Despite the craziness of 2020, this game continues to move forward! Though I wouldn't call release imminent, we're now much closer to the completion of OEA. For example, Crescentia has finished drawing all the scene art, covering more than 20 scenes with 150+ images.
Various UI elements have received final or semi-final upgrades, such as the fancy new title screen:
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Other core art components like the chibi scenes have also been completed, and I've moved on to various details that try to improve the game's production values. Instead of the boring balloon icons you've seen in every game (left), OEA now uses custom emotion icons (right):
It would take too long to list all the little details, so I'll move on to another big one: remade maps. The placeholders I made hastily for testing are slowly being replaced with parallaxed maps including proper shadows. None of those are quite ready to be shown, but here's a taste of the difference:
So, what remains to be done? At some point, I need to take time off development of The Last Sovereign to do the testing of the final plot section and remade elements. Reworking all the maps will also take a significant amount of time.
There's hope that the programming issues will eventually be taken care of, though they aren't quite yet. Regrettably, I am waiting on a few artists who have gone AWOL in the middle of the project. All the pixel art should hopefully be completed in time, but right now the game is missing some pieces such as faces for minor NPCs.
That's all for now. I hope the next update will be an announcement of the final beta period, along with a progress report on final visual improvements.