Version updates

Please remember the following words from the Lady Herself:

Latest release: 0.18.2 (public)

Version 0.1.0 (2014-11-22)
- Launch version, contains the complete prologue.

Version 0.2.0 (2014-11-29)
- New chapter of the story. - Minor cosmetic improvements to the prologue. - New gameplay mechanic (sex point based characters).

Version 0.3.0 (2014-12-12)
- New chapter of the story. - Several bugfixes/improvements in previous sections. - Whole game rebalanced, overall easier.

Version 0.3.1 (2014-12-13)
- Fixed boulder bug. - Minor rebalancing.

Version 0.4.0 (2015-01-09)
- New plot segment plus the entire city of Stineford. - Eight new sex scenes. - Sex sprites added retroactively. - New sprites for Simon and Qum D'umpe. - Multiple additions to prior sections, including two short sex scenes and some affection choices.

Version 0.5.0 (2015-02-07)
- Two major plot quests added: you can now raise enough money to leave Stineford. - Three major combat sidequests, several minor sidequests. - Two new sex scenes. - Enemy healing bug fixed, minor improvements to Stineford.

Version 0.5.1 (2015-02-09)
- Fixed bugs that invalidate certain quest orders.

Version 0.6.0 (2015-03-07)
- Next chapter of the game. - Four new sex scenes: two in the new section, two added to Stineford. - Mine bug fixed, parallel versions unified. - Some minor cosmetic changes/improvements. - Balance changes.

Version 0.7.0 (2015-04-04)
- Next chapter of the game. - One new sex scene. - Minor fixes.

Version 0.7.1 (2015-04-11)
- Fixed two potentially game-freezing bugs. - Minor rebalancing.

Version 0.8.0 (2015-05-10)
- New chapter of the game. - Five new plot sex scenes. - Five new affection sex scenes. - See below for full list of updates.

Detailed changelog Major Changes


 * Yarra has been redesigned with a major art upgrade.
 * Hilstara and Carina also got art upgrades (increased emotional range and new profile image, respectively).
 * I dropped some money on new tiles, NPCs, and other resources. I want each country to have a different look and feel (as you've probably noticed, I used Mack tiles for Yhilin) and now I should be able to distinguish all of them.
 * A character I planned to introduce later now appears in the prologue. You'll also see some new graphics there, which will be relevant far down the road.

Graphics


 * Game now has a custom title screen and chapter titles.
 * The game now uses custom menus. Nothing fancy, but I think it matches the feel of the game better.
 * Talking to harem members in camp now produces a fancy popup with their information instead of using a text box.
 * Formerly generic NPCs like Ina, Lucy, Kara, and Orcent now have unique sprites and facesets.
 * The shade of Varia's sprite now matches her bust/faceset.
 * A few new facesets now match characters better (for example, succubus leaders no longer use lamia faces).
 * I also gave the Zirantian prostitute and the Givini characters proper non-generator facesets.
 * When traveling on map screens, you now have a movement cursor instead of a normal sprite.
 * Finally got a fog system figured out: maps can now have clouds, fogs, sunlight, and probably many other things. The ones I have may require some tweaking, but I think they make several areas look nicer.
 * Similarly, I'm making better use of VX Ace's weather effects. They don't feel appropriate for too many areas so far, but feel free to leave feedback on this.
 * Did a little remapping to areas that were bland or to make better use of my new tilesets.
 * Massively increased the iconset. This means that all sex skills now have appropriate icons (and some have improved ones). I also changed up some item icons to standardize things (like normal vs heavy armor) and made miscellaneous improvements.

Music


 * We have music that is, if not custom, at least non-default. I'm not going to add what I have recklessly, since it will balloon the file size, but I'll be including new songs as they're needed for added variety.
 * One of those is a new theme song that isn't so heavily used. Hopefully everyone likes it or lets it grow on them, because I really like the feel of it.
 * Battle music now varies. Bosses have a different theme, there's sadder music when you're forced to fight a certain ally, etc.

