Spent all day today making one spell. The things that take forever... it's a pretty complicated one though. Basically, you pick a target, and it doesn't do anything right away, but one turn later it does a big attack on everything in that target's row. A clever player will try to move out their characters to a different row in between to avoid it, but that won't necessarily always be possible.

The next plot segment is coming along quite well. It's going to be a pretty big release when it happens, because it will include a whole bunch of stuff:
-Plot, of course
-New characters, some of whom can be recruited
-A new unlockable class for Kristina, complete with a subclass to recruit into
-A new set of maps
-New enemies and fights, with their own mechanics
-The usual new weapons, skills, items, etc

No ETA yet since it's a big build with lots of work to do on it, but I'll keep updating with previews and so on as it's developed. For now, here's a teaser of some new character portraits:

Just a quick touch-up/polish release.

Changelog:
Added Thunder4.ogg to the package, so that shouldn't crash anymore
The maid now has a lv5 skill
The apprentice now has a lv3 skill
Added a couple of minor interactables in Trysnaak

https://mega.nz/#!y9NSFLQb!sHwP03gjtlWz0rhWuvY7MY00nl-kyJwXa1S3UhIBPhA

Preview - Limit Breaks

Limit Break Preview Video!

Since I haven't heard of any major bugs since the last release, for the moment I'm moving on to new content. Specifically, my current project is a limit break system. You've probably noticed the bars across the bottom of the battle screen that fill up over time; I'm adding a new category of skills that consume the party limit bar to use. The plan as of now: each named character will have four different limit skills that consume a different amount of bar to use (one, two, three, and four segments, respectively). The limit skills won't be learned normally; instead, they'll be attained via quests. A couple in the main plot, but mostly side quests. As one would expect from limit break skills, they'll be very powerful, but also the intent is that they have unique effects that might otherwise be unattainable. Haven't decided for certain what, if anything, I'm going to do in regards to limits and generic recruits, but it's a concept that's in the works.

0.1.3 Systems Release

Alright, time for the next release. Not very much by way of new content in this one, admittedly; it's mostly back-end stuff. Link:

https://mega.nz/#!PkF2UIKK!aT5vjvFVi_YYq-I7qzHJvMNgoMAtDaQV9tistfDm6Js

Changelog:

-Added the game database system, accessible from the main menu. Going into it will allow for more in-depth descriptions of various parts of the game. For now, there are two categories: Classes, which explains each available class in more detail, including MP/TP data and equipment types, as well as any relevant quirks of their abilities, and Journal, which contains a plot recap up to the current point, as well as various characters' thoughts on it that haven't come up in cutscenes.

-Added the in-battle status option, finally. Select it (it's below "item") and select an ally or enemy to see a list of all of the various status effects on that character and a short description of each. Some statuses can be kind of complex, and seeing only the icons isn't necessarily very useful, so the status option is kind of vital. It's a character action, but it doesn't take a turn, so use it readily.

-Reworked the mesmerist class. The new spells function on a focus system. That is, the mesmerist takes a turn to activate the spell, and from that point it drains mana per turn to have a continuous effect. Casting it again will remove the spell and stop draining mana.

-Touched up some assorted stuff in Trysnaak, including adding a few more interactables and fixing some typos. Nothing major.

-Some minor bugfixes and dialogue reworks here and there throughout the game.

-Changed the default battle music to something less default.

-Yet another attempt to resolve the "width of null" error with the ritual cutscene. Hopefully this one finally sticks.

-Added a banner image to the patreon page. Ok, that's not really part of the game, admittedly.

And with that, contingent on there being no bugs (ha, like that would ever happen), I'm satisfied in calling this the "full demo" version. I'll still be doing releases as normal so the term is a bit misleading, but this level of content is where I feel it's appropriate to start advertising in earnest. Thanks to everyone for your support so far!

I was hoping to have the next release out about now, but apparently Eydis just decides not to join the party for no discernible reason. Yay. Release will be as soon as I figure that out and fix it; hang tight.

New RPG maker version just came out, which managed to completely surprise me. Clearly I need to pay more attention to that sort of thing. Regardless, I've been doing some testing and so far it doesn't seem to have broken anything in my project, which is good.

