Category: Poorly-Written Posts

Pandemonium: The Adventure v1.00 Release

SaltyJustice

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UPDATE: Version 1.02 has been released with several bugfixes. Download it here. If your savefiles were corrupted in v1.00, this version should be able to load them safely. Should be.

That’s right, Pandemonium v1.00 is now available to the public! A huge thanks to the many patrons and associates who tested and provided suggestions for this version. It’s considerably better than I had ever expected, and it’s all thanks to you! If you’re not a patron, then you totally should be!

Click here to download it (Mac and Windows), or head to the downloads page if you’re weird like that. (OSX users: This page may provide help if you’re having difficulty running the game.)

With this we will now be working on dealing with any remaining bugs or oversights that come up. Despite all the testing, there are only about 20 people doing it. It’s likely that some errors slipped through, so report them using the forum if you spot one.

Chickenwhite will now be working on finishing the remaining two character redesigns, at which point we will have a Patron Poll to vote on which chapter to do next. That will likely be at the start of November. After that, we start making that chapter, obviously!

Fun statistics: The total development time for all of Chapter 1, including engine and scripting work, is just under 7 months (closer to 6, but all the suggestions and improvements pushed it to 7). I expect future chapters will be of similar development length, though it’s because the chapters get longer and more involved as the game goes on. Since the engine work is done, the two should balance out.

If you are a patron: Please see the Patreon for information on accessing debug mode. Normal users – consider sending the team a dollar a month to access debug mode! It helps support the game’s development and tells the world you love this game.

Full changelog between Prototype 2 and v1.00 is below. It’s a doozy.

Continue reading “Pandemonium: The Adventure v1.00 Release” →

Development Update: October 9, 2017

SaltyJustice

The Home Stretch

We’re almost done over here. I’ve made a number of changes from Prototype 3f, including getting the LOS raytracer in. Now enemies won’t be able to see you through walls!

I’ve updated the screenshot page to show people who didn’t get to play Prototype 3 just what the game looks like.

I expect that Chapter 1 should be completed by next week. If not, then definitely the week after. We pretty much have to color several more images and it’s ready to go.

I did just receive some suggestions from a forumgoer (you know who you are) and will have them implemented by the time Chapter 1 comes out.

Get psyched!

Development Update: October 2nd, 2017

SaltyJustice

Short Update

So, this week the artists are still closing in on completing the remaining work, and I’ve been adding some useful features as requested by playtesters. Prototype 3f will be going out to Patrons sometime this week depending on how long it takes me to get the features in as well as the bug-fixes that were pointed out to me.

We will also be getting a bit of bonus content from some guest artists. You’ll have to wait until Chapter 1 comes out to see it, of course.

I’ll have more to say about the upcoming changes in a Design with a Grain of Salt post later on.

Development Update: September 25th, 2017

SaltyJustice

General

Small update this week. Prototype 3e will be going out to patrons probably tomorrow. It contains some balance fixes and art updates, as well as a new area since someone asked for more slime content.

The Art Front

Chicken needs to finish the Ghost TF sketches, and also update the Skullcrawler combat pose. After that, we just need to ink and color everything and Chapter 1 is ready to ship.

The Coding Front

I added a new feature: Tourist Mode. In this mode, your party never misses attacks and deals triple damage. It can be toggled on and off from the options menu at any time.

I added this mode because, let’s face it, this is an ecchi game. Some people don’t care about the JRPG component at all and just want to do dirty things to our protagonists. Tourist mode should make that a lot easier without robbing anyone else of the challenge of a finely crafted RPG experience. It also won’t rob of them of whatever garbage I happen to put in front of them, either.

There’s also a few bug fixes that Chicken noticed and a few script logic changes concerning the Claudia scene.

 

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Development Update: September 4, 2017

SaltyJustice

TheDumb

Patron Pal Poll Next Week

Since I don’t have time for it right this week, a Prototype 3 Poll will be issued next week. This is to find out what you, the adoring public, thought of the various parts of Prototype 3. It will be sent out to Patrons since they, obviously, are the ones who actually played the damn thing.

The Art Front

After a fairly well-received prototype release to Patrons, I’m whipping the artists to get back to work on completing all the missing art. We’ve already got a few new shadings and dialogue poses done, and Hund has redone his shading style for the dialogue portraits to unify the style among all the different portraits (as well as speeding up the normally fairly slow process of shading). We’ve also got a much better pose for Blythe’s dialogue, since Chicken wasn’t really happy with the first two passes.

Sprites continue to be done. Urimas has nothing to do for a month. Maybe I’ll get him to work on super secret stuff?

The Coding Front

I’ve received a number of bug reports and have basically cleared them all up, at least to my knowledge. If you’re a patron, the bug-fix patches and releases should be in your message inbox. If you’re not a patron, then congratulations: You won’t get stuck or deal with bugs when you get to play Chapter 1.

