Haven’t had time to write any new blog posts, as I’m trying to keep up the “once per week” update schedule that I’ve been going with for the past few weeks.
The latest update revamps the story view in the same manner as the status views (i.e., with a back button, a menu button, and a “button” row at the bottom allowing you to access your player character, your companions (if any), and your ship/forces. The back button has been made operational “again” (i.e., like in the old game), and automatically selects the “last” option in a narrative segment. Be careful – this option will usually take you back, but not all scenes have that option. I also added a game setting that allows you to remove the narrative illustration – I know this is useful for those who have more compact phones (and possibly also in landscape mode).
I also added a new mode in the ship status view – if you toggle the select button, you can now deselect the ship on the “right”, which allows you to dump cargo into the sea, if that should be your wish.
Still working on the battle system. Progress is a little slow since I’m dividing my time between that work and updating the core game, but I think that is preferable to putting the latter on ice for several weeks. The next update, I plan to start adding character to character interactions into the game – this will first be implemented for the saloon, and if it works as intended, I plan to start adding more of these into the port gameplay (i.e., finally, the residences).
I’m also considering “leapfrogging” the battle system development, and adding the auto-resolve of port attacks into the game first. This is something I was planning to add anyway, and basically it would allow players to do port assaults, even if everything involved in doing so would be “automatic” (i.e., it would be much simpler than the old system). However, I know many, many players are waiting for the opportunity to go out on conquests, so it’s definitely something I’m considering. Let me know what you think.