Major Project Announcement (Legend of the Psyons- an EOS Estim Full Game)

[nocnoc]

Game progress updates:

Crypts are now complete. They always start with a gate room and end with a vault. There are a random number of downward leading passageways between the gate and vault. The northern graveyard has a higher chance for deeper crypts. The crypts make a lot of use of the new light mechanic and randomly placed traps. The player's sneak skill is rolled against both trap detection and trap disarming attempts. The gate room sometimes features a locked gate that must be picked and/or a simple logic puzzle. The deeper the crypt, the greater chance to find a treasure chest in the vault and it also increases the chances of more and better loot. Deeper crypts also increase the chances of encountering harder enemies.

I completed a new enemy for the deeper crypts. Beware the level 4 elite plague lich. She has a life stealing tentacle tongue, sharp necrotic claws and can conjure a swarm of plague infested rats. But if you can defeat her, she sometimes drops powerful spells!

I added several new weapons and spells including a cool enchanted flaming sword that can (rarely) be found in the new chests. There are now 22 different weapons and spells in the game. The final game will certainly have well over 100.

I added two new attack enchantments. The push enchantment can allow a hit to force the enemy back, increasing combat distance. So for example, the blizzard spell now has a 20% chance to push the enemy back. (There are three combat distances, melee, medium, and long range). There is now also an enchantment that can boost damage against specific enemy types. For example, the wand of blinding light now does +50% damage against undead Psyons like zombies. It can also blind the enemy for several combat rounds making it a cool weapon. There are now 13 different types of enchantments with more on the way along with many special effects like the previously mentioned blinding and damage over time applications like poisoned daggers.

I added a new feature to the cheat engine that lets you add any weapon or spell via name. This makes testing new attacks much easier. I also added a wand called the "cheat stick" that will one hit kill anything. This is useful when you want to avoid time in combat or for rapidly testing enemy loot drops and the like.

[BamaSwitch]

This sounds so incredible! I can't wait to see it.

[nocnoc]

Game development update:

I completed the fourth of the six major capital city shops. Scarlet (younger sister of Miley the magic shop owner) runs the potion shop. (These two sisters may pull you into a debate as to who has the biggest boobs. You should tread carefully. ) Like all of the shops, Scalet has a leveled list of various items (potions in this case of course) for sale and this inventory updates in real time every now and then with some items being much rarer than others. Most potions come in minor, normal and major variants including health potions to regenerate hit points, energy potions to regenerate action points, rage potion to speed the recharge of your special attack, and the all important and very expensive teleportation potions that you can use in and out of combat to teleport back to safety in the center of Domitrix. All of these potions are in the game already. There are several others planned such as recovery potions to eliminate negative effects (an example of which would be getting concussed for three combat rounds), antidote potions to reduce damage over time of type poison, empowerment potion to boost all of your eight skills and many more.

The potion shop, like the others has a theft option as well as a unique punishment if you get caught. Her punishment has an interesting twist as she offers to sell you an antidote to cut the punishment time in half. Beware though that the cost goes up for repeat offenders as she gets increasingly angry.

Scarlet also features a few fetishes of course. I don't think I'll spoil them here. I'm trying to cater to almost every fetish under the sun from mild to extreme. The player can skip most fetishes if they do not appeal, but that may come at the expense of disposition penalties with the respective woman. I fleshed out her dialog options quite a bit, although I don't think she'll be a major romancable... but I'm still pondering that. I try very hard to give each NPC a unique personality with different likes and dislikes. The disposition system (every NPC has a disposition towards you of 0 to 100) is very detailed. For example some women may like some character classes more than others, some start with higher dispositions than others, some may like you more the more you buy from them, some like gifts, some like flattery while others do not, one demands that you remember to get down on all fours like a dog whenever you enter the shop, some may detect the scent of fear on you if you retreat too often during combat and treat you accordingly etc. Your choices during dialog also have a huge impact. Getting high dispositions with vendors will get the player better buying and selling prices and some NPCs may provide special advice or gifts if they like you and sometimes a certain disposition is required to trigger a quest offer.

The new rage spell has to be unlocked before Scarlet can make it. I'll let you discover what she needs from you to make it. She also offers above market value for zombie dust if you can provide it in bulk. I may flesh this out a bit more with variable ingredient shortages that she'll pay top gold for. She also offers a simple side quest.

