It's been a minute! My last newsletter was at the end of August, and since then we've had a number of small patches and the October sale getting us through the spooky season!
October Sale
This is just a friendly reminder that the game is still on sale until the end of October. Add it to your Steam library with a 20% discount!
Or better yet - perhaps gift it to a buddy if you already own it!
🚨 Reminder 🚨 Tales from The Dancing Moon also has a FREE DEMO that includes the first Act of the main story including all relevant side quests. You can get a feel of the game this way before purchasing the Early Access version. All saves will carry across!
Anyone who has managed to complete Tales from The Dancing Moon may know that leaderboard scores are unlocked during the post-game. This includes enemies fought, fishing caught, and the top score for the "Tiles from The Dancing Moon" mini-game.
I wanted to highlight a particular fun moment from my players over the last month. Particularly between Izzi and Roushi over on Discord who have fought to claim the top spot in the Tiles from The Dancing Moon mini-game!
This started when one of the players managed to get over 10,000 points, and in turn triggered a bit of friendly competition! This is something I didn't anticipate or have the patience for during my own playtests, but in turn prompted me to add an additional achievement to reward that effort, and would hopefully foster more friendly competition amongst my players!
I will keep this months newsletter short but to provide a little developer update: I have kept a watchful eye on bugs over the last few weeks as players trickle in amongst the recent sales. I will be returning to heads-down development for the upcoming dungeon updates when things calm down a bit!
That's all for this months newsletter, thanks for tuning in and playing!
- DjMonkey
Enjoy reading my dev diary newsletters? Then please consider downloading the demo or trying the Early Access of the game, you can even just Wishlist if you like! I'd greatly appreciate it! You can do so from the the Steam page.
If you’d like to join the community and discuss the content of this post, please visit the Discord or make a comment on Threads or Twitter!
Minor text and dialog tweaks for "A Big Blob" quest.
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue where the last patch changed the health data of the Big Blob and Big Shadow Plant enemies due to some enemy code refactoring. This is now back to how it was before the 0.9.23 update, and should better reflect player expectation when using bombs for combat.
I'm happy to announce that Tales from The Dancing Moon is now on sale through the spooky season! From now until the end of October!
This means you have plenty of time to snatch up the game for your Steam library with a 20% discount!
And don't forget - there's also a free demo you can play before deciding to purchase!
I'm also happy to bring a small patch to the game, read below for more details!
0.9.23
This small patch addresses some recent feedback and bugs, mostly related to achievements. Enjoy!
Updates
A new achievement has been added for reaching over 10,000 points in the "Tiles from The Dancing Moon" mini-game.
After some consideration, a number of high-target achievements have been adjusted to better match the expected playtime between average to loyal players:
The Master Hunter achievement target has been reduced to 300.
The Master Fisher achievement target has been reduced to 300.
The achievement for reaching 10 years in Illisor has been reduced to 5 years.
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck within a campsite in the Dewiland Meadows.
If you're spending this Halloween at the Dancing Moon then feel free to share your spooky screenshots on social media or the Discord server!
For example, Izzi - one of my most loyal followers of the game - took this screenshot recently showcasing the free placement build system using some spooky trees and jack-o-lanterns.
This update introduces new gameplay options to the combat bow, in the form of elemental arrows! Inflict burn damage using flame arrows or slow them down using water arrows!
And don't forget - read more about the planned roadmap to the 1.0 release in my previous post here.
Updates
Elemental Arrows: New arrow types can be crafted by talking to Skye after completing the "Archery Society" and "The Topaz Trap" quests.
Elemental arrows can be crafted using a new "Enchantment Table" workbench.
A new ammunition selection feature can be used to equip different types of arrows. Selected arrows will be marked with a golden asterisk in the top left corner in the inventory screen and hotbar.
Arrows are crafted in sets of ten, and the crafting UIs have been updated to reflect this new feature.
Enemies have updated to react to elemental arrows. For example - fire arrows can inflict burning damage over time, where water arrows can temporarily stun enemies.
New dynamic lighting effects have been added to the fire arrows.
UI icons for bow and arrow items have had a visual refresh.
UI icon for the shovel has had a visual refresh.
Minor visual improvements to the crafting UIs.
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue where the right-click mouse action would not trigger fishing in the fishing boat.
Fixed an issue where the player would sometimes move to and interact with the last object they interacted with when attempting to do something else.
