Maids & Masters v0.23.2 Release

This is going up a little later than it should, but the past couple days have been hectic. Nothing bad, just significantly busier than usual.

Early access still went up on Patreon and Subscribestar yesterday, though. 

 

Changelogs are probably going to be pretty short for these updates since the content is so focused and I'm trying to get all of these done as quickly as possible, but that just means bug fixes should hit the public releases faster.

So here's the changelog for v0.23.2:

v0.23.2
Added June’s remaining character quests and personal content, including:
- Two quests that unlock a new mini-game and a new way to earn Silcrow.
- Completing June’s third affection quest unlocks games with Monty, Lothario, and Farquhar.
- Four new fireside chats.
- Two new variants for June’s love shack scene, available based on affection.
Added Chloe’s remaining character quests and personal content, including:
- Two new quests that (attempt to) address Chloe’s Prestidigitation-fueled needs.
- Four new fireside chats.
- Two new variants for Chloe’s love shack scene, available based on affection.
Added Odette’s remaining character quests and personal content, including:
- Two new quests focused on Odette’s regal lineage and legacy.
- Four new fireside chats.
- Expansions on Odette’s love shack scene, which unlock based on affection.
Fixed a bug where enemy squads’ positions didn’t update after respawning on the war map.
Fixed a love shack bug where affection may not increase if the first affection quest is complete.
Fixed a bug where Estate fast travel sent the player to the war map after the war ended.
Fixed a bug where the player sprite may be incorrect after fighting the Servant of Air.
Fixed a bug that could cause Maids to be missing from the party after fighting the Servant of Air.
Updated some dialogue in Odette’s first affection quest for lore continuity.
Updated the description of Maid’s Ribbon and Maid’s Silk Ribbon to provide more information.
Updated the Pact Ring accessory to provide resistance to emotional ailments.
Updated the description of Pact Ring to indicate it provides ailment resistance.

 

And apparently I never posted the changelog for v0.23.1 here, so here's that as well.

 

v0.23.1
Added Ella’s remaining character quests and personal content, including:
- Two quests that explore Ella’s past and heritage.
- Four new fireside chats, with two having alternate versions based on story progression.
- Two new variants for Ella’s love shack scene, available based on affection.
- Reworked original love shack renders, forty nine new renders, and two new animations.
Added Lalita’s remaining character quests and personal content, including:
- Two new quests that unveil Lalita’s true feelings.
- Four new fireside chats and four new variations on her love shack scene.
- Fifteen new renders and four new animations.
Added Summer’s remaining character quests and personal content, including:
- Two new quests that reveal Summer’s sordid origins.
- Four new fireside chats, one with a variation based on affection level.
- Twenty six new renders and three new animations.
- The ability to unlock Summer as a combat character with water-based Incantation Theurgy.
- Unlocking Summer as a combat character unlocks further Mind Hold advancement options.
Added an event at the Amaira Estate to address its succession.
Fixed a bug that skipped the first half of Roich Accord progress, locking out the trophy.
Fixed a bug in Ella’s first affection quest that could cause the last step to be incompletable.
Fixed a bug where Viridius being upset with you could block progressing his summit.
Fixed a bug where the player wasn’t correctly sent to the war map while the war is active.
Fixed a number of bugs that allowed for unintended sequence breaking during the war.
Fixed a bug where it wasn’t possible to liberate the Beauregard Estate under some conditions.
Fixed a couple of bugs that prevented completing Viridian Legacy under certain conditions.
Fixed a bug where it was possible for the Ventíre Folk to die after saving their Estate.
Fixed a bug where Vendra may not reappear after the war even if the Ventíre Folk were saved.
Fixed two bugs that sent the player to the wrong instance of the Nithercott Estate after the war.
Fixed a bug where Griselda remained in her office during and after the war.
Fixed a bug where June’s Freeze quest operated the objectives for Vicky’s Freeze quest.
Updated those that die during the war to disappear after the war is over.
Updated the event at the end of the war to mark Estates that were not saved as destroyed.
Updated all of Ella’s existing love shack content with new renders.
Updated Nina’s location on the Estate from the Guest House to the Servant’s Quarters.
Updated interaction dialogue for Nina’s room.
Various other minor dialogue and event updates.
  

Maids & Masters (& A Release Date For v0.23.2)

I convinced myself to commit to including Odette with this update, so now it's time for a little good-news-bad-news.

The good news is that the bad news isn't really all that bad.

The bad news is that it's likely there won't be a fourth Maid included in v0.23.2.

