Version 1.00

Now that the finale of campaign mode is done and the game appears to be stable, I think we've finally crossed the line where it's appropriate to say that Corrupted Saviors is a "complete" experience!  As such, I'm designating this release as Version 1.00, and the monthly releases going forward will be 1.01, 1.02, and so on.  I have a list of features I want to complete in order to make the jump to Version 2.00, but for the time being, I'm going to focus more on making the current experience more polished and enjoyable.

The main feature of the current release is one such point of polish: the multiplier summary display.  The "Info" menu now contains a "Multipliers" button which shows the base damage value of pretty much all of the damage sources in the game, along with a running total of all the multipliers applied to that value, and buttons to show all the Chosen-specific modifiers for how much damage of each type is taken by each of the Chosen.  Furthermore, the Forsaken interaction menu now has its own Multipliers button which shows their base damage (and the multipliers which determine that damage) of each type.

Outside of those displays, I've also added new indicators and refactored some existing indicators in order to make it more clear what's multiplying your damage.  Previously, there were many multipliers (like the Prism and several Mechanical Constructions) which would silently multiply damage whenever their conditions were met, but which could easily be forgotten and cause confusion when your damage output suddenly changes for unclear reasons.  These factors are now mentioned in the damage summary in-battle.

Together, this means that every single factor which affects your damage should be visible in one of the following places:

1. The base value for the action (like Grind, Orgy, etc.) in either the base Multipliers display or the Forsaken Multipliers display

2. The multiplier based on damage type for that Chosen, shown by clicking that Chosen's name in the Multiplier display

3. For effects which depend on the day, the bottom of the Shop screen (used for Animalistic phases and such)

4. For effects limited to that battle, the battle confirmation message (used for Consumer-type Mechanical Constructions)

5. For effects limited to one round of the battle, the target selection display (most notably the Demonic Barrier)

6. For effects limited to one instance of damage, the during-action damage display (like the aforementioned Prism)

7. For effects limited to only some damage types within one instance of damage, the inline multiplier summary (like INJU multiplying circumstance damage)

In other words, you should be able to start with the base damage value, multiply it by every factor displayed on your way into battle, and end up reaching the same final in-game damage you see, without needing to look through your items or Forsaken or achievements for any stray multipliers.  I doubt that most players are going to want to do this on a regular basis, but it should at least make it much more clear where your power is coming from, especially in the lategame of campaign mode.

The rest of the update is mostly just minor bugfixes and interface improvements, although Reign has received a somewhat significant balance update to make her Punisher progress faster for the T3 abilities which are harder to deal with (rather than a flat 1/20 factor like before).  The next update is also planned to be focused on quality-of-life features, so this is a great time to let me know if there are any adjustments you'd like to see!  Also let me know if the multiplier display could be improved in any way - there are a few parts where I wasn't sure how exactly the information should be presented to the player, so I'm sure that there's room for improvement.

Click here to download.  Mirror.

• Interface: Added a multiplier summary feature to the Info menu and to each Forsaken's interaction menu.
• Interface: More damage multipliers will now be explicitly mentioned when the Chosen take damage.
• Interface: Portrait folders containing the Neutral expression will substitute that expression for any missing portraits.
• Interface: It is now possible to skip multiple days at once in completed loops and warp loops in campaign mode.
• Interface: Forsaken combat styles now show the circumstance damage dealt relative to trauma damage (but the damage actually dealt has not been changed).
• Balance: Reign now gets faster Punisher progress from Sovereign Slaughter and especially from Sovereign Detonate.
• Balance: The bonus from the "Collect Data" Mechanical Chosen Operation now properly expires after one more Operation.
• Bugfix: Duplicate Orgy buttons will no longer appear when multiple Defilers would all lead to an Orgy.
• Bugfix: Reason's Forsaken Distortion traits will now function properly even when the affected mechanical part is depleted.
• Bugfix: Reason's Noxious Optimization Forsaken trait will no longer sometimes prevent the Active Duplicator from providing its bonus to buildings containing Noxious Nodes.

Release 75: Finale

This update finally adds an ending to campaign mode.  I say "an" ending rather than "the" ending, because this is only the first and easiest ending to achieve.  Simply playing until Loop 35 will bring you to your final confrontation with Reign, and while the fight does have a slight twist in that Reign shares some of her power with her partners (and you can choose whether you want those partners to be Mechanical or Elemental), I think that most players who make it this far won't find it to be too difficult.  It might even be a bit of an anticlimax.

Nonetheless, it's still an ending, and that means that the development of Corrupted Saviors is moving to a new phase.  From here on, I'll be less focused on rushing new content into the game, and more focused on making the existing content more pleasant to play.  After looking through feedback over the past month, I think the biggest issues that need to be addressed are (1) game balance, (2) load times, and (3) the clarity of the mechanics as expressed to the player.  I'm going to want to at least begin to address all of these before moving on to the Basis route and the Thousand Chosen Battle which will act as the foundation for the later routes.

