Sunday 16 December 2018

State of the Game - December

Hey guys, long time no see. Forgive me for not writing an update last month, but there was nothing really interesting to report. Late October, I've caught a bad case of the writing block, and unfortunately it doesn't want to let go. At a worst place too, since I'm now writing the penultimate, largest and the most important quest in the entire chapter :(  Unfortunately, this means I won't be able to keep my own deadline (New Year). Worse, it seems I won;t get my planned Christmas holidays :(((

Still, I made some progress, just not as much as I wanted. I've focused mostly on technical side of the game, wrote some H-material, tested soundtrack and polished certain graphical assets. Those usually go last in my development process, so it will cut me some work after the core game is complete.

That's all for this month. Grab some screenshots and Merry Christmas!



Thursday 18 October 2018

State of the Game - October

Not much progress this month, my work got busy as hell. Worked mainly on mechanics, got over some hurdles, but story is

However, I finally decided on the name of the game.


And yes, it's not a remake. Divinion will continue the story from The Dark Lord Rises.

I'll have short holidays in November, should make some progress then.

Saturday 22 September 2018

State of the game - September



Hello guys, I salute you for your patience :) Fortunately, recent month has been quite fruitful and I managed to keep with my schedule. But without unnecessary talk, what about the progress?


A) STORY is around 80% done. What remains to be done are basically two largest quests, one side quest and a climax, as well as some polishing and flavour here and there. I've also finally finished the outline for the entire story.

B) MECHANICS are 60% done. This has been my focus for the last three weeks, as first tests revealed that my initial plan - to have more "western" approach to mechanics - was suited neither for RPG Maker, nor the story. However, as I rummaged through various RPG maker communities and tinkered with the game myself, i managed to scrape a few interesting systems. My focus has been battles, which was always RPG Maker's weak side - I'm currently reworking things here and there, to make it more exciting. I even thought about copying Octopath Traveler's systems, but that unfortunately is impossible to do because of both engine limitations, as well as established lore. More interesting battle system will allow me to make gameplay more varied, as I initially thought of limiting combat encounters to minimum (still, some seemingly combat-intensive quests have an alternative approach).

As usual with TDLR, grind is reduced to minimum. Currently, killing monsters gives no XP points - those can be obtained only through completing quests. I am still contemplating on this tough, and there's still a reward for those who dutifully slay every opponent possible.


C) As I mentioned month ago, H-content is one the last thing to be added.


Overall, things look pretty good! Seems like December release date is still possible. Thank you for still following my dev blog!

Ah, almost forgot. Catch some screens from the current version

Sunday 12 August 2018

State of the game - August

Okay, I promised a report of sorts, so here we are. My holidays passed by like a fly, but at least I managed to achieve a very nice progress during those last two weeks.
Now, let me split my report into three parts:

A) STORY is around 60% done. However, first release should contain way more content than entire Ugovarti arc for TDLR, even after necessary cuts. Basic structure resembles Marania act, except the plot is more intervened and tightly knit. The main storyline follows a succession war in a certain kingdom, amidst which Renan and his friends will discover a very nefarious plot. Also, release will also contain alternative ending to the story, giving Renan's journey an early, satisfying finish.

B) MECHANICS are done in only around 30%. Unfortunately, one of the plugins I relied on decided to stop working for me, and now I have to design an workaround. Overall however, as I mentioned in a previous post, the game will differ somewhat from usual RPG maker experience; character progression is a bit more flat, equipment matters greatly, there's also some crafting. Experience can be only obtained from completed quests, and some of them have alternative, less battle-heavy route.
For those who disliked economy of TDLR, there's also much more currency being thrown at player, as well as reliable way to replenish HP & MP during the adventure.

C) Only 5% of H-SCENES are done. I usually leave them for the last. There should be around 10-12 scenes, all skippable. 1/3 of them happened during main storyline, 1/3 is a result of player's choices, and 1/3 are a quest rewards. Alternative ending will also contain h-scene.

Overall, I'm quite pleased how much work I managed to do those last two weeks. I believe you can expect release around late December, though it will depend on amount of test runs the game will require. I'll also try to write similar report every month to keep you guys updated. See you next month then!

