Update (Patreon)

Hello, my awesome supporters! Today I wanted to post a short update on what's going on development side.

1. Deviously Cursed Loot 7.0

The new version is making great progress. Two quests from the poll have already been fully implemented and play-tested. The first is the Chloe quest, where you find an imprisoned courier in Fort Helgen, right after the dragon struck it. Corrupt imperial guards put the unlucky girl in jail so that they could confiscate her shipment. Free the girl and help her recover her goods! The wild journey will take you from Fort Helgen to Whiterun and even to Dawnstar (oops, did I just give away who the courier is working for?), and since this is Cursed Loot, guess what sort of items the shipment contained! Chloe can be found right after completing DCL's LAL quest, so DCL will now feature a full kinky start to the game that can be played while the main quest unfolds, or in place of it. It's anything but short too, and should keep you busy for a couple hours. Oh, and you get to keep Chloe as a follower, if you want.

The second quest that's already done is Supply and Demand. The Dollmaker ran out of supplies for her devices, so she employs you to fetch her more. The supplier is a bit eccentric, so instead of accepting money, you will get to work for him. No, not THAT kind of work! Actual work. If you remember the poll, there were two quests that were not quite as popular as some of the other choices - Cleaning Duty and Chef in Chains. And after pondering it, I think you guys were right - these quests probably can't stand on their own in a meaningful way. So I made them part of this quest instead! Part of Supply and Demand will make you dress up and go clean some dirt! In Riften! Yes, Riften. This shady place really can do with some TLC, because these thieves never seem to clean up after themselves! And you get to make fish burgers! Of course you have to gather the ingredients first. Tied up, that is! This is still Cursed Loot, and we can't have it any other way!

Right now I am working on two features. The first is not yet announced and was not part of the poll either. I decided to work on it because I feel that there is a feature in Cursed Loot that fell short of what I intended it to be and is way less fun than it should be. I am talking about the dominant followers, Leon and Leah. Feedback on Leon and Leah was generally that people loved the introductory quest, but didn't like Leon/Leah as followers. And I realized that neither do I. I never let either of them dominate me in my own playthroughs, for they are just too harsh and take over gameplay without giving much back in terms of fun or enjoyment.
But when I looked at making changes to them, I realized how difficult this would be using the existing code, for their behavior is very much hard-coded and driven by a very large and less than elegant dialogue tree. So I made the decision to re-implement them from scratch. And I since this is now my third go at coding a dominant follower (Sasha being the second), I want this to be the last one. So I made sure that nothing about their behavior is hard-coded and can be changed very easily. The result is what I call the Extensible Dominant Follower Framework (XDFF). XDFF is a rule-based system for modelling Dom/sub relationships. It takes advantage of the circumstance that most aspects about such relationships are rules, e.g. "You need to kneel in my presence", or "You need to wear a blindfold when you sleep". With XDFF, these rules can be modeled in encapsulated scripts and attached to a handler that selects rules based on their type (e.g. permanent rules, random rule of the day, errand etc). The rules script contain all necessary code to evaluate compliance, hand out warnings or even punishments etc. No part of any rule code is located anywhere but its own script.
Why is this cool?
Because it's really easy to add rules or dialogue to a dominant follower, even from 3rd party mods. If it turns out that people don't like a certain rule, all I need to do is clicking on the rule and delete it. Or if If people want a dominant follower to behave differently, they can even write a plugin and make it happen! And the best thing is that XDFF works for arbitrary NPCs. Any character can be a dom, not just Leon or Leah.

The second feature under construction is a new quest called Saving Sasha. Which will change the way you can acquire her as a follower. You can no longer just purchase her from the Dollmaker, because the Dollmaker already sold her. Unfortunately the man she sold her to doesn't like her, and instead of marrying and pampering her, the meanie just locked her away! You will need to save her!
Now, without going into too much detail, but this will probably become the largest quest I ever made, and it will feature a totally new and original location I am absolutely sure people will love!

2. Devious Devices 4.2

I recently merged the first commits to the DD dev repository. We have changed plans for 4.2 a little, and will probably release a new version rather soon, containing a few new features that will make it easier for DD mods to migrate from ZAP to DD. Which, given the situation on the ZAP end, is a high priority right now. DD 4.2 will provide new keywords to mark items with, which will make it easier to create NPC comments and actions based on what devices you are wearing or what material they are made of. It will also bring factions to model slavery or dom/sub relationships, mods can use to communicate NPC status to each other and ensure compatibility. This feature is meant to replace and enhance the corresponding feature in ZAP 7.
Other than that, DD 4.2 will feature new bound animations to introduce more variety to that end. It also will implement a new feature for devices, that makes it easier to model restraints with release timers.
Also, development on the upcoming DD furniture component is fully underway. The framework code is already mostly complete. It will make it easier than ever for content mods to use furniture devices in their quests and stories, and provide features far beyond anything in ZAP, such as locking and escape systems, timed devices, spawnable devices, and full NPC support. And the best thing is that furniture devices work out-of-the-box with DD restraints, so people don't have to code clunky workarounds for ZAP furniture anymore!

Hm, I guess the short update wasn't so short after all, but I am excited about the new features to come, and wanted to share them with you. I hope you are similarly excited. Feel free to comment or leave your feedback here! I am looking forward to read it!