Maids & Masters (& Back To Progressing On The Remaster)

Turns out I skipped a few bits when I started working on the first Freeze event, but now those skipped parts are reworked, have the quest log implemented, and are tested, and the first freeze itself is also tested with all the new feature implementations.

That leaves the Amaira Estate, Lalita's Estate, Baleflight Manor, and the second Freeze to rework for the test build to be completely done before implementing animations and new content. Is that a ton of work for me to try to do in four days? Yes. Am I going to work 15 hour days to try to get it done anyway? Probably also yes. If it doesn't get done, it'll be because my friends saved me from myself.

I'm committed to getting a test build out this Friday regardless, though. The first test build was never going to be feature-complete, and it's a test build, so if the last hour or two of the game isn't quite fully implemented, then it is what it is. There's a lot of work that affects the entire game that's done now, though, so hopefully these sections will go fairly quickly. Renders have been reorganized and re-implemented (a requirement brought on by file path changes) and now all the scenes work (or at least the repeatable ones do; I've been doing my testing with them broken before yesterday). The common events (mostly stuff you aren't supposed to notice, like the Master's sprite staying on Master when the engine desperately wants to make it whichever Maid is in your first party slot) are all rebuilt and working, along with the new common events that handle things like being able to sell Contracts. The quest log is also completely built out, leaving implementation as the only step left there.

The biggest thing was getting certain events entirely re-written. There weren't many, but there were a handful of events (mostly involving Jenny and Viridius) that, while I think they conveyed the message and character growth I wanted, felt preachy, or were sub-par, missed an important story element, or were otherwise not as good as I wanted them to be. I'm much, much happier with those events now. There are still a couple left to go (mostly involving Bianca) that will change how a few events happen, but having seen a number of people completely misinterpret those events, they need to change. The story itself and broad events won't change, but the dialogue and context will change significantly (but hopefully subtly enough that if you're familiar with those scenes you won't really notice or care about the changes made). Past that, I just need to rip out the existing "post game" infrastructure so you can't accidentally time travel and break the game.

Then it's just the other month's worth of work I've created for myself as part of this remaster process.

Maids & Masters (& Some Non-Progress On The Remaster)

I really wanted to share the new version of the shops this week. Using plugins lets me do some pretty great things, both from QoL and design perspectives. Things like a shop interface to sell Contracts back to Emily, or use a shop interface for traders. But with people being so divided on which version of RPG Maker they want to use, not everything works in MZ because it was designed for MV. Having spent a day looking for a plugin-based solution to shops and traders weeks ago, I thought I had found exactly what I needed. Over the weekend, I spent about 10 hours trying to get it working, failing miserably, testing backup options, continuing to fail, looking for other possible plugin solutions, and finding another half-dozen ways to fail. It was not a good weekend.

However, I did ultimately find a way to get it to work. The interface isn't perfect, but it works as intended, and now at least Emily's shop has been overhauled, both to accommodate the new Estate Info screen and to allow for a little more flexibility for you, the player. Contracts can now be sold, so you don't need to worry about accidentally buying more than one of a Contract and being out that money, or over-investing and having a bunch of items you can't get rid of. All Contracts, including tools and clothing, now provide items according to the number of Contracts you've purchased. Contracts also sell for the same price they're purchased at, so you can invest heavily in new gear, get what you need, then sell all those Contracts and invest in something else. 

Or you can really be a stinker, buy one of everything, get the free gifts, then sell the Contract immediately and snicker to yourself about how clever you were about getting a free item.

There is still a little bit of work to be done with the shop so that Contracts correctly update to say "you do not currently own this" in your Estate Info (and update again if you buy the Contract again), but that's mostly a bunch of copy-pasting. I've already tested the system on one item and it works perfectly.

Other than that, quest implementation is done for the first Freeze, and I've overhauled the dialogue for the events that I was less happy with. It took a little longer than I wanted it to, but I'm much happier with where those events are now. I've also added a couple extra bits and pieces so that the Maid you're spending time with will follow you around, which is something I wanted to do for the original iteration but never figured out. Now that I know RPG Maker better, I have figured it out, making this one more feature that I'm happy is finally included.

There's only one more major hurdle left, which is making sure all of the damage formula syntax still works for skills that do things beyond "atk*4-def*2," like doing extra damage if the target has a status effect on them, or replacing one status effect with another. Here's hoping that goes smoother than overhauling the shop did.

One last quick note, since I mentioned it last week leading up to Maids & Re-Masters MZ - I'm aiming to have a test build for the real remaster out to VIPs on Patreon either this Friday or next. I'm hoping sooner rather than later, but there's still a lot to be done.

