Sounds like an interesting idea Mr House
1 Like
i posted here about a month ago, and just caught up now, and every time i read something new, i love the idea more, i canāt wait for chapter one!!
iām not sure if you played lulu farea, but the idea of exhaustible world things and getting more or less stuck is an amazing game mechanic.
i think either release every chapter or every two is best, as every time uploading, and releasing, and watching for bugfixes, takes some dev time, but as others have said there are drawbacks to updating too few [one being that i canāt play the game as soon Xp]
anyways, the game is looking amazing so far and iām super excited to see what else you come up with
2 Likes
Iām adding a new mechanic for the mage when studying elements, stress. Think of it as a sort of opposite of the fighterās laziness mechanic. What stress will do is cause the mage to not get as much xp when studying elements (up to a minimum of 2xp compared to the normal 5xp). Stress ranges from 0 to 20, with stress levels being <7, 7-10, 10-13, and 13-16. When you study normally, you gain +3 stress, but if you decide to eat the snacks on offer, you lose -4 stress (so a net -1 stress). Every day you chose not to study any elements with the mage you lose -1 stress.
If you choose to eat the snacks while having a stress level of 7 or higher, another mechanic may come into play, stress eating. If you eat snacks at 7 stress or higher 10 times, the mage will pick up stress eating as a habit. This will trigger an event telling the player this has occurred, and will cause the mage to gain +1 weight every day for the rest of game, lose an extra -1 stress from not spending the day studying, lose an extra -1 stress from eating the snacks, and gain an additional +2 weight from eating the studying snacks.
I wanted to make the studying system a little bit more tactical to prevent power leveling spells like crazy (especially with how static the MP system is). It also allows for more fetish content and ending potential for the mage.
11 Likes
Working on the burglary minigame right now, so Iām going to go over how it works.
First of all, this can only be done with the rogue character, the mage and warrior can not do this. At night you will walk around the town and pick out one of the inconsequential houses, these are the places you can break into. You only get one shot at robbing each house, so if you get caught or decide to leave the heist early you cannot enter that house anymore.
Entering the house will require that you either pick the lock on the door to get inside (using a lockpick unless the door was already unlocked) or enter through an unlocked window (using a stick of butter if you are too fat to enter, purchased at the thieves guild). Breaking and entering is a crime, so if you want an ending where the rogue didnāt commit any crimes during the game (for the most part, her best endings) than you cannot do any of the stealth minigame for that playthrough. I wouldnāt recommend trying to get those endings on a first run through the game, since burglary is the most lucrative way to spend your time (due to risk and because of how it affects the ending).
Before entering it is always a good idea to look into the window first even if you canāt get through it. The reason is because if you look through the window you will get a vague idea of what kind of security youāll find inside as well as a rough idea of how many chests are there. When there are people who are awake inside, you also get a hint about their movement pattern. The thieves guild also sells a pair of goggles that if wear before looking in the window, the description will be a lot more clear about peopleās movement patterns, there wonāt be a chance of there being more obstacles than originally thought (people), exactly how many chests are inside, and how many of those chests are locked.
When inside, your goal is to walk around the house and open chests without being spotted by security or making too much noise. So far Iāve got three obstacles I can think of that you are going to be dealing with while inside.
First are people. People are the most difficult security measure to get around due to how they detect things. They do NOT detect by line of sight, they detect by if you are in the same area of the house as them. Its why looking through the window is so important. They follow a predefined path through the house, and you need to do your best to avoid being in the same room as them or being cornered by their patrol route. It is also a good idea to stay in the door way if you entered through the door, since that tile is considered itās own area of the house. Iām considering making the goggles highlight the tiles that are change the variable tracking what room youāre in, that way there isnāt any guesswork for those that paid the 500G for the goggles. It will still be pretty easy to know regardless though, since they will always be at bottlenecks (1 or two tiles) in the house.
Second are dogs, They will be limited by line of sight because they will stay in their area of the house and not go wandering off like the people. If you get caught by them, Iām considering having the thieves guild sell dog treats to distract/bribe them to not trigger a detection.
