As some of you know, Labyrinth Quest Update 1.2 is in development. This is the second major update to the game. If you've been paying attention to Twitter (@DuoplusSoftware), then you've likely seen some of the new features. This post is to give a good description of what's coming, without revealing too much. Attached is an image of nearly everything being added in 1.2. 

The major theme of 1.2 is a new gamemode: Relic Mode. This unlocks after you complete the main storyline, and unlocks along with Treasure Mode. In Relic Mode, your goal is to locate the 3 relics: The Staff of Life (hold the power to both create and destroy life), the Ice Ring (holds the power of frost and ice), and the Thunderblade (holds the power to summon lightning from the sky and is rumored to have the ability to travel between dimensions). Each relic has a set of 20 levels: The Wilderness levels, the Snow levels, and the Sky levels. Each new area has different styles and new mechanics, along with (of course) new enemies, obstacles, and items. The Wilderness introduces water and the ability to ride a boat. The Snow levels use a lot of ice, have freezing weapons, and avalanches. The Sky levels are all platformers, with a potential for storms, and also introduce the ability to enchant pickaxes. At the end of each section of levels, you will find the relic and have to use it to complete the level. Some are boss battles, some not.

There are some other things that 1.2 adds, that aren't directly related to the new levels. One new mechanic is a new type of entity, allies. Allies have the same AI as enemies, but they help you fight enemies instead of attacking you, and enemies will attack allies. There are two allies being added in 1.2, and they appear in the new levels.

Platformer levels are getting a huge upgrade. Formerly, it was possible (by deselecting "Can Move Y" in the Level Editor - which has been renamed "Platformer"), but the mechanics weren't the best. Because of the introduction of Sky levels, the platforming mechanics have been improved. First, you can hold the jump key to go higher, and tapping it leads to shorter jumps so you can make more creative levels. You will also now die if you fall off the screen. Also new are sprites for jumping and falling. There are also new items and special tiles connected to platformers as well.

Another thing 1.2 introduces is built-in speedrunning mechanics. When you create a new user, you have the option to use them for speedruns, and pick which gamemode to speedrun (or speedrun an individual level). There is an automatic timer, which also will give you splits when you end the run. With the release of the update will come a world record list, and you can submit your times and splits to try and compete for the world record!

Finally, there are some smaller, quality-of-life type features being added. The Ice mechanics have been improved. Enemies now have health bars (which show up after they take damage). Death messages have been added. Most of the bosses have more health, but the Treasure Guardian fight has become a lot easier. There are new textures, tons of other miscellaneous features, and of course tons of bug fixes (23 bugs have been fixed at the time of writing, and more are on the way). 

Now that summer has started, I am able to plan out my days better and have a tentative release date of July 6th - that's exactly one month from now. July 6th is the tentative release date, but I don't currently see what setbacks could push it back further. 

Overall, 1.2 has a ton of new stuff coming and is a huge update.  Get ready for its release on July 6th!