【GATEWAY DEVLOG MAY 2021】

Hello, everyone! Time to break some silence and let you guys and gals all in on what's been going on.

There's been a LOT of progress towards the full version of the game since we last talked. A lot of wheels have begun turning, a lot of gears have begun to spin, and a lot of beeps have begun to boop. So...what's with the lack of public news?

Well, as we all know, I've been absolutely horrible with dates and deadlines. I can't count how many times I've mentioned that a new update is coming, only for the date to come and go. The reason? Every time I fix one thing, I HAVE to add something new! Every time I think I'm done, I find something else to edit, tweak, or poke. Such is the curse of a creator.

Back in February of this year, something in my life happened that made me have to step away from the project for a time. That being said, slowly but surely I've been getting back into the development of this game, and boy do I have several announcements...that I can't QUITE say out loud just yet.

While I'd like to discuss EVERY LITTLE PIECE of new content and tweaks, edits, and fixes, this log would be incredibly long. That being said...well...let's do it! PREP YOUR ANGUSES!

【 NEW CONTENT SINCE LAST UPDATE】
- New characters!
- New enemies!
- New scenes!
- New items!
- New title screen!
- New game icon!
- Heavily reworked most of Otnemarcas!
- Reworked most of New Woodbury, including an expanded Church Basement dungeon!
- Heavily reworked Carrasco!
- Reworked the Gateway!
- Deep Lab updates.
- CUTO lore added!
- Niji's Realm has been expanded!
- New "scene" rooms.
- Heavily Reworked "Home", "Bing's Market".
- New sound effects, background audio, and music!
- New graphical map motions (you'll see in Niji's Realm)
- New tilesets and updated/customized/detailed tilesets!
- A bunch of new textboxes...and when I say a bunch...hooboy.
- ALL menus have been updated!
- The Quest system has been tweaked to better fit the full game, rather than being built around the demo.

【 NEW NERDY GAME DEV TALK STUFF】
- A bunch of new common events!
- Tons of new switches and variables!
- New transfer player features!
- New scripts, and old scripts have been removed.
- Nearly every currently-used lighting/shading layer have been completely reworked.
- Quests can now be sorted by locations.
- Some items have been removed, renamed, or edited.
- New states have been added.
- Tweaked skills.
- Tweaked state durations.
- A ton of new sprites.
- A few new menus have been added.
- Dungeons added in the game's files.
- Elevators have been updated.
- Region squares tweaked.
- Added new equipment, default for characters.
- Multiple foundations added to the files for cutscenes.
- Added color to certain system messages during battle.
- Several rough maps have been added to the game's files.
- Several non-map/non-menu images have been updated.
- New battlebacks for a couple areas.
- Tweaked Chicken move routes! Yepp. The update you've all been waiting for.
- AND SO MUCH MORE!

This is just over half of what's been worked on since the last update. There's so much more to talk about and to discuss, but for now, we'll have to leave this here.

【UPDATE? WHEN?】
I cannot tell you when the next update is, only that it is to be announced soon. I do have something to go along with the update, so please look forward to then. Keep in mind...once the demo is ready to be updated, there will be a maintenance time of 48 hours while EVERY page regarding this game is updated with new information. That being said, during this time each page will be temporarily be made private. RPGMaker, Gamejolt, itchio, possibly even the wiki itself. When they're all back online, I'll be happy to discuss everything new and coming soon via video, either prerecorded or live streamed.

Again, I cannot put a date to anything just yet. Please keep an ear out over the next couple of weeks for any new information I can deliver.

【FINAL THOUGHTS】
I cannot thank you all enough for sticking by this game as long as you have. I honestly could not have continued this all without the support of the friends I've made along my life experiences thus far, as well as the support from those who've found this game and took the time to play around with it.

There have been far too many bumps in the road, and I'm glad to say we've officially hit the bottom, which means we can climb as high and as fast as possible now.
A quote from Fight Club: "It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything."
I can safely say that I've embraced this recently, seeing how I almost lost everything. But getting that close to the edge taught me to take whatever I had left and run as fast and as far as possible. This includes not so much the game, but more the STORY I want to tell.
The story I am only just now beginning to tell you in greater detail is a story that's been in my head for years. Years longer than the game's been in production, moreso even before high school, which I graduated from back in '12. This is a story I've been thinking about since my childhood, and the amount of time and space it spans is incalculable. I hope that when I'm finally able to share this story with you in its entirety, that you'll be there by my side as it unfolds.

When the Gateway opens, I hope we all get to stand in front of those doors and take the first step inside...together.

See you all soon, everyone.
- Bowtie Artist, developer of Dawn of the New Hour