After leaving a month to iron out any final issues with the game, I'll be designating the next release as Version 1.0.  This will also give me time to polish up the ending a little more.  There's a bit more unique flavor I'd like to add for players who continue on to endless mode.  Reign also still doesn't have a proper Forsaken form, but this is because there are actually serious balance questions that need to be answered before that point - you'll be able to use the Forsaken Reign as a full-fledged member of your roster for the later routes, which means that I can't just give her a bunch of overpowered postgame-only abilities.  At the same time, she needs to be able to compete with Mechanical Forsaken, and Elemental Forsaken are going to be getting some buffs as part of the coming balance rework.  The later endings will basically ask the player to break the game's balance over their knee, but there needs to be some balance in the first place so that breaking it can feel properly satisfying.

The other immediate goal is a proper "multiplier summary" feature.  Right now, it's very easy to get lost in the sea of additive and multiplicative bonuses the game throws at you by the time you reach the later loops.  By next month, I want the game to be able to show the player a comprehensive list of everything that's happening underneath the hood.  This should also help with the upcoming balance work, since seeing a breakdown of all the multipliers will make it much easier to figure out which ones are simply too weak to be worthwhile.  Until then, I hope everyone enjoys the boss fight!

Click here to download.  Mirror.

• Content: Added the final boss fight to campaign mode's Loop 35.
• Other: Reign cannot become Forsaken before Loop 35.  Save files where she had become Forsaken will retroactively return her to being one of the Chosen.
• Other: Added the Loop 28 warp route to campaign mode.
• Bugfix: Resolved some crashes that could occur when traveling between cities.
• Bugfix: It's no longer possible to enter a bugged warp route on Loop 31.

Release 75b

• Bugfix: Creating a new save file will no longer sometimes put the game into a bugged state.

Release 74: Comprehension

This is another smaller release, following last month's new boss battle and leading up to the final battle of campaign mode which is coming next month.  The main new addition is the "Versus Wisdom" scenario which has been added to single play mode.  Because the Wisdom boss fight is about seeing how many iterations of increasing difficulty you're prepared to face, and because scenarios always start the player at the same level of power (based on how many items they give you), Wisdom's scenario works a bit differently from all the others.  After you've completed it once, another sub-scenario is unlocked which makes Wisdom more difficult in exchange for starting you with a few more items.  The items probably won't quite be strong enough to make up for the increased difficulty, which means that beating Wisdom in the base scenario isn't too hard, but the later scenarios will definitely test your skills.

This release also adds a fair number of new Favorite Forsaken smalltalk lines.  The new lines fall into two categories: those which are spoken by Boss Forsaken (replacing lines which didn't make sense for a Boss Forsaken to say) and those which are spoken by regular Forsaken regarding Boss Chosen who have already been defeated.  This is really just a minor update to an optional feature which some players might not even use, but players who care about the lore might find it interesting.

Among the bugfixes this month is one for an issue with the "To Day Start" retry system which could cause the game to be put in a bugged state where some combat-related variables weren't reset properly.  This would cause strange behavior like Chosen starting the battle Surrounded, and saving the game in this state would cause the bugged behavior to persist even after closing the game and opening it again.  This should be fixed in R74, and saves which were previously bugged should work properly, but please let me know if something like this is still occurring.

Next month should bring us to the conclusion of campaign mode!  Reign's boss fight, which is presently in a half-complete placeholder state, will be fully implemented, and the final battle on Loop 35 will be added!  It's taken quite awhile to get to this point, but once the main path through the game has been completed, we'll be free to go around and add side feature and polish without needing to worry about whether later additions will conflict with them.

Click here to download.  Mirror.

• Content: Added the Versus Wisdom scenario to single play mode.
• Content: Expanded the Favorite Forsaken smalltalk system with a bunch of new lines (mostly related to former Boss Chosen).
• Bugfix: Fixed a crash that could happen on the data menu.
• Bugfix: Resolved saves being put into a bugged state after using the "Return to day start" option in battle.
• Bugfix: Forsaken should no longer sometimes crash the game when giving birth in between campaign mode loops.

Release 74b

• Bugfix: Wisdom's loop preview will no longer display incorrect partner species, and the difficulty modifiers of that loop will no longer be generated as though those incorrect species were being used.
• Bugfix: The Dimensional Kaleidoscope will now produce Forsaken with the full effects of the listed Distortion.
• Bugfix: Elemental Forsaken with the Dissociative Identity (Torment Monsoon) trait will no longer allow Surrounded Chosen to escape to the sky early when released by the Forsaken's Capture ability.

