Expanding the Map – More to Explore, Less to Load

I've been working on expanding the world map, making it more connected and immersive. The Forest Connector area now leads to [spoiler]’s Lake, where you’ll stumble upon new tree varieties—Maple, Chestnut, and Birch.

To make things smoother, I've merged smaller locations into larger, seamless areas, cutting down on unnecessary scene transitions. This means less loading, more exploring, and a world that feels more alive. Instant loading is the goal, and so far, this approach is working out great.

Behind-the-Scenes Fixes

Not much to show visually this week, but trust me, there's been a massive overhaul under the hood.

• Rewrote the entire scene & player loading system to fix issues with the Y-axis not displaying things properly. This makes the game cleaner, smoother, and even sets the foundation for possible multiplayer in the future.
• Improved camera movement for a better feel when exploring.
• Revamped enemy pathfinding to make encounters more interesting. I'm working on a sneaking feature that'll allow you to be in range of enemies for a certain amount of time without being noticed. It'll also boost damage done on the first strike. It's just an idea in the making, for now, but if it's well received then I'll put more focus in it.
• Started work on an NPC template, so I can create new characters much faster. This'll save hundreds of hours, not exaggerating, when we get ready to put down all the planned characters.

A New Combat System – Mixing Action & Strategy

Okay, here’s a big one—maybe a little ambitious, but I’m going for it.

I’m implementing a turn-based battle system for enemies stronger than you. But weaker enemies will still be fought in real time using your weapons and skills on hand.

Why the mix?

• Real-time combat keeps things fast-paced against smaller threats—like clearing out a swarm of slimes without having to battle each one in turn base. You'll fight them quickly in an action battle system.
• Turn-based battles give major fights more depth, strategy, and storytelling—no more mindless button-mashing to win or cheesing major fights by using knockback and turbo clicking.

This approach should make fights feel more meaningful while still keeping the action flowing. What do you think? I genuinely want to know what you think of this system. I haven't seen this exact style used before. Usually you either spend the game in turn based against everything, like final fantasy, or you speed through enemies using one meta. If you have ideas to improve or just overall hate it, lemme know because I NEED to know.

Secrets~

Some games like to punish you with passing out if you don't make it to your bed by a certain time, A Forest tail is not other games. Stay up as long as you can, but you'll experience depuffs for every all-nighter you pull. Stay up long enough see what happens :))

Oh also one last thing, I'm planning another Alpha release soon to give a chance to try tree chopping, fighting enemies in real time battles and NPC dialogue. If all goes well then I can probably get that out this coming week.