Author Archives: admin

Heirs & Graces beta

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drama2
In the screenshot above, one of the various jealousy scenes

Well, last week I’ve told you that this would be the next game to come out, though I admit I didn’t expect to finish it so soon! 🙂 Obviously I’m talking about the beta version, however I think the official release should happen before the end of month.

Anyway, you can head to this page to try the game beta demo and pre-purchase it:
http://winterwolves.com/heirsandgraces.htm

There’s a beta demo download in forums in this thread: http://winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=3851

Like always, since it’s a beta version it might still contain bugs. However any help testing it will be greatly appreciated!

I really hope that even non-yaoi fans will try the game, since I believe it has a very nice art, GUI, music and writing. I’m also interested to know what people think of the scheduler/stat raising system. It’s a bit similar to Roommates, but it has also some “skill checks” to do, so you need to plan and think more what to do next.

Playing in Easy mode, you won’t have any problems though 😉

What’s Next?

While doing a beta, I usually try to go on with other games. Unless the beta is for a RPG, in that case I’m usually busy fixing bugs/adding features, so I have no time for anything else!

Anyway, while Heirs & Graces beta goes on, alongside it will finally decide what to do with PSCD and the extra romances. I’ll start first by adding all of them to the base game, and then if there’s enough time (and I’m not burned out too much!) I’ll also see if I can add some sort of “free play mode” or something like that. This way I could even add the extra cards who were planned for the DLC.

Once the PSCD DLC is finished, I’ll finally resume working on Queen Of Thieves. First I’ll take a small break though 🙂

Titles coming out in the next months

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IMG_0096
First, a picture of Nuvola half-asleep. That’s how I feel now too!

I have several games in the works, so I thought to make a summary/point of the situation of the titles that hopefully will be out in the next months (from May to end of year in practice).

Remember that I’ll need to take a break between each release, and I also still need to do the mobile versions of PSCD and C14 Dating. And of course, there could be some unexpected issues/real-life problems that will delay me.

Because of this, I really cannot say exactly when a game is out, unless I expliticly say it in the list below. The only thing I am 100% sure, it’s the order in which they’ll come out. Let’s see:

Heirs and Graces

dingirra

I have finished scripting the main plot events, Kamal events, and I’m at good point with the other 3 characters too (though not done yet).

If I can keep this pace, I think a beta demo by mid-May should definitely happen!

reimyrth2

One thing I love of this game are the various references to the Aravorn fantasy universe (as you can see in the screenshots above). Anyone who played Loren or SOTW will notice them, and I hope it will make people happy as I am 🙂

PSCD DLC/free update

After Heirs & Graces I’ll need to decide what to do with PSCD. As you know, doing another “story DLC” was too much work, so I gave up the idea. I wanted to just add the extra romances to the base game, since they’re all done. However it means I’d waste the 24-something new cards that are already designed… so I’m reconsidering the possibility to maybe add a “free play” mode or something like that, so they’re not wasted (but at same time, I don’t need to go crazy to balance the cards for the missions). For now I haven’t decided anything yet.

Anyway, I’ll probably make some experiments and then decide what to do.

Queen Of Thieves

It’s probably my most awaited title this year! I am missing only the last 4 CG images from the artist, and I need to code about 5-6 custom missions, plus the final fight. I think everything considered it’s about 1 month of work for me (artist said should have all done by end of May).

That means the beta should finally start this Summer! 🙂

Never Forget Me

In the next 2-3 months I should get the last CG images for this game, after that, I have all the text, music and images. However, I still need to figure out a small detail… the gameplay part!

The game is structured differently from all my other dating sims, since you don’t start as single, but you choose who you ended up with in the first game, and from there the story unfolds. But it’s not like you can pursue more than one character… at least, not one of the four main ones 😉

So I need to find a way to make a stat-raiser, or better some other gameplay. I could also just release it as a pure visual novel, but if I can find an idea, I’ll try that first.

Love Bites

The storyboarding stage is basically done, and while it’s in practice the latest game that started production, I wouldn’t be surprised if it comes out before end of year. The writer is very fast (and good) and she estimated that the story could be done before end of Summer.

