Maids & Masters (& Following Up on v0.6.3)

The big parts of what I wanted to get done for v0.6.3 are finished and part of that build, but as I implied on Friday, there are a few bits I wanted to get done that had to get pushed back because there were some necessary fixing of bugs that needed to happen and get out to people sooner rather than later.

So, what's left? The love shack repair quest was a big thing, but because of the scope of it, the full functionality of that is going to have to wait for the v0.7.x updates. The first wave of repairs (that you need to do in order to unlock the later upgrade option) is now a complete "side quest," but it won't appear in quest tracking.

The rest is a little more subtle. There are some assets I'd like to make to have the gargoyle in the surveillance room move, there are some scenes I'd like to add renders to, there are some updates to the Deep Wilds I'd like to make to make the area worth revisiting every so often, and so on. It's nothing major, but little bits like that which I'm hoping will further improve the overall feel of the game.

It's hard to say how much will actually make it into the next build, because I also want to start getting some work done for the next story segment. A map preview is already part of v0.6.3, and instructions on how to get to it in-game has been sent to my Patrons, but it's not a lot of work so far and I'm still experimenting with some new features. I've got a better idea of what to do with certain story specifics now, but I still want to get a head start on things. I would really like to avoid what happened with v0.6 happening with v0.7. These updates are certainly larger in scope, but not so large that they take me upwards of three or four months to complete.

Maids & Masters v0.6.3 Release

It feels a little rushed to be pushing this out the same day as putting out the public release for the previous version, but now that I've finally had some time to put into a more in-depth playtest... Hoo boy, v0.6.2 was way buggier than I intended it to be.

Most of the bugs should be squashed now, at least through all the content I've been re-working for the last two builds. Speaking of, this build includes the Lothario rework. As with the previous build, it is strongly recommended that if you have a save currently inside of Lothario's maps, save elsewhere in the old version before you load in the new version.

Pushing this out as quickly as I did does mean there will be a v0.6.4 update, but I'll likely take my time with that one. More on that on Tuesday. For now, here's your changelog. Download links will be up on the Patron-only Discord server as they finish uploading.

v0.6.3

Reworked Lothario’s Estate; maps are smaller and some events may have moved or reset.

- Lothario’s hidden attic has been updated with new events and a new reward.

- Hints on how to find the hidden attic have been added.

- The main attic has been completely reworked and provides more exploration rewards.

- Asking about the secret attic after finding it now has a bigger impact on negotiations.

- Added three new introduction renders for Alice.

- The Servant’s quarters have been removed from the grounds and absorbed into the mansion.

- The “south wing” rooms have been removed, with the NPCs there being moved elsewhere.

- The bookshelves on the Estate have been updated to correctly count towards Trophy 9.

- Updated the dialogue for all of Lothario’s Maids.

- The western attic has been completely reworked and provides more exploration rewards.

- Updated the dancing Blondie’s behavior if you accept Lothario’s offer for her to entertain you.

Added events to Lothario to react to events happening at the Amaira Estate.

Added an instance of Bianca to the guest room in Lothario’s mansion.

Added missing Escort options to later instances of Teely.

Added fast travel options to the exit of Cumhaill.

Fixed a bug where the bonus for 10+ wolf pelts in Cumhaill sometimes wouldn’t trigger correctly.

Fixed a bug where some Scrap Wood objects would still delete with 99 in the inventory.

Fixed a bug where trees at the Augalamh pond wouldn’t add Scrap Wood to the inventory.

Fixed a bug where some Scrap Stone objects incorrectly gave Scrap Wood.

Fixed a bug where repairing the Master Bedroom could start earlier than intended.

Fixed a bug where entering the uncle’s Estate for the first time could cause the game to lock up.

Fixed a bug where a stair transfer in the uncle’s Estate would put the player in an invalid space.

Fixed a bug where Teely may transport the player to the wrong instance of the Master Bedroom.

Updated some tileset elements to better fit the tiles they occupy.

