the #coa_bugreports channel. Fixes to all reported bugs will come alongside 5.0.
What to Expect From Game Version 5.0
- The NG+ function will be available one time in Auria at the Delivery Boy.
- Save files from before 5.0 which do not utilize the NG+ function will not perform as they did before 5.0's release. Debugs will not be issued to fix the corresponding issues. The debug is to use the NG+ function.
- The Delivery Boy will not contain any of the debug code he currently has because all players are expected to be operating from a New Game perspective.
- The Orc War storyline will be available.
- An'ura Recon event will be finished. This is the one that begins with Azrael's non-lethal battle in Den An'ura. The reward for completing this quest is Ares the archer.
- Level up skills for the main party will be completely finalized for their current classes and will be released in a post similar to the one about Amaya.
- Events from before Jack's departure will be extended. The goal here is to have Lvell feel more like home before being forced to leave so suddenly.
- The timeline will be more blatantly established. With this, some quests may become incompletable and marked as failed. You will not be timed or given a resource to spend which equates to time, but main story events will push the time forward. If quests are not completed on the 'day' they are received, they will be lost forever.
- The Pit (both versions) will extend to at least level 50. Back end troops have been set aside for a total of 5 battle configurations per floor up to level 120, for a total of 600 battlegroups across all floors once the pit is completely finished. Enemies in the pit are worth 1/4th their usual EXP value. Bosses in the pit are worth a higher custom EXP value.
-- These battlegroups may be used throughout the world at the appropriate level and may be changed or removed entirely if the need for troop space becomes an issue. There is a finite number of troops allowed within the engine which is 2000. The Pit troops take up #1400-#2000.
- An'ura Rifts Level 25 and 50 will appear in the Colosseum. With this, the Warden's vendor stock will be updated. This will finalize the An'ura version of the Colosseum. Planned DLC using hidden held items will act as the trigger for changing the Colosseum main lobby into a themed set of rifts based on the DLC. For example, holding the Scarlet Core DLC item will allow entry into the Scarlet themed Colosseum. More detail on this function later.
- A set of potential battles may occur on specific tiles throughout the world map.
- The way enemies appear on the field is undergoing a fundamental change. This should result in less instances of having the same unit trigger two battles back to back before disappearing.
What to Expect After 5.0's Release
- Bug fixes based on any reported.
- DLC in the form of character packs and themed events.
- Additions to the 'endgame' areas. I basically have two completely different minigames I want to inject into the game but will take a great deal of time to prepare, so I haven't messed with it yet.
- The potential formal discontinuation of the "main story questline" of CoA.
So, in the interest of transparency...
I've mentioned in the past that I have virtually no income from Cross of Auria. I went into this project by myself, and for the most part, I continue to work on it by myself. I have two volunteer artists who make enemies and icons sometimes, but the whole of the development falls on me. I have not taken a payout of any size from the CoA project since 2018, but I've still put in hundreds of hours of development time. I hope to see a return on that once the Orc War storyline is finished and I'm able to put out meaningful side-story DLC. Even when factoring in the Founder's Packs and the Headless Horseman DLCs, I'm currently at less than $0.20/hr income on development. That being said, I don't expect CoA to suddenly go viral or something, but I do need to diversify my time in other areas which may stand to bring in money. For those of you who don't know this about me, I'm 31 with two kids, and the whole "doing it for fun" isn't on the table anymore. I understand how some of you might feel reading that my focus is going to shift to paid DLC and other projects, but every game has a time when it needs to end. Realistically, I'd like to change my focus from CoA made on RPG Maker MV to CoA made on Unity. Before I can do that, I know that I owe it to you all to put some kind of cap on the current story of the game. It's something I still want to do, even though sometimes I don't have the motivation.
Before CoA is put to its permanent rest, there will be a handful of pricier DLC that goes live. There are two current ideas.
#1: Character Packs, which aren't as simple as paying for new party members. These packs will remove everyone from the party and take the player on a journey somewhere and sometime in the world of Isis to experience a story from someone else's perspective. The goal is to put out roughly four hour heavily story-driven events which end in Ruby obtaining the power to have the memory of the warriors whose story was witnessed fight by her side. Honestly, the success of this idea will determine the continuation of CoA-RMMV as a whole.
#2: Themed Events. For Halloween, you got a tiny taste of one themed event where a costumed-up Ruby & friends went to free a rift of the Headless Horseman's tyranny. This would be about the size of holiday themed events. However, the goal is to create something along the lines of having a small story (say roughly an hour or two) followed by the permanent unlocking of a Dungeon and a modified Colosseum. Dungeons are effectively heavily mechanic based challenge areas where saving is restricted to save points only. The Colosseum change would allow you to at-will change between the base theme (An'ura) to the theme of the DLC. Inside, levels 25-125 rifts would challenge and reward your team. So for instance if you purchased the Scarlet Fire DLC, you would be able to tell the Warden to change the rifts to Scarlet and then use those to cross into a specially redesigned Scarlet Cavern. The dungeon itself would appear in Scarlet's actual location by Lvell, somewhere deep within. For players without the DLC, they will see the entryway but be unable to pass through. DLC holders will see an entirely different area.
