This dev diary was originally posted exclusively to patreon subscribers on 7th January 2023.
Welcome back!
We've been working hard on those final touches for the VIP DLC exclusive Chapter 2 rewrite preview. Most of the week has been spent bugtesting and fixing. As expected there have been a LOT of bugs. This comes as no surprise when the backbone of the game has been ripped to shreds and rebuilt but we have relative stability for the majority of the release now.
We are also finally ready to release details on the new points / scoring and difficulty systems!
I've outlined the new stat tracking below but bear in mind that the details of the stat tracking vary depending on your difficulty setting. Read the full article including the difficulty options before commenting.
We previously had 2 main tracked stats. Lust and Opinion. These stats where an endless accumulation of points and whilst they worked pretty well in the small amount of content that was already available, as the game grows in length and branches in different ways it becomes very difficult to work things out. As a result we have switched to the following points tracking:
Each girl will have 1 tracked stat. This tracked stat is a range between 0-10. The aim is to keep the girl's score INSIDE the green area.
In the example above, Sophia's 'sweet spot' is 5-7 signified by the green outline.
Our current score in this example is 2, so falls short of the 'sweet spot'.
You can both GAIN and LOSE points based on your choices in the game. For example, agreeing to pay for lunch might GAIN you a point, but asking the girl to pay for your lunch may REDUCE your score.
The key thing to remember here is that your objective isn't to FILL the bar but instead you should aim to keep the score within the GREEN ZONE.
Each girl's 'sweet spot' is different based on her personality. Chelsea's sweet spot for example would be quite high on the scale. This is because her personality means she prefers a high level of interest. Take Annie as an alternative example and her 'sweet spot' would be much lower. This is because she's the sort of girl who would prefer NOT to be overly smothered with affection.
This stat tracking will control whether or not you gain access to specific lewd content. For example you may approach a scene where a girl is considering whether to invite you in for some 'action'. If your score is within the green zone then she would invite you in, otherwise if you haven't given her enough affection or TOO MUCH affection then she won't invite you inside. This aspect isn't new, just rather than saying "you must have 5 points go get access this lewd scene" we instead require you to maintain a successful relationship with the girls.
The above stat tracking is the ONLY stat tracking associated directly to each girl however we do have some extra stat tracking for other purposes as below:
As you can see from the screenshot above we are also tracking Justice vs Vengeance and Virtue vs Depravity.
Your decisions throughout the game will affect these 2 meters.
Choose to use the stopwatch for spy on girls and you will soon find your depravity meter filling up. Choosing to seek revenge on others rather than dishing out justice will tip your vengeance meter one way or the other.
The above 2 meters may affect scene dialogue, menu choices and ultimately the story and the game endings. There is no right or wrong here, just a different way of approaching the game.
If you're wondering about the cash aspect of the game. We thought long and hard about this one too and the cash element of the game will be staying in pretty much the same format as it was previously.
Moving on from the stat tracking, we now have outlined the difficulty variations. Now when starting a new game you get the following options:
As you can see from the above, your difficulty setting will determine how the tracked stats affect your game.
Easy mode removed the need to balance your score and instead you simply need to fill it to the max.
Normal mode is exactly as I mentioned above
Hard mode is the same as normal mode but rather than having a 3 points inside the 'sweet spot' you only have 1.
Finally the last thing thing worth discussing is the Interactive Mode vs VN purist mode.
As you can see from the above screenshot, Interactive mode is the same game you are already used to playing. It contains all of the same interactive lewd scenes, minigames and free-roam as you already know and love.
Now though, you also have the choice of 'Visual Novel Purist' mode if that's how you prefer to play. All of the interactive scenes are replaced by linear alternatives so that the whole game plays just like a standard VN. As per the warning though, you may not be able to access ALL content in this mode.
Now that's all laid out I should mention that the above is still subject to potential change. We haven't ironed everything out to perfection and there's still a lot of testing to go but as it stands, that's the format.
We will continue to bugtest and finish off those final details over the next week or so and hope to have a proper release for you to test very soon. This may be one of those situations where we simply drop the release on you without any warning, so keep your eyes peeled for news on that. Don't forget though that this release is EXCLUSIVE to VIP DLC holders due to it being an intra-chapter release. If you don't own the VIP DLC, you will have to wait until the next release which will be the full rewrite including chapter 2 (release date TBC).
Thanks for reading this extra long Dev diary. Speak again soon!
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