Prototype 5-2 is due out next week (not necessarily on Monday)
Unfortunately, Chicken will not be providing any of the nice-to-have arts. We have the minimum mandated art. Fortunately we have plenty here to whet your collective whistles.
On the programming front, I am just now wrapping up the vendor UI. I am going to attempt to get the gem socketing interface into the game before Prototype 5-2. I expect that will take a full day of work to develop and test. After that, I need to fix a couple bugs in the random level generator, and review the balance of Chapter 5 so far.
Chapter 1 has received a few map reworks, including a new NPC added. You’ll be able to meet a world-famous gemcutter in Evermoon forest. I’ve also completely reworked some maps as requested by people on the forums (thanks guys!) and we’ve improved the boulder and tree tiles. There is juuuust enough new content in Chapter 1 to warrant a replay for veteran players, but juuuust enough that skipping right to Chapter 5 will be viable.
The UI is looking great, and Patrons are going to get a preview this week. I’ve redone the entire thing, greatly improving the functionality. The save menu doesn’t look like crap anymore, and the string-entry UI also looks almost tolerable. The main menu of the game hasn’t been reworked yet, that will probably happen in Prototype 5-3.
News on the Linux Front
I have just built my new computer. It can run Doom on the highest settings with no FPS stutter, but more importantly I have enough hard drive space now to dual-boot Linux. However, I am not making that a priority for Prototype 5-2. It will probably be introduced in a patch later on, after 5-2 but before Prototype 5-3.
If you’re a Linux user, I will be requesting your help testing it. I’m going to be building it on Ubuntu as I’ve heard that’s the best for development across the Linux variants. If you’re a more experienced Linux developer I’d love to hear your thoughts on how I should go about this.
Until then, get psyched for Prototype 5-2 next week.
Pandemonium Development 