Release 73: Wisdom

This release introduces the final of the species-based boss fights: Wisdom, the leader of the Elemental Chosen!  With this, campaign mode is almost complete.  There are no species or bosses to be unlocked after beating Reason and Wisdom.  All that's left is to implement the final battle and the alternative story routes (which will involve a few new unique mechanics and boss fights once we get there).

The battle against Wisdom will begin to appear in campaign mode as an option 5 loops after you've defeated Love, which means that the soonest you can face her is Loop 20.  Of the two boss fights, Wisdom is definitely the easier one.  However, you'll be in a much better position in later loops if you prepare for a tough fight before taking her on.

Without spoiling too much, I can say that corrupting Wisdom isn't a binary thing.  The further you're able to push her, the more you'll get out of her as one of the Forsaken.  In principle, you can make her as strong as you like by corrupting her more and more.  In practice, there aren't currently any further unique mechanics after you acquire the "Energy from Other Universes" Forsaken trait, and everything after that just makes the numbers larger.  Depending on player interest, I might add more stages and rewards to the boss fight, but the fight as its stands is already 'complete' in the sense that there's really no point in fighting her past the current end of content.

Next up, I'm going to be working on the finale of campaign mode, but I'm also going to be shifting focus toward fixing longstanding bugs and balance issues, and improving how well the game runs now that I can be more confident that new mechanics aren't going to spoil any code improvements I try to write.  A bit of this has already made it into the current update (players should find that the shop screen runs much more smoothly now), and I'm hopeful that the game will become much easier to enjoy in the coming months.

Click here to download.  Mirror.

• Content: Added the Wisdom boss fight to campaign mode after Love has been defeated.
• Content: Added Wisdom's portraits to the default portrait pack.
• Bugfix: The "Siphon" Forsaken Defiler action's button will now correctly appear.
• Bugfix: Fixed an error when displaying building costs under Reason's Distortion traits.
• Bugfix: Corrected an off-by-one error when determining the Omelette du Malefice Evil Energy bonus.
• Bugfix: Resolved some incorrect behavior when using the Abrogation Resonator after the first turn of battle.
• Bugfix: Reason's Operation: Extreme Violence Application will no longer crash the game.
• Bugfix: Humanoid Demon Commanders will now display the appropriate portrait for their gender.
• Bugfix: Resolved an error when attempting to progress past Reason's loop in campaign mode.

Release 73b

• Bugfix: Resolved a potential crash that could happen when the Favorite Forsaken was unable to find a valid topic for smalltalk.
• Bugfix: Resolved a crash that could occur when Wisdom would use one of her abilities.
• Bugfix: Resolved a crash when attempting to read data for Chosen who aren't part of an active save file.

Release 72: Answer

This is another smaller update while I clean up lingering bugs from the Reason boss fight and prepare for the upcoming Wisdom boss fight.  A couple of minor interface improvements which have been on the to-do list for awhile also found their way into the release.

The main new addition is the ability to face Reason is single play mode.  The new "Versus Reason" scenario was very difficult to balance, since she's even more difficult than would be expected for a boss fight late in campaign mode.  You're meant to "burn all your resources" to beat Reason, because the nature of her simulation mechanics means that those resources will remain available in the real world.  For a player without access to Forsaken, the number of items you need in order to reach that level of power is high.  There's also a large degree of randomness in how well the items you get will synergize with each other, which means that the scenario can be pretty easy or extremely difficult depending on your luck.

I'm still including the scenario just so that players who don't like to play deep into campaign mode will still be able to experience Reason's mechanics and story, but it's still recommended to face her in campaign mode as originally intended.

Next month will be the introduction of the final species-based boss fight, Wisdom!  Like Reason, she has a pretty crazy gimmick, but I've already done a significant chunk of the work required to implement her this month, so she should be done on schedule.  I hope you all look forward to it!

Click here to download.  Mirror.

• Content: Added the Versus Reason scenario to single play mode.
• Interface: The Forsaken roster may now be reordered.
• Interface: The player may now choose to waive the usual extra action granted by Networked Consciousness when using a surround-type Demon Commander.
• Bugfix: When facing Reason, the "To Round 1" retry option will now properly keeps everyone in their appropriate simulation universe.
• Bugfix: Elemental Chosen no longer fail to activate their Elemental Surge when the Demons retreat from battle.
• Bugfix: The gender composition of Chosen teams can now be changed mid-campaign.
• Bugfix: Warp routes will no longer be available when they're not supposed to be.
• Bugfix: Operation: Entice Thralls to Betrayal will now consistently forbid non-PLEA-inflicting actions.
• Bugfix: Operation: Leech Demonic Energy will now properly stop providing damage reduction when the user performs an action generating zero Evil Energy.

