Ren'Py Celestial Intervention [0.04a Public Build] [jull]

[lspdk]

I really like the story setting. Your dystopian world where the MC has to struggle to survive looks promising. but plz try to minimize the number of bad endings or clearly indicate to the player what's coming with their next choices.

Although i think the RPG elements will probably be my cup of tea. Following

thanks for the feedback

about bad endings. in fact, even those endings in the prologue can become non-endings. for example catching by the guards at the beginning will lead to the start from prison (when i start doing this branch). getting into slavery will also have its own route

but, yes. once the prologue is complete, there will be no such problem. bad actions leading to an unavoidable end will be highlighted by context, and some endings will only end a certain storyline

 

[lspdk]

Been following along with the updates, love seeing the detailed progress reports.

thanks for your feedback too. right now the only thing that's being worked on is the storyline and graphics, which is a happy thing to me. like i said before, there are finally almost no mechanics left to add

actually - the hardest thing in development is to have a build on your PC and not play it lol
btw, there's gonna be another devlog very soon

<3

 

[lspdk]

This is an experimental long devblog. I hope for your positive reaction, it's a very nice moment for me myself to be able to post so much news, while still withholding some updates, trying to keep something unexpected for you at the time of release. And before we begin, i wanna announce some very good news that will be released tomorrow evening (European time) October 27th.

It seems like we were able to make the game fully adaptable to third-party modifications.
Back to today's post

Development update
- Inventory appearance and customization. Along with the reworking of the inventory system, customization has also been added to the game for better interaction. The list of customizable options currently includes:

1. changing the measurement measures. You are free to choose between kilograms and grams to display in your inventory.
   there are plans to add customization of each inventory tab in the future. so, for example, you can keep kilograms for the weapons tab and grams for the ingredients tab;
2. displaying the weight of all items or a single item. Some items may be so many that you have to count a lot to understand their total weight. You can choose between displaying the weight of the entire stack of items or the weight of each item within the stack;

Kilograms. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.
​

Grams. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.
​

- Trade changes. Along with the inventory, the trading system also changed:

1. First and foremost, it is a visual change to the window. Item weight has been added to the name in the merchant's inventory, which changes with the displayed weight in the inventory;
2. Trading is now faster. Trading is completely simplified in terms of code without any changes to the gameplay itself;
3. Continuing with the previous, a bug was fixed where the window was always refreshing after purchasing an item;

Grams. Trading Window. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.
​

You may notice that some items in the trade window are duplicated, and inside the player's inventory are collected into a stack. It was a rather long point of discussion that still came to one decision, which could still change at release.

Leave items one by one in the trade window - recreate the atmosphere of the trade lot. All the items are lying around and you have to search for them with your eyes. Let's use a simple example. You come to a market stall with a large quantity of vegetables. There are so many that even though they lie side by side - it's hard to count them. You can say that there are a lot of them, but you cannot say for sure that the merchant has 13 tomatoes or 20 cucumbers.

This will still be modified in some way, right now it's just a basic outline. Some merchants will still get stacks in the case that there are SO MANY items. Like, no one's gonna make you scroll through 50 identical items. Certain types of traders will in turn get unique types of trades.

Certain types of merchants will get unique types of trade. Some of them:

1. Food merchants in taverns, restaurants, etc. You will ask for food from these merchants, or trade at all through an NPC-waitress;
2. Atelier. You will be able to order a specific item of clothing from a merchant, or buy something from their stock, for that you'll have to choose clothes at the stands with them, and then just pay. And sure, you'll be able to take clothes and try to steal them. However, be prepared to run away from the guards;
3. Some merchants simply won't give you the opportunity to buy an item right away. Unique, expensive, complex items will need to be ordered in advance and wait for the merchant to create them.

As you might have realized, the main goal here is to create immersion, the atmosphere of something real and very close. Essentially, simply buying food from a tavern can turn into an event, or maybe even a random quest, and buying a strong sword will become valuable not only because of its stats and coin price, but because of the time spent waiting for its production and possible events during it

- Magic. It's been in development for a very long time, in fact the rough outlines of magic were ready a long time ago, even before the development of the game itself

Frequently, magic in games is another way to deliver damage. In some games, this feature is a bit more elaborate, allowing you to summon different creatures, apply effects, and so on. In my vision magic should be interesting, in general - any skills should be interesting, but when talking specifically about magic it should be deep, thought-out mechanics with non-standard spells and an interesting way to use them

Developer jullstud

As already known, magic will be the result of spells cast. Not selecting from the skill menu, not using scrolls with one button, but full spell casting. There are several points arising from this that can be established right now:

1. Unfortunately, there will still be some limitations. Some will have logical reasons behind them, and some will remain hard gameplay limitations. To the second, only those spells that can be useful in combat will remain available to the player during combat. For example, the truthteller spell will definitely not be available during combat, because it won't have any effect;
2. Your character will be able to learn spells, allowing you to cast them without scrolls at hand. Each spell will be quite difficult to learn and will require both theoretical and practical preparation of the character;
3. Without learning, the character will still be able to use scrolls to cast spells. In this case, it will depend directly on magical abilities.

