Well hey there, ladies and gents! So a couple months ago, I made a post stating that I would be discontinuing development on Potion Maze so I could focus on other projects. Well... I just couldn't let this game go. I felt as though the game was unfinished compared to what I had envisioned and it was eating away at me. What ended up happening was I had a lot going on in my personal life at the time. This plus an increased feeling of burnout put me in a mental state where I didn't want to continue development on anything at all, so I put the lid on the project and focused on getting my life on a better track. Fast forward to now, I feel it's time to talk about what has been going on behind the scenes! There is a lot to cover here, so lets get into it:

1. Potion Maze has moved to the classic top down RPG 2D view! I really liked the 3D view for this game, but the issue I ran into was that in order to get anything other than wall textures to show as 3D, I had to do a confusing process for each tile. I'm sure a seasoned vet could do this no problem, but I am still a noob smooth brain and it just seemed like a whole lot of work  that would be better spent on a different project entirely.  So what does this mean for the player? Better looking mazes of course! I can actually decorate and bring some life to each maze as opposed to all of them being a 1 - 2 tile set of hallways and chests. This maybe something I come back to later, but for now I believe that this was the right decision and I can't wait to see what you guys have to say about it.

2. Customizable parameters for your character! This is one i'm particularly excited about because I believe it adds a level of player agency that was somewhat lacking.  Upon starting a new game you will be able to choose your name, pick your gender, and also... Pick your class! That's right, we have classes in Potion Maze now! Upon 0.9's release there will only be 2, but if it goes over well with the playerbase then I plan to add more in the future. Which leads me to my next point of conversation...

3. Combat overhaul! This by far is the most time consuming part of the update. Adding multiple floors to certain mazes, maze design, and other aspects is hard work at times. But this balancing.... *sigh*. Now when you walk around mazes there will be enemy types that inhabit each maze. Upon touching the player, a battle sequence will start and you will have to either fight or escape to progress. Some enemies will also be stagnant, as they may be guarding some good loot. So be sure to keep your eye out for the goodies! Right now each maze doesn't contain a metric ****ton of enemy types, some only have 1 currently. But upon the release of 0.9 I will be listening to player feedback and adding/removing/adjusting enemies in the future so the experience flows smoothly for the general audience. Stay tuned for that!

4. Going back to player agency, you now control your dialogue when speaking to NPC's! I've been playing a lot of Fallout: New Vegas recently (for the millionth time), and one of the best mechanics in that game is the dialogue system. So I wanted to incorporate that into Potion Maze! As of 0.9, it will be bare bones in a sense. Some conversations only have 1-2 options, some may have more. But this is a mechanic that will also be added to and improved upon in future updates. I'm super excited about this and I believe it will sit right with the players.

5. Quality of Life improvements! I won't harp too much on this as a lot of them are things the player may not notice outright. However there is one major change that I want to announce in this dev log. That is none other than... The inclusion of a mini map!! That's right, you now get a mini-map that will sit in the top left of the in-game window that you can use to help you navigate each maze. While I want this game to be maze-like (no pun intended), certain floors are very convoluted without spending more time than necessary to figure out. I think this will balance out fun vs. challenge, and will be monitoring player feedback on this feature going forward. To finish this talking point, button mapping is also coming in 0.9! Don't like the default RPG Maker controls? Now you can change them to your liking!

In closing, there has been a lot of work going on behind the scenes when I can find the time to develop this love letter to our community. 0.9 is going to be a big update with a lot of new features and some pretty big changes. Once it is released I will be actively listening to player feedback and making any and all adjustments necessary to ensure that Potion Maze fits the vision. I 100% expect that some things will be a smash hit day 1, while others will take time to truly bring out their full potential. With an update this massive, problems are not only possible but completely expected so feedback will be VERY important moving forward. So don't be afraid to let me know what you guys think, I promise you won't hurt my feelings. I value criticism just as much as I value compliments, so when you guys get your hands on I ask that you please feel free to be 100% honest about your experience whether it's good or bad. I will not put a release window on this because this balancing of stats, classes, etc is proving to be a massive hurdle to climb. But the good news is that I am in the final stages of 0.9 and once I get the balancing to a good state and finish up the Gear Maze, it will be ready and waiting for you guys to sink your teeth into. I'm SUPER excited and I hope you guys are too.

As always, I love you all. Take care of yourselves.

- HazMatch