The status screen is done and functional! It even doesn't crash the game. So, basically, there's a new option called "status" in the battle screen, that you can target any battler and get a list of all of the status effects on that battler and the effects they have. I managed to get it generalized so it just runs through the list of statuses that person has, and if there's a description text it outputs that to a text box. (Also, it doesn't take an action, so use it as much as you need to)

The database is also working properly, and filled out with both class descriptions and journal entries about the plot-so-far. Accessible from the main menu, and updating as the player proceeds through the game.

I've also done something of a Mesmerist class rework; to be honest, what was there was pretty boring in terms of mechanics. The new spells are basically toggles; activate one on an ally or enemy and it will drain mana over time to have some continuous effect, and cast it again to turn it off and stop draining mana. Probably horribly unbalanced in its current state, but most things are at first implementation.

A few other minor updates in terms of icons, bugfixes, and some dialogue touch-ups round out the work of the past few days. If all goes as I hope, I should be doing the alpha testing on the next version very soon, with a releasable version not far after.

While I've done my best to maintain save compatibility between versions, I'm pretty sure the combination of the status screen and the database, plus bugfixes, will break old saves. What I plan to do is include a couple of my own saves in the download so that people have the option to skip to the later content if they want to. It won't give the optimal experience because building your party as you go is sort of the intended theme, but I recognize that some people won't want to play the same content repeatedly as new versions come out, so I figure I'll give the option at least.

List of things to complete before the 0.1.3 "complete demo" release:

-Database feature from the menu, containing class data and and other info: the framework is entirely coded, and most of the class data is in there. Probably going to put a plot recap feature there as well. Maybe character profiles if I'm feeling extra-motivated.

-In-battle status check: finally figured mostly how to implement it. I at least have it far enough along that I can duct tape the rest together with some special-case nonsense if needed, though I'm still searching for a way to do it more generally.

-Go back through the old maps and make sure everything that looks like it should be interactable is. Most of the things already were, but there's a few that weren't so I'm going to do another pass for consistency, including making sure all the library books have at least something in them.

-Finish up Trysaak. Specifically, touching up the last couple of things in the bazaar, making a couple more of the houses in the residential district accessible, completing the illegal weapons sidequest, and making the inn actually work, which I somehow managed to forget about halfway through coding it such that if you get the inn key you can't ever leave, but can't return it either.

-Try to find a good non-default generic battle theme. Not a deal-breaker if I can't find one, but I'd like to have something not from the RTP there especially.

-Some more icon updates here and there; that's going to be a pretty much continuous ongoing process throughout development.

-Fix any further bugs that I become aware of.

So that's the current plan going forward. Most of the difficult parts are done at least, and after I get all this done I'll have a solid demo and will move forward with the next part of the plot.

The funny thing about working on a project of this sort is that intending to work on one feature can wind up leading to building something entirely different. I sat down to work on TP modes. Specifically, the system I have in mind is that each class that uses TP has a specific set of conditions under which it gains and loses TP. For example, the Cat class will gain a large amount of TP from damaging enemies, but will end up losing a small amount of TP from taking damage, meaning it's best in a situation where other allies can draw fire. (And yes, there will be taunt abilities.) And so on for each different class that uses TP. Classes that don't use TP will have a default mode that gains a little on dealing or taking damage, in case they have a subclass that does use TP.

The problem comes in that the player doesn't necessarily have a convenient way to see what the TP mode of a given class is. The solution? An in-game database, that contains the relevant information on a variety of game mechanics. To start, it will contain long-form descriptions of each class and the stats and mechanics thereof, with the potential to add additional types of entries, such as characters, location, plot, items, whatever ends up proving useful. So my work the past couple of days has been on sorting out the database and making sure it not only works correctly, but also contains the relevant information on each currently-accessible class.

The current plan is to finish the database and TP modes, finish up the Trysnaak weapons shipment side quest, and a few more polish things, and then put out a "complete demo" version. I'll continue working and doing releases past then, of course, but the version I have up to that point, assuming there aren't any major bugs, I'll call sufficiently complete that it's a good demo to show off like for demo video playthroughs and things like that. Stay tuned for further updates.