Hi, everyone! Ryan here, creator of Wicked Seed.
I wanted to share how progress is going on the upcoming Daybreak update.
Public Testing Branch
In the first update I mentioned how I wanted to have the update available for public testing in mid-July but that has slipped back a couple of weeks as there were some unanticipated hurdles I didn't account for. I'm now looking at early August for the public test branch and I will make another post here and on the discussions board on how to participate, for those who want to take an early look or help find issues.
At this point the update is about 95% complete with only some minor fixes and tweaks needed to be done. Content-wise, it hasn't changed much from what was shown in the first progress update. Now that the Daybreak epilogue is complete though, I can share that I expect most first play throughs will take about 60 to 90 minutes. There is also a hard difficulty that will test your skills a bit more as well as new challenges exclusive to the epilogue and of course new costumes to collect. I like to be thorough in my testing so I am currently in the process of 100%'ing the game again before the public testing so I can find as many bugs on my own first.
Visual Improvements
I've also done a lot of work on the base game, too. I've reworked lighting in over half the maps, heavily reduced or outright removed almost all the fog that would be blocking out the background and added in more background decoration instead. I've also added in a new water system. Here's a few shots of the first area showcasing some of these changes.
I'm hopeful for more new players when the localization comes out so I've also made some changes to the first area of the game, The Seaside, by adding 4 new costumes to that area and making it so you start the game with 3 costumes instead of only 1. In total, Daybreak will ship with 12 new costumes. Here's a look at a few more of the new costumes coming.
I also added another feature to the Accessorize menu. On a few select costumes I've added in a "costume variant" switcher. This could be something I add onto more in the future, but for right now its main purpose is for the Midnight costume. I've redesigned it, but I didn't want to remove how it was before, in case some players preferred the original look. So through the new Accessorize feature you'll be able to swap between the new and original look.
Back End Improvements
I've also done a lot of work on the back end of the game. Despite including a new area, new costumes, weapons, items, etc. I have been able to reduce the game's install size from its current 30.7 GB to 21.9 GB. I've also been able to reduce the average memory footprint from around 10-11 GB to 3-5 GB. While I don't have an 8 GB machine to test on, I am hopeful that, if other apps are closed, 8 GB machines will be able to run the game.
Lastly, I have been able to reduce the area load times from about 12-15 seconds on average to about 5. This is my experience only with the game installed on an SSD, but I am hopeful that if your load times are different than mine that you will still experience the same relative reduction.
I'll make sure to compile the full patch notes ahead of the public test, but that is all for now!
Thanks again to everyone who has shared the game with friends and strangers. I'm excited to get this new update to you all soon.
-Ryan