With fishing added, I’ve been taking the last week to respond to player feedback, do some decorating ahead of future updates, and add a few pieces of content. As I’m about to dive into planning the next major update, I thought it’d be good to post a roadmap update.
So here’s the headlines, with some more detail further below…
What’s next?
- Hal’s reserve
What's after that?
- Mining
- New (secret!) location!
- Animal Fashion and decorations
What might then come, depending on feedback?
- Romance update
- Cooking
- Expanded ranch
…and all along the way, there’s more animals, festivals, characters, cutscenes, dialogue, quests and music being added!
The next level of detail behind some of the items above…
Hal’s reserve adds an area to Autumn that was abandoned when the wildlife left. With the player arriving and wildlife returning, Hal will enlist the player as a partner to create a nature reserve that showcases all the animals of Autumn, attracting tourists to the town and providing ample research opportunities.
Once it exists, the player will be tasked to fill it with animals! The town will unite around it, with other characters getting involved, a brand new arrival, and if I can figure out a cool way to do it, I’ll also be adding a new tool during this update too!
Mining in Tales of Autumn will involve exploring a cave network in search for new creatures, and new materials that can be used to craft many things, most notably a new set of items: jewellery. Which leads on nicely into…
Animal fashion and decorations adds exactly that! A few decorations for your ranch, and the ability to dress and differentiate your animals with pet friendly clothings and accessories, available through crafting and a new store (that might just come with a few new faces). It’d be rude not to add a fashion contest festival at the same time too!
Romance update if added will give you the option to pursue some of the Autumnsfolk as a romantic partner. So, naturally this would primarily be a whole load of cutscenes and character content!
Cooking - why not help out Claudia at The Last Barrel and get stuck into a new crafting type, with a few resulting business opportunities for Autumn’s entrepreneurs
Expanded ranch would add a new field area that would give you far more room to work with. I actually anticipate that Hal’s reserve and related collections will take away some of the need for a huge farm land, but we’ll see. Rather than the straightforward path of giving a larger ranch, maybe I’ll be an alternative approach…
Everything can change of course based on player feedback, but this is the current direction! At some point amongst the big ticket items, I’ll review how everyones getting on with it, and potentially move the game out of early access.
The workload is pretty daunting, but I’m excited and hope that you’ll all join me on this journey! You’re all invited to get directly involved with design decisions, content feedback, and telling me where I’m going right and wrong! Swing on by the Discord, or get me on email if you prefer.
Scott