I added an interesting new game mechanic called boons. These are permanent and very unique character alterations. There is an enchantment in Scarlet's shop that when read (if you have enough intellect) will give the boon of potion efficiency that lowers the base action point cost of potion use by 25%. (Potion AP cost goes up with each successive potion use when used during combat to prevent potion spamming.) I also added a display to the character sheet to show active boons and while I was at it, I also added a display for temporary consumable effects (such as +3 strength for 300 seconds for eating spinach) as that feature was missing.

I fixed a bug related to saved games and the unlocked rage potion.

I fixed a small display bug for temporary negative effects that come with some foods.

Next steps:

Now that I finished the last planned major game mechanic (boons) I should really get going on the manual. My alpha testers are going to need that. It's going to be a lot of work and not that fun to write and organize lol. But, it's best to do while everything is still fresh in my mind. Then finishing the other two shops (magic spell shop and jewelry store) will probably come next followed by a few more city locations (especially the wishing well at the town center that is now just a place holder).

Moving forwards:

So I still haven't received my BTstim elite that I ordered in April. I may wait another month or so and go with some sort of alternative if I have to. Any suggestions? I wanted to wait to get that before alpha release because I think I have some good ideas for calibration. I also wanted to rewrite my sound files and perhaps eventually have different sound file sets for different estim boxes. Right now the game features four pleasure signals and four punishment signals, but these are fairly short sound files that I made just for temporary purposes as my old Sensavox estim box isn't good for this sort of game.

I grow increasingly concerned that Eos has been unable to create new teases for many months now. This won't affect my current game development as it only applies to initiating a new tease from scratch, but going so long with a broken fundamental feature does not bode well for the platform. I have poured many hundreds of hours into the development of Legend of the Psyons and have at least hundreds more to go, but more probably well over a thousand. I fear Eos could become abandonware before I finish the project. Either way, if I make a sequel, it will probably be on some other platform.


Seeking an artist:

I scour the web for pictures that fit certain scenes and sometimes take the opposite approach and let a cool drawing that I find guide my location or scene creation. I'd like to have more flexibility, but I am not a good artist. There are a few scenes that I would love to have drawn for me. I could also use some help with making small modifications to existing pictures, such as adding electric bolts to a spanking paddle or fixing the player character's hair color for consistency. (I try to use pics that don't show the male's face with a generic looking anime style, but some have brown hair and others have black hair. I'd like that fixed.) If you are able to help or know someone who can, please message me.

Take care everyone. I'll post again in a few weeks.

[cl13a]

Exciting progress!
Unfortunate to hear about the BTstim. You could try making a DIY MidiStim (I hope more people will have these soon), I just made a post about building one for ~$60: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=23322

[nocnoc]

Project updates:

So Sareph0x is back and fixed Eos so that new teases can be created! That is a relief.

Fixed a few minor bugs.

I've been working on the final two of six major city shops (Jade's jewelry store and Miley's spell shop). I decided to work on both of these at the same time. I completed all of the major functionality in both such as buying and selling and attempted theft and Jade's punishment scene. Jade can now from time to time sell you rare and expensive power crystals. (These come in three tiers and randomly increase some of your skills permanently and normally drop from elite Psyons.) This will be a good gold sink for people that want to grind gold for hours on end to get a more powerful character. Still need to finish these two shops... intro dialogs, general dialog trees, room descriptions with things to examine and do and so forth.

Jade can enchant necklaces and rings for quite a bit of gold. This will add to whatever effects the item may already bestow. For necklaces, they have to be of rare quality or higher and it will add a random type of resistance from 1 to the level of the item. Higher level items cost more. Rings are similar, but it adds a random boost to one of your eight skills.This adds to existing upgrades that other vendors can already do... Shurul the orc can sharpen any melee slashing weapon that adds +1 to both low and high end damage. There will be two quests to get her better sharpening stones for greater effects. Similarly, Dominique can reinforce your armor (except for cloth armor) to increase it's upper end of protection by 1 and she'll also have 2 quests to better enhance this. Miley can overcharge any magic attack that increases the high range of the damage by an amount related to the player's level (not the item's level) and the cost goes up with higher levels. So they all have different effects and ways to advance them for cool variety and added impact for different player classes.

