The Thistlewolf Post #1: I, Zombie Arrives

Editor's note: the original PDF of this issue was lost. The text below was reconstructed from archived page screenshots and the original figures.

Content Log

Let's start with the headline feature of this beta: I, Zombie mode!

Voyage already supports DIY levels, though the feature keeps a low profile. Yet the classic I, Zombie mode from the original game had never appeared in Voyage itself. Creative players managed to recreate I, Zombie indirectly through DIY levels, which was genuinely surprising! Still, that approach was inelegant and caused plenty of problems in practice. It was time to add a proper I, Zombie mode to the game.

To try I, Zombie in the new beta, just open the world map and type IZ. There is only one level for now, but you are free to build your own IZ puzzle levels in this beta!

For reference, the IZ mode level file is levels/level98323.json, which demonstrates most of the mode's architecture. More detailed documentation will follow. A friendlier DIY experience is also planned for future betas.

Next, we fixed two small issues:

• GHTR-000000DA Dragging a seed packet on the seed selection screen could preview the wrong card
• GHTR-000000DB Using "last loadout" in a particular order could leave seed packets in an abnormal state

By the way, the chessboard tiles received a very subtle art touch-up to make them read more clearly.

What Else We Did

Not everything from this period made it into the beta release—we also worked on some other things. The highlight was the Sands boss.

The Sands boss fight will revolve around the Apple Clock, both as the reason for the battle and as a mechanic throughout the fight. The boss originated in a proposal by Rongying, a creator who has contributed a great deal of art to Voyage as well as some of the early text-rendering work. Rongying also created the visual design. Here is a first look at the new boss…

Next up: seed packet visual effects! In the new boss fight, the boss interacts with seed packets. We put together the temporary effects below during this period. In the actual game these effects are animated: the left one glints with reflections, and the right one slowly flows.

Beyond that, here is a selection of design sketches. Naturally, whether any of these will appear in the game—and what they would look like if they did—remains completely undecided.

Odds and Ends

I must thank a friend, player, and translator: M0niku.

I do not have much experience running a Discord server, and ads kept appearing alongside plenty of organizational problems. Many thanks to M0niku for helping me manage the server and organize its channels more effectively. I also want to thank M0niku for an enormous amount of translation work, both for translating directly and for coordinating the wider effort. Thank you so much!

Because the server went down, the translation platform has stalled once again. I will therefore migrate the translation work to ParaTranz, which requires file-format conversion and assorted supporting work. I will finish this as soon as I can.

And now, let's enjoy ParaTranz's drawing of Hygro Plantago!

That's it for this week's Morning Post — see you next week!