WEEKLY UPDATE! (SUPPORTER ONLY)

Hello neighbors, it’s time for your weekly progress update!

• Kuja has nearly completed the backend work for the Tavern where Nara and Mjol are stationed—take a look!

• Over the past two weeks, we've been diligently working on enhancing the village, resolving various bugs, and finalizing a few characters that are soon to be introduced. Nara's dialogue has been successfully transcribed into Unity.

• Kuja has been fine-tuning and adding some more minor village assets.

• Compound’s has been setting up game environments and handling collisions.

  Working with collisions is complex and involves crafting the level’s mesh geometry, which defines the areas players can explore without falling into an infinite void. The white meshes you see are what form these critical boundaries. As a bonus, you can see how multiple images are layered to create a full scene.

  
  These meshes are carefully adjusted using various tools to match the art's shape, giving it a sense of depth and presence in the world, otherwise, it would feel like moving across a flat
  background. It’s these adjustments to the collision that make the game feel immersive.
  

  Meshes are fine-tuned to match in-game objects by using the game viewing window alongside the scene viewer, breaking a scene down into manageable components.

  

  Testing the game allows us to refine the collision details further, matching them more precisely to the art. Although time-consuming, this aspect of game development is fascinating and essential for avoiding a flat gameplay experience.

  
  

• We’ve also had extensive discussions about secondary skills, which would mainly apply outside combat, such as healing modifications. Each secondary skill corresponds to a main attribute, determining the skill’s point cap—meaning you can’t max out strength if you’re playing as a nerdy wizard. Here are the secondary skills we’ve outlined, which are nearly finalized:
  

  Intimidation (P): Used in dialogue to intimidate. (Physique)

  Strength (P): Applies in dialogue or physically to move/lift objects. (Physique)

  Sleight of Hand (A): For pickpocketing in dialogue checks. (Agility)

  Stealth (A): Avoids combat or aids in dialogue. (Agility)

  Seduction (I): Triggers exclusive sex scenes and aids in dialogue. (Intelligence)

  Persuasion (I): Used where seduction won’t apply to sway dialogue. (Intelligence)

  Engineering (I): Unlocks doors/chests and applies in dialogue for mechanical checks. (intelligence)

  Treatment (W): Boosts healing from items and abilities. (Wisdom)

  Perception (W): Notices hidden things in dialogue. (Wisdom)

  Bartering (W): Adjusts buying and selling prices. (Wisdom)

  Knowledge (W): Affects ability to comprehend in dialogue. (Wisdom)

  Arcane Acuity (M): Enhances understanding of magic in dialogue. (Attunement)

  Power (M): Used like strength for magical intimidation or actions. (Attunement)
  

  These secondary skills are almost finalized and are designed to influence various dialogue outcomes, which could simplify or complicate your gameplay. For instance, if a dialogue option involves 'Intimidation' and the required skill check is 10, having an Intimidation level of 11 would mean you successfully intimidate your opponent. For example:
  

  (Intimidate) "Maybe if you don't tell me where you took her, I'll make you eat your own colon."

  A successful intimidation check would prompt the response:

  (Success) "Oh... uhh... don't be too hasty, we're all friends here! I'll tell you what I know. Just... stay over there."

  However, a failure could escalate the situation:

  (Failure) "Yeah? How about you come over here and try." (Initiates combat).
  

  Abilities like Sleight of Hand could enable you to open locked boxes or pickpocket, while Seduction might trigger exclusive scenes, and Bartering could adjust prices in your favor.

  Implementing these skills will require revisiting and integrating skill checks into both new and existing dialogues. This update is planned to coincide with the addition of Kuja's new Character Dialogue Artwork, during which we'll revise the dialogues to include these mechanics.

• The latter part of our discussion focused on implementing random encounters, which could involve simple illustrations and skill checks, allowing for varied and engaging gameplay without the need for extensive animations or scripts. For example, “Climbing through a back window to steal a character’s panties”. This approach allows us to upgrade the gameplay and maintain engagement during travels without overextending resources. A number of games have done this, such as Pathfinder, and it can actually look quite lovely. As example:

  

• Finally, we're focusing on ways to enhance gameplay sections and prevent monotony, especially during transitions from one location to another on the world map. For example, as you journey from the Razorclaw Village to the Sultari Empire, you could experience a variety of random events, such as:
  
  "Your party stops on the trail, a glint in the distance catching your eyes. A possible ambush? Or perhaps treasure exposed from the earth by recent rains? Do you investigate or continue on your way.
  
  1) Investigate the strange glint.
  2) Ignore it and move along."
  
  to
  
  "Up ahead on the path several hooded figures of various sizes approach brandishing weapons, a quick glance behind you shows that any retreat may not be an option as they have a few behind you as well, no doubt having hidden amongst the foliage. The apparent leader of the group approaches you, revealing a grin containing an uneven number of teeth. The desert-lizard looks you up and down, as if deciding whether to eat or not. "What have we here? Lost, little girl?" he says in a snarling tone.
  
  1) (Intimidate) Let us pass or I'll bury you out here.
  2) You want a fight? You got one.
  3) (Seduction) Maybe... we can work something out? Accentuate your curves with a flourish
  4) I don't want to fight... Can we come to an agreement?"
  
  Choosing to engage in combat or being ambushed will teleport you to a “battle arena” where you confront various adversaries.
  
  This approach is simpler to implement compared to creating fully animated or detailed scenes, allowing us to produce a substantial number of encounters without compromising on quality.
  
  

As always, your feedback is invaluable. We’re especially eager to hear from those of you on Discord. Let us know your thoughts and thank you once again for your ongoing support and engagement.

That's all for today. See you next week! Cheers!