Hey all!

If you've been following Gooter on social media platforms like Twitter lately, you know that Gooter 0.15.1 is an update that has been in the works for several months now and has a bit of anticipation surrounding it. I advertised that the update would overhaul the game's first world, Crossing Fields, alongside adding new mechanics, music, enemies, and sub-worlds to add a sense of exploration to the game.

In the beginning, it was supposed to be a mere Crossing Fields update, adding some details and adding 2 sub-worlds that served different purposes, alongside overhauling the main menu again and whatnot. Over time, however, the envisioned update became more and more ambitious for some reason. I added a third sub-world, added collectible orbs (which will eventually become something else almost entirely in the future), and I also now have plans to completely overhaul the game's second world as well.

The reason that the update was supposed to be 0.15.1 instead of a major numbered version was that it was supposed to only update everything surrounding Crossing Fields which already existed in the game. I was going to wait until I added World 3, with World 2 being updated alongside it, in the 0.16.0 update as I considered major numbered updates to be the ones that introduced entire new worlds that progressed the story forward instead of only enhancing and supplementing the already existing story in the already existing worlds. The reason that I am just now changing my mind on this is because the update I'm now working on is pretty much overhauling almost everything about Gooter as a game rather than updating a single portion like I originally envisioned. 0.15.1, which I am now calling 0.16.0 from now on, might actually completely change the way you see and play Gooter, and it will now be the largest update in the game's history.

Whilst the name change won't rock your world, I do have some other related news that might. Because I mentioned that the update was going to be bigger than originally intended, it will take quite a while before I can get the update out there in its highest possible quality. Even though I never formally set a release window, I would like to state here that the update may come out quite a bit later than expected and I will not set any sort of release date before the update is 100% ready to ship. Heck, I'd even say that with the development time needed, as well as everything else going on in my life, I'd even say that there's a chance that the update will not even release this year at all like I originally intended.

Now, let me talk for a bit about what the goals for this update even are for when it comes out:

• I want players to generally have more things to find and do in a much more lively and detailed environment.
• I want individual levels in the game to have a sense of uniqueness never before seen in Gooter.
• For Crossing Fields, I want the player to be able to have more choice and flexibility and to increase the amount of replayability the game can generally have with multiple paths, unique routes, and maybe even side-quests and secrets.
• I want to add more atmosphere and life to the game as well, especially with ambience and different kinds of wildlife inhabiting the floating islands.
• I want this update to also be Gooter's good first impression for what could be most of the playerbase in the future if the game ever gets popular.
• Finally, I want this update to set foundational examples for development of future updates (in terms of world depth, not necessarily on update size, lol) and the final game with what I implement and change in the 0.16.0.

In order to accomplish most or all of these goals, I need to "delay" the update to a later time than I would have originally imagined. However, all I want is to release a quality update that, while not guaranteed to meet everyone's exact expectations, is an enjoyable experience all-around for both new players and those who have played before. Don't fret though, as if you are worried about being starved of content surrounding the update before release, I plan on not only releasing development updates and trailers in the coming months, but also release a "snapshot" version or two on Game Jolt soon which will focus on letting players try the new Crossing Fields for the first time and give feedback, so be sure to follow me on Twitter (@Anthono220) for future notices and news on 0.16.0 (and funny non-related posts too, mayhaps).

Wish me luck!

~ Anthono220