LyLaD March Update (Patreon)

I entered early month gamedev hell again, and have returned.

Stuff that was done:

Moved bulk of game text over to an external file. This has no effect on the player but it makes it very easy to quickly modify most lines in the game without having to fish through the game itself to find and alter every individual message. Wasn't able to do it with everything, but it basically makes writing and editing map/story/loss scenes going forward much easier.

Ledger Menu (for displaying attributes, allocating skill points, viewing perks/effects/curses, etc) was redrawn and touched up. Issues + bugs with skill point allocation were fixed. There's a way to switch between displaying Current/Raw/Base values for attributes and skill levels (ie without debuffs or buffs) so that you can get more information out of the ledger.
The skill Dream Synchronicity also had its functionality completed, so now all skills do something.

Random physical trap types and effects were created, same for magic trap effects. Effects range from simple damage, to attribute damage, to outright bloating or weight gain. This makes it so I can populate dungeons with traps without having to handcraft each one, plus a hefty degree of randomness means the player has to react on the spot. However I might try to ensure that random traps are at least consistent within a single playthrough (as in you can reload and it'll have the same effect).
You can see an example of one such trap here. Though, I may want to add some basic art to them for flavor.

Status effects to appear in demo are basically done. There will be more post-demo, but for now the basics are in place. Stuns, poison, atk buffs/debuffs, def buffs/debuffs, magic debuffs to mental attributes and other stats, and silence which disables the player's magic abilities.

Basic melee weapon movesets have been put in place for all weapon types. Each weapon gets 6 unique basic moves, plus 1 move per 20 points into their respective weapon skill. The first 3 skill tier moves have been done for them all. A few more moves will be added via perks, further expansion will be post-demo.
Every weapon plays slightly differently, with different strengths and weaknesses, so I'm hoping it will be fun to experiment and choose a favorite within the skill you choose or pick what's best for the situation at hand. I don't intend for combat to get *too* complicated, but I do want there to be some consideration for what the best approach is for any given enemy. A bit of strategy.
Weapons can also be upgraded with rare 'resins'.

In conjunction with how different the weapons can be, I added a way to swap weapons in battles. This way you can switch to a mace when fighting an armored enemy, or even switch between a melee weapon and a staff if you know magic.

Since there aren't combat sprites yet for all the weapons, nor alts of Lilya's arms for holding two-handers, I can't really show off these combat additions in the way I want to yet.

Not much fetish content to speak of, but in terms of the weapons and the magic from the previous update, I think feeling powerful can make losing extra fun.
Also with the ability to equip weapon mid-combat, now I can make it so Lilya will drop her weapon upon being hypnotized and needs to waste a turn picking her weapon up again when she snaps out of it. Erotic!

Remaining Timeline:

I included an image of the abridged to-do list going forward, but I'll reiterate the basic gist here.

Next target is crossbow moves and mechanics + throwing weapons. Then some new items mainly as utility in combat. Then comes consolidating and standardizing the damage formulas for attacks so that everything feels less like I made up the numbers on the fly, setting things up for more uniform progression.
Then comes potions, which will have fun side effects and the possibility of addiction. Equipment & cursed equipment to be present in the demo will be implemented, as well as the appraisal system to make checks against cursed equips.
A counterattack mechanic will be made as a kind of alternative to guarding or evasion.
All the possible perks and curses you can get in the demo will be put in, including of course how you get them (perk points for perks thru ledger) or how to try and get rid of them (dispelling curses).
After that is virtually all just art assets, writing, and mapping. Which will take time, but it will be a different kind of struggle.
The only really major *mechanical* after this point is how I intend to make Lilya's sprite work in showing off reactions, different expressions, dynamic combinations b/n expressions. Etc.
Then the last part will be the final testing and balancing passes which may be done with your help.

Right now I'm really motivated to release a demo within the first half of the year, which means I'm going to put out a demo at exactly midnight June 30 no matter what... However I'm actually too cowardly to commit to that so I'll say July counts as a safety net. But really I do want to ramp up development. That does mean less stuff and polls posted here (as is already becoming the case). If that is not what you want you can stop paying me any time. I'll try to get art assets done on the side to show off when I'm doing uninteresting mechanical work. Also I think I've said it before but the demo will be Patreon exclusive for at least a month. Maybe more if some things turn out to need changing, fixing, or polishing.

But for now I do need to go on a drawing spree.