What's coming in the final few updates: v1.0.14 and beyond!

Hello everyone, UltraJDude here to announce what's in store for the final few updates to this little jam project we had a blast creating!
We've seen and heard some feedback, and have been taking it into account as we add features we didn't have time for in the jam, and we absolutely hear that the game is just too dang hard right now, as I write this I am testing and testing and figuring out ways to have these recent status effects and items matter in important ways, while not having so many runs begin and end within the first 3-5 stages.

What that entails is buffing up a bit of the early game gear, and an eventual shop refactor that will allow Jacques to purchase the items that stave off status effects, similarly to how you can purchase health and air to survive longer. Likewise, I'm also looking at increasing the experience early enemies give, as well as a potential small boost in exp for simply clearing floors to keep runs on track without becoming totally overpowered. We are also considering raising the amount you have to fall to take damage by one tile so there's less fall related accidents early on.

The last thing has been a planned feature for a bit that just hasn't quite made it in yet, destroying wooden crates, boulders, and metal crates should occasionally yield rewards and random loot to assist the player. Not always, but we feel that sometimes these little boosts can be huge benefits in assisting players both in the early and late game without utterly tipping the scale one way or another. The recently added champion monsters are also meant to drop loot as well, should Jacques be so bold as to challenge them.

The late game seems to be pretty much exactly where I'd like it to be, and most of the problems lie in getting a start going on, so I hope these small changes will be enough to allow more players to reach the deeper depths of the game, and hopefully even survive!

So, what else is coming? You may have noticed in recent updates we've added something interesting to every third floor, each of these "supreme vaults" as we call them holds many valuable things, and some secrets as well! We want to include something for the most intrepid and diehard diggers to be able to strive for when the game reaches it's final version, and there will be an upcoming reward for those brave enough to challenge the supreme vaults in their runs, as for what that may be? Well, that's a secret!

Finally, there's a handful of new items and tools that I believe still are waiting to creep into play that should add an extra sprinkle of flavor, as well as actual SFX! Now you'll be alarmingly reminded you're about to run out of oxygen (trust us, it's gotten all of us working on the game too), you'll hear those scrapes and thuds as you fall onto troublesome pikes, you'll hear those Slobberfins munching on your tasty, crunchy bones, and more!

When all of these elements are fully at play, I'll be able to happily call the game "complete", which sounds funny for what started as a 7 day jam game! We've added tons of rooms, items, even enemies and additional tiles and tons of other tiny features like status effects and champions and a boatload of extra lore to go along with them. 

When Diggin' It reaches it's final version, it'll contain:
- A few hundred or more individual rooms to find, explore, loot, and escape!
- 40 types of monsters to survive and defeat!
- 60+ weapons, armors, and items to utilize and collect!
- 4 different endings to determine Jacques' fate!
- Multiple DOS inspired tunes by the extremely talented Zan-zan-zawa-veia!
- A mild fear of digging through sand and shattering your shins!
- A deep found appreciation of how easy it is to breathe in real life!
- AND MORE!

It's certainly grown larger than I imagined in my head, and is shaping up to be quite a fun experience that's helped me and the rest of our little three person crew learn quite a lot and has me extremely excited for our future projects.

We hope we can deliver all of this to you as soon as possible, and we'll see you at the finish line in the future!