Alpha v0.44.1 - The Eternal Cycle

v0.44.1 - The Eternal Cycle

The game's ending system was completely broken -- defeating the final boss showed a brief text and returned you to the dungeon. The full cinematic endings, credits, and New Game+ were all implemented but never connected. Beyond that, NG+ itself was broken end-to-end: no game restart, no XP multiplier, critical story flags lost on save/load, and cycle data wiped on new character creation. This release fixes the entire ending and NG+ pipeline.

---

Bug Fixes

Ending Sequence Never Triggered After Defeating Manwe

Defeating the final boss showed a brief abbreviated ending and a "Congratulations" box, then returned you to the dungeon. The full cinematic ending sequences, credits, and New Game+ offer were implemented in EndingsSystem but never actually called -- DungeonLocation had its own duplicate abbreviated versions. Now defeating Manwe triggers the proper ending flow: full cinematic ending text, credits sequence, and the NG+ cycle offer before returning to town.

Manwe Defeat Dialogue Was Placeholder Text

Defeating Manwe displayed literal placeholder text ("This text depends on which ending path the player is on...") instead of actual defeat dialogue. Replaced with proper thematic dialogue about the Creator's final moments.

Spell Learning Menu Missing Descriptions

The Level Master's Spell Library showed spell names and mana costs but no descriptions of what spells actually do. All spell sections (quickbar, known, learnable, locked) now display the spell's effect description so players know what they're learning before investing.

NG+ Never Restarted the Game

After defeating Manwe and accepting New Game Plus, the game applied cycle bonuses to your existing level-100 character and dumped you back on Main Street. There was no character creation, no fresh start, and no opening sequence. Now the full NG+ flow works: accept NG+ -> return to main menu -> create a fresh level-1 character -> receive cycle bonuses (stat boosts + XP multiplier) -> play the NG+ opening sequence -> enter the game world. Works in both local/single-player and online/BBS modes.

XP Multiplier Never Applied

The cycle bonus system calculated an XP multiplier (1.25x for cycle 2, scaling up) and displayed it to the player, but the value was discarded with a code comment reading "Could add ExpMultiplier property to Character." The property now exists (CycleExpMultiplier) and is applied in all three combat XP calculation paths.

String Story Flags Never Saved

Critical story flags like veloura_saved, noctura_ally, truth_revealed, and ready_for_dissolution were stored as string flags but never serialized. The save code had a bug: new Dictionary<string, bool>(story.StoryFlags) used the integer bitmask as a dictionary capacity, creating an empty dictionary every time. After any save/load, all string-based story flags were lost, breaking ending detection and the Dissolution ending prerequisites.

Completed Endings Never Saved

The list of endings a player has achieved had no field in the save data structure and was never written to disk. After any save/load, the game forgot which endings you'd completed, breaking NG+ cycle tracking and the Dissolution ending.

CreateNewGame Wiped Cycle Data

When NG+ triggered character creation, it called FullReset() which reset the cycle counter back to 1 and cleared completed endings — destroying the cycle data that NG+ depends on. Now FullReset() is skipped during NG+ since StartNewCycle() already handles story state reset.

---

Files Changed

File	Changes
Scripts/Core/GameConfig.cs	Version 0.44.1 "The Eternal Cycle"
Scripts/Locations/DungeonLocation.cs	Replaced 3 calls to local abbreviated ShowEnding() with EndingsSystem.Instance.TriggerEnding(); removed ~220 lines of duplicate abbreviated ending methods; all 3 ending trigger points now throw LocationExitException(NoWhere) when NG+ is pending
Scripts/Data/OldGodsData.cs	Replaced Manwe's placeholder DefeatDialogue with proper thematic text
Scripts/Systems/SpellLearningSystem.cs	Added spell descriptions to all four display sections
Scripts/Core/Character.cs	Added CycleExpMultiplier property (float, default 1.0) for NG+ XP scaling
Scripts/Systems/StoryProgressionSystem.cs	Added ExportStringFlags(), ImportStringFlags(), AddCompletedEnding() public methods for proper serialization
Scripts/Systems/SaveDataStructures.cs	Added CycleExpMultiplier to PlayerData; added CompletedEndings list to StorySystemsData
Scripts/Systems/SaveSystem.cs	Fixed StoryFlags serialization to use ExportStringFlags(); added CompletedEndings save/restore; added CycleExpMultiplier save/restore
Scripts/Systems/CombatEngine.cs	Applied CycleExpMultiplier in all 3 XP calculation paths; added missing Study XP bonus to third XP path
Scripts/Systems/OpeningSequence.cs	Fixed ApplyCycleBonuses() to set CycleExpMultiplier on character; added ApplyCycleBonusesToNewCharacter() public method
Scripts/Systems/EndingsSystem.cs	Set PendingNewGamePlus flag after player accepts NG+ in OfferNewGamePlus()
Scripts/Core/GameEngine.cs	Added PendingNewGamePlus flag; modified MainMenu() to auto-start CreateNewGame on NG+; modified CreateNewGame() to skip FullReset() and apply cycle bonuses on NG+; added CycleExpMultiplier restore on load; handled NG+ restart in RunBBSDoorMode()