Well well well! Long time no chat! Don't worry, the Gateway isn't dead. In fact, it is THRIVING. Here's some updates on the project.

Where have you been?!

First of all, welcome back, everyone, and I do mean WELCOME BACK. Surprise, its not just a text update, its a plan for a BRAND NEW DEMO! There's been a LOT of changes since the previous demo, and while the title "Aurum Demo" is being hung up, a new version and new name will be revealed at the end of this, which will hopefully stir some excitement.

So, what's taken so long? Well, life, to be frank. I work full time, I stream, I work on UI packages for streamers over on Etsy, helping other people with their own projects here and there (shout-out to MilliesRailwayPlays as well as Tyfire50 and Plexicraft), on top of my own game and trying to balance all that with an at-home life? I'm exhausted, guys! But I'm managing, somehow, and that's a positive that I'll run with into the sunset.

Demo Update: What to Expect

The fun section that I'm sure everyone here is really interested in...what's going on with this new version? There's a TON of new updates and features, so...let's move down the list, shall we?

Battle Updates

First of all, we've now got a dialogue box specific for characters talking in-battle! Something to differentiate from the normal NPC dialogues, cutscenes, and item examination. "Battle Chat" has the same stylization as a Battle Command, which was a nice touch. Also, that's our favorite drunken libationist, Warren. Surprise! He can now be a party member in particular circumstances!

Next update to battling Nightmares, several UI updates have been made. The Combo and Damage HUD has been updated, as well as the HP/MP numbers on the player's battle hud. States no longer pop up as just plain text; flavorful images pop up in place of the old text, to add personality to each state! Here's a preview of some of the changes:

Pretty nice, huh? OH! Speaking of "flavorful", food items have been moved to their own togglable item tab in battle! This is a recent update to the battle system. By pressing TAB on your keyboard, you'll be able to switch between regular items and food items.

Weather now affects battle even deeper than visuals now. Now, a weather state will be applied in battle universally, to both party members and enemies, depending on the weather!

There's a bunch of other changes made to the battle system as well, some of which has been fine-tuned from the older versions. We'll be going in-depth on battles later on over the next couple months, so stay tuned!

Save Update

The Save Menu has been updated once again! The save point itself has been updated FINALLY, so I want to show that little guy off real quick:

No more industrial metal-gray rectangle that just says SAVE on it, finally we have something NICE! Next, the save menu itself has been updated to reflect play time, current units, and something a little extra. This is still a WIP, but the changes include a face on each save file depending on how far you are in the game. Each chapter completed changes the face on the save file. I'm testing adding a golden glow to a save file that has been completed, but I'll save that for those who complete the game for now.

Cooking Update

Cooking was one of my favorite features added back in the day, and today is remains one of the top additions.

So what's been updated? The ingredients list is at an all-time high. While I don't have the exact number of ingredients on-hand at the moment, I will say the amount of recipes the player can learn has been increased to a whopping 55 total recipes. That's a lot of food!

The cooking menu UI has been improved upon as well, with a nice color scheme, unique particles, unique windowskin for the toast message, and new variables to keep track of the player's "favorite" dish and successful dishes made overall. Certain NPCs will now comment on this!

As you can see, the layout has been cleaned up and the ingredient list has been split into two columns now. Max ingredient list has been increased to 10 ingredients per recipe, so keep an eye on your inventory! Every pre-existing recipe has been reworked in both effect and ingredient list, so foods you had before might be either buffed or debuffed in some areas. That being said, food should be an interesting addition to combat, even more so with new food-specific states! You could end up feeling Well-Fed, but be careful with that Sushi Roll, which has a 3% chance of giving you a bit of Food Poisoning...

Equipment Update

Oho, here's the part I'm very excited to show you all. The equipment menu has a colorful new UI update!

Each equip type now has its own designated color slot with a little extra stylization to give it that extra kick it was missing before! And when you select an equip slot to pick out an item, the window changes color entirely!

