July in Review (Patreon)

Evening all, time again for the state of the game! Fair bit to talk about tonight, so before I get started, our latest free release is now up on the usual blog!

This month marks something of a turning point, as it should contain the last of the Specialist scenes - a chunk of content that's been on-going for quite some time now. There are two remaining scenes on the list, Piledriver/Grunt and Double D/Switch, at least one of which should be in for the next release, and the second certainly by the end of the month. There's a bit of other related cleanup work to do as well, such as putting together some variant portraits to go with the pairings, but nothing too complex. After that we'll be into more mechanical aspects of the 'mid game' development phase that we're currently in, starting with progression and advancement points.

The game currently has advancement points, but these are really just a placeholder. The main purpose of the points system is to guide your goals towards either the Liberator (peaceful co-existence) or Infiltrator (violent uprising) endings. To do this there will be three kinds of points you can gather - Liberator points, Infiltrator points, and generic points which can be applied towards either goal. The closing of the Director plotlines is scheduled as part of end-game development, but this will be where the points ultimately matter - they will be used to decide how you deal with the individual Directors, and that will in turn affect which ending you end up with. This brings up a few things I'd like to cover.

First, how will the points be earned? This will involve modifying some of the systems currently in the game.

• Specialist Recruitment - which responses you give when recruiting Specialists to your cause will give you points in one direction or the other. While the scenes will continue to be replayable, only the response given the first time you recruit them will give points, so you'll need to consider your options.
• Department Influence - Department scenes will continue to give 'generic' points.
• Exploration Mission Encounters - Many encounters currently give a small amount of points. I plan to go through and switch them to giving one type or another depending on what seems thematic for the options given.
• Citizen Seductions - I intend to to make Citizens another repeatable source of points, I currently have a few thoughts on ways in which I might implement this.

And second, what will happen with points already earned? Basically, I will be tweaking the numbers used in old savegames to ensure players with on-going games don't miss out, however this will be pretty much only for the purpose of making sure old games don't break or become unbeatable - the amounts may not be in line with what normal play would have earned (probably higher). And in any case, exact amounts required to beat the game won't be finalized until we get to end-game development.

Aside from all that, I do have one other thing I'd like to mention this month. While I wouldn't be surprised if the end of the project was still at least six months out, I am looking forward to it being finished as much as anyone else. And, in fact, I've already started writing up design notes for a Coup sequel. This is of course all very preliminary, for all I know the Covid will get me and I won't even be able to start a game project next year, but I thought I'd share some of my current thoughts on what you might be able to look forward to.

• While the game will still be text-based (I have not suddenly acquired art skills in the past few years), I am planning to change the mechanics of things a bit - less focus on linear plotlines, and more management-focused with more dynamic encounters.
• The game will follow a timeskip, and feature a new and more customizable MC and a new set of characters. I'll also be picking a few current species to continue using, but will also be adding in a few new ones. I will say that an AI-based culture has been one I've wanted to add in almost from the start, but others are still up in the air.
• The game will be much more mobile storywise, with the focus being on the crew of a ship rather than a single space station, as the next generation of the liberated (or conquered) Expedition staff attempts to export their new philosophies back to the rest of the GPU.

So, no promises on any of that, but thought I'd give you all a heads up on where my thoughts are. You can certainly expect more details in the months to come, so for now I'll leave it at that and focus back in on the coming month. In review:

July Accomplishments:

• Three new Specialist scenes, with 9 different branches
• One new CG set with 6 variants from artist Suki!

August Forecast:

• Last two Specialist scenes, with other related wrap-up
• Start of the implementation of the new points system
• Artwork including Grunt CG and Military Camp background sets