Patch 9 - Various improvements / Dev update

Happy New Year 2025! Patch 9 brings a host of improvements and removes the Christmas update. [u][b]Development update[/b][/u] Development on Difficulties and the Demo is ahead of schedule, so expect to see Difficulties around the end of January and a Demo in February! Chapter 2 is heavy in development too, and on track for an end of year release. I also want to upgrade the engine to UE5.5 and introduce 'megalights' - a big boost in aesthetics and performance in lighting, BUT it's too unstable at the moment. Hopefully I can release this upgrade before Chapter 2's release though, but it depends on Epic's patches to the engine. [u][b]General[/b][/u] [list] [*] A door once locked is now open... Due to popular demand. [*] Difficulty balance improvement: Slightly reduced total wood resources in Chapter 1 for a tenser experience. [*] Some wood resources and hideout locations have been moved for an optimised player experience. [*] Optimised the way Portcullis gates update the nav mesh. [*] Reduced required wood to achieve the second pickup achievement, in preparation for the upcoming Difficulties. This will allow hard/permadeath mode players to achieve it, even with reduced wood in those difficulties. [/list] [u][b]UI and Art[/b][/u] [list] [*] When viewing cutscenes, pressing any button now briefly shows the 'BUTTON to SKIP'. [*] The skipping progress bar in cutscenes has improved presentation. [*] An autosave icon will animate in the top corner of the screen when autosaving occurs. [*] Areas with rain now appear wetter. [*] Some subtle art mesh changes. [*] Lighting updates. [*] Saving now also includes what difficulty you're saving with, in preparation for the upcoming Difficulties. It will appear as 'Normal' now. [/list] [u][b]Performance[/b][/u] [list] [*] Lightning flashes are now less FPS intensive. [*] Water in the crypts has less tesselation for a minor performance boost. [/list]