This week I added 2 (or 3, depending on how you count certain variations) new scenes for Carla, the emperor's quest got made (it's not incredibly long, but I think it offers some fun), getting some of that "potential exhibitionist" action going.
Then I added a couple more nobles to the "finished" list (meaning I just need one more and the council's duties/chores are done), plus I worked on some bugfixing after some closed testing, as well as some minor improvements to the combat.
I made it so the last summoning you used gets auto-summoned at the start of the battle, gave the protagonist a healing spell, improved the list of available actions for the summonings, switching the useless "use gear" for their own attack, and removing some of the actions they wouldn't need like "equip".
I also made some changes to old quests (now the merchant escorting quest and the slime girl quests auto-fail if you don't finish them by the end of chapter 1).
I hadn't counted on getting a sick day and working as much on the bugfixing, but all things considered I believe I kept up the pace.
Coming next on the Patreon page are the polls and the art preview for the month. I expect at least 10 days until the next release hits (maybe more), so I'll work some more on Carla's scenes, finish up the quest for nobility, and maybe add some content to your county (assuming you win the vote). I am not sure if we'll get enough content for the village so that we can open it up right away, but hopefully I'll be able to put together the basic skeleton for the area.
I think I have summarized most of what's going, so I think I'll end it here. Until next time! ^_^
I have lots of time constraints, but once in a while I still come visit this blog. Though I miss many of the posts nowadays, I do appreciate that you're still keeping this place up and running. Keep up the good work in all things, MDQP!
ReplyDelete(Bajezus, I still need to give Caliross a proper whirl. The last version I tried was way back in 2016 with 0.1d! And crappers, I lost all my notes to Blanked and haven't made a run to completion for the last TotDC... Big fan though! ...just a terrible gamer...)
I know that Caliross is your jam right now, but in the far future will you revisit the TotDC universe? There once was talk about TotDC 2 and several other games -- like that university one. It had an intriguing concept. Whelp, got to go and do something productive... *Sigh* Laters, dude! ;D
I would feel bad leaving this place behind, although I just copy the public posts of my Patreon page, pretty much.
DeleteHa-ha, I guess many people won't finish the games they start, so it's not too bad.
I'd like to work on TOTDC 2, and finish my "duology", I even do some work on RAGS from time to time, setting things up for the sequel, working on improving the UI and the mechanics.
My main problem is that if I want to put it on Patreon, using pictures taken from the internet is out of the question. RAGS isn't aging well, to boot, so sometimes I also wonder if I shouldn't try a different engine for the sequel. Then I worry about how people would take the changes, and I find it hard to wrap my head around the whole thing.
Well, not finishing games is probably more of a result of a quandary I face with time management and the limitations of an ancient computer... (There are components in this rig that are over 17 years old and possibly even more!)
DeleteIn regards to the pictures: *Nods head* Yup, that's a pickle. I guess you can always say that you're developing a game on your free time away from Patreon... which is, y'know, how you developed all your other games pre-Patreon anyhow, lol. Might be fun to fiddle with and explore other engines for TotDC when you have the time.
Yeah, it looks like people are moving away from Rags altogether so I don't think it'll be too much of a shock if you switch gears like you did with your current game.
TotDC is one of those great masterpieces of that engine. It's definitely a gold standard and I compare other Rags games with yours. You've done remarkable things tweaking your game to it and it shows in the awesomely, fun gameplay; but, the era of Rags is phasing out.
"Wife Trainer" is another high quality game *currently* being developed in Rags. (Btw, if you haven't already done so, then you really should check it out. I'm sure there are many things in there that are right up your alley. Found at Hypnopics.) I've read posts by this author before and believe that he is very dedicated due to the great care in his reasoning behind certain design aspects and other goals without giving away the game. But, I think it's fair to say that even he would agree with your assessment about the aging Rags engine. As such, I believe it's being ported over to another engine that is much more approachable for both the creator and the players. Plus, it has the added side affect of not having developers continually having to renew their license, yes? Though, switching engines for TotDC does pose an interesting puzzle of how to carry over variables from the first game to the second which I recall is something you wanted to do. Anyway, hearing that TotDC is still getting some TLC brings me a smile. ;)
In other words, if there's an easier, more approachable engine for TotDC other than Rags, then why not? ^^'
Well, nice chat. Sorry to shoot your ear off. I really need to get on-board that Patreon train. ;P Stay cool, bro!
17 years old components sound ripe for change(although I might have had similarly old stuff in my main PC just a year or two ago XD).
DeleteI am considering doing TOTDC as a side project, but I wonder if that could still cause me troubles. Maybe having comics-style CG and being smart about it could be an acceptable change, maybe I'll make a poll about it. Patreon is kind of a big deal for me right now, so I can't really avoid planning around it.
RAGS is a surprisingly good engine. Having played around with several others now, I can tell it has some good ideas going for it. Sadly, the bugs, the lack of support, the problems with the platform outside of Windows, and more make it difficult to get fully behind it. It's also "just" an engine for text adventures, so there are some limits which come with the nature of the program itself.
I am happy to hear you think so highly of my game. When I look at it, I see the flaws first, but that's just how it is for me as the author. XD
I think I tried wife trainer at some point. There are things I like about it but I also seem to remember I didn't get too much into it, maybe I'll give it another go.
I could do the variable export easily, I think, even with a different engine, but I'd need to go back and change the option to export the data into a simple line of numbers people can copy into the new game.
Have fun, and try to finish some games! ;p