Greetings strands fresh and old, it's been some time since the Wilds welcomed. :]
The previous version of Echo of the Wilds was made in a rather old version of GameMaker, so I spent a bit of time updating it to the new version of GameMaker, and since I had to do a bunch of tinkering under the hood thought I might as well just have a good old rummage through it all.
There's not a huge amount in terms of brand new stuff, but a lot of modernisations to make the game nicer to play. Note there are some big changes so old game save files won't work in this new version. If you want to continue playing the previous version it's now available in the Betas Tab of the game properties.
The biggest change is how the map system works. Previously you just had a small map and had to constantly Forget old places to make room for new Scouted places. An issue with this is it's very difficult for newer players to get a sense of progression and direction through the game, as well as not really knowing if/when areas will become useful. You no longer have to Forget areas, instead you now craft Paper which is then added to your existing Map increasing its size. It gives a very good sense of where you are in the game and is quite nice to look over to see how far you've come. You can also do some more interesting things with it, for example the Gateways now block off entire regions, and the Treasure Cove is more of a true treasure hunt.
The other main change is in the way you learn bushcrafts. Previously it felt pretty random what you were forced to learn, but now you have more control so you can be more strategic with it. The value of bestowed items is now also added together and visually represented so you have a better idea of what's going on. This is especially useful for bestowing high value foods since now excess value is no longer wasted.
And a bunch of other stuff...
- Game now runs at 60 FPS.
- Text resolution size has doubled to make it easier to read.
- Silky smooth sub-pixel camera movements.
- Button prompts show the bound button and can be set to different inputs (e.g. keyboard, Xbox pad, etc).
- Can rebind gamepad controls.
- Can change the game's difficulty mid-run via The Further.
- Separate volume sliders for Music and Sound Effects.
- The amount of save slots has doubled to 6 and you can now save to any slots mid-game.
- Now have the option of auto-saving the game at the start of each day (can be toggled in the Endly Altar).
- Added a Title to text boxes (e.g. showing item names, or the name of whose speaking).
- General menu usability improvements (e.g. when stood in front of a resource the Use Tool prompt will now show the inventory item to be used and instantly use it when pressed).
- Camp upgrades now store more items to keep your home tidy (e.g. storage boxes have twice the capacity).
- Winter can now be survived through (it changes to Spring after the usual Season days), so Endless Mode is now a Hard Mode since the normal game is effectively endless.
- Added a couple of new narrative scenes and extended some others (including the ending).
- Rather a lot of other tweaks and minor bits and bobs to make things more intuitive, better explained, less annoying, etc.
- The Branular Grove area can now be used to change the Season for the day.
- Added a new Fishing Pond area for... fishing.
- New bushcraft - Frog Pockets: Increases your inventory by 2 slots.
- New bushcraft - Workbench: Allows you to see the current durability of tools, as well as repair them and upgrade gear.
- New bushcraft - Leafy Hood: Keeps the rain and snow off your comfy camp fire.
- New bushcraft - Spyglass: Can see unscouted areas on your map and ignore fog.
Enjoy! :]
