So time is flying a little too fast, being a third of the way through July just about. I hope to get work on acts 1 and 2 done by August 24th. It's not a must, but a good goal since that's when I go back to college. It's been about two weeks since my last blog and I already have plenty of things to share. We'll start with this:

Perspective Extended Edition Details

The game that's out right now is Act 1, and it'll be included in the extended edition of Perspective of course. You will, as of right now, be able to skip act 1 if you've already played it. I'm focusing on Act 2 at the moment, but I am still looking to touch act 1 up a bit. A change of how the player can save is necessary, and I also want to actually, physically write out how I want the intro to go. I'm actually pretty happy with some of the intro scenes, so it'll stay intact. But I hope to improve the narrative, and also make the conspiracy part of the story a bit more relevant to the player and emphasize the fact that a memory level is a separate story from the overall narrative of Perspective. Perspective was mostly about discovering your attribute and solving the mystery of Mr. Anglow's memory. That tease at the end is an example of how the conspiracy clues will largely affect the OVERALL story of the game.

So other than the narrative of act 1, nothing much else will be changed. New, future gameplay mechanics will be introduced in act 2 and later. You can expect attempts to increase difficulty and some things to help replayability. Adding any of these things into act 1 won't really work, with the level being finished already, it's not always a good idea to pack more stuff in. I'll be introducing a lot of stuff in act 2. It's a great first level to start with, so it'll stay where it's at mostly.

So act 2 will be a continuation of the story as well as where I start adding many things to the concept. As of right now I'm working on the cast of characters for each memory and their respective graphics, as well as fresh graphics for the main cast. It's the very next day, and four patients have been selected for Amelia's memory spectating process. Each with an issue regarding spirit activity, each in a different region of the "Desert Countries". The anarchic pirate islands, the desert of Savel, an abandoned docktown on the border between Amalasuintha and New Valorius, and a research facility in the harsh cold of the Lisbit mountains. A lot of different locations being detailed, as you can see. You'll get a look at all the regions of this continent, relatively speaking.

The country on all the desert countries' eastern borders is New Valorius, a location pretty much barred from the player, with only a peek planned in the future. Readers should know that this is not the world of Perspective, however Perspective more so takes place in this world. I don't want to keep saying this, I feel like I have anyway, but I have other game concepts brewing that I have planned to take place in this world. That's not important right now though, as I don't want to overdo a whole series or anything. I'll just say that I have quite a few ideas, each a whole new gameplay concept. But heck, I don't know why I'm saying this other then it felt like a good time to mention it :P. Onward!
Gameplay Additions
Here's a list of planned additions that will be introduced in act 2:

• Multiple memories available to the player at once, allowing the player to do them in any order as well as jumping from one memory to another whenever.

• Difficulty Experiments with Clue-finding, which means that I will be using level design techniques to try and make it more difficult for people to just happen across clues without any deduction whatsoever.

• Conspiracy Clue Connections, which means that the conspiracy clues are back, still as a side-plot to the main storyline in a memory, but they are connected to other memories. While each of the memories have separate main storylines, the conspiracy clues are all connected. Clues in one memory will help you with another memory. You'll be deducing across multiple memories of patients to find the answer to the conspiracy in this act.

• Dead End Clues, clues that are somewhat related to the mystery, but don't lead you to another clue or end up actually helpful in solving the mystery. You won't know which clues are dead ends, and will have to deduce what clues will actually help you in solving the mystery.

• Randomization. In an effort to improve replayability, I took a look at something I thought about but saved for later in the end. Randomizing certain parts of the mysteries. Obviously, the mystery can't be completely randomized. However, there are plenty of parts of a memory I can randomize so it's different every playthrough. That way it's not exactly the same when you go back to play it again. That's all I can say about randomizing for now. It's a pretty risky addition, so I'll be careful going forward.

• "Side-Quests". They are completely optional, small arcs within an individual memory. You'll be awarded of course for doing them. They are side quests in that they are separate stories going on within a memory.

Community Levels
The state of the process I use to make a level is always changing. But it's very possible people can write a mystery, with the clues, characters, maps, whatever. Maybe even put it together themselves. Act 3 is planned to have a bit more freedom in exploring the world in real-time, specifically a location in each region. Amelia is given more control over the office, and you can find some "side-quest" patients. I'd rather not say anymore about Act 3's additions, but I will say that I have been thinking about community levels, however I know full well not a lot of people have played this game as of writing this. This is just an idea for the future, and if someone was interested in getting some levels into the game... :P it's an idea I thought I'd share here.

OKAY! Time to get back to that cast, get it a full cast for each memory. Which probably means about 100 character graphics total. I know I can do it, that's not an issue. But it IS a lot. Hehehe, this is going to be fun! Alright, time to cut this blog short. Any questions, feel free to comment!