Thursday, February 13, 2014

Building up the quest!


So, first of all I am sorry again for taking this much time to write an update. I just didn't want to write it until I was done with puzzle+scenes I was working on right now, but it dragged on for longer than I thought. The good news is that the quest now has some sexy content (although this time she will get it on with some men, unlike most of the times), and I also introduced (as an experiment) a scene whose choices are affected by your mental resistance. To avoid problems, the "locked" choices trigger only if you are at 0 (you can still pick that choice if you have more than 0, but you would lose mental resistance, so forcing it when you have 0 it's actually pretty harmless). I hope it will make things more hot (I know I like the idea when I see it in other games). I might even change some dialogues during the scene depending on the MR score, but I want to wait until I release another closed beta, and see if it's well received or not before committing too much work on it (currently, it just changes a bit of Celeste's inner monologue at the beginning of the scene).

As far as the puzzles go, I completed two of them, so I just have one more to go, and then I would just need to write the ending to this part of the quest to be over with it (by the way, you just see two puzzles for each playthrough, and one is always the same, so players won't have to suffer through arcane puzzles for the most part, and I can avoid to create six puzzles, as I wanted to have two challanges per path). This was what I would have released in December, if I had done everything as planned, and didn't get delayed back then, but since I missed the December "release window" I might add some more stuff to the game, before a closed (and then public) release. This also an important milestone, because as far as the main quest go, I just need to add one more part to it, and then write the ending, and it would be complete. I still need to work on a lot of the side content (quests, random events), but it still means that chapter 1 could be wrapped up in the not too distant future. Well, this is the optimistic version, but I can't see the future, so take it with a grain of salt.


On the donation side of things, I got 20 € from R.C. (I sent you an e-mail, if you are reading this, check it out!), thank you very much! ^_^

And for the anime intro/review combo of the week, let me introduce you to... Claymore!

I couldn't find a better quality video, so you get only this, sorry -_-

Before talking about Claymore, let me get the usual considerations out of the way (1: I have read the manga but haven't seen the anime, and this is a pretty big deal since there are a lot of fights as the story moves forward; 2: I know nothing of the dubbing quality or if it was released at all in xyz country; 3: it is violent in nature, so who knows what censorship could have done to it), with this being said, it's a really amazing manga. It's about an all female group of warriors named, after the swords they use, Claymore. They are specialized in hunting down a certain kind of monster (Yoma), as they have the ability to track their aura down (those monsters can take the look and memories of their victims, so normal people have almost no chance to find them). I don't want to spoil the story too much, because I think it's really good, and it actually has some decent twists (although I feel right now it's getting maybe too convoluted, but it's still a good one), so I will just add that the story follows Claire, one of the warriors, for the most part, although it will follow some other characters here and there.

The author of this manga is also responsible for Angel Densetsu, which is a wonderful comedy, and very different in tone and setting from Claymore, which really surprised me when I found out (Angel Densetsu is almost my favourite comedic manga, so I would recommend it to anyone who is into the somewhat wacky humour so often found in manga)! XD

This should be about it, as always let me know if I forgot something, and feel free to ask any questions. Until next time! ^_^

P.S.

I added a link to a TOTDC wiki (I think I forgot to add it when I was first notified about it, sorry -_-), there is an on-going walkthrough being posted over there, maybe people will want to check it out (that's not complete either, though). I guess it would be cool if there was an extensive wiki about the game (given its nature, people might want some sort of guide for it), but those things are probably hard to keep updated, unfortunately.

22 comments:

  1. Chapter 1 will be wrapping up soon?!!!! And there is a wiki now!? @_@ I have been gone for a while, haven't I? But judging from your previous record, I guess we will still need to wait a year till it is finished. ;D

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    1. Well, to be honest, My first plan was to work on TOTDC chapter 1 for "just" two years, but as time passed by complexity grew and free time diminished a little. Also, as the game become bigger, adding new interesting content becomes more difficult (it's my fault, because I should have made the main mechanics more robust, which would have allowed me to avoid working on "one shot" puzzles to cover for them. I deeply regret not working in a proper "hacking system", for example, especially since it was something I talked about multiple times in the forum). Thankfully, I never experience writer's block, I have what I think is a reasonable plot and I stick to it, so that's one thing I don't have to worry about.