I've also found a few pictures online to add pics to some of the punishment scenes of the other vendors, some of which didn't have any yet. (I still could really use the help of an artist if anyone can help with that or point me towards someone who can!) I've also decided to change Dominique's punishment. She is the armorer and is a major fleshed-out, romanceable character. Her old punishment is a bit lame compared to the others. I wanted it more themed on one of her fetishes. So now she ties you up and uses you as a living chastity manikin for her shop. (She also makes steel chastity cages for the city.) She decides to put up a sign outside her store offering free punishment sessions with a slave. As all the slaves are gone (taken by the Psyons) the women are very eager to get their hands on a male slave to torment. One of three random women will come in and perform a different punishment. They will also remember if they punished you before, so in effect, this one shop has six different punishments if you piss Dominique off or get caught trying to steal armor or a shield. (I've finished 4 of the 6 so far and I really like how they came out.) After that, I have to write two more fetish scenes for her and then three more quests and then the first major character will be complete.

So still no BTStim Elite. I can't find a good commercial unit alternative that doesn't filter the audio signals. I may consider a 2B just because it is popular. I may also consider building my own, which many have suggested, but I'm reluctant to do so. Either way, I'm thinking at this point that I may be releasing the closed pre-alpha build with the temporary calibration and sound files and updating that once I get a new estim box.

So the to do list for the first closed pre-alpha release is getting shorter. There is now light at the end of the tunnel. I will continue to post updates. Feedback is welcome.

Take care all.

[alexfayer]

Hey nocnoc

Great to hear some new updates.

Do not buy a 2B. You will be dissapointed I promise you. I just finished building my own unit yesterday and the difference is huge! I was missing out so much with the 2B. To everyone: If you want to use estim with audio input do not buy the 2B. It is a waste of money.

[nocnoc]

Thanks for the advice Alex. For those interested, I just posted some screen shots over in the general channel on Rillo's estim Discord.

[nocnoc]

Updates and some exciting news:

I completed all of Dominique's walk in customer punishments. I simply love the way this came out. Three different customers with very different kinks will punish you as you hang helplessly, and each will have a different scene if they punished you before. There is probably almost an hour of content just in these punishment scenes.

I also completed Dominique's final two fetish scenes linked with the special warrior quest to obtain the Legendary enchanted collar (counts as a necklace (third) piece of gear for the warrior in addition to the normal shield and armor equipment slots that they can have) which is a family heirloom. This is extreme content, but you can opt out easily, if you don't want the collar. But I don't want to spoil too much here. Only the warrior class will see this particular questline.

I also did a bit more work on the manual, but it's slow going. Did I mention that I hate writing manuals? lol

So after waiting over seven months, I've basically given up on the BTstim Elite. I'm not sure if I can even get my money back at this point. With a lot of help and encouragement from some nice people over on Rillo's estim discord, I finally bit the bullet, did some research, ordered some parts and assembled my own custom estim unit. It works unbelievably well! Compared to my old Sensavox, this unfiltered unit allows me to feel every little nuance of the sound file. I can feel super fast pulses, every tiny detail and sine and square waves feel different and so forth. I really wish I did this sooner. The difference is beyond description.

So next on the agenda is to wrap up the last two stores (the jewelry store and magic shop still need dialog options and so forth), then the city wishing well (don't want to spoil that) and then a total redesign of the custom sound files and the calibration page. (Eventually, I'll have different files and calibrations for various boxes, but my first priority is support for unfiltered boxes, as they provide the best control of pleasure and pain sensations to fit with the theme of the game and the immersion goal.) And all the while, I'll hopefully be wrapping up the manual.

I would love to be able to release a closed pre-alpha by Christmas. I'm working really hard to make that happen. We'll see. I can tell you that the custom estim box has me very motivated!

Take care everyone.

[Electro]

With a lot of help and encouragement from some nice people over on Rillo's estim discord

I would love to be able to release a closed pre-alpha by Christmas. I'm working really hard to make that happen. We'll see. I can tell you that the custom estim box has me very motivated!

Sweet! I'm glad you got it together and that it's living up to your expectations.

[nocnoc]

Some updates:

I can't tell you how happy I am with my DIY estim box!!! I have totally redesigned the four (currently) custom estim pleasure files that you experience while exploring the world. (Each zone will have a different pleasure sound file.) Recall that the land is permeated with Psyonic energy and you must resist the urge to cum. The files are all 5 to 7 minutes long and are an amazing ride on an unfiltered analog box. I also redesigned the custom pain sound files that play when you take damage. These are under 30 seconds long, but it is rare to suffer a pain file for much longer than that.

I redesigned the calibration page and also added a fine-tune page. I feel that it works amazingly well and it explains the purpose of the six volume levels that you need to calibrate. It allows for very detailed calibration and the sound files are all carefully designed to be very compatible with each other (same max volume and frequency) for a consistent gaming experience. I truly can't explain what an intense and immersive experience playing the game is now.

