Hey everyone, while I've been finishing up the next test build it's become clear I'll need a bit more time polishing the new areas and events before I'm comfortable asking you to play and bug hunt.

In regards to what specifically I'm finishing, it's the implementation of the faction leveling, the visual details of the Goblin stronghold maps and the associated events and scripts for new items, doors and interactables.
All of the other art needed including the H-scene, Boss and enemies are all completed. I feel like I've been slower this month for various IRL reasons but I'm not interested in excuses.

I'll be posting this build next Friday/weekend and I'll be using the extra time to finish up some work I originally intended to push into the next build.

I'm really grateful for your patience and sorry if this post let you down. At the very least I'm more excited then ever working on the game with some of the ideas I've got in store.

Until next weekend, take care everyone!
(づ｡ ◕ u◕｡) づ

I unfortunately went all through September without an update post and I'd like to apologize for the wait. I did share a small snippet of progress on the discord but of course not everyone has seen it. 

So in this progress report I'll go over what I've completed so far and my plans for the next build this month.

The battle artwork for the main goblin additions has been completed. Primarily the goblin champions spawned from your characters.

I wanted the visual aesthetics of the champions to match their mother's so you can easily infer which character they draw their powers from.

I've also completed the Goblin leader's dialogue CG art, both with and without his feline companion.

Being able to add the Goblin King's cat to your Nexus is a really small addition and I'm going to look for more chances to include similar instances of Nexus customization toward the full build.

Now I mentioned before that I planned to add unlockables that I wouldn't over-spoil or delve into to much detail so you can find them on your own, hopefully through organic means.

You may be familiar with the Journal entries that can be viewed in Findings from the Pause Menu.

I'm getting around to adding the new entries I've had planned for a while now. They're inspired by the lore art pieces in Dragon's Crown from VanillaWare.

They'll serve as collectable artworks, largely lewd in nature, and they'll be accompanied by the lore of a relevant character, faction, creature or the world of the game such as Sectaria, Brigit's homeland.

 Most of the Journal entries will focus on scenes or details that aren't possible to explore in Lilith Descent.

Dialen's Journal Entry is finished and the rest are still a work in progress but I'm shooting to have at least three finished for the next version release at the end of October.

Now It's been a long time since the last test build so I'm planning to release the first half of the goblin subjugation test that'll include the new area, goblin enemies, goblin pillory H battle and boss.

The goblin pillory H-battle will be unique to the Goblin Caves locale. A special occurrence during the scene is that an unoccupied goblin under certain circumstances will go and retrieve an Anpula to join in on the fun, an animal they typically use as a beast of burden.

If this happens the beast will make the battle much harder.

That covers this update post, I've got to lock-in a bit for the release this month, it's been a hectic few months IRL but it seems like things should be slowing down a bit, finally.

Thank you for your patience and support as always, I'll be back again at the end of the month (hopefully) with the new build!
 
(づ｡ ◕ u◕｡) づ

So it's been awhile since my last progress update, a month and a half to be exact. In the time since then I've been focused on the Faction subjugations, starting with the Goblins as well as a few more minor things on the side.

We'll start this post off with the Subjugations and take it from there.

The general theme for the goblin faction is breeding, with this in mind their primary goal will be to try and capture your character(s) both for their own personal pleasure and so they may spawn more powerful units.

Like the Dithonion, the goblin faction can also grow their overall level based on their success, directly benefitting them in all encounters.

This concept art is the general appearance of three new goblin types that for the most part will be exclusive to their cave region. The Goblin Warden and Overlord have been slightly altered for their in-game CG work.

Each new introduced enemy serves a very specific role for the faction and the gameplay involved in navigating their stronghold.

The overall layout of the Goblin's Cave region is somewhat more complex/extensive then the current iteration of the Waxing Peaks where the Dithonion resides.

I'll share the first pass layout of the new region to give an overall look at how the caves are structured.

I always map out new areas and chambers in this format, utilizing basic lines and colors to establish the look, play-area and where I should place items, objects or collision.

I've played a few H-games where you can enter goblin caves or some system of tunnels occupied by monsters and I always like to see the differences in how each developer depicts them and study them for inspiration.

Escaping the Goblin caves will involve acquiring gate keys to progress through the area. These will be found either by defeating a Goblin Warden or stealing one from varying areas. You'll also have the option to free other prisoners that the goblins may have caught, outside of your character(s). These NPCs will also offer boons or supplies to help facilitate your escape.

Now back to the goblins themselves, starting with the Overlord. As you might guess He's the leader of the entire faction and will be given a specific name and personality.

As the leader of his faction, he'll grow and regress in power based on their overall success. He's not a mandatory encounter as you'll be able to escape the caves without confronting him directly.

