Course of Temptation Dev Diary #44 (Patreon)

And we're back! After taking a week off, I'm officially back to work this week.

I did keep up with bug reports so there was no backlog of those, but there were some trickier, more nebulous issues with relationships that I started out the week by taking a look at.

Perhaps it was coming back with fresh eyes, but as I looked at the romantic relationship definitions, I realized... there were some specific things that didn't quite add up, and it called for a slight rework.

First of all, "exclusivity" as a concept was a rule that determined whether or not the player could have multiple relationships of the same category. In other words, if you're in an exclusive romantic relationship, then that's your only romantic relationship. And that makes sense! But the same exclusivity value was also checked to determine whether it was cheating when you had sex with someone else when, in fact, this needed to be a separate rule.

Open relationships will now be treated as an exclusive romantic relationship — you have one romantic partner — however, you are allowed to have no-strings sex with whomever you like. A polyamorous relationship, on the other hand, is not exclusive — you can form multiple romantic relationships — but having sex with somebody who isn't a partner will be regarded as cheating.

Of course, in the real world people will have slightly different definitions of these things and their own unique arrangements, but as general rules, I think these definitions fit the reality better than the previous ones. Sooner or later I would also like the player to be able to negotiate the terms of their relationship in finer detail — polyamorous relationships that are also open, or an arrangement where oral sex isn't considered cheating but anything more is, and things like that.

After handling that, I decided to move on to a highly requested item: friend group and polycule hangouts. These will basically be treated as "just chill" hangouts, but with interactions with more people and some interpersonal dynamics.

Down the line we'll probably want more types of group hangouts, but for now, just chilling with your friend group or polycule is a great way to relax and build up relationships with multiple people at once.

My other immediate goal is to get D/s punishments in. These are a big part of a D/s relationship after all, especially if there's a brat dynamic going on! These may not make it in by the early access deadline at the end of the month, but I'll try! I'll be working on them (among other things) today and during the following week so that we can see them in July in any case.

Once that's done, I think the broad points of relationship mechanics will be about covered, though of course there's many more items still on my big list, and storylines to be advanced too — I know many are eager for content with the roommate and their partner as well as the librarian. But, while filling in these gaps as we proceed with monthly updates, it's also about time to think about the next major roadmap update.

The next roadmap update will, I think, focus on a new job or career and possibly on a single location. As the July update gets settled, I'll outline these ideas and put up a poll.

One year!

On July 3rd 2023, I uploaded the very first public build of Course of Temptation and rather nervously made a post announcing its existence. I had absolutely no idea what would happen next, no idea whether the game would be noticed at all, but I found myself wondering what it would look like in a year if everything worked out and I was able to keep working on it.

This is one of the first screenshots I took of the game as the release version neared completion... very familiar in many ways, but it's certainly a much more complex game now than it was then.

And most of all, I could never have expected the enthusiasm and support from the community that's grown up around this game. The fanart, the stories about your characters, your ideas and suggestions and contributions, and your generous support on this platform all mean the world to me, and the game wouldn't be here without you. So thank you!

Anyway, I could keep rambling, but that's enough for this week! You'll hear from me very soon about the July update, then next week's dev diary which will probably have thoughts about the next major update. Again, I'm forever grateful for your support!