Development News

Hey everyone! Just a quick post with a little preview. The artwork is coming along nicely: most of it is already done, and I’m planning to finish the rest this month.

Development News

Hi everyone! It's time for a development update.

The alpha build is out and currently in active testing. What's in it? All the logic, a detailed storyboard, and all the text are already in place.

Gameplay.

The alpha was supposed to come out earlier, but around the 30th I tested the first iteration of the gameplay… and realized it sucked. Video attached. Here's how it worked: you're given a map, which you first view through a camera to prepare. (Don't be alarmed by Noemi's prosthetics, they're empty inside. In future updates she'll be passing them off as real.) Preparation came down to picking the right combination of prosthetics for puzzle maps using simple arithmetic. The puzzle maps were tangled paths with stat thresholds: say, one door requires Tech7, another requires 8, and behind them is a mercenary who needs Seduction 4. You had to calculate all of that and put together the right build.

The problems started as early as the camera stage. All the gameplay happened there, while heading out to the puzzle was just walking from point A to point B. That's not bad in itself, but here it felt boring and disconnected. The hentai part existed separately, and I had to come up with extra mechanics and cram them in just for it. There are supposed to be several maps, so ramping up the difficulty required some serious contortions, and on top of that… Sounds like a slog? That's exactly what I thought while finishing the 4th map. So over the last few days I scrapped it all, took some of the groundwork, and moved it over to a simpler type of gameplay.

Noemi has a path of varying length, roughly 6 tiles, and 3 stats: SEDUCTION, DURABILITY, TECH. She needs to reach the final tile without losing them. And she will be losing them, because every tile is an encounter that requires Noemi to make a decision. Encounters can be dangerous, funny… and, of course, lewd. Each time they're drawn at random from a large pool of events. About 20–25 are planned for this update.

The hentai part fits this format much more easily, there's room to explore the lore, and overall it plays much better. The closest reference point is Darkest Dungeon. This is the gameplay being tested right now, though only the RU version for now; there's no English text yet. Nobody's spat on it so far, so we'll see :)

Art.

Active work on the art has begun, which means updates will no longer be walls of text and will come with juicy pictures from now on. As you've probably guessed, in this update and the next one Noemi will have to throw on a red robe and pose as a Hollow: a will-less person who just follows orders. Attached is the finished art of her outfit and a sprite of… her enemy? Her friend? Who knows.

No specific release dates yet.

That's all for now. Thank you for reading and for your support.

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones.

Development News

Hello, everyone! I’m wrapping up the recent devlogs and sharing some development news.

Work on the plan was completed fairly quickly because, unlike with update 0.21, I had a clear idea of how everything should look and how it should end. I even managed to prepare some content for version 0.23.

Updates 0.22 and 0.23, just like the prison arc, will be divided into several updates so that development does not drag on again.

The first variant of the text is finished. It came to around 14,000 words in total. The update is looking quite intriguing, both in terms of Noemi’s new “friends” and the H-scenes. There will be more animations than in the previous update, but they will be slightly simpler from a technical standpoint.

The main mechanics and gameplay for the update have already been designed and tested. The details still need some additional work.

The 3D sketches are also finished, along with detailed storyboards for several H-scenes and story scenes.

So, what comes next? I’ll now be proofreading and editing the script, fixing smaller details, and preparing an alpha build for the first round of testing and feedback collection at the same time.

Option #5 won the poll!

Thank you for your attention and support!

Big post after release!

Hey everyone!

Update 0.21 is out, almost a month has passed now, and hopefully many of you have already had a chance to play it (the public version is available on itch.io, in case you missed it).

This update pushed the story noticeably forward and kicked off the second general's arc. This time I decided to experiment a bit with the map and put a lot of extra time into it. I've already gotten a couple of pieces of feedback on it — especially about the map's readability. This is the first time I've put this much work into a map, so I've taken that feedback into account for future ones.

There were fewer animations in this update, since the main focus was on static images: new poses for Noemi when interacting with objects and NPCs, her movement, and her emotions. And I feel like exploring the map turned out waaaay livelier this way.

I'd really appreciate any detailed feedback on the update. And special thanks to everyone who's already shared their thoughts!

About the theme of the 0.21 H-scenes. I read the feedback about how specific they were… And honestly, I was a little worried about that, since I knew from the start what kind of theme I was playing with. I won't hide that I was going for a slight "ugh" effect here — somewhere it worked, somewhere it didn't, somewhere I overdid it. The main point of this update was to shift the tone and lead into the key event of this arc… and, well, just to experiment a bit. So I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it.

What's next? Update 0.22 is already in development. It'll continue the second general's storyline and finally introduce us to him in person. As I've mentioned before, the focus right now is on more frequent releases. That's exactly why 0.21 turned out smaller in scale compared to, say, the Watcher update. Hopefully 0.22 won't keep you waiting long either.

Unlike the previous update, 0.22 had a clear framework from the start: the beginning of the story, the key events, and the finale. So the plan is basically ready, the foundation of the H-scenes is done, and a gameplay prototype is already in place too.

0.22 will put a stronger emphasis on H-scenes (no experiments this time). There are some small details left, which I'll +- wrap up this month, and then I'll start working on the text and the alpha build.

Since I already have a more or less finished plan, I can confidently say that I'll be splitting it into two updates — 0.22 and 0.23. So 0.23 will wrap up the second general's arc.

That's all for now. I want to give a special thank-you for your support, especially with this update. It really helps the game grow and gives me a powerful boost of motivation. Take care of yourself and your loved ones!