V1.1 Release: 3 New Maps, Cutscene Improvements, built-in Cheats

Hey all!

Since the release of V1.0, I've made it a goal to start releasing more regular content updates. These are going to be smaller, adding new various features to the game.

With it comes the release of the very first of this likely long series of updates: V1.1!

So, what's new in V1.1?

3 New Maps:

In V1.0, there are 3 Passageways within the Meadow of the Waternymphs map that previously lead nowhere (and clicking them just yielded "under development"). Well, development of those maps have finished, and their more than just a couple of new maps...

Introducing, the "Pseudo Random Map Generator". And its just as the name implies- these are not true random maps like there were in Classic, but instead are based on a pool of prebuilt maps.

As part of this update, I created a handful of small maps to test this new feature out.

So what's going to be included in these prebuilt maps?

Well, while the layout of the terrain is static, all spawns within it are randomized. This means that while exploring the map, you won't know what sorts of encounters you'll face. Of course, the maps have been tailored to be largely straightforward: the pseudo random map generator is not meant to replace the manually created maps, but instead meant to supplement the content. These maps are there to allow for players to acquire additional experience and resources they couldn't otherwise acquire.

Since this is just phase 1 of deployment of this new system, I figured a simplified approach would be best. In the future, with a larger map and enemy pool to work with, I imagine these random maps will become a lot more challenging and become on-par with regular maps.

So what's for the future of this system?

A potential improved goal would be to create a system that randomizes the terrain of the map, thus making these maps truly random. But, that will be for a later date. For the most part, adding new maps to the pool would be most ideal.

Improvements to Cutscenes and SubCutscenes

In response to a critique left by a player of the game, they suggested some improvements to the Cutscene systems.

While with the current way the cutscenes are implemented I could not directly implement their ideas, I did come up with a few of my own that I think will suffice.

The first is within regular Cutscenes, the speed at which the text displays is much faster. Previously, it would slowly add each character by character. Now, it rapidly adds all characters within a few seconds, allowing the reader to read (and re-read, if necessary) the text at their own pace. Bearing in mind that at any time, you can click to pause the Cutscene, and take as much time as you want reading it!

I think this improvement is a good compromise between displaying all text at once and the original slow character-by-character system as prior. The only further improvement I think could be made would be to anchor the text better.

Its worth mentioning that Cutscenes are mostly meant for the early part of the game, and I'm anticipating them being sparsely used throughout the rest of the game. But who knows!

The next improvement to cutscenes is within the SubCutscenes mechanism: these are cutscenes that occur in-game, where the camera just focuses on the speaker as they talk, then jumps to the next speaker, and so on. All in-game.

Originally, it followed the same style as Cutscenes and slowly added text character-by-character, continuously adding text without stopping.

In standard dialogue systems, typically it rapidly displays all characters then pauses and allows the reader to read at their own pace.

I've updated SubCutscenes to follow that style: now, it rapidly displays an entire line of text, then pauses. The player can simply click to continue onto the next line of text. I feel like this plays significantly better, because now the dialogue system flows a lot more quickly than before and you can much more rapidly get through a SubCutscene, while still offering the ability to stop and read things more delicately as desired.

The design behind the Cutscenes and SubCutscenes are two different ideas: Cutscenes are meant for players to be able to simply initiate them, take their hand of their keyboard + mouse, and enjoy the cinematic. SubCutscenes on the other hand, since their all in-game, I want players to still be engaged with the game. I think these improvements to the cutscene systems really bring out their design qualities I want to exhibit.

Cheating!

Cheats are one of the best things to be added to video games because they can really improve the replayability experience. I've had developer tools in the game for a long time now, and in this version I'm happy to say I'll be including some of them into the game as a permanent addition.

So how to access them?

From the New Game option in the Main Menu, click on the Grandmaster Custom Settings. Then, scroll down, and you should see the option to "Enable Cheats". Then, begin a new game.

So what kind of cheats are available?

A few of note are: unlocking all spells, all supply, and of course the ability to teleport anywhere in the map! Note that using these cheats can in fact break parts of the game, so if you ever encounter any issues, just click the "Accept Defeat" cheat-button.

Saving System

The final feature I'm happy to announce is more of a backend one– in all previous builds of the game, updates would break savefiles, and you would have to start over.

But not anymore- I've written some update handlers to account for all necessary database changes between versions. This means that your V1.0 savefile should carry over into V1.1, and automatically update to account for all the previous changes.

I hope you like V1.1!