Post-Patch Discussion

Yesterday we had a meeting where we discussed the first Tai Ming map and all the feedback we received. As some (or many of you) have noticed, it turned out that finding your way back to the locked door in present time after looting the key was a bit more difficult than expected!

At first we thought we'd solve this by adding the option to examine the rubble blocking your way, giving you a hint that you could move it somehow. However, after talking about it yesterday, we decided to try something else first, that's a bit less in your face.

First, we want to add a NPC that's moving a(nother) statue back and forth higher on the map. Hopefully this will make players realize you can move the statues around if you try it.

Second, we're gonna add remnants of the path you can push the statue through in the present day, to nudge your brain in the direction that maybe there's something you can do with the rubble.

We also talked about the second zone, and how to prioritize the work there. I've already begun working on some interior design ("Granny's House", the past version which you've already seen), but we thought it's better for me to start working on the present version of the outdoors instead, so Teddy can start adding the time travel effects there properly.


We also decided to remove the stairway to the above mentioned Granny's house, and have the player build a path with wooden blocks instead - kind of like in the temple of seasons but a bit less difficult hopefully... :)

On that note, as you might remember (or not?), I previously talked about giving the islands more of an organic shape, adding curves and whatnot to them. Well, we officially decided to scrap that for now, and keep them straight like they are.

We have many reasons for this: first, it saves a lot of time when adding water edge animations: we could just reuse the same parts instead of having to make unique ones for every curve of the cliffs. Second, it makes it easier to move the wooden blocks around, both as a player and actually implementing the mechanic!

As a bonus, we've also started talking about and vaguely designed the map that will be above the western Evergrind Fields (above the farm). Once we finish Tai Ming and start working on the desert, this will be the only "dead end" on the map, and since we'd like to remove those annoying dead end messages as soon as possible I thought I'd throw this map together at some point in the near future.

Basically it's just gonna be a quiet forest map with some long-forgotten ruins, which you can't really activate or do anything with until you've gotten to that part in the story, so there's no real reason to wait!

There's still a ton of work left, but I can actually start to see it all coming together now. Soon, there will be no more "this road leads to somewhere that's not implemented yet), and that is a huge milestone IMO! Super excited :D