Doesn't that look SO nice now? We've really evolved our UI now, don't you think?

Now, that can't be it, right? Just a couple UI updates for equipment? How about major changes to a particular equip type? I'm talking about the Card Equipment. Before, you could find cards based on various characters in the game, depending on your actions. In the demo versions, you'd generally find them in chests near the character themselves, with one or two being found by doing something for that character or even defeating an enemy. It is planned that we'll change how these Cards are obtained down the line to sidequests and how the character feels about the player, but one thing still bothered me...

All these different characters have Cards...but why doesn't the player?

Enter the new feature: Card Customization.

Somewhere in your exploration, you will find a machine that helps create Cards. Moreso, this adds a canonical reason behind these cards...characters have actually created these themselves, they're no longer just these video game items with no explanation behind them. And now, you can create your own card just the same way.

With this screen, the player can choose various effects to add or remove to their particular card. As you play through the game, you may unlock a multitude of effects, as well as Card Glamour, which allows you to change the icon of the card as well!

Just one thing...all this customization just for your character to use? Why should icon matter, if its just for show in your own game? Well...if characters can give their card to you, what's stopping you from giving your card to others, too?

(early version of this menu, will be improved in later build)

That's right, you can IMPORT and EXPORT your Player Card! These will come out as ".card" extention files, which you can share digitally with other players, whether or not they've unlocked the effects and glamour on that card. Each player gets ONE Player Card and SEVEN Friend Cards, all of which start out as empty until using this machine.

This feature can really change the way the game is played. Combine different effects with different friends and see what you can come up with!

(menus are WIP)

Journal System

The next update involves a few different features rolled together into one: the Journal System. Before, you could only access a few of the game's stats at the end of the game's credits or in specific NPC dialogue. There was no way to check on how many treasure chests you've gotten this playthrough. The datalog was an obtainable book, and if you missed you just didn't get to read your collected information. The Bestiary was sort of hidden. Now, no more. All these have been fixed and shoved into one menu!

(Ignore the Text File Test, that's early WIP and won't appear in the final version.)

As you can see, Treasures, Datalog, bestiary for Nightmares, character specialties, trophies, and game records have their own dedicated home! This makes things so much more organized, wouldn't you say?

(treasure list not finalized)

First, the treasure list will show which chests have been found and which ones haven't. This will tally up in the top-left corner of the menu. Each chest upon opening will keep the contents listed on the top. This of course means I'll be removing the multiple-quantity treasures, but with expanded areas that won't be a problem anymore.

The datalog has been heavily revamped to hold different categories for each bit of information in the game. Now players can go back and review notes, tutorials, even double-check what states in battle do!

Due to spoilers I can't show off Specialties just yet, plus the menu isn't completed yet. 

Trophies have been expanded from the 14 trophies in the Aurum Demo to a massive 53 trophies in the Full Game! Look at all those! There's still some reward and point tweaking I need to do, but as a trophy hunter myself I'm sure this will get some of our completionists excited.

Game records haven't been fully filled out yet, but this menu heavily expands on all the different things a player has done. Personal records abound!

Tournament Update

Remember good ol' Pez and his Tournament House? Welcome back to...oh, I've renamed it...Carrasco Coliseum! New enemies, new states, new amounts of BP, new prizes!

Take a look at that new menu UI! You can barely even tell this is RPG Maker VX Ace anymore! A huge improvement from the old version. Also, you see that right, score multiplier has been added, which means...scoring!

