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March 21 Update (Patreon)

Published:
2021-03-21 23:03:04
Imported:
2021-07

Content

This week was divided into thirds: partly working on TLS 0.56.0, partly ongoing OEA improvements, partly other business stuff I'd put off during my more intense focus. The last is mostly done, I'm feeling on top of things. As for OEA, I could have put out a 0.5.5, but though much more has been done, it's mostly polish, so I'll wait on more feedback.

For OEA maps, a lot of work was done this last week, but it's mostly layout and added detail, not aesthetic decisions. There's a new finished map, the Forest of Broken Innocence. Finally, I wanted to ask everyone what they thought of the much brightened Cheerful Tale. I definitely light the lighter palette, but is the light too much? Feel free to give your thoughts.

The Once Ever After Steam page is updated with new screenshots thanks to some help from WaxerRed! Eventually I need to go to some trouble to record footage and create a trailer, but at least one of the promotional tasks is down. This page might not cut it for pre-release, but it's adequate until then.

Files

Comments

WaxerRed

Glad to have helped with the screen shots! And I think the new maps look great! The sunlight is grossly incandescent, but I feel like that's kinda the idea :)! I think the light really captures the feeling of so bright and happy it hurts. And you know the lore/worldbuidling of the game is deep when I spent several minutes starring into the second map wondering if the spiral had any thematic significance or if you just wanted to make a spiral! Though the name change to broken dreams over broken innocence is a nice touch.

sierralee
>>56073187

Thanks for giving feedback! That was certainly my goal with the aesthetic, anyway. It is in a spiral for a reason. ^-^ I don't like too linear dungeons, so I wouldn't have designed one this way if it wasn't relevant, even if in a very minor way.

Dmitry F

I think the cheerful tale is exactly as I would expect the custom map to look. Overall I am eager to see how all of these locations come together in the end since I was satisfied with the game.

Decanter

Cheerful Tale is not too bright on my eyes, but I imagine someone actually in the Tale would find it unpleasantly bright. Forest of Broken Innocence is pretty but it's creepy how all the flowers are reddish now. I do notice a few places where the player might think there's a place to walk between the trees to shift paths, like near the middle of the left side, which may not be intended.

sierralee
>>56079377

Thanks for giving feedback! The mapping process will continue for quite some time, and I'll keep posting the progress here.

sierralee
>>56083264

Thanks for giving feedback! Yeah, I wanted the red flowers to give an immediate creepy vibe. You make a potentially good point about wrong paths... I haven't seen the pathing for this map because it doesn't exist yet. This is something I was pretty concerned about at first, but has mostly been solid so far.

WaxerRed

Oh! While the main topic of posts is still on OEA before the shift to TLS, there is one essential question I really wanted to ask. How does the 'damaging dreamers' concept actually work? What I mean is I understand the basic element of it, the dreamers can't be physically hurt, you need a solution in the abstract. But even so what rules does it have? Backing up we have Ulfina's voice. One that I'd say is actually very close to the dark dreamer. Ulfina's voice seems obsessed with self righteous anger and vindication. Based on how I saw it. It made Ulfina pure and good, not because it cared about those concepts, but because it needed a victim. One only a monster would attack. And when they did, Ulfina's voice could please itself telling the story of how the humans were nasty and evil. Again, theorizing, but I like to imagine that Ulfina's voice is a lot like early Disney movies. Where the protagonists are perfect good, and the antagonists are always unredeemable evil aggressors, even if it means bending any common sense to show that concept. So back to my original question of how harming dreamers works! When Ulfina returns to her home tale, there is the conversation with her old voice. Which is why Ulfina's return is such a good ending! She has every right to be 'righteously angry' but instead she choose to forgive. She had every right to view the voice as a 2D villain, but she tried to understand it. Which of course cause it to call her ruined. Such a forgiving being can no longer be a part of the world bent on hate and self righteous fury! But the rub for me is what comes afterwards. When the voice starts to insult the other members of the party, Ulfina bites back. I feel like this is a regression back into the old tale :( . But this seems the key to stopping her dreamer. Is what happened that she was able to draw the dreamer into it's own dream and hit it with self righteous anger? That is equally clever I suppose. But it feels like we stooped down to it's level instead of trying to subvert it's hold. But what about what happens with the end game? Cause I'll be honest it went 100% over my head. We just seemed to recreate the tale and then explode into victory. I wasn't sure how that all helped. Sorry for my rambling! Hope I wasn't way off base with any of my perspectives of the Ulfina tale (thought feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) and hope I can better understand the groups final act.

sierralee
>>56093461

Thanks for the detailed question! As you noted, Dreamers can only be harmed ideologically. There are more complex ways to do this, but the simplest is to force on them an intense theme they can't easily integrate. This is the method that Bloody Ingrid uses, basically making them retreat to digest a lot of raw violence. It's a simple but reasonably effective method, except against the Dark Dreamer, which is why it quickly gains control of her. About Ulfina's Dreamer, your second theory is basically right. That Dreamer's idea is "pure good oppressed by evil rules". Its aim is pretty vindictive, so Ulfina wanting to forgive means that she is actually "purer" than her creator. When the Dreamer begins insulting them, note how they defend her with "don't be mean to Ulfina" type lines. They're playing out the Dreamer's story, except this time the Dreamer is the oppressor being cruel to the innocent. The Dreamer's entire theme is righteous anger against that, so the reframing means that it turns its own anger on itself, and that's what injures it. Ulfina yelling at it to go away is just the catalyst to force it to confront this. There are two keys to the endgame. First, a previous line about Tales being vulnerable when they finish the story and reset. Second, what Ingrid says about them being in a higher sphere Fable: not a story about a "Girl" but a story about "Ingrid" specifically (this is the game itself). So, while the Dreamers are off balance, the main characters play through the core of their Fable, but under their control, and emphasizing their specific personalities. Then, just when the story is going to renew itself, they hit it with their magic/essence and break the cycle. Instead of just a story, the version they played out is a story about stories, so breaking it damages multiple spheres, which seriously throws off the Dreamers and gives them time to escape. Those were my intentions in those sections, anyway. I hope that clarifies!

Lamsey

I think the direct sunlight in the Cheerful Tale is problematic, since if it's focused enough to produce godrays, than it should probably also be casting direct shadows rather than fuzzy ones? See e.g. https://photos.app.goo.gl/uSZF3HMseG2CiJw96 The spiral for the Innocent Tale looks a lot less innocent with all those blood-red flowers, so looks good to me.

Decanter
>>56124564

That is indeed how sunlight works... in some Tales. Also, in some Tales there's nothing stopping you from kissing your partner directly on the lips.