An update lol since last post is of 2 years ago! As you all know I'm now working on Planet Stronghold 2, and then I'll do Loren 2 since it's about time.

However, I think I'll also work on this game on and off. I explain better: the writer already wrote a good chunk of the story. I asked some beta reader to read it. Apart some obvious negative comments (because there are ALWAYS those ) in general people liked it.



My main issue was that albeit good writing IMHO, there was too much for someone who wanted to play a card game. If you noticed, in my RPG I usually have a battle within the first 10-15 minutes of reading the story. I think it's important because not everyone wants to read, some people might be interested more in the gameplay.



Anyway, I recently saw some reviews of PSCD as well, saying that the VN part felt disconnected, and/or that they wish they could play the card game straight (you can with quick play but it's not the "Campaign") etc etc. It seems obvious to me that I needed to do things differently this time.



So I thought to do it like this: a SHORT introduction of the game world, and then I'll have the usual campaign, map, encounter/game progression (I have several ideas about this but it's too early to talk about it) AND a SEPARATE VN part. It will need some rewrite of the story but I think for the final game it's the best solution. People who are interested only in the gameplay will be able to jump straight in (there will be some plot scenes but not as long as in the VN part). On the other hand, people who are interested mostly in the VN part can just play the game in VN Mode and skip all the card gameplay.



I think it's the best solution in this case also because sometimes making the plot match the gameplay when I'm not writing myself the game is hard. But on the other hand if someone else writes it, the quality might be higher and it's of course faster to make progress.



That's all for now!

YAY, CAAAAARDD GAAAAAMMMEEEEE!!!!!!

Haha. I'll try my best, even if I'll need to do several tests/experiments first like I did for PSCD

As a huuuuuge fan of both card games and Yuri (for 7 years I've been the admin of a Yuri community, therefore it's a piece of my life) I couldn't hear a better news. Already wishlisted it, oh wait I cannot wishlist it, yet!!!

Heh unfortunately I think won't be ready before 2 years or so. Still about halfway with PS2 and have yet to start coding Loren 2... that is a lot of work!

I have started working on this "full time". Of course when PS2 full beta finally begins I'll have to pause this, but in the meanwhile making good progress.

I decided to not have the card/VN part separated, but I made it in a way so that you can play it at your own pace and/or skip whole scenes entirely (for those who don't like to read).



Did some preliminary work so far, and from early test I think I'm giving up the idea of not having a deck, since part of the fun is indeed building decks (besides if you can summon all aquired cards anytime during the match as long as you have the resources, it's going to make the game too easy).



This week I'll finish implementing all the beautiful backgrounds who have many animated elements:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ENRB811UwAE4VJo?format=jpg&name=small" style="max-width:100%">

Hey! I saw you post a new screenshot about this on twitter.



https://twitter.com/WinterwolvesG/status/1241213463386603521



Will there be a new and updated summary about what the game is about, characters, description, gameplay, love interests and so on?

It looks awesome.

Well as you can see, it is a card game Will be like PSCD (so romance+optional card battles) but with several differences/improvements like creatures having an armor value, etc. About the story, I don't want to reveal too much yet, also because we're at the very beginning of development, so I'm doing some tests/experiment both in gameplay and also story and I don't want to say anything until I made my mind But will post updates here and in the blog as I make progresses of course.

I was starting to do some preliminary work on the CPU AI and... lol

The way the framework was designed is impossible (at least for my limited skills!) to add new features as I would like. I mean, I can add them for players, but the CPU will be super dumb.

There are new cool cards like: destroy your unit and deal its damage to all enemies, and the CPU should pick a unit with high damage and also check if there are enemies but in practice this won't always happen.

But it's either this or I give up, so I'd rather finish a game with a bit dumb AI. I'll think the battles should still be moderately difficult.

So after a few days working on this I feel already sick haha



I thought I could control burn out, but seems not. It's not like "well I can wait"... I already waited 10 months after I finished PS2 and as soon as I need to work on complex stuff, I feel bad again. So I think it's something persistent or not going away soon anyway.



I want to get this game out if only to avoid losing all that beautiful art, but I am not sure what I could do with it. I have planned all the characters backstories, but there would be no interaction between them, and I don't know if players would like that or not.



In practice, each character would tell their story as narrators. Then there would be the romance scenes. In the middle, the battles. But I fear of working again 6-8 months on something that will give bad results like PS2 and I really cannot afford it mentally

I took a walk and I think maybe I found a solution: I'm going first to code all the gameplay. All battles. Then get it tested as beta to make sure there are no issues. Only then, start with the writing. Maybe do a KS to help see if people like the idea (because that's the most effective way).

I realized my main issue was to begin working on a lot of writing and then maybe have issues in the gameplay, etc etc. and that was demotivating me already before even starting. With this system, now I'll concentrate only on the coding, and then once all that is done, I'll go with the writing

Obviously you have to take care of yourself. However, I don't really want another game where gameplay and story feel disconnected, like Amber. On the third hand, card game, so I don't care so much about the story.

Well, the thing is that beside doing the backstory stuff there isn't much you can do with an imaginary world. It was a mistake just to plan the game this way (unfortunately back in 2011 I was much more inexperienced and didn't stop to think about the potential plot problems).



In a fantasy world there's a lot of pre-existing lore, even in a sci-fi, in a completely supernatural world/limbo? it's very hard to make a compelling story, and considering I don't even think I can add more art/characters, is even worse. There are so many issues that I didn't think about, so the backstory thing is the best idea.



I am not sure if it will feel "disconnected" or not to be honest. But since for gameplay reasons you can explore any of the elemental worlds, probably yes. This is why doing gameplay part first makes more sense than writing the story - worse case can just be pure gameplay with some cutscenes.



As said, this is the perfect example of the kind of games that I'll never make again: badly planned, just getting carried away by the positive comments (due to art), didn't think about budget or potential long term issues, etc etc!

And just to be clear I think I can still make a great game - but in today's market is irrelevant (see PS2). So now every single move I make must be made thinking about revenues, or "work for at least minimum wage"

Today managed to implement one of the new features I was planning to add: CPU cards upgrading. The best would have been invidual card upgrading but already based on rarity is good.

I didn't want to make higher difficulty just start the match with a lot of cards already in play like in PSCD (although is still possible), instead even the CPU now can upgrade their creatures, and since there are 5 levels of upgrading in this game it has a big impact.



I can still kick CPU ass in hard difficulty, but I know all the game secrets

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErcWdHTXAAQFgS8?format=jpg&name=large" style="max-width:100%">

this is how powerful becomes a level 5 card, in this case is the most common life creature. Being able to heal itself by 1 each turn, if you summon 3 of these they can be rather difficult to kill

I think never like in this game will be hard (or almost impossible) to balance things, so I just want it to be fun. Different strategies and randomness will have big impact on the games (like all card games)!

PS2 had bad results? I read a lot of good reviews about PS2 on Steam, so it seems that people like it.



I think that "levelling up" cards, sounds like an interesting idea.

Also it would be nice to have levelling options, but that might be too complicated to balance.

Bad results compared to the time spent on development (1 full time year). Compare that with a short yuri game that takes 3 months max and causes no headache since there's zero coding... yeah

Basically the ROI (return of investment) was bad, not the game itself obviously, since many think is my best game

"Living" Flower is kind of funny. I'd expect a flower to be living. Unless it's dead. Or compost...

Haha I don't remember why I picked that name years ago - most creatures come from mythology/lore, but this one not sure. Anyway changing the name is not an issue since is a simple string



Anyway making very good progresses, I've implemented a lot of new features. Currently the game is crashing because of one of them though I'll need to see what is it!