It's slightly misleading to say "starting on v0.21" because I've been working on the maps and organizing notes on what exactly I want to happen since something like v0.17, but since the early access release of this year's April Fool's Day game, I've been working on v0.21 in earnest. I have had some client work come up (some if which felt long overdue - it feels fantastic to go back to some of that) which kept me busy for the majority of the week, but I've still managed to make some very good progress.
The maps for v0.21 are now completely done (with the exception of any secret rooms I decide to build after everything else is done), the eventing is done for roughly 30% of those maps, and now I'm starting on writing in the dialogue and implementing the story. I've actually been somewhat concerned about not being able to get v0.21 released in April due to the amount of client work that's been coming in and the familial obligations that have kept me away from work for a week at a time (which will be coming up again soon), but thanks to all of this progress, I'm much more confident that I'll be able to get a test build out this Friday, and absolutely have the update ready for early access before May.
On that note, while I do feel bad for going back on what I said about opening up the region for exploration earlier, I'm very confident now that it was the correct choice. Not only did it save me development time and let me put out the earlier update sooner, but now I can make inclusions that I'd otherwise have needed to find ways to hide or otherwise stop them from being accessed until this update for game balance reasons. I now also have time to include extra mechanics to make the new area feel more unique. Nothing too terribly complex (and certainly not as complex as turning the game into a turn based strategy for a while), but enough to keep the whole update from feeling like padding.
It continues to be surreal that I'm getting so close to the end of the story after working on this game for as long as I have.
Just one update left after this one.
Phew.
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