I’ve also taken a few suggestions on improving the overall gameplay. I’ve fixed up some of the debug menu stuff, changed a bit of the timings, and have a few features I want to add to make the game just that much smoother. For example, I want to add a Skillbook Library to the campfires. Any skillbook you’ve found but couldn’t understand is added to a list and you can re-read them at campfires instead of having to backtrack.

The Dialogue Front

I have an associate writer/editor/pornographer working on going through the dialogue and narration to deal with spelling errors and pacing problems. This individual has done editing work with me before and should help to smooth out the problems that are attendant with having written some scenes months ago but still having them in the game.

Editing work should easily be done before Prototype 4 goes live.

Extra Content?

Some bonus content is also in the pipeline. I am currently cleaning it up and finishing off the edge cases before it goes for testing. This extra content concerns werecats and features a quasi-timed event (where the timing is based on battles and not seconds).

We may be getting extra artistic help to add the new content, but that’s not finalized yet so I won’t say any more. There will likely be an update next week.

Prototype 4 Status

Prototype 4 will probably become Chapter 1’s full release unless a major bug is discovered. The only thing preventing it from coming out right now is that the art isn’t completed and there are a small number of bugs/improvements I want to deal with.

I do not have a date set for Prototype 4, as it depends far more on the artists than on me.

  1. Finish all character dialogue art. (Just Breanne/NPCs left!)
  2. Finish all transformation art.
  3. Finish bonus content involving Werecats. (In Progress)
  4. Add Library functionality for skillbooks.
  5. A number of outstanding, non-critical bugfixes.
  6. Dialogue editing for pacing and content.

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Prototype 3 Released to Patrons!

SaltyJustice

Yes, that’s right. After months of hard work, Prototype 3 has been released for testing and feedback to the good folks over at Patreon. Thanks guys. From the bottom of my heart and the blackened, shriveled heart-shaped object that my artists use instead of a proper functioning organ.

If you believe you should have received a copy but did not, please send me a direct message on Patreon and I’ll see what I can do.

If you would like a copy right the hell now:

Please either pledge on Patreon or send a donation directly to paypal.me/SaltyJustice along with a message on Patreon indicating the name you donated from, and I will send you the Prototype 3 download links ASAP.

What is Prototype 3?

The list of changes is very long. Very, very long: I will be posting a full changelog on the forums. For now, I’m looking forward to the wide range of feedback, suggestions, bug reports, nagging, and threats that always accompany a major release.

What happens now?

Our next priority is to finish off everything that is incomplete in chapter 1 and do the full release, which will be public (Patrons will receive the Debug-Unlocked version of the full release, the public can go suck a lemon).

I expect this will take a few weeks, depending on the productivity of the artists and the quality/quantity of the bug reports and suggestions. I’m not going to pin a date on Chapter 1 until I’ve had a chance to discuss it with the artists in detail.

I need help and the walls are closing in or I saw a bug!

Please report it on the forums and take a deep breath. If the walls are closing in it’s because of a panic attack, not a coding error.

Your panic attack is not a bug, it’s a feature…

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Midweek Bonus Update: Balance!

SaltyJustice

MembranesI’ve been doing some balance testing with the team and some folks that I trust from previous projects. The original balance was pretty awful, all things considered, but so far everyone is really liking the balance changes I’ve been working on.

If you’re coming into this from Prototype 2, here’s a rough idea of what’s different:

  1. There’s a lot more enemies.
  2. Enemies are generally weaker.
  3. Mei and Florentina get a lot more from level-ups.
  4. Mei and Florentina level up a lot faster.
  5. There are more mechanics added (Powerful Blows, new abilities, loot drops, upgrades) that add a lot of variety to the battles.
  6. There are more enemy types available. There are also higher tiers of enemies (Cultists of Rank 2 now exist).
  7. There are three bosses in the game now. Each one requires a particular strategy to beat: You probably won’t be able to brute-force the fight!
  8. There are more support items to use to heal yourself and buff yourself during combat.
  9. Combat flows a lot faster and smoother (animation timers were reduced, health-bar animations are paced better, etc).
  10. Most of the display bugs from combat are gone.
  11. Enemy positions were shuffled around so you likely won’t run into super-tough enemies unless you’re really not paying attention.

Hoo-wee, that’s a lot isn’t it?

I also have been tracking roughly how long it takes various players to get to various stages. Urimas, who likes to kill things but doesn’t read most of the flavor text, says it took him 2 hours to reach the Quantir Mansion (following the game’s advertised path), while Scarrfish, who tends to read more flavor text and explore more, had just met up with Florentina at the 2 hour mark.

If you’re just playing the main storyline, you’ll probably take about 3 hours to finish Chapter 1.

If you’re looking to see all the content, I’d estimate it’s 6-8 hours to finish everything, depending on how good you are at combat and avoiding enemies (and how fast you can read).

Pretty darn good for an indie game, right?

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