Update 4 Development Log - November 2020 A (Patreon)

Welcome, Lustfallen, to the next development log for Update 4. Let me start off by saying that the amount of time it's taking for this (huge) update is TOO DAMN HIGH! Next dev log will be replaced with an announcement for the release date no matter what. 

Even though I just had an artist back out after leading me on for 3 weeks (super irritating), I will do everything I can to get this out SOON, even if that means patching in a few Battle Cards post update. With all things being said, the public release WILL BE December and the Patreon only release that YOU get access to will come a week or two before that, hopefully that means November.

With a lot of the dungeon elements discussed, I want to focus this dev log on the story because this update is where the story really takes off and offers some really crazy twists and wtf moments.

When I started working seriously on the story of Lustfall a little over a year ago, I approached it with the idea of the Lustfall (world being corrupted by sexy sexy magic) and the big bad antagonist who is responsible for what is happening. I had a party of random characters made in the engine who I wanted to give different fetishistic qualities to keep things interesting but, aside from Gwen, none of them had personality or backstory yet.

That was my starting point. I ventured out with the idea that I would create as I went with the plot being more of a loose vehicle for the Lust Magic lewds which was the RED Coast area. Playing it, I knew that I wanted to quickly introduce more party members to spice up the combat a little and Cleopawtra was the second one I started to think about.

Lady Synsation wasn't planned to show up as early as she did but by the time I was done with the sewers, I knew I wanted to do Cleo's mansion as the next big story beat and only having two party members for several more dungeons didn't sit well with me, as it would limit the types of magics and encounters I could use.

After the mansion, I felt it was necessary to add the final party member to the team. This is the point where, both in the story telling and in the gameplay, I didn't have to hold back in terms of complexity. That introduced a new challenge, however. If I was not introducing or setting up new playable characters, I needed to draw the narrative focus away from the party for a bit to set the stakes on a global scale and define a narrative path to resolution.

Obviously, the characters in an RPG is a huge draw and there are still a lot of great character development moments and mind-bending twists that will come from it. Those moments are now enhanced by how they weave into the overall plot of the story and as I approach the end of the story (I work very far ahead) I have a good vision of what happens but I am still leaving myself open to surprised to discover...

Because that's what Lustfall has taught me about a project of this magnitude. I dove in without knowing what was going to happen to these characters, or even who they were. I tossed ideas out left and right, pushing myself forward with the idea that if I end up hating it, I can change it later. When I started, it seemed random. But now I see how lucky I was to give myself so many interesting pieces to work with and how much fun it is to weave all of those pieces together into a (hopefully) tightly written, highly engaging plot.

When all is said and done, will Lustfall overcome the stigma of being an erotic game and affect people? Will players come up with head canons and do fan art of the characters they related to during the journey? Who knows, in the end that is out of my control. In the end, I am just really proud and excited of the story that is unfolding in front of us all and I hope that you are just as excited as I am for Update 4. I will announce the release date in a few weeks NO MATTER WHAT because I am done waiting around to share this next, big chapter of the game with you all.

Stay safe and stay kinky~