Version 0.75 – The Deep Woods
I’m back! And I’m back with another update. As usual, plans shifted a bit during development to better reflect game priorities and player feedback, but what matters most is that we keep moving forward at a steady pace, getting closer to version 1.0 and to the vision of dungeon crawler I’ve always wanted to play since my childhood ;-)
Additions & Fixes
Second pass on grammar improvements
Highlands biome retouched and partially reworked - it now looks much better and feels like a truly unique place in the world of Thornkeep
Black Woods sprite rework completed, and werewolves added to better reflect the Werewolf Forest sublocation
Deep Woods side location added, featuring a new horrifying enemy the Forest Hulk
Overworld side locations (Overgrown Village and Deep Woods) now have a reason to visit, thanks to its unique vendors
World automap added (gave me a serious headache, but it’s finally working)
5 more hero avatars added (3 male, 2 female)
Preacher significantly buffed to better compete with other classes (now gains skill power from both INT and WIS attributes)
Near Future
For now, I’m steering away from endgame development and will be focusing on the open world and UI improvements all the way to version 1.0, as there’s still a lot of work to be done.
The next update will focus on adding the Highlands as a side location in the open world (connected to the swamps), along with a swamp enemy set sprite rework, continuing to replace older assets to match the new visual standard established in recent updates.
In addition, I’ll be revisiting most UI elements, especially character sheets and inventory. Right now, it’s not always clear what each stat does or which classes benefit from what. I’ll work on making this more intuitive with mouseovers and other improvements.
I would also like to finally introduce a new hero class to add more variety. Currently, there are a couple of dominant party compositions, and I feel a game like Thornkeep should offer more options.
Current Challenges
As the game continues to grow, it’s becoming harder to playtest everything thoroughly, and testing is taking up a significant portion of my development time. Please don’t hesitate to report any bugs or glitches you encounter in the community hub, ideally with a description and steps to reproduce the issue.
I hope you’ll enjoy the update as much as I enjoyed working on it.
Thank you for your continued support, and see you in the next update!
With regards
Tryzna