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The screenshot is slightly outdated, indeed now there are 32 weeks of time, and there’s also a relationship tab next to the stats & skills, to check anytime your current relationship with the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

Love Bites – Introducing Tyrone

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intro_tyrone

Time to introduce the second male love interest of Love Bites, Tyrone! I like his unique design, which makes him different from the other males of this game.

Now, let’s see what the writer has to say about him…

Tyrone Marshall
Age 19

Almost everyone on campus knows Tyrone for he is considered one of the best athletes the basketball team has ever had. What might be more surprising, however, is that Tyrone is also one of the top students trying to earn a business degree. Unlike many other athletes, Tyrone wants to take full advantage of his athletic scholarship since the odds are against any student making it into professional sports.

Despite his athletic prowess, Tyrone is a bit aloof, keeping himself at arm’s length from a serious relationship…which makes him that much more desirable to people who want to break through his tough outer shell.

This isn’t to say Tyrone is shy, but there is a reason he keeps himself apart…and that’s because he’s found himself in a bit of a predicament, one he doesn’t feel he can share with anyone else. Since entering college, every night of the full moon, a change overcomes him.

At first, Tyrone thought he was suffering strange dreams, one where he wasn’t human, but something else…he would have chalked this up to something he ate, but he almost always woke in the nude, clothes nowhere to be seen.

Figuring this was simply fatigue, Tyrone went about his day until he overheard fellow students talking about a phantom cat which started to frequent the campus…a feline which started to appear at the time of his dreams.

So, on the night of the next full moon, Tyrone set up a camera to record his actions during the night, though he felt a little foolish doing so. The next morning, he suffered the same dreams…and lack of clothing…as ever. When he played the camera, he was shocked to see that there was more to his dreams…that he changed into a lion.

Tyrone didn’t know what to do with this knowledge, and he went through the next few days in a daze. This might have continued when an older student tapped him on the shoulder, and asked him out to coffee.

Tyrone replied that while he was flattered by the attention, he wasn’t interested in a date…to which the woman chuckled. Introducing herself as Ashley, the woman said she wasn’t looking to get into a relationship, but just that if Tyrone didn’t stop his feline antics, he could get them all in trouble.

Tyrone realized this woman seemed to know what he was, and agreed to coffee…whereupon he saw he wasn’t the only person to go through such things. However, this knowledge isn’t all good since it also means there are malevolent forces in the shadows…shadows which aren’t afraid to strike back.

C14 Dating officially out!

This week I’ve also officially released C14 Dating! Below you can see the beautiful game trailer:

You can try the demo and purchase the game here: http://winterwolves.com/c14dating.htm

For those stuck or needing help, there’s a nice tip/walkthrough thread in my forums: http://www.winterwolves.net/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=3824

As always you’ll be able to redeem Steam codes for the game once it’s live there (probably end of April or May).

The wind of change

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IMGP9596
Need to give credit to my wife for the nice photo above!

And now after writing this title, I have the good old Scorpions’ song stuck in my mind!

“Listening to the wind of change” or better listening to the critiques, to suggestions by other more experienced indie, and listening to my heart 😉

Between this and last year I have learned a lot, and I’ve decided that (after the current “batch” of games is done) it’s time to change:

  • no more “insanely huge epic games”. I know, I know. Everyone would like very big, long games (even if honestly I haven’t finished yet some AAA titles because… they were too long!). Anyway, I’ve realized it’s not possible anymore, with the exception of a few titles like could be Loren 2 and Roger Steel (big RPGs) to make games too big. I’m talking from the story point of view. I want to have a good story, but also add more gameplay. When I talk with more successful indies doing the same kind of games, I’m often surprised to see that their wordcount is always not even half of my most recent titles!
  • story based on the gameplay, and not vice versa. When I will make more “hybrid games”, apart of course the usual VN/Dating sims/RPGs, I will first decide the gameplay and then craft the story around it, or at least design them at same time. This is even more important for “experimental games” like PSCD was. In that case it was a mess (because of first coder quitting) but in general for my own games it’s not wise to have a story written and then have to code the gameplay around it. The result can’t be good. So, first design the gameplay, and then have a story to complement it.
  • much clear separation of genres. One of the strong points of my games (based on what OTHER people say, so it’s not my opinion) has always been the mix with visual novel and other gameplay genres. Well, there will still be this. But if the two genres don’t work well together (like visual novel and card games) doesn’t make sense to mix them, better have two separate games. Or if I still want to have story and gameplay, the story cannot be 200k word long, 10+ romances, etc. It’s just not possible to do that in the current climate, to have a huge story AND good gameplay. I should price the games over $30, and that’s honestly not going to work anymore right now, so it’s not really my choice! So instead of that, a card game for $9.99 and a story-based game for $19.99 for example (just a simple example of what I mean).
  • less grinding, more fun. For the dating/raising sim, one of the major complaints of my past games was the grinding. I’m definitely going to address that. For the record, I don’t consider grinding using a scheduler like Roommates. More like the various activities in Nicole to reach the required stats. Love Bites should be a good example of a dating sim with stat raising but not grinding. For the RPGs instead, I’m going to leave it. Since many RPG players like to grind! 😉
  • gameplay-only games. I had already announced this, and it’s also related to future card games. I’ll make more (not just card games, even other genres) games like this to be sold at cheaper price, since I think is good to have a bit of variety over the dating sims/RPGs/VNs.
  • shorter but full of branching story-games. As you know I want to make a CYOA/old gamebook style game in future, illustrated with pictures. Well, that one won’t be 100k words, but even if it’s only 50k words will have a lot of branching. After all Bionic Heart has one of the highest review rating on Steam of all my games, and it’s just a little more than 50k words! Of course, I won’t write the games myself, only the storyboards.

OK I think I’ve explained enough! For many games that will be out (even next year) the things above won’t apply since I started them time ago, so they will still have maybe some grinding or be really “too big” (but of course since the text has been already written, it’s not like I’ll cut it down!).

But in future, doing the things above, I should be able to release games more regularly, and some of them cheaper than usual (which in the current climate seems very important) and even if the word count might be lower, the overall fun (and critic/players reception) will probably be higher. At least that’s what I hope, we’ll see!

For those wondering about the progress on games, I made a sort of estimate release schedule in my forums, which I copy paste here:

END OF MARCH
– launch C14 Dating on my site “soft release”. Probably on Steam towards end of April or early May
– finish all the QoT romance coding (not much left)

APRIL
– Forsaken and artist should finish the last scenes/CG for QoT
– I will take a look on Heirs & Graces and probably code the gameplay and start the beta maybe (though could be delayed to May)
– decide what to do with Undead Lily gameplay, possibly a RPG. Make a detailed storyboard this time :)
– probably do the PSCD extra romances free add-on (though could slip into May)

MAY
– Heirs & Graces beta
– Queen Of Thieves beta

JUNE
– hopefully release of both Heirs & Graces and Queen Of Thieves, but this last one could be delayed to July

JULY-AUGUST
– it’s likely that will be too hot to work as usual, plus I might want to take a break considering the insane amount of releases this year! I might do a few prototypes for new games though

SEPTEMBER
– Love Bites beta (though it’s just too early to say it now)

That’s all for now! Happy Easter by the way 🙂