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Progress Report #36: September, 2022

"Oh hey, is that the last piece of cak- pfff!!"

Spacefarers o/

We're pleased to report that work on the upcoming VoidBound patch 0.5.2 has successfully concluded. If no unexpected code gremlins are encountered, we'll be meeting our planned schedule release in the first week of the October.

So, what happened during the last leg of development? Well..

With Pixie's scenario getting the finishing brushstroke last week, Doppel applied his last spurt to bring color to Alexis finale as well. While he was at it, he decided to experiment a bit with some "attention to detail" elements creating variations that would normally go unnoticed. See if you can spot it when the patch makes it way into your hands!

All in all, he had five task goals to create for this patch and he managed to get four of them done on time. Haar's cooking piece however had some additions made which threw the timeline a bit, so that one is still in a bit of a limbo. But we're pretty hopeful it will be finished and make the cut before the deadline.

On the pen and paper side of things, with all the patch goals tackled and squared away, Jem became the center of attention of the writing team. Her new quest-line, under debate for a while, eventually ended up being planned as expansive, choice oriented and more in-depth, giving players the chance to explore the character past a random one night stand.

Finally, with the combat revamp in place, the assets associated with the system are now under renewed scanner. With strategies changing extensively, the need for new weapons and weapon types have been recognized as ideal solutions for the players to formulate approaches to these new challenges. Trialing, for some showcased examples in the revamp article, are already underway.

SFX elements are getting some much needed attention as well. Ambient sounds pertaining to given situation, like crowd chatter, machine buzzing, environmental sounds etc are being developed in order to enhance player immersion. However please note, these systems are far from ready and will not make it in this patch.

And that concludes the activities of CA for September. Before we leave, our heartfelt congratulations to the three winners of the Twitter contest. And Patrons, make sure to check your inboxes for your monthly collection of exclusives.

On that note, we take your leave and bid you well o/

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

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Progress Report #34: September, 2022

"Well, hello there good lookin'. Long time no see.."

Hey folks o/

With the next patch release imminent in October, change logs are filling up with something new everyday now. We've already covered in detail the big combat changes, so lets revert your experience back to the more, lighter exhibition of weekly progression.

Arts and crafts department reports swiping the final polish on the PixieXCaly moments, with the CGs now ready for in-game integration. With the scar- err, we mean the nice lady with the stethoscope now appeased, the artist has turned his full attention towards that rascal Alexis and whatever shenanigans he is upto. Rumor is, that in order to bring to life the designs that CatBoy has for Caly, Doppel has been experimenting with a very unique genre and that the final result will be much more than just a few static poses. Curiously intrigued? We sure are!

Following a similar pattern, the writing team dusted their hands off after completing two major scenarios-, one of Pixie getting handsy in her clinic and the other of Haar being handy in his kitchen. There were some minor hiccups due to last minute deviations with the context but, overall, things remain largely on track and will soon be ready for merger with the graphical assets. Speaking of assets!

An old flame is poised to make a comeback. We won't spoil it for you but, writers aren't done with Jem just yet. Her one night stand with Caly might just materialize into something more "significant"? That or she simply wants to hook up again. Whatever her intentions, we're informed that the new quest-line work is significant and it might be a while before she makes an appearance again.

Finally, and we'll lightly touch this one for now, but the coder and the lead writer have joined forces working on a foundation for a new game-play system. Badged internally as the, "Bounty Hunting", the driving idea is to provide an alternate free mode for players to enjoy when they want to take a breather from tackling kinetic engineered quest-lines. Concepts that can be integrated into such a system are aplenty on the table, but we'd refrain from making any mentions this early in its development cycle lest we end up giving the wrong idea of "this might happen" and then fail to deliver it. Instead, once we're comfortable building the system, we'll present it to you in a detailed separate post. Till then however, know that we're working tirelessly to bring more interesting things to the Voidverse!

And that wraps up the 3rd week of September. Lots to do still before the month turns over, so we take your leave and bid you well o/

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

Combat Tactics: Revisited and Revised

Hail Voyagers,

Today we bring you a special update centered around encounters and battle strategies. Specifically, the re-balancing of combat attributes in order to make them less obtuse and more immersively streamlined.