These fixes and updates have also been applied to the demo! 🐝
Updates
Fine-tuned various hit-boxes around harvestable items (like trees, rocks, etc) to improve their interaction reliability.
Large trees will now only receive their selection highlight when the cursor is near the base of the tree (as apposed to the entire tree). This should generally improve movement and interaction around trees, particularly when playing in the Dewiland Meadows region.
Left-click will now default to a "move to and swing" action when clicking on a tree whilst holding an axe.
Replaced the generic resource gather "pop" sound with something more appropriate for the given resource.
Quest Related update: The museum door will now be temporarily locked during an Act 3 quest moment to subtly improve player guidance for that particular quest
Bugfixes
Fixed and improved various aspects of the book collection screen in the Museum, particularly with Steamdeck/gamepad interaction.
Fixed an issue where Steamdeck/gamepad could not scroll the quest update information when a scrollbar is visible.
The season transition screen overlay now displays the correct year, instead of displaying "Year 1" all the time.
Fixed an issue where a "{RESOURCE}" text was displayed on the "Tea Party" the procedural task board quest.
Fixed an issue where the player could get stuck in a ruin asset in the Desert region.
Fixed an issue where left-click interaction with Shadow enemies was not working properly.
Fixed an issue where some enemy-drop resources were not playing the correct sound when being gathered.
Fixed an issue where music was not playing in the Swamp region during day time.
This is a small patch update that mostly fixes some issues related to SteamDeck and other gamepad related gameplay. These updates have also been applied to the demo! 🐝
A big thank you to @puppysarus_rex over on Threads for putting the game through its paces on the SteamDeck!
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue where SteamDeck/gamepad input was not working on the fishing mini-game whilst on the fishing boat.
Fixed an issue where the fishing boat had a persistent selection highlight when using a SteamDeck/gamepad.
Disabled Unreal Engine's built-in UI tab focussing system which could be unintentionally activated by the player, which messed up SteamDeck/gamepad input and blocked the player from playing properly.
Fixed an ugly icon glyph on the fishing boat UI when using a gamepad.
Fixed an issue where camera zooming was not possible in the fishing boat when using a gamepad.
Fixed an issue where an empty quest would be added to the journal when interacting with the task board and no task was available.
Fixed an issue where camera zoom level was incorrectly set when transitioning between interior and exterior areas.
Fixed a minor dialog script issue within the "Introduce Yourself" quest.
Fixed an issue where navigation via the WASD keys would stop working when using a watering can and moving via a mouse click immediately afterward.
Fixed an issue where cosmetic sword trails were also affecting the Bow & Arrow trail effects.
Long time no see! After a brief hiatus amongst the larger 0.9.19 update and the Steam Summer Sale, I am back with a new developer newsletter!
🚨 Reminder 🚨 Tales from The Dancing Moon has a free demo! It includes the first Act of the main story including all relevant side quests. You can get a feel of the game this way before purchasing the Early Access version. All saves and achievements will carry across!
The upcoming 0.9.20 version will be a large one. For that reason it's taking a longer time to put together. The game as of right now is what I call "story-complete", but I'm happy to say that with 0.9.20 I will consider the game to be entirely "feature and story complete".
After 0.9.20 is released, the plan is that the updates following will purely focus on polishing and tying up loose ends to bring the game over into it's 1.0 release.
With that all said, I have a little sneak-peak to show of what will be included in this update - procedural dungeons!
I've always been interested in procedural generation in games. There are already zones in Tales from The Dancing Moon such as the Dewiland Meadows, Noneye Desert, and the Stoknel Swamp that are procedurally generated.
Procedural dungeons will be slightly different to these zones as they will be entirely interior, with procedural layouts, puzzles, lore, and rewards.
These dungeons will also be the final part of Skye's quests, and allows the player to discover more lore about the Shadow Beasts and their involvement with the village. See the update recap section below to learn more about the recent additions to Skye's questline.
It's all still very early days (as you can see from the gifs above and below), but I'm quite happy with the direction it's going, and will hopefully add even more intrigue and replayability to the game.
Patch and Updates Recap 🛠️
Here's a little recap of the most recent updates!
[0.9.18] brought a whole wealth of new updates touching many areas of gameplay. A new late-game quest can be started from Skye at her new work station in the Worm's Tail Region. New rewards, craftables, buildable items, and a bunch of "quality-of-life" features can also be found in this update.