Obviously, once the story is done there’s still to put everything together, and depends how much burned out I will be at that point. Considering all the other games that I should finish this year, I think you can’t blame me if I’ll take it a bit easier! 😉

Heirs & Graces update

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Time for an update on this game! Last week I got everything I needed: the last music tracks, the last character images, and chibis. We might add a few more chibis for each love interest, but that won’t matter at this point 🙂

Anyway, I was saying that I pretty much finished the scheduler design. You can see a screenshot below:

chibis

The screenshot is slightly outdated, indeed now there are 32 weeks of time, and there’s also a relationship tab next to the stats & skills, to check anytime your current relationship with the four dateable boys.

I designed the scheduler to minimize the grinding as much as possible. You still need to plan the week, but then once you click start the events will play (like Roommates for example) and the stats/relationship will increase accordingly, and the scenes will trigger.

skillcheck

Speaking of scenes, there are 15 main scenes + a final one. On each main plot scene (which will always play, no matter who you romance) there will be skill checks. If you pass them, you’ll gain Reputation points. At the end of the game, if you have at least 80 reputation, you’ll unlock special endings.

I have playtested it a lot, and in Normal mode is possible to win, though you need to plan the week carefully (and probably write down each skill check, since they always appear in same order). In Easy mode… will be hard to lose 😉

This system is fun because there’s still some strategy involved. Even if the outcome for each activity is randomized, the values are so close, and the number of events are so many, that if you lose, it won’t be because of the random factor. I played it several times and planning it correctly, I always won (you can gain Reputation also outside of those main plot checks).

After all this you might ask…

So, what’s left to do? Can we play it now!?!?

rebellious

Patience, my friends! The writer already scripted all the scenes, however I need to manually review all of them, adding some extra sound effects, music, GUI, etc. There are 16 main scenes (the last one is very long), and each boy has 10 scenes each, so 40 romance scenes in total. Plus, some very interesting jealousy scenes, 6 in total.

The total amount of scenes is: 16+6+40 = 62 scenes! I have already started “reviewing them”, but I was mostly busy with the gameplay mechanics. I think I should be able to do 4-5 scenes a day, maybe more if they’re “easy” (depends on where they take place, characters involved, etc so I can’t really know beforehand).

Which means it should take me between 15-20 days to finish this. Could be less or slightly more depending on the other things I must do. Anyway as you can see, the beta is very close 🙂 I’m curious to see how this will do, since it’s my first yaoi only game!

C14 Dating now out on Steam

I decided to release this game today, it was scheduled for next week but since it was ready… why wait? 🙂

You can get the game on Steam here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/451640/

As always if you bought the game directly you’ll be able to redeem the Steam keys for free here: http://www.bestanimegames.com/steam/

(please allow a couple of days since I just requested the keys from Steam and might take a bit before they approve them).

Undead Lily new gameplay

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map

In the image above, you see the beautiful new map for Undead Lily! As you probably know if you read my forums or follow me on twitter, we decided to change Undead Lily’s gameplay.

It was supposed to be a card game too, like PSCD. However, we made several considerations that convinced us to make it a RPG:

  • first of all, PSCD didn’t sell well. I believe the main reason was the art. But still, card games clearly have less appeal at least for my fans. Or could just be that I need to do more, or focus only on the gameplay part. Whatever the reasons, doing another one right now was a bit risky – it might have worked, but I felt like a RPG was a “safer bet”.
  • I sent the game intro to several beta readers. Most of them liked it a lot, however they all agreed on one point: introducing so many characters at once was a bit confusing. We were introducing them all exactly like in PSCD, and I agree that the end result was a bit messy. In all my other games, like Loren or SOTW, we introduce the characters slowly through the plot, so players have an easier time to remember who is who.
  • Since it was a card game, and card games need to have many cards to be fun, the characters/heroes were battling each other. There was a good variety of cards already (72 creatures + some planned spells). However, to battle each other we needed to unlock a good amount of cards immediately, probably add several more, and that meant even more work, delays and money spent. So this was another factor that made us reconsider the gameplay.

