Started on a new type of quest, this one I’m calling “regional”, because it takes up significant area on an open world map. Walking due south of the origin you’ll now step into a large desert. It has the occasional water, hill, forest or grass tile, but is mostly a big death trap. Its borders integrate nicely with the surrounding terrain. A small village is at the center of the desert with NPCs. Scorpions and red scorpions will now spawn in desert tiles, red scorpion may become specialized to the quest alone, if so a special designation will be in order. The method I’m using for placements here do not guard against clumping, may need a rethink later.
Beasts hit by something in a tile they cannot traverse will now flee. Quest scorpions have a new stat override, persistent, which will make them avoid moving outside defined tiles (ie. they will not wander out of the world). The red scorpion has another new stat, phobicMover, which will prevent it from moving next to tiles it finds deadly. This will stop it from being easy pickings for hit-and-run tactics, making it a worthy quest boss.
You can now dig with the shovel. This will only work if there is water orthogonally adjacent. If you dig in desert or grass, it will become a swamp. If you dig in a swamp, it will become a water tile. The shovel also acts like a pan for the purpose of swatting small creatures. (Note that the pan is an accessory, the shovel is a miscellaneous item.)
I’m going on vacation soon, there will be gaps in development.