Hello everyone!
EDIT March 25th, as posted in a reply: I decided to add two extra quests, the new area really needed them. The new content is already playable but there's plenty of small details still to work on, such as itemization to adjust, a few new abilities and spells needing new code, etc.
Unless something happens, I should have the beta released in less than two weeks.
In my last news post back in december I estimated update 0.8.3 would be released in late February at the earliest, and things are going as expected. All the new scenery is 95% ready (and that has been a huge amount of work). Coding required for this update is nearly done as well, including the QoL improvements, new level cap and other stuff.
What remains to be done, then? writing dialogues, journal entries, planning and rigging encounters, and also implementing a few new effects and powers is, roughly, halfway done. Then doing internal testing of it all, and doing a full revision and adjustment of the new stuff. If nothing weird happens, a Beta will be out by late february or early march. If there's a delay, it shouldn't be significant.
Here is a provisional list of what will be included in 0.8.3.
-New outdoor region, plus several dungeons.
-Level cap raised to 6, new Rank III spells added.
-Balance adjustment: Characters gain 2 Skill Points at level 1 of any Career, be it at character creation or when a new Career is entered. The points are gained retroactively.
-You can now redistribute your companions' skill points once.
-A single Potion of Deep Breath now affects your whole party when consumed. The alchemy ingredients for producing it have been updated.
-Added an option to order your party inventory and stash by item type.
-Quests can now be filtered/searched by text.
-Hotbuttons can now be correctly used during combat with keys 0-9.
-You can now press 'Y' to delay your combat turn(can be remapped to any key).
-Added a new option to set more exact framerate limits in Settings.
This only includes the main items on the list, because a dozen bugfixes have been included, as well as many minor balance adjustments.
It's important to remember that I take my time when writing, and I often rewrite dialogues or entire quests from scratch. That's why there's a little uncertainty in how long it'll take.
Can't wait to release all the cool new stuff. See you in the forums!
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David