The Roadmap Going Forward! (DEADLINE EDITION)

Hey there, folks. Just here to talk about the upcoming content updates and to give roadmaps and deadlines. That is to say,  the Snake Agenda update, a massive content update which:

• Significantly advances the plot as the party grapples with their new plan to infiltrate High Kallech.
• Adds a whole new map-zone to explore, Mt Recludere, a hermitage-based mountain with a heavy focus on cumulative status effects.
• Adds a new map-zone to explore, the Taroi Camp, a mercantile shop/quest hub with a great deal of setting information for those who want it.
• Takes the pre-existing Stillwater Lakes zone and expands it from a glorified stub to its own large and dangerous area, the majority of which can be unlocked and explored after certain story events.
• Adds a new zone, the ruins of Low Kallech, which will mostly just be a Stillwater Lakes-style 'stub' in this update but will be greatly expanded on in future updates.
• Lily-pad hopping as a mode of transportation will now be unlockable via skill-use in any area that has a lilypad trail. This includes making previously secret and impossible to reach places in already existing zones accessible to those who know the forbidden secret of the frogs.
• A Skill Counter service, locatable in Mt Recludere, which will tell you how many skills you've learned out of the game's current total and furnish you with clues on how to find them.
• A False Memory service, locatable in the Taroi Camp, which lets you re-fight previously beaten boss battles (for no XP) and to take alternative choices in previously-existing events. All for a fee, of course.
• A broad state categorisation system to make various anti-status effects more broad and relevant.
• Dorothy's skills will now be grouped within her skill groups in general categories. It's already like this somewhat in the current demo, with her Instant skills and elemental vulnerability skills being grouped together but now it will apply to every skill. Hopefully this makes menu navigation easier.
• The very basic groundwork for a secret 'summon' system that lets you temporarily summon things like golems to join the party.
• More types of fish to catch!
• At least 11 new bosses, some hidden and/or optional, some directly plot-relevant.
• 30+ new enemy types.
• Many more new Skills and status effects.
• At least 3 more Tomes to be added to the pre-existing Tome Lottery.
• 3 entirely new dungeons, one of which is plot-relevant with the other two being secret. All of these dungeons feature special campfire character-events unique to them, just like the second floor of the Sprite Hive.
• New illustrations, sourced by my good friend Gehn.
• And a whole slew of bug fixes, balance changes and mild reworks to previously existing content! No, seriously, a lot. Yes, this includes the infinite money alchemy exploit.

Yes, all of that will be coming out next week, in roughly 7-10 days. The reason for the uncertain time is that I hope to have all the essential content finished in 5-7 days, leaving a few days afterward for playtesting by myself and others. This update will add hours of content and exploration.

But what I also want to do is establish a roadmap for updates going forward. Once the Snake Agenda update is done, leaving a few days to push any urgently-needed hotfixes, I will begin work on the next content update. Here is my plan for the content updates in the future and the order in which they will be coming out:

1. Following the Snake Agenda update, the next update will not be another big content patch but rather a revisit of old material. Namely, a face update that will add a much larger variety of expressions to the dialogue screens throughout the pre-existing game and going forwards afterwards. Additionally, two more secret areas to unlock and explore will be added to the game. The Taroi Camp will also be expanded upon, likely with the addition of more quests.
2. The Low Kallech update, which will be entirely focussed on expanding Low Kallech into the game's first mega-zone, a veritable zone of zones and the largest area currently in the game. It will also feature a brand new party member and character. This update will be primarily content focussed and will significantly advance the plot.
3. The clean-up update, which will be another minor update focussed on adding any final details to Low Kallech and the Southlands as a whole. We will be moving on from them afterwards.
4. Part One of the High Kallech update, focussed on introducing the Low-Kallech-sized High Kallech zone. Will feature a lot of plot content, a lot of character interactions, multiple paths and exploration and another new party member.
5. Part Two of the High Kallech update, which will clean up and improve upon pre-existing High Kallech content and will cap it off by including its final areas and missions. Will likely be an almost 100% purely plot-focussed update.
6. Murky Post-Kallech content. This will certainly exist, the game will not end with that city-state, but its position on the roadmap is currently undefined. It's simply too far in the future!

There will also possibly be semi-frequent illustration updates interspersed, adding new illustrations to old content. This is because mine and Gehn's schedules don't always line up, you know? Additionally, *far* into the future of any roadmap devoted to content updates are the plans for aesthetic updates, for replacing the current RTP assets and tilesets. Far, far in the future.

Thank you all for reading and thank you all for playing!