Third are hazards that make noises when you either walk past or into certain objects. Plates, glass, visibly obviously creaky floor boards etc. For the quieter sounds (like the floorboards) they would have a mistake allowance, step on them once or twice and youāll be alright, but a third time get you caught. Some things like stacked plates might get knocked over if youāre too fat, causing an alert. Iām also considering trapped chests, but I donāt know how exactly Iād do that.
If you do get caught, the guards will come and arrest you. They will take any stolen money from you during this heist (but not stolen items) and take you to jail for the night (current night). You wonāt have any game punishments beyond that, but getting caught adds another aspect to the rougeās ending. Which also only needs to happen once to change her ending.
A man in the thieves guild will give you a quick run down for 10G. He will be in every thieves guild regardless of chapter.
I also added another item unrelated to heists but its sold in the thieves guild so nowās a good time to mention it. A stealth cloak for 1500G, what it does is halves the amount of random encounters if someone is wearing it in the adventure field. The downside is that it takes up a characterās armor slot, so if you do get into a fight, that character is basically not wearing any armor. Good for if you need to get to a distant part of the adventure field without getting harassed by enemies.
8 Likes
I also worked out how I want to do releases of chapters. It should make the majority of the people who answered the poll happy.
Chapter 1 will be released on its own
Chapters 2 and 3 will be released as a pair
Chapters 4, 5, 6 will be released individually
Chapters 7 and 8 will be released as a pair
7 Likes
Looks good.
Iām always a fan of bigger content releases as single chapter releases, while allowing more frequent bug fixes, can end up content sparse.
4 Likes
I love the idea of the cloak as a way to keep random encounters interesting by making them less frequent but more dangerous.
4 Likes
I got half of chapter 2ās story planned out, which is more substantial than it sounds due to how Iām giving chapter 2 two main objectives that need to be completed before the chapter time is up. Iām not working on it yet, I just have it planned out so I know where its going when I do. Chapter 3 is also already planned out completely as well. They will have weight gain be heavily involved and related to what happens in them, but unlike chapter 1ās plot it isnāt the main motivator.
In terms of what can happen for these two chapters due to your decisions is going to be more so how I prefer my rpgs to handle consequences than chapter 1. What I mean is that no outcome from your decisions will be an objectively best result, or if there is an objectively best choice it comes at cost of compromising ethics. Since these characters all fall onto the āgoodā side of things, none of your decisions will be 100% destructive (at least not on purpose, and outcomes like this will be foreshadowed for the most part. Again, I want people to pay attention to the dialogue for better results.), theyāre all decisions a decent/normal person could make if they were convinced it was the correct decision (so no āBlow up Megatonā quests will be in the game). Thatās not to say that the game will be grim, because I intend to keep a light tone overall just with a few more serious moments.
I also added an item to make traveling in the adventure field a bit easier. Since these parts of the map are likely to be fairly big, you being limited on resources can screw you over fairly easily if you get deep into a dungeon and need to leave. So I added the āReturn Bellā, what it does is warp you to the adventure fieldās entrance when you use it. You only get one bell each time you enter the adventure field (if you didnāt use it you donāt get to stockpile them), so using it for traveling is only so useful unless you are just using it to get out of the field quickly or without getting constant game overs trying to leave.
Also, being knocked out in combat doesnāt reduce that characterās xp and they get back up with 1HP after the fight. I wonāt have any revive items though to compensate.
10 Likes
Iām thinking of making the first real dungeon have two paths for getting through it. One path is a lot easier without any enemies but has a lot of checks and requirements to get through it, and the other is longer and has enemies as well as a mini boss at the end. The brute force path will require having a lot of healing items and planning ahead to make it through without much trouble. Where as the the other path has will basically allow you to skip the challenges of the dungeon if the group meets stat requirements (itāll look for weight as well as few actions you did before hand). Itāll also have a couple puzzles that could stop progress on that route if they arenāt solved correctly/the right decision isnāt made.
7 Likes
Working out more of the lore, mainly with the local religions and logistics of the towns. I want the towns to feel less artificial by working out things like āwhat do they eat? If they arenāt producing their own food, what are they producing to get food or supplies needed to run the community? Why do people choose to live here?ā etc. Hopefully it isnāt taking up too much time for its value, but it shouldnāt because these questions make it easier to come with quests.
