Hello, everyone! It's been an eventful month. As I'm working on Act 2, there's been a lot of little changes that have accumulated to the point where it felt right to release a new version of Act 1 to keep the game in a good, refreshed state for as long as possible.

What are the changes? Let me show you!

The settings menu has been completely overhauled, both internally (making it far easier to add new settings) and externally (making it easier to navigate on controller and KB&M).

The combat camera has been reworked from the ground up, bringing it far closer to what I initially intended. There may be some regressions in its behavior, but overall it provides a much better base to build off of than what existed prior. The camera automatically rotates to frame the closest group of enemies, with customizable tightness allowing you to adjust it to your personal preferences.

For those who preferred the old camera, a camera deadzone set all the way to the left will give you a close approximation of the old behavior.

No more dropped comboes! Most attacks now magnetize within a certain distance, allowing much smoother combo potential, especially for moves like the Magic Book's dive kick. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

The aiming reticle on the Yoobow no longer snaps instantly, but rather smoothly tracks to your desired location over time. This change is purely visual and will not affect gameplay.

Some other miscellaneous changes include:

• Improved mouse functionality in some menus
  
• Added sounds to some menus
  
• Fixed a bug with the Artist's revenge ability making him constantly block attacks
  
• Gave the Artist more health
  
• Changed the soundscape of some cutscenes in the Constructive Criticism side quest
  
• Upgraded the pathfinding package used for Carter's Quest. This should result in better, more performant pathfinding
  
• Performed significant optimizations in the open world, these may lead to new bugs in some instances but I have personally found nothing
  
• Minor change to the first cutscene
  
• Difficulty select window now appears faster and no longer lasts into the first cutscene
  
• Settings are now a file (settings.json) in your save location, and can be edited by hand if necessary

KNOWN ISSUES

• Sometimes, the game audio will stop working and the game will stop rendering. I could only replicate this once and then never again. A restart or clearing of your settings file should fix this issue, but I am working on diagnosing the issue. If it happens to you, please send your log file to me!!
  
• The camera will occasionally point the wrong way at the beginning of an encounter, and then rotate rapidly to the correct position

As some of you may know, I recently picked up a second job. This will partially impact the development speed of Carter's Quest, but I am working diligently to make Act 2 the best it can be. The target date for release is still in 2025, but if it does slip away, I will be sure to keep the community updated on the situation. I am eternally grateful for all of the support I've received over the past 8 months and I am excited for you to finally see what I've been cooking up.

Have a great day, and until next time,
Goba!

Hello everybody, Goba here!

As you know from the credits, Act 2 is scheduled for release this year. As of now, I am on-schedule and things are going as planned. New mechanics and new features are already implemented, with more on the way.

So, how are things going? Without ruining the surprise, here are a few screenshots of what I've been working on!

One of the new dungeons, code named "Cathedral," is home to some of the most interesting and innovative gameplay Carter's Quest has yet seen. An old Wizard's temple, pre-Phyllubis, that holds secrets lost to time in the age of Homunculi. Most of all, however, it seems to hold new truths about people we've already met.

A new, highly-optimized crowd system, fit for the huge population density of the Elven capital of Iridopolis. In stress-testing, over 1000 characters have been able to appear on screen without breaking a sweat. This feature is in active development, but even early work has bore tastier fruit than I could have ever expected.

New enemies have already been created, with many more still waiting to be made. Emphasis is being placed on creating enemies that lend new textures to fights, forcing you to make more decisions in combat than before.

New storytelling possibilities have been unlocked with the new "bumper" system, that allows characters to interject seamlessly into gameplay. No more cutscenes taking control away for simple worldbuilding details!

All visuals are subject to change and refinement. Only a month into development and Act 2 is already shaping into an interesting experience. What I've shown you represents only a fraction of the work done, and let me just say on behalf of everyone who's seen it, you are going to be delighted by what's coming.

Thank you, everyone! Keep an eye out for new details coming later this year!

- Goba