TL;DR: Range of skills have been readjusted, on top of revalued cost and damage.

Following is a detailed breakdown of the newly inducted changes and presentation of the upcoming additions to it. Lets start with:-

Skills: Range, Cost and Damage

Skills had their range, cost and damage revamped extensively. To make these changes easier to grasp, we've also overhauled the way information for each skill is displayed in the description, making it easier to grasp the important info, at a quick glance. Players will now also be able to gauge how strong a skill is based on the "Power" value in the description (Shortened to POW: X.) X will have the power level of said skill to make it easier to see which skill deals more damage. Let us show you an example with the skill "Burst Fire"

Caly entering battle with default stats:

Player selecting Blaster and then switching to Burst Fire Mode:

The interface will now reactively indicate beforehand the stat and resource changes that will take place once the player goes through with their decision.

Additionally, the UI will also grey out skills that are unavailable due to the absence of requirements. For example:

"Gatling Burst" here requires 20 Action Points, 20 Energy and 1 Ammo pack to fire. Unfortunately, the player does not clear 2 out 3 of these requirements as they only have 4 Action Points and 10 Energy. They must either choose another skill or pass the turn entirely to regain the resources to try unleashing Gatling Burst again.

Talking of skills and tactics, stripping your enemy's armor now stacks till the end of the encounter! Using the skill "Strip Armor", Caly can slowly chip away at the enemy's armor inflicting 10% armor loss with each strike. Essentially, if you are tactical and patient enough with your approach, you can render a challenging foe defenseless, thereby making short work of them even with the basic of attacks. Beware though, not to loose sight of your surroundings and get tunnel visioned into a disaster.

Separately, the skill "Rest" has been reworked from the ground up. While its Energy recovery value has been nerfed to just 5, it does however now also recover your HP by a % of the remaining AP. Following is the calculation formula:

Caly's Max HP * 0.2 * Caly's leftover AP/100 [BODMAS priority order]

To put it in example, if Caly's max HP is 1000 and then she uses Rest while her AP stands at 70, HP recovery would be calculated as:

1000 * 0.2 * 70/100

1000 * 0.2 * 0.7 = 140 HP recovered.

Imagine, a weaker Trauma Kit but it never runs out. Keep in mind however, that the Rest skill has a cost of 10 AP itself so make sure you only use it when you can spare it.

As aforementioned already, the amount of energy a player gets from "Rest" has been been capped to five. This was done to discourage passive play of spamming "Rest" and then try to melt foes by using an advance skill. Passivity aside, there is also only so much space to move around and every tile Caly treads to create distance, costs her ever increasing AP making for a some very irritating play experience. Instead, we'd like to encourage players to try a more brawling approach and gain energy while either receiving damage or/and by using the skill "Hand to Hand" combat. Do not be reckless, but also do not forget that the best defense is a good offense.

PS: We received many queries on why a player should use "End Turn" if they can always use "Rest" instead which is clearly superior for its buff? Fair point indeed! In response, we have tweaked "Rest" so that after each use, it goes under cool-down for three turns. Player will have to now strategize when to use and gain the most out this skill. No spamming ten "Rest" heals just cause you have the AP for it! Speaking of AP..

** This is not player turns, but the green marker on the timeline has to pass 3 times.

Action Points

Action Points or AP is a combat balancing system that walls advance skills by making them only available when a certain value threshold is met. However, as it currently works, all AP, no matter the usage, is lost the moment your fire your weapon. With the new changes however, shooting will no longer consume all your remaining AP anymore.

Bottom Right: AP being retained and reused post shooting

The player will now be able to use as many tactics and PSI skills as they want during the turn AS LONG as they have enough AP left to cast them. That means dependent on the circumstances, a player can buff, heal, rearm, use items etc. multiple times before ending the turn. Keep in mind however, having AP will not bypass the cool-down system! If certain skills are recharging, they'll not be available no matter how many action points you have. Understand the limitations and work around them to wreak havoc on Caly’s foes!

