First Progress Report for 0.6

It's time for the first progress report for version 0.6 of Long Live the Princess, and because of the nature of this particular version, this means that I'm going to tell you what the focus of this update will be. But first...

Ability Screen Update

The screenshot above shows the first fully implemented feature in 0.6. One of the most common questions I receive from players is of the "can I train Perversity to level 5?" type. That clearly demonstrated to me that it was necessary to make the answer evident in the game itself, even if that meant implementing a feature that would have to be removed in the game's final version. So, from version 0.6 and out, you can now see how far you can train your abilities in the version you are playing. The screenshot above shows how that would have looked in 0.5. Version 0.6 might have different limits from these.

Design and Roadmap

Much of the previous week was spent on design and putting together all the little puzzle pieces that create a story like this. I had three different paths I could have taken with this version. Each offered different types of challenges, and neither of them was simple. Luckily, I managed to bang my head against the proverbial wall sufficiently hard to work it out, so now I have a roadmap of every little part of 0.6 written down, allowing me to focus entirely on implementation for the rest of the month. 

The Crone

I am halfway done writing and rendering the next level of spell training with the Crone. Once this is in place, you will be able to reveal large secrets. This ties into the central theme of this version.

What is 0.6 about?

As mentioned above, I had three different paths I could have taken. One was a "backup" path in case the other two turned out to be too challenging for me to finish their designs in time, but I managed to avoid that issue. My final choice of path ended up relying on the results of a poll I posted for $10 patrons a while back, asking them where I should focus my attention next. There hasn't been a good opportunity for me to follow their advice since then because agility training took priority, but now I can finally follow through. 

So to cut to the chase, version 0.6 of LLtP will focus on Evelyn. It feels like ages ago now, but when I released the first version of this game back in September of last year, it only contained the tutorial (i.e., the first 1 1/2 days of the story) along with Evelyn's basic content. Since then, she has been more or less neglected. It's time to rectify that. She has a significant role to play in the story, and she is possibly the most important person in the main character's life, so it's only fitting that she gets an update all to herself. We're not going to finish her story in this update, not by far, but it will take significant steps forward. I will share more details over the coming weeks.

I have already finished posing 4 scenes tied to Evelyn's story, and rendering is underway. Having learned from previous months, these scenes are the most complex ones that I have planned. It's good to get the hardest parts out of the way first. The remaining renders are much more straightforward. 

So, that's it for this week's progress report. Tune in next week for another update.