Quick update - 15/1/23

Not a big update.

Phase 1 of Running of the Wolves released a few weeks ago, and some bugs were found and fixed with a new version up on itch: https://methodia.itch.io/the-running-of-the-wolves

As well as bugfixes, there's a couple of new additions including a minimap for gameplay levels. RotW is on hold for a short while, but I hope to come back to Phase 2 soon.

For people who are interested, the current plan for RotW is to continue updating Itch.io with things like updated functionality, gameplay and so on, but I won't be adding more than the Forest World. The current plan is for the game to eventually have 4 worlds with bosses. The other 3 will not be on Itch.io. Partly because I want to keep it as a demo on there, but also because I'm starting to bash up against filesize limits, and 3 more worlds is going to significantly increase that. It will still receive gameplay, character and mechanics, just not additional worlds.

The full game will go up on Steam, as a paid game. Not for much though. Anyone who is a Patreon when it goes up on Steam and anyone who purchsed on Itch.io will get keys for the game, and the price will be removed on the itch demo. This is a bit down the line, so nothing major will change, though I have marked out key functionality for an Early Access Steam release, so when they are ticked off and the game is more stable, then I'll move forward with Steam.

In between Phases, I've started working on a second game prototype. This one is a 4-player online or LAN deathmatch game. It's being done partly to learn what is needed to implement multiplayer in a game, but it's also teaching me more about how to set up games properly in UE. So something I'm toying with prior to Phase 2 is to redo the core of the game. I believe it would fix quite a lot of incipient bugs and issues the game continues to have. I've still not decided on this yet.

Next, the next Episode of Wilderness is still being worked on. I've rendered out about 30-40 seconds in the past month. There's a few key scenes to work through, and I'm looking at ways of streamlining the story a little. Too much conversation, not enough action.

On top of that, I owe a few people Patreon rewards. I'll be diving into those at the end of the week.

Which leads to the final thing. I will be away most of this week in London. It's not a holiday or anything, I got an offer to do some work for the week, and it'll help keep the power on for a couple weeks more. I'll pick back up with everything when I return.