Maids & Masters (& v0.23's First Update)

I already talked about this a bit ago, but I think it bears repeating after the recent burnout and the delays it's caused in getting v0.23 out in the world.

v0.23 will be coming out in several parts. This first update (which will be going into early access on Friday unless something terrible happens) will be on the smaller side for a few reasons. The obvious reason aside, I've been getting a lot of bug reports regarding the last few updates, which has taken up a lot of time that could have otherwise been spent developing new content (which, to be clear, is not a sign to stop sending bug reports or similar feedback; it is always and will remain incredibly helpful). I also decided to start with Ella, since her story is the one I've been wanting to tell the most, and she took a little more work than what I expect the average Maid to take. Roughly 50 new renders, two new animations, and all but 5 of her existing fireside chat renders got reworked because I lost the scene data for the original renders.

 

The good news is that Ella's bit is all done now. I still want to take a more detailed test run through it all to make sure there aren't any obvious bugs, but that aside, that's one Maid down with just... 21 left to go.

Hoo boy.

Once I build some momentum back up, things should go pretty quickly, though. Basically all of Ella's new renders, both of the new animations, and close to a third of the writing was done inside of a single day. It really is just a matter of getting back into the swing of things, and I'll be able to get an update out every 2-3 weeks with at least 3-4 Maids per update.

 

That does mean v1.0 won't be here until September at the earliest, but if this little stumbling episode has taught me anything, it's that it's best to take this whole thing one step at a time instead of trying to sprint to the finish line.

I'm not quite sure which Maid I want to start on next to also include in this first v0.23 update, but I'm writing this in advance so I have more time to do development the day I post this. I'll have picked and started working on someone by the time you're reading this.

So, obligatory Patreon and Subscribestar links. If you like what I do, please consider supporting me if you can.

And here's not one, but two bundle links. More on those next week, but if you wanna go check them out now, I won't stop you.

Maids & Masters (& Still Starting on v0.23)

Man, burnout sucks.

It really feels terrible to falter this close to the finish line, and I really would feel so much better if I already had a handful of quest lines done and ready for a test build. However, having been here before, I know if I don't slow down to properly recover, it'll get worse before it gets better.

 

Thankfully, I have largely recovered at this point. I'm not just staring at the editor when I open it and try to get something done - I'm actually making some kind of progress. Right now all I have done is most of Ella's new fireside chats for the love shack and the Task List information for her new quests, but it's something, and I'll take wins where I can get them. 

 

Less fortunately, Ella needs new renders for those fireside chats, and even less fortunately, I don't seem to have the old scene data for the original renders, which means all of her love shack renders need to be remade. This isn't the worst thing ever, since Ella's renders where among the first I made when I was first building everything for the love shack and her renders kinda need to be redone anyway. That didn't stop the pang of dread from all the extra work that I discovered I'll need to do, though.

 

This is also a rather busy week for me, so it's hard to say if I'll be able to get anything done except Ella's content. It's entirely possible that this Friday's Patreon/Subscribestar post is a test build that's just Ella, but I'm hoping that by the time everything is done for her, I'll have built up a little more momentum and I'll be able to fit at least two more Maids into the actual release of v0.23. As much as there's a large volume of quests and words and renders to be implemented, it's also all pretty straightforward, and that makes it easy to test.

 

Sorry for the last few weeks being as slow as they have been. Just know that I don't like it either, and I'm actively working at doing something about it. 

Maids & Masters (& (Slowly) Starting on v0.23)

The first bit of development news on v0.23 is how it's going to be coming out. Over on Patreon (and Subscribestar), I held a poll asking my supporters if they wanted one big update, or complete individual quest lines, or layers of quests, and they overwhelmingly voted for complete individual quest lines.

I don't want to have updates be as small as a single quest line for each Maid, both because that would make for very small updates and because that would have me developing v0.23 for more than 20 weeks, and I fully intend to have Maids & Masters enter v1.0 before the end of the year. I admittedly also wanted to get updates out faster than I have this year and already be at v1.0, but Maids & Masters has been an entire story of things taking longer and being bigger than expected.

 

That is unfortunately where development news more or less ends. After v0.22 released, burnout hit me like a ton of bricks. I desperately want to continue development at the pace I have been, but every time I make the attempt, almost nothing gets done and I end the day feeling awful.