You might wonder: what’s the plan now? It’s rather simple in reality:

  • characters are introduced gradually. There will be a main “hub”, the castle in the center. You can then talk with the other characters (the classic “camp talk”), and then do missions to free the various regions associated to each element. Won’t say more to avoid spoiling the plot 😉
  • each hero starts with a few creatures (or maybe even just 1!). As you battle the enemies in the various regions, you can “win” a creature (a bit like the Pokemon cards). So you can choose in which order build up your “creatures roster”
  • even if each hero has creatures related to his/her elemental affinity, you can bring 3 heroes with Lily or Ace in the missions. We’re also thinking to just allow any combination of the 3 heroes, to not force people to always use the Death element creatures (the one of the main protagonists). Or we’ll use another system, but for sure we don’t want to put any particular restrictions.
  • each creature will have stats and gain experience as they fight, and maybe a few skills. Since there are many creatures, as you can imagine I won’t be able to do many skills each! I think maximum 2 for each creature.
  • there will be a system to balance the problem “unused creatures will remain behind in XP/level”. I have yet to figure out how, either with autoleveling or through some training/power up system, but I’ll make sure that if you don’t use all the creatures there won’t be any penalty.

So far the reactions to the idea have been super positive in forums and social media, and I think the game because of the unique setting + the RPG system has a lot of potential.

This of course doesn’t mean that I have given up making more card games! Not at all. But probably I will do more gameplay-focused games using that system, since I also don’t think the mix with story+card game works very well. For sure, not long story or cutscenes.

Love Bites – Introducing Sabrina

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intro_sabrina
If you follow me and my games, you probably know by now that I have a weak spot for strong female characters (Loren, Tanya, etc). So naturally Sabrina is one of my favorite of this game!

Sabrina Trejo
Age:  18

The first impression most people get when they meet Sabrina is a stubborn, contentious young woman, and they wouldn’t be wrong.  It isn’t that she aims to piss anyone off, but that seems to be how things work out.

Some think this behavior developed because Sabrina’s father remarried when she was quite young, but this is far from the truth.  Sabrina loves her step-mother as much as she does her birth mother, and adores her step-siblings, Kaitlyn and Brandon.

Others think her rebelliousness stems from a deep seated dislike of authority, as evidenced by her falling grades, and disruptiveness in the classroom.  Further examination reveals Sabrina was an average student until the age of 16.

What precipitated her change came one fateful night when she was supposed to spend time with her birth mother.  Sabrina arrived at her mother’s apartment, but found it was empty.  Letting herself in, she patiently waited…and that was the night her whole world changed.

Sabrina’s mother staggered into the apartment, bleeding from several wounds on her torso, and neck, clutching a broken sword.  Sabrina ran to give her mother assistance, only to stop when she heard a guttural growl from the doorway.  Looking up, she saw a pale figure with glowing red-eyes at the doorstep.

With a rush, the figure was upon her, its fangs seeking out her throat.  Desperately, Sabrina’s hand clutched the broken blade, and drew it across the creature’s throat, nearly beheading it in the process.  The figure staggered backward, and dropped to the ground, coalescing into dust as it died.

Thanks to her actions, Sabrina’s mother was saved…and inducted Sabrina into the Nightblades, an order of monster hunters with the sworn duty to safeguard the rest of humanity.

So it isn’t that Sabrina wished to miss graduation with people she grew up with, but it is hard to justify going to school and doing homework when monsters are looking to make you their next meal.  Needless to say, Sabrina’s outside interests have suffered, especially a budding painting career, or jamming with her friends.

Things wouldn’t be so bad if Sabrina didn’t feel so alone, but the Nightblades enforce a vow of secrecy among their members.  It is hard to keep a relationship going if a loved one thinks you’re having an affair when in reality you might be hunting zombies…a strain she saw first-hand when her parents separated.

Still, Sabrina perseveres since the efforts of people like her which help keep her family, and other innocents safe.

Update on the games in progress

heirsandgracesmainmenuI am currently working on Heirs & Graces, my first yaoi-only dating sim, and I’m at good point: the writing is all done, there are only a few pieces of art missing (chibis and some sprites). I am putting together the scheduler screen right now, and I think the game beta could begin next month or maybe if I’m particularly productive even end of this one!

At same time I’m also doing the last scripting/coding/testing for Queen Of Thieves. The robbery missions texts have been rewritten by Forsaken, who is also writing a series of new scenes for the main story, while the artist is doing a few more CG to illustrate it. They’ll involve Arianna, Raul, etc and I am eager to see the end result!

roof
The robbery scenes are varied and with random variations. In one house a vault could contain treasure, in another a monster, etc. Hopefully will provide enough fun for the players! In the scene above, the sisters will try to gain access to their next target passing through the roof. I don’t think this is going to end well… 😉

Even for this game the release date depends on several factors but I think a beta version should be out by end of May or mid-June. We’ll see, since I also need to take a small break between each game release, just to avoid getting crazy! 😀