It's time to jump right into another exciting update, Explorers! Our Quality of Love update is now live. Part seasonal event, part content update, you'll be uncovering magical new Valentine's features as well as a whole host of additions that will remain in-game after the event has ended. Speaking of our Valentine's seasonal event, this will run from today until February 28th, but don't worry! From this update onwards, all of our seasonal events can be accessed at any time through the game's Gameplay Settings menu. Please note that the addition of the seasons option in the games Gameplay Settings menu will replace the previous mechanic of having to set the season under the games Launch Options in Steam.

Major Visual Improvements to Core Keeper

The Quality of Love update marks the single most significant number of changes we have ever made to the way lighting and rendering works in Core Keeper, and this means the potential for serious visual improvements. We completely rewrote our graphics pipeline to give us full control over how everything is rendered in the game, resulting in reduced demand on your devices GPU and significant improvements to lighting and shadows. We also spent a lot of time working on the games indirect (bounce) lighting and implemented a new system for simulating sprite object shadows to give the game world a more three-dimensional look. We could talk about this major visual overhaul for Core Keeper all day (and we might do just that in an upcoming Steam post!), but we think the best way to experience these things is firsthand, which is why we encourage our players to jump into the game and see for themselves. For a more direct comparison of the visual improvements to Core Keeper, check out this high vs low settings trailer here: [previewyoutube=JK5-khGQtGQ;full][/previewyoutube]

Indie Musical Magic

Players can now express themselves through the magic of music with the addition of playable instruments such as the Ocarina, Harp, Cello, and Flute. Using the instruments on their own opens a special interface that will allow you the input of individual notes, but using the instruments with sheet music plugged into a music stand will enable users to autoplay looping melodies from indie titles such as Owlboy and Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!, as well as other fun tracks. Play alone, or get together with some friends to form the worlds most underground orchestra. From books to movies and even anime, you'll see lots of little references to some of the media we love all throughout Core Keeper, and the addition of sheet music seemed like the perfect way to celebrate some of our favourite indie developers. We'd love to know what your favourite indie game tracks are too, so let us know here in the comments!

Valentine's Content and Cosmetic Upgrades

We've added even more options to the character-creation menu such as new hairstyles and new colour options across hair, eyes, and clothing, but that's not all. We didn't want our veteran players to have to create brand-new characters to experience these exciting additions, which is why we added the Magic Mirror a craftable item that allows players to edit the appearance and name of their characters at any point (#NewYearNewYou). We're also beyond excited to see how you get creative with all of our new seasonal content. From boxes of chocolates, candles, and bouquets of flowers all the way to plush toys, rugs, and new outfits and accessories. You can find a full list of content, features, mechanics, and fixes that have come with this update in the patch notes, here.
We're so happy to be bringing you lots of variety with this update, as we wanted it to be an expression of our love for both the community and the industry. We'd love to hear your thoughts, see your screenshots, and talk lore with you over in the Steam Discussions, on Twitter, or on our official Discord server.