V0.7.1 Progress Report
Added 2025-01-01 20:17:26 +0000 UTC
Hey everyone,
I wish you all a very happy new year. As I wrote last week, 2024 has been a crazy year of changes for me, and hopefully, 2025 will normalize life a little more. I have surgery next week, though, so I hope you understand that with that and the past holiday season, the V0.7.1 progress is a little bit slower than usual again. A lot of the behind-the-scenes coding is done, and now what's missing are several graphics and the writing. I'm still planning to finish this month, but I can't really predict how much surgery is going to affect the release timeline right now. Also, I'm very excited about the content of this patch again, and I want it to be done right. Anyway, here are the main features of this upcoming patch:
1. The Fae Story
As the patch title suggests, the main new content in this patch is going to be the fae realms. In the BMO universe, the fae realms are mystical realms beyond reality, where the threads of time become visible. Getting there is a continuation of the Damaris storyline. I don't want to spoil too much, but I'll say that you will be able to see a few more of the faeries, and it will contain a new transformation ending. I'm also planning on adding more scenes to Damaris' daily interactions, but that will not be finished. The fae realm story will finally unlock the fae dress and also another new mechanic that I'm describing below.
2. World Seed
A big problem for the gameplay that I've been struggling with for a long time is randomness. A lot of events in the game trigger at random times, some stat checks are D&D-style dice rolls, and, of course, the end-of-week shows have random wheel spins.
I generally like those mechanics, but they have a huge issue in the metagame: saving and reloading become one of the main gameplay mechanics. It's fine if that's the decision of any one player, but it has become the number one thing players recommend to others on Discord or other discussion boards. A minor issue is that it doesn't really fit with the idea of entering a new parallel universe when starting a new game.
So, starting with V0.7.1, each New Game will come with a World Seed, and all random rolls will be determined by that world seed instead of a random roll during gameplay. This will hopefully strengthen the narrative for the multiverse concept. As you can see in the GIF, you will also be able to see when and what part of the world seed just affected the outcome of an event. (I'm still working on a better UI, but I'm not sure how big the priority is right now.)
While that will mean that saving and reloading will always yield the same result (and I understand some of you might not like that), do not worry. I will not leave you without any way to change these outcomes. Quite the opposite. I've come up with a new mechanic that'll actively gamify the experience.
3. Fae Magic
Luckily, in the fae realms, all possibilities that the world seed contains become visible and changeable. So, learning their ancient fae magic will unlock the ability to change the world seed a limited amount of times each day.
The gameplay loop might be as follows:
- Find the world seed ID that is responsible for the outcome you want to change
- Find the seed ID in the fae realm
- Change the numbers around until your ID has the desired value
It's probably not that easy to grasp from my explanation, but I hope it will be clearer in the final gameplay.
This way, you will, for example, be able to predetermine the outcomes of the weekly wheel spins, and so I hope that, all in all, that will make players happier than the underlying randomness fixing. This is also a way to bring back some wheel choices that were unpopular before, like the nine piercings options - you'll just only be able to trigger them manually in the world seed.
4. Character Start Rework / New Body Proportions
As you know, I'm trans, so this game was always meant to be about that. I've decided to make some changes to the character creation screen to reflect that. To be clear, I'm not removing the cis female character start, but I'm hiding it behind an extra click and adding a warning that the gameplay will not contain all of the content. This will give me the option to write for the main character in more detail because I don't always have to come up with a similar story for the female start. So, I will be able to add more transness storytelling to the AMAB character properly.
However, I know that not everyone wants their characters to start with a super-male body, so I'm adding new body proportions between the old AMAB and AFAB bodies. Thus, you'll still be able to choose a more feminine body at the start. I don't actually have these graphics yet, but I assume that they won't take that much longer.
I'm also considering adding a new system that will clearly make characters want to be feminine (but only to a certain degree) from the start, as I did in Femdemic. However, many factors will make or break the mood system's game design, so I'll have to take this one very slowly. I'm not sure yet how much of that will be in this patch.
5. Weekly Show Writing
For every patch for the last year, I've been adding one thing for the "All Enemies" branch, where you attack and eliminate your fellow contestants. In the current version, eliminating someone will still make them answer just like normal in every end-of-week show, though. That'll change with the next patch. I'll rewrite all of the existing shows so that the other contestants' reactions to the outcomes align with their transformation state. It'll probably be way more work than anyone will be able to appreciate, but it's a must-have nonetheless.
That's it for this next patch cycle. I'm really excited about introducing you to some new characters and changing the gameplay loop regarding the world seed. I also hope that even if you're a little hesitant about the world seed change, you'll at least give it a try and see my vision for yourself before judging.
I'll be back with the Alpha release as soon as possible.
Best,
Kim
Comments
Thank you for your quick reply. Yes, I'd say the point system/memory fragments is an issue. On some runs I manage to gain some points and on others there is no progress. On those occasions it is difficult for me to see why I failed to accumulate some more. Additionally, there are some routes either I've missed or did not see or find the clue to start. The hint system doesn't address that aspect. The random mechanics can be frustrating as well, i.e getting the witch or the fairy. This is just me, but in the case of the fairy I happen to be too slow to catch her. So these are my thoughts on the matter after playing the game many times through. Thanks for asking for my opinion.
