Maids & Masters (& Following Up on v0.15)

This might be kind of a boring post. Not because I don't have anything to say - if you've been here for a while you know full well I can ramble on about nothing for a good long time. No, it might be kind of boring because all I really have to say is that my follow-up to v0.15 is to play my own game like a player for the first time since the remaster.

It's something I've been meaning to do for a long time, because it gives me better context for what the player experience actually is. Sure, I playtest everything - often multiple times - but that's mostly an attempt at making the game "work right" rather than trying to figure out how fun it is. That's one of the reasons I appreciate feedback so much. If you're still having fun, I must be doing something right. If I play through a section and I don't have fun, I'm definitely doing something wrong. Having gone so long without playing my own game just for the fun of it, that's an extra check that I've been missing.

Doing a detailed playthrough like this also means I can finally re-create my checkpoint saves. Those are nice to have for a couple of reasons, with the two big ones being that I can provide saves to Patrons if they lose their data (something I typically avoid doing, but my Patrons get special treatment), and if someone reports something I'm having trouble finding on the back end I can look for it on the front end. That second thing also makes investigating certain bugs much, much easier. Sometimes you just can't understand what's happening until you experience it, and doing that part of the research has been a lot harder without having those saves ready. Of course, this does mean that the next few days are going to be dedicated to something other than development, so next week's post might be a bit boring, too.

That's not to say there's no development happening, though. While I play through, I am still hunting for bugs, typos, and keeping an open mind to anything that might need to change. So far, I've found and fixed a couple of bugs (including a rat fight engaging during a save transfer from Arrival; turns out it was triggering because you already beat it, but the self-switches are set differently between Arrival and the main game) and have started taking a closer look at progression to see what I can change to improve the overall experience without affecting existing saves too much (which so far just means that boss encounters give more XP now). On that second note, I'm a little wary of changing things like that, but even counting the XP increases to some enemies that happened in v0.15, existing saves are still only down one fifth or so of a level if they've cleared all current content. The biggest difference this change makes is that Maids are more likely to level up after clearing a boss, which adds to both the reward and incentive to getting through those challenging fights without really affecting the long term balance of the game.

Once I'm through this, it'll be on to development on v0.15.1. Probably. I have some things I need to talk over with my Patrons about how to best go forward on developing the second half of Act 2, so the next release might just be v0.16. If you want in on that conversation, it'll be open to all of my Patrons.

Maids & Masters v0.15 Release

This update is in kind of a weird spot length-wise. The story bit is one of the shortest it's ever been, but with the new arena, it might take multiple hours to get through if you decide to do everything.

 

I'm working on an idea to try and make these updates more substantial going forward, but that's a post for Patreon on a future Friday. For now, here's the changelog:

v0.15
Added the next main story segment - the remnant of an Estate that played both sides of a war.
- A new Estate to explore, including dozens of new optional challenge fights.
- A new trophy, awarded for becoming the champion of the new arena.
- The fourth cult investigation segment.
Added an abandoned house to Magach.
Fixed a bug that caused wake-up events to occur before the Maid’s affection was high enough.
Fixed a bug that caused some Estate grounds statues to not change when customized.
Fixed another handful of bugs that caused the player sprite to be temporarily incorrect.
Fixed a bug that caused the second half of Quinn’s Freeze event to replay after completion.
Fixed an incorrect hint description for the eastern puzzle of Farquhar’s hold.
Fixed a bug that caused the sword butler fight to not trigger in the Bancroft dungeon.
Fixed a bug that may cause Melissa’s extra Freeze scene to not trigger correctly.
Fixed a bug that caused Insulting Blast to debuff the incorrect enemy stats.
Fixed a bug in the second Adelade conversation that caused the screen to never fade back in.
Fixed a bug that caused the new equipment event to appear in Emily’s shop when it shouldn’t.
Fixed a bug where Emily’s shop gave out too many Experimental Concoctions the first time.
Updated Emily in Act 2 to explain why your free samples stopped coming in.
Updated several customizable Estate statues to have dialogue and fix a “turning” issue.
Updated experience values of Sword Butler, Assassin Maid, and Cave Bear.
Various other minor dialogue and event updates.