To sum up the future of Cross of Auria into one much smaller thought - the sales of the base game plus these planned DLC will determine if CoA (made with RMMV) has a life beyond 2021 or if this chapter is closed for good. CoA (made with Unity) on the other hand is likely to take root after the current planned "NG-" project going on in my discord comes to a close.
I know that was a lot, so thank you if you've made it this far. I'm going to go widen the gap between time spent creating and income earned on the project now until 5.0 is done. Realistically, you may not hear another update from me about 5.0 until May or later. Many of the things I want to do have no pre-existing bases to work off of.
That's it for me. Hardy out.
Discord invite link if interested in hanging out or using it to report bugs or participate in the "NG-" project: https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw
Getting Ready for 5.0
First and foremost, there will be an announcement about a week or so before 5.0 goes live. At that point, all active players should make a new save on the world map or in the Auria Entrance next to the Delivery Boy. Due to the overhaul incoming, it will be in your best interests to accept the Delivery Boy's offer of starting a NG+ save. This will revert all characters back to level 1 and automatically remove (NOT sell) all held items. Weapons and armor which are not obtained through questlines will be excluded from this inventory clear-out (ex: the Bolt Cutter will be lost if it has been acquired, but the Sterling Sword will be kept). All quests and questlog data will be reset to 0 and all switches set to OFF. The only things which will not be affected by this change are chests which use the self switch function, as these switches can not be undone by global changes. However, many of these chests will be altered or removed, which may permit reopening. This will be a one time event - subsequent NG+ saves will not allow for these boxes to be opened again.
Please note that the Delivery Boy will be setup to permit exactly one NG+ function per save file and will only function with items currently programmed into the game (as of today). Returning to him in this Orc War NG+ state will not yield another option to do it again. This functionality may return at a later date.
The reason this NG+ setup is being added is to allow for some major front and back end changes. Most notably are the following:
• Certain maps will become Timelost and a new similar map will take its place. (For instance: Lvell may no longer use the segmented map style, but rather be one whole city map without transitions from zone to zone besides buildings).
• Some map timelines will be condensed, others may be expanded. As of right now, there are three world maps in the game - the one from the beginning which only houses the visible areas, the one from after the final inn scene where the map is greatly expanded but travel is only permitted on the Four Kingdoms area, and one final one which has blockades during the Orc War questline. It is likely the first one of these disappears. The same concept can be applied to Den An'ura, Frost Forest, Black Forest, and other zones.
-- The reason for this can be summed up as: I have learned a great deal since using the engine for the first time in 2017. Some of my earlier work needs to be completely redone.
• The Items back-end section is finally being streamlined. I've used Deprecated Item placeholders in the past, but all of them will be wiped out come 5.0. Additionally, items will be moved to more intuitive locations in the inventory. This will cause the item you own to change as well. At some point between now and 5.0, it is advisable to sell off your entire Item inventory. Keeping items you should not may lead to save file issues which will require a new save file altogether.
- A great deal of empty space will be left between item types this time. Because of this, this will be the final item restructure CoA undergoes in its lifetime. Items that overflow the current available inventory as of 5.0 will then be placed at the bottom of the back end list (and therefore appear at the bottom of the Items menu) even if logic would suggest they appear near the top or elsewhere.
What to Expect Between Now and the Release of 5.0
- Nothing. There will be no new patches or DLC until 5.0 is released. Please continue to report any bugs discovered either here on Steam or in my Discord in the #coa_bugreports channel. Fixes to all reported bugs will come alongside 5.0.
What to Expect From Game Version 5.0
- The NG+ function will be available one time in Auria at the Delivery Boy.
- Save files from before 5.0 which do not utilize the NG+ function will not perform as they did before 5.0's release. Debugs will not be issued to fix the corresponding issues. The debug is to use the NG+ function.
- The Delivery Boy will not contain any of the debug code he currently has because all players are expected to be operating from a New Game perspective.
- The Orc War storyline will be available.
- An'ura Recon event will be finished. This is the one that begins with Azrael's non-lethal battle in Den An'ura. The reward for completing this quest is Ares the archer.
- Level up skills for the main party will be completely finalized for their current classes and will be released in a post similar to the one about Amaya.
- Events from before Jack's departure will be extended. The goal here is to have Lvell feel more like home before being forced to leave so suddenly.
- The timeline will be more blatantly established. With this, some quests may become incompletable and marked as failed. You will not be timed or given a resource to spend which equates to time, but main story events will push the time forward. If quests are not completed on the 'day' they are received, they will be lost forever.