Maids & Masters (& More Progress On The Remaster)

I'm now up to the first freeze in terms of implementing the quest log and testing the base game. The quests haven't been implemented yet, but the quests have been created for the first freeze. The unfortunate part of things is that this is becoming more and more of a slog. It should only take me another week, hopefully less, to get the remaining quests created and implemented, but doing this work has felt increasingly like trying to push my way through a brick wall with my bare hands.

But I will push through. That wall is coming down, this remaster is happening, and the work will get done. It might take me longer than I'd like, but once I'm on the other side of this, I should have something to show for it. Since reworking and animating all the scenes is something I want to do in tandem, I'll probably wait to do it in hopes that I'll have something to show off this weekend in a test build.

Speaking of, I think I'll do a staggered release of the first test build of the remaster for Patrons. It'll still go out to VIPs first like normal, then go to the next tier every week. That'll let me share my work in a more meaningful and tangible way before the final build actually gets published while I finish making all the changes and additions.

If you aren't already a Patron, all the remaster polls are still open! Despite what that first paragraph might indicate, I do still want to work. I still love what I do. It just feels more like work lately. Getting to talk with you about my work is something I always enjoy, and getting to talk while I'm still building the remaster is a great time to share any thoughts you might have, even if it's just leaving your vote in those polls. If you're interested in voting or chatting in my Discord server, you can join my Patreon by clicking here.

Shilling For My Fellow Devs - Seducing The Devil

Making a quick post to help out another dev.

Their visual novel - Seducing the Devil - is due to come out on Steam soon.

 

In Seducing the Devil, you play as a 22-year-old Englishman. You've spent the past three years in a virtual relationship with Ella, an American woman. Determined to take things to the next level, you embark on a journey to meet her in person and win the approval of her family. But your decision to leave behind your friend Selina and her mother Veronica for a month doesn't sit well with them. As you navigate the challenges ahead, you begin to wonder if you've gotten yourself into a messy situation. Will you be able to make peace with Selina and Veronica and prove to Ella's family that you're worthy of their acceptance? How far are you willing to go to pursue the love of your life and build a future together? Only time will tell as you chart a course through the unknown and grapple with the difficult choices that lie ahead.

You can visit the Steam page by clicking here. It would mean a lot if you'd check out the page and wishlist the game.

If you hate or don't use Steam but still want to show them some love, here's them on itch, Patreon, Subscribestar, and Twitter.

Maids & Masters (& Progress on the Remaster)

All the data base work is finally done!

Or at least all the "encyclopedia" database work is done. I'm still building out the quest log and implementing that, and I'm sure I've missed at least some of the encyclopedia implementation, but the checklist is done, and I'm taking that win.

More good news - as expected, implementing the quest log, testing it, and reworking dialogue as I go is proving to be a much quicker process. Reworking the floor repair quest to correctly include steps for both the "skipped" version and the full version was pretty time consuming, but I was able to get all of the work for the v0.1 content done over the weekend and the v0.2 content is done today (excepting that it still needs to be tested). Based on that workflow, it should take me another two weeks or so to get the quest log fully implemented and have the entire game tested in the new engine.

Then it'll be on to the new content; all the random events and smaller additions. This is where the delays might set in, because I really don't want to release v0.10 as a "here's the remaster without any new content" just to release v0.10.1 and say "okay, now erase your save and start over again, this version has all the new content that was planned." I'm hoping I'll be able to speed through implementing the quest log faster than I have been and get started on the new content sooner. Cumhaill and the floor repair quest are a lot more event-dense than most of the rest of the game, so there's a non-zero chance that'll happen, but it's definitely too early to set a hard date. I would love to get this release done for the first weekend in April and publish it on the 1st, but the likelihood of that happening feels pretty slim right now. I suppose we'll see.

Between now and then, the final Patron poll goes up this Friday. I feel like I've gotten about as much feedback from the general public as I'm going to get, so if you want the chance to get involved and help me out with the remaster, the time is now. The polls are open to every tier, and access to my invite-only Discord server is permanent, so click here to get to my Patreon page, pick your tier, and let me know your thoughts.

Maids & Masters (& Starting The Remaster)

As glad as I am that I got all the plugin things figured out for Arrival, I am up to my eyeballs in getting all that database work done for the main game. Getting the quest log working and implemented isn't so bad, but nearly the entirety of my week has been getting all the database entries done and ready. The plugin stores information in a way that means if it isn't done when the remaster launches, I'll need to create a very elaborate system to update existing entries without erasing the other entries the plugin uses. This means if one Contract is incorrect, I have to also check all of the Maids, Locations, and Trophies, or those entries will end up erased. I really like the extra information the plugin allows me to provide, but it's... so... much... work...