Maids & Masters (& Putting The Finishing Touches on v0.15)

Being as close to release as it is, there's not a lot left to say about v0.15, so this is largely just going to be a "Patron appreciation post" for my high-tier Patrons. That said, there is some information to share.

As I mentioned in last week's post, there isn't nearly as much XP going around in Act 2 as I wanted there to be so I could build up to where I wanted levels to be in Act 3 properly. This can also create some progression-related issues, such as characters not having all of their skills, when we're getting to a point in the game where you should have more of those to be able to deal with some of the more strategically difficult fights. Lucky for me, my Patrons are amazing, and give me feedback. I discovered a bit of a flaw in the way I was calculating XP for the newer enemies, resulting in their XP values being significantly lower than they should be. 

Fixing this means there are some enemies (like the Cave Bear, Sword Butler, and Assassin Maid) that are already in the game that now give nearly (or more than, in the case of the Cave Bear) double the XP they did before. Thankfully these enemies are really rare at this point in the game, so anyone with an existing save that's already past where you encounter these enemies will be minimally affected - it's only about 1/7th of a level's worth of XP that's been added. The main thing that would be affected is the new arena and exhibition fights coming in v0.15. All of those enemies will be worth nearly double what they were when I originally did my own playtesting.

This also means I really need to do another in-depth playtesting run to look for bugs in parts of the game that I've already played through. I've been relying on having help playtesting a lot for Act 2, so my personal saves are kinda half-broken messes, and now I'm under-leveled as well. It'll also be nice to take a little "time off" and have work be just enjoying all my effort up to this point.

If you're interested in being one of those amazing playtesters, check out my Patreon. VIP Patrons get access to all of my test builds. If the high tier is a little too rich for your blood, I still love feedback, and Patrons get early access to published builds before it goes up anywhere else, along with a bunch of other benefits. Every bit of support matters - my Patrons are what keep me going.

Maids & Masters (& A Release Date For v0.15)

Kinda weird to think this is already the "end" of the first half of Act 2. There's obviously still all the side content coming in v0.15.1, plus v0.16 to act as the actual narrative mid-point, but this is pretty much it. I'm not totally sure how I want to handle the second half, either, despite it being literally right around the corner. Plus there's some story things that are mentioned (I would say foreshadowed, but it's a little too on-the-nose for that) in this update, which hopefully won't feel like it's spoiling anything that's coming. But now I feel like I'm saying too much, so let's talk about things that aren't so story relevant.

This segment is a little different from how I originally envisioned it, but I feel like this version is a little more in character for the Master of the new Estate. Mechanically speaking, that means this update is kinda reduced to the basics - a couple of character growth conversations and one big story conversation and otherwise functions as an introduction of a new feature. But I'm more or less okay with that.

There's two parts to this new feature. The first part is being able to participate in exhibition matches, where you can have your usual engagement team go through a shorter series of fights and make bets on the fight, so you can make a little Silcrow for winning. The second part is the arena, which will limit your party to a single Maid for one-on-one matches, just for the sake of seeing if you can win (though you do still get XP for winning). The second part is also where the trophy is, and where you'll need to figure out things like how to make, say, Ella win a relatively difficult fight without someone else there to pick up the slack in terms of damage. Which will probably make you wonder where Archibald got all that confidence all those updates ago. 

 

In both cases, these fights are limited, so there's still a limit to how much XP you can earn, but it helps solve a problem. Act 2 has been a lot lower on the combat end of things than I originally wanted it to be, which means characters are still going to be around level 20 going into the end of this first half instead of level 25-30 like I wanted them to be. Without the opportunity to gain those levels, it affects how difficult I can make Act 3 unless I do things like adjust XP values of enemies earlier in the game, but doing that would require a restart for existing saves, which I don't want to do. It's kind of a difficult design problem to have, and setting this arena up to create an opportunity to grind levels and make the later parts of the game easier on yourself is one way for me to avoid compromising my vision for how the gameplay fits into the story based on how hard or easy the game is.

As for what's left, v0.15 just needs the cult segment story-wise, so the test build will definitely be available to VIPs on Patreon this Friday. It may still not include the cult segment, as I have a lot of testing as well as some finishing touches on how exhibition and arena progression works to do between now and then, but it'll for sure be available on the 8th. That puts the early access release date for v0.15 on the 15th, which I suppose is about as appropriate as a release date can get.