- The Pit (both versions) will extend to at least level 50. Back end troops have been set aside for a total of 5 battle configurations per floor up to level 120, for a total of 600 battlegroups across all floors once the pit is completely finished. Enemies in the pit are worth 1/4th their usual EXP value. Bosses in the pit are worth a higher custom EXP value.
-- These battlegroups may be used throughout the world at the appropriate level and may be changed or removed entirely if the need for troop space becomes an issue. There is a finite number of troops allowed within the engine which is 2000. The Pit troops take up #1400-#2000.
- An'ura Rifts Level 25 and 50 will appear in the Colosseum. With this, the Warden's vendor stock will be updated. This will finalize the An'ura version of the Colosseum. Planned DLC using hidden held items will act as the trigger for changing the Colosseum main lobby into a themed set of rifts based on the DLC. For example, holding the Scarlet Core DLC item will allow entry into the Scarlet themed Colosseum. More detail on this function later.
- A set of potential battles may occur on specific tiles throughout the world map.
- The way enemies appear on the field is undergoing a fundamental change. This should result in less instances of having the same unit trigger two battles back to back before disappearing.
What to Expect After 5.0's Release
- Bug fixes based on any reported.
- DLC in the form of character packs and themed events.
- Additions to the 'endgame' areas. I basically have two completely different minigames I want to inject into the game but will take a great deal of time to prepare, so I haven't messed with it yet.
- The potential formal discontinuation of the "main story questline" of CoA.
So, in the interest of transparency...
I've mentioned in the past that I have virtually no income from Cross of Auria. I went into this project by myself, and for the most part, I continue to work on it by myself. I have two volunteer artists who make enemies and icons sometimes, but the whole of the development falls on me. I have not taken a payout of any size from the CoA project since 2018, but I've still put in hundreds of hours of development time. I hope to see a return on that once the Orc War storyline is finished and I'm able to put out meaningful side-story DLC. Even when factoring in the Founder's Packs and the Headless Horseman DLCs, I'm currently at less than $0.20/hr income on development. That being said, I don't expect CoA to suddenly go viral or something, but I do need to diversify my time in other areas which may stand to bring in money. For those of you who don't know this about me, I'm 31 with two kids, and the whole "doing it for fun" isn't on the table anymore. I understand how some of you might feel reading that my focus is going to shift to paid DLC and other projects, but every game has a time when it needs to end. Realistically, I'd like to change my focus from CoA made on RPG Maker MV to CoA made on Unity. Before I can do that, I know that I owe it to you all to put some kind of cap on the current story of the game. It's something I still want to do, even though sometimes I don't have the motivation.
Before CoA is put to its permanent rest, there will be a handful of pricier DLC that goes live. There are two current ideas.
#1: Character Packs, which aren't as simple as paying for new party members. These packs will remove everyone from the party and take the player on a journey somewhere and sometime in the world of Isis to experience a story from someone else's perspective. The goal is to put out roughly four hour heavily story-driven events which end in Ruby obtaining the power to have the memory of the warriors whose story was witnessed fight by her side. Honestly, the success of this idea will determine the continuation of CoA-RMMV as a whole.
#2: Themed Events. For Halloween, you got a tiny taste of one themed event where a costumed-up Ruby & friends went to free a rift of the Headless Horseman's tyranny. This would be about the size of holiday themed events. However, the goal is to create something along the lines of having a small story (say roughly an hour or two) followed by the permanent unlocking of a Dungeon and a modified Colosseum. Dungeons are effectively heavily mechanic based challenge areas where saving is restricted to save points only. The Colosseum change would allow you to at-will change between the base theme (An'ura) to the theme of the DLC. Inside, levels 25-125 rifts would challenge and reward your team. So for instance if you purchased the Scarlet Fire DLC, you would be able to tell the Warden to change the rifts to Scarlet and then use those to cross into a specially redesigned Scarlet Cavern. The dungeon itself would appear in Scarlet's actual location by Lvell, somewhere deep within. For players without the DLC, they will see the entryway but be unable to pass through. DLC holders will see an entirely different area.
To sum up the future of Cross of Auria into one much smaller thought - the sales of the base game plus these planned DLC will determine if CoA (made with RMMV) has a life beyond 2021 or if this chapter is closed for good. CoA (made with Unity) on the other hand is likely to take root after the current planned "NG-" project going on in my discord comes to a close.
I know that was a lot, so thank you if you've made it this far. I'm going to go widen the gap between time spent creating and income earned on the project now until 5.0 is done. Realistically, you may not hear another update from me about 5.0 until May or later. Many of the things I want to do have no pre-existing bases to work off of.
That's it for me. Hardy out.
Discord invite link if interested in hanging out or using it to report bugs or participate in the "NG-" project: https://discord.gg/bMS9ktw