I finished the fifth of the six stores. Jade's jewelry store is now complete. I still have a bit more to do on the last shop (Miley's magic shop).

I just posted my biggest dump of screen shots over on Rillo's Estim Discord under the general tab if you want to take a look. https://discord.com/invite/C8J5uuS

To do next:

I want to add a feature that upon loading a saved game lets you choose to either override your current calibration settings or stick with the current calibration if it detects that your current calibration differs from the saved game. I'm also going to allow you to write a manual text note to yourself that the saved game will display so that you can record your computer system volume, estim box settings, electrode placements and so forth.

Then I'll finally finish the last shop and then the city wishing well (city center) and a few other city locations. I'm feeling highly motivated.

[nocnoc]

Updates:

* Got a fair bit of work done on the manual. Completed the extensive section on estim devices and calibration. It is a set of submenus inside of submenus. Still have a lot of manual writing remaining though.

* I finally added a much needed recalibration option to the main menu. This was a bit of work, because it wasn't originally designed to do this, as my first vision of the game was for a 5 or so hour marathon playthrough. My... how the project has grown lol.

* I added two new game options. First, I separated out combat difficulty and combat estim difficulty. (They used to be combined.) The former influences damage dished out and received while the later influences how the length of the estim punishment scales with the damage received. I also added a setting for combat estim intensity. Normally, combat initiates high pleasure mode as the Psyon is physically close to you. Easy mode takes an average of medium and high pleasure for a less intense combat experience. Hard uses an average of high pleasure and low punishment volumes.

* Added option to play the game with no estim so that no sounds will play.

* Added a check when you load a saved game to see if the six estim intensities match your current ones. If they do not, it warns you and displays the information. You have the option to override or keep your current settings.

* Added the ability to add a note to your saved games that displays when you load the file that prompts you to record important estim information such as your estim unit settings, main computer system volume, electrode placement etc to help you with estim consistency if you load a game from a while back.

* Finally finished the last of the six major shops. Miley's magic shop is now complete. Her fetish is linked to a powerful 30 minute buff. Buffs are very unique temporary character enhancements. She is a very powerful light mage, and has a chance of accidentally killing a low level player if you get caught shop lifting. (She has trouble controlling her temper.)

* Finished the wishing well location. Wow was that a complicated location! There are parts of 3 quests here, 14 things to look at, 9 things to do, 3 things to take (potentially), 2 speech options and a hidden passage. Some items may or may not be located here, and turn up in different locations (perception rolls) even when they do for added game replay value. The wishing well mechanic is now fully functional and tested. It is fairly complex and you have to figure out how to use it or your wishes will go unheeded. You have the option to wish for health, power, wealth or love (need to specify person). If your intellect is high enough, there is an inscription on the side of the well that reads: "The goddess loved deeply. When lovers met, cheeks blushed pink. Hearts fluttered as red lifeblood surged. The coupling was unlike any other. The power of their love was unrivaled, radiated outwards through time like blue water ripples. Alas, the love soured green with jealously and greed. Tears enough to fill a well."

Next to do: Several more city locations, perhaps a few more quests and more work on the manual. I'd love to get another zone done as well, but there probably won't be time for first pre-alpha.I'm also pondering a game mechanic to avoid what I call "look spamming". Say that you play the game once and discover that a strange coin is hidden in a hay bale with a perception roll (sneak skill based) to spot the coin. One can spam looking at the hay until you finally spot the coin. To fight this, I am already randomizing some items. Sometimes it just won't be there at all, and sometimes it may be moved to a different location. But I plan to add a mechanic such that making a perception roll temporarily reduces your sneak skill (only as it pertains to these rolls) for a minute or so. This way, it gets less and less probable to spam the look successfully, encouraging one to play the game normally, especially given that there is no guarantee of the item even being there.

I'm working my butt off to get a closed pre-alpha out for Christmas! I hope I can do it!!!

[nocnoc]

Legend of the Psyons update: I finished the stats and skills section of the manual. Some of you may be curious about these game mechanics so I'll post some of the manual info here. I haven't had time to proof read them yet and I'm going to bed soon, so excuse any typos.

The player's main stats (statistical data) include level (lvl), experience points (xp), hit points (hp), and action points (ap). All of these are viewable on the side panel as well as on the character sheet.

