The Divine Scale, Skill Trees, Statuses and More...

Welcome! The end of January is upon us, and with that I can confidently share the next demo update release date.

February 14th! 

Now I'd like to talk at length about what to expect and what's happened.  It's strange because in some ways this is actually the BIGGEST update the demo has received yet, but it's mostly back end stuff that you as a player may not even realize. In terms of story content there's really very little new unfortunately.  But I'll start with a bulleted overview and then explain in detail with images of systems working in game for you.

What's going to be included in the next update?

• Additional voice overs added for Red and Hati
• One new lewd event at the merchant camp
• Playable Scarecrow
• Playable Hati
• Battle Trial room added to the Mirror World
• Morality system has been completely reworked and replaced with The Divine Scale
• Two default skill trees have been reworked from scratch
• Every skill in the game has been reworked
• Every status in the game has been reworked

Now there's a lot here to discuss but I'm going to try and tackle it one concept at a time.  So if you'd like the more explicit details you're welcome to keep reading.  Otherwise you've got the brief overview and can just check out the pictures bellow.

The Divine Scale and Skill Trees

The Divine Scale is a brand new system that intersects with the games mechanics on almost every level. If you've played the games current demo you've encountered the placeholder system.  A simple morality bar that moves left or right on a scale when you make certain choices.  This entire system has been erased from the game due to its simplicity and the inherent nature of a binary scale involving themes of "judgement' that aren't meant to be present here.  Instead you will now have three explorable paths for Red.

First up is the Vestal path.  If you've played any prior builds then this won't be a huge departure for you. The Broken Goddess statue that took you to the main skill tree IS the Vestal path.  The skills available are identical (though there are omissions and additions, more on that later.) Now in prior builds there was no actual tutorial or anything that explained how to access the skill trees.  And more than a few players had trouble with the game as they effectively had no skills.  One of the changes made to the new build is a mandatory scene when you first reach the rest spot with Vesta's statue.

In this new sequence Red will approach the statue on her own and you'll be prompted to offer a prayer to the goddess.  This is your clue to, from this point on, pray to statues whenever you want to access the skill trees.  To go along with this there's also a brand new artwork.

We see Red praying as the crimson butterflies flutter around her, and there's a bit of context to the actual in universe mechanics as to how Red is "learning" these skills. This image is also repurposed as the backdrop to the skill tree itself, which has been remade from the ground up and completely reprogrammed.

So let's break down how this is going to work.  As you can se the tree is broken into several tiers.  These are Tier 0. Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4.  Tier 0 is your default starting space, and the skill here will be free to purchase on all three skill trees. It's generally a "starter" skill that is low cost and highly useful for you.  In the case of Vestal path, the starter skill is "First Aid" your default healing skill and a resource free way to deal with bleeding.  It's also a clue as to the focus of this tree.  Namely that it features lots of skills that cost Stamina to cast.  Now that's not true for every skill, some cost Mana, some are passive.  But the main feature here is spending your Stamina to either deal more damage, or buff/heal Red.

To unlock higher Tiers, you must accomplish two things.  First, you must have a higher affinity with your goddess. But second, you must also purchase at least 2 skills from the previous node.  So for example, in the picture above, Red's affinity with Vesta is at level 1.  This means you have access to Tier 1 abilities like Mend and Harvest.  If I wanted to purchase Tier 2 skills, like Emergency Care, I would need to first purchase Mend and Harvest (or any 2 skills from Tier 1.).  Then if my affinity was high enough, Tier 2 would unlock.  This is all done seamlessly in the skill tree scene so if you came here with high enough affinity and a stockpile of SP to spend you could do that.

So how do you gain affinity with a goddess? The simple answer is that you just play the game.  Not every choice in the game will result in your affinity increasing.  But most choices will have at least one option that correlates to a specific goddess. There are also just, free points that you will get as you progress through the main quest.  For example Red will have to meet the sick man in order for the story to progress.  And the scene will always play out with Red deciding to help him and retrieve medicine.  This action will give you a free affinity point with Vesta. So yeah it's really simple. I mean there are SOME obscure mechanics of course but if you just play the game and experiment it should be pretty obvious what things to do to court favor with each Goddess.

Eventually, after building enough affinity you'll see a new message telling you that a new Skill tier is available, and where to go to unlock your new skills. In the example above you can see me testing out the Eros affinity increase.  You can also see that Eros now has a distinct statue and isn't simply reusing Vesta's broken goddess statue.  We can see Eros kneeling, while nude.  She has butterfly like wings and thorns wrapping around her.  Much like with Vesta there is a new scene that will trigger the first time you pray at this altar.

In this scene Red kneels down and feels the presence of an entity behind her.  Little does she know there's so much more going on here.  Again the imagery and words are highly connected to lore so I'm not going to offer any explanations here.

You can see that the Path of Eros is the same basic ideas as the Vestal path.  The tree has an altered layout but all of the same mechanics are at play. Tier 0 is free.  Build affinity to unlock the next tier, and then make sure you buy 2 skills from each tier to access the next one. What you might notice is different here though is the description for the Kiss skill.  I'll be saving skills and statuses for later but just know that Eros's skills have received a pretty major overhaul.

