State of the Game - Getting a Grip (Patreon)

Evening all, it's time for another update! For starters, we're now fully back on our usual monthly schedule, with v0.2.0 now up for the public at the itch.io page. As for v0.3.0, it's now here for supporters with a focus on two main areas. 

First off, the duty system is now fully functional with a full stock of repeatable duty assignments. These are duties which can spawn in any system, in the future there will be system-specific duties added as well, and the spawn chance will lean towards those assignments. My other focus this cycle was some actual story, and while the raw number of scenes isn't that high, the amount of writing is. One thing I regretted a bit about Carnal Coup was how linear the scenes were, which was both a factor of writing time and the mechanical scene system I'd set up. As a counter to that I specifically designed Voyage's scenes to be far more flexible, and I decided to really put that to the test in the intro scene for our first 'Specialist' NPC of the game. Across various branches the scene has over 4600 words written, and I've also added in trackers for selected options, so the choices you make can potentially come into play again in later scenes.

That one scene did take me about a full week...so I haven't exactly solved the other problem of the amount of writing time I have available. Safe to say, I won't be putting that much time into every scene the game will have. Sadly, I will be alternating back off of writing tasks for the next cycle so I can go back to functionality - in particular I probably need to set up some tutorial systems for the combat scenarios at least, and probably some other systems. A gallery system is also on the to-do list, but I plan to swap back to writing for the 2nd half of the month, so we'll see where we get to.

My only other note for the month is that there will likely not be an Art Asset Pack release this month, as no new artwork was created (Choker's portraits have already been added in the previous set). Still, your support is appreciated, and I hope you enjoy the release! Patron link to follow, patch notes below:

v0.3.0 Change Log

Game Functions:

• New generic duty assignments will now appear in the game. The list of available duties is updated daily at hours 1 and 11, and when a new system is entered. Available duties which are not storyline duties and have not been started will be cleared at the same times. Some duties are 'anywhere' duties while others will be system-specific, storyline duties can be performed in any system once they have been unlocked. General reminder: resources may be removed or capped once the 'overstaying your welcome' mechanics have been implemented for the Heat system.
• Progress-flag-locked destinations added to the map system, which will require story events to occur before you can travel to them.
• Victorious added as an unlockable destination. Prime Station does not yet require a particular story flag but expect it to in the future.
• Implemented 'timed' progress flags, which will be unlocked once a certain number of hours have passed.
• Implemented 'choice' progress flags, which won't unlock content but may potentially change future conversations based on scene choices. ('Specialist NPC will remember this.')

Scene Content:

• 31 'Anywhere'-located duty assignments added.
• Post-Victorious scouting duty scene added to Abandoned Defense Platform.
• Victorious 'first visit' scene added.
• Harian Specialist NPC introduction scene added, with multiple branching paths.

Art Content:

• Portraits for Specialist 'Choker' added.

Codex Entries:

• Playable species entries have been added to the 'Species' tab.

Bug Fixes:

• Changed some map systems to prevent potential issues when multiple destinations are available.

Known Issues:

• None