Developer Note:
This month I've been putting work and thought into the "New Player Experience", namely the tutorial.
I've had the blessed opportunity to watch a couple people play through the start of the game, as well as some feedback pointing out trouble spots. The two specific pain-points are buying and placing the School, second is when assigning a character to a squad with a matching Skill Nature. Along with some minor issues of showing point-prompts in the wrong spot or simply not showing them when needed, this caused players to become "stuck" and not know what to do. It is at that vital point where players tend to quit games and not look back. I want people to enjoy what I've made, not become frustrated and lost!
The new banner character, Polleen, has been an idea in my head since early spring when I was assaulted by pollen. Some ideas just start with a silly name change! I wanted the character to be "plant" based, not just green skin, but definitely a nature-themed outfit. In fact, a few months ago when I created the "Deew" monster, I was working on formalizing the character idea of Polleen during that time as well. I've always liked the idea of a "summoning" skill, so with a "Tree Nature" version of that, well, summoning plant monsters seemed fitting. I had a working version of "summoning" implemented
Bugs:
Fixed Guild->Donate to remove desired quantity instead of entire quantity
Smoothed tutorial process to (hopefully) reduce confusion
Inventory: When selling, fixed "Select All"/"Select None" from preventing individual toggling
Fixed issue where last-used account configuration was being reset on restarting game after a day (weird rare bug)
Added better controller support to Stadium (Events)
Fixed controller issues with Marketplace (Shop)
Fixed controller UI issues in Cat training, Quests, and Characters
Characters: When filtering by "Skill", colorized the Skill names to match their Nature
New:
Event: "Waifu Fish"! Use bait and catch fish to progress through 8 maps
Note: Catch 5 of the 9 fish on the map to unlock the next map (some fish are on multiple maps!)
Added Clothing Package: "Fishing"
Note: This is not directly unlockable. Contains Fishing-themed equipment which is unlockable through the "Waifu Fish" minigame and other areas (future dev).
Fishing Weapon: "Old Rod"
Fishing Weapon: "Lava Baitcaster"
Added Banner Character: Polleen
Note: Normally scheduled for May, however will be available for August of this year only.
Polleen comes with a Tier 0 set of "Leaf" clothing, as well as the new "Botanist" skill.
New Clothing Package: "Leaf"; contains: Bloom Hat, Bloom Staff, Flower, Leaf Dress, Leaf Stems, Pollen
New skill: "Botanist"; summon Deew allies to fight with you! Character's Star rank determines how many can be summoned, caster's level determines the summon's stats, and health stat determines summon's health
Changed "Tabitha" to come with Tier 0 "Feline" clothing (as more are added to this clothing package, will add to character)
Stadium: All minigames are "unlocked" and do not depend on Stadium upgrades
Stadium upgrades now determine the Tier of rewards earned from Event minigames
Added Rewards to World Boss. Completing each difficulty rewards more stuff!
Added Nature Tower Rewards: Currency per completed floor, every 10 floors awards Crystals
Nature Towers: Changed Waifus to Chibis for performance
Word-Wrapped selected item description text in Warehouse and Marketplace
Added Bond Maximum and Type; this is foundational structure for future dev (no spoilers lol)
End of game banners: Show "Press button to continue" when player input is enabled
Added DEMO version functionality