We’re barreling toward the first release of the post-Kickstarter demo of Village Monsters, so I wanted to take some time to talk about what that means.

First, the release date: Alpha 2 will be made available on December 11th, 2017!

Following Alpha 2 will be several Feedback Releases which will come out between the 11th and the end of December.

What’s in it?

I received a lot of feedback for the Kickstarter demo that came out in October, and much of  the work on Alpha 2 has been in direct response to your comments.

The full patch notes will go up on the 11th, but here’s a few things to expect:

• Completely revamped UI and menus, including a new inventory, toolbelt, shopping process, an improved journal, and many quality of life improvements
• Improved graphics, including new or improved buildings, furniture, items, vegetation and more
  • Expect even more improvements to graphics in the coming weeks and months
• New prototypes of future systems like villager scheduling, more robust dialogue, and better lighting
• Fishing has been reworked to be more interesting andenjoyable
• More furniture for your home
• More critters to catch
• New dialogue for most villagers
• Lots of new weather and weather changes
• New areas to explore, and many old areas have new things to discover
• The usual flurry of bugfixes, secrets, and small improvements

A Note on Exclusivity

As a reminder, all future Alpha / Demo demos – including Alpha 2  – will be exclusive to all Kickstarter Backers that pledged $25 or more. This is my way of thanking my earliest supporters that wish to shape the game with their feedback

However! Don’t fret if you missed the Kickstarter. The release of Alpha 2 will also coincide with a way to pre-order Village Monsters and get immediate access to all Alpha releases + future access to each Beta release.

Finally, I’m also planning on giving away keys in various contests of strengths, wit, and cunning

What’s Next?

We’re still well on schedule for the rest of 2017 (not that there’s much left) and 2018.

This is the final Alpha release. Next up is Beta 1, and that’s due out in early March. It’ll be a big release – certainly the biggest one ever.

March is also the date my (presumably) wonderful baby boy is due be born, so it’s shaping up to be a buck wild month.

Here’s the schedule as it currently stands: