Hey folks!
If you're a game developer, you're probably no stranger to the tedious and sometimes mundane tasks that come with the job. Adding support for new input devices like a joystick controller, for example, is one such task that can be incredibly time-consuming but is nonetheless essential to ensure that your game is accessible to as many players as possible.
In my case, I've been working hard to add joystick controller support not only for the Steam version of Fabled Lands but also for a potential Nintendo Switch release (Oh, boy, oh boy!). This means ensuring that the game can detect and respond to joystick input, mapping joystick buttons to in-game actions, and making sure that the game's UI is designed to accommodate joystick navigation.
That last part is a nightmare! A game such as Fabled Lands is heavy on the UI and mapping everything manually, adding lots of events, checks and whatnot in the code is killing my brain cells. Motivation going forward is my dream to eventually see the game on the Nintendo store as Nintendo is one big reason for me to fell in love with games growing up.
Of course, I am overexaggerating a bit as I love doing what I do. Even the less intricate parts of it. I have already been accepted by the Nintendo dev program and a Switch dev kit is on my way from Germany, so fingers crossed!
Unfortunately, this kind of work doesn't always make for exciting updates or flashy new features. It's easy to get bogged down in the details of mapping buttons and testing inputs, which means that progress on other aspects of the game can slow down. As a result, my regular updates have been a bit quieter lately, as I’ve been putting most of my energy into this behind-the-scenes work.
Of course, I don't want the players to feel left out in the meantime. That's why I've decided to release a new patch that adds some long overdue fixes and quality of life improvements even as I continue to work on the joystick support.
Incremented version to 1.1.5
- Reworked 'follow the old man' choice on The Isle of Druids. He now blesses you with a Luck blessing at the start of the game.
- Added a tutorial message to emphasize the importance of blessings.
- Added highlighting in the turn order view when hovering a unit in combat.
- Added clarity which blessing you have lost when losing a blessing at random.
- Added a new requirement to Rat Poison describing its precise usage to avoid confusion.
- Reduced volume of ambient sound effects that were too loud while at sea.
- Fixed Slave Pits in Aku not restoring your lost Stamina despite the text saying so.
- Fixed Merchant filters not getting properly reset when closing the shop.
- Fixed Merchant pricing text going out of bounds on Large UI option.
- Fixed saving and loading while in Chambara's explore option, causing a critical story bug on the luck dice roll.
Thanks to all the players posting their feedback on the forums and Prime Games' Discord giving me constant food for thought.
As always, don't forget to wishlist the game and follow the ride:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1299620/Fabled_Lands/