Wow. This release took a lot longer than planned..

After receiving some great feedback on the user interface from the last version, I decided to change my plans and focus on addressing some things players found annoying, jarring and/or clunky. Since I had been doing most of the playtesting, I am sure I sub-consciously worked around the quirks. I was aware of some of the issues but I wasn't sure how big of a deal they would be to fresh eyes.

After addressing some of the concerns, I started to add some features and content. That created some more UI clunkiness that needed addressing. Eventually what was supposed to be a quick update before adding the new map, became a pretty big set of changes (at least it seemed that way to me).

There are too many changes to list but here are the significant ones:

Gameplay:

• Greatly reduced the number of moves per turn to speed up gameplay and make it more challenging. Especially at the start.
• Added difficulty modes. Casual mode gives infinite turns but you need to complete a level within the target amount of turns to play the bonus stage.
• Added the ability to lightly customize your avatar. Give them a name and pick one of two avatars A simple crafting system and interface. 
• Earn and find recipes to make food and tools.
•  Got rid of diamonds as secondary currency. Now players earn stars (mostly from completing levels) and stars can be used to unlock new locations and buy temporary bonuses. 
•  Added a new bonus that can be unlocked via trophy points. This will enable a power up bar on a level. When filled a helpful effect will execute. It's effectiveness can be further enhanced by increasing your trophy points. 
•  A lot of rebalancing of gameplay. Earning coins isn't as easy but probably still a bit too easy once you get a hang of things. A more gradual increase of power for the player via collecting trophies. 
•  Added a weekly quest to earn more money and add something to do. There is also a weekly summary to see how you did. 
•  Added a weekly bonus based on how many gems were crushed.
•  Added a new location to get wood. 
•  Added more items and ways to get them. (eg. you can get iron in the mines now) Added a bit of story around the silver coins (to be continued) Added a story and quest around getting the ferry opened up
•  A few graphics and sound fx enhancements. Some glow and lighting. Footsteps and dust for the player.

User Interface:

• Added pathfinding so you can point and click and mostly avoid getting stuck.
• Added W, A, S, D movement for those that prefer keyboard controls or want more control over the avatar.
• Improved inventory handling. Sorting, tempory overflow inventory so you don't lose items during a match.
• Improved the tutorials. Tried to make fewer popup hints and focus more on guiding the player on what to do next and pointing out new gameplay elements.
• Improved the location interface so there is more information about the level up front. Tabs for the bonus and shop interfaces.
• Added a slide out information box to show your active and completed quests.
• More tooltips to get information for things like items.
• Added a fast mode to speed up the match gameplay.
• Reduced the annoying talk sound. It just chirps once at the start of each dialog.
• Many bug fixes and improvements. Too many to list. Still a few known issues but not show stoppers. Most glaring are some hard to reproduce issues in matches where the game can get stuck waiting for something to complete that will never happen. Eg. after bears attack.

Future Plans:

I really want to get a version out beyond itch to get more feedback. My next target is an IOS app store release.

Apart from more polish and bug fixing, I want to at least have another map available and one or two more skill bonuses. Depending on how long that takes, I might try to squeeze in something more for the player to use items and coins on but anything major will be for future versions if there is interest in the game.

If you made it this far, thanks and please follow me for updates! 

Since these releases take longer than I want, I might start adding devlogs in between releases.