The coder’s started working on the update, it’s going slowly for a number of reasons, but we’ve already discussed the whole update and we don’t see any major problems bringing our plans to life.
Here’s what we’re going to do:
1) Implement all the content prior to the castle
2) Testing with the help of supporters
3) Adding the castle part
4) Public release
This way there’ll be no rush, less mistakes thus better product at the end of the day.
The first stage will contain around 29k of words, maybe we’ll finish some other events.
The castle part will have around 10-15k of words.
Overall, the update will add around 40k of words to the game.
What will be added in the first part of the update:
- The purification event (the biggest one). Overall, there’ll be three huge events prior to the castle. That is the purification event, the vampire event and the search for Kagera.
- Alternative branch for the quest where we search for Kagera.
- Alternative branch for the quest with vampires.
- Completion of all quests by the river from the first episode.
- MC’s room, new interactions with Ilga, trainings.
- Some small random events at locations like apothecary, brothel and armoury.
- More ways to interact with girls in the brothel
- Event with Kilena’s been slightly rewritten, the scene doesn’t come off as illogical anymore.
What will be added in the second part of the update:
- Some of the questions you ask during the investigation will be changed. The questions now will seem more logical, based on the current situation and social status of the person you’re talking to.
- The second day of the investigation.
- New interactions with Sarah.
- New interactions with Higrith.
- New interactions at the kitchen.
- Alternative branch for Sarah which will depend on decisions you’ve made in the first episode.
- New scenes to show background of some of the characters.
Gameplay changes:
- We will increase the QTE window time on easy difficulty.
- The ship quest sequence will be simplified. After talking to our coder, we decided to omit the need to level up your character. Therefore, the level of enemies on the ship will be lower. There’s a chance we’ll add one more difficulty level (the hard one), and it’ll be based on the current build. Maybe we’ll simplify the easy difficulty even more. Then again, it all requires some proper testing and balancing.
- We’ll add amulets and make the items you find actually usable.
Let me get this straight, not everything that I just listed will be added for certain. Things might change during the development process, but that’s our general ideas for the next update. We constantly review some gameplay moments; it all undergoes testing and long discussions. Some people complain, some people leave, some people argue but we just keep moving on.
By the way, talking about «arguing» I’d like to discuss with you one of the comments I’ve seen recently. It’s somewhat of a tradition by now, I guess. Just so I’m clear, there’s no need to say stuff like: «Don’t pay attention to that». No, I will keep paying attention to it because it brings me joy. The process of trolling «haters» is something like a therapy for me, it helps me fight with creative and artistic burnout. I suggest you try doing that too, that is if you aren’t afraid of possible consequences. 😊
You can find our conversation here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1797300/discussions/0/3184614124784484049/
I’ll start from an unimportant stuff and end with something that really matters.
- I need to learn how to writes stories.
Anyone who didn’t like the story in TOML – you can leave
I’ll explain it to those who stayed. I’m not planning on learning how to write stories simply because I’m not a writer in our team (now that’s a twist, huh?). I wrote ToML only because there was no one else to do that. I simply didn’t have the money to hire a writer. Now I’ve got the two of them and I’m satisfied with their work. As for ToML, it’s not really a game but my personal pain and therapy for me. I poured all my feelings into that game and then I just lost any interest in writing and those hurtful emotions that brought me into this industry in the first place. Though I did write some small events for VC1 and VC2 and what’s funny, people praise those events even though they don’t even know who wrote them. 😊
Now to the more important stuff. Misogyny. I never really reacted to any of this bullshit thinking that people who claim there’s any misogyny in my game are simply narrow-minded. Now I decided to comment on this.
I think the biggest problem is with that event with Ann. That’s what people most complained about.
Hm. Well, that’s strange if you ask me. The whole point of that event with Ann is that she left MC no choice but to do what she wanted him to do. Everything pointed to that, the way she talked to him, the way she walked around in panties, the way she slept naked knowing that MC would see her. And this accusation of hers:
Ooh, whatcha gonna do if I don’t? You tiptoe around your beauty, fussing over her, treating her like a princess when what she needs is a real man, not someone weak like you.
If a girl says that you’re not a man enough while she’s standing there basically naked, well, that’s a big hint.
Now I’m really interested to hear the opinion of those who played the game. Did I really fail to convey such a simple idea in this scene? It wasn’t him «punishing» her, but Ann getting exactly what she wanted.
Why’d she wanted it? Some of you probably thought because Ann liked MC? Did no one think that she wanted to just toy with MC and then ditch him? We don’t know what she was thinking. By the way, initially that was the plan, she was supposed to destroy MC’s life. However, then I fell in love with Ann, and I listened to pleas and therefore altered the story a little. Though now I think it was a mistake, a dramatic branch would be more suitable. Moreover, the branch with Helena has been and always will be the most canonical one, that is by creator’s design. All other branches are just there for variety.
I still find it weird. I never saw anyone accusing the authors of «incest» games of misogyny. It’s they who seduce their own family by means of blackmail or force. Or maybe coming late into the bedroom of your mother or sister and «putting your thing into their mouth» isn’t a rape? Well, I’ve got a surprise for you.
Why’s no one saying anything now? 😊
There are games where daughters (probably underage ones) are being forced into sex and for some reasons, no one’s accusing the authors for that. Selective morals? Here we see something wrong, and we turn a blind eye to that? Double standards? Everyone’s equal but someone’s above that rule? 😊 I can keep listing such examples for a long time.
Sometimes I thought it could be due to the difference in our cultures. Even though we have a lot of common with people from the West, there’s still a lot of differences. That’s a good thing. There’s no such thing as a bad culture, there’s only bad people. You know, I’ve always been interested in other cultures. For example, there’s a channel on Youtube called Энтони Американец (Entony the American man) who talks about his life in America. There’s a channel Японец Коки (Coci the Japanese man) who talks about his life in Japan. I was genuinely surprised when he said that in Japan the age of consent is 13 years. It’s very weird for me, to us that’s just a kid.
However, that only means that the Japanese society came to that mutual decision based on their inner, cultural, social and economic determinants. I’m not in any position to judge them. I could say the same about anime, I don’t understand it, but many people love it and it’s fine. If I don’t like it, it doesn’t mean I’ll start writing comments saying that anime is bad. I just don’t understand their culture enough to make any logical conclusions.
I wonder if there’s any people out there who think the same way.
And that’s all I had to say for now. Some people will find my thoughts weird; some people will agree with me. All the best to you. Thank you for your interest in our art.