The iterative development process has been a real blessing for the health of Dance of Death. Releasing early and often has allowed me to keep the project’s momentum going, as well as make tough decisions about what gets done for each section, and how.

One of these such decisions has been to move what was once the #1 item on this list, wilderness generation, to the next release after 0.5.

After having played UnReal World recently, I immediately knew that I wanted to take Dance of Death into a more wilderness-survival style of gameplay. Because of this, and because the list of changes for version 0.5 is already extensive, I plan on focusing the entirety of the next version release (v0.6) on implementing the wilderness and the goodies that come with it: an overworld map and its generator; outdoor area maps and their generator(s); moving into and out of areas and into the map; moving from one area to another through area edges and map stitching to support it; new monsters, items, and tiles; and a more colorful palette! I also have to rethink the main quest and deliver it in a way that works well with an open space as opposed to a closed-off dungeon.

The following is the list of goals for the version that is in the works at the moment, 0.5:

1. Animation system for ranged combat.
2. When targeting, change the color of the targeting trajectory to show whether a shot is clear (green), unknown (yellow), or blocked (red).
3. When entering targeting mode, select either the last target, or the closest monster in your FOV.
4. Saving no longer to be on-going in the background, but manually through a [S]ave or [Q]uit command.
5. Correct language when stepping over a stack of items: “are lying here” instead of “is lying here”.
6. Picking up a new stack of an item already in the inventory should merge stacks.
7. When keybinding, check if newly entered key is already bound. If so, unbind old binding and display message.
8. If an item with a long name is equipped, switch the equipment slot descriptors to shorter versions.
9. If a missile hits an obstacle or misses, drop it on the ground.
10. Graveyard menu, where old dead characters are listed.
11. Hall of Fame menu, where characters that beat the game are listed.
12. Show more character information on the Continue screen (race/class/location).
13. Streamline Quick Character Creation: gender, archetype, name. Archetype includes race, optimal stats, and skillset.
14. Help panel should reflect the proper keys that have been bound in the options panel.
15. Save output messages.
16. Bug fix: Look into reported crashes or character misplacements after creating a character after a game has been won or lost.

Your feedback has been invaluable in both helping to prioritize next steps and in keeping the development motivation strong. Please do keep it coming!