Category Archives: Roger Steel

“Bad Blood” SOTW DLC is in beta

greatwolf

I’ve decided to open the preorders and put the beta version of the DLC for download in my forums! For more details, you can check this forum thread:
http://winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=3610

In short: the only missing thing right now are the ending scenes. There are 4 scenes, one for each romantic couple, plus another one (can’t say what because… spoilers!).

Speaking of spoilers, for those who have ALREADY finished the base game, this video illustrates the contents of the DLC:

Unfortunately like with Loren, I can’t really make a “demo” of the DLC, but I hope that the video above will help people to make their decision. In general, I think if you liked the characters and the story you should like the DLC too.

The DLC focuses more on the story and characters relationships, with several lines and even scenes that change depending on your love interest. Because of that we thought to add a menu at beginning of the DLC, so that once you played the story to the end, you can replay choosing the starting conditions quickly with the menu (without the need to start the game from beginning or keep a lot of different savegames).

Of course, there are still battles, and thanks to the main metagame of “rebuilding Ninim” also some strategy. Let me know your thoughts about the difficulty: I am not sure that in the current beta the game can be beaten in Nightmare mode… 🙂

If everything goes as planned I should get the missing images by mid-April, so that’s when I’ll release the DLC officially.

Work on the other games goes on as planned. I keep getting weekly updates for more or less all of them. I definitely want to have one of the dating sims in progress out during the Summer 😉

shiori_sybil

Also, Roger Steel writer made a very interesting post in my forums with an update about the game itself: http://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=3612

The bad news is that it won’t be out soon, the good news is that it will be much bigger and very similar in gameplay to Loren, with even a greater emphasis on choices and relationships. People who want, will be able to play it in pure visual novel mode, using choices to raise skills and fighting battles automatically 🙂

PSCD – meet Xavier

xavier

This week is the turn of Xavier from Brazil. Potential love interest for Diana.

Name:  Xavier Ribeiro
Nickname:  Daredevil
Nation of Origin:  Brazil
Service Branch: Imperial Mechanized Cavalry
Specialty:  Repair

Description:
Growing up, Xavier was the stereotypical gearhead.  He loved vehicles, and even more so, pushing them to their limits.  As far as he knows, there wasn’t a dare Xavier couldn’t match.  Needless to say, he suffered his share of broken limbs as a child.

However, once he started to get older, Xavier grew more discerning in those activities he indulged in. While some might still consider him an adrenaline junkie, Xavier realized careful planning could elicit a greater rush down the line.

One result is he eventually joined the military, and more specifically their vehicle arm.  Few others had the cutting edge tech he could cut his teeth on.  His antics eventually earned him the nickname ‘Daredevil’, such as the time he ramped a hovertank off a dune, and cut a giant grub in half upon landing.

If Xavier could be said to have a flaw, it’s that sometimes he is a little too laid back.  After all, he’s crashed more than once, but has always come back for more.  Still, there are many who are glad to call him friend as he tends to assume the best in others and has a friendly word even when they are down.

When off duty, Xavier can often be found in the bar, regaling others with stories of his deeds, though lately this has tapered with the newly arrived Rigel, the mechanic.

Short update on other games

I have almost finished coding SOTW act 3. Actually, I have: I’m only waiting for some last missing tilesets, which could be the source of inspiration for some extra smaller quests or simply “hunting grounds” for those who like to grind. For example a lighthouse… which could be haunted 🙂 But of course, I’m not adding much stuff now, since the game is already insanely long as it is.

I believe act 3 beta should start sometimes next week, next weekend if things go bad.

arthur-expressions

Roger Steel is making progresses as well. Artist is now doing all the “base expressions”. There will be also different ones, more marked, like laugh, scowl, scared, etc. plus some custom ones for each character that fits their personality.

Roger steel world: meet Roger Steel!

rogersteel

Taking a break from PSCD characters intro to introduce nonetheless than Roger Steel himself!!! 🙂

Introducing Roger Steel… Explorer. Spy. Legend. Pawn.

When Ann and Arthur are ambushed at a remote temple, the surviving sibling and their friends are rescued by a handsome stranger in the middle of a mission of his own. Little do they know it is Roger Steel himself, whose adventures real and ‘enhanced’ are broadcast across the British Empire as part of its 20th century quest to maintain global order and confidence in its rule in these troubled times.

In books and movies Steel’s adventures have been chronicled and mythologized so much it is hard to separate man from legend. But the real Roger Steel is very human indeed, and when in a rash act of kindness he intervenes that ill-fated day, his duty to a ruthless Empire and his human inclinations are set on a collision course.

But unbeknownst to him, in the corridors of power in London, his mission has already taken a darker turn. With the endgame in sight, as with all pawns, the day might soon come when it is easier to remove him permanently from the board than keep him in the game.

