Posted June 29, 2022 by Synthoel
This update was intended to change the mechanic of game "bosses" - and in the end, that's exactly what it does. But to get to that point, I needed to implement a few other things first.
Previously, the game already had actors - characters with preset behaviours, which move around the map and with whom the player can interact in certain ways. Now I've added interactive objects, which are the same thing, except they can't walk. And there's only one way to interact with them. And they have special spawning rules. Okay, looks like it's not the same at all...
OK, let's start over. Now there are special objects on the map. The player can approach them, press A (activate) and something will happen. For example, this fountain here:
You can sip some water from it and recover some lymph. Think of it as of HEV charger - quite a simple thing (but, as usual, it's only the beginning).
In addition to the A button, an object can also be activated simply by "walking" towards it. Some objects can be used more than once, but more often than not they will be a one-time thing. By the way, A button can be pressed at any time: if there are interactive objects somewhere nearby, they will light up. Check every so often!
In previous versions, there was already a prototype for how direct speech from characters would be displayed. It looked like this:
A classic scheme from visual novels. I didn't like it because the text container takes up too much space, overlapping part of the character sprite. In the particular example above it's just feet, but in the more spicy scenes there could have been _something important_! Usually in VNs this is solved by making the block semi-transparent, or giving the option to hide it. I don't like both of those options, so I moved the texts to the log on the right:
This variant has its pros: notably, the sprites can now be enlarged slightly, and they aren't overlapped by anything. Also, it's closer to conventional rogue-like consistency: modality is still present, but there's less of it (since we show all comments about player actions in the text log, direct speech has its place there, too). But cons became noticeable almost immediately: constantly refocusing from text to image and back again can be tiresome. This change may have to be rolled back, but for now it will stay like this - for testing.
As you probably know, in this game we gather a harem of supernatural girls. It would seem to be no problem - there are so many of them, right from the first level, go ahead and collect them! But that's not exactly what I wanted - there's no challenge in that! Look at vampires, for example: they hit on hero themselves, if he is at least a little more handsome than a monkey. Hence was born the idea of "bosses" - more powerful, intelligent, and far more seductive girls. They are the ones the hero must conquer in order for them to join his harem.
From a gameplay point of view, the "bosses" would have been stronger, but still more or less regular mobs. They would inhabit the lower levels of the dungeon, and the player could interact with them in the same way as he interacts with everyone else. The player would have to "defeat" them somehow, either by sweet-talking them, giving them gifts, or trying to get down to business... This would be followed by a "reward" - a sex scene - and the relationship with the particular "boss" would improve. The playtest quickly found that if the hero immediately tries to have sex with the girl, and succeeds (for example, because he has a high Libido), and then, immediately afterwards, he is rewarded with... another sex scene? That's dumb enough. I didn't want to artificially limit the player by preventing them from applying sex-related actions to bosses. And then I thought - why does the player need to "beat the boss" at all? After all, this game isn't about challenges, so the fact that he got to level X is already a victory! What if the "boss" has been watching him all this time, and she's been impressed by his achievements? Or she has her own motives for having sex with the hero: for example, the Succubus simply needs to feed somehow?
All this led to me deciding to completely redesign the concept of "bosses", and now they're not bosses in the usual gaming sense at all. The tenth level is a "special encounter" (I used the mechanism I added in the last update). In this level, the player will meet a special girl - and just chat with her, and a sex scene will follow immediately afterwards. Sometimes the levels will be quite extensive, and the player will have to work hard to find the girl. Also, each of them will have a different theme - and this will affect the content of these levels.
Speaking of "bosses" and their themes...
Meet Therese! As a Succubus, she is flirty, sassy and hard to please. She is sure that the hero is just another pathetic mortal, incapable not only of pleasing her, but even of entertaining her a little. Perhaps she is wrong...
Therese wields an impressive array of magical powers. Most of them are up to you to find out for yourself, but I'll introduce one now. Therese lives in the so-called "mirror universe" - a pocket dimension where all the laws of physics are under her control. This dimension is connected to the ordinary dimension by means of mirrorlooking portals - hence the name. Imagine the situation: you approach a mirror and it behaves, in general, like an ordinary mirror - it reflects the walls, the ceiling, the surrounding objects... But your reflection is not there. Instead, a Succubus looks at you from the "mirror"; she moves, but her movements do not match yours, which creates some dissonance. The Succubus smiles smugly - she understands that you are bewildered, and she is amused by your confused face. Through these mirrors Therese can see what is going on in the ordinary dimension; sometimes the player won't escape her keen gaze too...
I'm looking at my Trello board, and I think the work on "engine" is done for now. In the next few updates I plan to add content (new girls, items, encounters, scenes) and maybe work on improving the look of the game (replace the tiles). I may not be a resident of the City of Progress, but the future looks bright nonetheless!