In addition, it is worth understanding that not all the information in the game will be true. Yes, be prepared that some scrolls or characters will naturally try to scam you. Found a scroll abandoned in a cave that promises to enrich you for reading a spell? Don't be surprised if you find yourself trapped a moment afterward (more about traps below);

- Melee weapon. We couldn't leave out the melee battles, giving all the attention to magic alone

I love how the chosen game engine unfolds as the RPG is developed. We have almost unlimited possibilities in our hands to think about every aspect, including combat scenes. We can make not just different enemies, but unique behaviors for each of them within the same classes. That's the strength of text games that I appreciate the most. We're not limited by the complexities of AI behavior, not limited by possible bugs in animations, hitboxes, etc.

Developer jullstud

At this point, everything else is connected to the combat system. Your equipment, character states, enemy states, random events, magic effects, skills, and more. You can choose not only between attack, defense and so on, but also the specific attack skill you want to use, as well as the body part if the chosen skill implies it.

The similar goes for the defense. After each enemy attack, the game rolls dice, similar to a save throws in usual board game systems. The only difference is that this dice roll decides whether your character can defend against an enemy attack or not. In case you are lucky, a selection of defense skills available will appear. For example, if your character is holding a shield you can use it, or if your char are practicing martial arts you may have a special defense skill available. After selecting a skill - also opens the choice of direction. This will be a check specifically for the player, because the game will already tell you where the opponent's attack was directed;

- Traps. At this point, traps are seen as additional challenges for the player, not forced endings. Some will lead to new storylines, some will just delay the player and the like.

Graphic update
- New main menu. New buttons and additional menu windows. In addition to the buttons, the main menu offers news about the game's development, various tips or story notes;

- New pause menu;

Story update
- No particular spoilers, but there are a few more books and locations ready to go. Including the guards' locations.

 

[Sumpfbauer]

This is an experimental long devblog. I hope for your positive reaction, it's a very nice moment for me myself to be able to post so much news, while still withholding some updates, trying to keep something unexpected for you at the time of release. And before we begin, i wanna announce some very good news that will be released tomorrow evening (European time) October 27th.

It seems like we were able to make the game fully adaptable to third-party modifications.
Back to today's post

Development update
- Inventory appearance and customization. Along with the reworking of the inventory system, customization has also been added to the game for better interaction. The list of customizable options currently includes:

1. changing the measurement measures. You are free to choose between kilograms and grams to display in your inventory.
   there are plans to add customization of each inventory tab in the future. so, for example, you can keep kilograms for the weapons tab and grams for the ingredients tab;
2. displaying the weight of all items or a single item. Some items may be so many that you have to count a lot to understand their total weight. You can choose between displaying the weight of the entire stack of items or the weight of each item within the stack;

View attachment 3036404

Kilograms. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.
​

View attachment 3036405

Grams. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.
​

- Trade changes. Along with the inventory, the trading system also changed:

1. First and foremost, it is a visual change to the window. Item weight has been added to the name in the merchant's inventory, which changes with the displayed weight in the inventory;
2. Trading is now faster. Trading is completely simplified in terms of code without any changes to the gameplay itself;
3. Continuing with the previous, a bug was fixed where the window was always refreshing after purchasing an item;

View attachment 3036406

Grams. Trading Window. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.
​

You may notice that some items in the trade window are duplicated, and inside the player's inventory are collected into a stack. It was a rather long point of discussion that still came to one decision, which could still change at release.


This will still be modified in some way, right now it's just a basic outline. Some merchants will still get stacks in the case that there are SO MANY items. Like, no one's gonna make you scroll through 50 identical items. Certain types of traders will in turn get unique types of trades.