Additionally, the leftover AP now also governs how fast Caly's next turn will come. Take another look at the GIF above. Note in particular the timeline bar where you will see two Caly faces. One clear and one transparent, both indicating Caly's present turn and the next turn order respectively. You'll notice that the moment we used the skill that dropped AP below 50, the transparent head jumped position. This facet of the AP system is heavily jointed into the weight parameter, so think ahead of what play-style you want. A fast and agile assassin or slow but brute juggernaut.

To counter balance these changes to AP, we’re making positioning more important than ever. Once you attack, you'll no longer be able to move. Make sure you’re satisfied with your position and advantage of the new skill ranges, before taking aim!

Speed Of the Encounter

Next up is the combat speed itself, where not much has changed in terms of what is obviously visible to the eye. We have however, adjusted the speed of the timeline, so turns will pass very slightly slower to balance the changes in the weight system. Beware though, the more heavily armed you're the more encumbered Caly will be and there are things that need to be dodged in time..

.. otherwise.

These changes have all been made with the goal to not only make combat faster-paced but also to encourage players to not be armed to the teeth all the time. Be mindful and consider a balanced approach to avoid eating avoidable damage.

Tripteen and the Bots Within

From the various feedback that we gathered, the enemies in Tripteen felt off. Sometimes they were too strong and then other times, too weak. To fix that, we decided to redo them completely.

From a seasoned player's POV, they will prove to be a new kind of challenge now. Depending on where you stand, when you end your turn and the speed of the combatants, things might turn ugly really fast.

Their behavior has become more unpredictably advanced now, but as a trade-off, they have forgone spamming "combo moves" in favor of tactical independence, so getting defeated after two combos is very unlikely now. However, charging skills now behave slightly differently, so you had better watch out!

That's a lot of damage...

Re-adjustments: Items, Weapons, Armors and more.

Finally, several changes have been made to weapons, armor, classes, hit rate, state, battle speed, and the weight system as well. For example, the Blaster now has a normal shot that will not consume any energy.

We aren't going to bore you with in-depth details about each of them, but in short:

- Equipment weights, modification effect delays, item requirement etc. will govern performance in combat.

- The player hit rate system has been overhauled, with the hit value alone no longer the only decisive factor in landing attacks. Recoil and Skill now play a vital part and have to be taken into account as well. Simply put, the player's chance to hit enemies is now more reliable compared to the old system with player having greater control over the dependencies.

- Various weapon ranges too have been adjusted, so the weapon modifications you attach will become more noticeably impactful on use. Customize to your heart’s content, and find your favorite style!

- The weapon's characteristics also have changed, to make sure they are used in the way they are intended and to create more reasons to use different kinds of weapons.

Planning on using sniper like a shotgun in melee? Nope, ranged targets only!

- The player and enemy weight have now been synchronized! No longer will enemies stomp on Caly's face multiple times like overcharged Duracell bunnies while player await their turn, anchored down due to the weight of the gear. Professional baddies have fair standards too!

And that is the end of that wall of update text. Apologies for the long read, but it isn't everyday or for that matter every month, that you do major overhauls like these, so we just wanted to get it out all there in one systematic and detailed push. Before we leave though, we have one more special announcement.

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Come 3rd of October, we're "planning" to release the next patch for VoidBound. Dubbed as the technical foundation patch internally, this update will bring with it the new aforementioned combat system changes, a few freshly minted H-Scenes and more! As usual we'll be following the same performa offering it to our supporters first followed by a formal public launch. Details to follow as more unfolds.

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Thank you for reading and take care o/

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

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Progress Report #33: September, 2022

"Yes, yes. Let the horny flow through you.."

Folks o/

Welcome back to another round of weekly updates from the realm of VoidBound. We've quite the variety to touch on, so lets dive in starting from the artist's desk as usual.

For starters, remember him? If you don't, allow us to make (re)introductions.

