This devlog explains details of an update 0.8.x which has replaced 0.7.3 update.
Why 0.8?
Hi, initially the update was only going to cover the contents discussed in previous devlog Cross The World - Devlog #1 Bodyparts, New Equipments, New Perks and more. - Steam News, however during the development process I realized I had to make an important decision, that is to scrap the current game world and create a much larger world.
The current game world is too small and cramped for proper exploration, you don't really have the notion of "Oh from here I can go all directions and discover new points of interest". The directions in which players could or are encouraged to move is very linear and mostly up and down, between north and south. This hurt the essence of what it means to play an Open World game and having the true freedom of being able to go just anywhere.
New map in 0.8 has tripled in its size in terms of effective land mass. There are going to be new factions, new NPCs, new places, pretty much an overhaul. With more hints provided of where to visit next for the exploration on top of the update from devlog #1 for 0.7.3 update.
Regions
The world is split into 12 regions as seen above, each getting respective regional simulator in the later versions that manage entity count, events and environment. It will take time to update this world in its full from the initial 0.8.0 update to the later versions to 0.8.9 and onwards. I hope to finish this by December.
The coastline in the west with Human Freehold, Westreach Isles, Dwarven Kingdom and Stonepass are where the players will start and cities with most of population are located.
Central zone is home to the native Elves and Grey Elves habiting the Steelmane Steppe and J'erekhi Desert. Elves in the southern plain live nomadic and peaceful life but do not tolerate outlanders whilst the Grey Elves in the desert actively trade with Humans and Dwarves.
East hosts the dangerous, end-game areas with dungeons and fearsome monsters. You do not want to step into this part of world until you are well-equipped.
In the later version of the 0.8 updates, sometimes there will be seasonal visitor NPCs from outside the map by the world's borders, with unique opportunities for items, quests and trades. This will strengthen the notion of the game's open world being part of the greater fantasy setting, extending outwards into what you cannot see.
Guilds
To me the game previously felt little detached from player to the world you play in. There were several interactions you can take, but the feeling of progress and involvement from the old school RPGs were missing in the game. In the 0.8 versions there are going to be two guilds players can join and get promoted.
They are Hunter's Guild in the Human Freehold, Adventurer's Guild in the Dwarven Kingdom. The two guilds will serve as an easy in-game goal and progress target to follow for the beginners. From thereon players can get used to how the game's different mechanics work and not fall for the easy trap of "Now what? what should I do next?" in open-ended sandbox RPGs.
And not just serving the role of providing the content to the player, the guilds will take active part in how the world is shaped among the NPCs who live in this world. There are going to be not just you but NPC adventurers and hunters as well who go outside into the world and do their own exploration which are fully simulated and you can encounter them as well. This is part of the 'Emergent Global Simulation' Cross The World is trying to simulate, which I will further explain below in this post.
Enchants and Moonstone
(Moonstone Shard, Moonstone, Red Moonstone are newly added to the game.)
I noticed that the enchant system in the game has been unfriendly to work with. There were so many different materials needed for enchanting your equipment and the whole mechanics felt very clunky.
Now the Enchant System has changed to:
The three moonstones are the only enchant materials required to enchant your equipment. You can acquire them from various ways in the game like quests, loots, purchase, etc.
Enchant chance to fail has been removed from the game.
When enchanting your equipment, previously the new enchant used to be fully random and you could not predict the power progression from enchant system. Now the new enchants improve the existing stats of the equipment, providing clear direction of where your new enchants will take you.
Buildings - experimental
Now the buildings are objects you enter and exit. This is experimental and subject to change. I've felt that the buildings previously based on floor and wall tiles only like many other tile-based sandbox games can naturally lead to lacking the element of exploring the building and interiors, involving mechanics like long corridors, many rooms and floors to explore, windows to jump off from second floor, hidden chambers, etc.
I hope this approach, a more traditional way to interact with buildings and its interiors (like you would in Skyrim, Stardew Valley, etc) can greatly improve the gameplay and player experience.
Emergent Global Simulation, and future of Cross The World
The ultimate end-goal of Cross The World is to make a game world that is persistently simulated as written in the game's store page as well. However what I've always aimed at, wasn't restricted to the environmental simulation only, I plan to create a game where everything, that includes NPCs truly live in the world in accordance to their surroundings.
Traditionally in RPGs it used to be that NPCs were passive entities. They will usually just stand there waiting for players to talk to them, provide some dialogue and quests, and that's about it. To me they never felt like "living in a real world". They won't go outside chop down the tree, or hunt animal, gather fruits themselves, they stand still until the end of the world.
I want to change this mechanics, but not by too much where NPCs are overly active and reshape the world excessively where the player can feel left behind. Plus this level of persistent calculations for all NPCs in the game world can lag any high-end PC out there, I don't want that either.
What I want to pursuit is less of Characters moving and acting constantly 24/7 like that of Rimworld or Dwarf Fortress, but rather it'd be something I've not seen other games achieve well yet, It is going to be calendar and goal oriented NPC simulation scheduler working alongside the region simulator written above.
Rather than NPCs doing something constantly and eating up computer's horsepower, they take more slow-paced routine, much more relaxed. Sometimes, a farmer living in a farmstead NPC will travel to go to nearby town to visit a friend. In winter NPCs will mostly stay inside. An adventurer NPC after a great quest, can waste his time drinking at the tavern. NPCs are going to be simulated for all of this and more, walking every tile for this, not teleported to the designated coordinate for hard-coded events that can feel fake.
These simulations are going to be genuinely simulated with NPC's own need and stat and most importantly an RNG, a dice roll. So what you are going to see in the world are not going to be fully predictable, an NPC travelling a long distance can totally end up being raided by a bandit or a wild monster and fall down. This can trigger the guard NPCs to scout and rescue said NPC.
Throughout these NPC simulations and their own actions being taken, plus the player interactions with them, the world will be reshaped as the calendar-time progresses into the future. For example that wizard NPC you decided to help with on her magic research, by procuring a rare material, can end up a botched questline by discovering that she had died from her winter exploration into the forest while you were away.
This level of scope, depth and the world simulation can often feel harsh, unfriendly and very clunky at times as a game and a player and I'm aware that this is not an easy goal to achieve either. However I believe this will be what makes Cross The World truly a unique gameplay experience and stand out among others.
How long is this going to take?
The first 0.8.0 update will arrive at some time this month, I do not wish to have players wait too long and feel tired. It will take several updates until end of this year to finish what's written here and it will come gradually between multiple patches.
For more info or an inquiry, please visit the discord server(Click to Join Discord) and talk to me, or leave a comment in this devlog post please.
Thank you for reading this lengthy devlog ; ) Love you.