Previous post: https://subscribestar.art/posts/2587834
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8IJvVoDU50

It’s 12th, and only a month left till the first version :) Please don't expect first version to be very big. It's more for those who want to follow along the development and to give first feedback.

I wrote and added simple intro into the game. It's not like a cool intro or something, but  I think it coveys the story, isn't too long and has a couple of busty ladies.

Two scenes were added from dark elf mom. One with MC, and one solo scene, that Selene triggers by herself. It’s the first scene of this type, but in the future other scenes will be based on the logic I made for this one.

Added milk delivery for Selene, as a way to improve relationship with her and some other villagers and to trigger her scene. Might change requirements in the future and rearrange whole thing, but I think it works for now.

Milk that we deliver is actually added to NPCs inventory. I think in the future it might be a requirement for some scene or an event.

Removed "Thirst" from the character screen. It's still in the game, but I don't think player needs to see it. It will serve as a cool down for consuming drinks or drinking from a well or barrel (which restores small amount of stamina). So you won't be able to just spam it. We’ll see how it works. Also made it so if you're are full and trying to consume food or drink item, MC would refuse and item won't get wasted.

Made it so the selling/buying prices are different and the spread is based on relationship level. It starts from 90%/110% and goes up to 100%/100% as you reach 100 of relationship points. Also made it so stores replenish their stock over time if you buy items from them, and they have a chance to get rid of items you sold to them, so they won't get empty or completely cluttered with junk. For example if I buy all the wine from Elsa next day she most likely will have at least one bottle in stock (every item in default stock have 33% chance to be restocked every morning) 

Added sound of flowing water when we are near the river and bird sounds randomly spawning from the trees when it's day and not raining. You can check it out in the video.

Also added other sounds for swamp area, to differentiate it from normal forest biome. 

I added new textures for grass and ground. They are shown on top of a tilemap using a shader, which is a good solution to avoid making them look very repetitive. I will keep working on improving the look, but it’s a good step forward I think

Added two paintings, that I promised, into the game. The general lady and redhead one with the cleavage. One of those might become a plot point, we'll see.

Next month I will be working on the last scene that was planned for the first version, and interactions with NPCs. Plus an introductory quest, where MC meets locals.

Previous post: https://subscribestar.adult/posts/2534495
Video: https://youtu.be/puL-wjwldgg

It’s 12th again and the time for first version is is almost here. 

It is planned for September 12th as I mentioned previously.

I was working on dialogues for NPCs, added a way for them to great MC differently, based on if they met before, and their relationship level.

Also I was working on improving cutscenes system, added some functionality required for sexy scenes, added a button that makes dialogue window transparent, so it’s not obscuring the view.

A paizuri scene with Briena the blacksmith was properly added, not with dialogues, all the stats changes, sound effects and pixel animation. Now in Godot I’m able to sync sound effects with pixel animation, which takes some work but sound/look is more coherent.

Same was done for the oral scene with fisherman Dirk, and solo scene for MC when he is going to bed (this one without an illustration for now).

In WaB pixel animation were a single sprite, now I split them up, so each character has his own half on the sprite sheet, and the game combines them. It allows to make only one sprite for each character, but get many possible combinations with other characters. There is a room for possible bugs where two halves aren't aligned, but it saves a lot of time for the future.

If you ever opened WaB in editor, you might have seen that I had many switches to track various things. Many of them where used to make something work only one time a day. A script would check related switch, and if it’s already ON, it wouldn’t trigger. So I also had a special very long script that would go through all these switches at the morning and set it back to OFF. If I’d forget to add a switch to that list for resetting, it would create a not so easy to spot bug, which happened many times during the years of development.

I was thinking how to do it better this time, and I remembered how it was done in an old QSP game. Instead of a switch (boolean type variable that can be “true” or “false”) it would use integer variables. When it needed to set one to ON it would make it equal to the current ingame day. So next time it would check if it matches the current day. If it does, it’s ON, otherwise, it’s OFF. And when day changes all these variables turns off automatically, just because it’s a different day now. So with this approach there is no way for me to forget to add it into resetting list anymore. As added bonus it doesn’t just track if event was triggered today, but also tracks if it was triggered at least once at all, and if yes, when it was triggered last time.

Sounds simple, but for some reason I didn’t come up with this when I was starting the work on WaB. Not sure why I’m talking about it in such detail, but maybe it will help somebody with their own project. 

