Quest Failed: Chapter Two - Dev Log #11 (Patreon)

Hiya there, guys!

A bit later than I intended maybe for this dev log, as the days just seem to fly by, but I've made sure to make this one a pretty in-depth one to make up for it!

The first thing you've more than likely noticed is the lovely horned lady adorning this particular dev log. I'm not going to divulge too much of her character personally, to keep the mystery, but would like to take this time to discuss demons in general and how they fit into the Quest Failed world.

Demons, while technically classified as monsters, are far more than that. They're terrifying entities wielding destructive powers far above what most typical monsters are capable of. If an experienced adventurer was to face off against a demon, they would quickly find themselves out matched; their weapons ineffective, their spells all but useless in the face of something that's imbued with the unholy blessing of Hell itself.

The power of a demon can vary wildly, and can depend on how they manifest themselves in the world, as there are two main ways for them to make their presence known in the mortal plane:

1. They form a pact with someone willing to lend them their body in exchange for power. While not preferred, this is the most common way of demons coming about, mostly preying on those whose minds are already twisted and 'in tune' with the unholy ways. In this way, they abandon their physical bodies in Hell and lend a fraction of their power to those they form a pact with, effectively resulting in two souls sharing the same shell.

The results of this can vary greatly, depending on how much control the host is willing to give the demon--whether they simply want to channel the unholy powers for their own selfish needs, or to let the demon take over completely. In some cases, if the person's will power is weak, the demon will prey on this and take over the shell completely, making pacts a very dangerous gamble.

2. The second option is far more difficult, though much preferred by the demon. This is achieved through ritualistic sacrifice of many living souls to bring about a demon in its entirety, allowing it to cross over into the mortal plane with its original body--and power--fully intact. Though this method is far rarer due to the sheer amount of blood that needs to be spilled in order for the ritual to be successful, meaning there would either need to be a very dedicated cult, or one very insane person looking to bring about destruction.

The demon must still agree to form a pact with the person who performed the ritual, but their independence is far greater in this state.

The above picture is a demon retaining its original form--meaning that someone, somewhere did something very bad! As if poor Matthew didn't have enough to worry about.

---

That sums up the first segment of the dev log. I hope it was a fun read! Maybe a bit more wordy than usual, but I assure you it's all relevant!

Now, moving on to some more visual stuff, which some of you may have already seen if you follow me on twitter, though I figure it's good to share it here too and sum it all up.

I present to you some UI mockups! (As in, rough drafts that aren't implemented into the game yet)

Now, there's a lot to take in here, so I'll break down each element into its own paragraph and go through things:

Navigation

As mentioned in previous dev logs, navigating Rhan will be a form of choice given to the player, to help the journey feel more interactive and incentivize multiple playthroughs to see what you might have missed by skipping over other places before.

Rather than just give a straightforward list of names to choose from, I'm attempting to visualise this navigation in a fun way, adding elements to give clues as to what might be waiting for you in any specific area. This would be represented by mini sprites within the navigation box to show if particular characters are in the area or not. Additionally, if 'special' events were waiting for the player, there would also potentially be icons to represent this, hinting that these events should be made priority over others if you desire certain scenes with a given character.

Progress

Something I've been deciding back and forth on is whether I should give players a visual indicator of progress with each girl--represented by a bar that would fill up as certain events and milestones were passed with them. It's still a work in progress as you can see by the rough nature of it, but I've decided due to the sheer volume of characters in this installment that it might not be a bad idea to help keep things clear when interacting with so many of them. This menu of course would expand with each new girl you meet, along with old ones, and it'll be really interesting to see how the bars level out at the end of a playthrough!

Status

While this one isn't entirely necessary, I feel it helps add to the 'RPG' feeling I've been aiming for with this series. The screen doesn't have much function beyond updating Matt's gear at certain story milestones, along with particular items he might find, but it's nice to have anyway. The idea would be to have each of the items clickable so that you can get some brief flavour text about them.

Additionally, if you click the arrows found at the top right, it would 'flip' the page and display some more detailed stats about Matt's adventure. 'Time played, times assaulted, ....quests completed (hah)' and so on!

If you have any ideas for what other kinds of stats you might like to see tracked during an adventure, let me know and I can see about adding them in!

---

Whew, I think that just about does it for today's dev log! I hope you enjoyed the deeper look into the world and the overview on the UI elements planned and I would love to hear your thoughts on it all!

Additionally, I see that a certain sleepy mummy aced the most recent poll. I'll have more to say about that soon once the artist has finished their current commission (involving everyone's favourite dragon girl~) and can prep for this bonus piece. You guys are gonna love this for sure! Thanks for taking the time to vote!

Until next time~