Lustline Updates - 0.5.3 Progress & Work-In-Progress Release


Hi guys!
It's Monday, so it's time for another Lustline dev diary.
First of all, as usual, I'm aiming to release the 0.5.3 Work-In-Progress build for mid/high-tier patrons on Wednesday, October 28th.
There's quite a bit of new stuff coming this time, so let's get into it.

Housing System Expansion

I've been working on expanding the housing system, giving you more freedom over where you live and what you do with your properties.
A new house in The Gutter is now available to buy or rent. When purchasing a property, you can either pay the full price upfront or take out a mortgage.
The bigger addition is the ability to invite NPCs to live in your properties. You can offer them a place rent-free or negotiate how much they'll pay you. For now, you'll be able to discuss moving in with Eva and Mika.
Apart from major NPCs, you can also put your properties up for rent and wait for random NPCs to make offers.
Which brings me to another big addition...

Random NPC Expansion

Random NPCs are getting a major overhaul.
Until now, they were mostly limited to a handful of interaction buttons. I'm expanding the system to make them feel more like actual characters, with their own personalities, randomly generated appearances, and opportunities to build relationships.
You can now turn random NPCs into persistent characters by successfully introducing yourself to them. You'll first need to pass a Charisma check with your pick-up line, but once you've made an introduction, they'll stick around instead of disappearing into the random NPC pool.
NPCs who become your tenants are automatically introduced and become persistent characters, complete with known names and their own daily schedules.
I'm also working on several personality archetypes, each with their own simple progression of small talk, flirting, and lewd encounters.
Combined with the housing expansion, this should eventually allow you to bring all your favourite NPCs together in one place.
Further down the line, I'd also like to explore NPC-to-NPC interactions, relationships, and story progressions.

Corruption System Rework

As mentioned in the previous dev diary, I've also been working on reworking the Corruption system following the recent poll.
Corruption will now be available for every gender. Certain events and choices will require your Corruption meter to reach a specific level before your character is willing to consider them or go through with them.
I'm also adding new actions that allow you to increase or decrease Corruption, giving you more control over how your character develops.


Other Improvements

Apart from the bigger additions, I've also been working on some smaller changes and improvements:
  • UI/UX updates to make various parts of the game easier to use.
  • City Hall in Sterling Row, where you'll be able to change your character's name.
  • New graphical variants for several clothing items that were missing visuals for certain chest sizes.
  • Various bug fixes and general polish.
That's it for today's update. Hope you like the new ideas and as always, thank you for your continued support, and stay tuned for more Lustline news.