Hi friends!

This Alpha Build marks the first of what I'm calling "content patches" for Vidar. All told, it includes two new quests (plus an overhauled third quest), a new zone, a new puzzle mechanic, and some new additional functionality. The goal with this patch wasn't just bug fixes, but something much more, to continue to increase the content where it felt lacking (here, primarily focused on the Dark Cave). 

For a bit of dev history, the Library was actually in one of the earliest prototypes of Vidar, several years ago when I was still using RPG Maker default assets. Once Becca's art started coming in, I never rebuilt it, and it was languishing in a back corner for years. You could get pretty close to it in various demos, and the entry was even in the Dark Cave Alpha Month I did about a year ago. 

So I'm happy that it is finally making its triumphant return all these years later, particularly because Mihaly was feeling a little lackluster overall. As was Dani; I took the opportunity to inject a quest for her here, and start her down an inheritance path that will be more fleshed out in a later content patch.

Getting this much content done in 2 weeks was do-able, but maintaining a pace of these every 2 weeks will be difficult as we get to launch. That is, I wasn't able to do this and a lot of marketing, bug fixes, etc. So we'll see four more content patches coming before Early Access, and then a slight hiatus while final bugs are stomped, Steam is updated, and everyone gets hyped. If you want a preview of them, keep an eye on the What's Next page as we progress! 

Speaking of Early Access...

That doesn't give us a lot of time, so if you're one of the KS backers that has access to the Alpha, make sure you're playtesting so I can fix anything you come across!

A whopping 80 Steam Keys were sent out this week! We'll have rolled out the alpha to everyone on Steam for Windows and Mac by the end of next week. Linux, and the remaining Direct Downloads, are close behind.

​- Dean

Hi friends!

This week has been an awesome flurry of new development and bug fixes. One of the big things that I finally tackled was Etel's dialogue. The character felt a little 2-dimensional and some of his "filler" text didn't really fit with the cowardly-but-still-arrogant soldier I had in mind. Almost all of his dialogue has been rewritten. This also gave me the opportunity to put a fair amount of polish on his "Den of Darkness" quest, which plays a lot better now.

Hi friends!

Back from a really excellent vacation abroad, and excited to tackle some more on Vidar. We're spiraling frantically towards Early Access, and the past few weeks focused on:

• Artistic modifications to continue to make the game feel more responsive;
• Bug fixes forever
• The first new content patch

I'm by no means an artist, but I'm pretty proud of some of the modifications I was able to make to the Stranger to get a few more animations possible.

With more testers, more bugs in the early part of the game are being reported - ranging from small little nits in the text to crashes in some of the rarer quests. Those have been addressed, and, mercifully, the Continue screen now opens *much* faster.

Finally, a great deal was done on the upcoming Content Patch (which will include the Library) - while it won't be ready for release for a few more weeks, it's nearly done and feeling like a really fun puzzle :)

For those who like things in list form, here you go!

A pretty egregious bug has been found in the Mac build, so sadly no additional Steam key distribution for now - but give it a hot second and we'll get there!

See ya next week!
​- Dean