Mission15
2025-02-17 16:29:42 +0000 UTCWell, that is essentially what the game is. Is there something specific that stops you from progressing?
Rel
2025-02-17 08:04:35 +0000 UTCI like the game and played it often, but I feel like I'm in the movie "Ground Hog Day" where I keep repeating the day over and over with little forward progress.
Mission15
2025-02-17 07:04:33 +0000 UTCnew sub love the game and cant wait for the next update Kim your amazing and keep up the great work love and respect for you
Aj Whitacre
2025-01-05 19:15:21 +0000 UTCI don‘t know about that yet but probably. It‘s already in there to a certain extent and isn‘t using body type. At the end of the day it is still the same character returning to the game, they just made changes to their body ahead of the run.
Rel
2025-01-04 09:14:36 +0000 UTCYeah but the fae being involved should also be an exploration puzzle to find out. Also, your actions still matter. For example if a roll on day X at time Y has a result of 70, the question if you beat it still depends on your stats. And then if you fail you can still just try it at another timeslot and win. So this really just makes the gameplay more consistent and not really „locked“. The weekly wheel spins are the only thing that is locked and you can also circumvent them by being last.
Rel
2025-01-04 09:11:18 +0000 UTCYou could do it with some Flavor text, like "weaving your thread fate", and "Your fate is now locked, only the power of the Fae can change it now" or something like that.
Kela Ravenwood
2025-01-04 06:11:29 +0000 UTCIf you are hoping to have a more fully incubated egg start at some point I hope it is divorced from Body type, I would like to have the option for a Mr. Universe Body type who (head cannon only don't want feature creep) wants to become a full Fem and is willing to risk becoming a Bimbo to do it.
Kela Ravenwood
2025-01-04 06:07:57 +0000 UTCMtf has always been the intended way to play and there already are plenty of things not available on the AFAB start, or rather the replacements have always been watered down versions. This has been particularly clear for me with the dialog of the true end which is why I’m making the change now. The intended way to have a fully female start that fits into the story more is going through the legacy system to spend femininity points. The new changes will hopefully make that more enjoyable so it is the same as skipping these tfs eventually. I wouldn‘t call the afab start a legacy feature but I do want to spend some time on streamlining the character story in the new „normal start“ because I have just more to say about it. So yes, it will have more content, and be a more cohesive story, but that’s really not a new thing and there is also plenty of future content that is not affected by it. I‘m just making the fact that it was always this way more clear.
Rel
2025-01-02 09:42:50 +0000 UTCThat's fine then, as long as it's not one of those situations where a feature is left for legacy reasons but isn't compatible with most of the content added afterwards. MTF is fine but it doesn't really do anything for me fetish-wise, so the option to skip that step and get straight to the TF's I'm interested in has been a much-appreciated feature. I don't mind missing a few events related to a TF I'm indifferent to, so that's okay.
Dastardly Jack
2025-01-02 09:25:03 +0000 UTCYou will be able to choose a multiverse at the beginning of your run and that’ll make it clear, I hope.
Rel
2025-01-02 09:14:06 +0000 UTCIf you mean all new content then no. Of course not. But there will be new events only for the normal start, yes. I say normal start because I do not consider the old amab character male either. More like a transfem egg.
Rel
2025-01-02 09:08:21 +0000 UTCDoes this mean that the cis fem character won't be benefiting from the new content going forward?
Dastardly Jack
2025-01-02 09:06:58 +0000 UTCThat already exists. You just have to be last in the ranking. The new system is for a more expansive system that is not just for the week show rolls. Also it allows to reintroduce old hidden options.
Rel
2025-01-02 09:01:11 +0000 UTCYou might want to add a warning that save scumming may not lead to different outcomes. Since while plenty of games make rolls/decisions harder to take back, not everyone clues into that from the start. Not sure if that rill actually save any people from complaining about it but might maybe cut down the repetitive complaints.
Terra Blade
2025-01-02 01:11:18 +0000 UTCWhy not instead of changing the wheel to pick your outcome at a penalty, rather you can pay a price to change an outcome, for example the name change one, ill admit to scum saving to get a name I want for a playthough that fits my desired outcome
Sesshru
2025-01-02 00:51:48 +0000 UTCThere should be no immersion breaking if this is already a multiverse story though?
Rel
2025-01-01 21:59:45 +0000 UTCJust a thought here. Perhaps in some places like some of the wheele spins for example, the story narative could include an option, post spin (with a penalty of course) to pick the desired result in exchange for the penalty. Sorta like that "undo some stat but spin more times" sequence which is there already. Might be easier for players to adjust to than a understanding a seed value encoding scheme but moslty it avoids breaking immersion to go out to a menu?
Amphithemis
2025-01-01 21:40:18 +0000 UTCI see. While the all enemies branch is not my main focus as you may know, I’m planning to keep growing it little by little every patch.
Rel
2025-01-01 20:41:33 +0000 UTC"It'll probably be way more work than anyone will be able to appreciate, but it's a must-have nonetheless." I've been waiting for this since I first started backing the project. I just want you to know that, to me, this is among the most exciting features you've added recently!
Felixfalck
2025-01-01 20:33:18 +0000 UTC
