Version 4.02 Released to Patrons, Poll Results, and More (Maybe a cat?)

Quick Development Update

I spent most of the week fixing bugs, wow who would have thought. Chicken is designing a new character (patrons get to see her today!), Koops is designing a new character (patrons get to see her next week!), Urimas… made some sprites but mostly did his own thing. Hund, who can say?

It’ll be back to maps for me later, but keep the bug reports coming.

Version 4.02 is out

If you’re a patron, it’s on the downloads page. Steam users should have gotten the update automatically, and Itch users can find it on the game’s page. Changelogs are available on the downloads page or in the changelog file inside the zip.

Feedback Poll

This poll was conducted with everyone who has played chapter 2 so far. Obviously there might be little itty bitty spoilers in it, so don’t read it if you’re going in totally blind.

Wow who would have thought the people who like the game enough to spend money on it like it! But it also means we’re going in the right direction.

Combat balance is slightly too difficult, so enemies will probably get their HP’s toned down somewhat. It’s meant to be hard, because you’re out of chapter 1 and the game expects you know how it works, but not that hard.

A generally positive or neutral response, so these will be put into other abilities. They’re “better” in that they communicate more information than the previous version of the text.

The green chests will definitely be getting put into other chapters, though they aren’t as important since chapter 2 has the crafting system. It’s still a nice system to make the world a bit more alive and give you a reason to re-explore it, and maybe you’ll find something you missed.

I can’t believe you people like puzzles.

The dynamic map both shows the overall layout of the playable area, but also updates as you visit parts and shows connections to areas you haven’t been to yet. Since the result was positive, we’ll go back and update chapter 1 and 5’s maps accordingly – eventually.

Ha ha most of you found – the hey wait. Zoom in.

Zoom in again.

Son of a bitch!

I will probably decrease materials requirements slightly. It should take some work and make you want to pick your items carefully, but not be so much that you don’t make forward progress.

I can’t take this seriously because I’m just that cool. Wish I had a way to outwardly show that.

Going forward things will be tightened up a little bit, but most people think they’re about right.

I know my audience and my audience loves killing.

The minigame will be expanded, and most people think that even if it’s not good now, it can be good. I’ll give you some unique equippables, tougher enemies, and even make you fight groups. It’ll be great!

Pretty strong positive response, though I am surprised statue was actually more popular than werebat.

1: The werebat TF is going to get some descriptions, but Mario hasn’t finished them yet.
2: Sanya isn’t mind-control proof, and most people don’t think of the TFs as anemic.
3: Zeke’s power progression needs to be balanced against his late-game potential. Once everyone else stops buying skills, he gets to keep doing that. He may get other upgradeable skills later. For now I can balance him by making his earlier equipment better.

Also he’s a goat so making him OP is just unfair to the humans who play this game. It’s not real life!

4: The maps feel empty because most of the stuff in them – isn’t in them! This is Legend of Zelda rules. Surely you saw those odd grappling posts, the spots of stone flooring that don’t fit, or the boulders?

You know what, sunglasses are going to go on the crafting list. It’s only fair.

Ha ha, straight protagonists. Good one! Sanya is as close as you’re going to get.

Perfect Hatred is the final boss of chapter 2.

The hot spring scene is in as of 4.01, this comment was older than that update. Also they’re going to kiss a lot in various scenes and stuff, don’t worry about it.

Zeke has a bigger portrait because goats can actually get pretty big. Go take a look at some of the bigger ones in youtube videos, they can rival a human!

We may either move the werebat TF to battles, screen transitions, or leave it at resting. I am currently leaning towards battles (though resting would advance it immediately).

(People on the internet tell me that Tom Brady is insane but the guy seems to like goats)

Ha ha, quest log. Good one! NPCs are wacky like that.

Selling the passage of time by adding more scenes also keeps the player from starting the game proper, which is an eternal issue. For every person who says this is too short, someone else will say “Let me play the game!”. Adding an extra hunting session, even if playable, is way overdoing it.

Crowbar-chan is going to have sunglasses and so much more. Just wait and see.

There already is! You can volunteer for the statue one, and the werebat one does not require a defeat at all. In general I try to include both though some (mostly the quest ones) won’t have both.

Sanya is the low-mental-component protagonist. Don’t worry, there’s stuff for the hypno fans. Statue is the least hypno-y TF out of all of them for reasons that will become clear later.

The sunglasses are taking over.

So that’s the general feedback, with a weird running gag that wormed its way into being canon. We do that a lot and do not apologize.

The Patron Steering Survey

$5+ patrons got to vote on our targets for the next big release. Discussion is below, but first, the cave crawler.

Even the $5 patrons love the cave crawler tf. It’ll happen, don’t worry.

So it’s looking like Empress and the Harpies will get priority. The Snow Bunnies are actually (hopefully) going to come along in the next prototype, but that’s due to proximity. They’re right near the entry to the area, and didn’t perform horribly in the poll. Windthralls and Fungoids will have to come in a later release, as they don’t have the proximity excuse.

This means the next release may take some time, as the Harpy Tower Defense minigame will need to be made. I’m looking forward to it, but geez you guys always pick the most involved stuff.

The big winner was the kitsune TF, but joke’s on you, the minigame for it is already in the game’s code! I already made it, ha ha ha! We might also see raptors in that release, but probably not Raelynn or the alraune story. That will come later.

As for the Trials of the Dragon, the grappling hook dungeon will go first. All three can be found in the Old Capital Grounds, and once the area comes out, I’ll try to put one trial in for each major release after that.

Therefore the upcoming plan is: Westwoods (Bunny, Empress, Harpy), Old Capital Grounds (Kitsune, Raptor), Ice Spires (we’ll do a vote on which subquests to do when we develop that) + Grappling Hook Trial, and then we’ll do another vote to pick what order we do the remaining subquests and minor areas.

Curious Cat

I hope you guys are ready for the craziest questions.