Updated gathering Scrap Wood to be a sound rather than a text notification for most objects.

Updated gathering Scrap Stone to be a sound rather than a text notification for most objects.

Updated “unlocking” sound effects to be a more appropriate sound.

Updated Emily’s shop so that purchasing more item Contracts (potions, etc.) gives more items.

Various other minor map, event, and dialogue updates and bug fixes.

Maids & Masters v0.6.2 Public Release

v0.6.2 is now available to the public. Links have been updated on the Downloads page.

For those interested, the changelog is here.

 

As an extra reminder, the uncle's Estate has been totally reworked. Maps are 30-60% smaller, and some have been removed entirely. If your save currently has you in the uncle's Estate, it is strongly advised you leave and save on the region map before loading your save in the newest version. Please check the changelog for full details.

Maids & Masters (& Progress on v0.6.3)

Oh, hey, a Tuesday update that's actually on Tuesday! Turns out I haven't forgotten which day of the week is which.

Lothario's rework has gone surprisingly smoothly. It's still taken me the entirety of the last 5 days to get everything done, but I'm down to just filling in the new things with new events, a playtest pass, fixing any bugs I find in there, and then it should be ready for the next build. I expected Lothario to be more complicated than the uncle's Estate because of the story content and event complexity, but so far it's been much easier. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

Once that's done, most of my effort is going to be on experimenting with possible solutions to reduce some of the tedium. I think I've landed on a solution I like, but actually implementing it is going to be a very tedious process, so I have no idea how long that's going to take. Hopefully it works out, because there are other places I'd also like to implement similar things to reduce tedium. After that, it's finishing up some of the newer stuff (like the rest of the love shack) and trying to give some attention to smaller things, but I can't say how much of that is going to fit in this next build.

 

Hopefully most of it, because while reworking and updating all this old content is necessary, it's not the most creatively fulfilling, and I'm starting to burn myself out a little.

Maids & Masters v0.6.2 Release

After taking a day to think about it and take inventory on all the other changes, updates, and additions I want to make, I think it's best if I just give ya'll the release. The uncle's Estate still isn't perfect, but it's a lot better than it was, and if anyone has some feedback on further improvements, it's better to get that feedback now before I work it over so much there's not much left to change.

 

Speaking of the uncle's Estate, the changelog does cover most of the important changes, but there is still one very important thing to know about it - all of the maps are significantly smaller (most by about 30%, some as much as 60%, and one has been removed entirely). If your save currently has you in the uncle's Estate, it is strongly advised you leave and save on the region map before loading your save in the newest version. Also relevant is that some things will have reset. For example, if Trophy 6 was used to unlock the attic doors, they'll be locked again. Some exploration rewards have also moved, which could potentially result in those resetting. If you've already explored the Estate, I do recommend exploring it again; there are new items hidden in various places if all you care about is loot, but if you remember the old version of the Estate, I would greatly appreciate any feedback you have. Did enough change? Should more change? Do you not like the changes? Were you expecting certain changes that didn't make it into the game? Let me know!

 

Teely is also new to this build. If I did it right, it'll seem like she's always been there and has been planned from the start. If I didn't do it right, you'll probably find bugs. Let me know if you run into any of those as well, or any story beats where it makes sense that Teely should be present. I think I got the main one, but I'm waiting to do a more in-depth playtest of older parts of the game until I'm towards the end of the v0.6.x dev cycle so these things are smoothed out going into v0.7 instead of me needing to dedicate every other day to testing things as I implement them.

Anyway, changelog time!

v0.6.2

Reworked the uncle’s Estate; maps are all smaller and some events may have moved or reset.

- Melissa’s room has moved, has had a new event added to it, and has other minor updates.

- “Master’s old room” now exists, and has unique events and exploration rewards.

- Anne (the Head Maid that greets you on entry) now has her own unique room.

- Cedric (the Head Butler and Master’s old instructor) now has his own unique room.

- The third floor (the Servant’s Floor) has been split into a Maid’s Wing and a Butler’s Wing.

