Welcome to 3.0! The Village Patch:
What follows is the single largest patch I've released outside of maybe the resolution patch, but that patch didn't really add real gameplay, it was just a lot of work for me. This patch adds actual playable content and features and I'm extremely excited to launch it. I've done lots of testing but because its so large, I always appreciate people reporting bugs and funny busniess.
Town Upgrades:
In my opinion, the single most important upgrade of the whole patch is the new town upgrade system. I'm not trying to create extra work for myself but the old town upgrade system didnt age well with the resolution patch. It was designed for a 640 x 480 resolution window and not only that, because it was designed for such a small screen, it meant some info features and quality of life systems were intentionally left out for the sake of saving ui space.
I introduce to you the new upgrade UI that gives you full explanations of the upgrades as well as resources required. When you click on an upgrade it will tell you exactly which resources you are missing and you can see the "star level" of your building as well. Each building can be upgraded to 3 stars offering unique building changes at each level instead of just boring stat increases like +10 storage.
Mail System:
The Mail system was SORT of created for freeplay mode, mostly only idea. its execution was sort of half implimented and could hardly be called a system. It was an idea that I experimented with but did not fully impliment.
Now Toby can upgrade the storage facility to contain a post office, the office itself acts as a safety deposit box for villagers and strangers to send you physical goods, but this upgrade comes with a mail box for outside Toby's house which allows others to send Toby mail.
You can expect things like:
"hey, I heard you are collecting rare eggs. I have one. if you meet me out in the desert near such and such ill trade you for a diamond." or "hey thank you so much for clearing out the marl from the forest, as thanks we sent such and such item, you can find it in your safety deposit box - love, alphathans at frank falls"
The Black Smith and Mine Shaft:
The blacksmith got a MASSIVE gameplay overhaul in that you can now install an infinitely scaleable mine shaft. At any time, you can spend resources to expand the depth of this shaft and explore an infinite number of randomly generated dungeons. This introduces a massive opportunity to collect various ores that get rarer as you travel deeper, as well as curated events that happen on certain floor checkpoints. Btw you can actually break down the walls with your pick axe.
Trophy System:
The trophy system has existed since alpha, but I never actually had time to create all the trophies art and effects and code them into the game so I cut the feature a while ago.
The game now officially has the trophy system again, the features are as follows: -Aquire trophies by doing in game things such as digging a certain number of times, hearing your first rumour, reaching day 14 etc. -Each trophy is also tied to a steam achievement so if you are playing on steam you will be able to farm those. -You can enter your trophy case and equip a trophy, they arent just for show. trophy's have effects such as increasing ore drop rates, exp boosts, increasing random quest appearances etc. happy collecting!
The Farm:
The farm got some big changes including a new pond that can house various water creatures. You have to take the time to restore it but once you do, its inhabitance will play on your farm and water your crops for you.
There is also the beginnings of a new building placement system. You can now aquire blueprints for entire buildings and place them on your farm. The storage shed for example is a multi use structure that acts a woodworking table, a storage unit and save point. Place it on your farm where ever you want, and even pick it up and move it.
The Alchemy Station:
Potion making got a big quality of life upgrade in the resolution patch via failed potions making unstable flasks, and moving the recipe book away from a seperate shelf and right into the potion making scene.
But this patch the whole building got an overhaul with massive upgrades including potion automation that creates daily potions for you that you can let build up over a number of days and then when its convenient you can come take them right off the shelf. You can also now recruit NPC's to collect resources for you, just give them a copy of what you want and they have a chance to generate more each day, even rare items.
Item Depot:
Speaking of the item depot, The item depot is also getting a huge overhaul in this patch. The village can now be intruded upon and you may find yourself having to lock up your items. meet the giant vualt door upgrade. In the same screen shot we can also see the safety deposit boxes added from the mail room upgrade. As well as the new furniture system that allows you to place and move furniture inside the item depot decorating it however you like. the coutner top is modular, the carpet is moveable and you will be able to build and obtain new decorations as well.
Rumour System:
The rumour system was always in the game but it was poorly implimented. I was horribly manual. As my skills have developed over the last 11 years, it was time to revisit this system. It now acts as its own menu.
Rumours now appear based on Toby's level. The rumours that exist in the back end are devided into pools based on level ranges, so if toby is level 1 to 3, theres a pool of rumours you can randomly recieve each new day. then once you are level 5, the pool gets larger. each new day rumours are pulled randomly from the pool available to you and suggest level appropriate activities for you to indulge in that you might not otherwise know about.
Tunnel System:
The game now includes a tunnel system upgrade for the tool shed that allows you to fast travel to any building within the village. With the vault system and the tunnel system - I hope I'm making it obvious what future system will exist.
This is meant to be a quality of life upgrade for when you want to hit multiple buildings on your trip to town and want to avoid the walking and load screens associated with the main hub. It will also add more story oriented opportunities in the future. Stay tuned for those.
The Library:
The library went through some bug fixes but most imporantly, the music player was swapped out for something entirely different. Its the beginning of something pretty cool and I'm excited to impliment the rest. stay tuned for more on this.
That's All, Folks
I don't normally post patch notes here on steam - though I may start. But if you want to stay updated with more frequent and smaller patches, bug fixes or just want to chat, please join the discord!
We'd love to have you and you can ask questions and speak to me directly, tell me what you love and what you hate, I'm extremely responsive! until next time! Matt - All the way from Toby's Island
