Vitriolic Crux
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Progress Update! - Design Changes, The Roadmap, and A New Face
🕑 Added 2022-06-17 16:00:10 +0000 UTCHello everyone! I've got a few different things we'd like to share with you, including some core design changes, a general roadmap to completion, and some new character art!
A Deeper Experience
I'll start with the big one: dropping the Affinity system. A few months ago, I talked about changing the game's progression to rely only on one stat, which we called Affinity. My goal was to simplify the game's resource grind in order to make unlocking new cutscenes with each character faster and more consistent. But after writing and playtesting a few drafts for Jinx's first update, I realized I'd gone too far.
The overworld events that Danko and I have been working on for the next update are designed to give the players opportunities to interact with the heroines in the way that they want to. You can either be sweet and gentle, or heavy-handed and demanding. But with the Affinity system, those actions and the choices that you made don't end up making a difference because either choice contributes to the same stat equally. It oversimplifies the relationship that you're trying to build with her and ends up making the experience feel lifeless and generic.
So I've decided to split Affinity into two stats. One stat reflects Cleric's sweeter and gentler actions, while the other reflects his more dominant and demanding ones. But your relationship with each girl will be unique, so these stats don't have set names. You can think of them as the Paragon and Renegade stats from Mass Effect, but maybe not as extreme. And remember that you won't have to choose between one or the other: if you want to put in the effort to show both sides of your personality, you'll be rewarded for that too.
Highway to Heaven
Alright guys, it's time to talk about the roadmap. I've talked about some of this stuff before, but I wanted to gather all the information in one place for you guys. I don't normally like talking about this kind of stuff publicly, but I figured we owed everyone some more transparency considering how much time you're giving us to work on the foundation update.
Keep in mind that there are more updates planned than what you'll see on the roadmap, but these are what I consider to be the core updates. Once we've completed all the updates you see on the graphic below, the game could be consider "finished".
And I know I just got done saying that the two new stats don't have official names, but for the sake of simplicity, let's just call them Affection and Obedience.
Each girl will have a central route that's three chapters/updates long. At the end of the first two chapters, two optional side routes are unlocked which can have rewards like new scenes, new outfits, etc. Completing side quests can also have an effect on the events of the central questline, such as alternate dialogue.
All quests/chapters will have stat-checks. Central quests can be started with enough points in either stat, but the side quests require points in their related stat. This way, instead of going straight from cutscene to cutscene, you cycle back and forth between overworld events and story cutscenes. This gives you a chance to explore any newly unlocked repeatable h-scenes, as well as revisit old ones to see how things have changed.
A New Look For A New Friend
Now we can finally get to the juicy stuff! As part of expanding the game's foundation, we've been adding new locations and events around the Tower, but we've also been adding new characters.
Those of you who've played the current build of the game will remember Niki, the amorous android who acted as your guide and mentor when you first arrived at the Tower. A lot of people liked her personality, but I ultimately felt that her design didn't quite fit the role she was playing. When you think of the words "robot succubus", a hard hat and tool belt probably aren't the first things that come to mind. So we've redesigned appearance from the ground up!
Here's everyone's first look at Lucy, the devil on your shoulder during your time with the Titans!
Before Cyborg left, she built many robot servants to help keep the Tower running. And little Lucy is one of them! She cooks, she cleans, and she's cute. But perhaps there's more to her than meets the eye... (no, she's not a Transformer, please don't sue us!). All of the robots in the Tower seem to have some strange quirk or feature...I wonder what hers is?
I hope you guys have enjoyed reading about all the new stuff we've been working on! I know I enjoyed finally getting to share all this stuff with you, and I can't wait until we finally get to put out v0.17, the Foundation update. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, the best way to get in contact with me is to go to our Discord server. And as always we'd like to thank all of our wonderful Patrons for their support! Without you, this game wouldn't be possible.
