sierralee
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August 4 Update
🕑 Added 2024-08-04 17:00:05 +0000 UTCI am tired and grouchy at the moment, but let's see if I can't turn things around. Instead, let me talk about all the things that have been finished over the past while.
The next build of TLS will have 47 new skills!
Everybody is getting two new skills that round out their capabilities or do something interesting.
There are eight new synergy skills, evening out support a little bit and adding some new wrinkles. These may be the last synergy skills unless an idea really inspires me.
Six of the new skills involve a brand new capability I don't think has been seen in RPG Maker before: swapping out a party member mid-battle. Thanks to LordForte for coding some new features to allow this.
You've been seeing the Stineford screenshots, right? I'm redoing the interiors to match the exteriors, just like everyone wanted. You'd all better enjoy.
I've made fundamental changes to how LUK works, which required changing LUK values all across the game in various ways to try to keep things balanced. I've finished the grunt work but these values may require tweaking later.
I've commissioned the art for the final harem member from Annikath. She is all ready, once I manage to get to that content.
There are some very fancy new features thanks to Rachnera. These will probably get a post all their own later, because there's a lot to show off. Still design work and some decisions being made here.
Anyway, it's not enough, not if I want to meet my goals. The problem isn't that I'm attempting too much, it's that my output is being hindered by cycles of anger and frustration. There should be some fun things in this week's work, so if they give me enough energy to power through the un-fun things, hopefully next week's update will be more positive.
Nah, let's not end on that note - let me show you one of the new features I've mentioned. Of course you all know what normal dialogue looks like:
Thanks to Rachnera doing some real coding and several community members doing a lot of configuration work, we've implemented a new dialogue system that looks like this:
Based on my work in OEA, and playing other games, I have mixed feelings about bust systems that put the character faces too far away from the text, but I like this design a lot. You can switch it back if you really want, but I think it's a nice improvement. ^-^ This will help distinguish TLS from all the other RPG Maker games, and most importantly I think this will be a feature that fans of the game will enjoy.
There are a few omissions and some characters/expressions will have kinks to work out, but as a whole this new feature should be set without eating any more development time. Building on top of this will be something potentially even fancier! More on that next week or the update after that, depending.
Comments
Duncan Lutz
After playing just the Final Battle, I was sorely tempted to punch through from the prologue to the end... But hearing about the new skills and waiting on the final optional dungeon convinced me to hold off just a bit more. So glad I did if we are getting the UI changes as well ;)
Alistair
You know what? Maybe I will enjoy the Stineford interiors. Jokes aside, this looks like an excellent update to do a new full playthrough.
Sierra Lee
Well, there are other changes in the pipeline, so by the time all of those are fully implemented you might be ready for another run.
Sierra Lee
There are other changes in the pipeline too!
DankPotatoes
God freaking damn, this is all ambitious! Feels like a brand new game, both visually and gameplay-wise. Kinda hate myself for just having played through the game, instead of waiting for the next update, lmao The mid-battle party shifts, sounds rad as hell! Can't wait to see it in action.
Darthjake
That looks freaking awesome, I actually think I might replay the game based on that new dialogue system.
Dubsington
Oh, super cool! The first one happened shortly after I first joined and I wasn't even caught up yet (I'm a completionist, so this gloriously robust game is the death of me-- takes me *ages* to get through maps), so I didn't participate in it. I went back and looked at it later though and it was just fascinating. And your analysis post was interesting and hilarious, but I can definitely see that you sank some serious time into that particular data feast. Edit: "I'm the Lord of Fucks, not the Lord of Votes" cracks me up to this day
Sierra Lee
In all seriousness, the last survey took up more of my time than I expected. I have concrete plans to do one after the 1.0.0 release.
Dubsington
We should do another Big Survey like the one a few years back, then do it again a few weeks after the Real Last Final Release. It could be a great advancement in Boob Science, which only ever proves people like boobs but its fun to study anyway. Nalili will benefit from this too. The succubi in general will be winning this update, methinks.
Nicholas
I like that you have both options. There are scenes where I think the heads are more appropriate/funnier, but when several of the characters themselves would be adamant about showing off their torso it feels pretty appropriate. Plus, you know, boobs are nice.
KFSigurd
Those new dialogue boxes are completely worth all the time and energy spent, thank you!!!
Long Tran
Ooh, spiffy new bust in the dialogue boxes! Nice
Runcible Technician
I'm a big fan of busts. More busts please.
Mycroft
the improvment you are making looks good. I hope the frustration you are encountering is only temporary.
Rachnera
> boobs in the dialogue sprites I'm not sure if the percentage of people siding with Lynine will significantly increase after this update; but she's definitely one of the main winners of this display change.
Decarabia
Good work everyone!!! The inside screenshots have been consistently beautiful. I'm hyped for the skills, specially synergy skills, as I find very fun to experiment and see different party compositions. Good luck powering through the annoyances! On an unrelated note, if you or someone else could please answer whenever convenient: from Eustrin's liberation political dealings map, what is the name of the red-armored field commander aramite with the scar? And the moustache warmonger aramite general?
Dubsington
New art, a new harem member, new skills, new game features, and-- praise the Lord!-- even boobs in the dialogue sprites. All hail Sierra the giver of good things. Rainmaker! Rainmaker!
Huevo Podrido
New dialogues looks amazing!
