Progress on the development of Malevolent Planet - 12th July 2020

More developments are being continuously made. Today I've been and still am working on:

• Added a new item to the game. A smartwatch from the future, its functions allow you to analyze various substances, ranging from some irritating water droplets during an abrupt rainfall, to suspiciously colored plants in a cave system while keeping track of your health/energy levels (lore explanation for being able to see those) . The quest I am working on right now will offer you the opportunity to take advantage of this tool. It will come in handy during not yet developed environmental scenes or quests, but it is your choice whether you will want to use it. You can see a very pixelated version of it in this post, but the in-game version will be high-quality, just did not want to make it easily copied before you can even play the new version.
• Created 2 shop sellers for the village, with HiEv's templates as references. One of them is a farmer and a consumables seller, and she does not have enough money to buy all your future spare fruits/vegetables/drinks and others. So, if you want to help her out, buy stuff from her, thus supporting your friendly local farmers in need. The other one is a blacksmith and an armor/weapons seller. He is a little bit richer, so if you'll have armors and others you may not need, you can sell them to him. Once they have a more.. sizeable inventory (as I need to tinker with some item ideas that make sense within the setting), I will code them to reset their available currency once a week, as it makes sense within the lore that once the area is generally safer, trade routes are used again and they can have a stable revenue by selling their surplus to any visitors.
• Finished the first dream sequence and I have ideas on making it more immersive by adding a background to it (you will see later why, it is an interesting idea I developed by using the setting, I can give you a hint by telling you that it is an unknown being, that is closely related to the malicious alien civilization that sent down the probes). The theme of this plot point is Mental Transformations under the influence of Chaotic Corruption.
• Finished some plot points that connect the ending of the linear part of the game to the beginning of the LifeSim, so that there is a gradual immersion into the locations you have been to in the past (such as the Medical Facility, the Human Camp).
• Developed drastic improvements to the quest system's code with the help of a person I've mentioned before from the Twine discord. The code is way more robust right now and it is ready for content, which I will mention in the next bullet point.
• Without spoiling too much, one of the first quests you can undertake from one of your crew mates after you go through the connecting plot points will require you to investigate an area and you will be accompanied by the same crew mate who provided you with the information. The template of this quest is done, but it is currently undergoing developments, by including descriptive writing on backgrounds, scenes, emotions and possibly even one or more art assets. I am also integrating that smartwatch in this quest.

So I can probably not say much more than what I've said so far.. related to the smartwatch I am still figuring it out. Right now I am working on attaching a function to the CSS arrows near the equipped item, if my attempts are successful I will include it in the next development update.