First thing to make with this was, of course, white liquid system. After the paizuri scene, there is white liquid that now stays on Briena’s breasts for a day. I made it so it’s already working for every character. The game checks if these is a variable saved with this character ID and if these is matching illustration variant in the folder. And if I want to add it for other lady now, I just need to put image variant into the folder, and some scene that adds the liquid on their breasts. 

Added fishing and helping Briena in the smithy as two first repeatable activities for the player.

Fishing is very simple, doesn’t have a timing minigame, since I don’t like them, but there are currently three types of fish to catch, and a system that allows to easily add more, or to trigger an event (mermaid attack perhaps).

Helping Briena gives you money and improves relationship with her, plus unlocks her first scene if you get enough relationship points.

Pyotr, his sister Navka, Pigtails chan Melinda and her mom Salma were added into the game. Now all the characters that I was planning for the first version are ready. More should be expected in later versions of course.

Next month I will be working on the intro, character interactions, and scenes for the first version.

Previous post: https://subscribestar.adult/posts/2488893
Video: https://youtu.be/XamDzqoYAzQ

It’s 12th again and the time for first version is getting closer and closer. It is planned for September 12th as I mentioned previously.

Most of this this month I was focused of the map. For the first version I want it to be relatively small but not empty.

I blocked of the intro area with natural barriers, and temporary blocked off two bridges that connects it to other future areas. Then I moved to filling out the blanks.

I tried to make it make sense, thinking how water would flow through the landscape.

But I didn’t want it to be just trees and bushes and rocks. I tried to add some kind of landmarks, that player could remember and recognize where he is on the map. On the contrary, I don’t want it to be too crammed, so there is enough room for an occasional wandering mob, or for some mushrooms/berries to grow.

Among the landmarks I added an entrance to a dwarven settlement. It won’t be accessible, at least initially, but we will be able to met some dwarfs (one dwarf lady already lives in the village)

In the video I did a little tour of how the map looks now. Of course a lot of improvement can be done, but I think for now it’s good enough so I could start working on filling it with content.

Dark elf mom and her femboy son were added into the game. They are living next to MC’s new house. I think player would appreciate such good neighbors. Selene also got an illustration for a scene with MC, which I can’t show in a public post.

With the map being ready I now can focus on into section, of dialogues with characters and interactions with them, on things to do for the player. Also 4 more characters planned for the first version left to add. 

Previous post: https://subscribestar.adult/posts/2435268
Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_M7U3u1VnA 

It’s 12th again and it’s time to talk about what was done in the game this month.
Most of this I mentioned or showed before, in posts or on discord.
As I mentioned previously, first version is planned for September 12th.

I have added equipment window to the inventory screen and equipment as a type of in-game objects. Player has a number slots he can equip items to. Game tracks the equipment, and changes player stats accordingly. Effects an item could have are shown in a popup window when you hover over it (or select it with keyboard/gamepad).

As one of the equipment options I added a jacket that changed MC’s appearance, and serves as an example of how outfits would work in the game. When equipped it changes pixel sprite and MC’s character illustration. The jacket variant was made rather quickly, so you may notice it looks a little rough in places

Since the game in now real time stamina is needed to keep number of actions player can perform in check. In WaB optimized way to play was to think carefully what actions you can do at each time of day. In VoB with real time it would be running around very quickly, trying to do as much as you can as fast as you can. It's not the type of gameplay I want.

So Stamina will be a way to limit amount of certain actions player can perform in a day. Some actions will have a cost in Stamina points, if there is not enough, it can't be performed.
If an action gives player something, (money, experience, items, relationship points) it should have a cost.

In WaB working in a garden would progress the time of the day. In VoB it would cost certain amount of stamina.

You restore stamina to the full when you sleep. Each hour of sleeping restores some amount of Stamina. 6 hours of sleep is enough to restore stamina to the full. Sleeping doesn't restore stamina over 25% if you're hungry or thirsty.

Loss of hunger is a cost for restoring stamina.

Hunger and thirst won’t make you loose the game or pass out. They affect if you can regenerate stamina or not, so in a way you could see them as cool-downs for items/actions that restore stamina. 

For hunger you will have to buy or find food items, and for thirst you always can just drink from a well or barrel of water that can be found all around the village (let’s hope there are no cursed wells around). I made it so you can just click on the while running by, without too much of an interruption.

Those are type of mechanics that make people worry when they see them in a game. I understand the concerns and I will be keeping an eye on these mechanics so they won’t become problematic.

