Dev Blog #4 - Clear Eyes, Full Windsors, Can’t Lose (Patreon)

How’re you now!

This is the last dev blog before next week’s Alpha 0.1.1 release and there’re some big things to talk about today so let’s get into it!

Chin Waggin’

The first new feature I wanted to talk about is one that’s entirely too simple in concept but one I’m really happy about nonetheless, and that’s NPC dialogue.

Any time you’re in a location with other characters, you’ll see a window showing you what characters are around and allow you to trigger some basic dialogue. It’s your typical RPG fair of NPCs complaining about mudcrabs and the like, but it helps to add a sense of presence that was noticeably missing, especially in your home.

In the future, we’ll also be applying this UI design philosophy to more parts of the game, including combat and travel.

Can’t Win ‘em All

So… combat…

The first iteration of combat, the one most of you are currently playing with now, quickly devolved into a boring click fest. The most strategic decisions you could make were deciding to use a health option and possibly running away, all among what felt like a frenzy of clicks.

The second iteration was executed with longer dungeons in mind, replacing one-off combat encounters with idle-style simulations. Combat became a lot snappier and the UI improved, and dungeons had a decent if not slightly boring flow to them. All was… fine… until we started testing the game’s first boss.

This epic encounter with a FREAKING DRAGON fell just horribly flat. What was to be the first truly difficult, or at least interesting, fight of the game was reduced to nothing more than watching a bar fill up and hoping your numbers came up bigger than their numbers, followed by either “You win!” or “You died!”

I hated it. Everyone would have hated it. Combat needed a serious reevaluation if it was going to be in this game… so we invited some friends.

If I’m going to completely retool a fundamental game system it might as well be during the early alpha stages, and I think the game will be better for this one.

Your brothel workers can now be taken into dungeons with you and enemies can come in packs now, rather than strictly one on one fights. Enemies will display their intentions while you can assign actions to your party. Once combat starts, all actions will be executed and combat will move to the next round.

Each companion can earn XP and level up just like the player can, and successful dungeon runs will also increase their trust. Additionally, all characters will have a unique ability that can be improved through leveling up, adding further incentive to seek out new talent for your brothel. It’s kinda like sexy Pokémon!

This new system is proving to be a fun challenge to implement, which is my way of saying expect a good few bugs when it first drops!

Wheel Dragon Snipes Celly, Boys!

Two things.

One, I’m not a fan of, we’ll say, generative artwork either. We're simply here because it allows for quick prototyping and suits an alpha build just fine, also budgeting for artwork can be challenging with such a small operation. That said, I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me "at all"

Two, I’d like to announce I’m working with an artist now! Their first piece is the game’s first boss, the dragon guarding the Forest Keep, in her human form!

While the transition won’t happen all at once, assets will be updated as they’re completed, with Reena being next in line. We're aiming for one character a week, and with a smaller main cast than The Company, this should get us caught up fairly soon, gods willing.

That’s all I really have to announce in that regard, but I thought you all might like to know!

Pitter Patter

Release notes will be dropping next week, and I’m hoping to get a few last minute changes in before the deadline, particularly in terms of stamina use and travel UI. I’m also addressing bugs as reported and “hopefully” we’ll have a smooth update next Thursday!

That’s it for this week. As always thank you all for your continued feedback and support!