... snip... (montage scene of MrSL learning to program by making a deckbuilder)
Anyway, fast forward to today and I kind of have a new game gaining dust on my drawer for more than half a year now.
I didn't know what to do with it, maybe I'd never even show it to anyone. It wouldn't be the first game to never see the light of day. After all, it was just something I was doing to learn and relax - it turns out, I enjoy codding. It's so cool to think of any mechanic or gameplay element in my head and be able to make it reality. It can certainly be challenging and uncomfortable at times, but in a different way than, for example, looking at a white page without knowing how to write what I have in mind. It's a whole different process that I happen to like. Most of the time, anyway. There are always frustrating situations, like in everything else.
While the game has been in a limbo for a while now, a few things happened recently that made me make a decision about what to do with it. First, steam gave green light to publish games with AI art. Second, by the end of next month there will be a Steam festival for Deckbuilding games... which I happen to have one gaining dust in some folder of my PC. So... why not take the opportunity and launch what I have as a demo and see if people think it's fun or not?
Fair warning: this game is the complete opposite of NiF. It's not story driven (or even a VN!), or kinky, uses a different art-style, it's strategy game, etc. If you happen to like it, it's totally by coincidence. Chances are, you might not see the appeal at all.
But I am really proud of this thing.
It's hard to explain. It's one thing to write something that people like to read like in NiF... but everyone knows how to write. It's a different thing to learn a new skill like coding from the ground up to make a silly little game that you enjoy playing yourself. The whole thing may be held together with weird hacks, dreams and many tears shed while trying to figure out how the hell I could make renpy do what I wanted; and, if a seasonal have a look at the code, they'll probably laugh for 5 minutes straight; heck, I shouldn't even have made this on renpy with better engines available for this kind of game, I just wanted to learn more about it for future "real games".
And yet, in spit of all of that, I'm still proud of having been able to put this thing together with (hopefully!) no bugs currently.
There's also a pleasure in being allowed to work on something for as long as I want without feeling the pressure to release it, or to show it to someone. To polish it as much as I like, with no hurries. To add any crazy idea that comes to my mind just because I think it may improve the experience.
Anyway, here is the free demo of "Decked in Love":
You must be registered to see the links
If you want to try it, feel free to give me your feedback, it'd be appreciated.
I won't be spending more time working on it than what I was already doing in the last 2 years, so this doesn't change much for NiF's development, in case you're worried about that.
Dev stance:I don't mind the game, I don't mind the art, but unless I'm missing something, there needs to be a way to discard a card from your hand regardless of enemy buffs.
If I know I've got a card that counters cockblock or whatever in my deck, but through luck it isn't on the board when the enemy appears, you may as well just pop up a big "YOU LOSE" overlay (for certain combinations particularly).
I've reworked the cockblock ability to be less frustrating to play against but still causing a similar pressure to the player.You are of course correct that if someone can win the game first time then it is too easy, but there is a huge difference between "difficult in a fun and challenging way" and "difficult in a boring and frustrating way", and from one of your other comments you are clearly aware of this. For me at least, Cockblocker gets much too close to the latter type of difficulty.
I tend to agree with this but, in the end, all strategy games where you can't grind your way out of a situation end up like that, no? This isn't a puzzle game where there is *always* a solution. At some point, you made enough mistakes throughout a run that there is nothing you can do to not lose at a given point, no matter what you do.Fun difficulty: "That enemy is really tough, but I have a Cunning Plan to beat him with an ingenious combination of cards".
Boring difficulty: "Oh, I can't do anything."
I've decreased the stats a bit on cards of stage 2.I'm not talking about general fail till you succeed. I get that. I'm talking about the fact that between stage one and stage two the stats double on your opponents and you have zero chance to succeed because you could not raise your stats high enough to get any form of success. Like I said before, it needs balancing.
That was a good idea, I added that in the new update.It would be helpful for people like me (whose memory is not what it used to be) if there were a confirmation/warning when you press Start in the main menu (if a game is already in progress), reminding us that it will overwrite our existing save.
Thanks, fixed it.Meet Her Girlfriends had "Weaken (2)" on the card before, so I played a card that costs 2 charisma to remove all effects from a card. Now Meet Her Girlfriends doesn't say "Weaken (2)" anymore, but I'm still weakened by 2.