Certain types of merchants will get unique types of trade. Some of them:

1. Food merchants in taverns, restaurants, etc. You will ask for food from these merchants, or trade at all through an NPC-waitress;
2. Atelier. You will be able to order a specific item of clothing from a merchant, or buy something from their stock, for that you'll have to choose clothes at the stands with them, and then just pay. And sure, you'll be able to take clothes and try to steal them. However, be prepared to run away from the guards;
3. Some merchants simply won't give you the opportunity to buy an item right away. Unique, expensive, complex items will need to be ordered in advance and wait for the merchant to create them.

As you might have realized, the main goal here is to create immersion, the atmosphere of something real and very close. Essentially, simply buying food from a tavern can turn into an event, or maybe even a random quest, and buying a strong sword will become valuable not only because of its stats and coin price, but because of the time spent waiting for its production and possible events during it

- Magic. It's been in development for a very long time, in fact the rough outlines of magic were ready a long time ago, even before the development of the game itself


Developer jullstud

As already known, magic will be the result of spells cast. Not selecting from the skill menu, not using scrolls with one button, but full spell casting. There are several points arising from this that can be established right now:

1. Unfortunately, there will still be some limitations. Some will have logical reasons behind them, and some will remain hard gameplay limitations. To the second, only those spells that can be useful in combat will remain available to the player during combat. For example, the truthteller spell will definitely not be available during combat, because it won't have any effect;
2. Your character will be able to learn spells, allowing you to cast them without scrolls at hand. Each spell will be quite difficult to learn and will require both theoretical and practical preparation of the character;
3. Without learning, the character will still be able to use scrolls to cast spells. In this case, it will depend directly on magical abilities.

In addition, it is worth understanding that not all the information in the game will be true. Yes, be prepared that some scrolls or characters will naturally try to scam you. Found a scroll abandoned in a cave that promises to enrich you for reading a spell? Don't be surprised if you find yourself trapped a moment afterward (more about traps below);

- Melee weapon. We couldn't leave out the melee battles, giving all the attention to magic alone


Developer jullstud

At this point, everything else is connected to the combat system. Your equipment, character states, enemy states, random events, magic effects, skills, and more. You can choose not only between attack, defense and so on, but also the specific attack skill you want to use, as well as the body part if the chosen skill implies it.

The similar goes for the defense. After each enemy attack, the game rolls dice, similar to a save throws in usual board game systems. The only difference is that this dice roll decides whether your character can defend against an enemy attack or not. In case you are lucky, a selection of defense skills available will appear. For example, if your character is holding a shield you can use it, or if your char are practicing martial arts you may have a special defense skill available. After selecting a skill - also opens the choice of direction. This will be a check specifically for the player, because the game will already tell you where the opponent's attack was directed;

- Traps. At this point, traps are seen as additional challenges for the player, not forced endings. Some will lead to new storylines, some will just delay the player and the like.

Graphic update
- New main menu. New buttons and additional menu windows. In addition to the buttons, the main menu offers news about the game's development, various tips or story notes;

- New pause menu;

Story update
- No particular spoilers, but there are a few more books and locations ready to go. Including the guards' locations.

Ohhh, wow! That looks even more promising than what I had hoped for. That said, I really hope that you don't take on too much! It sounds quite ambitious with the level of detail you're putting into weight, trading, combat, and likely other aspects as well. I sincerely hope that the development of your game doesn't get abandoned due to over-ambition. Good luck with it.

 

[lspdk]

Ohhh, wow! That looks even more promising than what I had hoped for. That said, I really hope that you don't take on too much! It sounds quite ambitious with the level of detail you're putting into weight, trading, combat, and likely other aspects as well. I sincerely hope that the development of your game doesn't get abandoned due to over-ambition. Good luck with it.

thanks for these words.
first of all, i wanna note that i just love writing stories. it calms me down and just puts me in a great mood. i mean, i never get tired of writing complex, long stories for a deep, intricate world
besides, not so long ago our team of me and my friend expanded a little. besides, we now have a budget. not very big in the world of gamedev, but big enough for us, entirely collected from our personal savings
at least for me, this project has become something special that i definitely don’t want to abandon. in fact, i don't even want to finish it. the game world is not limited to the map that you can see in this thread. in fact, the game world can be called innumerably large.
but in fact, I’m even afraid to imagine how long main content development will take, there are 22 countries on Abeia, each unique in its own way, its own cities, its own places, its own cultures and stories

if you are interested in the history of this project, you can read the text below. but this is actually a longread, which may not be so interesting

i definitely told the story of the beginning of this project, but just for clarity i’ll tell it again, just more briefly and with some new details

