Build 09-30-2019

With last month's update releasing with little fanfare as it was mainly just some bug fixing, a lot has gone into the next update to A:\dventure.  It's crazy to think how much has changed in September, but what's even more fun is playing the game after seeing it all come together.  From aesthetic improvements to little details in dialogs, and a whole suite of sounds too, we're steadily moving forward.

Additionally, development and discussion can now be followed in our official Discord channel if you wish to read more and interact with us in-between content updates.

Here's a summary of all that's changed since August's patch

• Music and Sound Effects throughout composed and engineered by Joe Swensen.
• Content is starting to come together post-onboarding.  A new cutscene exists and you can start completing the first Epic.
• Game will now autosave when entering into dungeons or the guild, so you don't lose progress if the game crashes :p
• New lighting system replacing the old FOV effects.  Also present in the Guild
• Improved monster sprites.  Greater fidelity, same charm borrowed from C:\raft
• Guild Layout reorganized
• Ripped out unnecessary features such as Market Simulation
• Yui is now introduced through the story as a requirement  (it was a pain maintaining the unlock logic everywhere)
• Better dialog presentation.  Voice blips and Portrait fades make it feel more polished
• Multiple Palettes are available to cycle through by pressing F4
• Move crafting/cooking to a menu near Oswald at the bar.  Cooking will be reworked to provide temporary buffs ala Monster Hunter
• Tweaks to various Menus to improve consistency and keyboard usability
• Plenty of behind the scenes refactoring and stability improvements

Of all the changes made, my favorite have to be the addition of music and sound, as well as the new lighting system.  The game as a whole feels incredibly more polished with the addition of sound, creating the atmosphere that it didn't have before.  If you've ever felt you needed some chiptune jazz in your RPG, we've got you covered.  The new lighting system also improves visuals incredibly.  Utilizing Godot's built-in lighting system instead of a custom FOV algorithm allowed for simplifying things quite a bit, and was a welcome improvement made possible only because I switched away from custom collision detection a few months ago.

This next month will focus again on content, with the intention of fleshing out the first story Epic and all npc side dialog along the way.  Marketplace UI will be fixed up again, Expense Forms should make their appearance for unlocking things, Cooking will be worked on to be fully functional, and the search for proper funding for the project will begin.