The Last Sovereign

bullcrush

Active Member
Feb 27, 2016
33
2
The former is one of those Acceptable Breaks From Reality (specifically see Arbitrary Headcount Limit) you just have to deal with in RPGs. If that could happen, every battle encounter would have to be balanced around the fact that you have to lose your ENTIRE party to have any possibility of failure, so enemies would have to be so much stronger that losing characters would have to become a normal thing (or else just write off the combat as a speedbump), which I personally would find annoying. As for the latter, that's a matter of the game's systems- I think Final Fantasy X was the first game to allow this (or at least the first really notable one) and it was considered a major innovative feature of the combat system. I don't even know if RPGmaker allows it.

in the harem game you can switch party members during combat so at least the rph maker engine allows that, you still get a game over screen if the front line dies so not if that can be changed
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
Switching party members isn't possible by default, but VX Ace has a lot of scripts, so it's likely possible with one of them. It would be a pretty substantial balance change, though.

As for the logical justification, you should assume that all party members are fighting at all times, you just only control one group. That's why they all get EXP and why there's a threat to more than the front line. I actually made this explicit during the Third Arclentian War: there's a segment where there are ogres that your non-party members are fighting while you fight a different boss battle.
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
The update is out for patrons, and it's a huge one! Rather than divide the end of the war into two more updates, I decided to go with a double update that resolves almost everything.

bJ9kQT1.png


All those new threads and surprises last update? Your party will be splitting up to handle them, including some new locations... and some familiar ones:

bo2fwz8.png


You'll also get to participate in the Ghenalese front of the war:

ZmD1VXp.png


And of course it wouldn't be a TLS update without some lore, including some that you may not be expecting:

dFJYINI.png


It's no fun to screenshot strategic decisions, but expect to make a lot of them as the war concludes.

aDUke92.png


There were also be some more surprises. I couldn't screenshot a lot of things because I didn't want to throw around spoilers. ^-^

EtsW69x.png


Though this update doesn't completely wrap up the chapter, it will resolve all the major threads involved in the war.

FsZth6u.png


Due to the size and complexity of this update, it will definitely spend two weeks in beta testing. It will be followed by a shorter update for investments, some final resolutions, and the end of chapter interlude. More about that later!
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
Patrons just got the next update, which concludes the chapter! More info on the blog as usual, but some previews right here. This update wraps up some issues from the previous section:

ofwY8YL.png


But as it concludes the chapter, it also has a number of new plot scenes and a new interlude...

GPH8NOy.png


Plus another chance to explore the world, invest, and choose research. Public update in a week!
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
As mentioned, I'm not taking a break between chapters this time, so I've just sent out 0.46.0 to patrons! I was really preoccupied with creating this update and didn't take screenshots, so there's just one this time:

SrcOLRg.png


This update kicks off the last chapter with some long-awaited skill updates, a dungeon, and some plot. This is a stopping point on the way to some bigger updates, so I figured I'd keep rolling with the momentum. Public update in a week!
 

Number13

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2015
1,053
234
Well, finally got around to doing the Erosian conflict and HOLY CRAP that was a lot.

At least Estevan is gone and dusted now. The Simonic empire is growing.

I saw some of the art on your blog. Looking forward to seeing more.

I'm looking forward to the Skill update in the next chapter. Some characters haven't gained any new skills for so long.......I think Robin learnt them all in chapter 1 (excluding sync skills).

Just to ask, after talking to the Church guard in Ardoheim on the building of a new Cathedral is there any further areas of discussion with other characters?

Will you retain broom references in you future works, like what fantasy project you plan on doing after TLS?

And is this the individual holding a certain character captured and likely the final boss.

 

cazadore

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2015
146
8
hey sierra didn't you have two games going to be released on steam that still happening?
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
Just to ask, after talking to the Church guard in Ardoheim on the building of a new Cathedral is there any further areas of discussion with other characters?
You're probably not missing much dialogue; this was setup for the events that occur in the current Patreon release.

Will you retain broom references in you future works, like what fantasy project you plan on doing after TLS?
I hadn't considered it, honestly. Some references are probably harmless fun.

hey sierra didn't you have two games going to be released on steam that still happening?
Still happening, they're just always second priority to TLS. Once Ever After continues to progress slowly: we're getting closer to all the scenes being drawn and patrons got to play a version with 10-20 hours of content. The two world demo for Don't Save the Princess is theoretically coming soon. I was waiting on the artist to finish drawing a scene for a while and now I'm waiting for the programmer to integrate it and create the build.
 

Jash

Well-Known Member
Oct 8, 2015
613
247
Speaking of Steam, you ever thinking of adding achievements to this? Even just basic "You reached THIS stage of the game" ones? They help.
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
I've considered it, but it's always a bit of an extra headache to get achievements working and I worry it could be a timesuck with an ongoing game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Decanter

Number13

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2015
1,053
234
Going to admit, the update was pretty short. A good transition chapter though.

