Weekly dev blog and release date (Patreon)

Hi guys, it's the usually late  weekly update! I was a little busy this week, so I couldn't quite finish what I wanted to, and I'd like to have the release in a couple of days (that would still be 30 days from the last update, so I think it's fine).

Still, I got some job done: the brothel is now accessible, and there are 3 girls waiting for you there, if you are willing to part with your hard-earned coins. Currently they all have a "special" scene for the first time you go visit them, and then a more "generic" one which will be used from the second time onward. I might add more to them, maybe give the opportunity to know some of them better, or add some randomness to the scene that will play, but for now I think that's enough. What I wanted to add but didn't quite manage to wrap up was you working in the brothel and do some testing. Hopefully I can add it in 2 days, but if I can't I'll edit the content out and release the update "as is". The current changelog from the last update reads as follows:

Added random encounter with drunkard in Tarkas at night;

Now you can use the "W" key to fast forward dialogues;

switched to the layered system for all scenes (I hope I didn't miss any);

Added a map for the random encounters;

Improved bulletin board in the commercial district;

Tea house job;

Bakery job;

Tattoos and piercings parlor;

First area of the slums (including the brothel).

I am a bit disappointed (I was hoping to have 1 or 2 more random events, for example), but all in all I think it's enough content. Some of the work I did had a really minor impact to the game, but required a lot of time to pull off, and I wasted some more time on rewriting this or that scene (I also have an extra event I wrote, which I can't quite place in the game because I changed the job midway through, so now I need a new NPC to deliver said scene).

I also wasted some time with the polls, handling the first payment (yay! ^_^) and generally being busy with IRL stuff (nothing you should worry about).

I have also been thinking about future giveaways: turns out I had forgotten that over time I accumulated a decent amount of keys from humble bundles, so next time I will let the winner pick from a list, this should make it easier for those who want to partecipate to not end up with something they own, and make them more willing to take part in it.

Finally, a few words about traits, and what made me think of them. I have realized that actually working on 3 different variables for dialogues isn't fun for me, nor for the players.

In my mind, they were all going to have different purposes (inhibition if you want to do something or not, willpower if you can say not to forceful requests, intelligence if you can figure out a better way to handle a situation), but when I write them, there is a lot of overlap and gray areas (if you are stupid and get tricked feels the same as if you had low willpower and couldn't say no, for example), plus it encourages grinding stats to game the system (and also makes players pick events not only if they like certain paths or not, but if they affect certain stats too). Finally, it forces me to always compare apples to oranges and/or use 2-3 checks per event, it's just a waste of time and it's quite silly.

I am not sure I can completely remove the system, but at the very least I will try to remove intelligence and willpower (and I'll probably be more "pro-active" with how I show choices only available if you are a big pervert, so that it removes the uncertainty around the system a bit), while also introducing a trait system to have an easier to understand/implement game mechanic. The trait system might be prone to the same pitfalls, if I am not careful, so I'll try to be very "specific" about the traits, if I go through with it (otherwise, I might simply make traits "badges of honor", as I figure people would like that anyway).

Well, enough of my ramblings, if you have any questions, I am here to hear them, otherwise, see you for the update! ^_^