In WaB I would have to manually add messages like “+15 lust”, “+50 ext” to dialogues.
In VoB I made it so every time a stat is changed there is an option to automatically show a notification, without interrupting what the player is doing. This should save time in a long run.

For the next month I would want to finish the starting area, so it's not looking empty and it wouldn't be possible to run away into a void

Previous post: https://subscribestar.adult/posts/2389312
Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utrt39Bwwug

It’s 12thof the month again and it’s time to talk about what was done in the game.

Most of this I mentioned or showed before, in posts or on discord.

As I mentioned previously, first version is planned for September 12th.

While I’m working on the game, I’m struggling with not making it about monthly content, but about what needs to be done, even if it’s not very entertaining to talk about in a post :)

This month most focus went into expanding main location, with me placing hundreds of objects, working on tile-sets, trying to learn/improve on my pixelart skilsl.

I added some variations to the grass tile, different type of grass, flowers, etc. Godot tilemap is tool allows placing them automatically, manually or combine them into a brush and paint in an area. 

A couple new trees were added, signs for tavern and shops, plus some interior objects for the tavern and other houses. 

Big part of the effort went into testing/fixing/improving NPCs interaction with objects I talked about last time. 

There were issues with NPCs fighting over one object, now they check if it’s already being used by other NPC or not. Other issue was that player was still be able to use object already being use by an NPC, now it’s not possible

Currently when NPC is looking for an intractable objects, it checks all the objects in the game world that has intractable tag and removes the ones that are too far away. After that it chooses a random one. You can see how it can become problematic as I add more NPCs and more objects.

I’m working on different approach. NPC would have a detection area around them, and as it’s moves around all the objects that enter or leave this area would be added to or removed from a list. This list would represent what objects NPC considers for an interaction, and those are only one that would be checked. So when NPC thinks about what he wants to do, he will only choose from nearby ones, without checking how far away each an every one intractable object in the game world is.

Henric and shepherd and his wife Rita were added into the game. The own an animal farm. Olga that were added previously is their daughter. They also have two cows and a horse.

Apart from the new farm I also added player house. It used to belong to the person who were previously assigned his new job. And now MC is moving in.

Apart form all of that I started the work on the intro section. The scene with MC and dean’s wife got an illustration (that I can’t show in a public post) .

I think for next month apart from other things I want to work on equipment screen

Previous post: https://subscribestar.adult/posts/2335477
Video: https://youtu.be/7YGlZk7ZGFk

It’s 12th of the month again. Time to talk about what was done in the game.

Most of this I mentioned or showed before, in posts or on discord.

Basic weather system in a form of rain was added into the game. It has a chance to trigger or stop every hour. It includes particle effect that become possible after updating the engine in the previous month.

Rain effect effect made in a way that indoors areas are excluded, plus it has different sound effect depending on if you’re inside or outside.

In the future I want weather to affect NPCs’ behavior. And the fact that the game is now tracking if the player is indoors or outdoors could also be useful for other things.

Most of the time this month I spend teaching NPCs interact with objects in the game world. As a demonstration of what it does you can see in the video how NPCs sit on stools in the tavern or Blacksmith Briena working on her anvil. 

Also a couple of NPC’s can be seen smoking, and previously added “works” like fishing or sweeping floor now uses same code too. So NPCs aren’t hard-coded to do it, they do these actions because of the schedule they were assigned. They think “I’m a blacksmith and that’s my working hours. Hmm.. That’s an anvil over there, I’ll go use it for some time”.

Apart from normal NPCs behavior in the future similar system can be used for something more spicy.

There are still a lot of work on this ahead. For example to make it so NPCs don’t fight over intractable objects when two of them try to use it at same time.

I don’t actually know about how these things are done, I’m figuring stuff out as I go :)

While things above were main focus, apart from that I was working on some smaller things. 

Went over a list of bugs I accumulated over time and were able to fix all of them (apart from one that appears to fix itself with engine update).

Was working on swamp area yesterday, making it look more swamp like, with new shallow water tile-set, waterlilies as ingame objects, reed sprites that are growing from the water. 

Animation on the water tiles will need some tweaking.

Also, a scene with elf femboy got an illustration. I will have to work on how scenes between NPCs will be triggered before it’s added into the game.

Saying “when it’s ready” is fair and makes sense, but it also feels a little disrespectful. I think I will commit and say that the first version should be ready at September 12th. If it’s not completely ready in terms of what I want to see in the first version, I’ll upload what I have. It won’t be content rich version, but you should be able to run around and check out what I’m working on by yourself :)