The good news is that nothing else seems immediately broken. Carrying saves over from Arrival is fully tested, so there should be no combination of completion that breaks anything or otherwise prevents a save from being carried over. There's nothing inherent to any of the plugins that makes the existing game stop working as it originally worked. 

That also means that once all this database work is done, remastering the actual game will go relatively quickly. However, there's a very strong possibility that v0.10, the first remastered release, may not come in the first weekend of April like I want it to, and a smaller, though still reasonably strong possibility that I won't have as much new content injected in as I'd like there to be. This could mean further delays, or it could mean putting out a v0.10.1 and v0.10.2 (or more) before getting to Act 2's first story update, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Maids & Masters: Arrival Release

It technically only existed as a tech demo previously, making this remastered version of Arrival my first official v1.0 release.

I'm not sure how many of you care or would be interested, but in the spirit of friendly competition, the fastest clears I've gotten (based on the time attached to the save when the final save screen is presented) are 8:26 (any%) and 11:20 (100%). I'm not much for speedrunning, so I know it can be done faster. Take your time with the story the first time through, but once you've found everything, feel free to send me screen shots of faster clear times. I'll add them to my itch page so you can have bragging rights.

Anyway, I've got a couple notes. It isn't mentioned in the README, but I took some time to test game pad controls and can confirm they're fully supported. The interface for which button does what isn't the greatest, but the default controls work. Listing things as Playstation layout/Xbox layout: X/A is interact, Square/X is sprint, Circle/B is cancel, Triangle/Y opens the menu, arrows and left joystick moves you, and R1/RB hides text.

The other note is that the changelog covers changes made from the original version to the newer version. There's more to the game than just what's listed. There's more info on the important stuff in the README.

 

Here's your changelog:

 

Converted the engine from VX Ace to MZ.
- This means native mouse support, text skip, dynamic screen size, and more!
Replaced the placeholder faces and sprites for Master, Melissa, other Maids, and maps.
Replaced all of the “dev comments” with in-character comments from Master or Melissa.
Reworked nearly all of the dialogue to be more in line with the main game’s characterization.
Reworked events and switches so the save will carry over to the MZ remaster of the main game.
Reworked and re-rendered Melissa’s scene at the end, including full animations.
Added a new custom Game Over screen.
Added several new events to make exploring each room more dynamic.
Added dialogue interactions to objects to match the Estate in the main game.
Added sun shafts and dialogue interactions to match the windows in the main game.
Added better player direction to Melissa as well as more instances of Melissa.
Added a visual representation of Melissa to most of the existing exploration events.
Added affection increases for Melissa to some of the optional events that can be found.
Added a small amount of post-game content to be found after the credits roll.
Added renders to the issue of Stay Clean Quarterly in the library.
Added several plugins to support QoL changes. Check the README for more information.
Added the Trophy Codex.
Updated the garden maze so the path is “clearer” and to reset on touching the entrance.
Updated the Estate grounds to match the grounds in the main game.
Updated several maps to properly include all of their walls and borders.
Updated how the Clown Nose is obtained - it is now exclusive to Arrival.
Updated equipment and item icons to match the icons from the main game.
Removed most of the rat encounters in favor of more enemy Maid encounters.
Removed the Status (Maid Info) and Formation options from the menu.
Various other minor text, map, and event updates.

Maids & Masters (& A Release Date For Arrival Remastered)

I've said it in the last two posts, so just to get it out of the way - the remastered version of Arrival is coming out this Friday, 3/10. If you're a Mac user, good news: you get a version now, too!

I am exceedingly glad I gave myself (as well as my playtester, who has been an absolute champion in helping me out with this) as much time to playtest as I did. It's mostly little things to make sure Arrival matches the main game, but I've still been making tweaks here and there on Arrival even as I start the process of remastering the main game. Arrival has been "finished" for over a week now and yet I'm still finding things to change.

The best news, at least for me, is that Arrival gave me the opportunity to implement and test most of the plugins I'll be using in Maids & Masters. The process might've made Arrival take an extra 10 days of dev time that I really wanted to put into the main game, but it probably saved me a week's worth of testing, so I think it works out.

If you've played the original Arrival tech demo, this new version of Arrival is probably closer to a remake than it is a remaster. Nearly all of the dialogue has been rewritten, progression has been updated, there's more optional content to find, all of the placeholder stuff has been replaced with official assets from the main game, there's all the plugin features, and still more that is either different or brand new to the new version. I hope you'll have fun finding all of the differences between the original and this one.