      As for the wiki, it's a relatively recent effort, so I don't know how extensive it actually is right now (I am not the one mantaining it).

      Considering my previous record, I can't honestly dispell your worries, I think. XD

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  2. Now that the chapter is getting finished, given the plot line you have in mind and taking into account the MR related options. How many different conclusions will there be?

    I mean, cleanly fixing ALICE is only one possibility, there are plenty other where lingering effects would remain while allowing the game to move on. For instance, if the relationship with Darenzia is high enough, not in any other commitment, and MR 0 then it would be feasible to subvert ALICE's programming by becoming a sub to Darenzia instead in order to gain more time to fix ALICE against the risk of going mindless.

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    1. Without spoiling too much about the ending, I can tell you that it won't be affected by your MR or your indoctrination. Those two will deeply affect how the final part of the main quest plays out, but as far as dealing with ALICE goes, there is only one possible scenario, at the end (did I manage to make it sound vague enough? ^_^). You can still "fail" till the very end, but I wouldn't consider it a true ending.

      What you did during the game will mainly affect the starting situation in chapter 2 (your allies, your enemies, your lover, some bigger events like how the Verania main quest got solved, and what happened to its colony, and your stats and equipment, of course), although I don't exclude at least a slideshow or something similar for the ending, to recap what choices you made and what you ended up affecting permanently with your actions.

      Darenzia is heterosexual, so it would probably be a problematic role for her, especially considering they are friends. ;p

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    2. This game is so huge (and excellent :) ) that a recap slideshow could work quite well. Fortunately it shouldn't be a lot of work, since you're already spending time thinking about what decisions carry over to chapter 2, and the images should be there already. Good idea!

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    3. Yeah, it should be relatively easy. I am actually thinking on working very briefly on chapter 2 before taking my break from the TOTDC universe, mainly to test the possibility of porting choices between the two chapters, and see if everything works, setting up things properly, etc., so that when I go back to it I don't need to figure things out all over again. We'll see how it goes, if the porting process goes fine, I might even release a really short teaser for chapter 2, but this is all in the future right now.

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  3. I don't suppose it would be possible to avoid the close encounter of the male kind, at least in some circumstances? Considering that it's possible to play the whole chapter without any male partners, iirc, it would be nice to have the option of playing a character with an exclusive set of preferences, just to stay in character, if one were so inclined on a particular playthrough.

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    1. It's entirely possible to avoid the sex scenes. There are potentially two of them. One is a bad end (so it's avoidable, of course, and it's basically non-canon, strictly speaking, since the official plot involves Celeste getting past those obstacles), and one is the scene I described where you are forced into it if you have 0 mental resistance. Of course, this is avoidable too, if you have more than 0 MR, but you can also avoid it in other ways. Without giving away the plot, on this quest you must do something, and you have 3 chances, each of them have different puzzles at the beginning, and just one of them involves the MR related event. The bad end is possible in all paths (as they merge after a short while), but it's also fairly easy to avoid, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

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  4. Claymore looked slightly familiar but upon your recommendation I went off and found the first episode... and then proceeded to acquire the discs... which, in turn, made me head towards the manga. I just want you to know that it's been quite the money sink and I completely blame *you* for it. What do you have to say for yourself when you start to affect people's lives across the world?

    I'm super tired so I'm not sure how well I can convey some thoughts I had about the Claymore anime (minor spoiler). Honestly, I thought the characters were flat and the story contrived, but still an interesting premise. There was also way too much in-fighting among all these be-all, end-all badass female warriors and the monsters were about as interesting as the generic Hallows in Bleach. *However*, that being said, for whatever reason the show really captured my attention and was very enjoyable to watch! That right there makes the show a WIN. Thumbs up and recommended!

