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Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Release 50: Grace

This update features three major additions to the game.  The first is gameplay related: a new "Bargain" system that activates after defeating Splendor.  This is the realization of a concept that was originally proposed by f95 user SuperSkippy.  Previously, after Splendor joined the Forsaken, she would pretty much constantly ruin your other Forsaken's ability to function, and there wasn't much you could do about it.  This wasn't much fun, and it affected the game balance a bit too strongly, too.  Therefore, this new gameplay system has been introduced to give the player some counterplay.  Bargaining with Splendor will give you a grace period where one of the following debuffs is suspended (listed in decrasing order of priority - none of them will be offered during boss fight loops):

  • Undead and Devils will stop taking reduced damage. (Offered here if Devils are present.)
  • Splendor will stop draining your Forsaken's motivation.
  • Splendor will allow you to deploy her and manually select which combat style she should use.
  • Undead will stop taking reduced damage. (Offered here if only Undead are present.)
  • Splendor won't increase the difficulty of the next loop.
  • Splendor will allow you to train her.

Of course, it's called a bargain because she asks for something in exchange.  However, the things she asks for are also double-edged in that they can be used to the player's benefit as well.  Each day, she'll ask for something different, cycling through the valid options.

  • Empower a relatively-uncorrupted regular human Chosen, causing her to become Superior (which also allows her to become a Superior Forsaken).
  • Return one of your Forsaken to being a normal human (which doesn't anger their loved ones, and the spared Forsaken will also provide some small benefits).
  • Destroy one of your items (which refunds the item's Influence, allowing stronger items to show up in the future).
  • Make the next loop more difficult (which also means that you're likely to see more advanced species Chosen).

The system for spared Forsaken is the second major addition for this update.  Depending on their highest corruption value and their Obedience, Forsaken can join one of five different contingents within the Demonic hive.  Each one provides a small bonus: increased Evacuation requirement, increased Extermination requirement, passive Forsaken Motivation restoration, increased damage from Threaten/Slime/Attack/Taunt, or increased damage to Surrounded Chosen.  The bonuses really are small, but the achievement bonus from the coming Angel Chosen species will make them more significant.  Currently, Forsaken can only be spared when Splendor demands it, but being able to spare them more freely will also be coming with Angel Chosen.

The third addition is flavor-related.  A new vignette has been added which completes the chain commissioned by Kalloi which was started last update.  Normally, a vignette would not be considered a major addition, but this one adds a new Forsaken tool which comes with lots of possibilities: a lewd crest, the "Mark of the Succubus."  I might've gone a bit overboard here with adding interactions for this tool, but I think it provides an excellent example of how flavor and gameplay elements can interact with each other.

The Mark of the Succubus is a permanent clothing item which is engraved on the Chosen's bodies after experiencing the new Lilith's Awakening vignette.  In custom sex scenes, it can be "activated," forcing the subject to submit and causing her to gain arousal and lose tiredness when consuming semen.  On its own, this wouldn't mean much, because Chosen who experience Lilith's Awakening will be heavily corrupted already.  However, the Mark of the Succubus is also somewhat contagious - when enabled in the Forsaken's tool menu, a lesser version can also be engraved upon less corrupted Chosen during the Forsaken's Force Orgasm action.  Forsaken with the full-fledged Mark of the Succubus can also "activate" other marks when meeting with the Chosen as your ambassador.  The activated mark won't singlehandedly force the Chosen to let down their Sexual Barriers for you, but it will make it much easier to reach that point, and in the process you're likely to see a lot more low-Obedience flavor text for actions which normally aren't picked at low Obedience.

With this update, the "facing Splendor first" route is now finished up to Loop 14.  For next update, I intend to do the same for the "facing Victory first" route by adding the Angel Chosen that will be unlocked once you beat her.  And after that, it will finally be time to start work on the next round of boss enemies!

Click here to download.  Mirror.

