Hello everyone!
Things have gotten a little hectic this month due to the holidays, and there isn't enough interesting stuff to talk about for a fully-fledged Development Log, so I've decided to write up a fun facts post today instead!
Ambush battles
Ambush battle? One-sided battle? So long, and I still haven't quite settled on a name yet.
Regardless, Ambush battles now have an initial preparation phase where you're able to build your deck after seeing what the Special Conditions are (which, frankly, should've been there from the start). Alongside this, Ambush battles now have new bespoke music - before, it just reused the Stage 1 variant of the regular battle theme.
Unlike regular battles, which have 3 different songs that escalate when the Wgt of either participant crosses certain thresholds, Ambush battles have 2 songs: one that plays during the preparation phase while you're building the deck, and then of course the second song, which kicks in once you begin the actual battle.
This was inspired by Shin Megami Tensei, where the music similarly has a "calm before the storm" version that then kicks in once the first attack is thrown - originally, the implementation was pretty much one-to-one with that, the plan was for the main song to kick in once the 1st Wgt point was inflicted, but I ended up liking the straightforward option more - especially for battles like with Ferger, where the music wouldn't kick in until quite a bit into the battle. It feels snappier this way too, with how the UI kicks in once you press Begin.
I decided to go with this structure instead of doing a similar escalating thing to the battle music, because of the different amounts of time the two modes take:
Regular battles take much longer because of the back-and-forth between you and your opponent.
Regular opponents also tend to have higher max. Wgt compared to ambush targets - a lot of people probably wouldn't even hear any of the songs for longer than a few seconds.
In the end, the preparation phase seemed like a pretty good place to shove a second song into to add a bit of dynamicness - it makes a nice accompaniment while you're figuring out the Special Conditions and trying to find the best cards to counter them. I even considered making this the general song that plays in the Deck Editor - even from the overworld.
Also, similar to the battle music, the main ambush song has two different starting off points that are picked between randomly to add a bit of variety.
The Tattoo Parlor/Latif
About Latif's design:
Latif's body is actually nearly fully covered in tattoos, which you cannot currently see in the actual game. However, you can view them in all their glory in the Model Viewer if you are part of the "Actual Benefits" tier.
The "wristwatch with a 5 on it" tattoo Latif has on his right wrist is a reference to "999" from the Zero Escape series, one of my favorite games! This implies that in-universe, Latif is a fan of the Zero Escape series as well.
The whole tattoo system ended up being far more complex than I originally envisioned. It's built around one main concept: long-term repeated visits. There are several quirks that I designed it with to work in tandem with this idea:
This is, in a way, a more complex version of the barbershop, and how Beau's storyline kicks off once he learns about The Fattening when you come in at different Wgts.
Getting tattoos takes time, and requires you to come back across several weeks. This makes it more likely for you to stumble into the storyline by arriving at different Wgt states - unlike Beau's storyline, which requires several visits... despite there not being much of a point to go back once you get the initial haircut you wanted.
Because Latif also slowly loses the Wgt even after you're done, it becomes a sort of gameplay loop, where you have to keep coming in to the tattoo parlor and ambush him, if necessary, to continue progress on your tattoos.
The repeated visits also showcase his hair dye fading and changing over time - the color is randomized every time, so he can have a different color even in save files that are on the same date.
As for the tattoo parlor itself, it is adorned with various picture frames on the walls for inspiration, much like a tattoo parlor would in real life. The background not only uses some of the actual tattoo designs you can get in the game, but also a bunch of pictures that are actually some of my old art I dug up and brushed off!
The tattoo shop dialogue is probably some of the most complex, and variable tracking heavy stuff written so far. There are quite a few variants on the dialogue when you first start the tattoo parlor storyline, because of the way the story unfolds:
The game tracks how many times you entered overweight or not, which one happened first, and whether you have tattoos in progress.
The tattoo parlor has two main dialogue variants, depending on if you enter with Wgt below or above 12.
The turning point in the story is when it is revealed he's fatphobic. This happens once you have visited him both above and below the threshold at least once.
The dialogue is quite different depending on what state you were in first when you met him.
Theoretically, if you were to somehow never enter the shop with above 12 Wgt, you could keep using the shop without ever realizing what's happening behind the scenes.
Because the storyline eventually leads to an Ambush battle, it also checks for whether the Pub MQ was finished - since that is when Ambush battles are first introduced. If you enter before that, the player character never gets the idea to use The Fattening on him.
As a fun little detail, when you finish an Ambush battle on Latif and get interrupted by a customer coming in, the description of the customer is randomized from a pool of 4: "lanky looking man", "slim woman", "trendy, youthful looking person", "a person who could only be described as extremely hipster".
Ikem & Petros
And finally, Ikem's long overdue new storyline content!
During the confrontation with Petros, there is different dialogue leading up to the battle if you have gained corruption:
There is also one extra line that happens if you have 2 corruption.
If you have any amount of corruption, you get the option to attack Petros unprompted. If you do, it actually lets you have the first turn - otherwise Petros gets the first turn.
However, if you don't have any corruption, you do not even get the option to do it.
Alongside Ferger, Petros and him in this update are the first opponents in the game that get the first turn instead of you.
While we're on the topic, there are actually several places in the game dialogue, where an extra line appears if you have corruption:
Darwin accusing you of attacking him in the event where you hide in the shed.
The scene with Ted, 2 meetings after your first battle.
The final confrontation with Norman.
The epilogue scene of MQ4 when you talk to Franklin.
In the tattoo parlor storyline, when you talk to Kim after successfully changing Latif, a line actually goes missing if you have corruption.
The current final scene for Ikem has 2 variants depending on what you did during the Petros scene:
If you refrained from attacking Petros, the last scene occurs immediately after, where you go back with Ikem.
If you attacked Petros, Ikem leaves you alone at the end of the scene, making you have to reconcile with him by calling him on a Thursday - this then continues similarly to the other branch, but with slight changes.
The most significant change is if you have musk content on and decide to sleep with Ikem: because Ikem doesn't end up showering if you go back to his home on the same day, there is some additional text involving his sweat.
Because of the nature of the conflict at this point in the story, whether you chose to romantically pursue Ikem earlier or not changes some events and character motivations quite a bit:
In this case, not going with the romance path even gives you a bit of information that is not revealed in the other path!
Because of this, I would say this is the first time in the game where going back and replaying with the other path can change your perspective on what's happening.
And with that... we're out of facts. And... fun?
As always, thank you for reading and for supporting the project, and this time also allow me to wish you an early happy holidays and happy new year! Hope you have a good one, everybody!