Gameplay


 * Yarra now presides over a harem management system. Right now it doesn't have a lot of functionality, but it lets you see everyone's profile shots again and keep track of people.
 * There's a quest log system to keep track of all plot and side quests.
 * Sex skills rebalanced, preventing the method that was making combat grindy for some people.
 * Shops now display more information about equipment so purchasing decisions are easier.
 * The text box toggles on and off when you press the Control key.
 * The giver of the mushroom sidequest now takes your mushrooms more efficiently.
 * There's a new battle during the early part of the plot.
 * Robin and Hilstara's exp in Stineford changed slightly. You can still optimize experience, but they won't be as far behind if you get them very late.
 * There are now items that restore SP in combat.
 * New slime enemies provide an optional chance to grind for items.
 * Lots of little notes: Robin/Hilstara comment more in Stineford, story dialogue changes slightly based on optional stuff, etc.
 * Minor balance changes. There's slightly more exp, money, affection points, items, and unique collectibles available than in previous versions.
 * Bunch of minor cosmetic things fixed/improved.

Version 0.8.1 (2015-05-17)
- 68 changes/improvements/tweaks, 5 minor bugs. - That's it. Glad this was just a polishing update. ^-^

Version 0.8.2 (2015-05-22)
- 14 changes, 2 minor bugs. - Public release!

Version 0.9.0 (2015-06-20)
- New section of the game. - Five new plot sex scenes. - Twenty new affection sex scenes.

Version 0.9.1 (2015-06-27)
- Minor polishing, plus one fadeout bug.

Version 0.10.0 (2015-07-18)
- New section of the game. - Two new plot sex scenes. - Three new affection sex scenes.

Version 0.10.1 (2015-07-25)
- Just polishing and typos. ^^

Version 0.11.0 (2015-08-21)
- Completed Megail's route. - Two new plot sex scenes. - Some edits and new systems (see notes). Notes:


 * There's a lot to do in this update, and I'm pretty happy with it, but I don't know how the sidequests will feel. I didn't want to hit players with a lot of extraneous information for minor parts of the game, but I worry that the goals may feel unclear. On the other hand, I also worry it's too easy to sweep the whole set. Let me know, anyway, and I may tweak this in the future.
 * This would be a good update to keep multiple saves. Nothing important is missable, but some of the sidequests are. The investments also don't make themselves all obvious at the beginning, but they're not available the entire time. This is the feel I want, story-wise, but if you're looking to optimize, save away.
 * I implemented a new AI system this version (many thanks to Lone Wolf). Hopefully it will make some of these fights interesting in a way you haven't seen before. There's an optional fight I intended to be rough, but I don't know how it will feel when you're going in blind. My hint: enemies that look similar do not have the same strengths and resistances.
 * Nothing has changed, gameplay-wise, but a previous scene has been expanded. Simon and Carina have a longer conversation now before her first scene, so if you're into characters/lore, you may want to hop back to a previous save. Nothing critical, though.

Version 0.11.1 (2015-08-29)
- Cleared up several bugs that led to potential dead ends. - The usual polishing, graphical bugs, and typos.


 * BUG NOTICE: I accidentally left a testing feature in the route splitting area (it looks like Aka). If you talk to her, you'll leap mid-chapter, which will definitely screw things up. So just ignore it until I put out a version with this removed and it will be fine.

Version 0.11.1b (2015-08-31)
- It changes nothing but the removal of the debug tool, since people kept reporting it as a bug.

Version 0.12.0 (2015-10-01)
- Completed Aka's route. - Two new plot sex scenes. - More battle songs have been added, further differentiating the various types. - Slight chances to SP balance.

Notes:


 * Since I'm done in plenty of time, I figured I'd release at the beginning of the weekend. Hopefully that will work better for all timezones. Paradoxically, though I've had more time than usual to debug, I'm more worried about having missed something. >.<
 * Anyway, this one is big, bigger than I can finish in an average month. Lots of things to do, and hopefully the effort I put in is rewarding. There are some non-combat sections where I thought, "Oh, this will be a nice little touch" and it ended up being way more complex to execute than I'd planned. This section is the other side of Yhilin you didn't see on your focused trips, so there are quests and secrets galore.
 * I'm a big believer in gameplay producing the feeling that the story requires. For example, in this chapter, Trin will play a major role but won't seem as under control as before. It's also meant to have a less planned feel, so those of you who like to seek out all your options and consider... keep saves. XD

Version 0.12.2 (2015-10-09)
- Bugs and typos.

Version 0.13 (2015-11-06)
- Completed Yarra's route. - Eight new plot sex scenes (this is the succubus route after all). - New sprite for Estaven, new battlers for Hilstara, the Magekillers, and Tal.

