Hello everyone! Have you missed me?
It's been nearly three months since I released version 0.2.9 of Orange Season, but there's finally a new major version here: 0.3. This post will highlight everything that changed through every small update since version 0.2.9:
New Inventory
The main reason why this update took so long to complete, is that the whole inventory system of the game was remade. The previous system was more complicated than it needed to be (and that was one of the most common complaints that I used to receive). This new system is similar to many other PC games and should be much easier to use.
The main difference, is that you no longer pick items out of your backpack when you want to hold them. Instead, you only need to select a backpack slot to be the one that represents the item you're holding. The button that used to move items from and to the backpack (default to F and PageDown) is now used to change the selected slot. You can also press Ctrl + F to deselect the slot (leaving your hands free to use any tool). When playing with a controller, you can change slots with the triggers buttons (press both at the same time to deselect).
Another thing that changed is that you can no longer drop items on the ground. Once you pick an item you have to either use it, discard it or put it on a container (storage, shipping bin, etc). Dropping items was a feature that was rarely used on purpose, but many people often dropped items by accident while trying to gift villagers and other similar actions.
If you're using the mouse to play the game, you now need to right click food items on the item bar if you want to eat them. Right clicking anywhere else on screen won't do anything for food items. This should prevent you from eating items by accident.
The max number of items you can carry also increased. You now start with 10 item slots and can expand it to 30 slots maximum. The screen will only show 10 items on the itembar, but you can switch to the next 10 by pressing Tab (or back/select on the controller).
The ribbon tool was replaced by two separate skills: sleep and teleport. They work the same way as before, but you can now equip each of them separately.
New Interface
The changes on the inventory system required the interface to be reorganized too. I used this opportunity to redo the whole weather and health HUDs as well.
New Health System
The Sleepiness and Hunger hidden variables were removed from the game, while the fatigue level is no longer hidden.
The new system is based only on the stamina and fatigue levels. Basically, stamina depletes fast but can be recovered with items, while fatigue is only a problem if you work too much but can only be recovered by resting. You can now pass out if your stamina depletes completely.
Cooking System
The game finally has a cooking system. With 6 different cooking utensils and more than 80 recipe variations for 50 different dishes, you only need to expand your house once to be able to access it.
Time is now paused inside your house
Last year I opened a thread on the steam forums to ask everybody's opinion on pausing the time inside houses. After listening to the responses, I decided to change the game so that the time is paused, but only inside your own house. This way your house works as a safe space where the flow of time can't pressure you.
New Animations
Many game elements received new animations: pushing barrels, sleeping, passing out, waking up.
What's Next?
For the next two months, I'll stop adding new features to the game to start working only on content. This means that I'll be adding many new tasks, conversations, cutscenes, items, recipes and secrets. I'll also finally start working on the game's main story.
I hope you all enjoy the new stuff and please let me know if you find any bugs. Until next time!