0.5.0 Dev. Check In #3

Hi everyone!

So, we've reached the end of August and, unfortunately, I'm still working on the update. I don't want to speculate on a new release time frame, so I'll hold off until I have a solid date. (Okay, I will say that it will definitely be out for subscribers before the end of September unless something WILD happens.)

With that out of the way, let's get to the progress that has been made. It's quite a bit!

As far as content goes, all of the scheduled scenes and about half of the unscheduled scenes are now tested, choreographed, and polished.

The new battles are setup, tested, and balanced. This includes a new obstruction system where large objects and terrain can block ranged skills, and three new enemy types coming for this update. These enemies/battles each have new, unique mechanics including regeneration, splitting, and terrain effects (certain parts of the battle map can inflict a status ailment on your party). We also have the long awaited Major Artifacts making their debut. I won't show the new enemies or artifacts, for spoiler reasons, but I'm pretty happy with them both graphically and mechanically.

I CAN show the new death animation for enemies though! (See the video attachment). This required me to do work on every existing and new battle in the game! But I think it's worth it for enemies to no longer simply vanish on defeat.

Along those same lines, we have a bunch of new maps for this update. Which I will also not post here, for the same spoiler related reasons.

...

Okay, maybe one, because it has a cute campfire :3.

Oh, and the street lamps on market street light up now also!

There's also a MAJOR new system coming in this update that I, once again, will only tease because it's a huge spoiler, but let's just say it's required me to rework a LOT of existing scenes (a work in progress) and implement ~10 new variables to track.

Another new system I CAN talk about is dorm decorations! I've already implemented one (a boom box where you can play sound track CDs purchased at the music store) and there will be at least one more implemented before release.

There are also several new characters coming in this update as part of both contact heart scenes and mainline story scenes, with new dialogue, overworld, and face sprites. Including these two:

I genuinely can't wait for you to meet and despise these two jerks :D.

We also have a lot of new polish coming in 0.5.0. I'll start with the UI revamp.

We've got new selection highlight indicators, including an animated selection cursor:

Redone day/time HUD and pause menu elements:

A completely redone weekly calendar menu that is accessible from the pause menu:

And a bunch of other tweaks and improvements to the UI, such as the movement UI in battle appearing better on light colored maps.

Last up for this check in, let's talk about all the incredible work Olivia has done on the soundtrack. Holy moly, has she been busy! In addition to all the tracks sampled last time, we have five more! Check out the attachments for samples of these newer tracks.

That's all for today! There will be at least one more check in before release, so until then, I hope you all are having a great day and I really appreciate your patience as I bring 0.5.0 to the finish line! Thanks for playing!

Oh, and if you haven't already, check out the Discord server for more frequent updates, interact with the community, and say hi! (I am almost always around. Probably too often.)