November 2022 Progress Report - Spick And Span

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Compared to last month, November was a pretty solid, uneventful month for us.

We continued (and completed) polishing for Act 3 and immediately jumped into Act 4.

Not only that, but Act 4 Polishing is almost completely done!

The reason for this is because, by the stage of development where we actually worked on Act 4, we got this game dev thing down pretty well, so Act 4 was in a pretty almost complete state already. We added new NPCs, Enemies, and implemented the map system in its entirety for Act 4.

That being said, there's still a few things to do in it. Mostly small things including fixing some bugs and some adjustments to minor narrative things for consistency and clarity.

Future Plans

Of course, we can't really talk that much about what actually goes on in Act 4 for spoiler reasons, so instead we'll use the rest of the report to discuss future plans instead!

Since Act 4 Polishing is almost complete, with literally only a few days worth of work to do, it's expected that Act 1 Polishing will immediately begin afterwards.

Act 1 Polishing

Great timing as well, since our second artist has nearly completed all the area art for the brand new dungeon that's replacing the Forgotten Mansion in Act 1.

This dungeon will make up a large majority of the polishing required for Act 1, but there's a few other things as well that need to be fixed up.

Many of these areas and enemies in Act 1 are over 3 years old now, and the disparity of quality compared to a later Act 4 is very obvious.

Given the current trajectory, it seems likely that by the end of December, all Acts will be polished and ready to go, meaning we can go into the new year sprinting down the home stretch.

Sidequests/Second Quests

The first major task ahead of us after polishing is done is completing all the remaining Sidequest work. What this entails is re-ordering every Sidequest in the game, Polishing those that already exist, adding new non-Party Member Sidequests, Implementing the Second Quests for all Party Members, and giving all Party Members their Ultimate Abilities.

We've already begun planning stages for this, and the total number of planned Sidequests is sitting at a nice and even 60.

In the full game, there won't just be Party Member Sidequests to partake in, but also regular, old fashioned Sidequests from some of our favorite non playable characters that result in different rewards. These can range from extremely useful rewards like gaining Fast Travel or minor rewards like Candy or Equipment.

Second Quests of course result in that character gaining their Ultimate Ability, and can only be started in the Act after you can recruit that character, so for instance you can recruit Wraps in Act 1, but her Second Quest isn't available until Act 2.

Some characters also SHARE Second Quests, so recruiting both of them is required for the quest to become available.

You'll start every single Second Quest by visiting Layla's Lane, a place you'll unlock somewhere in Act 2.

If you've ever wondered where all your Party Members go when they're not in your active party, it's right here. A Pocket Dimension created by Layla herself, where she serves them delicious beverages and lo-fi hip hop beats to relax and study to.

In Layla's Lane you'll be able to interact with them all for fun dialogue and optional scenes, and if the requirements are correct, start their Second Quests.

Second Quests continue plot-lines or themes from their Recruitment Quest, so it's a great way to learn more about all of these optional characters who don't necessarily contribute to the main story in a significant way.

Given all of this, there's no doubt that cleaning up all the sidequests in the game will take several months, but considering only a handful of Second Quests take you to previously unseen areas, it should be much faster than putting together their Recruitment Quests.