Hello Villagers!

It's time for another major update! Welcome to Village Monsters v0.80, also known as Part 1 of the Village Restoration Project.

This release is all about the village and how it can change and evolve over time. It also includes frequently requested features, like donating items to the library, character customization, and improved fishing and critter traps.

Unfortunately, I had to shelf several features I had planned to include. There are also several incomplete features in this release. This is because the release was already taking much longer to finish than I had predicted, and I knew it was better to release what I had now rather than making you all wait even longer.

Adding "Part 1" was a last minute change that I thought might help set expectations.

Let's take a look at these tasty patch notes!

Library Exhibits

The biggest change in this update is the completely renovated library! The library is finally accepting donations for all kinds of artifacts, critters, fish, plants, and everything else that you can find around town.

The library expands its exhibits as it levels up, and over time you'll even start seeing rewards for your patronage.

• The library has been greatly expanded with the addition of 5 new exhibits
• Players can donate a wide variety of items and creatures to the library. Talk with Library Services to learn more
• Exhibits can be visited and each display can be interacted with for info, trivia, and more
• The library starts out small, and will expand its floor space as it achieves higher ranks
• Contributing to the library now raises its level. You'll unlock special bonuses as you increase its rank
• Books, scrolls, and other readable objects can be read by interacting with them
• Added a huge number of new artifacts to discover
• (Identifying artifacts in the library now serves an actual purpose!)
• Expanded the Library Services desk with new explanations and tutorials
• Added a number of new jewels, amulets, rings, etc. to discover
• Lindwyrm and Ruby now work on an actual schedule
• Improved the look of the library

Player Customization

At long last, you can finally change the appearance of your character!

By far the most requested feature since launching in Early Access, players can now freely switch between 5 different 'presets' of looks. Assuming there are no problems found with the new sprite system, more types will be added continuously through Early Access.

• You can now, finally, change the appearance of your character
• Currently, you can select your new appearance from a several presets of various genders, skin color, and clothing options
• New players can select their appearance during the intro cutscene
• Existing players can change their appearance via a special device near the Wall of Text (north side of town) or via the basement upgrade for your home

Village Restoration Project

The village now changes and evolves over time.

Stores will improve their stock the more you use them. Visitors will start appearing in the inn and town square. Villagers will plant flowers and set up decorations as they begin to feel pride in their town.

Your village now has an overall rank depending on your completion of all various goals and projects available to you. This rank will ultimately have story and gameplay impacts, though this is yet to be implemented.

This release is considered "Part 1" of the final Village Restoration Project. Part 2 will release later this month and will include even more features related to village progression.

• Parts of the village will now improve and change over time as your rank improves
• The general store will now renovate itself into a larger, more impressive store after reaching a certain level
• The bakery starts out closed and opens up sometime after the initial town meetings
• The bakery will start offering more advanced items as it levels up
• The stock of items sold at the general store changes with its level
• Changes, improvements, and additions to the village will trigger as each building 'levels up' via usage
• The current Village Rank is now displayed on the end of day summary

Home Improvements

Several new home upgrades have been added for purchase at Pishky's. In addition, the interior and exterior of your homestead have been steadily improved.

• Added the Stash to the list of purchasable home upgrades
• Added a Home Expansion to the list of home upgrade projects
• Added a Basement to the list of home upgrade projects
• The expanded home includes new furniture and opens up even more upgrade options
• Basements have no immediate use yet, but will be a great place for workshops and storage

Hobbies

A large number of various changes to hobbies are also included in this release. You'll enjoy some long-awaited improvements to traps, energy costs, spawn rates, and more.

• Greatly reworked how fishing and critter traps behave:
• Traps are no longer a separate tool. Instead, trap locations will be displayed when you have the 'main tool' (Net for critters, fishing rod for fish) equipped
• Interact with a trap location to learn a bit on how they work and to arm them if you have the appropriate number of traps
• Added a new ability to help you predict when a trap will finish catching a critter or fish
• You can now inspect in-progress traps
• Rebalanced the energy costs for fishing
• The length of time it takes for a trap to catch a critter is now variable
• You can now view the number of remaining traps you have via the toolbelt menu
• Increased the amount of experience gained from catching critters
• Decreased the amount of experienced gained from fishing
• Added a number of new dig spots throughout the world
• Rebalanced spawn rates for buried items
• Added a large number of new foragable items
• Removed journal pages for treasure hunting and gardening
• Rebalanced how often critters spawn by default
• Removed the concept of "subtools"
• Improved collision of garden plots
• Improved animation and hitbox of the shovel

Additions & Improvements

And like always, I also added a whole bunch of other new stuff that didn't neatly fall into a category. These changes range from graphical improvements, improved UI and controls, or brand new features.

• Added a large number of new furniture and interactive objects
• Added some new interactions to the end of day summary
• Re-balanced how fast time flows
• Added a number of new potions to the Pots & Pie stock
• Added a number of new gift items to the store
• Seasonal changes now have a greater impact of vegetation and trees. Flowers and crops come and go, trees and bushes have snow on them, and so on
• Added a large number of new flavor critters that you can encounter on your journey
• Greatly improved how stairs look and operate
• Added the option to quit during the end of day summary
• Added a number of new interacting and flavor text
• Added proper winter variations for each tree and bush
• Certain flowers now change their look depending on time and weather
• Shift + A / S now brings up the toolbelt menu
• Improved interacts / inspects near the player's feet
• Improved the look of the winter tileset
• Improved the look of a large number of new furniture and interactive objects
• Made a few 'canonical' glitches (like Valentine's way of speaking) more obvious
• Save files from v0.75 are placed in a special backup folder - just in case

Bugfixes

• Fixed major issue that was causing villager sprite issues during Summer, Autumn and Winter
• Fixed armed traps accidentally trapping tamed critters
• Fixed traps from replenishing for free with each load
• Fixed certain critters acting strangely when approached
• Fixed sprite issues for a number of critters
• Fixed issue preventing payment after a Dr. Klaus job
• Fixed seasonal weather not working correctly during the first day after a load
• Fixed being unable to fish in Pioneer Square
• Fixed layering / overlap problem with buried items
• Fixed time not pausing properly in several situations
• Fixed the test subject job from granting you the same effect each time. It won't be that easy!!
• Fixed the Village Projects journal page from displaying incomplete / blatantly wrong entries
• Fixed wonky collision issues with the homestead exit
• Fixed a number of unassigned variables in dialogue
• Fixed the suitcase and bed from remaining behind in Overflow after you purchase a house
• Fixed wonky issues with shoveling animation
• Fixed the UI not displaying after the end of the day
• (Please note that Valentine has a certain of talking, and you can assume it's intended)
• Fixed possible collision issue with the dock in Bonfire Beach
• Toned down the intensity of the Theme Song effect