February 2024 General Update Part 2

You wouldn't think enough happened in two weeks (especially since I was out of town for half of one of those weeks) that I'd have enough to talk about for a second general update, but I'm back earlier than I expected to be and plenty happened, so I'm gonna talk all of that.

First, there's barely more than a day left on the Valentine's Adult Games bundle. Go get it while you still can!

Shameless shilling out of the way, I've joined not one, but two new projects. The first I'm nearing the end of reworking the first chapter for and addressing some of the community feedback, like livening up the dialogue and making the choices matter a little more. The first chapter is already free to the public, so if you'd like to see the "before" before the rewrite goes live, you can check out that project here: https://www.patreon.com/CarnalStudio

The second project I haven't really started working on yet. The agreement is official for me to start working on it, but I want to make sure my existing work isn't delayed before I get stuck in, and that includes Maids & Masters v0.15. There's also already another writer attached to the project, so I don't have a lot to say about the project itself until after some work has been done on it and I have a better grasp on what there is to be said.

Speaking of delays and Maids & Masters v0.15, it looks like the March 8th date is going to be where the test build lands. As much as I'm back early and that does mean I have more time to work on MnM, I still haven't landed on a good way to organize how all of the challenge fight events are placed so you can interact with them once the story of the segment has concluded, and since I want everyone to have their own set of fights, that needs a lot of extra attention. And when something needs extra attention like that, it's more likely than usual to break, which means I want it to be in the test build so more people than just me can give it a spin before it gets solidified and I don't get any more bug reports until after the build has gone out to the general public.

That's not really a delay, though. I expected this to take a little more time, which is why I gave the date range that I did last week. If the thought of MnM being delayed after reading that I've picked up some new gigs filled you with some combination of dread, disappointment, or melancholy, remember: that's what the Patreon is for. I do this full time and my bills continue to refuse to pay for themselves, so I need to get that money from somewhere in order to keep doing this. If you want me to keep doing what I'm doing without needing to look for other projects to work on, go support development. Every little bit helps.

Semi-related, Precious Kouhai continues to bring in far too many views on itch. If you came in here looking for news on that, all I can really say is that more content is coming. If you want more PK, the same thing applies - go support development. PK is something I work on when I need a break from MnM and have no other work to do, so more projects means less time for PK in a very literal way. Likewise, more support means more time for PK. Even if you can't afford financial support - leave a review or share the game. Same goes for MnM. Even when it's not money, every little bit helps.

Maids & Masters (& Progress On v0.15)

Working on this bundle (have I mentioned there's a bundle? We even hit out next goal, so bundle bonus renders will be coming soon. You should check out the bundle.) has taken up more of my week than I'd have liked, but there is good news.

In terms of general progress, there's only two relatively simple maps left to make, the maps that have been made are almost entirely populated with interactions, all the new assets (both visuals, like sprites and battlers, as well as system things like new enemy types and battle configurations) are done. That means there's not a lot left to do except the writing, implementation of new mechanics, and all the usual testing.

On top of that, to keep the good news train rolling, the new mechanic is already working perfectly. It's been a long time since I had an idea, tried to implement it, tested the test case, and everything just worked. It's not a terribly complex mechanic - for these challenge fights, I simply wanted to have just one Maid be able to participate in the fights. Where that could have become challenging is the way MnM shares experience. I didn't want to remove all your other Maids from your party, both because then I'd need to add progress checks to make sure you get the right Maids added back into your party, and because I didn't want those Maids to miss out on the experience points you'd earn doing these solo challenge fights. Thankfully, limiting (and increasing again) the party size is a fairly simple process, so both issues are solved in one easy script call.

Because that was so easy to solve, it opens up a lot of opportunities for extra content in the new Estate. This is fantastic news for me, because I was ready to cut a lot of that challenge fight content in case it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Since the whole process is incredibly simple, all of that content gets to stay in. It's maybe less fantastic news for you, because now you need to figure out how to solo a challenge fight with Maids like Ella and Alice in order to get the new trophy. Good luck with that. If it's any consolation, I will test and balance things until I'm absolutely certain it's possible without needing to cheese the fight somehow. I want that trophy, too, after all.

