HOLIDAY BREAK

[Note: Itch users paying closer attention to Ephemeral Tale may notice that this is the first Pupdate I've uploaded to Itch in a couple of weeks. Due to some personal matters (+ working on the game), I missed copying the Pupdates over here the past two weeks. I still got the game updated, which I deemed as the important bit anywho, but my apologies to anyone who looks forward to reading these and felt annoyed that they had to navigate to Steam to get their fix! I'll try to be better in the future. Much love <3]

What's new, puppers? This week, my fellow Americans and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving, but I didn't want you to go without a patch this week, so here we are! This week, we're gonna chat about the new art around the place (hope you dig it as much as I do!), Major Update #6, and what's next for Ephemeral Tale beyond it.

Before we can hop into all of that, however, we first need to see the changelog this week. Let's do that, shall we?

Ephemeral Tale 1.34.1 Changelog

Lowered Merlin’s Max MP by ~10%
Siegfried’s Cleave damage has been buffed by ~15%
Made messaging on Darune’s Sandstorm a bit more coherent
Adjusted the wording on Shoddy Twine to read more coherently: “Grants +50% ATK. Normal attacks recoil against the user.”
Fixed a bug where a quest chest could spawn when no longer relevant
Updated library and storefront assets w/ new key art (thanks a bunch, @artisyone!)

A WORK OF ART

Since the initial release into Early Access, there have always been pieces of the presentation of Ephemeral Tale on storefronts and in your game library that I've not been super thrilled with. I'm so incredibly happy to present the new library and storefront art revisions for the game, courtesy of the infinitely talented @ArtisyOne! You can check out more of their awesome work over on Twitter, along with the full piece that was made for the game!

HOLIDAY SPIRIT

Next on the docket is for us to discuss Major Update #6-- it's an update I'm excited for you guys to see, and I think you'll be excited to get your hands on it! Included is a long-awaited feature that I've wanted to work on for quite some time, enhanced player customization! When the update drops, you will have the opportunity to select from SIXTEEN character sprites to (hopefully!) find one that you think represents you.

Additionally, it will also be the update that marks the inclusion of Steam Achievements! This has been something that I've been working towards in the background over the course of the past few weeks, but it's also rather challenging to work on while maintaining a weekly patch schedule (don't want you guys to have bugged achievements, after all!).

Lastly, the update will include more gear to collect! This one is pretty straight forward, so I hope you'll forgive me for not focusing on it more heavily. What I'd like to ask of you guys now, however, is for your patience in the coming weeks-- the holidays are upon us, along with the remaining work required to get this update out the door. In order to deliver something that is of sufficient quality, I'd like to take a few weeks off from the weekly update schedule. No worries; you'll get plenty of my ranting through the Weekly Pupdate regardless of whether or not there's a game update!

All joking aside, I've been fairly successful about maintaining a consistent patch schedule for the past 9 months or so, and to break that schedule isn't something I've considered lightly. I do want to make sure that nothing breaks in an unexpected way, as the two major changes coming with Major Update #6 are very complex behind the scenes, and almost certainly have weird ways that they can break. I want to ensure that I cover all of those bases without you guys, the community, feeling like I'm not giving the game my full attention.

With that said, when everyone is back from holiday break (you guys & I) on Tuesday (as in today + 7), we'll talk more about how progress is coming along. I suspect that the wait for Major Update #6 won't be long, so no worries! Until next time, have fun and stay safe!

-- Ryan
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