 

The reason for this is that I had originally wanted the end of Odette's affection quests to take place inside the castle at the end of the story, which I still intend to make into a mega-dungeon. The problem with that being that even if I decided to make only the parts of that mega-dungeon that were relevant to Odette, it would still take at least a week of designing maps, creating the new enemies, making an attempt at balancing combat with those new enemies (even though the Mind Hold makes proper balance almost impossible), and populating all the interactions for all those new maps.

Instead, I'm redesigning the quest a bit to take place near the castle - in Festadauga. That's still a city-sized map with dozens of buildings and a handful of story-relevant locations and events that won't happen just yet, but I need Festadauga for Nina's affection quests as well once I get that far.

 

What will probably end up happening with Festadauga is the majority of buildings will be lacking doors and I'll fill in the NPCs and maps to explore as I find time in between finishing up these affection quests. That means the map will likely feel pretty boring and/or empty before v1.0, but that's probably better than leaving these quests literally behind a locked door until v1.0 goes into early access even though the quests are going to be done anyway.

That will let me finish Odette's quests (hopefully tomorrow), create Nina's quests more quickly when I start making hers, and gives me something to work on when I don't want a partial update for a Maid to end up in a build earlier than intended.

 

So, more good news - v0.23.2 will be going into early access on Patreon, Subscribestar, and itch this Friday, August 22nd.

Your support has always meant everything to me, but with everything happening, it's more important now than it ever has been. I'd really appreciate it if you'd give one of those links a click and gave me a follow, even if you stick to what's free.

Maids & Masters (& Progress on v0.23.2)

It's been so long since I've done a normal development update post that I kinda feel like I've forgotten how to start one of these things.

There's obviously still a lot going on in the gaming/censorship/online surveillance situation, but while I'm certainly directly affected by it and am keeping up with things as they develop, I'm also not an activist or a news source. I would still like to strongly encourage you to watch videos like those by Bellular both to keep yourself aware of what's happening and to know what to talk about when you keep calling payment processors to tell them how deeply not okay this whole situation is. If you're not sure what to say or which number to call, there are guides like this one on reddit.

I'm sure you're sick of hearing about this - I know I am - but I don't intend to take this kind of treatment lying down, and you shouldn't either.

 

As for actual development news, I made a post for Patrons/subscribers on Patreon/Subscribestar with a bit of a preview as well as a strategy on how to properly balance things so I can keep development going at a reasonable pace without feeling like I'm trying to squeeze blood from a stone.

It seems like it's working so far - June was a little more mechanically complex than I expected, but all of her content is now done, complete with a few instances of additional side content to be able to play the new mini-game with other Masters and be able to earn more Silcrow. Chloe is also about halfway done, and since she doesn't have any new mechanics to implement like June does, I'm hoping to have her done tomorrow or Thursday.

 

It's still not quite the pace I'd prefer to be developing at, but v0.23.2 is going a lot faster than v0.23.1 did so far, and that's a win I'm happy to take.

Right now, the plan is to put up a test build this Friday so those two (and more importantly, the new mini-game) can be tested. Patch notes will also go up for Patrons/subscribers as usual. If I manage to keep up this pace, I should be able to get two more done - the plan right now is Emily and Odette - for v0.23.2's release the following week.

If I can keep that rhythm, I'll be able to give you updates every two weeks with four Maids each.

Kickstarter Campaign: Bidomon

I've promoted a few projects here, both that I've worked on and just to help out some of my fellow game developers, but this is a little different. Mostly because it's on Kickstarter.

  

Welcome to the world of Bidomon. Monster Girls are aplenty and they are looking for one thing: to feed off of lustful energies and satisfy their libido. Venture out into the wilds to tame Monster Girls, grow your bond with them, and satiate their lustful needs in this 18+ Hentai RPG inspired by the Pokémon and Monster Girl Quest series.

 

You've just come of age to take the Tamer Exams. You've wanted nothing more than to travel, protect people from the dangers of the world, and bond with some Bidomon. Along the way, you'll uncover a dark and mysterious organization with an unknown agenda. Will you be able to foil their plot?

 

This campaign is focused on delivering the First Chapter of the game. Running this focused campaign will ensure that the project stays in scope and show that we're capable of delivering. 

If you want to check out the campaign and the backer rewards, click here: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kurjenrahija/bidomon-chapter-1

There's also a Discord server that you can join to get the latest updates on the project here:

 https://discord.gg/HBw9rmBCHq