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Hey Everyone,
A new year is beginning and it's time for another project update to let you know where we're at, where we're going, as well as invite you to fill an important questionnaire to help guide our future direction!
This DevBlog contains the following sections:
I. Brief recap of 2024
II. My thoughts on the challenges and opportunities of Chapter 2, and what we want to hear from you.
III. Roadmap for 2025
IV. The Thrills and Chills Survey
I - Recap 2024
Having finished a number of main endings in December 2023, we opened Jan 2024 with the beginning of a game-wide systems overhaul and polish to mechanics, game engine, and the overall player experience. This was highlighted with the creation of the new Clothing system, the remake of character Traits, the update Body examination system, the evolution of the Work module at the end of the day, as well as the foundation of dynamic character schedules.
For the first half of the year, we managed to stay on track, completing the entire rework of Chapter 1 in 6 months. A big reason for this was that this chapter was already in a pretty good state, with a lot of content, polish, and foundation work having been previously done. Due to the previous project schedule over the years, Chapter 1 continues to be the most solid and advanced chapter out of the three. It was both cooking in the oven for the longest time, as well as being frequently maintained and brought up to date in between work on newer content.
Taking this into account, in combination with Chapter 3 being the main focus on the entirety of 2023, this left Chapter 2 as the least polished one. It was a long time since I had done any substantial work on it, and diving in again I was instantly reminded of all the loose ends and unfinished ideas I had left behind, as well as the unfortunate spaghetti code underpinning the main logic of it all.
And we set out to fix all that. We started with porting in the new Clothes system, the Body module, the traits and accessories. We focused on key interactions like Elise and Felicia, bringing in new developments to their saga. And of course, there's the big one - the overhaul of how Challenges work, and a rethinking of the entire philosophy of chapter 2.
However due to state of this section of the game, and the scope of the changes ahead of us, it was not possible to wrap up the entire rework by the end of 2024. As I'm writing this, we are evaluating how long to spend on finishing the rework, and what to include and what to leave for a later date.
Since we're here, I'd also like to include a more personal note - 2024 has been, by far, the hardest year of my life. Between our kid turning 2, a death in the family, and a newly evolved poly relationship, everything has been a giant roller coaster of emotions, coupled with extreme physical and mental exhaustion. I don't like to talk about myself much, but I wanted to give you all some transparency as to why things have been going a little slower than usual.
But enough about me - let's talk about why we've all gathered here - sucking... blood ;)
II. Chapter 2 - Challenges and opportunities
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Chapter 2 was always intended as a major shake up of the flow of Alex's journey. While Chapter 1 is a slow descent into madness and temptation, Chapter 2 is a roller-coaster of empowerment and helplessness, an opportunity to experience much more nuance of being a succubus.
Of course, the main mechanics here are the constant hunger, the continuous transformation, and the stat challenges which gate your progression on all major plot points.
Initially, the stat challenges were hard coded to a specific number. This made them more predictable and transparent, but also made it relatively straight forward to brute force through them with one high stat.
In our rework, we have recoded everything with dynamic thresholds - this means that the same challenge will get easier or more difficult depending on other factors affecting Alex's journey - factors such as the cursed heads, and of course your ongoing training with the bruxas.
So let's talk about the bruxas: This is an important point for me, and something which the survey will focus on. As I began overhauling this bit of the story, things started organically growing, and it evolved into something more than originally intended. I'm having a lot of fun writing the girls, and I hope you are enjoying everything about them and will equally be thrilled with what is to come.
My big question mark regarding the bruxas and making them pivotal in helping Alex to overcome challenges more easily is that they represent a reversal of the usual roles - one where it's Alex taking the reigns of power. This creates a sort of mirror to Sabrina's training in Chapter 1 and a unique opportunity for our protagonist to show how much she has learned. I do believe firmly this creates for a great side branch, and one that still remains purely optional, but I'd still want to hear how everyone feels about a more substantial part of Chapter 2 embodying an exploration into a more dominant nature.
Depending on how people feel about this, we are ready to explore more alternative paths for the story, to make sure that everyone is able to experience their personal journey in whatever flavor feels right for them.
III. Roadmap for 2025
As mentioned above, we are continuing the Chapter 2 remake for the beginning of 2025, with the further scope depending on the community's voice, as expressed in this survey.
Our broad goals for finishing Chapter 2 are as follows:
- giving Alex more opportunity to take sides and make hard choices - the first thing we have coming is having a much wider selection of how she can gain her wings. Elise, Lavius, and the Wolf are all imminent options, with their own weight and consequences to the story
- further enhancing content with more scenes with each character that express the new traits and tendencies
- expanding side modules and branches such as mingling with the guests, learning magic, and exploring the village
- adding even more polish to each stage of the succubus transformation, with more consequences for Alex's infernal progression
- possibly adding one more character, based on your feedback
(Of course, the scope of these features will be based on the feedback of the survey!)
This is pretty much what we want to get done to give Chapter 2 the love it needs and have it in a place where we're happy to move on. Once that's done, the next target for 2025 will of course be Chapter 3 and fleshing out the remaining endings to the main story, to give Alex the freedom to focus on whichever main relationship she wants, in whatever form she wishes to approach it.
IV The Thrills and Chills Survey
Please fill out the survey here: https://forms.gle/F5TYvjFQtKnHdmZw8
