Well, hello there!
Managed to get a decent load of stuff done with the games code base as well as major and minor bug-fixes.
- Bug-fixes
* fixed minor typos and duplication from the code, including the health issue of the mountain man
* fixed fight potion bug, not rounding and adding the damage multiplier correctly
* fixed scene duplication bug in certain, walking around and foraging sections, improving the sense of RNG
* fixed the walking around the city bug that has been plaguing me for about 7 updates and a lot of you complained about
(I'd like to thank all who reported the bug, it was rare and hard to recreate in my play-through, so it took some time to pinpoint it. Yet I came away with two things which warmed my heart. Firstly enough of you played enough of the game for this rare bug to actually show itself more than a handful of times. Secondly, you helped me trouble shoot it in the forums which is the kind of engagement I'm used to in the non-NSFW indie sphere. Overall it was a good lesson.)
- Potion bonuses
* added and calculated fight potion bonuses correctly based off of appearance
* same with health potions
Now with a feminine look, you punch weaker and yet, your potion effects are stronger. Same happens with the health potions, feminine players heal more. However I did not want to discriminate against masculine players so there is a cut off variable in the story that raises those stats regardless. So as you progress through the story you get bonuses to your potions, and base fighting values despite your appearance. This is so the play-style is still a preference and not a necessity, also over time the game should get less grindy and the fights easier.
* event prompt for the change
I set up a sleep event earlier in development to have a section where with one-time general variables I can set up prompts for the player, of the changes in game as the story progresses. I haven't used this much so now it came in handy. Got to remind myself to use it more, especially for physical/appearance changes.
- Essence extractor
If you are up to date on Merca's path, an "extractor" is available in her store, with which you can extract 3 flowers at once and earn bonus essences while using it. I want to lower the click through rate of the game and eradicate early game grind as the main focus of the game becomes the story. I'm planing similar features for gathering and potion making.
That is all for now, thank you for the vote of confidence in the game so far. This update whilst lacking new content, cleared up some background bottlenecks and improved the overall game experience. (I think/hope.)
Enjoy the game and I'll see you all in the next update!
PS. same as before, let me know if you find any bugs.