the very beginning dates back to the moment i became acquainted with sandbox games. like, my first games in dwarf fortress, some games for adults with a sandbox, there was even a time when i RPed in GTA (even SA).
I'm always amazed at how interesting stories can be when freedom is in the hands of the player
over time, i tried new games with openworld and sandbox options for the player, including games for adults. some games are truly masterpieces, so good that you can play them for hundreds of hours, but unfortunately, over the years, these hundreds of hours began to get boring, and it became increasingly difficult to find new games with which i could replace the old ones

and for long time i've been thinking about starting to develop my own game. something that will be so good for myself that i will even want to play it
unfortunately, for a long time this didn't go further than attempts. i have kinda trial projects on Twine, even trial projects on Unity and UE. it always ended with the fact that the project must be so large that the selected engines in my hands simply cannot cope.
a small footnote for understanding, you can literally go into every house, every room and other places that exist in the game world. yes, not every place will take you hours to read, but short stories for a few minutes
and before it had never even occurred to me that Ren'Py could cope with the assigned task. i mean, it's Python, slow language, but as it turned out later, this not a problem.
thanks to my friend who encouraged me to try this

 

[lspdk]

and in addition to the rest, i wanna say that in addition to ambitions, i myself have an understanding of what will be too difficult or impossible to implement

for example, the magic. There are already more than a hundred spells in drafts, but i'm well aware that i cannot allow the player to use them at any point in the game
it would simply be too complicated to develop
if i can use 'simply' here

also with other mechanics. If i weren’t sure that this could be implemented without complications, i wouldn’t do it, at least now
honestly, no one in our small team would do this haha

but some spoilers. we actually implemented something very complex, at least a prototype of it) I've never seen a Ren'Py game that supported full modding at the launcher level, but that's all for tomorrow :> now i need to sleep (1.33pm)

 

[lspdk]

As is already clear, the original plan to release updates failed due to its massive scale. Also, i`ve no desire to release small updates with great frequency just to add one quest.

Mods. Mods can easily bring the game to life during the pauses between updates. And i`m sure to say that we`ll add a

Full compatibility with third-party modification
For anyone who doesn't have the desire to read a lot of details:

1. Modification support is planned after the Act 1 of the storyline is released;
2. Any modification will be supported;

More details

It is known to many that games on Ren`Py are often not modified in the usual sense. Sometimes you can find new image packs, music for the game, there are very rarely modifications that expand the base game on Ren`Py. But usually - all modifications for Ren`Py games are brand new games, with a new story and no connection to old saves

One of the main problems of modding games on Ren`Py is the fact that the entire game is basically a single code file. Developers split all the code into different files for their own comfort, but when executing the game, the engine sees it all as one single file. What follows from this is that adding something new requires integration into this one-piece code, and two mods that do roughly the same thing just can't work

We were able to develop a concept that allowed for any number of modifications. The only exception will be modifications that have a basic conflict due to data duplication (e.g. mod1 adds a swordABC, mod2 also adds a swordABC. mods can't work together)

For users

- Plugging in mods will be like installing a mod for any other game normally. The modification files are loaded into the folder allocated for them, the mod itself is activated in the main menu of the game;

- I can't guarantee perfect performance. You'll definitely need backup files;

- It won't delay development. Adding modification support is planned after the release of Act 1 only because of the desire not to distract from game development now.

For modders

- A public manual will be released along with the modification support;

- The manual will include an explanation of the game's code architecture and how to properly script modifications;

- Any modification can get support from the game's developers. If you need storyline details for your modification, concepts for future updates, explanations of mechanics, etc - you can always ask your questions.

 

[lspdk]

btw. one of the reasons we started thinking about this feature is i started getting offers from third-party guys to help with development for free and enthusiasm. unfortunately, i`ve to refuse them for several reasons.
first, and most importantly, we have two people doing code right now and we've already gotten confused about each other's code. like, add one more person here and we'll only delay development
two. it's hard for me to accept direct help for a <thank you> and a note somewhere in the about tab

i found the best solution (at least for me). Let a third-party create the mods

 

[lspdk]

0.07a Public Build is getting closer and is now scheduled for late November.

Development update
- More optimization in game performance;

Graphic update
- Character Artwork Overhaul. Keeping old artwork was not an option. Maintaining the same lazy style doesn't work either. Supported by Celestial Old Man Star, we were able to come up with a new design for both the character artwork and the overall presentation.

doesn't show all changes made
​

we're moving away from portraying characters at their full height. It was clumsy, it was ugly, and it was impractical. In the next update you will discover a new pleasure of reading dialogues followed by character images.