The player's level is a general measure of how powerful you are. As you level through combat, questing, and other activities, your will grow in power. There is no level cap, so grinding your character to god-like status is indeed possible, but the experience points required to level up will increase with each level. Your Psyon enemies will also have a level (displayed on the combat initiation screen) that will help you generally gauge the threat that they pose to you. A Psyon that is more than a few levels higher than the player may prove too much to handle. Most regions will tend to have enemies around a certain level range, so take caution when exploring new lands. If you wander into an area that is too high for your character, the higher-level Psyons will sense your weakness, making encounters significantly more likely. Similarly, if you explore an area that is far below your player level, the Psyons will detect your power and make efforts to avoid contact. Weapons and spells are leveled as well, giving you some sense of their capabilities. There is no level restriction on their use, thus a character of any level can use an attack of any level, but obtaining such items that are substantially above your level will prove difficult.

Hit points (hp) represent the player's health. A character's maximum hit points are determined by the base level (determined by character class), constitution skill, and level. Taking damage will reduce your hit points. If your hit points reach zero at any time, your character will die and the game will end. Damage will most often take place when an enemy lands an attack during combat, however damage may also be received outside of combat via triggered traps and the like. The women of Milovana are very dominant. Most won't hesitate to punish the player if they get angry, often doing very real damage to your character. Your character will slowly heal outside of combat with the rate determined by your constitution skill. You may also use healing potions and some types of consumables to regenerate lost hit points. There are also several healers in the game.

Action points (ap) represent the player's energy. A character's maximum action points are determined by the base level (determined by character class), willpower skill, and level. Performing actions during combat (such as attacking or moving) requires the use of action points. Some actions outside of combat such as traveling to a new location and consuming a potion also require action points. The action can not be performed if it exceeds the action point pool. Your character will slowly regenerate action points outside of combat with the rate determined by your willpower skill. You may also use energy potions and some types of consumables to regenerate lost action points. During combat, some of your action points will regenerate at the top of the player's turn. The number of action points that are gained at the start of each combat turn is highly randomized (representing the ebb and flow of combat initiative), but boosted by the player's willpower skill.

The constitution skill is a measure of a character's ability to survive damage. It strongly influences the size of the hit point (health) pool and rate of healing while out of combat. This skill also applies a chance for bonus healing effects whenever a health potion is consumed. Maximum hit points is determined by the following equation: hp = constitution + base hit points (determined by class) + level. For example, a level 10 rogue with a base hp pool of 50 and a constitution of 30 would have (30 + 50 + 10) = 90 hit points. While out of combat, the player will heal at a rate of 0.1 X constitution every ten seconds. For example, a character with a constitution of 25 would heal 2.5 hp every ten seconds. Healing potions will replenish hp (extent depending on the variant from minor to major potion) by a set amount that is also increased by a random amount ranging from 0 to 0.1 X constitution. For example, a character with a constitution of 20 will gain 0 to 2 additional healing points every time that a healing potion is used.

The willpower skill is a measure of a character's energy endurance and ability to maintain combat initiative. It strongly influences the size of the action point (energy) pool and rate of ap regeneration while out of combat. This skill also applies a chance for bonus energy replenishment whenever an energy potion is consumed. Maximum action points is determined by the following equation: ap = willpower X 0.5 + base action points (determined by class) + level. For example, a level 10 rogue with a base ap pool of 50 and a willpower of 30 would have (15 + 50 + 10) = 75 action points. While out of combat, the player will replenish ap at a rate of 0.25 X willpower every ten seconds. For example, a character with a constitution of 20 would replenish 5 ap every ten seconds. Energy potions will replenish ap (extent depending on the variant from minor to major potion) by a set amount that is also increased by a random amount ranging from 0 to 0.1 X willpower. For example, a character with a willpower of 20 will gain 0 to 2 additional action points every time that an energy potion is used.

The strength skill is a measure of a character's physical power. It strongly influences the damage of melee attacks. It is also used for strength checks that are required to move or break open certain items. The strength skill serves as a direct percentile increase for all attacks that contain the melee tag. For example, a character with a strength of 35 will do an additional 35% damage with any melee attack. Strength checks are of the simple minimum requirement variety. For example, a crate with a check of 20 to break open requires a strength of 20 or more.

