Hi, here's what I did since the last devlog:
I identified some problems to work on for 0.8.x, based on (1) having a friend play the game in front of me and (2) discord feedback:
No main plot
Related to the above, MC/Miran/Viola don't have clear motivations
The game could be sexier
It's not clear what to do sometimes w/o a guide
I plan to address these problems by doing these things:
Determine the main plot and MC/Miran/Viola's motivations.
Add a "quests" system. You'll be able to get a quest e.g. "Rescue adventurers on B4" at the pub, and go to the dungeon and do it. This should:
provide a vehicle for the main plot
provide a vehicle for MC/Miran/Viola's motivations (e.g. perhaps Viola will feel that she can provide value by rescuing adventurers)
make what to do next clearer (do all the quests)
encourage going back and forth between the town and dungeon multiple times, which is required for most routes (Miran/Viola/Torne)
Add a "sleepover" system. You'll be able to sleepover in Paila/Miran/Viola's room at night. During sleepovers, you'll be able to do actions which you have unlocked, e.g. talking, holding hands, cuddling, foreplay, sex. This should:
provide a place for events about character motivations
provide a place for events which build romantic/sexual tension
provide a place for new sexy events (e.g. massage)
make it possible to do sexy things with the same character night after night
make what to do clearer (sleepover in a character's room to continue the route / get a hint on how to continue the route).
Do a 2nd pass on the sounds in the sex scenes
So far, I've done these things:
Programmed the quests system
Programmed the sleepover system
Migrated the current content into quests/sleepover events where applicable (e.g. Paila's dungeon events have been migrated into a quest)
Added moan sounds for each character except Torne, who uses Paila's. Added slap sounds for the "harder" animations. This change has been backported to 0.7.x.
To finish 0.8.x, I have to do these things:
Add new content (e.g. quest-related, sleepover-related) (both writing and art)
"Massage" old content so it makes sense (some migrated content is clunky because the context has changed)
I also fixed some issues in 0.7.x. Here is the changelog.
Changelog 0.7.16-0.7.27
Art/Music/Sound
Added moaning and slapping sfx to sex scenes
UI/UX
Added read scroll of enchantment descriptions (e.g. "Damage: 5->7")
Fixes
Companions didn't follow you past deep water in some situations
Fire-immune monsters dodged flames/fireballs (the monsters shouln't bother)
Starter B1 vaults appeared on Mondays (the vaults should appear on date=0)
Axe's spin attack didn't remove trees
During Paila's sex scene, $heroname makes comments which implied that he's a virgin, which isn't true if he had sex with another character first
Chii said "Hold on... it was you who was making love to her all last night, right?" even if you had sex with Paila more than 1 day ago
Before, Pila's "Paila is missing" dialogue repeated after meeting Paila in the dungeon
Before, while bringing Paila home, if you talked to Pila w/o entering her house (e.g. if Pila is standing at the entrance) the "Paila is missing" dialogue was repeated; now it shows the correct dialogue.
Nanako/Yuu's first conversation is required to advance the plot (before it was possible to skip the conversation by defeating them from a distance / while stealthed)
Before, an invalid .save game caused an error; now it doesn't show in the save list
Seri's section in the in-game guide went off the screen; now it's on the 2nd page
Percent-based bonuses for regeneration, recharging, and evasion didn't stack properly
Viola's gallery scene played her 2nd sex scene (it should play the 1st one)
Miran's hard/finish animations didn't show in her 1st sex scene
The latest version can be downloaded here: https://ayumu98.itch.io/the-demon-lords-lover-patreon (password: eterna) (To be clear, the latest version does NOT have the quest/sleepover content, just the changes in the changelog)