I have kept up with bug reports, but it's basically all I've been able to manage. I've been organizing the events for the mothers, since v0.23 should see all of them fully complete and implemented, but I'm not going to force myself through implementing anything right now. I learned this lesson a long time ago -  if I force my way through this, I'll end up burnt out for the rest of the year and v1.0 won't come until 2026, and it'll be covered in bugs and lacking polish and I'll spend months fixing it. It's significantly better to take the time to recuperate and come back to development as fresh as possible.

 

And it's not like I'm falling off the face of the planet while I recover, either. I'm still going to be posting weekly both here and on Patreon, and I've put what little energy I do have for work into learning more about and getting better with the visual fidelity of my work. Despite it not being much time in total, I've made a huge amount of progress through familiarizing myself with all these assets and options that I've never touched before. I'm even realizing how out of date some of the things I'm working with are, since I've been holding back from updating my software to keep everything stable and reliable while I work on Maids & Masters.

 

Something I'm considering is using what I've learned for bonus renders while I'm still working on Maids & Masters. This is particularly relevant because I have a bonus render poll running on Patreon/Subscribestar right now, and there's another excuse for bonus renders coming later this summer (which will almost assuredly come with its own bonus render poll). If you want to see what I'm on about (or if I've actually improved my visuals), scroll back up to the top of the post and click one of those links. That's where the renders will go first.

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Maids & Masters (& Following Up On v0.22)

I can tell I was mostly running on momentum getting v0.22 done. I feel like I've just got done taking a sled down a snowy hill, but the sled was my face, and now I'm just lying at the bottom hoping nothing runs me over before I find the energy to move again.

 

The good news is that I haven't had any bug reports for v0.22's early access or v0.21's public release yet. I have had a handful of bugs be reported, but it's mostly for older content. One I'm still investigating, and another pertained to Roich and Caitlainn, where it was possible to skip the first half of the Accord progression by getting to Adhdre (and then proceed to the Hold) without actually ever meeting Caitlainn, which could lead to the variable moving more than it's supposed to when you start gathering signatures, which would cause progression to break once you hit the point where the game thinks you're done with the Accord progression despite not actually having the Accord yet. Worse still, this could cause Ella's first affection quest to not trigger correctly, leaving you unable to complete that quest.

Adhdre has not been fixed to stop that from happening, but it continues to frustrate me that I miss these things that are pretty game-breaking and have been broken for as long as they have.

 

But despite whatever frustration with myself I might feel, I also continue to be incredibly grateful to those that send me those bug reports so that I can find and fix those issues. Maids & Masters wouldn't be what it is without you. Keep those reports coming.

 

There unfortunately isn't much news for me to share about v0.23 yet. Being as wiped out as I am, I need to take a little time to recover, but I had a wave of client work come in right as I was approaching the finish line for v0.22, so now I need to focus on getting all of that done before I can return to Maids & Masters. One client is already squared away (or at least they should be; there might be some adjustments to the script that still need to be made once the current draft has been reviewed), but I have an entire checklist for another client I need to address, and a third I have an outline for that I've been meaning to send to them for approval for about a month now. There's no hard deadlines for those second two, but I don't like leaving my clients waiting on me.

 

Though there will be a poll coming for Patrons and Subscribers over on Patreon and Subscribestar about how to go about all the character quests coming in v0.23, as well as more bonus renders on the way (which you'll get to vote for first, then they'll go up another week), and by the time you get through all that, there's going to be test builds and patch notes. If any of that sounds like something you might be interested in, go give one of those links a click.

Maids & Masters v0.22 Release

I was really hoping development on this would've gone a little faster than it did, but this update still took me about 45 minutes to get through on my personal play through and I'm very happy with the final results. The bosses are all much more satisfying to overcome than I thought they'd be, so be prepared for the toughest fights in the game so far along with some new styles of puzzle and some tweaks and updates to combat mechanics that should hopefully really hammer home just how far you've come since you were scrounging up scrap wood in between fighting wolves to fix up your floors.

