Encore (Preview)
Greetings, friends! π
We're about halfway on the road towards ANARCHY's second update. There's a lot to unpack already, and I can't wait to present it all to you! So without further ado β
Point 1.2
0.1.1 (Trois) put a big focus on infrastructure. Largely thanks to that, we can now shift gears steadily towards rolling out new content. Highlights include a rework of ExcommunicAtion's Phase 4, big improvements to ParAdise's starting area and β last but not least β the first couple of InvAsion scenes.
Home again.
Revisiting these brought back tons of memories. InvAsion was my first Unity project, and it shows! There's big post-autonomy "sky is the limit" vibes β both in terms of content and infrastructure.
Going in, I tried to get rough idea of how much work (re)implementing these scenes would be. So I started by reworking the scenes' basic setup. In other words: It might get a bit technical now. π³
Then.
InvAsion was originally built around an RPG Kit called ORK Framework. Halfway during development, I ported all the conversations into a dedicated Dialogue System. In the end, ORK was completely cut from the final build, since InvAsion was mostly comprised of conversations.
Now.
ANARCHY on the other hand heavily uses the RPG elements. So the overarching infrastructural goal here was to embed InvAsion's (Dialogue System) conversations into ORK. For the most part, you won't notice a difference β barring new UI elements and a couple of other details.
Fast to Past
The actual dialogue has mostly been left intact. Thirteen months later, the lines still hit the same. And the acoustic BGM is a great change of pace compared to the J-Rock tracks you're encountering for example during ExcommunicAtion.
All in all, these scenes are big nostalgia trip, and they're a perfect fit for a game centered around (re)discovering yourself.
The Point
During the events of ParAdise and on, characters rediscover their memories by reliving key moments of their original lives β i.e InvAsion et al. Completing these "Fragments" will not only offer additional exposition, but also directly affect the characters by unlocking status bonuses, abilities, equipment and so on.
Memories
Essential memories will be directly tied to the main story quest. Naturally, there's also plans for a lot of optional sequences that you can discover either through completing side-quests, stumbling upon Mementos or interacting with other characters.
This should make a great incentive to go out and explore, especially due to the fact that it β in most cases β improves the characters capabilities, too.
Economy
Speaking of interactions: A familiar face has set up a little shop in ParAdise. Just like her mythological namesake, our very own Ariadne is β once again β here to help you out. At the moment, she offers a small selection of items and equipment, with a potential to unlock more goodies down the road.
ParAdise
Overall, ParAdise's first map has received a lot of love. It's an ongoing process, and will likely take a couple of months until the map itself is somewhat presentable. But I'm getting more and more comfortable working with the new tiles.
During AUTONOMY, I made a lot of maps simply because making them felt good, and I'm already starting to get that exact feeling again.
What's left
I mentioned a rework of ExcommunicAtion's Phase 4. It's planned to happen this weekend, so there's not much to show yet. But here's what I'm planning to do: Both Icarus and Ariadne will get a unique ability each.
Icarus will have an aura that transfers a portion of damage dealt to Ganymede onto himself. Ariadne on the other hand will get a big AoE that takes an entire turn just to build up. Any damage inflicted to her in the meantime will cancel the cast. In other words: It falls to Daphne (and you) to give Ariadne the time she needs.
Branching out
If you'd like to preview any of these changes for yourself, you can now switch between the live and beta branch. In most cases, both your settings and progression should be fully compatible. If not, please be so kind and get in touch with me. π
To conclude
As you can see, 0.1.2 packs quite a punch. I'm super satisfied with the current pace, especially since around 2/3 of the changes are already in. In accordance to what I said above, I'll try to get the ExcommunicAtion bits set up during the next couple of days.
Afterwards, I'd like to reimplement another InvAsion scene. I'd love to tell you all about it! Luckiliy for the two of us β there's no need! A very talented and special friend put it far better than I ever could:
I hope you and everyone you love have a great couple of days! β€
Soon enough, we'll talk more about 0.1.2.
Until then β as always β big, big hugs to you! π€
much love
nory
As announced in the 
These were already touched upon in the 
A new option β Conversations β allows you to toggle ExcommunicAtion dialogue on and off respectively. Think of this as the equivalent of a "story-mode" difficulty β just reversed. You'll get all the combat and gameplay segments, without being interrupted by dialogue.
ExcommunicAtion's phase 3 has undergone a rework focusing on AI target selection. Previously, Ganymede had a 5% chance to hit an enemy Monolith and turn it back to his side. Going forward, he'll be much more persistent.
Starting with 0.1.1, Ganymede has his eyes on the field. He'll probe it for Monoliths you've turned and collectively hits them with a shiny new ability. It's pretty unfair, all things considered. But also something that can be dealt with.
To counter Ganymede's fixation on Monoliths, our very own Daphne will receive a new ability to apply a provoking status effect on herself. This not only increases her Defense, but also forces Ganymede to attack her and only her.
Speaking of combat encounters, battles in ParAdise have been almost completely restored and enemies now have their own status developments. A prime example of this change comes with the addition of a new big bad enemy that haunts Lorna during the early parts of her adventure.
Naturally, the player's people won't be stuck at level 1, either. Contrary to ExcommunicAtion, levelling up is not done through beating up Ganymede (over and over again), but driven by EXP instead. EXP itself is gathered by β you guessed it β killing things. But there's also completing quests and challenges, among many other ways to further progress your characters.
The equipment system is already present in ExcommunicAtion, but without a way to functionally interact with it. For ParAdise, equipment will play a massive role. So it's only reasonable that you're provided with both the individual pieces and the infrastructure to see and modify who's wearing what to which effect.
The few story segments in ParAdise have also been completely restored. This paves the way for future updates to continue the story of Lorna and her β soon to be introduced β friends. I'm super excited to get into this once the initial segments have been fleshed out a bit more.
It's more of an outlook than anything else. But since we're approaching the end of the post anyway, I'd like to at least give you an idea of what's next. I've teased it a couple of times already. This time around, I want to be a lot more concrete.
InvAsion is coming home! I won't get to deep into it here, but 0.1.2 will put a heavy focus on polishing dialogue interactions and creating a sustainable tile-mapping infrastructure. InvAsion is thus the perfect poster child to not only prototype and polish these features, but also the perfect opportunity to integrate it into ANARCHY proper.
#### Upwards trajectory
Be it the new engine, the combat system or any other additions ANARCHY brings to TRACHI β one thing is abundantly clear: The results are all thanks to you! π₯°
