Aetheria Bloom: Roadmap
Drafted 2026-10-24, updated the same day after v0.6. The order is a recommendation; reshuffle freely. Each release ends playable, tested, soak-tested and published to Beta first, then Stable. Details for each step get planned (and shown) before building. Unscheduled ideas live in BACKLOG.md; where we are right now is in PROGRESS.md.
Done
| Release | What |
|---|---|
| v0.1-v0.2 | Program Poncho in G-Script; farming, the ruins, Diablo-style loot, crafting, perks |
| v0.3 "Grandpa's Notebook" | 9 chapters of goals, soil chemistry, land, build mode, Mendwell, the Loop Warden, Aether Lily |
| v0.4 "The Shared World" | Live server + Discord login, launcher (Stable/Beta), shared Mendwell, chat, friends, visits, mail, admin dashboard, in-game bug reports, the mailbox opening |
| v0.5 "Tools of the Trade" | Autocomplete, start in Blocks (typing unlocked by Grandpa's Typing Manual), nested blocks, step-through debugger with breakpoints, saved scripts and run_script() (Subroutines perk) |
| v0.6 "Together" | Moderation (report queue, account bans, muted list), the Relay Commons (shared ruin), the Great Warden (world boss), community events, balance pass; the Aetheria Wiki |
| v0.7 "Trade" | SQLite storage with a trade ledger, direct trades, the Trading Post (listings, buy orders, offline pay, price history), trade moderation tools |
| v0.8 "While You Were Away" | Poncho keeps working for 8 hours at half speed after you log off; a "While you were away" summary; solo crops catch up |
Next up
v0.9 "Look and Sound": art and audio (medium-big; plan in PLAN_V09.md)
- Real sprites and tiles instead of placeholder shapes; a UI theme; launcher and app icons.
- Sound effects and music.
- Poncho animations (moods, level-up, working).
Orchard & Mill: trees, flowers, new crops, processing (plan in PLAN_ORCHARD.md, waiting for an OK)
- Trees you plant, tap and fell (olive, rubber, maple, ironwood), bushes, flowers, 3 crops.
- An oil press, a curing vat and a kiln; oil, rubber, syrup, charcoal, cloth.
- A new Frame part slot for Poncho (ironwood is the best frame), new parts and Poncho paint.
v1.0 "Bloom": launch (plan in PLAN_V10.md, waiting for an OK)
- Full balance pass with a start-to-finish playthrough (economy, XP, loot, land prices).
- Onboarding polish: the first hour should teach itself.
- Off-box backups and uptime alerts; a wider playtest; public launch on the Discord community.
Every release
-
Read and fix in-game bug reports first (
tools/bugs.sh). -
Run the soak test before shipping (
./tools/godot.ps1 soak). - Update the manual, changelog and launcher notes (the wiki rebuilds from them on deploy).
Ideas shelf (not scheduled)
- Loot depth: item sets with bonuses, sockets, unique boss legendaries.
- More content: crops, ruin types and enemies, notebook chapters, Syntax Manuals and commands.
- Mendwell town projects the whole server builds together.
- EVE-style logistics: hauling goods between places, regional prices.
- v0.6 follow-ups: Relay Commons crates that vanish just for you once looted (they stay on the map today); more world bosses and events in rotation; the Warden's schedule surviving a restart.