#109 - The Star Map (Patreon)

Hello friends and friendettes, Rumi here!

No preamble today; onto Rumi Ramblings (TM) we go:

GAMES! After last week's delve into some smaller games, I've decided to replay Starfield. I know. People don't like Starfield, but... I do. Normally, though, this wouldn't be a game I'd replay, what with it being 50+ hours and all, but this isn't a normal circumstance. My original playthrough was on my old system, one with 16GB of RAM and a 1080 Ti. As much as I loved my 1080 Ti, it didn't exactly play Starfield very well.

Ever since I got this new system, I've been wanting to replay it. Give it a proper go, you know? And that time has finally arrived. Maybe I'll be like the rest of the community by the end, but maybe not. Maybe I'm destined to be different!

ANIME! I'm still on Spy X Family Season 3, but approaching the end. I believe I've just wrapped up episode 10. While a little less fun than previous seasons, that's mainly due to the content it's covering from the manga. The busjacking stuff is still great, but everything else was a little mediocre in the manga, and that's translating here as well.

Don't get me wrong, the animation is still beautiful, the characters are still really fun, and the bond (Borf!) between them shines through like it always has. It's just in a much more mundane arc, when compared to the previous content.

MOVIES! A couple different films this week: Supergirl and The Furious. Supergirl is something I meant to see in the cinema, but never got around to it. The reviews for it weren't great, but I had fun. Is it anything groundbreaking? No. Is it still a fun time, and a reasonable adaptation of the source material? Yes!

The Furious, on the other hand, was exceptional. In the choreography department, at least. The fights in this were nothing short of insane. I've seen a couple of people say it got to a point where it looked less like fighting, and more like dancing. I couldn't agree more; it really did just flow. Outside of that aspect, it was fine, but as with most Chinese media I've seen, it's lacking that oomph to the story. I'm sure they'll get there eventually.

Anyway, enough rambling for one week; onto the work:

Naughty Tail

With V0.3.6 releasing only last week, there's of course nothing to share here just yet.

Dream Corruption

Wow, surprise!

V0.2.5 is out, and I'm incredibly happy with how it turned out. I wrote a lot about the new and overhauled systems in the release post, so I'll give you that context here:'V0.2.5 focuses on two distinct features:

Dream Select

The Star Map

Dream Select is a brand new game mode which allows you to take on any encounter, in any order. It gives those who wish to experience a specific character's encounters a way to do so without having to slog through the rest first. It comes with some drawbacks, with the main being the inability to progress normally and the other being the lack of access to the new Star Map feature. Each of these is intentional and makes both modes worth playing!

The Star Map is my take on what the World Teleports should have been from the beginning. It's a complete overhaul of the system. So much so that the old version is unrecognisable. It places the characters in a constellation of sorts, showing lines of connection between them.

The Dream Worlds themselves have also had a coat of polish, with clean looking pannels describing the entered Dream World, and two new conversation topics per character.'

The Star Map is the aspect I'm most proud of:

The idea of aligning everyone in constellations is awesome to me, and I love how it turned out. I hope you all do as well.

Sinful Valley

Ah, V0.4.3. Unfortunately, with my schedule (or lack thereof), I was unable to get everything I wanted squeezed into this release. That being said, the second Training System overhaul is done. It adds functionality for outfits, chatting, new dates, and more. It also just looks more professional and like a proper part of the game, rather than a tacked-on addition.

Alice's First Date also made it in, and it came out wonderfully. It's the part of V0.4.3 that I'm most happy with. Do tell me what you think, if you've managed to play through it already :)

V0.4.4 starts development today, specifically in the scripting department. I'll have more to share on this in next weeks post.

That's everything for today. Thanks for reading until the end! Ping me on Discord if you have any questions; I'll try my best to answer :)

LINKS

Itch - Rumi - itch.ioDiscord - https://discord.gg/Pt3cdkZSGe