And hopefully we can finally visit the dukes residence.
 

lostone2

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2015
95
15
47
I'm way interested in setting the score with Donovan. I seriously despise that guy. And I'm also kind of curious if we will be able to be civil with Annah. She is not that bad, from what I saw in the Council...
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
The newest TLS update is incoming, but first something completely different. If you're looking for completely free content, everything that's been completed on one of my side projects is currently available on Newgrounds:
https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/741269

ORW3c81.png


This is me trying to do something (almost) completely different from everything I've done before. It's an anti-runner that tries to flip the usual formula, letting you control the obstacles to strike the running character. The storyline and characters are aiming for humor, as you'll see in the introduction.

Will this idea work? I can't say, but over the past while I've put together the first two worlds as a sample of the core gameplay loop. It contains four CGs, plus all the levels/dialogue. Please take a look and tell me what you think!

The Newgrounds link above will let you play everything that's been finished so far. If you want to follow the game's development, you can wishlist it on Steam here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/951840/Dont_Save_the_Princess/
 

Tinman

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2015
777
233
The newest TLS update is incoming, but first something completely different. If you're looking for completely free content, everything that's been completed on one of my side projects is currently available on Newgrounds:
https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/741269

ORW3c81.png


This is me trying to do something (almost) completely different from everything I've done before. It's an anti-runner that tries to flip the usual formula, letting you control the obstacles to strike the running character. The storyline and characters are aiming for humor, as you'll see in the introduction.

Will this idea work? I can't say, but over the past while I've put together the first two worlds as a sample of the core gameplay loop. It contains four CGs, plus all the levels/dialogue. Please take a look and tell me what you think!

The Newgrounds link above will let you play everything that's been finished so far. If you want to follow the game's development, you can wishlist it on Steam here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/951840/Dont_Save_the_Princess/

I quickly developed a love/hate relationship with the coins, both wishing there were more so I could afford upgrades while also hating to see lots on screen because they could be such a pain to remove before Runman got them. It took a while (I was almost finished with world 2) to develop the timing to ignore coins immediately after attacks landed but with his growing health pool I still needed to collect as many as possible to upgrade damage. Maybe increase the value of coins in later levels, or have different value coins? I typically got 60-90 per level whereas minimum upgrade costs were 100. While it isn't too hard to win with just a few upgrades it would feel more rewarding to upgrade further. Plus I imagine more worlds will be added along with even higher difficulty levels.

And is Dragogai supposed to be "dragon guy" as a reference to Bowser or did you just change Simon's Dargai a little to reference TLS?
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
I quickly developed a love/hate relationship with the coins, both wishing there were more so I could afford upgrades while also hating to see lots on screen because they could be such a pain to remove before Runman got them. It took a while (I was almost finished with world 2) to develop the timing to ignore coins immediately after attacks landed but with his growing health pool I still needed to collect as many as possible to upgrade damage. Maybe increase the value of coins in later levels, or have different value coins? I typically got 60-90 per level whereas minimum upgrade costs were 100. While it isn't too hard to win with just a few upgrades it would feel more rewarding to upgrade further. Plus I imagine more worlds will be added along with even higher difficulty levels.
Thanks for leaving feedback! You do have the option of sacrificing some coins if there's getting to be too much multitasking.

Balancing the upgrades will be tricky. The current difficulty is rather nerfed from the original, so it's almost possible to win without upgrades. Since I'm aiming for a more casual experience here, I hoped that it could allow for a self-balancing effect, since players can just upgrade through levels if necessary. That can lead to a grind, though, and it isn't necessarily well-balanced now. Higher value coins on later levels would be very likely.

And is Dragogai supposed to be "dragon guy" as a reference to Bowser or did you just change Simon's Dargai a little to reference TLS?
Definitely the former - I wondered if that would be too obscure, but felt like I probably wasn't the only person who played Mario as a kid and called Bowser "that dragon guy".
 

Number13

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2015
1,053
234
Ran into a bug when playing it. While trying to maneuverer I accidently pressed the right click on my mouse on the taskbar, bring up the menu, and when I went back to the game Runman disappeared and it wouldn't finish even after he supposedly passed the finish line. Not sure how this happened.

Also disappointed that it was spiked balls thrown at Runman and not brooms.
 

Sierra Lee

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
368
394
Ran into a bug when playing it. While trying to maneuverer I accidently pressed the right click on my mouse on the taskbar, bring up the menu, and when I went back to the game Runman disappeared and it wouldn't finish even after he supposedly passed the finish line. Not sure how this happened.

Also disappointed that it was spiked balls thrown at Runman and not brooms.
Well, that's a serious bug. I don't seem to be able to reproduce it on my end - is it something that you can do consistently?
 

Number13

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2015
1,053
234
I don't know. Haven't tried again yet. I was using Firefox if that played a part.