I did everything I said I would do.

Better partner management

Partners no longer have a loyalty bar that drains over time. Now, they're your friend indefinitely (unless you dismiss them).

You can now spend XP to level up partners as well, and upgrade their body parts, and manage their inventory. Clicking on your character on the level up screen, synthesis screen, inventory screen, or storage screen will let you switch to managing a partner.

Being able to level up and upgrade partners' stuff should make them much less fragile and useless, and hopefully give you more emotional attachment to them.

River Monsters

I made three new types of creatures that hang out in rivers. Also, rivers now apply WET and POISON to you. Rivers aren't instantly fatal, but wading too long will kill you from poison. I hope the river monsters add some variety to the game.

Lava Zones

Seeds are now used at new "garden" structures to open a way into the new lava zones. There are some new monsters in these zones.

The lava zones are really simple right now. I just wanted seeds to get you SOMETHING.

Keys

Warp generators and launch stations are now locked. Their hatches require 1 and 4 keys, respectively. Keys are found in red chests underground.

What's Next

I've been getting busier with school, so I haven't had lots of time for thinking about this, but what I'll probably focus on next is:

• Quest system and quest journal (which would hopefully give the player more sense of direction)
• BSP space stations (I've been putting this off, but I'm running out of excuses)

Thanks