If you weren't able to pick up on it by now using context clues from the itch cover image, the change log's mention of "strategy elements," or me trying really hard not to spoil it for early access, v0.20 of Maids & Masters sees you go to war. This mode stitches together the region maps for four different zones, gives you control over three squads of Maids, and has you march, turn by turn, toward the enemy Estate.
This sort of deep dive is normally something I'd save for Patreon/Subscribestar, but war mode is kinda special, and I said I'd do this last week, so I'm doing it. If you like reading this sort of thing, click a link and consider supporting me - it'd mean a lot, and I do this on a smaller scale pretty regularly with the Patch Notes posts. I also don't have to worry about spoilers as much, because Patrons and Subscribers obviously get the early access builds, but I'll be trying to avoid any spoilers here and only talk about the mechanics. Which shouldn't be hard. There are a lot of them.
To set a base line, there are 52 switches and 42 variables that are dedicated to war mode. This doesn't include the count for things like the puzzle variables and switches, random number variables, and other older switches that are still relevant during the war; that's only the switches and variables created specifically for war mode. It takes that many because war mode is the only time enemies respawn, the only time you need to control more than just your player character, and one of the very few times you can lose a fight and keep playing. I also need to know where everybody is at any given time.
A single squad has two variables to determine their X and Y positions on the map, a switch to check whether or not that squad has been defeated and is reviving, a variable to check which turn they should revive on if they're defeated, and to simulate "fog of war," a final switch to determine whether or not you know where that squad is and should be able to see them. The wolves are a little different because they don't revive, and the support squads are a little different because they don't move, but ultimately everything still works the same way. So, to go over how a turn flows:
It starts with you selecting your squads and moving them around. You do have some other options, like "Status" (that gives you a readout of some basics about the Maids in that squad, which uses some of those puzzle variables so I can actually print the number for you to see) and "Rest Up," but for the sake of post length, I won't get too in-depth about those. Your Maids, being under your direct control, get to move a little faster, being able to move 3 steps in a cardinal direction or 2 steps in a diagonal. That was actually fairly easy to set up since I can just use "move route" commands; I just needed one for every possible option. Once a squad has moved, a switch flips to say that their "turn" has ended, and you can either go move your other squads, or interact with a moved squad again to undo their move or get their status. Undoing a squad's move was also mercifully simple; I don't set their location variables until the "end of turn" phase, so if "undo move" is selected, I just use that squad's location variables to set that squad's location to match those variables again. Once all three squads have moved, you get the option to undo all moves or end the turn. And that's when things get kinda messy.
During the "end of turn" phase (when you see the "Enemy Movement" image), the first thing that happens is I update the variables that keep track of where your squads should be. Then I check if you used that "Rest Up" option. If a squad is resting, then I do a bunch of math and check if you have the Champion's Belt trophy (which, in this case, doubles the healing you get by resting) or if you're within range of a liberated village or Estate (which completely restores the squad) and restore HP and TP accordingly. I also completely recover Melissa and Phoebe, since they're supposed to be at your Estate and are able to "rest" every turn. To give you a sense of scale for this next part, that covers roughly 400 lines of script, and it's one of the simpler aspects of how I made all this work.
Next, that "enemy movement" image actually appears, and enemies start moving. The wolves move at random and support squads stand still, but the five enemy squads that do move need to be told where to move. They're a little slower than your squads, only moving two steps in cardinal directions or one step diagonally, but they need movement instructions for each possible position they're in. I simplified that by checking their Y position (which there are 42 options for) and based on what "row" they're in, I have them move according to whether they're to the left or right of a given "column." This means just movement for these enemy squads took roughly another 450 lines of script (which is a rough estimate; I'm not counting all that). But before an enemy moves, it checks if one of your squads is adjacent. If you are, combat starts. If you aren't, then the enemy moves and checks again. If you do end up in combat, before combat starts, Melissa and Phoebe get removed from your party and the appropriate squad gets added in so you're fighting with the correct characters. The same thing happens in reverse when combat ends; the squad members get removed and Melissa and Phoebe get added back in. Depending on who loses, some other things happen in between, either setting your squad or the enemy squad as defeated, resetting their location variables so combat doesn't trigger while they're KO'd, and flipping yet another switch to make sure the same squad doesn't try to fight you again if you ran from combat and ended up still being adjacent.
Once all that happens for all 12 possible enemies, a few more checks happen to see if an enemy squad should revive and where or if one of your own squads should revive and what options you have for where they can deploy from. Then there's a check for whether you're trying to go somewhere, whether that's to leave the map entirely or visit somewhere that you can liberate. You're able to visit your own Estate freely during your turn (because technically you're always there, you're just opening and closing the war map), but otherwise going somewhere takes a turn.
With all of that done, the turn counter goes up by one, your squad's "moved" switches are turned off (if they're not waiting to revive), and then we can FINALLY... check for special events. That's right, it's still not your turn again. There are only two story events that take place during the war (not counting the ending or checking on Lothario at the very beginning), but both of those need to trigger dynamically. The first does trigger automatically after a certain number of turns, but it involves the nearby locations, I need to make sure that event triggers before you get the chance to break any sequencing. The second may technically never happen, but it triggers based on the first time you've seen one of the support squads. While those squads don't move and are a little out of the way, they're not that far out of the way. So regardless of when the first time you see one is, the event always triggers the first time you see them.
And now it's your turn again. The "fog of war" effect is handled in real time, with the events for the enemy squads handling their own general proximity to your squads and checking if you should know where they are or not yet. I do it that way because there's also a "front line" mechanic that allows you to travel more freely the further up the map you get (where normally you need a squad next to the place you want to go), as well as other support things that can happen (for example, if you've saved the Nithercott Estate, the Servants there will help scout for enemy squads, revealing them for you). This has led to some jank, with notifications not always happening (especially in the back half of the war when you've reached the swamps), but I haven't even covered everything (like I mentioned up top, there's still details on how the Status option works on your squads, a bunch of options Melissa will report on if you select your Estate on the war map, liberation events, how your choices earlier in the game affects the Estates during this war, and the actual ending events of the war), and frankly, I think I've said enough for one post. There's a reason this update took me so long to make, and all of this was done entirely within RPG Maker's normal capabilities - not a single plugin was used to make all this happen.
Which, as much as I'm bragging about it, I'm very glad plugins exist to handle all of this. Without them, Dawnfall would not have gotten made, nor would I want to make it into a full game. I'm happy having done this just to prove it can be done and never doing it again.
If you want to play v0.20 and see all these mechanics for yourself while it's still in early access, you can get it on Patreon, Subscribestar, and itch. Or at least go tell me this is all really cool and you're glad I put in the effort.
