Build 944 - Loot boxes, Microtransactions and a Dead Game

• [DONE] Fixed some annoying bugs - [DONE] Re-added footstep variation I removed due to it slowing down the Switch version (I did it differently this time)

No, there are no microtransactions, or loot boxes (hey, even in dungeons where you'd expect more loot: I'm bafflingly stingy). I won't be doing this as I actually have self-respect and a soul that isn't a ravening black hole that I attempt to feed with endless wads of cash.

In return for this lack of voraciousness and a free game, can I ask a favour?

Don't start calling Moonring a 'dead' game.

At some point I'm going to make a version I shall call 1.0.0. It won't be vastly different from what we already have. It will probably have some annoying bug or quirk fixed, or a balancing issue ironed out. And then - relatively soon after - I'll stop updating Moonring unless something egregious shows up.

And that's what a lot of people call a 'dead' game.

I object to this phrase enormously. I come from a background where - by this metric - *every game* was a 'dead' game. Every arcade game. Every console cartridge/disk game. All of them. 'Dead'.

What people seem to be saying is, "I'd prefer this to be a live-service, always online, 'evergreen' game with all those cynical things which generate continuous revenue and have 'Seasons' and 'Skins' and that Floss dance thing..." Because, by the current definition, anything 'finished' is 'dead'.

You really need to make a decision: either you get A) A finished game the developer isn't beholden to constantly add new stuff for, or B) A cynical cash grab machine designed to keep you logging in even though you're actually pretty done with the whole thing and you're just going through the motions.

Yes, plenty of companies deliver a lot of DLC after the first release, but they typically charge enough to cover costs of running a company, and have to grow sufficiently to do that AND work on a sequel/other project.

I'm just me, at the moment, with a bit of help from my brother (increasingly so as we go into Moonring 2). I literally couldn't do more if I tried.

So, please don't make a corpse of Caldera. The poor crater-civilisation has been through enough trauma without also being zombified.

Thanks, as ever, for playing.