Today I've officially started coding it. I have already written storyboard for several scenes but I didn't code anything yet. The first screen is where you'll choose which items to bring with you:

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

it's not much about "realism", since you can always change the armor/weapons you're wearing during the missions (I don't want to limit this since would be only annoying) but gameplay. A main issue of Loren and SOTW is that at highest difficulty levels was hard to balance since I couldn't know how many potions players could carry with them. You could beat some battles just using 100 bombs or healing/resurrect potions. In this game, not anymore

(on the other hand in this game you can never get a "game over", so...)

You could beat some battles just using 100 bombs or healing/resurrect potions.

Or zero.



http://i.imgur.com/1x75091.png" style="max-width:100%">

Yes I was referring to a particular user...

After a big break (to work on PSCD... I wish it was a real break! :lol) from this, today I've resumed. I almost finished coding this screen:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRm8_CeUYAAAYIf.jpg:large" style="max-width:100%">

now I need to think what limit of usable items to put on the missions Probably it will be dependent on difficulty, like 3-5-7 or something.

Or I could simply not put any restriction on quantity, but difficulty would change the usable items prices, so at one point wouldn't be viable anymore to spam the potions/bombs, since you would spend more money than you steal

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

So I made my mind (of course, values can be tweaked):

Easy 6 items

Normal 5 items

Hard 4 items

Nightmare 3 items

I think this way should be balanced enough. Items in this game are more powerful than in all my others, so limiting it to 3 in Nightmare seems fine. At least for now.

Now the biggest obstacle is the actual robbery screen, once that is coded, I'll have still to design/code some more battles but most of the work will be done And thinking that this game wasn't even supposed to have a RPG part...

90 points? Who would actually have that much?

Yes the text wasn't updated, I noticed it myself after looking at the screenshot!

It's actually more like 6 or 9 SP

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CR_SOipW0AEjARx.jpg:large" style="max-width:100%">

So after the "choose your items" screen, this is the main screen you'll see. Currently the gameflow is:

1) on the left the list of possible targets. Initially it's empty like in the screenshot.

2) on the right you can navigate into the three town districts: merchant, nobles and military. Each district has unique features during the robbery missions, as explained in some previous posts

3) the action possible are: pickpocket, if you don't feel like doing a full robbery mission you can tell Thalia to pickpocket people in that area. Obviously, the income will be smaller, and there's a chance to get caught. If you fail to pickpocket an ex general or mercenary... things could be bad

the other action is "explore", which will add a new target to the list, based on your current area. If you choose explore in merchant area, will add merchant houses targets, and so on.



There's space for one more button, it will be "start robbery mission", based on which target you selected on the left list. Currently is disabled since there are no targets.



Now going to create the pseudo-random code to generate all the various houses/mansions. That will be the longest part. Once that is done, I still need to write/code/design a good amount of places, but even considering going a bit slower it should be done by end of next month. Then, will really be only a matter of waiting writing/ending CG

Is there a cost/risk to exploring?

Haha I already tweaked that screen a lot

Each action consumes time. Sisters have 4h of time each night (they need to sleep too! poor creatures). So pickpocketing consumes 15min-1h, exploring 1h-2h.

There are also random outcomes to actions. Right now, I'm coding a fun battle if you fail to pickpocket a noble, you must chase him before he calls the town guard, while fighting his bodyguards

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

as you can see it changed quite a bit already But this is the final look, now I need to generate pseudo-random houses to fill the list on the left. I also added another option, to "Gather Info" about a specific target, will reveal some random information, like how much money you can expect to find, the defenses, and other stuff.

Don't you already have characters you can steal from? Remember seeing names like Tiberius, Fredrick, Melvin, etc.

Lol no, those are the NPCs, but not people you steal from

Tiberius is the town guard, Fredrick is a merchant, etc. The sisters steals only from "evil/greedy" people

Don't you already have characters you can steal from? Remember seeing names like Tiberius, Fredrick, Melvin, etc.

Only their hearts.

The sisters steals only from "evil/greedy" people

http://parksandresorts.wdpromedia.com/media/disneyparks/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/sot133516LARGE.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

Yes, I can confirm that Mickey Mouse is their next victim!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CSJgXvvVAAQl7He.jpg:large" style="max-width:100%">

if you fail to pickpocket a Noble, you get this battle. While merchants are safe, with nobles you have 30% chances of successfully pickpocket them, otherwise you need to fight his guards. I love the Noble skill "scared to death"

That noble has a lot of health for a cowardly weakling...

Yes but very low armor, so you should be able to KO him fast. I made some tests and seems fine, not too easy, not too hard to stop him (also depends on luck a bit of course).

http://i.imgur.com/jQqOO9p.jpg" style="max-width:100%">

Mercenaries/ex military on the other hand are a little tougher... like in the robbery missions, I expect people to pick them mostly for the extra XP than money

In previous screenshot, the encounter XP was obviously wrong (over 1000 XP!!!) because it kept adding to the variable. Normal noble encounter will be 100-125 XP.