The precision skill is a measure of a character's ability to land an attack of any type on an opponent in combat and also serves as to maximize the damage done by ranged attacks. Precision also greatly influences a character's ability to inflict critical damage for any type of attack. The precision skill serves as a 1/2 percentile increase for all attacks that contain the ranged tag. For example, a character with a precision of 40 will do an additional 20% damage with any ranged attack. (Note: ranged refers to the attack tag, not the combat distance, as a ranged weapon can usually be used at close range.) Precision is used to calculate the hit roll when an attack is made. The hit roll (size of the attack die) is calculated via: attacker's precision + 10 + (3 X attacker's level). For example, a level 2 character with a precision of 20 would have an attack die of size (20 + 10 + 6) = 36. The roll of 1 to 36 would have to match or beat the defense roll of the opponent. (See dexterity for defense roll calculations.) (Note: Several other factors such as distance, weapon enchantments, and various effects such as blinding and prone can also greatly influence these rolls.) See rolls under the general section of the manual for more details. If a hit is made, the attacker then makes a crit roll to determine if the hit will do critical (extra) damage. In the absence of applied effects such as blinding and prone or attack enchantments, the attacker's crit roll is equal to the precision skill. The defender usually gets a very large advantage to the crit defense roll (see dexterity), making critical hits relatively rare under most circumstances.

The intellect skill is a measure of a character's mental acuity. It strongly influences the damage of magic attacks. It is also used for minimum intellect checks required for reading some languages and rolled intellect checks often used for dialog hints and intuitive knowledge about combat opponents. The intellect skill serves as a direct percentile increase for all attacks that contain the magic tag. For example, a character with an intellect of 50 will do an additional 50% damage with any magic attack. Intellect checks applied to reading some languages are of the simple minimum requirement variety. For example, an inscription with a check of 20 to read requires an intellect of 20 or more. Most other intellect checks such as those used for dialog hints ore of the rolled variety. This pits two virtual die rolls against each other pitting the character's intellect against the difficulty of the clue. For example, a character with an intellect of 15 rolling to to receive a dialog hint of difficulty 25 would have to match or exceed the roll of the 25 sided die (1 to 25) with their roll of a 15 sided die (1 to 15). Similar rolls are made during combat initiation to provide the player with information about the enemy. These rolls fail silently if they do not succeed, meaning the player will not be notified. The description of the enemy simply won't include that additional information.

The dexterity skill is a measure of a character's ability to dodge an attack of any type during combat and to avoid critical damage. It is also used to determine if the player can dodge a triggered trap. Dexterity is used to calculate the defense roll when being attacked by an opponent. The defense roll (size of the defense die) is calculated via: defender's dexterity + 10 + (3 X defender's level). For example, a level 3 character with a dexterity of 15 would have a defense die of size (15 + 10 + 9) = 34. The roll of 1 to 34 would have beat the attack roll of the opponent to dodge the attack. (See precision for attack roll calculations.) (Note: Several other factors such as distance, weapon enchantments, and various effects such as blinding and prone can also greatly influence these rolls.) See rolls under the general section of the manual for more details. If a hit is made, the defender then makes a crit defense roll to determine if the hit will do critical (extra) damage. In the absence of applied effects such as blinding and prone or attack enchantments, the defender's crit defense roll is equal to the precision skill + 75. This usually gives the defender a substantial advantage, making critical hits relatively rare under most circumstances.

The speed skill is a measure of a character's ability to control the combat distance and travel about the world using minimal action points. It strongly influences the chances of successfully retreating from an enemy. Speed is used to calculate the move roll when attempting to advance forwards or backwards during combat. The moving parties speed is given a +10 advantage against the opponents speed. For example, a character with a speed of 20 trying to advance against an enemy with a speed of 15 will roll a die of 30 against the opponents roll of 15. A tie goes to the moving party. (Note: Some effects such as slowed can influence these rolls.) See rolls under the general section of the manual for more details. Traveling around the world requires action points. Speed serves as a direct percentile reduction of ap movement cost. For example, a player with a speed of 50 would receive a reduction of 50% in ap movement cost. This can be especially important when traveling in stealth mode or while wearing armor as both increase the ap cost of travel. Movement cost has a lower bound limit of one action point.