Notes:


 * Two things to be alert for, this time. One is that there are a number of events that can be completed in different orders - I think I've designed them so that no order is invalid, but it's possible that there's some combination that will actually cause your game to be stuck.
 * Another is that there's a section of the game where it might be possible to save in a nearly unwinnable state. I tried to think of a way to redesign this, and considered restricting save access, but in the end everything felt like awkward hand-holding. I don't anticipate the section being too difficult and it's possible to make it far easier by spending Sx on equipment/items, but FYI.
 * Related, Orcent is a temporary party member this route. I tried to do some different things with his stats so there's less of a story/gameplay divide, but we'll see how it goes. He's not broken, anyway, though his items might be.

Version 0.13.1 (2015-11-13)
- Bugs, additional lines, and typos.

Version 0.14.0 (2015-12-11)
- Completed Simon's route. - Eight new plot sex scenes. - New NPCs and dialogue added to Yarra's route.

Version 0.14.1 (2015-19-11)
- Mostly improvements and minor bug fixes. - One invisible variable bug fixed. There's a small chance it affects your game, but completionists should still use this one.

Notes:


 * Simon's route changes up the format yet again. It's all stable and finished, but there's one piece still missing: sex sprites. I had plans for more, but both commissioned artists and volunteers have not gotten back to me in time. There is a specific area where the implied sex fades to black, just know that I intended to have a sex animation instead. It'll get in eventually.

Version 0.15.0 (2016-01-15)
I want to take a moment to thank all the people who helped make this update possible: - Lone Wolf, without whom the replay system and most other custom coding would never have gotten finished. - RCP, for producing a huge number of custom sprites and animations. - Decanter, for solving the Support Slaves problem and noticing a lot of things I missed. - Scrambler, both for his sprites and for his patience in waiting for them to be used at the right time. - Nomo, for fixing graphical problems I have nowhere near the skill to do myself.

New features: - Reunion chapter of the game. - Four new plot sex scenes, three new affection sex scenes. - Auto-dash. By default, you dash normally and walk with Shift, but you can switch it back to the original way in the... - New options menu: control sound, screen color, text speed, and battle animations. - Text skipping: press Ctrl to start skipping. Combined with text speed above, this can either progress dialogue steadily or fly through it. - New save system (number of saves supported increased substantially). Old saves will not display correctly until resaved in the new version.

Changes to previous sections: - Party members now show relationship points early on in Feroholm for the sake of consistency. - Clocks on Simon's route now display your exact day number. - Small stairs on Simon's route now clearly indicate whether they go up or down a floor.

Balance changes: - Support Slaves now works as planned. It also gives the option to be named differently; players who have already obtained the skill can rename it if they use a save from the 0.14.x ending screen. - Suppress Lust and Lust Renewal have been entirely rebalanced to better fall in line with the plot. - TP gain has been standardized, removing several oversights.

Sex sprites: - 24 new sex sprites added, bringing the total up to 39. - There is now sprite sex in camp during the free roaming section in Chapter 2. - The lovers in the Withered Fortress now have a sex animation. - Aka's route now has a custom animation if you approach the Doomed King armor again. - The Crimson Bordello trainers on Simon's route now have animations. - All harem members have sprite sex on the bed in the new area.

Cosmetic changes: - Altina's placeholder sprites have been replaced with custom sprites. - New nude sprite for Yarra. - Large music files replaced with much smaller formats. - Fixes to Yarra's faces for art style consistency.

Version 0.15.2 (2016-01-22)
- Misc fixes for bugs caused by the back end changes.

Notes:


 * This release period was mostly spent on back end stuff - the scene replay system in particular was a lot of work. I hope that as well as some oft-requested features (autodash and text skip) will make this a satisfying release.


 * Having said that, I didn't want to put out a release without some story content! You're going to get to see the reunion of all the characters this time, including some long-awaited meetings and sex scenes. There's also the first full reckoning of your investments, for those of you interested in that. This chapter will set the stage for some huge events in Ardoheim, so look forward to that next month!

Version 0.16.0 (2016-02-12)
- New city, stage is set for the Ardford Summit. - Two new plot sex scenes. - Three conversations added to Janine's Retreat based on patron suggestions (no gameplay changes). - ProN now shows up in the menu (thanks Decanter!). - Simon's new armor has a darker color palette (thanks Scrambler!).

Version 0.16.1 (2016-02-19)
- Corrected ledger/quest entries. - The new sex scenes have been added to the replay system. - Many minor bugs fixed.

