The Thistlewolf Post #3: The Sands Boss Arrives

Is it still morning? Maybe. Either way, let's take a look at this week's Morning Post—and this week's beta release.

Foreword

Before we begin, I should explain why this issue is arriving on Saturday—and this late in the day. The cover more or less tells the story: I went out on Thursday without any rain gear, only to be caught in a sudden downpour. I came down with a cold, spent the next day or two recovering, and lost quite a bit of development time. I am mostly better now, though, so let's get into this week's beta!

Content Log

First up, we completed the final main-story level in the Sands of Time, including its Story, Challenge, and Extra modes. And yes—that means the Sands boss has arrived!

One important caveat: the boss's art, music, and animation are all still in production. For now, this version of the fight is best treated as a preview of the gameplay.

Many of the actual values will change once the animation is in place. The full encounter will not match what I have in mind until the art and music are finished too; with the boss currently represented by a static image, there is only so much the fight can convey. Of course, a new main-story boss usually comes with a new main-story achievement as well!

It also means brand-new story material. As in the BISHOP encounter, some of that story unfolds during the boss fight itself. The post-battle sequence does something we have never tried before, and I also experimented with a new visual effect in its dialogue. You can see both for yourself in-game.

Much like “Shellbreaker,” this update also adds multi-round support to I, Zombie mode. If you want to build a multi-round I, Zombie level in DIY, the new Extra Mode provides a working example.

This level's Challenge Mode is the region's customary Ultimate Battle. That said, 40 waves really may be too long: the later stretch can leave you idling for quite a while, which gets dull. I have therefore trimmed this Ultimate Battle to 30 waves in the hope of easing the fatigue that comes with very long levels.

Next up, some Sandbox updates! We fixed a number of issues left over from the previous release. Tile-corner plants now work properly in Sandbox, and you no longer need to place Lily Pads before putting zombies or certain field objects on water. Corchid can now be planted by dragging, too. (This change also applies to DIY if you need to define a custom seed packet derived from Corchid.)

We also noticed that switching cards was rather cumbersome on PC. To make the process smoother, the Sandbox card-selection screen now supports keyboard controls.

Press 1–8 to jump straight to the corresponding seed packet, or use the directional controls to move the current selection, as shown below. These controls are dynamic: up, down, left, and right always follow the bindings in your settings.

Finally, a few smaller zombie adjustments. First up is Lantern Imp. In regular modes, its daytime landing point has moved farther to the right, onto the lawn-mower line. That opens up more ways to respond—the old landing point was extremely close to the point where zombies reach the brains—including Power Peony's backward-firing shots. This may make “Surface-to-Air Tactics” easier, so we may revisit that level and adjust it accordingly.

In I, Zombie mode, however, daytime Lantern Imp now lands in the center of the first column. That puts the Sunflower in column 1 within reach. It is not always an advantage, of course—especially when that column happens to contain a CocoBottle Shine!

Fisherman Gargantuar received the other adjustment. To make him feel more at home in the Sands of Time, I gave him a few rather curious little interactions. Try them in-game and see what happens!

Oh, and one more thing: the stars in the Sands of Time night sky are now easier to connect. If you have not discovered the constellation yet, now is a good time to try!

The last change is for translators helping us complete the game's localization. Beta builds can now reload in-game text from a human-editable format by holding Left Ctrl+T. I shared more details earlier in the translation channel; if needed, I will organize that information and explain it again.

Interesting Things

After the King Tile's visuals were updated, Floor 1 of Snowbloom Palace gained an animation in which Power Peony hops into her target square. Surprisingly, you can shovel her in midair and bypass the level's protected-plant objective!

It would be easy to fix, but I have no plans to. This bit of cheese is simply too funny.

This beta also includes x64 and Android builds. Android went unmentioned in the previous two betas, so it was about time it got a turn, wasn't it?

Some Future Plans

While the boss art is still underway, I plan to keep the main story moving and add more polish elsewhere—the pause screen, the game-over screen, and so on. I also plan to rework the DIY level-loading screen. The current version is both ugly and awkward to use.

Aside

Voyage's translation work has now moved to ParaTranz! If you would like to help, simply join the Voyage translation project on ParaTranz(external link, opens in a new tab).

A great deal of dialogue and other new content in the current build still needs translation. I will also be helping with some of that work soon, especially anything that affects gameplay.

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