 

Here's the change log:

v0.22
Added the next story segment and final region of Commorance - the Northlands. Including:
- A new region to explore, featuring 6 Folk villages and 6 unique mini-dungeons.
- Six new trophies to earn - one for each mini-dungeon.
- Nina’s first scene.
Added a bugfix feature to the war map to allow entering the Estate after the war ends.
Added a bugfix feature to help prevent Maid squads from being stuck in the map corner.
Added new books to Uncle Gil’s library containing information relevant to Anne’s quizzes.
Added the same books to the library along with a message to indicate Trophy 31 is available.
Added Vicky and Nina to the group rooms away from the player Estate.
Added June, Chloe, Iris, and Nina to the affection check-in room.
Added an Affection Check-In option to the Homing Stone menu.
Added Iris, Vicky, June, Chloe, Nina, and Celine to the randomized wake-up event list.
Added non-randomized wake-up events to the Maids’ personal beds.
Added Nina to the arena.
Added Trophy 38, found in Baleflight Hold after the war, earned based on actions in the war.
Added additional dialogue for some costumes dependent on wearing the associated costume.
Fixed a bug that teleported the player outside of the war when using the Mind Hold headstone.
Fixed a bug that caused a war event to trigger prematurely in the Edgerton Estate.
Fixed a bug that may cause a death to not occur when intended during the war.
Fixed a bug that caused Summer’s wake-up event to cause a game crash.
Fixed a bug that caused the player sprite to be incorrect if Teely escorted you to the war room.
Fixed a bug that sent the player to the wrong exit when leaving the Ash Lands cave.
Fixed a bug that sent the player to the wrong instance of Ventire when entering from the wilds.
Fixed a bug that caused a set of enemies from war mode to appear prematurely.
Fixed a bug that disabled some events during the Amaira catacombs escape sequence.
Fixed a bug that sent the player to the wrong instance of the Beauregard Estate during the war.
Fixed a bug that caused Jeannie to be in the wrong place during negotiations with Viridius.
Fixed a bug where enemies would not correctly lose the Evade state.
Fixed a bug where physical skills may have ignored physical damage resistance.
Fixed a bug where physical skills did not correctly change elements with “force” states.
Fixed a bug that caused Charmed Blast to not have a chance to Charm enemies.
Fixed a bug that caused equipped weapons to override the “force” elements on physical skills.
Updated some Cumhaill object interactions to change after the player’s Estate is repaired.
Updated Deirlinn’s brother’s checks to more accurately be affected by Deirlinn’s pregnancy.
Updated Celine’s Freeze instances to match her non-Freeze Service and Move options.
Updated existing Maids in the affection check-in to all have versions up to 100 affection.
Updated the Affection Check-In map so it’s more centered in the game window.
Updated the wake-up event to not include a scene for Kala that was intended to be removed.
Updated the path toward Baleflight in Clannestad to allow visiting his Hold after the war.
Updated Farquhar’s old Estate fights to have a proper battle background.
Updated the sprite spacing on the Formation screen so the right-most sprite is not cut off.
Updated the description of Radiant Blast and Radiant Explosion for greater mechanical clarity.
Updated the damage calculation of Incantation skills to be slightly higher.
Updated the bonus percentage chance of the Evasion state to be higher.
Updated the bonus percentage chance of the Magic Evade state to be lower, matching Evasion.
Updated Radiant Boon to have a chance to bestow the Immortal state.
Updated Dark Boon to cause the target’s next attack to be a guaranteed critical.
Updated the descriptions of Radiant Boon and Dark Boon to reflect their changes.
Updated relevant skill descriptions to indicate they ignore elemental resistances.
Updated Charming Aura to be a magic attack instead of only inflicting Charm.
Updated the various “boon” skills to remove the “force” states they don’t apply.
Various other minor dialogue, event, and map updates.

Maids & Masters (& A Release Date For v0.22)

It's gonna kinda come down to the wire, but we're gonna get there. I still have some NPCs to populate in four of the six villages in the new region, but the puzzles are done and playtested, and while I still need to playtest and properly balance them, the bosses are done, and while I still need to go retrieve them so I can playtest them as well, all the trophies are obtainable. Populating the NPCs is the last step to take before all that playtesting can happen. That only leaves about a day for that playtesting to happen in, but I've done that amount of work on tighter time frames before, so I'm pretty confident in v0.22 releasing this Friday, May 30th.