- - The Maid’s Wing has different events, with some rooms having events unique to their Maid.

- - The Butler’s Wing has different events, with some rooms having events unique to their Butler.

- The garden that was in the southeast corner of the Estate grounds has been moved west.

- - This garden also has been expanded to have 4 “hidden path” puzzle rewards.

- The Estate grounds now have a back yard, replacing most of the “north wing.”

- New Servants have been created, each with new hints to make Trophy 6 easier to find.

- Laina’s dialogue for Trophy 6 has been updated to better indicate what you’re looking for.

- The “hint trail” for Trophy 6 has been updated to be easier to follow in the new maps.

- Additional exploration rewards have been added throughout the Estate.

- Additional changes following finding Trophy 6 in preparation for the next sidequest here.

Added Teely’s recruitment quest; she’s located in Adhauga.

Added an instance of Teely to serve as a Door Maid after her recruitment quest.

Added an event to handle Teely auto-greeting the player with some customization options.

Added Teely’s Freeze content (new chat dialogue for all Maids, 2nd Service scene, and more).

Added Teely to the Love Shack (the Love Shack itself is still a work in progress).

Added the rescued captive to the Adhauga waterfront.

Removed v0.5 “end of version” message.

Fixed a bug that would send players to Griselda’s central courtyard instead of the docks.

Fixed a bug where Melissa’s chat option would double up during the Freeze.

Fixed a bug with Quinn’s Freeze scene being available without completing her Freeze event.

Fixed a bug that caused the Freeze’s dinner event objects to incorrectly remain visible.

Updated the quest tracking for the Uncle’s Key sidequest.

Updated some bench sprites to look more like benches.

Various other minor event and dialogue updates.

Maids & Masters (& A v0.6.2 Release Date, Probably)

So, first things first - I am still going to try to get a release out this Friday for my Patrons, but currently the only real changes are the uncle's Estate being reworked and Teely being implemented. I'm debating pushing the release back another week so I can fit in some additional changes, but I also want to get the reworked uncle's Estate out to people so I can get feedback on any potential additional changes. So the release for v0.6.2 is probably going to be Friday, but if that doesn't happen, now you know why.

There are still a number of small changes I want to make to Uncle Gil's Estate, but given that they're rather small changes, I'm not sure it's really worth delaying anything over. Those aside, I'm looking forward to getting Lothario's Estate reworked as well; there are some decidedly larger changes I want to make for him, and there's playtesting I want to do that requires him being done first.

Implementing Teely has been more time consuming than expected as well. Her core functionality was simple enough, but she also needed all of her Freeze content (which includes a second scene and a whole new batch of renders, new events, new chat checks so that works as expected for all characters, her personal objectives for the Freeze, etc.). She's been fun enough to write, but it feels like every time I get close to having her fully implemented, there's another thing or two that gets added to the list. She's still really close to done, though. I'm hoping to get her done today (tomorrow?), which will hopefully leave me with enough time to work on some of the smaller things on my to-do list.

Maids & Masters v0.6.1 Public Release

v0.6.1 is now available to the public. Links have been updated on the Downloads page.

For those interested, the changelog is here.

 

As a reminder, the things mentioned in the "known issues" section of the previous changelog should all be addressed. If you find any further issues or bugs adjacent to those issues, please let me know so I can address them.

Maids & Masters (& Progress on v0.6.2)

Oh, shit, it's Wednesday. I was supposed to write this yesterday. Whoops.

If that isn't enough of an indication, v0.6.2 is keeping me busy. I decided to rework the uncle's Estate first, because I have non-rework things to get done still and I expect reworking Lothario's Estate to take more care and attention. It took me the majority of the last 5 days to get done, but it is now (mostly) done. I still want to go through it all and spruce things up so it feels more content-dense, but the maps themselves are now done. 

