Phantoms of Arcadia v.0.1.1 Update

Four months ago was the release of my first game, and since then I have been writing and rendering pretty much nonstop.

Here’s what’s coming in the next update for Phantoms of Arcadia:

New Scenes:

• Red: Red's first three missions have been added. (Motivations, Favor for a Friend, Easing Tensions)
• Natalie: Natalie's first three missions have been added. (Rest and Relaxation, Kiss the Cook, A Moment of Peace)
• Camp: One Camp Mission has also been added. (This mission serves as a requirement before Natalie's missions.)
• Prologue Conclusion: A new scene has been added to the end of the prologue. (If you don't feel like replaying the entire prologue a skip intro button has been added to the beginning that will put you in the camp right before the Trip to the Capital mission.

Tweaks & Improvements

• Reworked Artstyle: In my journey to make Phantoms of Arcadia more visually distinct from other games, I failed to make it visually appealing in certain scenes and scenarios. I was drawn to the idea of using heavy sketch lines because I liked the allusion to comics/drawings and thought it would be a good fit in the world I was creating. Shortly after releasing the prologue, I took off the rose-tinted glasses and realized... well, it was certainly an idea. Regardless, the sketch lines have been drastically reduced, and are not as in your face in this update. I also changed some scenes to blur the background when characters are on screen.

   

  This means that I have redone all the character's sprites, as well as made some tweaks to their designs.

• Reworked Scenes: The fantasy scene has been changed to this 'new' artstyle, but the Eliza lake scene has not. This is not permanent. Eliza's lake scene will be updated in her update, but for now it stands as a testament to poor life choices.
• Proofreading: I went back and proofread as much as I could, if there are any errors still present, it's because I'm an idiot.
• Removed Files: In the first release, I accidentally left in a whole mess of images/files that weren't being used and I am not planning on using. These files have been removed and tossed into the pit of despair.
• Skip Intro: I've added a Skip Intro button to the game, this is mainly for returning players who just want to get to the new content. (You will have to replay the Trip to the Capital mission.)

Bug Fixes

• Closed the Time Loop: Apparently I left in a pretty major game breaking bug in the first version (Oops). Now if you lose against Feral or the Thug, you will no longer be forced to fight them for the rest of eternity. (Fingers crossed)

  As a side note: I'm contemplating removing combat from the game altogether in favor for a more story heavy game, let me know if you think this would be for better or worse.

The Plan

Now that's all well and good, but you may be asking yourself what about the plans for the future? Will it take another four months for the next two characters?

• Short answer: No... (At least it really shouldn't.)
• Long answer: All six characters have their first three missions written out, it's just a matter of rendering images for the next four characters and actually putting them into the game.

This is the first of three updates coming out that will focus on character stories. In the coming months, expect to see at least two more updates. After those two updates, I will once more crawl back into my writing hovel and work on the story update, as well the next updates for each character.

This will most likely be how I work going forward, a few months of writing followed by a short burst of updates, rinse and repeat, until the game is finished.

Closing Thoughts

It's Highly Recommended that you start a new save for this update. I tried to make this painless as possible by adding a skip intro button.