Update about Seasons Of The Wolf

If you follow the game development in my forums, you know the mess I managed to make last week 😀 In practice I wanted to use the new Ren’Py, then found out the saves weren’t compatible because of a variable, I changed it, meanwhile Ren’Py coder kindly had fixed that on the framework-side, but was too late. And I even managed to run the auto-updater stopping it in half, so I had a mixed version (part old, part new Ren’Py)!!

In short: a giant mess. I can load some savegames but other won’t work, and the safest thing is to start again the game from scratch… even if is normal during such early beta testing to lose access to old saves, every time it happens I’m angry at myself.

Luckily the testers are very supportive and accept it without drama. Well, almost 😉 I heard some started drinking after the 7th consecutive playthrough from scratch…

Jokes apart, I am still going on with the game. Admire a portrait of a Kraken below:

kraken

I am coding ACT4 right now, even if ACT3 is still not playable because I need the tileset (won’t go in more details to avoid spoilers for those who never played it). So as fun as it might seem, considering the tileset won’t be ready before 1-2 weeks at least, I might be done with ACT4 before ACT3! It’s not bad though, since means I’m not losing any time.

jealousy2
During act3 you can also do all the romance talks, including some funny jealousy scenes!

If all goes well the full game (still in beta though) could be done by end of month. But when was last time that “everything went as planned”? Hmm…I can’t remember 😀

Roger steel world: meet Neville

neville

Here’s Neville, a new character from the Steampunk RPG Roger Steel.
Like for the other characters, the art is not definitive yet. In particular we’re going to change a bit the clothes colors, since both the writer, the artist and I noticed there’s too much “brown” in them 😀

But now, Neville’s introduction by the writer:

Introducing Neville – Itinerant Inventor

This week we meet Neville, Christina’s brother, Arthur’s best friend, and all-round steampunk nerd. Neville much prefers machines to people (less complicated; far easier to fix), but somehow clicked with the effervescent Arthur and holds a shy, cautious regard for mercurial Ann.

If you need equipment repaired, upgraded or just plain invented, Neville is your guy. Handy with a wrench, a wizard with a lathe, and most at home in a fully equipped forge pounding the bejesus out of some hapless piece of metal, adventures aren’t really Neville’s thing – but friendship and a protective instinct for his sister can lure a man far out of his comfort zone.

However, Neville is far more than he appears and, as Ann or Arthur perhaps discover, even friends you have known for years hold can dark secrets close to their hearts.

Bionic Heart on Steam

Speaking of dark secrets: my sci-fi visual novel Bionic Heart is now out on Steam. As always if you bought it directly you can redeem a Steam key from this site:

http://bestanimegames.com/steam/

and if you decide to buy it, buy directly from me to get a DRM-free version plus the Steam key 😉

Roger steel world: meet Arthur

arthur

Time for another character from Roger Steel world. Please note that all those images are still work in progress: for example we’re thinking to make Arthur’s hair light brown to match Ann’s. His “devilish look” will still remain though 😀

Introducing Arthur

Up until now, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Roger Steel is a yuri title given that all the characters we’ve introduced so far have been women (not that there’s anything wrong with that!); but you’d be mistaken as our next character attests.

Arthur is a rather outgoing fellow who’s probably a bit too clever for his own good, especially with his tongue (and get your minds out of the gutter right now: that is not what I meant!). Along with his partner in crime, Neville, genius inventor whom we’ll meet in a couple of weeks or so, Arthur is something of a whiz with gadgets, although you, his esteemed players, might prefer to develop his sharpshooting, archery, martial arts, or sundry other non-combat skills.

Whether Arthur indulges in romance or simply becomes the star of his very own action buddy movie VN-TBS RPG, is up to you; as is whether he treats the rescue of his sister as a true coming-of-age, or simply a great excuse for a damn good time with lots of handsome gents and lovely ladies to party with during those long evenings camping beneath the stars in the wilderness.

Seasons Of The Wolf update

Work on SOTW continues, last week I finally had the last missing images for Dingirra, like the big Arena:

newarena

And the artist who was busy with another project now can resume working on this, he’s currently doing the 3rd Act tileset (won’t be more specific for people who didn’t play the game yet to avoid spoilers!).

Another big new feature was the improved AI, which gave me a whole new array of possibilities to make the player think “wow this computer opponent could even seem smart sometimes!” 😀

newAI

Currently coding battles against Ghosts and Wraiths, Zombies and Liches, and so on. (the background on the battle screen above is temporary obviously).

While I cannot give any estimate yet, also because a lot of art is still missing, I’m guessing that could be done with Act3 for end of September 🙂 I also have two new games approved on Steam (Roommates and Bionic Heart 2) so adding them to the portal will take some time too!

One last thing, do you remember that preview image I posted last week? still not announcing the game officially but I’m facing a tough choice. More info and a poll in my forums: http://winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=3418