Greetings. It's me.
This week, I've been working on weapon upgrades (figuring out what kind of system works best and doing some testing), remaking the choppy slap/grab cheeks animations (I'll also redo the "side-eye" ones), and outlining skill trees for the characters.
Also, I didn't forget to doomscroll through recent events involving NSFW games being purged/delisted from platforms and watch my numbers drop. Haha... Let's hope for the best!
Next week, I'll be finishing these things. If everything goes smoothly, I also plan to work on camp/rest content and add shops to the Delves. And of course, some new animations, but that might be a bit too optimistic for one week.
Technical/gameplay thoughts below - careful! (gameplay in an H-game, huh)
Speaking of Aster's tree, I've been considering an XP-based system. For example, every 100 damage dealt or healed (these are the "XP" here) might grant 1 level point to allocate. That required value would likely scale with each level. Level points could be distributed automatically after a Delve or a training sessions in Town.
Aster's main tree could branch into two or three playstyles:
- Physical Support - Balanced, mostly FP-based, liked by Hero.
- Magical Support - Reactive/submissive, uses EP, liked by Mentor and future friends.
- (Possibly) Standalone - Proactive/dominant, uses both FP and EP equally, for no one/everyone/NTS route?
What determines point distribution? Maybe the Resonance system I mentioned back in Progress Report 3, February... In short, Resonance is a "pendulum" stat that swings between Hero and Mentor depending on who makes better use of Aster's toolkit - whether that's leveraging her debuffs or setting up enemies for her to damage.
Would you prefer to have manual control over Aster's point distribution, or would you enjoy seeing it shaped passively by your playstyle?
I know this system may sound overengineered for an H-game. I've always wanted something like this, but I do worry that it could overwhelm players who aren't used to any kind of "depth".
Still, the idea of consequences for inaction, of the game reacting to how you play, feels really exciting and could make the whole experience much better.
Tell me I'm not crazy (unless I am)
That's all for today. Thank you for your support. Until next time!