The most important addition(s) - you'll be able to bring your save from Arrival forward to the main game now. The Clown Nose (now Trophy No. 0) can only be obtained in Arrival now, with Trophy No. 1 being a brand new item called the Trophy Codex, which will serve as a mobile version of the trophy hint system. Plus, if you get a 100% clear (I'll tell you whether you got it or not in the dev message at the end of Arrival) you get some extra stuff in addition to whatever you found in Arrival.

It's looking like it isn't possible to bring a save from VX Ace forward to MZ, so hopefully the new version of Arrival, being able to bring your save forward from that, and all the new/reworked content in the remaster will soften that blow a little.

Maids & Masters (& Progress on Arrival Remastered)

Lots of big progress for such a little demo.

I'm still unsure about adding full animations to the main Maids & Masters game due to the sheer amount of work it'll entail, but since it was just one scene, I figured "why not animate the end of Arrival?"

This led me to a 14 hour journey through despair, downloads, and ultimately - victory.

And as an extra bonus, I have a whole new set of skills now.

Animation isn't something I'm particularly passionate about, but it is something that interests me, and it's one of the many subjects I've studied just for fun. This last weekend, all that studying paid off, and now instead of chopping up renders and animating the pieces, I'm exporting full blown custom animation videos. Will they make it into the main game? I've got a poll coming up on that, so if you think the answer is "yes," go support me on Patreon and vote when that poll goes live. The decision - and a significant part of my future - is in your hands.

The other big thing is all the plugins. See, RPG Maker doesn't like to play movies in parallel with literally anything, so I needed to go find a plugin to make the animation happen while the text was going. Then it took a little more work to loop those animations without the map below flashing in between each loop. Then I got to work on all of the other QoL plugins that I've wanted to put into the game since I started making Maids & Masters - a quest log, custom status screens, proper external linking, instant text, the ability to hide the text box, customizable controls, and a few extra bits - all of which now works about as well as I can ask it to.

There are still a small handful of things I need to figure out. For example, the Formation option doesn't need to exist and isn't relevant to Arrival, so it's just turned off, but I still need to figure out how to let you arrange your party in the main game with the option gone. So there's still a good deal of work to be done, but Arrival functions from start to finish. The only thing left to do is playtest the hell out of it. 

 

Launch for Arrival's remaster is still scheduled for March 10th, at which point it'll be available for early access on itch.io and to Patrons.

Maids & Masters Bonus Post - Girls With Glasses

I was doing a goof with someone helping me playtest and took the goof far enough to turn it into three renders. Nothing is going to come of these, but I figured I may as well share them with the internet.

To see the other two, be sure to check out my Twitter and my Patreon.

 

 

Maids & Masters (& Arrival Remastered)

If you follow me on Twitter, you've already seen the evidence - the process of remastering has begun.

There's a lot of pre-work I have to do - getting tilesets to not look terrible in MZ after resizing, doing the same for sprite sheets, re-rendering the existing renders, rendering any new things that might need visual representation - the list goes on for a good while.

The good news is that this gives me a good deal more assets to work with (like the native assets for the other versions of the RPG Maker engine) a whole boatload of new features that are native to the engine (like mouse support and text skip) and a whole slew of other benefits on the development side of things.

I already covered a lot of my general plan in my general February update, but just to reaffirm it here, the first step is to remaster the prequel/tech demo thing I made. That project is closer to a remake than a remaster, since there are a lot of placeholder assets and I need to rewrite basically all of the dialogue, but it's already coming along pretty smoothly. I think I'm going to set the release date for that as the second weekend in March, which my calendar tells me would be March 10th. 

 

I do still have other things to concern myself with that'll take up more than a trivial amount of time, so it's likely it'll be done before then, but I want to give myself an excess of time to test things for a couple of reasons. First, I want an extended period of time to playtest the new prequel. I want the save to properly carry over this time, I might want to go back and forth between the prequel and the main game for continuity, and the smaller scope of the prequel gives me an opportunity to test out any plugins I might want to use in the main game and make sure I fully understand them before implementing them. All of this will take time. On top of that, Arrival will be coming out as a complete product. Unless I manage to miss something absolutely game-breaking, there will be zero patches or updates to it. That means I should take the time to be thorough and really make sure I'm not missing something.

Plus, I don't want to leave ya'll hanging for a full month, or possibly longer. Sure, I could have it done this Friday, but then you'd not hear much of anything from me until April, and I don't want to leave that much dead air.