Category Archives: roleplay games

A roleplaying Summer!

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qot
In the screenshot above, Arianna in her “Queen Of Thieves” outfit, and a young Lysander

I am now scripting the Queen Of Thieves last main plot scenes, which include some flashbacks: the man you see above is Lysander when he was young. He stilll does have his beard though 🙂

I’m also using the new map of Aravorn that I had recently redone by a new artist. I must say that even zoomed in, it still looks good:gamemap

So now when there are flashback/main plot scenes I can show the time/date but also the place using the map. The scenes aren’t many, but there are 4 CGs, all featuring Arianna… and some are VERY spicy. OK, I think I have said already enough!! 😉

As I said in previous post I will take my time and not rush things to avoid burnout, also considering that I still have to officially release Heirs & Graces and PSCD free update. They’re in a very advanced state though, so that shouldn’t take much longer.

Back to the title of this post, even taking things easier, it’s quite likely that the Queen Of Thieves testing will take place this Summer, with just a disclaimer: if it will be hot like past year (one month and half, whole July and up to mid-August, with temperatures constantly over 38°C!) I will probably be able to work just a few hours in the morning! Anyway, even if I surely won’t be working/updating the game as I did with SOTW (that game was quite a marathon!!) I should still be able to do a few updates based on testing feedback.

All things considered, the beta COULD begin at end of June. In the worst case, it should be July.

But that’s not enough: for me will be a real “Summer RPG” because I’ll also start doing the design for Undead Lily. No coding, just planning on paper/flowchart, thinking about the combat, skills, etc. That’s what will keep me busy this Summer. What can I say, some people go on holiday in tropical islands and have fun, while others code and design RPGs! 😀

Undead Lily Ace romances sneak peek

Speaking of Undead Lily game, a few weeks ago I posted the Lily’s romance sneak peek. Now it’s Ace’s turn! As you can see even Ace has some interesting “romantic moments” in the game as well!

aceromances

PSCD DLC beta!

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quickbattle

In the image above you see a screenshot from the PSCD Free DLC currently in beta!

You need to download the beta version here to try it (on the site there’s still the older version): http://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=3856

You might need to re-register the game again to see the extra contents.

Beside the four extra romances: Galina, Kaden, Christophe, Lola, I have decided to do a “quick match” mode. In that mode you can play all the cards you have unlocked in the game (tier-based) and do a match with predefined enemy decks.

Using this “tiered unlock” it’s good, since will let me include the mode also in the demo, because players can try it (for example for practice), but without the high tier cards (which you can only get later in the game) will be hard (if not impossible) to win. So it’s a sort of “trial” that might make more people curious / interested about the full game.

If you beat the game once, you’ll also unlock the 5th tier, which is normally unaccessible from the base game, and it includes the most rare cards (legendary ones). Since I had already added them in the code, was a pity to “waste them”, so at least they can be used in the non-campaign mode.

This means that if you won the game already it’s enough to load a save before the end, to get access to all the cards in the quick match mode.

Heirs & Graces update

The beta testing continues, and luckily everything seems to be going smoothly, even if it was to be expected for a dating sim. I suspect Queen Of Thieves testing will be more troublesome 😉

Anyway I’m pleased so far by the game reception and how people liked the idea/writing/art/music.

I must say though that in future (except for the game already in the works) it’s a bit unlikely I’ll do again a game with only one playable gender or romance type. Making a game takes already so much effort that I think it’s best to at least try to cater to two audiences.

So for example in this game I could have added a female character to have yaoi+otome, or add 4 female romances to have yaoi+straight, and so on (probably I’d have reduced the amount of romanceable characters, or made some bisex).

Anyway, this game is done as it is: but for future games I’ll always try to have at least two genders or “romance combos” 🙂

Undead Lily romance previews

As you know from time to time I make some “romance sneak peeks” for my upcoming games, even months before they’re out, because I like to tease people! 😀 Here’s the Undead Lily’s Lily romances (so playing as Lily and romancing both male/female characters):

lilyromances

Some characters have two different ending CG, based on the concept of “dominant/submissive”. I can assure you that they’re very interesting!

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! 😉

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.