 

As an extra upside, the new mechanic being easy to implement also means if we're lucky and I'm able to find enough time, I might be able to get a test build out to VIP Patrons on March 1st. It's more likely that my being out of town will limit my time a bit too much and I won't have that test build ready until March 8th, but only time will tell.

Speaking of time, because I'll be out of town, there may not be a blog post next week. There is a small amount of work I'm going to try to bring with me, but that's mostly for things that aren't my own projects and to make sure Precious Kouhai's v0.1 can get released on Friday. 

Right, I said I'd talk more about that this week. And now this week's post is already kinda long. Uhh... here's the short version:

Precious Kouhai's v0.1 is coming out faster than usual because it's the official v0.1. Surprise!

The release cadence will follow MnM after v0.1; meaning nothing will change when PKv0.2 goes into early access, then PKv0.2 will go public when PKv0.3 goes into early access, and so on.

February 2024 General Update

Last week was a busy one, and this month continues to busy as a whole with the addition of the Valentine's Adult Gaming Bundle (there's over 50 games in there, one of which is normally a paid game, completely free; click the link!), so I've gotten less development work done than I'd have really liked. That's not to say there isn't plenty to talk about, though.

For starters, if you're someone that's been around for a while (or you just pay really close attention), you already know I'm a writer for The Button by Burst Out Games. There has been some discussion of other things within BOG, but that hasn't been settled one way or the other just yet, so all I'll say right now is that I may have more news to share in the future. The news I have right now is that the chapters are written a couple of releases ahead of where the early access version of the game is, and the latest chapter is the biggest one yet. It's also in the early stages of its first draft, so more work will need to be done on it, which means it's very likely I'll need to take more dev time away from Maids & Masters and Precious Kouhai so the team can continue forward without waiting on me.

Speaking of Maids & Masters - I'm sad to say not a lot has gotten done. I've found and squished a few bugs with the help of the community, and I've done a little more behind-the-scenes work on fleshing out how I want this next segment to play out, but not a whole lot has happened inside the editor. Depending on how much time away from other work I have, I'd say the update will be ready for a test build in 3-4 weeks. That is a bit longer than I really wanted, but aside from other work needing my attention, my brother is also moving to a new state for a new job, so I'll be helping family for most of the last week of the month and won't be at home to be able to work.

To make up for the delay on MnM, I'll be putting out an update for Precious Kouhai. It'll only be one more scene so I can call it an update and return to work on MnM, but it'll also come with some new functionality in addition to being the official v0.1. PK being in Ren'Py means I can do things like create web and mobile builds with next to zero additional effort. Don't hold your breath on any of my RPGM projects getting official web or mobile support anytime soon - that's a whole different beast. Ren'Py does a lot towards streamlining the process. I've already tested the web version, and it works great on both desktop and mobile. The new scene, along with a test page for the web version (and, if I can manage it, the mobile version) will be available to Patrons this Friday, and will go public the following Friday. I feel like I've rambled on enough for one blog post, so I'll talk more about PK's v0.1 and the public release for it next week.

I do have one last thing I want to say, though. The RPG Maker festival made another new plugin set free. The last one - the action RPG set - resulted in the demo for Sacchrine Soil. The new one is the strategy RPG plugin set. 

I dunno about you, but Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem are some of my favorite games.

(you can probably expect a demo to appear in a month or two)

Valentine's Adult Games Bundle

I was going to type out this big preamble about Valentine's Day coming soon, but instead, have a logo.

The Valentine's Adult Games bundle is the latest adult game mega-bundle, and it's bigger than ever! With 51 adult games from 41 devs, whether you're looking for a fling, a lasting romance, or something in between, you're sure to find something worthwhile.

There's stretch goals, too! If 51 games isn't enough for you, as we reach goals, the devs who choose to participate will make even more for you. If that sounds like something you want to get in on, click this link: https://itch.io/b/2292/valentines-adult-games-bundle

 

Maids & Masters (& Starting on v0.15 & The Response to Precious Kouhai)

Before I get into the progress update on MnM, it feels necessary to say something about how the official launch of PK went. Not because it went poorly or because I got a bunch of complaints about it, but because it did so well that now I have complaints. Which sounds a little negative, I know, but hear me out.