Tuesday 31 July 2018

A development diary (of sorts)

Hello guys! Long time no see. I bring some good new. At least, I managed to squeeze some holidays from my boss, which means for the next two weeks I can finally make some serious progress. Until now, it was... ehh... let me use image to illustrate the situation.


That's our favourite technicolor mage, Angela, or rather, how her projected visage changed during the development (and I'll probably still make some adjustments, because I ~~love~ her design). Entire process until now has been like that - I make something, get dissatisfied, start anew.

In fact, I even thought about changing protagonist and story entirely - but finally decided against it. And since I'm already at the stage where I simply don;t want to make any more changes to the general outline, here are some answers to the questions I've been getting recently:

-Yes, the story will continue from 0.3.4, though in a different place than Ugovarti (heh :)). Renan is still the protagonist.
-If you hated the end of act 2, rejoice! No more gender-bending of major characters.
-The game will be less corruption-oriented. I pondered about it for a long time, and in the end decided that if in the first game Renan was the (wannabe) corruptor, this time the villain takes this mantle. The story resembles a bit more classic heroic fantasy than it did before.
-Entire RPG/battle system is being reworked. I don't have time and skill for anything major, but it should differ somehow from basic RPG Maker fare..., unlike previous TDLR.
-The title for the sequel will definitely WON'T be The Dark Lord Rises 2 :) (or 0.3.5 for that matter).


I'll try to make another entry mid-august to update you on my progress during the holidays. Until then, for those who like me adore cartography, here's the new, updated map of the world of TDLR.




Sunday 8 April 2018

Dark Lord shall rise... no... return!

Hello guys. So, as mentioned in my previous post, I recently got my hands on RPG Maker MV and been tinkering with it to my great enjoyment. While there are some problem here and there, I feel new engine fixes at least some problems I had with with VX Ace. So, I finally decided.

The Dark Lord Rises will be back!

That comes to me especially easy since it seems that no one bothered with continuing my original project (or at least, is hiding it from me :>). Also, since I learned the software as I created TDLR, there are some shortcuts and solutions in original that made my head ache over and over during development. I can avoid most of those starting a new game with MV.

Now, this means Noblesse Oblige for now goes to the side*. Well, that's one of the reasons why I don't bother with Patreon; I like to work on something I like, not force myself to reach some deadline or other commitment.

When shall new Dark Lord come out? Christmas, probably, autumn at best. I'd like it to be more than prologue and short story arc, and to tinker with graphics some more, so the game at least doesn't look like generic RPGMaker product.

Tuesday 2 January 2018

Happy New Year, and... Noblesse Oblige!

Hey guys, long time no see. First of all, this isn't post announcing return of The Dark Lord Rises, unfortunately. I did some tinkering here and there, trying to reignite the flame, but for now, I'm letting that project rest. I might return to it some day, though probably in a different way than simple continuation.

Now, as I mentioned before, I've decided to start something new. Over the course of my Christmas holidays I finally found some time to build proper foundations for my new game. Game, which for now I'll call by its working title, Noblesse Oblige.

I've moved from RPG Maker to more popular Ren'py and decided to make pure visual novel. And by pure, I mean, in vein of Japanese VNs, without any fancy gameplay. As for theme, it will be as with The Dark Lord Rises - corruption and mind control fiesta, though this time with less lore and more... well, porn. Player  shall take a role of evil mastermind, trying to defeat a sentai squad. Basically, if someone played (unfortunately, untranslated) Japanese games from Maika or Heat-Soft, you might know what to expect.

I currently plan for game to have four main routes, each representing different 'flavours' of corruption. So, there will be simple brainwashing, transformation/remodeling, magical shenanigans and, for the last route, something special. As with latest versions of TDLR, I'm relying on Honey Select for graphics, though I tried to make sure my characters do not resemble generic models, so common in many other H-games.

Here's a link to the early version of the game, containing entire intro (and one H-scene). Below you'll find some screenshots, if you're unsure how the game will look. Please mind, it's still an early build. I don't plan to have another release until at least one route is finished.

Enjoy!