Update 27 (Patreon)

tl;dr Ordered my new computer, lots of combat system progress, explanation of limit break attacks, next alpha progress.

Today's image:

Dinner time at the mansion. Feeling hungry?

This image is, I think, a pretty good sample of the slight change I made recently to the uniforms - adjusting them to be a little skimpier.

Ordered my new computer!

I've ordered my new work computer, and it's all thanks to your support! Thank you!

It's got an nVidia Geforce GTX 970, which means it will be viable for me to do some renders in the new Iray lighting engine. That's actually why I forked out a bit extra for this system build, in order that I could try that new system for special image work, and that will hopefully translate into some good results in designing new graphics for you guys. I'll play games on it too, of course :) but I built the system around the 970 for rendering purposes.

I've been asked to post the specs, so here's a quick version:

• Intel i5 quad core 3.3g (can't remember the specific number)
  
• nVidia Geforce GTX 970
• 8g RAM
• 3tb HDD (I've got a lot to store on there - I would have gone bigger if it was cost effective)
• 250g SSD
• Plus all the other usual stuff you'd expect.
  

To some extent I had to go with what was in stock at the local place I go to, and there's also a little extra cost for the build fee (I'm not going to build it myself, I have enough experience to know that I don't think that's a good idea), but I don't think I overpaid too much.

More love scene and combat system testing and programming:

I've been developing both the love scenes and the combat system more this week. It's been a good period for technical progress. There's a lot of little details that I've been taking care of rather than big stuff, but one thing I can mention is that I have a neat new little effect that has been made available only in the most recent version of the ADRIFT platform (so nobody much has used it yet).

Basically I can change the background colour of the text box, and I've found that it can make a really nice (and non-intrusive) effect when it just quickly changes colour on certain events, like flashing red when Kenji gets hit in the head or flashing green when a slime splatters a maid with goo. Don't worry, I was concerned that this might be an eye-watering effect so I tested it thoroughly. I'm quite sensitive to that kind of thing myself, and this is completely fine - you'll see what I mean in the next alpha if you're a $10+ patron. It's actually a really fun effect when used in conjunction with sound effects.

More substantially, I implemented targeted attacks, as well as monster special attacks, which means the combat system is just about feature complete! It still needs a lot of graphics work to make it more exciting, but functionally it's fully playable, other than the fact that it needs some testing.

Limit breaks:

One thing I don't think I've discussed previously is limit breaks. If you're not familiar with the term, it comes from the Final Fantasy series and refers specifically to an attack that breaks the damage limit. Usually there need to be some special circumstances to trigger these attacks, such as being low on HP and passing some kind of random roll. In PAL limit breaks are normal attacks but at x4 damage, and Iku and Fumi's also unbalance the monster making it slightly easier to hit next round. (Kim's base damage is higher.)

As I mentioned last week I'm trying to integrate combat gameplay with the main game functions of building lust and relationships, which effects item use specifically. Well, your love score with a maid also influences how likely she is to use a limit break, as it's an outpouring of extreme emotion and power on her part. If the maid is at or below 25% HP then every physical attack she makes (either on your order or as just an automated attack) has a chance of being a limit break. That chance is the maid's love score divided by 2. Therefore, if your maid is at a quarter health and has a love score of 80/100 then her physical attacks will have a 40% chance of being limit breaks!

Next alpha:

I suspect the next alpha must be getting pretty close. I want the combat system to be fully functional first, but that's almost done. The introductory battle, the climactic battle and a few special harem-mode battles haven't been made yet, but the other functions are ready. In the next alpha there's no fully implemented sex scenes, but there are going to be love scenes and some extra sexual content. I'll let you find it all for yourselves.

Oh, by the way, even if you've played the alpha before, and even after you play the next alpha, you really haven't seen a whole bunch of what is coming. I've been careful not to reveal too much in the alpha, and there are some big surprises still to come!

So, what do you think? I'm really happy with the progress on the combat system - does it sound good to you? I'll need lots of feedback once the alpha comes out. :) Let me know if you have anything to say in the comments below!