For a little extra context, Maids & Masters has been struggling to break 100 views per day on itch since it launched. Even if I combine everything - the April Fool's Day specials, Arrival, and the main game - it still only hovers around 80 views per day. Even on days where an update launches, views don't get that high. The public launch of v0.13 is the best launch I've had so far, with launch day views hitting about 200, and some promotion causing it to peak around 600 on one day and continue to float around 200 views for a few days. About a week after that peak (which is much longer than normal; typically views level out within 3-4 days, not 10), it's back to normal at about 80 views for today.

Precious Kouhai brought in more than 2000 views on launch day, over 1000 for the next day, and nearly 1000 for the third. It was downloaded more times on launch day than MnM was viewed that day. Maybe this has something to do with itch's new algorithm pushing new games and de-prioritizing updates on in-progress games, but I can't say that for certain. I'm still absolutely floored by the numbers. I also have some conflicting feelings about MnM being something that has all this gameplay and care and attention put into it when the single-scene 8-minute preview that I did next to zero promotion for does this much better, but I think I'll settle on being happy it's doing well. And if you're here because of Precious Kouhai, thanks for being here. Expect more news on that in February.

Moving on to the actual MnM news, the intro scene is still just an idea in my head, but a little over half the maps for the new Estate are done now, and a few of the "common" interactions are already populated. The intro scene is also a complete idea, so all there is to do is actually put it in the game. There haven't been reports of many errors in v0.13 now that it's actually public, so I can put more energy into getting v0.15 done, and hopefully in roughly half the time that v0.13 and v0.14 took.

I've also had a lot more time to think on how the next segment should play out before my Patrons pulled a switcheroo on me and decided it was bunny girl time at the last minute (which I'm not mad at; I just wasn't ready for it). While I don't have the segment written out, I have a bunch of ideas I want to include, so it'll be less about making something from scratch and more about filling in the blanks to bring it all together, which is how development for MnM usually goes. I do have something else going on that may distract from development a little, but it shouldn't cause any significant delays. More on that next week.

For now, thanks for all the attention on PK. While you're waiting for an update on that, why not give MnM a try? People tell me it's worth a go.

Precious Kouhai

I've talked about this a few times now, but it's never gotten its own post, so let's fix that and make this official.

Precious Kouhai is a slice-of-life nukige-style adult visual novel. If you have no idea what that means, it basically boils down to not having much of a story. You'll see little snippets - slices, if you will - of the character's lives. The "nukige" part means that the snippets you see are going to be focused on the sex. Not to say that there will be no story, though. It is still a visual novel, and I'm still a writer, so there will be plenty to read. Just expect it to be short - maybe an hour or two in total once it's completed.

This isn't normally my style, but Precious Kouhai is (like most of Maids & Masters) in large part an experiment and an excuse to improve some skills. I'd like to think I've come a long way as a writer in the couple of years I've spent working as a writer and developer, but especially in terms of making entire games by myself, I've still got a long way to go. Precious Kouhai will help me improve in two big ways.

The first of which is visuals. In helping Berkili rework the renders for the first chapter of Companion of Darkness, I got to use a bunch of tools that I'd either ignored or weren't available to me when I started Maids & Masters. MnM now has a visual style that I don't want to stray too far from, so if I want to practice using those tools, I should start a new project - like Precious Kouhai. Since the visual style isn't established and the project will be relatively short anyway, I can try different things out from scene to scene without it being so unexpected that it takes you out of the experience. 

 

On top of that, while I have started making custom animations for Maids & Masters, it's something I'm hesitant to do because I'm slow at it. For Precious Kouhai, I want every frame to be an animation, not just the lewds. The title screen is animated, the mundane parts with the characters just sitting there will be animated, even things like the menu backgrounds will be animated. And not just animated - hand animated. HS2 has a lot of pre-built animated poses, and I'm not going to use a single one. This should not only help me improve as an animator, but help me learn how to speed up my process and create a unique experience since not many visual novels put the time and resources into animating mundane scenes.

