Yes that was the reason but maybe I should instead try to make no dull battles at all. Easier said than done of course

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYZbPn3W0AAMKLO.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

well if nothing else the randomized items in the vendors seems to work fine. This part of the game could be easily described as "SOTW in space"

Is a "rivalry romance" possible?

Yes of course. That should be fun to write

Obviously, rivalry doesn't mean that the other person will hate you. More like she disagrees, maybe fights, but ultimately has fallen in love with you anyway

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYeYIl6XkAAoUuv.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

basic map working. Clicking on each place SHOULD bring up the new exploration map, similar to the old one but isometric. At least that's the plan, we'll see what I manage to do

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYkBwazW0AECWfv.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

now displaying each sector's informations at the bottom. I'm keeping the explorable map as last thing since it will be the most difficult thing

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYulauYWAAUe4ME.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

the actual sector exploration. It's going to be fun now, need to add fog of war (all tiles should be hidden when you first enter the sector)...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYw87oXW0AAoguA.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

since I decided to use isometric maps asked the artist to do also more locations/areas, in this case it's a concept for the marada area with the giant mushrooms

[youtubeWD]6gMl8yF3Ihc[/youtubeWD]

the map exploration in action, plus black market vendor

I need to find a way to add a better fog of war effect, right now the new explored tiles just pop-up. It's the same thing that happened in PS1, but that was 7 years ago, now I should be able to do better effects I hope

Even if looks simple there's quite some work behind it also considering it's done in Ren'Py which is not really the best tool to do such things

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DZxYsFNW4AA7qt6.jpg:large" style="max-width:100%">

the artist is going on with the various new map tiles. Above is the concept art for "ruined colony area". I think it's proceeding well

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DavCuXrWsAAJhaU.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

started working more on the map, tweaked the layout and added explorable locations, plus a preliminary list of the resources you can harvest (might reduce the amount later during testing).

I still don't have clear in my mind how all this will work But I found that the fastest thing is to just code a prototype, see how it plays and repeat until I have something that seems to be interesting

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcV9uHjWkAAXjKL.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

I'm still testing/prototyping, but one thing I decided to do is change the "fortitude point" thing with "morale". Morale seems a much easier word to remember I need to see how will be the impact in the game, I don't want the party members to instantly panic/flee in cover obviously but I think would be nice to have some sort of mechanic so that if all enemies concentrate fire on a single party members, he/she can't just be kept alive and in perfect shape by spamming healing like in my other RPG games.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcbRpSGWkAE6C50.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

work on the level up / skill tree system has begun. I want to try something different (once again) for the skills. We'll see if I can mange to make it work

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcgOmZaX0AA_NZV.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DcgOmmkW0AAXL4O.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

more work on the level up screen today, I'm almost done with it apart the "reset skills" button. If you remember in all the other RPG you can't undo learning a skill. This is as big limit of the current framework and as usual, I wanted to try a hack to fix it. Currently though all I managed to do is make it crash every time So I'm not sure I'll ever manage to make that work...!



A nice touch is the bar indicating each skill level and also the "next level" in the skill description (so you know what the next level does).

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DclXQNwWsAAqUBV.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

Good news, it seems I managed to make the "reset skill points on level up" feature working, though some more testing will be needed. I also have the basic battle "working", which means it doesn't instantly crash

Now the fun part begins where need to recode the hit system completely...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dcml5I8X4AENvOv.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

tweaked the skills size / layout so they should all fit (each class has another line of 4 skills unique to each character). I also implemented all the non-combat skills, some of them provide a cumulative bonus so it will be definitely worth it. For example picking the Crafting skill with more than one character will reduce how many materials you need to use to craft a new item, and so on.

Cumulative.

Ah thanks

Am I the only one who sees "Sector Zeta-9" and immediately substitutes "Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha" in their head?



The secret romance route that may or may not exist should totally involve sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha.

Lol if it's some reference to a movie/comic/whatever, I don't get it