No big announcement this week but I will talk about some things all the same.

Personal news, the car is fixed and I am finally on the move!

Progress continues at a steady pace as I continue to wrap up the Saliden plot line, I ultimately have not much work left on the main story, theoretically at least. The ending will require a good amount of set up but we deal with that as we can. Once I have the storyline worked out I will have to actually balance things in the gameplay side of things.

We have news on the music side of things now, we are down to just four songs for the Chapter 1 OST and I am beginning plans for implementing the soundtrack as part of the update. The best is certainly the last.

Since there really is not much tangible progress that can be visualized, I will make up for it by discussing some of my thoughts on features and where I want the game to go for the update.

A big deal for me is selling the idea of a world plagued by death, so the game has gameplay centered on overcoming and defying your fate. I always have been looking for ways to improve this experience and I hope that by the end of things, I will have made a nice balance of challenge and adaptation.

Something that I didn’t cover in the big update blog is the Game Over screen and how the changes works for the image itself. So a feature that is interesting to me is if I don’t erase a picture before the death screen can be called, it seems to override the screen. It might also be a bug with the program but it’s fairly harmless. The screen can also be directly changed with plugin commands now, so unique endings will feel just that, unique. 

Exploration has always been important to me, but it needs more incentives. As the game goes on, there will be more and more secrets added, but also more rare or valuable resources. If I manage to add currency types, ores will become very important early game. The ores will be mineable at select locations and found in the possession of Pito Tunnelers throughout the Ancient Hills. A potentially useful endeavor might be to find some of the well hidden peaceful Pito Tribes and begin trade dealings with them. As a less advanced race, they might appreciate goods they themselves cannot make, in exchange for their ores. 

The final thing I will touch on is armor sets. I want many tiers to interplay with each other and for there to be pros and cons behind armor types and sets, such as stat bonuses/negatives as well as weaknesses to elements. Locations will be vital as different towns will have different methods of armor and weaponry forging. Building good relationships with distant towns will be crucial in your quest.

I will have more thoughts and ideas to share as this update continues development and we slowly push ahead to gameplay later on.