How it's going? Well, not really good since I've got wrist pain since 3 days, because of carpal tunnel syndrome :(

However I still managed to code good part of Loren RPG chapter4, and also add the new map. The latest available beta version is the 0.91 which can be downloaded here:

http://www.winterwolves.com/download.php?game=LorenRPG-0.91.zip

Chapter 4 is coming along very nicely, and we hope to have the final 1.0 release by mid-April! I'm really looking forward to finish this project, the biggest I've ever attempted :)

What about the other games?

As you know, before devoting myself completely to Loren, I had started many projects. Unfortunately, I miscalculated the amount of work I had to put to make a BIG game like Loren, so when the time of the beta came, I realized that I couldn't work in multi-tasking as before (working on several projects at once). This means that I temporarily paused many projects, except those which had already the full storyboard written (like Heileen 3 or Nicole).

Now that Loren is about to be finished, I'm going to get back into managing the other games. Here's a detailed status for each one:

Heileen 3

Art: (100%) is completely done now. I might decide to do two versions, a otome and a yuri one, adding two final CG scenes with two new female romances. Have yet to decide if to do that or not, but I have time since the artist won't be able to make those last 2 scenes before next July!

Writing: (90%) Marie's path is being written right now, and she's the last romanceable character (unless I decide to do what I said above). Game is pretty long, over 150k words, so much bigger than previous titles!

Coding: (25%): Well, it's not that bad actually, since is a dating sim but not very complex. I still need to add a lot of choice changes (based on the 7 cardinal sin/virtues), testing, the scheduler, and so on. Probably 1 month of work.

Amber's Magic Shop

Art: (60%) I need some more backgrounds, and the potion-making interface, but apart this, the sprites are done and only needs to be colored.

Writing: (15%) It's still in the beginning, but several scenes are finished, and Lorelei (the writer) assured she'll resume working on it quickly next month :)

Coding: (10%): I still need to design and implement the potion making interface, that will be the part that needs more coding and testing of the whole game. Also need a "shop" interface, and a lifesim but will probably modify Always Remember Me one. I think about 2 months of coding needed.

Nicole

Art: (50%) I have some character sprites done, but still missing some, and also missing all the CGs, UI and backgrounds. So there's still quite some work to do art-wise!

Writing: (60%) The last character storyboard is being written now. I might review the whole writing later, to check for plotholes, or add some more scenes (I'm used to make big games now!).

Coding: (50%):I plan to reuse Always Remember Me framework for this game, with some small changes, since will also be a mystery game I want to put some kind of diary in the game. Also want to simulate a sort of computer with college intranet :) So because of those new features, probably need at least 1 month to code everything.

Roommates

Art: (70%) all characters are done (might add a few more though). The backgrounds are missing, but the ending CGs scenes (8 in total plus some variations/close ups !) are almost finished (saw the sketches already and artist is finishing them right now).

Writing: (5%) Sadly, previous writer disappeared, so I need to look for a replacement. I also need to plan the gameplay better and do the storyboard, but for this kind of game (set in US college) I definitely need to find someone who knows well that kind of reality so can help me with storyboard beside writing scenes!

Coding: (5%): I haven't done much. I am planning to use a mix between Flower Shop scheduler and Always Remember Me various places to visit. Still need to do lot of design though, including the player stats. I'd say around 2 months of work.

Queen Of Thieves

Art: (80%) is missing the final kissing scenes, but artist disappeared since 1st February, and I'm not sure if he can continue working on the game. In any case, there's not much hurry since I need to design the gameplay, interface, and so on. And worse case I can hire someone since are only the kissing scenes missing.

Writing: (50%) This game is a bit different, meaning that there's more gameplay than other life/dating sim, and less texts. About half of the romances are finished though.

Coding: (5%): As I said, this game will have more gameplay than all the others, but I need to think how to implement it. It might include: 2d turn-based tilemap, short RPG battles, shop simulation... so there's still a long way to go. I think minimum 3 months of work!

Planet Stronghold: Warzone

Art: (50%) all the romance CGs are done, but misses all backgrounds, the wargame tilemap, many enemy sprites, so still long way to go.

Writing: (5%) I only wrote the beginning, and while I have the general plot in my mind have yet to write a storyboard for it. Since is a RPG, will take LOONG time to write it, but Aleema already said wants to work on this one :) Still, probably won't be able to work on it before next summer!

