Hello everyone! In this developer post I'll be discussing the plans for Vanguard's next update, and answering some questions from the QnA channel in the discord and the feedback survey!
First we obviously need to address the elephant in the room, the "3.0 update". Since I'll be taking more of a quality over quantity approach to the updates now, I'm going to name each one "X.0". That being said, here are some of my loose plans for 3.0:
Chapters 24 - 27 will be added to the game.
Maps for chapters 8, 14, and 19 will be updated/remade.
New cutscenes will be added earlier in the story to cover up some potential plot holes (I will upload the cutscenes to YouTube for people who have no interest in replaying through the game).
New regional variants (obviously, we just don't know how many yet).
Player access to Mega Evolution.
I can't really give too much of an estimation on when this update will arrive, but if I were to take a wild guess, probably some time in December.
Now onto the QnA! There will be two parts of the QnA, one where I answer questions and the other where I address concerns.
Questions
Will older sprites, regional variants and characters, be updated in the future?
Absolutely, I want to get the simple recolored variants brand new designs, but obviously it can't all be done in a single update. As you've already seen with the recent Totodile and Cyndaquil line re-sprites, we wont be holding them until it's time to release the next big update.
Will you be adding any more new types? No, the biggest reason I added the sound type was to balance out the type chart a bit. Adding anymore new types seems unnecessary and something I don't want to sink a ton of time into. Will (insert mon name) get a variant?
We don't have a full list planned regional variants we abide by. But rest assure that we do plan to give every starter a regional variant, and by the looks of it, an eeveelution of each type is also very possible. Will you ever add following Pokemon? No, never. As well liked as a feature it is, the hurdles it would take to implement them at this point (Both on the coding and graphical side) are just not worth it. Plus it was never a feature I cared to much about anyway. How many chapters will the game have? Approximately 63. Addressing Concerns
Story content Something I've seen asked a few times about the story is, "When will this happen" or "when will this get revealed!" First let me start by saying that we are only about 36% of the way through the story, the same story that I have planned up until the very end. Rushing plot points for the sake of pleasing the impatient would only hurt the pacing of the story and provide a worse experience later down the line. Everything you've experienced so far is just the calm before the storm, everything after the 25th chapter will be a never ending rollercoaster. Please bare with me, for just a little longer. Level caps
Oh boy, this is a fun one. Level caps, especially when forced, have always been a touchy subject amongst the fangame community. Whether you feel that they "Limit player freedom" or that they're "fake difficulty" doesn't really matter to me. I force level caps for a few reasons:
I want to prevent the games difficulty from being avoidable by using methods like over-leveling and/or obtaining stronger evolutions before certain battles (If the fights are too hard for you, just play on an easier difficulty mode).
I do not want to spend hours trying to balance a level curve, which sounds impossible to balance for players who want to use only a single team of 6 vs players who want to use multiple teams.
I want to pace progression between chapters.
Exploration One of the things I really want to revisit in 3.0 is exploration, and what really makes it enjoyable. Most of the side areas in Vanguard go like this: Walk around, collect chest, fight boss, leave. I want to add things that make side areas feel for exciting to explore. Puzzles, unique items, and distinguishing overworld visuals are all things I'm looking at. "Damnit!"
I PROMISE I'M LOOKING AT THESE AND WILL LESSEN THEM!
common ayrei W 🥱