Release 71: Reason

This update adds the first of the endgame bosses: Reason, leader of the Mechanical Chosen!  Reason will first appear 5 loops after Judgment is defeated.  As a scientist whose knowledge of the workings of psychic energy has allowed her to replace her own body with mechanical parts, she's an exceptionally powerful and resolute opponent.

From a gameplay perspective, Reason can be treated as effectively a "final boss."  Similar to the Mechanical Chosen who serve under her, Reason's Forsaken abilities once defeated are all about making the player stronger over time.  If you can beat her as early as Loop 25, then it'll be easy for your power level to snowball to the point that the actual final boss on Loop 35 will become trivial.  Even if you delay fighting Reason until Loop 30, the extra efficiency she adds when crafting buildings will still make you a lot more powerful by the true endgame.

This is important, because Reason's city is an exceptionally difficult fight.  She has her own unique set of Operations (which are now also listed in the mechanical operations.txt file), and you'll need to figure out which ones to aim for and which Operations to manipulate her allies into using in order to make the fight winnable.  Don't be afraid to burn all your resources (mechanical parts, limited Forsaken abilities, etc.) in order to beat her!  She has a special gameplay mechanic you'll discover which encourages you to do just that.

Because the fight is so difficult, and because it assumes that you've spent all of campaign mode building up the resources to take it on, there's currently no single play version of the fight.  I'll probably need to tweak some of Reason's mechanics in order to make the fight fair for players who don't have a Forsaken roster.  Until then, campaign mode is the only way to face her.

Now that this is done, I'm going to be moving directly to implementing Reason's Elemental counterpart, Wisdom, as soon as possible.  Like Reason, Wisdom makes use of some pretty tricky mechanics in her boss fight, so I expect this to take 2 months as well.  Until then, I hope everyone enjoys the beginnings of the endgame!

Click here to download.  Mirror.

• Content: Added the Reason boss fight to campaign mode after Judgment has been defeated.
• Content: Added Reason's portraits to the default portrait pack.
• Bugfix: Resolved some incorrect behavior when recapturing a Chosen who had been subjected to the "Add to Orgy" Aversion Forsaken ability earlier in the battle.
• Bugfix: When bargaining with Splendor, the bargain to make the next loop easier will no longer expire before the next loop actually starts.

Release 71b

• Bugfix: Resolved an issue where Distortions other than Despair wouldn't properly carry over to Reason's Foraken's form.

Release 70: Flexibility

This is just a small release to hold everyone over while I work on implementing Reason's boss fight, but it does have a couple of features which might prove enjoyable.  The first is the introduction of a new position to custom sex scenes.  In addition to being "on top of someone," "below someone," and "on her back," it's now also possible for custom sex scene participants to be "bent over."  This position is basically used as an invitation to penetration, and Forsaken with high Deviancy and Obedience (or who are especially enamored with everyone present in the scene) will use it to make it easier for you to give them what they want.

The other new addition is something the game hasn't received for quite awhile: a completely new face in the default portrait pack!  Ever since the introduction of the first advanced species, the number of basic human faces in the default portrait pack has remained at 16, and the only new addition has been advanced-species-variants of those faces.  But as Corrupted Saviors starts to near completion, I want to start filling out all the duplicate faces so that players are less likely to see repeats.  The new face is currently shared between Triumph and Stigma, and the portrait pack also includes their advanced species versions (Catgirl, Vampire, Succubus, Seraph, and Night Elemental).

Aside from a couple of bugfixes and minor improvements, the rest of the work this month went into working on Reason's boss fight so that I could be sure that it'd be finished next month.  If I overprepared, then there might be some time to squeeze in some of the extra content that otherwise would've been done this month, but I wouldn't bet on it.  The gimmick of Reason's fight is a pretty crazy one, and finishing the implementation and playtesting will take some work.  I look forward to showing it off!

Click here to download.  Mirror.

• Content: Implemented the "bent over" position in custom sex scenes.
• Content: Added six new faces to the default portrait pack.
• Interface: The corruption summary screen when Reign's Distortion plan is set to Despair will now more clearly express the Vulnerability Breaks required.
• Bugfix: Elemental Forsaken defeated through Despair will properly remain deployable.
• Bugfix: Resolved some cases where bonuses from the number of Elemental or Mechanical Forsaken defeated wouldn't properly be multiplied according to their species tier.
• Other: Player-input Forsaken text colors will no longer be overridden by the Trainer position's text color.

Release 70b

• Bugfix: Resolved some buggy behavior in Reign's "Contagious Angst" trait.
• Bugfix: Reign's forced escape after Vulnerability Break should no longer sometimes put her in a bugged capture state.
• Bugfix: Defeating boss Forsaken without adding them to your roster no longer potentially fails to open the following warp route.
• Bugfix: The game will no longer crash when attempting to generate an item-containing warp route while the player already owns every item.
• Other: Reign's "Demonic Resonance" trait text is now more clear about how Distortions also trigger it.