As for what's changed, the maps are 30-60% smaller, and one map has been removed entirely. Some of them still have the same issues as their previous iterations, such as the Servant's floor - there are over 40 rooms, and only about half a dozen of them have unique events, and only about another half dozen have something worth finding in them. I'm still at a bit of a loss for how exactly I can fill them out (or at least make them unique enough that the curious don't feel like they're just wasting their time), but I've got a couple ideas that might at least help a little. I'll probably go back and forth between that and my next point. One last thing before that

Onto Teely. Teely is a Folk girl living in Adhauga who looks up to Maids and fantasizes about one day being one, but sees herself as far too clumsy for a Master to ever consider her. She's is the second (though for new players, the first you can encounter) optional Maid. Once recruited, she'll serve as a door Maid - she'll stand immediately next to the entrance of your mansion, and offer to escort you to different places as they open up. This means if you want to go home to sleep, rather than walking all the way up to the bedrooms on the second floor, resting, then walking all the way back down, you'll be able to just chat with her. I'm also working on a way for you to be able to toggle whether or not she greets you when you walk inside (and depending on affection levels, you may be able to change how she greets you, if you catch my drift). This is all in development, so I can't say for certain all of this will make it into an actual release, but I'm hopeful.

As usual, I've also got a number of smaller changes to implement. If I've got the time, I'll be adding in the repair quest for the love shack in the hidden grove, which - once completed - will be the first real feature to utilize affection levels. Most of the planned content related to affection levels was never intended to be implemented before act 2, but as development has continued, affection levels are turning out to be higher than I thought they'd be. This would be fine if they were used, but currently the only thing they affect is the dialogue you get when you ask Melissa for a check-in, and one of Emily's scenes in her shop. There's also a QoL improvement that should make picking up large amounts of items on the ground feel smoother/quicker, and a couple of visual improvements through custom sprites I'd like to make, but the visual improvements are very much on the back burner compared to Teely and the QoL stuff.

Phew. Anyway. Public release for v0.6.1 is Friday!

Maids & Masters v0.6.1 Release

v0.6.1 is now available to Patrons. If you're interested in getting early access, please consider supporting me. 

 

All of the "known issues" listed in the previous changelog should now be addressed. I'm pretty sure this is a new record for longest changelog, so I'm gonna keep this nice and short and lay that thing out. 

v0.6.1

Added more Maids to Griselda’s Estate. Most can progress the quest for trophy 15.

Added transfers to gargoyles so the secret paths work both ways (active after completing story).

Added multiple new events to Griselda’s Estate.

Added a new book to the library in Viridius’ Estate.

Added functionality to the hidden Love Shack (interact with the chest if it’s already open).

- Partial implementation; more will be coming for this feature in future builds.

Added a non-Haunt swamps maps with new events and updated existing maps to allow access.

Added Maids outside your guest house on Griselda’s Estate to allow repeating certain scenes.

Added the Hold next to the Augalamh pond that requires the Damp Writ of Holdings.

Added combat encounters and a hidden item to the wilds outside Griselda’s Estate.

Added a short quest to Quinn to rebuild empty bookshelves in your Estate library.

Added partial functionality for Trophy 9 (more coming in future releases).

Added the Ventire trophy quest to Quest Tracking.

Added a check if the Ventire move quest was completed to update the BGM in their new home.

Removed a missed “end of version” message for v0.4.

Removed the FAQ from the README and added it to the dev blog.

Fixed a bug that prevented the Homing Stone teleport from being used after completing the story.

- Existing saves will remain bugged until the “end of version” message is replayed.

Fixed a bug where a trader in Ventire would have the wrong dialogue box.

Fixed a bug at the entrance to Viridius’ Estate.

Fixed a bug that allowed the player to enter the wilds outside Griselda’s Estate before intended.

Fixed a bug that prevented one of Quinn’s scenes from being repeated.

Fixed bugs that prevented some “scrap” items from correctly disappearing after collection.

Fixed a bug that incorrectly disabled the Homing Stone’s teleportation without re-enabling it.