Alexis, a pharmacist by profession, who runs his own pharmacy in the spiraling mall of Henosis right here: Though he made his debut in the Henosis Overhaul, the player never really got to interact with him past the generic shop keep banter. But that will change come the next patch as he is set to play a more "proactive" role in Caly's adventures. So, what is his deal? Well, Alexis is somewhat of a miscreant with a mischievous streak bordering on conniving. He is cute and is very aware of it, using his charms to make others subconsciously drop their guard around him. But, is he a bad actor? Or is his antics mostly of the harmless variety? Well, Caly is about to find out the hard way after he managed to convince her to trust him blind. Trust with what, you ask? You'll just have to wait for the patch to find out. \o/

Meanwhile, Doc Pixie kept glaring daggers in our backs, so we continued working fervently on the content from last week as well, with a fair amount of sketch-works now transitioning into the render stage. Few artistic editions were also made to the current framework to better suit the immersive dialogue extensions that the writing team added to the pilot scenario. All in all, the good doctor was pleased and we live, for now, to get scalpeled another week.

On the other hand, Haar got wind of Caly's questionable culinary skills and decided to school her in the basics of cooking. We're told it was less motivated by charity and more by the need for self-preservation. Either way, we're grateful to the furry eared one for helping Caly improve her knifing skills outside of a bloody battlefield.

Finally, the binary digits reported in and they have been busy. From implementing scenes of Caly getting nailed and screwed in multiple different ways(not in a horrifying, but in a kinky way!) to testing new enemies that'll nail and screw her in said ways in the future, the coder had his hands full doing a lot of research and trial. This also ties into the next major post that we will be floating this month discussing in detail the new combat direction VoidBound will be taking moving forward. All in all, it was a hectic week for balancing but we're happy to report that internal ALPHA testing of the new changes are already underway. Bugs, be gone!

And that is all they wrote. Next week, devs will be taking a close look on some interesting bounties, crafting lore for a new character and tanking some very unruly bosses. Until then however, we'll take your leave and wish you well. o/

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team

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Progress Report #33: September, 2022

"My, aren't you a fine specimen! Forget basic- why don't we go back to my place so I can give you a full "overall" exam?", said Pixie while licking her lips.

VoidExplorers o/

Happy September everyone! It’s the month of delicious pumpkin-themed food and drinks, early Halloween celebrations, and the dreaded last quarter of the year. New Years will be upon us before we know it! But before that happens, how about a few reports? Let's start with this one!

Caly was always envisioned as protagonist with a neutrally soft demeanor. Particularly, when it came to matters of carnal nature, she was almost always a participant rather than the instigator. This is why it came as a bit of a news to the artist when the writers presented him with a scenario where Caly takes charge of dominating a masochist. Needless to say, he was more than happy to try out the new direction and came up with some interesting results.

Have a sample

Meanwhile, a certain envious Doctor didn't want to be outshone and demanded she be paid attention as well,- and so we did. Starting off, a medical facility blueprint was designed for her, decked with every room, tool and crew of the trade. Additionally, the naughty doc's sexcapades due to take place there, have also been sequenced into the story, with the pilot scenario already finalized. Context surrounding the nature of the event is still WIP but, nonetheless, we went ahead and left a sample candy in the Progress Report anyway.

Finally, major concept updates unfolded on the coding frontier in regards to both Combat and Animations. We'll refrain from expanding on the Combat portion here as the amount of info being radiated warrants a dedicated post of its own- something that we plan to put out soon in the near future. Animation however, though deserving of a similar treatment, will take a while before a detailed post can filled around it, so we'll instead talk a wee bit about it.

As you know already, Live2D technology is being incorporated into VoidBound to dynamically animate static illustrations. Impressive as it is however, it's also slow to develop and adapting each sequence takes a while. To shorten the end result in order to keep patch releases consistent, we've decided to sidestep a bit and employ, alongside Live2D, a new image animation system, one that can be extensively used to animate inessential scenarios and segments while reserving the important sections and themes squarely for Live2D. This move might sound like a downgrade to some, but we humbly request that judgements be reserved until we showcase you the end result in a dedicated post.

And that was the opener for September. Next week, crew will be knee deep concepting a new coupling, feral mating of said coupling, a kitchen disaster and quite a few things more. Till then, we bid you take care and farewell o/

Kind Regards,

Cursed-Atelier Team