Confronting him will have it's benefits and detriments. All faction leaders will be considered bosses with the advantage of relying on their followers to aid them. If you defeat him in battle, you'll greatly reduce the Goblin Faction's level bonuses and remove all of their existing gained bonuses, I'll explain this after the goblin section.

The first successful battle will also reward you with his cat, that'll happily move to the Nexus.

The leader will return after awhile, retaining knowledge on his defeat and applying that to himself and his followers, granting status advantages against the character that defeated him.

The Goblin overlord will also have his own H-Battle that can be accessed in two ways. The first is by challenging him and losing, which will guarantee impregnation and the spawning of a champion.
Alternatively he may opt to watch and call in his minions to have you while he watches in the background. If he does this it won't guarantee an impregnation but the kind gesture to his fellow goblins will result in a higher faction level bonus.

The second method will be an option to "surrender yourself" to the faction leader in exchange for either lowering the faction's level or inflicting a debuff on the faction. This is only guaranteed to work if the resulting H-battle is won. If lost, the overlord may change his mind.

This should allow a subjugated character you can't or won't rescue a method of affecting the game for your main party, beyond being bred and spawning higher EXP rewarding monsters.

The next Goblin relates to a method of shortcuts I wanted to add.

The Tunnel Dweller will reside exclusively within specifically placed holes you can access to try and bypass the locked gates if security is too tight.

The Dweller will hunt your character in the dark. If he successfully sneaks up on you, the encounter will transition into an H-Battle while you still have to try and reach the exit.

I was inspired to design the layout of this scene by an amazing hentai game called Goblin Conqueror where the main character fights various types of goblins throughout the game and one of the scenes features her crawling through a dark tunnel while being hunted by a particularly dedicated goblin.

All of the scenes in the game are great and that sequence really stuck out to me for how different it was.

Now in terms of this scene in general, I want to add it to the dungeons after the goblin subjugation is done, where something different will be pursuing you aside from the Tunnel Dwelling Goblin.

The shortcut tunnel scene will restrict certain character attacks and abilities due to the tight space.

The last goblin to talk about is The Goblin Warden. As their name implies they're responsible for maintaining areas in the Caves where prisoners are kept. They are significantly stronger then most goblins. The difference being similar to a Berserker compared to a normal Demon.

Their design has changed the most from the concept art to better fit their role and character.

Everything about them is dedicated to oppression and restriction. They carry around a container of specially bred Goblins that're more akin to attack hounds.

The Warden will be able to deploy them in battle to assist him as well. He'll also have a High severity Sex grab like the Dithonion that can instantly end the fight if every other character is down or you're playing solo. He'll force the character into his container with the Goblin Imps where they'll be overwhelmed by their strength and numbers.

The Goblin Caves will also have it's own unique H-battle that involves your character being taken to their breeding area.

Each faction will have one of these unique H-battles outside of the faction leader scenes. They're intended to give the faction an easier time breaking you and power themselves up at the same time.

That about covers the goblin subjugation centered stuff, I'll be talking about Faction activities and minor updates next, starting with the faction bonuses I mentioned in the Goblin Overlord section.

Factions will partake in actions passively in the background, to make themselves stronger, make another faction weaker or react to something you've done.

You'll find the Factions section in the Knowledge menu that can be accessed anytime the game can be paused.

In here you'll see a basic description of the faction that includes their relevant statistics and quirk.

If the faction is partaking in any active event it'll be displayed as the current activity and the result will indicate what the faction will gain or lose when the activity is complete. Some of the activities will be directly opposable. An example is a goblin hunting party that has entered the Realm to capture adventurers. You'll be able to encounter the goblins and the captured adventurers and free them, ending the activity immediately and reducing the factions level.

Some of them may be beneficial. One as an example is the activity that has the goblins either attacking another faction like the demons or raiders to reduce their level or alternatively the goblins may have an internal conflict, reducing their own level out of foolishness.

The system is fairly simple but should serve to make the realm feel more alive and dynamic.

To finish this post I'd like cover some minor changes and work I've done so far.

The first is that any subjugation regions like the Waxing Peaks and The Goblin Caves will be accessible without needing a character to be captured.

With an Irminsul Branch you'll be able to launch a raid on these locations for the unique items, collectables or simply to reduce the power of the faction.

If your raid doesn't go well and anyone is left behind or if the entire party is defeated you're guaranteed to be subjugated. Typically a faction will subjugate a character if the servitude stat is too high, following a random roll check.

The higher the Servitude the greater the chance, and losing within a faction stronghold completely bypasses this.

The next minor addition was the narrative introduction to Aneki II, Wafaa and the banking system.

Dialen will also inform the player about the bank during her initial introduction.

The last note is a small update to Saki's dialogue CG.

Saki is among the next planned playable characters after the next floor and story so I've done a few touch-ups and small adjustments so she's more stylistically consistent with the updates I've done to Journey and the visual style I'm targeting for all characters.

