I am very excited to be finally posting this update as it comes with lots of upgrades:
A whole new world map to explore. Twice the size and optimized to fit. I was scared to redesign the world map because of all the work that went into the original, but it needed it for optimization purposes. This new one came out better than expected and I feel like it has a lot of opportunity for a deeper poetry to be showcased about the world surrounding the player.
Pretty large NPC overhaul, for friendly and enemies. Friendly starter towns, and some hidden ones in the world now have distinct villagers and guards with their own appearances and tastes in combat. This includes uniformity in the outfits of the defenders and more variety for the common townsfolk. Also included is a revamp of the NPC behavior. Friendly guards will now attack common threats nearby like wolves or goblins, but they will also retaliate if abused by the player. Villagers will seek shelter if attacked. Friendly villagers also now go about exploring their local habitat, as well as eating and drinking.
A functioning world map that is currently bound to the 'M' key. It will show the entire island, icons for friendly towns and also the player's location through their travels.
The Esc key now has stronger functionality. Slapping ESC will now close the inventory or the map if they are active, alongside accessing the options menu.
The number of starter towns has been reduced to streamline the early player experience, but the old towns still exist as points of interest to be found out in the world.
Among lots of other bug fixes for tidying purposes but they are buried in my notes at the moment.
Thank you for playing and stay tuned for more cool stuff