A New Major Sidequest and Other Major Changes

At long last, I have implemented one of the "Future DLC" areas in the game. The new content is a major side quest at the University of Chingaim LIbrary. You don't have to buy the new content, it will be delivered as part of a regular update.

Murder Mystery Side Quest

A murder has taken place at the library. A member of the library staff has been found dead, having fallen from the library's roof under highly suspicious circumstances. For some reason, the person they want to solve this mystery is you, who is in the middle of a highly urgent quest to Rescue the Princess™. She's only the crown princess and heir apparent, and the last thing standing between peace and a succession crisis. But no big deal, she can wait. You have time to solve a murder on the side. But the mystery deepens as murders continue to pile up, all on account of a rare and mysterious book, and you're in the middle of it all.

And if you think that sounds suspiciously like the plot of The Name of the Rose, well, uh you got me. This is an homage to that book.

The quest is quite long and there's an awful lot of dialogue to read, so it may not be the thing for all players. Also, the quest will involve navigating with a map, and you do actually have to navigate. You get no other help and will get lost if you aren't careful. But successfully solving the quest will get you a highly cathartic reward.

The Murder Mystery Side Quest will appear in any saved games retroactively. You don't have to start a new game to play it.

Other Changes

In addition to the new Murder Mystery Side Quest, there are many other improvements, clarifications, bug fixes, and typo corrections.

• Huge fix so that the game now recognizes so-called Xbox Gamepads (many or most of which aren't actual Xbox gamepads, but are treated by the operating system as if they were).

• There is now an app that lets you keep track of your Main Quest and all your Side Quests. You have to buy it, though. You don't just get it.

• Some of the items in some treasure chests have changed. In the original game, there is a (let us call it) joke item that seems useful, but is actually extremely, maliciously evil. Later on, there is a similar item that is actually useful. This update expands the number of treasure chests these two items might appear in, and thus gives players more opportunity to acquire the useful item earlier in the game. (You still have have to look around and explore a bit to find them, though. They are not just an automatic thing you will get on the main quest.)

• The changing rooms in Regal Amory and Outfitters are now open, so you can go in and try armor on. That's just a nice little touch, really. There certainly isn't any larger benefit to you in this game just by being able to try on some armor.

• All buildings in the Town of Brobensy can now be entered.

• A couple new achievements. One for solving the Murder Mystery Side Quest, another one for figuring out how to use a late-game item that otherwise seemed to have no use.

• Lot of new signs.

• A completely and utterly useless rugby pitch on the overworld. There's not a rugby match there in this game, no one goes there, nothing happens there, and it's not at all properly marked or sized. There is literally no reason to have a rugby pitch in the overworld. But by golly I put one in, because I go hard.

• It's not super easy to find, and it's not readily apparent what it is, but you can now obtain an item that can help you get one of the game's more difficult achievements.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy. I had a lot of fun making it, since I have the game machinery well oiled and it's pretty easy to add new features, even when they need a game engine update (which quite a few new features did).

Ditty News

For those who can't countenance Doge Boy, I have added a new social media site on Blue Sky. I'll be posting most non-update news about The Ditty of Carmeana to both Blue Sky and Twitter X. (I also have a Facebook page but I rarely update or visit it because, come on.)