That about covers the progress I wanted to share since my last update. It may be a little while until the next version release as it'll include the completed Goblin Subjugation so I wanted to thank you for your patience with me.

By my next progress report I should have more completed work to share which should be next month. Between now and then I'll start sharing some smaller updates in the discord as I haven't had much to post before now, so feel free to join if that interests you!

Until my next update, thank you again for your support everyone, I'll see you again soon 

(づ｡ ◕ u◕｡) づ

I've finished the Berserker's promotion and H-battle for all of the girls to kick off this update and added a means to save your emeralds. I'll go over the Faction Subjugations as the last larger task for Version.C before I finally turn my attention to Floor 3 and the next story update.

With the addition of Dr.Midday and Brigit's Berserker H-battles, my work on the big guy is all wrapped up for now, save for any fixes that may be needed. I consider him now a more Elite enemy type, while still a member of the demon faction, he has more in common with the Wall-Duress in terms of function and power.

I actually don't have much else to say about him now that everything is said and done. I did add a new H-battle skill to him that involves fashioning a ball gag onto the girls that affects their dialogue and locks any oral based skills such as pillow talk.

My buddy @Aureatepen requested I add this in, I felt a bit goofy that I didn't consider it earlier, so thanks man!

My friend @BazookaDre and a few other people brought up the problem of emerald management and proposed that the player should have the means to store their currency away to lessen the progression impact from defeat and capture.

In this update I've added two NPCs that'll allow the girls to bank their currency in the Nexus whenever you like.

These two characters Aneki II and Wafaa each serve a complimentary purpose to hopefully make dungeon exploration more comfortable as it gets deeper.

They currently have a reserve spot within the Nexus. I'll be adding their narrative introductions at a later point.

I want to try measuring how much I describe and reveal all that goes into my updates going forward so you can discover certain things for yourself. I'll still go over the main focus of the updates with the same amount of detail but smaller things like every function of these new NPCs I'll leave some room for you to see for yourself.

I'm starting this now primarily so I can ensure that anything I don't mention here can still be comfortably and organically encountered and because there are certain secrets I'm going to be sliding in here and there. ( ◕' u'◕ )

So the faction subjugations are the last large event inclusions I'm working on before I move on to Floor 3, polishing and the next portion of the story like I mentioned.

I'm still brainstorming certain details like process of escape and difficulty but I'll go through the overview of how the mechanic works on a base level. Like the roaming boss, Dithonion, the factions of Raiders, Demons and Goblins will be able to capture your girls and try to break them to make their own factions stronger (and happier).

This will be based on the Servitude stat in this current version. The lower your character's Servitude, the higher the chance she'll be subjugated by that faction if defeated or captured.

If you've dealt with the Dithonion you may be familiar with it's impregnation mechanic wherein for each hatchling alive in your world, The Dithonion gains an additional level, making it even easier for it to cause you more grief.

The faction subjugations will work similarly. While I haven't added rewards for defeating The Dithonion yet, beyond exp and emeralds, the same rule will apply to the factions. If any of the girls are subjugated, save for Journey, rescuing them or escaping is entirely optional. You can leave them to their fate for the entire playthrough while the faction uses them, gets stronger and in turn gives you the opportunity to benefit.

I haven't settled on how the raiders will use the girls to gain power but the demons will involve brands and the goblins involve breeding.

The goblins are the first faction I'll be working on. I've sketched out the idea just to visualize it better. If impregnated, a special goblin unit based on the character will be added to the goblin faction enemy pool and they'll independently continue to grow stronger like a Nemesis until they're taken out.

The overall goblin faction will gain levels and skills the more goblins that're spawned. I want to add a menu near the Bestiary that'll allow you to track the current power level of the factions and notifications of what they're up to, which will be the trickier implementation. I want to really put effort into the inclusion of this menu for the dynamic feeling it adds to the enemies.

An example in testing is seeing an update that goblins on Chamber x, Floor x are rounding up captured female dungeon explorers and if they aren't stopped their numbers will be bolstered and a new skill or enemy unit is unlocked for them.

When it comes to escaping capture by the factions, the layouts and means of escaping their camps or caves may be harder or more complex, I'm considering like keys, switches or something of the sort. The Dithonion is comparatively uncomplicated to stay inline with it's nature as an apex beast that doesn't reside in a complex structure or use traps ect.

I'm also considering if I can elegantly include gameplay for a broken character in the custody of a faction beyond a single H-battle so I'll need to consider that a lot more as well.

With that, this update post is just about completed. I'll be posting the new version and the relevant change log right after this post. As always I can't thank you all enough for your feedback on the game. It's a simpler game and I'm a slow dev but It's been a joy working on this project with you.

Until the next post, take care!  (づ｡ ◕ u◕｡) づ