Notes:


 * REMINDER: The vote on Patreon was to split Ardford into two updates, the same way Stineford was done. So this update you're getting the entire city and most of the investments, but there will be more sidequests and a ton of plot in the next one. Just bear this in mind, skip the update or bear it in mind based on your preferences.


 * NoMoshing says he feels like the need for mirroring has lessened, so he won't be mirroring other games once he redesigns his site. Thanks to him for providing a mirror for so many months!


 * In case you haven't heard, Kimochi is shutting down permanently. This is presumably why they didn't answer my emails about getting TLS updated on their client, so that's the situation.

Version 0.17.0 (2016-03-18)
- All events in Ardford are finished, as is the second chapter! - Three new plot sex scenes. - Various minor changes throughout.

Notes:


 * The schedule over the coming period may be a little different. While this update includes all the game content that I wanted, it doesn't have the custom music or battlers I plan to include. I hope to add those in for an additional backer update. That means that the 0.17.2 public update might be a little later, though I still hope have it out on March 25 according to the usual schedule.
 * Regardless, I won't be able to start working on version 0.18.0 immediately due to this update's extended development time. I will say more about this and some other scheduling issues later, but for now I'm focusing on the game.

Version 0.17.3 (2016-03-27)
- Over 30 new musical tracks added.* - Over 50 new battlers added. - Several new debuff/state-related scripts: expiration is standardized and you can see the exact number of turns remaining. (Thanks, Decanter!) - A few more tweaks to the Hidden Port. *Note for imported saves: your background music may not update until you re-enter an area.

Notes:


 * Looking above, you can see part of why this release took so long. With the completion of the second chapter, I wanted to take some of the secondary aspects of the game up a notch. Almost all default RPG Maker resources have been replaced, in favor of new materials found from more obscure sites, commissioned, or provided by kind and talented fans.
 * It took longer to make all this work properly than I expected. Even aside from tweaking so many different choices so they all felt appropriate, RPG Maker has issue with certain formats that are a pain to work with - and unlike many aspects of the engine, I was learning from scratch on most of this.
 * Regardless, what I have for you now is a new version with a lot of polished new content. Aside from reworked previous sections, you can now complete Ardford, the summit, and the entire second chapter!
 * Stay tuned for more information next week and have fun. ^-^

Version 0.18.0 (2016-05-27)
- New section of the game covering the invasion of Yhilin. - Two new plot sex scenes. - Some new custom sprites and graphics in previous sections.

Notes:


 * I'm back! This is a big, complex section of the story that will finally bring the Doomed King plot to the fore. It should be released publicly in a week, so see you then!
 * Finally, though I leave most screenshots for the threads, I didn't want anyone checking the blog to miss a fun new development patrons got to see a little while ago: the first official map for TLS. This covers the continent of Arclent:



Version 0.18.2 (2016-06-03)
- Various fixes to the mechanics of collateral damage, chaos, and attrition. - Assorted polishing. - Bugfix event added to waiting room to make saves from 0.18.1 or 0.18.0 valid for future releases.

Notes:


 * This is a dense one, I hope everyone will enjoy how the battle plays out in response to their choices so far. Next update will continue with the invasion and consequences, this time with a less focused release pursuing various sidequests. See you then!

Version 0.18.3 (2016-06-28)
Notes:


 * Okay, this is the official version of the Battle of Yhilin. There have been some mistakes corrected in the mechanics as well as some rebalancing, so if you want your save file to be completely "correct" you could use this version. Having said that, the differences are fairly minor. If you have a save from 0.18.2 or corrected from 0.18.1, it'll be just fine going forward. Just wanted to have the public-facing version be the finalized version.
 * Posting this doesn't mean I've been spending all this time working on the previous version! There's plenty done on version 0.19.0, which is shaping up to be a pretty broad update. It won't be as big as the double Stineford or Ardford updates, but it'll have quite a few sidequests.
 * Duplicating bugfixes on the two versions has been a little tedious, though. If/when I create another update this complex, I will probably need to think of a better way to keep up as much momentum as possible. Anyway, see you next version!

Version 0.19.0 (2016-07-08)
- New section of the game covering the Yhilin aftermath. - One new plot sex scene, two new affection sex scenes. - Shopping event added pre-battle and on the waiting screen.

Version 0.19.3 (2016-06-15)
- Assorted polishing, minor changes.