Haha well :D Philipp is "an idol", so the only choice is Bellamy which was a bit an anonymous character in the first game, so I can safely replace him in the sequel...

I think Bellamy was lacking enough of the tiredness to make him work. He was the opposite of Nelson, he no longer had the fresh excitement, rather he'd been there, done that, got the t-shirt and all he wanted now was for a nice quiet life.



Soldier Rumi was the killing machine of my game, light weapons were just such enormous damage dealers with great accuracy AND lots of shots.



I suspect this is overly tricky to make it work, as I think you're not importing saves, but in the original game its possible to have more than one person hit on you (and you turn the late-comers down), but if they're going to be romance options again in the sequel it'd be worth having at least one of the dialogues mention this fact to add to the sense of continuity.

I think Bellamy was lacking enough of the tiredness to make him work. He was the opposite of Nelson, he no longer had the fresh excitement, rather he'd been there, done that, got the t-shirt and all he wanted now was for a nice quiet life.

Yes definitely as you say

Soldier Rumi was the killing machine of my game, light weapons were just such enormous damage dealers with great accuracy AND lots of shots.

In the first game, Psionics and Scouts were strong early, but later in the game Soldiers and even Guardians could become really powerful indeed.

I suspect this is overly tricky to make it work, as I think you're not importing saves, but in the original game its possible to have more than one person hit on you (and you turn the late-comers down), but if they're going to be romance options again in the sequel it'd be worth having at least one of the dialogues mention this fact to add to the sense of continuity.

Yes since I don't import savegames would be a bit tricky. I don't plan to add an extra choice, otherwise the starting character buildup could be a mess (who you romanced 4 years ago? and there was someone else that wanted to flirt with you? etc :D). I'm currently planning to imply that other possible romanceable character had some feeling for Nelson (Tom, Michelle, Rebecca, Damien, etc) in any case. After all, hey, it's the BIG hero/heroine who saved us all, so is natural for everyone to feel something for him/her!

Well psionics dominated everything, but as my character was a psionic and there's only one good amplifier at any one time in the game, Jacob was little more than a stun machine he didn't dish out much damage.



And what happened to Damien anyway? He said he was going to help me in the Final Battle and then... he disappears. I assume if you're female there's a bit more to that

Ah no, is normal. I mean Damien helps "in general" in the battle, fighting the robots too with his rebel army, but not like in your team. I might have him appear in your team in the sequel though, need to see if I can easily change characters to have more than 8 recruitable ones !

Today finished the Character Creation screen, though have yet to decide / balance better the bonus/malus you get based on your choices.

http://pics.brizzly.com/4O28.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

For now I have:

- side with King: get better equipment and resources collected faster

- side with Marada: get better Psionic Powers and support from other alien races



Class: like the first game, nothing changes



Existing relationship: this is probably the most fun one, so far I am thinking to say that there were tension between two opposite party members after the first battle ended. I will also add a few intro scenes to explain particular romances, for example if you choose the Cliff one, but you also side with King that wouldn't have been normally possible



JOSHUA

Single - you were able to focus more on yourself - get an extra 10 skill points to distribute at start up or maybe a few more level ups, but normal relationship with everyone else

Romance with Rumi - Rumi gets bonus skill/levels, a bonus weapon and obviously good relationship, but you lose relationship with Rebecca who also starts at lower level

Romance with Rebecca - Rebecca gets bonus skill/levels, a bonus weapon and obviously good relationship, but you lose relationship with Rumi who also starts at lower level

Romance with Cliff - if you sided with him and Shiler, when you start the game he'll be present in Shiler's headquarter and will be able to offer the support of some Empire men loyal to him more than to the King. If you sided with the King, in theory the romance wasn't possible in the first game, so I'll say that you visited him in his prison and you befriended him, it could have been something more but remained only a friendship. He will be present as prisoner and offer you some important quest.



LISA

Single - you were able to focus more on yourself - get an extra 10 skill points to distribute at start up or maybe a few more level ups, but normal relationship with everyone else

Romance with Tom - Tom gets bonus skill/levels, a bonus weapon and obviously good relationship, but you lose relationship with Michelle who also starts at lower level

Romance with Michelle - Michelle gets bonus skill/levels, a bonus weapon and obviously good relationship, but you lose relationship with Tom who also starts at lower level

Romance with Damien - you'll get bonus relationship with him and you'll be able to visit him and have his followers on your side in the war (the Rebels faction will start neutral otherwise).



that's all. Is getting quite complex

Continuity is a beautiful thing for gamers and a pain in the ass for developers.



