I’ve been on a few adventures since Roadwarden’s release, but once the dust had settled, I realized there are still a few issues with the game I wanted to address. This Anniversary Update isn’t meant to make my game perfect, or to fix all of its weak points, but I do hope it will work as the proper “thank you” - thank you for all the support you’ve shown for my work, for purchasing my game, for spreading the word, for your fanarts, for your bug reports, for the editing tips...
If you haven't played Roadwarden yet, please be aware that this devlog comes with SPOILERS! Do not read it, if you don't want to get SPOILED - we do not want to ruin your first playthrough experience!
Because of the new changes, now is the perfect opportunity to check out Roadwarden - no matter if you're a new or returning Roadwarden.
New Ending (SPOILERS AHEAD)
If you have played Roadwarden at least once all the way through, you know how it ends. You return to the city, get to see the results of your actions, and find out what’s your character’s epilogue.
The most common request for the game was not to rewrite or redesign this ending, but rather to add some sort of an alternative. An option to completely abandon the game’s main quest, and to help the people of the North remain independent. And even more so: to allow the PC to stay in the peninsula.
This option is now a part of the game, and I must say: writing it was cathartic.
It took some time before I figured out how to introduce this epilogue smoothly. Most of the game’s largest quests are all circling around the PC convincing the locals to join the city. Without this quest, various storylines end up in nowhere, and also PC loses any sort of authority they could previously have as the official roadwarden of this realm.
The solution I invented ties this epilogue to the game’s last choice: instead of returning back to Hovlavan with Tulia, you can select to betray the merchants and stay around. To unlock this option, the player needs to be invited by at least one of the peninsula’s factions - an event that is now more common, since, in the past, two of the possible invitations were limited to the characters whose personal quest was to Find a New Life.
This ending is much more lethal than the previous one. Limiting the city’s influence keeps the roads untamed, and the key to reach the more optimistic resolutions for the locals is to help them overcome their grievances throughout the game. So, for example, failing to get rid of the undead or to save Old Págos will limit the epilogue to its lowest “tiers” of completion, while keeping Thais in power is going to stop the player from uniting all of the tribes.
One could argue that having the new ending makes the game’s story weaker, less interested in the merciless colonization orchestrated by those with tools to go unpunished - and if so, it’s because of my weakness as a writer. But I do hope that having this option makes sense in the context of how the PC’s journey may affect them, and I tried to strike a balance by making this route much more difficult to complete.
Reading some of the new paragraphs during my first test playthrough made me tear up. This type of a good bye to the characters I came up with years ago was so rewarding.
Old Ending Updated (SPOILERS AHEAD)
At the same time, I tried to make the main, city-involving epilogue a bit more responsive. Aside from the tiny rewrites, I wanted to make some of the more tragic endings take into consideration the PC’s wealth, combat experience, and / or equipment.
Usually, this doesn’t make the previous “good endings” even better, but rather makes the past “bad endings” a bit more bitter-sweet and plausible.
New Difficulty Settings
I used to be quite happy with the old difficulty options offered by Roadwarden. By introducing the time constraints, I tried to make a game that encourages the player to embrace their limitations.
But after a year of having it in the open, it’s obvious that the game fails at explaining its intentions, and aside from that, there’s a ton of help out there for those who feel stuck and annoyed with their difficulty mode. I saw people using guides, forums, or simply changing their time limit with the console commands.
The additional difficulty settings are meant to help the players customize their experience without alt tabbing to seek additional help. This feature allowed me to introduce one of the most requested difficulty modes: to have the game using a completely neutral set of rules, while also removing the time limit.
While it’s not a set of rules I’d personally recommend, I believe my artistic experiment reached its end, and it wasn’t entirely successful. This time, I offer the players greater flexibility.
Since many players are already familiar, or even very familiar, with the opening section of the game, there’s now an option to skip through the entire “tutorial” all the way to the point where you get to decide if you’d rather head west, or east. It’s not entirely flexible, especially when it comes to establishing the player’s relationship with Tulia, but as a simplification works just fine enough.
New Side Quest (SPOILERS AHEAD)
Sadly, some of the game’s characters, places, or items won’t ever be expanded as much as they could or deserve. I lack the additional 6 months I could use to connect all the loose threads.
But there was one section of the game I felt was especially lacking in content, and the new quest, called Thyrsus’ Wand, is going to make some of these gaps more satisfying. It’s not a massive quest, but at this point, adding anything to the game takes a lot of effort, and I hope it will fit the other tasks as if it has always been a part of the core game.
Notepad
Since I know nothing about programming, it was actually my betrothed who coded this part for me. Thank you, Joanna.
From your Journal you will now have access to creating, editing, and removing your own notes that are going to be stored for you not in your save file, but rather in your game files, allowing you to use them across all of your saves and playthroughs. While it’s going to be less practical for the players who share a specific piece of hardware with others, I expect this to be a welcome feature for those of you who felt like you were in need of pen and paper at all times.
And all the rest
Upon the game’s release, it turned out to have plenty of bugs, typos, and awkwardly phrased bits. Also, every now and then, I’ve been adding small adjustments, such as the new tutorial tips or tiny interactions, and the Anniversary Update is containing all of these updates and more.
These additions are not spectacular, and the largest one adjusts the game’s infamous Dolmen that tends to be at the very top of the search results tied to the game. The puzzle was just not as responsive as it should be, and right now is not only going to react to more actions - and also to actions that are phrased in ways I didn’t come up with before - but also has opportunities to give the player more information in exchange for time.
Other examples would be: adding more characters you can ask about at Pelt of The North; adding more information to the journal; reordering the game’s settings so that they are easier to look through.
-----------------------------------------------------
Thank you for taking a look at this devlog! There are going to be some humble patches once I hear about new bugs to fix, but this is likely the last content-heavy expansion for Roadwarden.
-----------------------------------------------------
In the meantime, another journey of mine is reaching its end. If you liked Roadwarden, please go and check out my Visual Novel, Windy Meadow. Which is going to be released soon on Steam. Set in Roadwarden’s fantasy setting, it’s a remake/reimagination of my very flawed first draft of the game that was released all the way back in 2018. But this time, I’m making it right.
So if you’re interested in a melancholic, gruesome, yet cozy story about choosing your path and being a part of a small community, how about adding the game to your wishlist?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2366430/Windy_Meadow__A_Roadwarden_Tale/
-----------------------------------------------------
You can also find me on my socials.
Safe travels!
-Aureus
And last but not least, I want to close this first devlog with a picture from a great artist called White Mouse who sent me a picture of a Roadwarden based on his imagination; big credits and thank you for your passion!