For example, Iām adding a quest in chapter 1, the forest town, where you have to track down an arsonist. The thing is though, none of the houses in the starting village are burned down, all victims are from elsewhere. The reason that the arsonist is suspected to be from here is because this town obviously benefits from having more houses needing to be built since their only export is lumber. Add that + the fact that this area has been left alone, the guards think it is likely someone from here.
Also progress on the first dungeon is underway, the peaceful/easy route is going to have five rooms where you will either have a stat/switch check/puzzle, and the harder route will have three maze rooms each getting longer than the last. You will also be rewarded in a permanent stat increase at the end for either HP or MP depending on your choice of route. The peaceful route will give everyone 10 extra MP for getting through it, and the harder route will give everyone +25 HP and quite a bit of weight (unlike the other route. This can be skipped if you want since this is more of a trade off than a reward.)
EDIT: I changed the HP reward at the end of the brute force path to make it so you can choose who and how many of your party members get the bonus HP. That way youāre not forced to have everyone gain weight if you want to keep a particular party member thin for whatever reason (usually either to preserve them for the late game or to see the occasional interaction between characters that require some one being thin). The amount gained is +10 lbs., reason chapter 1 has so many optional weight gain ādumpsā is because I kind of need to get the ball rolling for weight gain, otherwise a lot of dialogue and scenarios requiring high weights will only be reasonably seen in the latter half of the game.
15 Likes
Iāve now concretely worked out the attitudes the main characters have towards weight gain if it happens to them or their party members. I want to have a wider range of reactions related to weight gain to further differentiate the characters from each other, as to avoid them all feeling like the same person.
The mage has the potential of two types of reactions based on player choice (where and how that choice is made I havenāt decided yet). She has always been thin, so if she puts on weight it will be for the first time. By default, she is the most opposed to it, expressing frustration and light disgust. However I intend to give her the option to develop those feelings into a fetish/desire for weight gain, making her the only one to have a positive view of it. When others gain weight, she will either be upset that the other members are slowing the group down without the fetish, or be quietly envious of their weight gain if she is of a lower weight.
The warrior also has a negative view of weight gain, expressing feelings of mild anxiety and some shame. The reason is because a part of the warriorās backstory is that she used to be fat herself, but lost the weight when she started to get serious about her occupation as an adventurer. Unlike the mage, at very high weights she stops caring about it as much. Her reactions to the others gaining weight is mostly to not say anything nor judge them due to her having a more innocent heart. Sheāll only say something if the others are being hypocritical in some way (example, if the mage is the reason they fail the easy route through the first dungeon, the warrior will be peeved because it was the mage who expressed watching what everyone ate during the gameās intro).
The rogue is mostly flippant about weight gain, neither having particularly positive or negative feelings towards it. Only time she really expresses any opinions towards weight gain is if it is directly getting in her way, and even then its more her getting upset at the circumstances rather than that she is the reason the problem exists in the first place (probably anyway). Her self centered attitude often leaves her more prone to her vices such as lust, greed and gluttony. When others gain weight, sheāll often tease them about it, even if she is fatter than the other party member herself.
Speaking of the Rougeās gluttony, thatās another mechanic I wanted to add. Like how the warrior has her laziness mechanic, and the Mage has the stress eating mechanic, I want the rouge to have a gluttony mechanic. Iād have it function more like the laziness mechanic than the stress eating one, meaning that she never gets a permanent perk for gluttony and it goes down over time. Its pretty simple to understand, the more she eats, the more the gluttony tracker goes up. At certain thresholds, she will gain weight at the end of every day, simulating her eating more in the background when not controlling her.
Maybe Iāll have something like a craving mechanic when she becomes more gluttonous. At the beginning of every day, or if you enter the adventure field during the morning or daytime, you get a message and status effect stat does nothing, noting a food type she wants to eat that day (Sweets, meats, carbohydrates like bread, alchohol, cheese etc.). Eating that food type would reward her with extra XP and gain +1 extra lb. Not eating what she craves will only lower her gluttony tracker and make it go down quicker when the day ends, it would have no inherent drawbacks.
EDIT: Made some changes to the gluttony mechanic. Instead of XP for satisfying the cravings, she will get +1 max HP (totaling about 110 extra hp if done every day, but good luck keeping her thin enough to fight if you do).
