This update should clear up the majority of the bugs and crashes that have been reported so far.
This should also improve the SteamDeck performance, specifically reducing stuttering and frame drops.
I also just want to thank everyone for all of the feedback so far! I am taking note of all of it, and I have many improvements planned for the future. The focus right now is getting the game to a stable place while tackling some easy balance/QoL changes, and then I'll shift the focus more toward more in-depth balance, QoL and content updates.
This is a solo project and it may take some time to roll out all of the changes I have planned, so thank you all for your patience!
Rest assured that I am reading all of the feedback and will be updating the game until it feels like it has struck the right balance for as many players as possible without losing sight of the core vision for Welcome to Elderfield.
CHANGELOG:
Optimizations
Made significant SteamDeck performance improvements. I suggest playing with "Full Screen" ON and "Stretch Screen" OFF for best results.
Added some optimizations that may improve map transition times for some players
Added some optimizations that may improve menu performance for some players
Balance Changes
Slightly increased overall player damage and decreased enemy damage to smooth out the difficulty curve a bit more. More tweaks will be made as feedback comes in.
Lowered the EXP curve by about 30%, so the player should gain levels noticeably faster
Slightly reduced the stats of many enemies in the Mall Mines, Old Woods and Catacombs, as well as most holiday enemies
Increased the attack and defense bonuses of most craftable weapons and armor (Copper through Platinum)
Reduced the material cost for most early-game forge recipes (And removed leather from the copper recipes)
Permanent stat loss for bad sleep rolls no longer occur on Normal or lower difficulty
Reduced the overall chance for bad mining/gathering outcomes to occur by half (such as debris hitting you in the face)
Reduced the damage taken by getting hit by debris by half
Fixed stat loss for bad sleep rolls also causing several curses
Reduced the wait duration between attacks, and sped up the basic attack animation
The pause menu no longer waits for you to finish moving to open
Buttons in the pause menu will still open if you drag them without changing the order (reducing "failed clicks")
Decreased the material cost for Preserving Barrels, Kegs, Furnaces and Grinders
Reduced the cost of Hammers/Cutters in the Catacombs shop (mostly by half)
Reduced the price of the Old Woods bus route by half
Increased the appearance rate for Fog Eels slightly
Quality of Life Changes
You can now toggle cooking stations to take items from the Primary Storage (select the gear icon when interacting with one)
Choice menus for interactable objects and NPCs now always start at the top choice, rather than on the "Cancel" option if you chose cancel previously.
Added a "!" notification bubble to the anvil in the workshop, the vending machine and the door to the mall back hallways, to help players navigate early game progression
Added a warning message when entering the Old Woods early in the game
Added a message to denote when the player loops to a prior area in the Old Woods
Doubled the speed of multi-tile hoeing/watering
Bug Fixes
Fixed holding the mouse to auto-mine/chop not working when above an object
Fixed the mouse cursor warping to the top-left of the screen when clicking sometimes
Fixed bus stop messages and "Check out the Farm" messages causing the player to clip into terrain
Added an "unstuck" failsafe check which will fix save files that are already stuck in terrain
Fixed a crash when playing some radio tracks (which would sometimes trigger later, such as when opening the pause menu)
Fixed a crash when moving items in storage
Fixed a crash when interacting with animals in non-English languages
Fixed a crash when entering some areas which have fog effects
Fixed a crash when pressing an input with no active selection in the options menu
Fixed the "TypeError: _0x521a is not a function" crash when entering some areas with dust effects
Fixed many scenes (such as crafting, number entry, shops) showing the wrong map background
Fixed Pumpkid and Abby disappearing for long periods of time (they should only be gone at night, in poor weather, or during some special events)
Fixed messages which block the player from entering certain areas causing the player to clip into walls and get stuck afterwards
Fixed the flower bed or special plots "eating" crop seeds which were previously selected via the seed select menu
Fixed tools sometimes disappearing from shops before the player had a chance to buy them
Added a failsafe system to replace lost tools if they are somehow lost to a bug (they will be deposited into the primary storage, added to the player's inventory or re-added to the original shop that sold them)
Added a failsafe which returns the player to the Library entrance if it regenerates while inside
Fixed the Cloak of Light adding the wrong resistance
Fixed Light Blast dealing Insight damage instead of Light
Fixed Ellie appearing in a classroom when her event is not active
Fixed the "God Mode" achievement not triggering
Fixed the Flesh Girl not showing her HP bar
Fixed the Locus ability not functioning
Fixed the Strange Doll equipment ability not working (and added some stats to it)
Added a failsafe to ensure Job Board tasks are started by their respective NPCs
Added a failsafe to prevent item loss from bugs while moving items in storage
Fixed Chocolate Cake not being gift-able
Fixed text sometimes auto-skipping unintentionally
Fixed choice menus sometimes not registering a mouse click
Fixed a bug which caused Adrian's task not to advance after completing the requirements on some saves
Fixed the Hagroth room trees getting stuck in a text loop when chopped sometimes
Fixed Ancientwood outputting the wrong coal amount in the Blast Kiln
Fixed Crimson Ore not showing its fuel requirements in the Blast Kiln