Fixed a bug that prevented gathering the scrap wood in Ventire fireplaces after the move quest.

Fixed a bug where the Homing Stone on-use event duplicated itself in some circumstances.

Fixed a bug that may have prevented interacting with the Headstone at the Beauregard Estate.

Updated Quest Tracking to properly track the new quests.

Updated Quest Tracking to provide better guidance for Augalamh side quests (for real this time).

Updated the Silcrow payout in Emily’s shop to account for being enthralled.

Updated Bianca in your Estate’s yard so she disappears correctly after story completion.

Updated the mysterious tower in the Deep Wilds to be less (more?) mysterious.

Updated the path to the cloth trader near Cumhaill so he’s easier to reach after appearing.

Updated the wilds leading to Griselda to be smaller.

Updated v0.6 finale so trophy 16 can be earned after event starts even if conditions are not met.

Updated destructible headstones to prevent events from incorrectly duplicating.

Updated the dungeon instance of Bianca to allow repeating certain scenes.

Updated a girl in Adhauga to tease the upcoming community-created optional Maid, Teely.

Updated the FAQ to address the self-extracting archive .exe.

Updated several encounters in the swamps to account for the Haunt being inactive.

Updated elements of Augalamh sidequests for clarity and to account for the Haunt being inactive.

Updated the Nithercott Hold to be more consistent with other story elements.

Updated the surveillance chair so it is interactive outside of its story relevance.

Updated position and movement behavior of some enemies to reduce risk of divide by 0 errors.

Updated interaction points for Trophy 14 for story consistency and obtainability after v0.6 ends.

Updated interaction points for Trophy 15 for story consistency and obtainability after v0.6 ends.

Updated Rescue quest so it can be completed after the story for v0.6 ends.

Updated quest progression in Ventire so it can be properly tracked in Quest Tracking.

Updated equipment tiers in Emily’s shop to be more flavorful.

Updated the Maids at the player Estate to align them better with story progress.

Various item description updates, and minor event, map, and dialogue updates.

Maids & Masters (& A v0.6.1 Release Date)

The release will be going out to Patrons this Friday. I'd like to say Teely will be ready, but there are a few things I want to make sure are totally done and work as intended before I get to her, and Teely also needs all-new assets which I have yet to get started on, so she might not be ready until v0.6.2.

I've been experimenting with some things that I haven't used in MnM so far, and those things should let me go back through some previous sections and make them at least a little less tedious - most notably eliminating some required player input from manually repairing the floors after Ella joins the Estate. 

Most of the other things that I'm giving attention to are considerably smaller in scale, but are equally important in terms of consistency and overall quality of life, particularly as it applies to the part of the game immediately following the end of v0.6's story.

There is one other thing, though - seasons. I did manage to save myself some work by using switches, events, and scripting, but the swamps aren't always supposed to be a purple mess of poison. As of v0.6.1, they won't be. That's only supposed to be there during the Haunt, and now that the Haunt has passed, the swamps needed a load of new maps, along with a load of new switches, conditional branches, new events, adjustments, and on and on and on. Most of that is now in place, but needs a little more thorough testing, because if I miss even one thing in a list of literally hundreds, it could break the game and trap you in the Haunt. I've put other checks and balances in place to un-break the game if that happens, but I don't want to rely on that; the game should never break in the first place.

So tl;dr, if Teely isn't ready for v0.6.1, it's because I needed to playtest roughly 15% of the game several times over to make sure I didn't miss something or do something wrong.

I've gotten significantly fewer bug reports on this release, though, so I'm taking that as a sign that I'm getting better at this "game development" thing. Here's hoping I can keep that up.

Maids & Masters v0.6 Public Release

Just a quick post to say that v0.6 is now available to the public. Links have been updated on the Downloads page.

For those interested, the changelog is here.

As a small update, the issues listed in the known issues section of the changelog have been addressed and fixes will be implemented in the v0.6.1 release. If you encounter any bugs, please refer to that section of the changelog for v0.6 before leaving feedback.