Honesty is the best policy...
...weeks ago I made the announcement that a Big Update was Incoming. Several things have been updated, changed, added, and expanded. But after continuing to test and play even to this date, it's honestly just not there yet.
Here's why:
New Players and the Initial Impression
The in game Tutorial still has some sticking points that need to be addressed, and the pace of gameplay MUST be improved. As I play the game and put on my "I'm a new player hat", I wander around a little too aimlessly still (even for a game that doesn't hold your hand much!) and without enough things to capture my attention.
Of course the core features are there, but I am improving the layer of interactions to keep you busy in a good way.
Distance...oh my the distance
The map has gone from 4 kilometers to 16 kilometers. While the entire map will not be finished for this update, even the current scope of travel between towns has scaled greatly.
For example: the size of the map that once contained your entire trip from Yorlen Harbor all the way to Ivernox (the long way) would now only get you from the same Yorlen Harbor to Yorlen Village!
This brings me to the next point...
Camping, Horse Travel, Rest
With a New Stamina feature that has been added, you now have an "Rested Stamina" in addition to your "Regular Short-term Stamina". Your immediate actions like jumping, sprinting, pulling carts, lifting heavy things etc all work the same, but your Rested Stamina is taking a hit as well. Once fully depleted, you will no longer be able to do most of those things, and only Sleeping/Resting will restore it.
This means making a trade-run will no longer be just sprinting, walking, sprinting until you arrive.
But I am still adding in needed features to compliment this such as camping spots, or the ability to make camp and rest, improving horse interactions by giving them more needs and ways for you to fulfill those needs, and a few more "threats" to your trip along the way.
Respecting YOUR time
I am so lucky that many of you are excited, ready to play, and drop what you are doing to go to town on the Beta when I upload this update.
I very much dislike pushing something forward with incomplete content for a feature, or issue I've been unable to resolve...just to have you invest your time to discover, try and replicate, and send in detailed bug reports of a issue I've known about.
Thus, there are still some issues I am working out (like some fall damage issues)...and yes no more floating cheese....I hope lol.
This will be a large milestone for the game and I therefore desire for it to have an excellent impression when you guys fire it up for the first time!
I apologize for the delay, but ultimately I believe it is best for the success and future of the game!
I did want to include some screenshots of the map though! So here you go!
As always, I'm in Discord if you need anything!