Now you saw that affinity for the Blood God is already a feature in this build.  But for now I've decided to omit Ichor's skill tree. I'll be saving that for the next build.  The skills themselves are already plotted out, along with her unique altar.  But honestly programming these is incredibly tedious and boring and I just need a break after making these two back to back.  That and with two weeks until update I'd like to cram in a bit more content of the fun variety for you all.

Skills and Statuses

I'm not going to provide any images in this section but I'm also not going to talk at length either or we'd be here literally all day. All you need to know is that your save data will no longer work with the next build of the game.  Well it might but it'll be REALLY broken and the skill trees wont work properly.  I'd also advise everyone to start a new game regardless though, simply because the combat system has taken quite a leap forward.  Statuses in particular were mostly the default RPG maker ones and as a result they had no real balancing.  With this update I've gone through every single status and either altered their function, removed them, or replaced them.  For example the Frozen status was highly abusable and could keep the player or enemy from making an action for up to 5 turns.  Now there is no Frozen state.  Instead there's frostbite, and it has completely different behavior.  I won't go over all the details here as a future update will include a log book item that goes over EVERYTHING. But since I don't have all the new icons finished yet that's most likely going to be saved for the next build.  Just make sure you READ what everything does as a lot of skills have been altered.

The biggest one that I will briefly talk about is Dominate.  A new status unique to Eros skills.  This replaces the arousal state for enemies and instead turns them into brainwashed ally's that will no longer fight Red for a short period of time.  Lots of skills have other QOL updates like including % chances of working or inflicting certain statuses in their descriptions.

New Story Content in the February build

As said at the top there's really not MUCH new here in terms of actual plot.  I worked with Adrian this month however and we completed all of Hati's voice lines so I'll do my best in my free time to put the scenes of him and Red talking into the game.  I should have both actors lines ready to go for that, but I will likely omit optional dialogue just for the sake of time.  Scarecrows lines are also being recorded but even if they were delivered today I think they won't make it into the build.  Editing Hati and Red's lines will be work enough in these two weeks and I still have an event I promised my patrons to finish. Cheshire is in the midst of auditions as well and hopefully I'll be ordering her dialogues in February or March depending on how my income is looking. 

But as for what you WILL see in the demo...

Events have been properly added to Broomhill Inn this time.  The Innkeeper himself is just a placeholder resused sprite for now but that'll be updated later.  You can speak with him though and get his unique dialogue though nothing will be voice acted here just yet.  There's also a brand new event if you interact with the piano.

Patreon supporters got a preview of this event earlier this month as I shared the new piano track composed by Hikari Kami with them.  But I won't spoil what it is here. It's a cool new sequence though and has some nice lore bits with Red reflecting on the fact that she can't remember who her parents are, or how she could go back to her old life if she doesn't get her memories back.  Cool stuff like that.

A new costume is also in the process of being made.  I'm HOPING to finish it in time but for now I just have the bust arts.  It's the ultra powerful naked overalls look as voted by my patreon supporters haha.  You'll find this one at broomhill farm if I finish it in time.

But my current priority is on the next camp sign event.  The whole thing has voice acting set to go, and I've sketched out all the images and started the line work.  It's about 9 illustrations or so to make so I SHOULD finish it in time if all goes well.  But I'll apologize now if I can't manage that.

Progress Beyond the Demo

In terms of the games actual progress beyond the demo, I'm happy to share that I've met my quota and chapter 6 is more or less complete.

Again, this section will not feature in the demo but the interior of the Crow's Den is mapped out, with lighting and events.  No enemies yet as I'm still just play testing and making sure each scene works as intended.

The main gimmick here is using a variety of levers to open locked gates and allow Red and Hati to progress to the dungeons and upper levels. It's nothing too complex though I may update it as time goes on and I get real play testing in with enemies and battles on top of it.

The sequence goes all the way up to the Crow King himself and the battle with him.  And that's where I've left the game more or less.  The conclusive scenes are mostly programed in and drawn but I haven't properly put in the connecting event. I've also already moved on to drawing up art for Chapter 7 which will be February's main focus once the demo is finalized.

Bonus Content

Now for those of you who DON'T want to replay the game, but want to play new battles and explore the new content, a new Battle Trial is being set up just for you.  This will be a staple feature from this point on and be a set of challenges that allow you to play as Red alone, or to experiment with Scarecrow and Hati in your party for an easier time.  It's also the ONLY way to play as Hati in the demo and the battles will even include the Crow King himself.  Battles still give EXP and rewards and you'll unlock heal spots after clearing enough encounters.  So if you JUST want to play with the new mechanics and skip the story you'll be able to do that.

There are a number of other QOL tweaks and changes that are planned.  More clear explanations on where to find the Logs and Carpenters tools. The ability to toggle fishing from button mash to QTE and a reworking of that system in general. As well as planned changes to the SFW mode that should make the game much more friendly to anyone wishing to make content out of it.  But since most of these aren't officially finished yet I'm not listing them as for sure additions.

All in all a lot of work has been done over the lat two months and there's still a bit to take care of before the update on the 14th.  But I hope you'll look forward to it.  I'll do a follow up post going over everything CONFIRMED to be in the demo either the day before the update or the day of the update.  So until then, as always thank you for your continued support of Project Red.  I hope you look forward to playing again soon.