Having just finished taking a few passes over the maps introduced before v0.4, I think I'm happy with where they all ended up in terms of item and enemy density. There's still a bit of room in case any side quests or similar content ends up taking place in any of those maps, but I'd rather have that room and not need it than need it and not have it.
Speaking of side quests, that is where my focus is moving to. I've got a few in mind, but I want to take the feedback I've been getting (like not knowing where Viridius' Holds are, or having trouble finding the shadowy Maid) and working in some side quest content related to that. Sending you to various locations to complete side quests should help familiarize people with the different locations and encourage the exploration necessary to find the relevant story points.
There will be more besides that coming; things like more optional Holds and other hidden areas. That content may need to wait for v0.5.x releases due to time, but if nothing else, the trophies for v0.4 and the content relevant to getting them will be finished. Some of it has already been partially implemented in the test build, but it may not end up being fully implemented by the time work on v0.5 needs to start.
In addition to side quests, I'm working on adding more traders. My original intention with traders was to open up the possibility of trading certain items to one village, taking them to another, and trading items there for profit. The core functionality has changed - rather than earning silcrow it will serve as a way to get certain items instead - but I still feel that system is under-utilized in the current release. Some of that functionality won't be implemented until the second act for story reasons, but I don't want to miss the opportunity to introduce the mechanic before it becomes more useful. That also means that the idea I have for "easy" trading can be implemented after you're already familiar with how trading works. But that's getting a little too far into the future.
For the more immediate future, v0.4.3 should be on track to follow the same development cycle as v0.4.1 and v0.4.2, and be out for the first weekend of December. At that point, focus will shift to v0.5 so the winter update can be ready in time for your winter holiday of choice. The maps for which are already created, they just need a bit of extra attention to differentiate them from their normal versions.
And if you haven't yet, I'd appreciate it if you took a moment to check out my Patreon. I could really use the support. There's even a Discord server now (which will only be open to supporters after a few more days)!
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