Redflash
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Important Dreadlord Ascension news and poll (with demo)
🕑 Added 2023-04-17 02:49:23 +0000 UTCToday, I am here to talk about an important decision for Dreadlord Ascension. So far, we're fairly happy with the way the game is but we think more improvements can be made. In order to iron out the base game and make it more enjoyable and more manageable, we're considering making several changes. At the end of this post, you can vote if you would like to see those changes being done or not. We will not go for these changes if the overwhelming majority do not want them done.
For the occasion, we have also made a special small updates for you guys to test some of the changes we would be making.
Here are the big lines for those changes:
Adventure board and traits:
This new feature would be a board where you can send your servants on adventures. Many rewards would be added to those in order to cut back on the grind and heroes could also gain traits which would influence how they interact with some of the features in the game like battles or worker slots.
Shortened worlds:
Worlds like Radian or Dregan would be significantly shortened and no longer follow the current story format. Instead, we would make hero challenge maps where each completed map would unlock a new hero.
Since those maps would be harder than the story maps, we would also have a craftable item to skip a stage should it prove to be too hard for some players. Additionally, following the feedback we were given, each of those map will include a defeated scene should Cervius fail.
Most importantly, doing heroes this way would allow us to work on multiple worlds in parallel depending patron preferences instead of doing them linearly.
Daemonheim story:
One of the big points that brought us to consider these changes is how long it would take to progress the story. At the current pace we're going, we would only start to talk about Daemonheim in about 3 years. With those changes, the hero worlds would become shorter side stories to know the heores while Daemonheim would take a more central role. As part of the main story, you would still visit other worlds (like Fenris's world), but those would have a direct impact on the daemonheim story.
Conquest Map:
The conquest map would be a feature mixing both the adventure board and the current strategy turn battles in order to conquer and maintain Cervius's territory.
New training methods:
The training in Dreadlord Ascension would receive additional content. A new minigame in which you can directly train your servants to raise their sex level. Their sex level can also be maintained by putting them in a sex working slot, however, should they abstain from sex work for too long, their level would decrease. It would also be possible to assign characters like Alastor or Fenris to a room and train other servants automatically.
The other training minigame would be a milking minigame where you get to milk servants manually which can yield a higher number of bottles.
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The changes we want to do would require some time (I'm foreseeing about 2 months which is in line with our regular update schedule). The biggest change here lies in the story, but with this new method, we would be able to explore new worlds and characters much faster and we would be able to focus more the interactions between Cervius and his servants, as well the between the different servants.
As for the saves with those new changes, a fresh game would be needed. However, if we can get all the basics done in one go, it should be working continuously from there.
If you would like to test the sample demo for the hero challenge and the adventure board, you can download it below (load the provided save):
For the demo, first use the board and complete the sample adventure there by at least setting Fenris and Soren. Once the adventure is complete, go to the map and select the node below on the map to start the mission. This update was put together under a week so it's not as polished as the rest of the game and is serves as a preview.
Now then, if you would like to tell us which direction you prefer for the game, please vote in the poll, thank you!
Comments
Redflash
The thing is, I can't do it all. I need to give up some to put effort elsewhere and worlds are where most of the effort is being put at the moment. Currently doing the changes in the writing and I think I can strike a balance between long and short. (there's only 1 cutscene pre and post battle but they're longer than the current ones because it covers more than one scene)
weedobi
The only change here I don't really agree with would be the shortening of worlds, at the very least, if the decision is final, we should keep all the cutscenes, I think it would be great if we could vote on each change individually.
Redflash
Not implemented in the demo. The current mission is just an example of how you can lose and get a scene. It's not the actual final version of the mission haha
KKsyCaelum
hey Red, what is the name of the craftable item that I need to use to skip the combat, it's way too hard to me
Redflash
A valid concern I will keep in mind when writing the hero challenges. Sol's cutscenes here was pretty short because we had to put this together in under a week.
kotori the birb
I enjoy most of these ideas but I would prefer if we stick with longer worlds it helps bond with the characters and immerses the player in the story of each world, I feel it also adds a greater sense of exploration.
NoxVentus
Yeah this is sounds very nice!! And I like the idea of scouting missions to find our new recruits! The only thing I am worried about is that the story might suffer for this. But honestly it sounds more like you just get to focus on the actual main story you want to tell sooner :)
Redflash
well, I already somewhat wrote Soren's hero challenge, so he can make for a good comparison. Basically, in his scene, it starts at Reissun and he's already with Kaya, preparing their supplies to go back to Scalyona while clearing the Nexus on the way. Cervius comes along to offer his help and talk a little with them and it then cuts to them arriving at the Solais sanctuary and from there it's almost the same but with some details changed until Cervius gets his contract before leaving.
Murderofhawks
Iβd like a bit more clarification on the shortening of worlds specifically on how much of the current story format would be changed. (Would it be a cutting of a lot of the narrative like the dragon tournament in Dregan or would it be more of a speeding up to the point of acquiring of servants and cutting out a lot of the slower burn like the current first chapter of Dregan)
Rocketman
I enjoyed Radian's story and what we saw of Dregan so far as it gave a feeling of backstory and fleshing out of the characters by seeing their world as a place with it's own story and problems going on as well, not just a stop on Cervius' path to Dreadlord. That said, if that's taking away from the ability to work on the main story and progress the game, then I definitely agree with the change. Maybe (optional) longer stories within the worlds could be something post-main story development, unless thats what the character challenges are already for? Also, love all of the other proposed changes as people have already commented on, and I for one love extra (optional) minigames!
Usagi
All of this looks great, and I have to say the whole 'seeing the worlds being developed in parallel instead of linearly' really sold it to me.
Janus169
Wasn't too sure about cutting out story, but in the grand scheme of things, each world's narrative could stand to be abbreviated, given they'll only be brought up again as throwaway comments once their conflicts are resolved. π€ Battle is definitely much tougher, and requires a higher level of strategic and tactical thinking, with character traits and skills becoming highly relevant, unlike the past iterations. Also, the loss scenes are a definite plus, allowing to explore turned tables scenarios that otherwise wouldn't flow with the story. π
Redflash
yeah, with the current way the game is setup it's kinda hard to do unless it's randomly put in some stages, but with this way, if we can focus them on the hero challenges it can work pretty well and I know it's something people really wanted xP
Kit
You had me at defeated scenes lol