The second way PK helps me improve as a developer is that it's the first project I'm creating in Ren'Py. While I want to keep my focus on making RPGs like Maids & Masters, Redemption Harem, and Love/Loss, eventually branching out into other genres like I have with Saccharine Soil, some of these games just won't work in RPG Maker, and I'll have to learn how to use different software. While I do want to eventually learn Godot or Unreal, Ren'Py is a much simpler first step.

Ren'Py is extremely easy to learn and work with compared to other things I've attempted learning over the years. I've also got a handful of stories that either I don't think will translate well into anything except a visual novel, or that will work best using a visual novel as the interactive medium instead of trying to shoehorn in game mechanics. As an added bonus, development in Ren'Py is also significantly faster than development in RPG Maker, so if I need a break from working on MnM, having PK as a fall-back project so that I can keep working without burning myself out grinding away on MnM will be incredibly helpful. It also means that if a month would go by without a release for MnM, I can spend a little time on PK and get a release done for that instead and keep up with making monthly releases without either project suffering for it.

As a closing statement - if you're the sort of person that gets nervous about developers picking up new projects because you've seen so many of them either drop the first project or stop developing altogether, do your best not to worry. I'm a little apprehensive about putting more on my own plate, too, but I've been working on multiple projects since I started Maids & Masters. Until I start making enough to financially support myself independently, I'll always be working on multiple projects. I abhor an unfinished story like nature abhors a vacuum, so you can trust that I'll be doing everything I can to finish everything I started, and that includes the games behind the demos I've been making.

Precious Kouhai's existing preview build will go public on itch and on Patreon this Friday.

Maids & Masters v0.14 Release

There's not a whole lot to say about this release that I haven't already said. The only big omissions are things like the love shack - you won't find the new Maids in there. Everything that should be in the build is in the build. It's a little on the shorter side, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

 

Early access is available on Patreon right now, and will be available on itch soon.

Here's the changelog:

v0.14
Added the next main story segment - a vineyard that delves into Phoebe’s past… and yours.
- A new Estate to explore and two new Maids to recruit with a total of four new scenes.
- A new trophy that provides a special Contract for Experimental Concoctions.
- The third cult investigation segment.
Added a bugfix feature to Trophy 30’s plaque in the trophy room to discover its Estate Info entry.
Added a version of Kala’s extra Freeze objective to Cumhaill if Deirlinn is close to giving birth.
Added Freeze interactions for all Maids to pregnant Deirlinn in Cumhaill.
Added missing interaction events to the Bancroft Estate guest wing.
Added a plugin to allow more than three options to appear on the title screen.
Added a bugfix to prevent being locked out of completing the Guiding Lost Souls side quest.
Added a bugfix feature to award Trophy 30 if the bear is already dead on entering the cave.
Fixed a bug that caused the Estate Info entry to not be added when Trophy 30 is earned.
Fixed a bug that caused a fireplace to provide infinite Scrap Wood.
Fixed a bug that caused Deirlinn’s birth phase to change instead of setting Vendra’s.
Fixed bugs that caused incorrect dialogue/character placement at the Bancroft Estate.
Fixed a bug that caused a maze reward to give Pearl Earrings when Pet Collar was stated.
Fixed a pair of infinite item bugs in the Amaira Estate guest houses.
Fixed a bug where the freed prisoner would repeat her initial dialogue.
Fixed a bug that caused some customized statues to disappear during the second Freeze.
Fixed more bugs that allowed the player to stand on wall and ceiling tiles.
Fixed a bug that may cause Trophy 30 to not be awarded correctly.
Fixed a number of missing interaction and wall/ceiling collision bugs.
Fixed a bug that caused the fourth objective of The Color Green to not complete correctly.
Fixed a handful of bugs that caused the player sprite to be temporarily incorrect.
Updated the Sword Butler in the dungeon to not attack from the other side of the wall.
Updated the Trophy 30 puzzle to remove an issue that could prevent earning the trophy.
Updated Vendra with new dialogue after Celtchar is born and to correctly use her own variables.
Updated title screen links to include itch.io.
Updated the dance puzzle hints to be more like dance instructions (and hopefully more helpful).
Various other minor dialogue, text, BGM, and event fixes and updates.