Day 7 - Balance Changes + Chapter 1 Progress

Today I actually didn't do very much so this will be a rather unexciting update. The first thing I did was advertise the demo out to people because I need feedback. Is the tutorial too long? Too much story? Balance needs? Stuff like that. I want to avoid silly mistakes and/or boring content so this is an absolutely necessary step moving forward.

Speaking of balancing, I made some changes:

• The cookies Hiro's mom gives you are now the best healing item in the game (heal to full) so they become a risk/reward for keeping them as they become much better as the game goes. Still remains at 3 uses.
• Dull Dagger uses dropped to 5 from 15 because at the end of the demo you gain a standard dagger with 15 uses and improved stats. The weapon is honestly trash tier so you don't really want it any way. If you can manage to beat the tutorial without breaking it, you can sell it for a minor boost in chapter one or perhaps use it for other things...
• Dagger reduced from 20 to 15 uses
• Hiro is given a free level up after the completion of the tutorial because I just forgot to include that in the demo :p

For chapter one I have decided to make the following modifications:

• Include a 2-step random event system to grant a chance at certain bonuses to make each play feel unique. Before, this was an optional inclusion to the previous chapter which was moved here for pacing. This will work by providing the player with 2 choose-your-own-adventure style encounters that will be randomly offered from a pool. One may have you foraging in the woods, another playing cards with a pirate. The pool of encounters is not finalized but will be a minimum of 4. This is the kind of thing I can easily expand later.
• Introduce optional party member [name TBD] - a cleric who can provide free healing for you, but is otherwise unable to fight (she'll need protecting in battle or you risk losing her). Originally this character would come after the next bullet point, moving to before.
• Shorten the, "trails" required to enter Válor. This is so I can have those travel encounters and keep the less interesting combats to a minimum. Considering making part of what I had planned optional for bonus XP, bonus currency, and small gold reward.

The only progress I made in chapter one today is laying the groundwork and setting up the, "map" for it. In reality, I spent like 20 minutes in engine today actually doing stuff so, like I said, rather unproductive day. I needed some rest after pushing pretty hard the past week. Better to pace yourself than falter later.

Make sure you guys are taking care of yourselves to, and remember that there is still quite some time before the Jam ends, so don't push too hard!

-JS