 

The new region isn't going to be quite as content-dense as I initially wanted it to be, but I also initially wanted the villages to be larger and have minimum two side quests each, which was likely to feel like nonsense busy-work compared to the actual story that takes place there. That's content I don't really feel bad for cutting. If anything, that kind of content will probably work best for affection quests and it's for the better that it was cut for the time being. It certainly takes some weight off of the amount of work that needs to be done before the update is finished.

 

The dungeons are also more like mini-dungeons than proper full dungeons, because all there is to them is their individual puzzle and their associated boss (except for one, but there's some story for that). I've still had a lot of fun putting them all together and designing all the puzzles, so I'm hoping they end up being just as much fun to play through.

 

If you want to get your hands on the update on Friday, go check out my Patreon and/or Subscribestar. I've also got bonus renders, polls, patch notes, and if you're a VIP, regular test builds coming for you over there, and the support keeps me making games. Games like the one you'll get to vote on me making next once Maids & Masters is done.

Bundle of Joy - Adult Games With Pregnancy Bundle

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Maids & Masters (& Lots More Progress on v0.22)

This past week has been very productive, but also very draining. Maps are functionally complete (there are still a few that need making, but they're very specific extra maps that I'm not going to worry about including until after the puzzles are done), and the way all these new dungeons are supposed to function is all set in place. That means all that's left before moving on to story and enemy implementation is designing and implementing all the puzzles, which is also partially done. It's also why I feel so drained.

 

Puzzle design, at least for me, isn't just thinking up a solution and a method and connecting the dots. I also have to consider every possible incorrect answer and accommodate for it to make sure I don't break the game. If you make a move within the puzzle, that move needs to either be easily reset or  undone, or be a step toward the solution. In an ideal situation, both should be true. The more complex the puzzle, the greater the opportunity for incorrect answers, the more things my brain needs to keep track of at the same time.

 

I've gotten pretty decent at thinking in these terms for sokoban puzzles (those things where you push around a crate or a boulder to open a path), but given that I have the opportunity to bring in new puzzle designs, I've got to teach myself to think in new ways to make sure these puzzles work in a logical sense, not just a mechanical sense. I know some of the trophies can be pretty esoteric in the way you obtain them (cue Mind Maze trauma), but I do my best to avoid moon logic when it comes to progressing through the main story. I usually have a lot of fun with it regardless, but it can be mentally taxing.

 

It's a good thing most of it is close to done. There's just one puzzle left to finish implementing (more accurately, one step out of a three-step puzzle, but each step is its own puzzle; it's hard to explain without spoiling anything) and one more to finish designing (the basics are done, but the specific mechanics aren't, so the puzzle can't be solved yet), so I'm pretty confident in committing to a test build going out this Friday. It won't include any of the bosses at the end of these dungeons (and likely no NPCs, and no other story bits), but if you're a VIP on Patreon or Subscribestar, you'll still be able to solve the puzzles and explore all the new maps. If you're a regular Patron/Subscriber, you'll get the patch notes where I'll go into more detail on how these puzzles work.

 

I'm trying to avoid pushing myself into crunch time to implement more so the build is closer to complete since this is a chunkier update, but I'm also eager to put it into early access. I'm at this weird intersection between the new content nearly being done, but also missing a ton of detail work. It makes it feel like I could have v0.22 ready at the end of next week if I push hard enough, but I've been doing this for long enough that I know there's not just the last few steps of puzzles and the bosses to implement. Not to mention leaving room for final testing. I want each of these dungeons to come with its own trophy, too, which means six meta-puzzles in addition to the necessary dungeon puzzles.

I still think I can manage to get v0.22 into early access this month, but only time will tell.

Maids & Masters (& Progress on v0.22)

I have hit the part of developing the update where a large amount of work has been done but there's not a whole lot to talk about. The number of new maps is up to about 50 (which is more or less in line with the other more dense regions), with the vast majority of that being dedicated to Folk villages. I haven't added all the usual interactions to all the new maps yet in favor of starting to design the new shrine dungeon maps. Which, while they aren't done yet, there's plenty to talk about there.

 

I don't want to give too much about those away, but I want to design something besides a sokoban puzzle for these shrines to center around. Not to say there won't still be one - there is, and it's so far the only dungeon that's mechanically complete - but I've used that style of puzzle a lot, and I'd really like to flex some other puzzle-making muscles without going backwards to making a simple maze (though, full disclosure, one of the shrines is just a maze, too).