As one of the former I say: keep it up!

Wow over a month has passed already. Anyway, good news: artist just finished her last convention for this year, and from now until January 2012 she is free. She already finished the Joshua-Shiler CG image, which is one of the most beautiful I've seen (and also offers a quite sexy view of Shiler's bu.. ahem!).

She is working on adding a new character to replace Bellamy (he will be his son), another boy since there are already plenty of hot girls in game and need to make everyone happy. As for the CGs since is a sequel I plan to make more. The one originally planned were Joshua-Shiler and Lisa-Cliff, so I need to add 4 more. I'm wondering what would be the best idea, if to allow the possibility to reunite with old characters? So Joshua could romance again Rebecca, Rumi and Cliff while Lisa would romance Michelle and Tom again (and the two new options).



For now that's what I'm thinking:



JOSHUA

1. with Queen Shiler

2. with Rumi

3. with Rebecca

4. with Cliff



LISA

1. with Prince Cliff

2. with Bellamy's son

3. with Michelle

4. with Tom



any feedback is welcome

Looks good so far. Though, I just realized that if the player's in a relationship already and doesn't want to break it off, that means a lot of work for you... sorry...



Also, the thought occurs that no one's going to pick the King's Route if it means dumping Cliff/all the sexy alien chicks. Ah, well.

Haha for now is just an idea. Also the basic premise is that for some reason you broke with your previous relationship (otherwise would be just insane to write). However if you romanced Rumi as Joshua for example, I can put slightly different lines all around the main plot, and the friendship path would become re-romance / reunite path



Regarding the King's route thing that's true. Or I can tie Cliff to that one, since in previous game if you side with the King Cliff is imprisoned, at beginning of this one if you sided with Cliff and Marada I can just say that Cliff was killed or something, this way King=Cliff (this time romance for Lisa) and Marada=Shiler (romance for Joshua). Argh all those relationship things are becoming really a pain :D

Poor Damien Have not played all the way through so may be missing something (just too busy lately)

Well as you'll see the relationship between Lisa and Damien couldn't really be considered "Love" but more physical/sexual attraction, so I think was to be expected that they broke up after 5 years

What happens between Michelle and Joshua? She's not in the achievements so assumably can't hook up with you, but after your mission she whispers in your ear some hints of a romance direction. Unfortunately I was with Rebecca so I never saw what happens if you're not.

In the first game no, is female only. However she has such personality that she could even be bisex :D I am not sure if people find her sexy enough for a possible romance with Joshua ?

Michelle sexy enough? You"re kidding, right? I had to play as Lisa just so I could go after Michelle.



Best Regards

Jim

Cool - I think she is sexy too. I asked artist to draw her with smaller boobs (compared to the usual manga stereotype of slim girls with huge boobs) and I honestly though that she was quite sexy even if obviously in a different way than Rebecca

I actually didn't think of Rebecca as sexy, she seemed like more of a tart than as someone who is sexy, Michelle seemed much nicer than Rebecca as well. Looking forward to seeing the images of Shiler.



Best Regards

Jim

Spoke with artist and she said is ok to draw new CG for all previous romances. So in practice old ones will be carried forward, but I'm thinking to do some swapping

Cliff was homosex only in 1st game, and in this next one we have Lisa - Cliff romance.

Michelle was homosex only in 1st game, and in this next one we have Joshua - Michelle romance.



I'll probably add 2 new characters for the homosex relationship, or maybe the Lisa's one could be with Shiler as well, that could be interesting...

I like the idea of Lisa/Shiler.

Here's the final image of Milo (and Soot, the pet!):

http://pics.brizzly.com/4PNV.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

He will be available as romance option for Lisa. I also finally decided all the romances, there will be 8, so two more than the first game:



LISA

----

1. with Prince Cliff

2. with Milo

3. with Lakadema

4. with Tom



JOSHUA

------

1. with Queen Shiler

2. with Lakadema

3. with Rebecca

4. with Michelle



You have noticed the mysterious "Lakadema"... it will be an alien bisex character! the artist has assured me will be super cute and sexy

Also you noticed Rumi was removed. It's because in the plot she... changes quite a lot vs the previous episode and is not a dateable character anymore (but you now can romance Michelle instead!).