Hello everyone,

January was full of flu for me 🙂 still I did my best to get some nice progress and take Tales of Elondria a step forward.

Stats, Skills, and UI Improvements

The month started strong with the integration of new stats, further refining character progression. Every action in the game now has both a primary and secondary stat modifier, adding more depth to gameplay. To complement this, I introduced several skills like Herbalism, Mining, and Bartering, all tied to in-game actions.

To support these additions, I created a Skills Panel where players can view their skill levels, required experience for the next level, and brief descriptions of what each skill does. A small info box now appears when hovering over elements in both the Skills Panel and Character Panel, providing quick access to relevant information.

On the atmospheric side, I added birds to the game! These little creatures fly dynamically between points, making the world feel more alive.

Quest System Implementation

A major focus in January was implementing the quest system. Initially, I hadn’t planned to prioritize this feature, but after testing the game on Steam (more on that below), I felt it was necessary to enhance the overall gameplay experience.

Here’s what was accomplished:

• Towns now dynamically generate quests daily, complete with objectives and rewards.
  
• Players can accept quests and track them via a newly implemented Quest Panel.
  
• Quest objectives now display an icon next to their portrait, making them easily identifiable.
  
• Progress tracking has been added (e.g., “x out of 10 wolves hunted”).
  
• A checkbox allows players to track a specific quest, displaying its progress on the right side of the screen.
  
• Sound effects have been added for accepting, completing, and interacting with quests.
  
• A quest journal background has been introduced for a cleaner, more organized look.
  

I also worked on refining the quest UI, but after several iterations, I wasn’t satisfied with the design. I’ve decided to revisit this in a later update.

Steam Integration

This month, I successfully uploaded the game to Steam! Though it’s currently a private release, this was an important milestone to familiarize myself with the process of deploying builds to the platform. This also allowed me to test the game in a more polished environment and identify areas that needed improvement—one of which was the lack of questing, leading to the system’s implementation.
Wearable Equipment & Itemization

After a brief pause on quest UI development, I shifted focus to one of the most exciting additions this month: wearable equipment. Players and NPCs can now equip armor and weapons, with the system working similarly to the inventory system but with additional conditions specific to equipment.

I introduced armor enhancements that grant extra stats, including Luck, which can only be improved through items. There are three armor types planned:

• Light Armor – Best for spellcasters, boosting Intelligence and Wisdom.
  
• Medium Armor – Designed for agile characters, enhancing Dexterity.
  
• Heavy Armor – Optimized for melee-focused warriors, increasing Strength and Constitution.
  

To kick off equipment implementation, I created two full light armor sets: Crimson Veil and Duskworn.

One small setback was the realization that the asset pack I’m using for item icons doesn’t include shoulder armor. For now, I won’t be adding shoulder items, but if necessary, I’ll work with an artist to create matching icons in the future.