[0.9.19] expanded an entirely new questline to Skye, with a new "hide-and-seek" gameplay mechanic and a series of mysterious quests involving energy swords! Plus a bunch of new features like water sprinklers, recipe books, and more!
Steam Walkthrough Guides 📚
As new players trickle in, it's worth reminding that there is an official guide you can follow right here on Steam, written by yours truly. It's a great resource if you get stuck, or just want to know exactly how to move the story along in the game.
You can also access this guide straight from the main menu in-game (as shown in the screenshot above!)
Please Note: Tales from The Dancing Moon is a game with an emphasis on quests and figuring things out for yourself. If you need help it may be better to ask for hints on the Discord or forums before consulting this guide.
The guides focus on gameplay actions rather than story, to keep them as spoiler-free as possible.
That's all for this months newsletter, thanks for tuning in and playing!
- DjMonkey
Enjoy reading my dev diary newsletters? Then please consider downloading the demo or trying the Early Access of the game, you can even just Wishlist if you like! I'd greatly appreciate it! You can do so from the the Steam page.
If you’d like to join the community and discuss the content of this post, please visit the Discord or make a comment on Threads or Twitter!
This update continues the focus on Skye's new questlines and the ongoing effort to bring the game closer to a 1.0 release. Read more about this in my previous post.
All important fixes in this update have also been rolled back into the demo. 🐝
Updates
Skye's Quests: A new three-part questline has been added to Skye's storyline!
Research into the mysteries of Worm's Tail Island and the origins of the Shadow Beasts. New gear can be used to breach the barriers of reality surrounding the island.
These new quests start after unlocking the gear upgrade ability from Val and span until the end of Act 3.
The quest "Portal Hijinks" is now dependant on completing Skye's quests in this update, and the dialog has been slightly adjusted to match the new details introduced.
Mineral Swords: New sword types can be upgraded via Val's store. These sword types are unlocked during Skye's new quests. Each sword has it's own cosmetic trail! (see screenshots below)
The Basic Sword can now be purchased from Quinn and Val's shop.
Recipe Book: A new recipe book screen can be accessed via the Cooking/Brewing stations, displaying the ingredients for products the player has already discovered. Unfortunately for existing saves players will have to "rediscover" items by cooking/brewing again for them to be added to the recipe book.
Enemy Difficulty Variety: Different types of Shadow Blob and Shadow Plant creatures will appear in the Dewiland Meadows and Noneye Desert regions respectively as you progress further in the game.
Water Sprinklers: These new items provide a further sense of progression to the farming gameplay, adding automation and quality-of-life.
Bug Reports: The in-game bug report button now directs you to a simple Google Form page. Having Discord is no longer a requirement for reporting bugs and issues.
Some minor updates to environmental assets across the game.
The camera facing walls in The Dancing Moon - First Floor have been adjusted to improve visibility of floor area.
Minor text updates to item namings.
New Blueprint Recipes
An assortment of new blueprints have been added to Lucas' shop allowing further customisation and decoration. These are available at different parts of the game progression:
Water Sprinkler (Copper)
Water Sprinkler (Silver)
Water Sprinkler (Gold)
Barrel (Simple B)
Barrel (Simple C)
Light Stand A
Light Stand B
Light Stand C
Chair (Simple B)
Chair (Elegant)
Chair (Fainting)
Chair (Tall)
Table (Simple B)
Table (Hardwood)
Table (Pale Wood)
Sack (Decorative)
Sack (Coffee)
Sack (Single)
Sack (Group)
Bucket (Tall)
Bucket (Wide)
Rug (Intricate)
Coat Rack
Bugfixes
Fixed the requirements for the "City Builder" achievement based on the new buildings added to the game.
Fixed an issue where some furniture items would appear in the standard workbench crafting menu.
Fixed an issue where photo mode would not be accessible when sitting in chairs or interacting with other furniture.
Fixed a logic conflict between movement mode, base-building mode, and photo mode.
Fixed an issue where an extra white mesh would become visible on buildable Lamp posts in the building mode.
Fixed an issue where visitors and fishermen were not appearing in the Docks area.
The Steam Summer Sale is happening right now! Add Tales from The Dancing Moon to your steam library with a 20% discount!
Need a little more time? No worries - the sale is on until the 11th July and there's a FREE demo you can play that goes through the first act of the story. That's plenty of time to play the demo and make a decision!
Demo saves are compatible with the full game, so you can pick up exactly where you left off!
