It’s been really enjoyable and inspirational to watch players stream Paladin Dream. It feels like playing God and watching people explore the world I created, and I also get to see which parts are celebrated, and where the game could be better or less confusing. I’ve gotten lots of positive feedback about the story, and I wanted to focus this update on showing more information about the world.
The demon worshiping cult is malicious, reclusive, and possesses black magic to keep outsiders away. I wanted to show the extent to which they’ve gone to protect their temple (which was crudely dug out of a city wall). In the update, Josiah explores an MC Escher-like looping room and a hallucination that projects his fear. This dungeon is intended to be full of creepy traps. The fortune-teller in Nazarfang encounter is also expanded a bit, to give the player some early insight into the 3 different religions and how they interact.
The northern wilderness is an area that is mostly not settled, and wild animals have free reign. Organized religion does not have much influence here. I created a new encounter where Josiah spars with another adventurer and their wild animal companion. There’s also a new battle with Josiah’s Reflection (think Link’s Shadow in Zelda games) that requires a bit of logic to win. To ease a side quest that involves a decent amount of backtracking, and I added a way for Josiah to jump down the mountain with a certain item. Making it to the top of Starcross Peak requires Josiah to leave civilization behind and examine his beliefs from a different perspective.
I fixed some minor bugs including dialog, art, and game balance. When you reach a new level, there is also a new common event that fires to tell the player to check and see if they’ve learned a new spell. Hopefully, this will lead to players realizing there are multiple ways to manage their resources. It’s great to get feedback and continue expanding the game.
Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and thanks for supporting Paladin Dream!
Matthew
p.s. If you've read this far and haven't yet added Paladin Dream to your wishlist, now is your chance :)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1592120/Paladin_Dream/