(menu is work in progress)

This is the latest version of the result screen, which still has improvements on the way. But not bad for what we've got so far, huh? Lots of math still needed for scores and BP won (which should be something along the lines of the following formula:

((Rounds Completed × 𝑅) + (Enemies Defeated × 𝐸)) × 𝐷 × 𝑀

Where:
𝑅 = Base score per round (e.g., 50)
𝐸 = Base score per enemy defeated (e.g., 10)
𝐷 = Difficulty multiplier:
> 1.0 for ★
> 1.2 for ★★
> 1.5 for ★★★
> 1.8 for ★★★★
> 2.0 for ★★★★★
𝑀= Score multiplier (set by Battle Rule payout bonus / 16)

Oh, you thought this was going to be simple? No sir/ma'am/friendo, we've got MATH on our side! (god I'm tired...)

Remember how I said Warren had some opportunities to be a party member? What if I told you I'm working on a new feature that allows the player to play a tournament with whoever they want?

This is VERY early WIP, but I can't wait to show you just how extensive this ends up getting! Being able to play as NPCs is something you just don't see in a lot of games. Let's see what this can unlock in each player!

Shop Updates

Shops now have different backgrounds for each and every shop! That's right, every shop will have its own personality and feeling.

Inspired by Final Fantasy XIII, I've decided that if every shop has a different name and a different shopkeeper, why not a different background too? These were very fun to create, and I hope everyone enjoys finding all the shops in the game; some are secret!

This was very quietly touched on in the Aurum Demo, but some shops will be Buy Only, while others will have a fixed inventory quantity. Others might have a different currency entirely. Keep an eye out!

Other Features?

Don't worry, this doesn't even scrape the top off the changes applied to the next update. I'm incredibly excited for players to experience all the different changes. I'm INCREDIBLY excited for those who played the older demo from 2022 and even the older Dawn of the New Hour builds so they can see just how much their feedback meant and how it allowed this game to thrive as much as it has today.

New version, and ETA?

Alright, so I mentioned before, Aurum Demo has officially ended support with 1.9.7. We are now moving into version 2.0, and with such a large breakthrough in updates, bug fixes, new features, and more, its only fitting we keep to our word and bring about something much bigger.

Early Access.

We are done with the playtest version. We are done with the demo version. It is now time to switch into Early Access. The plan as of right now is to allow the player to experience the game from the canonical beginning of the story, up to the end of "Chapter 5: Scheme". This will encorporate the demo story (Chapter 3 and 4) while letting the player experience brand new story content and finally some answers to questions that rose during testing. Of course, with the demo being somewhat contained and written to allow players to jump right in, Chapters 3 and 4 will feel much different now that the player has preknowledge of previous events. Events will be updated and rewritten to better balance the story as well as features (e.g. Quest Menu being introduced in Chapter 1 instead of Chapter 3, Cooking is properly introduced, etc.), while some events will be changed entirely. To those expecting their experience to play out the same as when playing the demo, know that there will be fresh events with you in mind.

Early Access should be coming before the end of the year. With all other projects I'm working on, alongside day to day activites, work, and life in general, I'm aiming at the EARLIEST September. More information coming soon, once we've gotten closer to expected dates. We will 100% have something released by Christmas 2025, though. If we reach the original deadline of September, we will still add something new on Christmas Day as a gift to all players.

Lastly, thank you.

Seriously, thank you for sticking around for as long as you have. This all started with me sitting at my friend's computer playing around with RPG Maker VX Ace for the first time, and me and them building what would eventually become Otnemarcas and New Woodbury. I had no idea that this little experiment would become something on its own. I've had this story in my head for far too long, and I'm very proud to be finally writing this for the world, even if only a few people play it. :P

For those who want to see real-time progress on the game, check out the Trello here: Trello Link Here, Click Me! I update this as I'm working on the game, so every new update on this page means I'm actively at my computer and I JUST finished that thing! 

For those of you who want to watch me work on my game, I stream on Twitch! On Tuesdays, we do a Stream Dev / Dev Stream segment, where I work the first half of the stream on the behind-the-scenes of menus and effects/commands of our channel, and the second half dedicated to my game development. Come on down and say hello, even provide feedback in real-time and you may see your name in the credits. ;)

See you all VERY soon!