The sneak skill is a measure of a character's ability to move stealthily, take the initiative with first turn in combat, and make and defend against sneak attacks. Sneak checks are used for a variety of activities such as lockpicking, disarming traps, and stealing. Sneak checks are also used for perception rolls, which decide if a hard to spot item (such as a weapon buried in a hay bail) is noticed by the player. Sneak is also a subtle measure of luck and may occasionally influence how many coins are found in a drawer and the like. The player can toggle stealth mode on the main menu. While in stealth mode, the odds of encountering an enemy is reduced as a direct percentile of the sneak skill. For example, a player with a sneak skill of 25 will reduce the odds of enemy encounters by 25% if stealth mode is activated. The base odds of these encounters are influenced by many factors including level differences, Psyon activity in the area and so forth. At the start of combat, both parties make a roll of their sneak skill + 10 to determine first turn. If a party is in stealth mode (some enemies may sometimes be encountered in stealth mode) the roll is made via: (sneak skill X 2) + 10, significantly increasing the chances of getting first turn. If a party gets first turn, there is a chance of making a sneak attack. The party with first turn makes a sneak attack roll equal to their sneak skill, while the defender gets a +200 advantage, making sneak attacks relatively rare under most circumstances. If either party is in stealth mode, the sneak skill is multiplied by three for the roll. For example, a player with first turn in stealth mode with a sneak skill of 20 attacking an enemy with a sneak skill of 10 and not in stealth mode would make a sneak roll of (20 X 3) = 60 against a defense roll of (200 + 10) = 210. A party with sneak attack advantage gets to choose the starting combat distance, which is normally random, and applies a major prone effect of magnitude 75 on the opponent for first turn making the enemy far easier to hit and more likely to sustain critical damage. Critical hits do an additional 50 to 100 percent damage (weighted for mid range values around 75 percent). The attacker's sneak skill adds directly to this additional damage. For example, a character with a sneak skill of 20 will do an extra 70 to 120 percent extra damage when a critical hit is made.

[nocnoc]

Project updates:

- I finished Shurul's level 3 quest to retrieve the wet stone from Hildra's sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is one of a few manually created locations within the huge graveyard starter zone that mostly has procedurally generated locations. The exact location of the sarcophagus is randomized in the upper left region where the slightly tougher Psyons are. I added a rare level four shield and sword there as well. Rare is the level three tier (common, uncommon, rare, epic and legendary).

- Finished another city location (the entrance to the graveyard). It wasn't a very complex location, but a few things to look at and do. I had to edit the picture myself because there are candles that you can take and I wanted them to no longer display in the picture once you take them. I'm slow at picture editing. I still really need to find an artist lol.

- I finished the first room of the palace private chambers that are behind a locked door that can be lockpicked. There will be many rooms in this area eventually. I made a modified version of the enemy encounter engine adjusted for guards finding you when you are trespassing. If caught, you can pay a fine (increases with each offense), take a brutal dungeon punishment that would have a chance to kill lower level players, or try to run. If your attempt to run fails, things get worse for you. It all works well, and I think you'll "enjoy" the punishment scene. There is also a way to get blackmail dirt on one of the guards (as a miniquest) that will give you one get out of jail for free card.

- I added an entire new zone! They are underground tunnels (you have to investigate to find them) featuring a 10x10 random maze generation. Right now, there are only five types of procedural rooms, but soon there will be several more. I added two new level 5 enemies to this location (skaven minions and skaven witches). Skaven are rat-like humanoids. I started implementing the first miniboss (skaven commander, a two star elite)!!! I added to the battle engine allowing for bosses to be unique one time encounters and they also feature a special intro dialog page. For some, your dialog will even effect their combat stats. I think this will be a fun game mechanic.

- Because closed pre-alpha is coming very soon, I added a lot to the cheat console. (My alpha testers will have access to the cheat console.) You can now toggle combat encounters on and off, making exploration much faster when testing that. You can now also give yourself any item, attack, or piece of equipment in the game by name and also print the available names to the browser console for easy copy/paste. This even allows you to violate the normal class restrictions on equipment types. You can also now initiate combat with any enemy by name at any time through the cheat console. This makes combat testing far more efficient.

So yeah, I've been busy.

Coming soon: Finish first boss and finish the tunnel maze rooms. Add more rooms to the private chambers in the palace. I hope to get yet another zone done for the pre-alpha in a few weeks. The cathedral (north of the graveyard) will feature mostly manually generated rooms and will play a big part in The 3rd quest of the main quest line. And of course, more work on the manual ughhh.

Big announcement: I am going to release the closed pre-alpha before Christmas. The game has grown so much in scope since I started. It took far longer to reach pre-alpha than I originally anticipated, but keep in mind that even in this early stage this is already far larger than any tease game that you will have played on Milovana. And it's not just a tease, it is a full and complex adventure game. Like all complex games, a lot of testing is needed. I'm going to be recollecting names of those interested in participating in the first closed pre-alpha later this month. Exact date is TBA, but probably a few days before Christmas. If you submitted your name before, and you are still interested, please resubmit. Interested parties should send me a private message. Once the pre-alpha releases I will send you a link that will let you try the game. I'm not yet sure how many testers I want for this first round, and I don't know what the interest level will be, but I'll likely be going for quality over quantity for now and expand in the future. I will also make a new post thread for alpha testing feedback, bug reports, typographical error reports, class balance discussions, and the like.

