Hey everyone, With the new year right around the corner, we wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the game mechanics we've worked on over the past 12 months and show you how they work in AWAY. [h2]Stamina & Food[/h2] In order to bring more realism and depth to the sugar glider experience, we've included stamina bars for each of the glider's four main skills: [b]Sprinting[/b], [b]Gliding[/b], [b]Instinct[/b], and [b]Possession[/b]. Once a bar runs out, you won't be able to use that skill until it starts filling up again. [previewyoutube=rm75M8tkVDE;full][/previewyoutube] The stamina bars—or rather circles—appear on-screen when you start using a skill. Once used up, they generally begin to auto-refill after a couple seconds, but only up to a certain point. In order to max out your stamina, you'll have to eat some of the various foods scattered around AWAY's environments: [list] [*] [b]Yellow[/b] foods (like cloudberries & tree gum) will refill your [b]Gliding[/b] stamina. [*] [b]Red[/b] foods (like raspberries & red mushrooms) will refill your [b]Sprinting[/b] stamina. [*] [b]Blue[/b] foods (like blueberries & blue mushrooms) will refill your [b]Possession[/b] stamina, which allows you to possess other animals. [*] [b]All foods[/b], including small prey, will refill your [b]Instinct[/b] stamina. [/list] Apart from refilling stamina, food will also keep you from starving and help you recover from damage faster when you're at full health. So keep an eye out for tasty plants and insects in the wild! [previewyoutube=zfKSPXcd7ec;full][/previewyoutube] [h2]Unlock New Skills[/h2] We've added a new tree into the game, but it's not one you will find in any forest... AWAY now has a [b]skill tree![/b] As you advance through the game, you will unlock new abilities for the sugar glider by exploring your environments, embarking on side quests, and completing in-game challenges. All of the core skills will be unlockable through the game's main storyline, but you can really level up your abilities if you're brave enough to venture off the beaten path! Skills are separated into three main categories: [list] [*] [b]Combat (Red)[/b] impacts fighting and hunting abilities, as well as health. [*] [b]Locomotion (Yellow)[/b] impacts sprinting, climbing, and gliding abilities. [*] [b]Instinct (Blue)[/b] impacts instinct and animal possession abilities. [/list] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31463788/99e0ac4f40f4a647684f44bbdbdb2a5e8e3e9afc.jpg[/img] [h2]Improved Settings[/h2] Thanks to all the feedback we received this year, we've expanded the in-game settings to include some new options. Beyond adding sliders to adjust camera sensitivity and invert your axis, we also added options to disable motion blur and depth of field. [list] [*] [b]Motion blur[/b] refers to the slight blur that occurs when your character or camera are in motion. We originally added it to make the game feel more fluid, but many people prefer playing without it so we now allow you to disable this feature in-game. [*] [b]Depth of field[/b] refers to the blurriness that occurs in the background when you focus on something up-close. Things near you become super detailed, while everything further away slides out of focus. Again, many people requested an option to disable this feature, so you can now turn it on/off in the video settings. [/list] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31463788/f2516b3b102156c146dcfeca24514d0ce7d12425.jpg[/img] [h2]What's Next?[/h2] From now until AWAY's release, our main focus will be on fixing bugs and balancing the game's mechanics. We've received a bunch of great feedback over the past few months and we'll be working hard to address all of it as we enter the final stages of development. In the meantime, don't forget to wishlist AWAY—it really helps us out! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year :) ~ the AWAY dev team