 

The puzzle I'm currently working on is another top-down RPG classic that I've never really had the opportunity to mess with, but is still kinda in the game - an ice slide puzzle. Rather than push a box or boulder around to open a path or trigger something, you do the sliding. This currently only exists on the Freeze version of the home Estate's pool, and only as a source for jokes rather than a puzzle, so it'll be fun to get to include a new puzzle type now that there's some ice involved.

 

Another one that I'm looking forward to making but may be a little difficult to implement properly from a visual standpoint is a light-bending puzzle. I don't want to make it overly complex, but the general idea is that you'll have to push these orbs into place in order to get them to cast light in the direction you've pushed them in until they're casting light into the receiver that solves the puzzle. This one is likely to end up being something that leads to a trophy rather than being required for the critical path, so the lacking visuals will likely end up being an added layer of difficulty that I leave be rather than trying to make it more accessible.

 

The part that I need to put some effort into to make sure it isn't overly frustrating for people are the boss fights in these shrine dungeons. I want these to be puzzles unto themselves, putting some kind of limitation on you that - at a glance - might make the fight seem impossible, such as the boss giving you the Flame Force buff (which raises your Attack, halves the fire damage you take, and changes your attack element to fire instead of doing physical damage) when the boss is immune to fire damage.

 

Of course, almost none of this is playable yet, much less tested for balance, but I've only got two more of these dungeons to make maps for, so that's going to change fairly quickly. Not "there will be a test build on Friday" quickly, but v0.22 will definitely be going into early access in May. If you're interested, both Patreon and Subscribestar see test builds for VIPs, patch notes for supporters, and the thing that will actually be getting posted this Friday - bonus renders. Not to mention that once Maids & Masters is complete, a poll will be going up for which project that currently exists as a demo will be getting made into a full game.

Maids & Masters (& Starting v0.22)

This week has gotten away from me in more ways than one. The weekend was good and productive, though, so the list of outstanding QoL updates that I've added to my notes from feedback on v0.19 and v0.20 is now empty. Even a few things here and there that were left over from even earlier than that, which feels good to have removed from the to-do list. That also means I get to move properly into development on v0.22.

 

But before I get too far into that, I want to mention the new public poll that's available on both Patreon and Subscribestar. The poll is for which of the mothers of Maids & Masters get bonus renders to celebrate Mayternity/Mother's Day. You can cast your vote without being a paying Patron/Subscriber, and those links also go straight to the poll so you don't have to dig for it. The poll ends this Friday with a preview render, with the full set going up next week. More details are in the poll posts.

 

With that out of the way - v0.22. I've really only started on the maps for the new content, but going into the Northlands is the final region of Maids & Masters. On top of all the content I need for the bare minimum of the story, I also want to make the region more content-dense than the other regions have been. I'm not sure exactly how far I'll go with things like side quests, but I definitely want to leave myself the room to add it in. Though, strangely enough, I doubt the number of maps for the region will be any higher than map counts have been before this point.

 

Depending on how an Estate gets split up, some regions need fifty or more maps to cover everything even though there's only one to three Estates and maybe a village. The Northlands will mostly be villages, which usually need far fewer individual maps to feel complete. The region is also going to feel more like the mountains than the deserts in terms of exploration. There will be more wilds maps than the mountains, but you won't need to move through the wilds to get into the villages from the region map, and you won't end up in the wilds the moment you step off the path like in the deserts.

 

What I'm really looking forward to (though haven't had the chance to start designing them in-engine yet) are the dungeon maps. While Holds and the wilds have served as the dungeons of Maids & Masters so far, I really haven't made a proper fantasy dungeon yet, and v0.22 needs six of those.

Technically it needs seven, but I think I've also settled fully into the idea of v0.22 being the "first half" of the end of the story and v0.23 being focused on character quests so v1.0 lines up with the end of the story. It does mean that the base v1.0 update might not be absolutely massive, but I do want to make what will hopefully be a really fun mega-dungeon that fits all the other Northlands dungeon mechanics together while you explore what was once the castle of the former queen. 

All that's really left is to make sure the ideas in my head actually translate properly into gameplay.