09/07 Public Progress Report

This week's Dropbox files have been updated with our latest build, featuring foundational changes to the game's core systems, a rework of all equipment, and more.

A New Skill, Item, and Equipment System

I had originally planned a story update for this week, but I decided to shift focus to this major update instead. It's a fundamental change to the game's core mechanics that was long overdue. This update includes a new mechanism that will change the way you play the game.

Skill Updates

Four new skills have been added, but you won't find them in the upgrades tab. These are toggleable skills that use your health as an activation cost. As you can see in the first picture, you activate them just like consumables. However, unlike consumables, they won't disappear after use and will remain on your hotbar, allowing you to use them over and over as long as you have enough health.

There are currently four of these new skills, all of them a "mutated" variant of the original skills. While I initially wanted to make them a completely new mechanism, I also wanted them to benefit from the upgrades you can already buy at the store. Plus, I wanted to get this update out on time. You can currently find these skills in the treasure nodes.

Now that the base mechanics are in place, I'll be actively adding these "activatable items" in future updates. Bosses will have them as loot, and they'll be a reward for clearing quests. I also plan to make it so some equipment has activatable effects. The plan is to also upgrade the mutagen's properties with these new mechanics, making transformations more varied and exciting.

Item Updates

Items are now sorted into groups. For example, the skills mentioned above are listed as "skills" and won't be discarded after use. Consumables are in their own group and will be discarded after use. Mutagens will be somewhere in between, as I want them to be used constantly for gradual transformation without being a permanent item, which would be too powerful.

Now that we can add costs to item usage, it's also possible to have items that use DNA, special currency, or even your stats as a battery or cost.

Equipment Rework

Equipment no longer disappears even after your body proportions change. This is because I've redesigned most of the equipment to not be affected by player transformations. This took a significant amount of time, as I had to change the descriptions, chibi art, and designs of the original equipment. While they are much less sexual than before, I hope to replace the original cloth wear mechanics or even make some equipment that matches gradual transformations. Thanks to the changes listed above, it will also be much easier to add special abilities to the equipment.

This month's updates will be added shortly after. Monthly updates will also be updated since a public update is coming soon. Polls will be updated next week, as this week's update isn't a story update.