ANOTHER ONE

What's up, puppers?

As I’ve spent the majority of this week working on a spooky forest (more details down below), the patch itself is a rather small one this week. With that being said, it’s a marathon not a sprint! We’re getting there, and each week the game continues to improve. I love discussing it with you guys, getting your ideas, feedback, and working it into the game! If you want to join in on the fun, feel free to join us over on Discord or on Twitter. Heck, even the community forums! Lots of ways to jump in.

Now let's take a look at the changelog this week, shall we?

Ephemeral Tale 1.21.1 Changelog

• Updated icons for a few items
• The Crypt of Kings has been expanded upon, and now features a pseudo quest of sorts that reveals some in-game lore and expands on two of the companions
• Fixed a bevy of grammatical issues across numerous locations & quests, including the Forgotten Forest, the Great Palace, the Florence & Ronaldo quest, the Shelldon quest, and the Jesse quest
• Fixed an issue where players could get stuck in the Oasis portal rooms

Ooh, spooky.

Let’s talk about Major Update #5, the Throne of Shadows.

Last we spoke about it, I had given a vague hint as to the general theme of the update being “the dark world.” I think it’s time to clarify that hint a bit, don’t you? Here’s the pitch (subject to change based on development timelines and yadayada blahblah “uh-oh cover-my-butt” sentences) for you: Major Update #5 will include new, mandatory-for-completion content. A lot of new content, actually! Three zones worth, if you wanna get surgical about it.

In the past, I’ve spoken about the challenges of doing new zones for the game, as there’s a lot that goes into it:

1. Where does the player enter and leave these zones?
2. What is the primary theme of these zones?
3. How is the player rewarded for exploring these zones?
4. What is in these zones?
5. Do I have the assets to support the above concepts?
6. If not, how much will it cost to get those assets created?

Once these questions start to get answered, I’m able to sit down, do an “aesthetic test” (more or less ensuring that I can adequately create the intended vibes & evoke the proper emotions), map out the zone, and figure out what the enemies are, what gear they drop, what that gear does, etcetera.

Slimey, yet satisfying.

As I’ve remarked upon before, this is generally why zones take so long to develop. Sunken Summit took the better part of two-to-three months to develop, and Mute Mountains roughly was around two months. As it’s been about two months since Mute Mountains entered the game, let’s answer the obvious question: does this mean Major Update #5 is four months away?

No. Not at all.

Of the three new zones being added in the next Major Update, one of them is already complete, another is well into development, and the last is currently going through some aesthetic tests. If you follow the game over on Twitter (@DawdlingDogltd) you’ll have likely seen snippets of the progress already! If not, you've been seeing them throughout this week's Pupdate!

That looks pretty nice, actually!

These zones are able to come together so quickly for a few reasons, most of which I’ll go over in next week’s Pupdate. As always, enjoy the patch, have fun, and stay safe! We’ll talk again next week. <3

-- Ryan
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/jpStbUf