The Next Step

Now that the patch has been out on Frontline for a while, we set our eyes on the next target: getting it ready for stable! Aside from the bug fixes and some of your suggested improvements (as always, we're very thankful for the feedback), there are a few things we'd like to add before feeling completely satisfied with the desert for now. There are two reasons for this, one being the obvious 'of course the area will be better with more quests', but the other is that it gives Fred (and to some extent, me) some time to get ahead with the Ghost Ship before we start prototyping that place for real.

You see, in order to get a good idea for what the Ghost Ship will entail design wise, we need to get some enemy prototypes up and running, and the best way of doing that is to have Fred make a bunch of animated sketches we can use against my placeholder backgrounds. This will help us get a feel for the dungeon and to make sure our enemy combinations work as intended.

Therefore, the things we'll add to the desert for stable mainly involves Teddy programming stuff, and me throwing together some minor graphics such as more item sprites for rewards and such. Once we're done with that, Fred should have made enough enemy sketches that Teddy can begin prototyping their behavior, and I can continue making backgrounds while he does that.

So, before the desert is released on stable, we intend to add the following:

• Another (optional) challenge in the math cave.
• A side quest involving a cat of Port Monnaie...
• A side quest solving the troubles of the depressed drunkard in the Saloon (which also involves elite versions of the desert enemies, which haven't been added thus far)!
• A questline with the photographer Cammy, who is working in Port Monnaie, using the mechanics from Arcadia where you take photographs of various places or things in the game.
• Each shop in the marketplace, with new items to buy (lots of housing items)!
• A bunch of memory orbs to show a few past events (I've already started working on that, as you have seen)...
  
  and, finally:
• More treasure maps, which will be given to you by Finder the Archaeologist, who wants your help in retrieving some ancient treasures. 

Like the other areas, more stuff will be added before release, but we think this is a good way to start. It's also possible we'll add a bunch of those season orbs across the world, which will help you reach a few of those chests that have been taunting you... We'll see!