This is a big one for me. I spent a lot of this update digging into performance, and it paid off: Verlet physics, inventory, chunking, and lighting all got serious speedups, so the whole game should feel a lot smoother now, especially with the framerate finally uncapped. Beyond that, I added a new save slots system, fresh main menu art for Act 1, 21 new items, reworked item descriptions, new cutscenes and VFX, a new trader, and a couple of new questline beats. There's also a pile of combat and balance fixes in here. Thank you so much for playing my game. I hope you enjoy it.
New Features & Content
Bobby (Crystal Subway quest) now gives you a cell phone and checks in with you occasionally
Added a new trader, Marla
Added a new Guppo questline
21 new items (wow, that's a lot)
I reworked item descriptions significantly
Gems are now dropped by enemies and can be spent at traders
New save slots system
New cutscenes
New main menu art for Act 1
Added some new character stats
Settings & Quality of Life
The game now runs at an uncapped framerate
Added a new max FPS setting to the video settings
Changed some default inputs and improved how input modes are detected
Visuals & VFX
New cellphone dialogue VFX
New water ripples VFX
Performance & Optimization
Verlet physics is now 10x faster (big optimizations here)
Optimized all inventory processing (70% faster)
Improved the chunking system (3x faster)
Optimized light glow and lens flare
Optimized various particle effects
Combat & Balance
Dodge chance now applies once per frame of incoming damage, rather than once per incoming attack
Dodges now include explosions, stuns, status effects, and more
Fixed broken difficulty scaling with leveling
Bug Fixes
Dying and respawning into a quest condition now waits for the respawn animation to finish first
Stopped feral betta fish from jumping outside of combat areas
Quitting no longer resets quests while you're still in game (you'd sometimes see characters suddenly appear around you)
Fixed the default UI brightness setting being -100%; it now defaults to 0% (neutral)
Cleanup
Removed lots of unused legacy character stats
Hotfix Additions
Color palette options are now barred behind a trader who only accepts speed trial tickets
Overhauled praesidio area
Fixed many cutscene animation speed issues