We leave the main character's full-height image inside the menus, allowing the player to see the character's clothing and body in full view;

Story update
Don't want to split this up into separate paragraphs. We're pretty much done with moving the first act scenario into game. but there is still quite a lot of work to be completed. Lots of random events, side quests and world lore.

Increasingly, we're coming to the realization that the main storyline is only a guide that isn't really necessary to create your own story. By giving the player only the basic main story we rob the player of any uniqueness walkthrough. We aim to create as much third-party content as possible, to elaborate on the world around us and the events that take place in it.

Content Manager Celestial Old Man Star

We're still trying to keep a balance between the main story and side quests, without actually making the side story any more interesting than the main storyline. In our vision, the player is presented with the ability to be distracted by third-party quests at any point during the game, these quests should show the world 'round, open up new views or change the character under the player's control.

translated from German to English
Side-quest Writer Celestial Bier
ㅤ
Thanks for continuing to follow the game
<3

 

[lspdk]

Development Highlights
This`s not the time to talk about development updates. Some changes to the code are happening, but it's really not something worth paying attention to

Today in a slightly unusual style for our devlogs, in a more simple and free style. We're working on moving the story from a script - into a full, finished product. At the moment, the goal of an additional ten hours of gameplay after the 0.07a Public Build release is set. Let's see how well we can realize the required amount of story time

Other updates
We've finally gotten away from the old screenshots and the main game page on itch.io has been given a near-final look. New screenshots have been added, some of them announcing previously unmentioned features



Briefly this time
I'd be happy to spend a few hours writing a big devlog, but i'd rather spend that time adding story to the game code. Especially since i really think spoiling storyline updates would be wrong. Especially(!) so boring, directly in the devlog. Thank you for your attention to our game, thank you for reading the devlogs and feedback. <3

 

[DracoBorealis]

We are getting onto mid December, any ETA to the next public release?

 

[hr17]

This is a very delayed response but in regards to one of your earlier dev updates:

" - Saves Rebalance. Limiting saves is being discussed. The point of the whole idea is very similar to what was done in kingdom come deliverance, where saves are only possible when resting and using a limited item. Again, for balance and some challenge in the game. "

I'll just point out that the most popular (by far) mod for KCD is an unlimited saving mod. Maybe better to do something like BG3 did with Honor Mode and make it an option at game start rather than mandatory.

 

[Umbra.Nox]

OP picture doesn't work for me. You might want to fix that, because if it's broken then it might make it difficult to attract people.

 

[lspdk]

Celestial Intervention.
Development Blog.9

Without going into boring details of problems IRL within the team, changes, new people coming in and old people kicking out of our small team - I apologize for such a long hold of the development.

Development Notes
During this time we managed to almost completely rewrite the game code, getting rid of a lot of incorrect code, unnecessary systems and other things. Reduced load times several times even now, and if you evaluate it for the long term - significantly optimized the game.

- A new system for moving and interacting with the surrounding world. First of all, all systems for interacting with the environment have been optimized and are now structured systems. In addition, in favor of greater immersion in the gameplay, we have abandoned the text version and switched to the use of a map of the area with the display of all points of interest. The map shows transition points, characters, items and other things your character can interact with




Work in Progress

- New dressing system. Along with fixing old problems and bugs, the dressing system has undergone major changes:

+ Clothing is now a fully functioning item in a character's inventory;

+ Clothes got their own modifiers that affect the character's mood, the attitude of other characters and some other features;

+ Bugfix. It is no longer necessary to remove a previously worn item of clothing;

+ New screen for changing clothes. Moving away from the old system with the use of the selection menu built into the engine, we move to a more beautiful, convenient and functional clothing selection menu. Item usage is clickable, and when you hover over each item, a full description will appear at the bottom


Work in Progress

- New dialog selection system;

- Combat system has been changed;

- Status system has been changed;

- Almost 50 skills have been added;

- Ability system added;

- New locations added;

- New books added;

- Crafting system is being reworked. Now you'll be able to create something almost independently of following a recipe. For the most part, this will apply to food, potions, and more. The only difference is that recipe-created items will be more effective than items you've built by your own.

In addition, a new, improved artwork for the main character and clothing is also in development

When is 0.07a release?
As before, the main goal remains to create all the core mechanics of the game that will be required to play comfortably. As it turned out - many of the old mechanics required reworking, which fortunately is almost over. The next major goal for the release is to add enough content to explore. A fair amount of clothing, items, STORY, and more.