After a very lengthy run of bug hunting and bug fixing, v0.030 is released.

This update integrates the "stardew" style of farming mechanics into the game.  It's not a full farming sim, not by a long shot.  It should be considered as a minigame.  I took ren'py as far as I could with it, but there are certain limitations with a visual novel engine that a solid 2D engine like unity or godot doesn't have.  Namely z-indexing of images and dedicated render loops for character animations.  I had to "fake" it using a few techniques to mimic such features we take for granted in other engines.  However, I think it turned out very well, but I don't think I can push the engine any further before it starts to noticeably lag.  Luckily, I don't think I have to as I accomplished what I needed for the gameplay itself.  There's no need for giant farms as it doesn't make sense plot wise.

Other than the pixel farming game, version 0.030 was very exploration oriented.  I got a chance to really test the exploration card system a lot further than I did in the previous two releases.  And with that I found bugs, and things I wanted to improve, which never seems to end.

Going forward with v0.040, I'm looking at some heavy narrative writing scenes coming up.  v4 will test my art workflow to see if I can really generate renders using my daz/ue5/AI pipeline at a reasonable rate.  I will admit using AI can become quite the crutch if you allow yourself to use it too much.  But for consistencies sake, using it just enough for those hard to do sections can pay off in the final results by avoiding the AI slop effect.

At the end of v0.040, we'll be unlocking both the battle engine and the match 3 minigames.  They are already built, but I bet by the time I unlock them I'll end up overhauling them completely.  We'll see.  This version could take awhile to release, but I'll try to post some updates from time to time.