Hi everyone \o /

How's it going? Been a week and a few days since we apprised you with the latest progress we've been making towards the upcoming update, so without adieu, lets remedy that, shall we?

As always, we started from the basics- NPCs. No new map is truly complete without denizens to populate it and since Bounty Hunts are the highlights this time, we brought the baddies to life first. They now roam the new maps doing their best to avoid capture, something Caly will have to remedy. One such guy being- Tuko Sins.

Tuko Sins has full character art, and part of his battle art for if Caly fails to bring in her bounty. One should always be careful when messing with a desperate criminal on the run. You never know what he might have hidden in his flesh pockets while skulking the unfriendly hall maps.

Speaking of maps, we designed them in tandem with NPC development so we could create the right aesthetic look. Check this concept blueprint out:

Too small? Right Click here and open in a new tab for a full screen glimpse.

And we planned them with longevity in mind. Locations will function not only for the first Bounty Hunting mission(s) but could play a role in future main or side quest content. So we're ensuring it is a detailed map with interactable elements for clues and objectives, as well as other hidden details that will increase game-play potential.

Additionally, outline of the third quest in the set has also been created. It's still just a first draft but we're speeding through the planning phase to tighten things up and make sure that even if other people are hunting for the targets in the bounty hunting quests, Caly will always be the focal point.

Finally..- oh boy, seems like mapping was hot stuff all around this week. Even our coder dove deep into it installing technical uplifts, chief among them- parallax mapping system overhauls for smoother loading and zone transitions. Apparently, with each new update map additions, it is essentially becoming a requirement to deploy optimizations to manage load timings. Our prayers to the Game Engine Gods (╯˘ -˘ )╯

And that is all for this one. Next up the "To Do" list, Battlers, Cut-Ins, New skills and more! But until the next one, thank you for reading and your time.

Stay safe and stay awesome!

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team