[thebears73]

this is going to be epic!!!!

[nocnoc]

Updates:

The first boss is complete including the engine upgrades that allow for the unique dialog page. This dialog will usually be consequential, as is most dialog in the game. In this case, it can slightly affect her will to fight you and if you make the right choices, you can actually probe her for some information that leads to a small side quest. It also knows if you retreated from combat and return to fight her with altered dialog and she goes on guard for that, making it a bit harder to retreat from her a second time. Like all bosses will have in the game, she has a really good loot table for a chance to get some very powerful attacks and equipment. I thus had to add a bunch more item data to the engine for this. I've lost track of how many items, weapons, spells, armors and so forth are in the game at this point. I'm pleased with how this game mechanic came out. It makes finding and fighting a boss feel special.

Added a fairly rare vault room to the well tunnels and a few other procedurally generated rooms.

I added a feature to prevent "look spamming" for the sneak based perception rolls that I mentioned earlier. Without this feature, a player with very low sneak skill could just keep looking over and over again until they get a lucky perception roll if they know the location of a hidden item from a previous playthrough. For example, if you know a weapon is hidden in a hay bail and that there is a small chance of noticing it if you look at the hay bail. The penalty fades away with both time and travel. It appears to work well. This functions in conjunction with some items being given random hiding places as well.

I added a new game mechanic called harvesting to the game engine. It works by loading a separate screen a lot like the lockpicking and trap disarm pages. I've been trying to think of a good roll check that uses dexterity as it has been a bit underutilized. So the harvest node has a difficulty that rolls against your dexterity for the harvest check. Some nodes can have multiple tries and some require a specific inventory item to collect them (such as a pick needed to collect ore). Most nodes will replenish with passing time. If your harvest roll beats the difficulty roll by a factor of 3 or more, you get a perfect harvest, which provides more xp and has a chance to give extra items or a pristine version of the item. In this cave/girl location I added rare glowing mushrooms that can be harvested with this new mechanic. They provide enhanced intellect and willpower for 5 minutes. The pristine variety that you can get from a perfect harvest are even better! It's a fun mechanic and helps the dexterity skill be more on par with the other skills.

Completed the room with the girl in the tunnels to rescue. It is a complex room and there is a lot of dialog. The girl (Penelope) can be pickpocketed and there is a simple quick punishment if you get caught. I added the most powerful weapon in the game thus far. It is called Bullseye and is a level 6 epic crossbow with three powerful enchantments (seeking, armor piercing and extra critical damage). The girl that you rescue has a chance to give you this family heirloom when you complete the quest and the chance depends on her disposition towards you. Your dialog and actions will determine how much she likes you. I made the grave moss in the graveyard use the new harvesting mechanic. I updated the manual with an explanation of the harvesting process. I also added a gameplay data page to the character sheet that tracks things like total thefts, total locks picked, total traps disarmed and the like.

Gear room in the tunnels complete. You have to figure out how to activate it. I also added a second hidden quest path to saving the girl. I'm curious to see if anyone discovers it. The activation of the gear is impactful in various ways and can even affect the boss battle a bit.

I added an important feature to the load game function to warn the player if the saved file game version does not match the current game version and that it might crash the game depending on the nature of the update. This will be important as I push out pre-alpha game updates.

Added two new Domitrix street locations leading to the Temple of the Gear. Started on the first room of the Temple. I want to get that done before pre-alpha release because the temple is shielded from the pleasurable Psyonic energy and is intended to be the way to cool off without cheating. I also need Ariel the priestess there to give out a simple side quest that is already in the game engine.

To do soon: (Hopefully before the pre-alpha) Add the queen's bedroom to the private quarters in the palace. This is needed for two quests. In the final game, the bedroom will probably be farther in the private chambers, but I'll connect it to the entrance to that area for now. I want to make the second boss in the game deigned to guard the fourth zone, the abandoned cathedral north of the graveyard. I also hope to at least start the cathedral.

My target closed pre-alpha release date is Wednesday Dec 23 if all goes well. About three dozen people are interested in testing. That is a bit more than I was looking for in the first round, but I think it is a manageable number, so watch for the link and few suggestions for how to report bugs and and feedback coming soon.