Party System Update Notes - v0.3.0

This update restructures the introduction to set up better for expanding the game going forward, and adding the new class. The beginning gameplay is more open-ended now, where you can get straight into the game and play without much interruption, and an emphasis on immediate progression over story. This is intended to make new playthroughs more fun at the start. This is also setting things up to make it possible to create multiple characters per world for when the new class is released.

Intro Restructure

• The game now begins completely open-ended with no special rules. Time is moving as normal, you can sleep whenever, elites spawn right away.

  • The game no longer saves throughout the first day.

    • Any existing save file that has not completed the first day will be reset to the beginning.

• The intro story has had a few major adjustments to make it more clear, as well as to make the story make sense when you have multiple characters per world.

  • Some character designs have been adjusted to make them more memorable/recognizeable.

• The tutorial has been removed.

• The map is available from the start.

• Gondola Boss is now killable from the first encounter.

• You will no longer auto-level to level 10 upon killing the gondola boss.

  • Enyo will stop you from taking the gondola down to Palea town before level 10, since you cannot become a Yumanite until level 10.

• The exp required from level 1-10 is now half.

• There is now a "main" tab in the quest menu for main quests to help guide you during the introduction.

Party System

• NPCs may randomly walk up to you and ask to party with you. There are three types of party members:

  • Yumanite - An attacker that will fight with you.

  • Medic - A supporting party member that focuses on healing and enhancing you.

  • Scout - A general supporting party member.

• This system is quite basic for now. There is more planned for it, but I decided I should focus on adding the new class first, and then the friendship system can be expanded upon in the future.

NPC Trading

• NPCs may also randomly walk up to you and ask if you'd like to buy a specific item.

• The purpose of this system is to give more freedom in terms of how you'd like to progress. For example, if you don't want to gather stones or iron bars yourself, you now have the option to skip that part and spend your Ora to buy the materials you need.

Other Changes

• Added a "Tip Book" item that you can click to view previous help pages.

  • Many help pages were replaced with a new tip alert that gives a summary of the page and adds the page to your book menu.

• Wandering NPCs spawn in more locations, and spawn more commonly outside of towns.

• "Faster Slingshot Chargeup" Ability Tree node was replaced with "Slingshot Special", since the Slingshot special is no longer obtained from the tutorial.

• Minion monsters now go invisible during dialogue.

• Basic Bench is available from Yuma Mart immediately.

• Colors of white hair color have been adjusted.

• The text on the pause

• There are many other small changes that are not worth listing, as the entire introduction was restructured.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Chewy pet getting stuck in a wall sometimes.

• Removed the hidden portal that crashes you in Palea Neighborhoods 1.

Development Update

This update ended up being much more work than expected, even after cutting a few planned features. A lot of the time went into restructuring systems and setting the game up for future content, so the changes may not feel as massive on the player side. However, this work puts the game in a much better position for adding another class and expanding things going forward.

Thank you all for your patience and support!