This update is mostly change behind the scenes, but there's a few changes that affect gameplay.
New & Newer Player Movement
I've enabled these to make the tall grass in the Nature Dungeon harder to walk through, which ended up causing me to tweak most of the water combos. One upside is that the docks are a little easier to board now - I've used the Swim Warp flag to make warping instantaneous instead of having a two second delay.
Disabled quick saves
Part of this game is about making decisions. There's only been two minor decisions so far:
- Do you build the bridge or build the shop (and as it's the first decision you get an out if you make the wrong one)
- Which fire do you extinguish (one decision has a hidden prize)
The decisions will get harder, and how and when you save affects how you approach them. If you can save immediately before making every choice, than they're less challenging. Conversely, if you can save immediately after every choice, you have no opportunity to go back if you change your mind.
Two of the three previous islands had a Save Stone to save your progress (see the Sheikah-esque statue in the image). I've added one to the remaining island and will add them to all large islands going forward.
The first small island
three islands so far are what I call large islands. They'll have a village, a few monsters to fight, or a few problems to solve.
This update has the first small island. Small islands generally have 1-3 screens, based around a single event. This island has a hungry resident, who teaches you a lesson if you have collected all the food up to this point.
They'll be many more small island than large islands. I'm estimating 25-30 small islands, compared to 8-10 large islands.
Minor changes
- Added a tall grass animation for the Nature Temple
- Removed the shallow water animation when you are standing on some dry land
- I've grown awfully attached to Woolbur, the sheep in the cut-scene with your family. He's near some residents on your home island, not that they fared too well...
- I've numbered all of the upgradeable items so can tell what level you have of each item. When you get items that are expandable (e.g. bombs), you'll now get the first bag/container to minimise confusion.
- Minor tweaks throughout
What's next
I've started the next large island, which has two groups of rival villagers and the second dungeon. It'll be a bit tougher (decisions and monsters), so I'll be also be adding a few small islands with a few power ups.
Edited by notmichaeljfox, 08 December 2024 - 04:35 PM.