    As I understand it, the show quickly caught up to the manga at the time and, unlike other anime shows that leaves a sour taste when this happens, the people that worked on the Claymore anime did a very commendable job to wrap things up. Although it still leaves things unanswered (quite a lot actually) and the way it ended leaves room for another season (chances of that is virtually nil), the ending was satisfactory for what it was. It was a good job. I could watch it again; some shows won't ever get this privilege. After the show ended, work on the manga continued; thus, the show and the manga differs around this point (according to other people's accounts seeing how I haven't read the manga myself as of yet). I went back a couple of volumes to where I think the show's final episodes diverges from the manga. So I got volume 11 coming down the pipeline. The manga continues on for another dozen and half after this point so that's a lot of things to look forward too!
    --From the Guy that likes "girls in yel-- white". ;P New 'Net entry (and anonymously-gifted bonus grenades for in-game)! Right?

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    1. That you clearly did it wrong! You should pirate everything, so you can save up money to give to me! BECAUSE OF REASONS!

      As always, I can just speak for the manga, not the anime, which I assume could also be affected by the dubbing, prolonged fighting sequences, and the inevitably padded out content. The monsters start somewhat generic, although they become more and more grotesque as the story moves on.

      As for the new entries, I am sure people now the truth, deep in their heart (that I am a bad person and I would never leave free stuff in my game). :p

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    2. Yarr! Plunder all thar booty ye pornlubber!

      *that fullfils my quota of pirate jibber for the week, thank you for your cooperation in that regard.

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    3. I don't know if I actually cooperated in that regard, but whatever makes you happy. :D

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  5. http://pornsharing.com/sexy-assed-lesbian-brunette-celeste-star-gets-dominated_v27953?utm_source=Donnie&utm_medium=tgp&utm_campaign=Donnie#.UwVMXF7Rhss

    You should use pictures from this video for a Celeste dom film.

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    1. If there are pictures of decent quality out there, they might be used at some point, sure. The video had too many artifacts, though. Did you perhaps see a gallery of pictures based on this set?

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  6. My friend!

    Outstanding work! I've been lurking through the collective's forums and archives for a few months now, and seeing such polished handiworks like yours (and eTranz, and Mind Shift, and Alako's little demo) brings a happy tear to my eyes, and excitement to my unit :D

    Anyway, asides from dick jokes and congratulatory remarks, I have a tiny request for you, oh great developership. Can you please keep the debug/cheat mode tool in the game? Because I really enjoy playing Cel at no MR at all (because, face it, there's a reason why we're playing games like this ;) ) but I dont want to get a game over because of that. Would you kindly?

    Again, thanks man, lovely work. I'd love to donate, but right now I'm in a country where access to e-commerce options isn't quite as easy. No, it's not North Korea, thank gods.

    Keep up the great work!

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    1. Eh, eh, happy to know you like my game (among other good ones, I might add ^_^).

      Currently, the debug tool is still in the game (there is an option at the beginning of the game. I call you names if you pick it, though).

      My current plan is to leave it available, but disable certain features of the game if you don't play the game on normal difficulty (maybe remove some items, or a quest or two). I mean, I understand being frustrated at times, but there is a reason I designed the game this way, so I am not too keen on just leaving the option to ignore the mechanics without repercussions.

      Don't worry about donating, if it's problematic for you right now, I am already quite happy knowing you like the game. :)

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    2. Wait, a game you say? I just come here for the anime digest...

      WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN HIDING FROM US?!?!1!

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    3. Well, you (among other authors) have inspired me to take a jab at making a game. And yours is amazingly detailed and well-logic'ed too, so I think when I finally can, I really would like to contribute to your creativity in a more... substantial way :)

      Hope to see moar updates on the game! But do take your time to polish it!

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    4. To anon #1: I am actually a space gnome, we run your internet through dark magic.

      To anon #2: Glad to know you like the game! Let me know if I can help you with your project (although I am not a programmer, so I would be able to help only if you use RAGS, unfortunately).

      Make it rain!!! XD XD XD XD XD

      I am slowly getting there, I changed my mind a couple of times on this last part of the quest, so it's taking longer, but I should have an update up soon.

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  7. Hey, mdqp, can you give us direct hints about game completeion level. I mean, i can wait, but seriously i want to play it right now, and i played current avalaible version three times already. SO PLEASE, tell at least approximate time we need to wait.=)

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    1. I am slowly getting there. I don't like giving ETAs, because I keep missing them, and it depresses me every time, but it shouldn't be TOO far away, so hopefully within a month. I could release it sooner, but I would really like to add at least one more NPC and a side quest, so a month is more likely.

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