Isles of Arcana — Development Update #4: Almost Time!

Hello everyone!

Release is getting close! Isles of Arcana launches on October 27, and we’ve been busy working through the details that make exploring, building, fighting and managing your adventures feel better.

Since our last development update, we’ve made improvements across the interface, controller support, crafting, farming and multiplayer, alongside some useful additions for your home.

Here are the highlights from the last few updates.

A clearer, more useful journal

The quest journal has received another substantial pass. You can now search your quests and filter between All, Active and Completed, making it much easier to find what you’re working on or revisit your completed adventures.

Quest entries are more compact, with clearer backgrounds, icons, progress indicators and tracking states. We’ve also improved the spacing and placement of the quest actions, including Show on map, Track quest and Abandon.

Across the journal and other menus, we’ve been replacing unevenly scaled text with crisp, pixel-perfect lettering. Character selection, character creation, item information, building descriptions and ordinary hover tooltips have all received attention.

Less time sorting through your bags

Inventory and storage controls now have clearer labels, directional icons and more consistent placement.

Quick Stack, Sort and Loot All are easier to find, while the action for transferring your inventory into an open container sits beneath the inventory itself. The layouts also adapt better to smaller windows.

Item information has received improved padding and clearer equipment comparisons, helping you see what an item does and how it compares with what you’re already using.

Better controller navigation

We’ve been working through the little controller frustrations that become noticeable during longer sessions:

• Holding a D-pad direction now repeats movement through inventory and storage slots.
• Navigating menus no longer changes the direction your character is facing.
• Moving back up from Play correctly includes the Create New character slot.
• Selecting a pet provides sound feedback and moves focus to Summon. Back returns you to the pet selection.
• Focus, scrolling and button navigation have received further fixes across menus.

Character creation also has larger stat adjustment controls and clearer trait labels.

Crafting, repairs and building

The repair interface now makes it easier to find damaged equipment, filter by equipment type and organise repairs around the materials you have available.

Crafting information has received further readability improvements, including ingredient inspection and clearer controls.

Cooking racks have also been improved: a correctly positioned rack reduces campfire cooking time by 25%, with the bonus reflected in the recipe timing.

In Build Mode, material requirements and placement feedback are easier to read. We’ve also improved camera framing and how the information panel fits around the interface, particularly when using a controller or a smaller window.

More useful things for your home

Recent additions include storage furniture such as drawers, nightstands, stocked shelves and kitchen counters, along with indoor planters.

Sinks now let you store water and refill supported containers, including watering cans. Controller users can cycle between containers without repeatedly leaving the action controls.

There’s also a craftable trash basket for disposing of unwanted items, with protection for quest items and other important progression items.

Crop care at a glance

Crop inspection now presents growth stage, estimated time until harvest, health, water and fertiliser in a clearer panel.

We’ve tightened the layout so it takes up less space while keeping the progress bars and useful information visible. Water duration sits alongside the relevant reading, and the tooltip no longer flickers as the crop’s values update.

Co-op and performance work

Behind the scenes, we’ve continued improving multiplayer synchronisation, including NPC targets, dropped items and world updates as players move between areas.

We’ve also worked on saving around exploration and travel, and reduced some of the processing involved in drawing populated bases and sorting objects. The aim is smoother play while keeping the world’s existing detail and effects.

Achievement and reputation screens have received further interface improvements too, making progress easier to browse.

See you in Arcana

Thank you to everyone who has tried the demo, shared screenshots, reported bugs or helped us track down an awkward interaction. That feedback has been especially valuable during these final weeks before release.

If you’re playing the demo and something doesn’t feel right, please keep letting us know. A screenshot and a quick explanation of what happened can make a huge difference.

Wishlist Isles of Arcana to be notified when it launches on October 27.

See you soon!

— Zero