  • Content: Added a new "Bargain" system for trading favors with Splendor.
  • Content: Forsaken can be spared from service but kept around for interaction and minor buffs (currently only through the Splendor Bargain system).
  • Content: Added one new vignette.
  • Content: Added the Mark of the Succubus tool, unlocked by Forsaken who have experienced the above vignette.
  • Content: Added the Activate Mark action to custom sex scenes which uses the lewd crest gained in the above vignette.
  • Balance: While Splendor's "Social Saboteur" ability is active, her own Motivation will refill every day.
  • Bugfix: Resolved a crash that could happen when displaying an alternative city route in campaign mode.
  • Bugfix: Refactored downtime action system in order to fix an overflow error that was causing some strange "Greater Sins Imminent"-related Chosen downtime decisions.
  • Bugfix: Generated Chosen family members will no longer sometimes be generated with inconsistent gender-related behavior.
  • Bugfix: Altering the bodies of high-corruption Forsaken will no longer sometimes cause their attitudes toward their penises to improperly change.
Release 50b
  • Bugfix: Resolved a crash when penis-having Chosen in custom sex scenes experienced an orgasm (or ruined orgasm) without having their penises occupied by a sex act.
  • Bugfix: The achievement for defeated Undead Chosen will no longer cause some trauma counts to be treated as much higher than they actually are during downtime selection.
  • Bugfix: Resolved a crash that could happen when trying to observe Chosen-with-Chosen custom sex scenes.

7 comments:

  1. Definitely something different in the code causing higher EE downtimes than I'm expecting.
    -------------------------

    Ayame takes some lewd selfies with her face obscured and obsessively edits them to remove any trace of her real identity before posting them online. She is glad to brighten people's day a little, but her real motivation is to gain a sense of control over being objectified, as she often is by the Demons.

    "See, there's nothing to worry about."

    -79 ANGST, -17 DISG, -3 PAIN, -250 SHAM (action resolves 200 ANGST, extra ANGST resolution converted to trauma resolution)

    Fortune can't completely banish her feelings of inadequacy and dread for the coming battle, but she's used to that. (0.1% of trauma required for more sinful action.)

    Total unresolved trauma: 0FEAR +62DISG +0PAIN +3SHAM = 65 added ANGST
    Total ANGST: 65

    +1 Evil Energy

    ---

    Omi decides to distract herself by spending an evening watching cute videos of baby animals, but she ends up stumbling upon a recording of her humiliation at the hands of the Demons. The lewd comments left by other watchers make her confused, so she clicks another link and finds herself watching similar videos of other Chosen. She would normally just find innocent amusement in their pratfalls, but this time she feels strange passions welling up inside. Her hands starts idly rubbing between her legs as her feelings of disgust and shame are replaced with sexual interest.

    "I want to feel good too..."

    -0 ANGST, -24 FEAR, -258 DISG, -21 PAIN, -21 SHAM

    Fang longs for some intimate contact to make her feel less alone, but none of her friends meet her standards. (0.0% of trauma required for more sinful action.)

    Total unresolved trauma: 0FEAR +0DISG +0PAIN +0SHAM = 0 added ANGST
    Total ANGST: 0

    +2 Evil Energy
    ----------------------------------
    That was Day 2, the very first day that Omi/Fang came around, and all i did was hit her 3x with Slime and Surround/Caress her. She's had no other damage. She shouldn't be doing 2EE downtimes, right?

    https://mega.nz/file/hvRSjDBB#uPIXA1kgx4ZORreYBNUngM3GPIsB68iHZOOvtceFRWI

    ReplyDelete
  2. Trying to "observe" interactions between Chosen appears to softlock the game
    https://mega.nz/file/UG8FVAZB#wXEMvEXYyRongvYubTjtyZzg4gahIoCShZlWpjAIZis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was locked out of commenting on my own blog back when you posted this, but belated thank you for catching this bug.

      Delete
  3. Hello Dev! Is there any chance you could make it possible to edit/costumize the forsaken easily by using cheats? It'd be super fun if there is more creative liberaties costumizing them to our fullest desires without grinding much :>.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I plan on making some improvements here in R52.

      Delete
  4. Loading from the most recent save:
    Next City -> Back -> Next City = game crash
    (or Next City -> [either one] -> Cancel, same outcome)
    https://mega.nz/file/deFX3DwA#Cup3fwJs-fs4IZswUiOfSmEAP3NGJYJ_40hyz4ZJPfE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for isolating this bug. It's fixed in R51.

      Delete