14 Likes
Iām so hype for your game!
The pics look great the overall stories seems great just need to wait how it will went in the real things.
Keep it up!
5 Likes
Sorry for the longer break than I had planned, some things came up that made it go on longer than a couple days, Iāll be getting back to work on this now. Thank you for your patience.
15 Likes
Maze layouts are done for the first dungeonās brute force route. Takes advantage of the poison swamp tiles for two of them, and has cracks in the wall that can be used as shortcuts, but if someone is just a little too fat for the passage, you can use butter like with the windows for the thief minigame to slip through. Chests are in optional parts of the maze as well, so if you can pull it off without taking a battering, it will have more material benefit than the peaceful option (although, the buff to mp maybe more valuable long term).
If you go down that path, bring a lot of healing items, itās meant to be a test of endurance so the enemies and parts of the maze itself will slowly kill the party by attrition and a miniboss at the end. If you want to go for as low a weight as possible, try the other path.
11 Likes
Again I must apologize for the very slow progress, Iāve had some issues I had to work through immediately after I started getting back to work. I wonāt go into great detail, but it was having a huge toll on my mental health (constant stress, acute depression, nightmares every other night or so etc.). I should be back now, but I canāt be completely certain on how consistent Iāll be.
18 Likes
You have to look out for you. I wouldnāt worry about it too much, but thank you for the update. Just donāt over work yourself.
13 Likes
hey, make sure to take caree of yourself before trying to put more work on yourself with the game. Even the worlds best fetish game ever made wouldnāt be worth its creator having mental health issues and depression.
work out your irl stuff, take care of yourself, stay hydrated and well rested, and come back and work on the game more when you can and want to, and weāll all still be here still happy to hear any updates.
like krod said, take good care of yourself, and only do as much work on t as you can safely do. sorry if iām being too preachy or mommy-ish[especially as am boy], but i hope youāre doing well and that your health gets better : D
3 Likes
Iām adding a new spell as a reward for a new ending Iāll be adding to chapter 1.
The spell serves a role as a basic healing spell but with a bit of twist. A part of the mage character is that there are healing spells available in the lore, but no matter how hard she tries she just canāt wrap her head around it. So, if you do the new ending where you Let the cultist be and do nothing to them after finding them, you will be rewarded with the spell (more like a ritual than a normal spell). The spell will heal for a fixed, modest amount (about 250-300 HP) and make the character put on 3 pounds. What the spell is doing is basically summoning food. In the early game, this will be more useful than most food, but you will put on more weight than you should. By the mid-late game it will fall off in usefulness, but it would still have itās uses if you run out food items at any point in the field or combat.
The other downside is that you basically force yourself into getting the worst main ending for the first chapter. It still counts as finishing the chapterās story (a pop up message will appear whenever you complete a chapterās story so itās not ambiguous whether you finished it or not).
Iām also thinking of adding secret areas in all chapters except for 1&8 (so 6 total), that could serve as a work around if you messed up a chapter or two. Without going into too much detail about the plot, completing each chapter gives the party an increasing sense that something is off about whatās happening at the places they visit. What these secret locations would do is start a local side quest involving someone in town, if you finish it, it adds to a tracker of how many of these hidden areas youāve found. If you find three of them, it will make up for failing an areaās local issue (finding all six will will do the same for a total of two botched locations instead of just one). I would make these very difficult to find, and make the following quests more obtuse than normal since the reward is pretty significant (it can save a playthroughās ability to get to the real final chapter).
10 Likes
Hereās some screenshots of a couple of the maps I made, not completely finished (especially the town):
Spell Research Room:
First Town Exterior:
First Chapter Inn Room:
A Lake (using the vehicle system for players to get to the islands):
EDIT:
one more, this is the current residences map for chapter 1. This is how Iām saving on number of maps used (there is a hard limit on how many can be used, while I donāt think Iād hit it, I donāt want to risk it).
21 Likes
Making progress on the stealth mini game houses (2/7 of them are done for this chapter, working on the third one) currently and I planned out fair bit more of the lore for one of the religions in the game (there will be a total of 4 that the party will come into contact with, although they will only ever be a part of one of them).
10 Likes