Coding: (90%): Even if it's a RPG, since I'm going to reuse most of the first game RPG framework, coding is quite advanced. I need to code the "wargame" map, but that's it (since I already did some coding for it last year).

Undead Lily

Art: (80%) it's missing some backgrounds, but depending how the battles will take place might add some more sprites, and perhaps some more backgrounds.

Writing: (25%) Several characters scenes are finished, but I paused it because need to rethink how to program the main gameplay, so might have to rework what has been already written to simplify it, or change it somehow.

Coding: (10%): Not much done, and while it will be a simpler RPG than Loren or Planet Stronghold, I decided to pause the development for now. Will resume working on it next year!

 

I tried to put them in order of a possible release: however, there's no guarantee about the release order, with the exception of Heileen 3 that will almost surely be out this summer! :)

In the photo above, my cat Gilda sleeping in a plastic bowl :)

In the image below instead you see the almost final main menu of my upcoming fantasy roleplay game "Loren The Amazon Princess". Please note how I wisely placed the Buy Now text :D

Current Game Status

Jokes apart, the game story is nearing completion, even if there are still many things left to do, mainly finding typos and checking the flow. It's going to be a very LOONG and detailed game. Without doubts, my biggest game under every aspect: story, characters, art, sound effects/music, gameplay, longevity (you can play as male and female, and there's a big variety of party members to select).

For the first time I also used an artist to do the GUI (windows,buttons, icons), and I must admit that it was worth it. Special thanks also to Aleema who helped with tweaking the GUI as well!

The Game (Many) Features!

Every character has a main skilltree (the Class, which can be Warrior, Thief or Mage) and a specialization skiltree which is unique to each character. In the image below you see the Berserk Skill description of Ramas, the dwarf berserker warrior that you'll recruit early in the game.

The quest system is also more complex than Planet Stronghold, since you can have quest and sub-quests (or steps). In the image below you see the main game quest "Find Queen Karen" (Loren's mother) and also the first step, that is going to the town of Grimoire to gather more informations.

The game will have a map system and also lots of items, divided into weapons, armors, potions/scrolls/useable items. Each item will be divided into sub-categories like happens in most RPGs, for example you have cloth armors (usable by Mages only), light/medium (usable by Thieves) and heavy armors (usable only by Warriors). Same thing for weapons. You can also have items that can be used only by a specific character.

I have added already over 200 items in the game database, and will add more in the final version!

Of course, there's no need to say that the game has a lot of romance options, including all the possible combinations (straight and homosexual of all genders)! You can advance the romance talking to characters while in the camp, and also during the main plot. The writer Aleema did an awesome job in the character interactions/romance paths!

The Battle System

So I'd say the only thing that still needs lots of tweaking is the battle system. Not the rules or the skills implementation which is at good stage, but the layout. Right now there are 8 vs 8 battles, but as the coder remarked, they could be too long. My idea was to have the player fight epic battles against "hordes of undead", so having 8 enemies would be cool. In particular for the mages and their Area Of Effect spells! However, perhaps I should limit the number of party members, since controlling 8 members every battle could be too much: I am thinking to limit it to 6 or perhaps even 5, and keep the 8 enemies instead.

Also, I won't be able to use the same display view of Planet Stronghold, because of the bigger scope of the battles, so the battle might use the view of a sort of card rpg game. Getting feedback on the battle is one of the main reason why I've decided to release the game as beta pre-order (see below).

The Soundtrack

The game will feature another custom song by Cristina Vee & Matt Myers. I have it already but for marketing reasons (we'll launch the song also on youtube and itunes) I will add it to the game only on the official release day (so pre-orders won't have it). Trust me when I say that is one of the best pop-rock song I've heard this year!

The Release Plan

Those of you that follows me on twitter already know that I've decided to release this game in beta pre-order like I did for Planet Stronghold last year. However, differently from Planet Stronghold, I won't be able to sell it initially at a cheap price, because I put too many hours and invested too much money on this, sorry :(

So the game when will enter the pre-orders beta will be regularly priced at $24.99, while the expansion will be likely priced at $9.99.If things go as planned I'll start the pre-orders stage in January - however is more likely the END of January.

The expansion instead will be released about 1-2 months after the main game. All the people that buy the game during the preorder phase though will be able to play it in exclusive before the others, and will also receive some extra items inside the game as reward, and possibly other "goodies" (suggestions are welcome!)