It'll (probably) have 18 levels in total.Sure, those small levels are not so big problem, but I don't know how many levels are going to be? Imagine redoing entire thing if we fuck up something at level 25 or 50?
In the rewards menu you can see how to unlock more art. The only thing that's "hidden" is Norah, the redhead girl. You need to beat the demo first with Miriam to unlock her.The art in the samples doesn't seem to match the art I've seen in game, is there some kind of progressive unlocking that's hidden?
You gain a benefit when you fail, yes: the probability of getting a "fantasy card" in a level increases, to help you get a chance of better stats in the next run.Generally if the game saves your position in the game when you exit and you gain some sort of benefit when you fail (i.e you get to keep some stat bonuses or cards, or just unlock possible cards) then I don't think you need to be able to save manually.
Yeah, that was planned from the begging. This update makes the game easier, but I'll add difficulty levels in the future and rewards for beating the game in that difficulty.You'll probably need different difficulty levels to appeal to more people. For someone like me, harder the better really.
Right now, it's basically by continuing to play (check the rewards menu to see the conditions to earn them). There will be more "challenges" to beat that give more rewards in the future.I've cleared the 2 chapters with Both characters, and I've seen nothing remotely as saucy as the first screenshot. Question is, "do those just unlock by continuing to play, or is there some other trigger?"
You need to reach the end of Miriam's demo first (level 6).first, in the screenshots on main page theres a redhead that becomes the love interest is that mirriam with a changed hairstyle or another character? if another character how do i play her story?
That's something I've also been wondering about. Right now, each failed run gives you some probability bonus to get better stats in the next one (if you win a run, the probability resets). But I may add other things.know how far i have to get to get to that point but i guess one thing most rougelikes have that im not seeing here is the ability to earn cash or points to upgrade your character after each run which makes progressing easier as you get to tougher stages! is that something we can expect in future updates or is this gonna be a you have to go through the whole thing in one go type of experiences?
Yes, the passive and active stats change. You use the active to attack and the passive to defend. So, the intelligence would be your attack, and strength your defense, until you change again.if you switch main to intelligence does strength become the passive? i would assume so since it doesn't make sense to make initiative your passive but again idk..!
That's also way too much to start from beginning every time if fuck up after 6-7 level. And we will, because we don't know what's coming at us. Without crystal ball it is impossible to make "long-term strategy" without playing level once, so it will be a lot of trials and errors. And repeating.It'll (probably) have 18 levels in total.
This reminded me; it seems like you have to pay your money just to go into the shop to see what clothes are available? Meaning, if you decide not to buy anything, you don't get your money back, right? That's not exactly how buying clothes works in the real world, nor is it how shops usually work in the roguelites I've played (including StS, unless I'm having a serious memory lapse). Why can't the shop have a per-item price instead of an entry fee?re-roll prices for clothes reduced: this should help players more easily get the clothes they are looking for.
i assume this is similar to fantasy themed roguelikes where if you get a new weapon in later stages it give you a big boost to one stat for a small cut in another stat! for example, if you came across a berserker sword you typically get like +5-10 in strength boost and get a negative boost to your intelligence! its the same once you get to the events in the later stages where instead of getting a flat +1 for doing athletics or chess club, the new ones give you a +2 to a stat but also subtract 1 from speed or charisma or something! its a way to add strategy in balancing your stats! you have to choose if you want the extra strength but be slower or be smarter while taking a cut in strength! typically you can grab the item/event that boosts a lower stat to lose a point off a stat thats already high! it just adds another level of strategy to the game!Love the game. Can't get enough. But it is tough. I know it is rogue-like, but it would be good to have a save point after the completion of a stage. Right now, even with my super skillz, I'm still struggling on Level 5.
Also - Please can you change the Fantasize about to only give positive bonuses. Right now, that part of the game is too random and broken. Some choices give positive, some give negative - so why would you ever choose the negative one?
And sometimes, they are all negative - which sucks.
Just remove the negative possibilities from those cards please.
When i say “some choices are positive and some are negative”, I mean that literally.i assume this is similar to fantasy themed roguelikes where if you get a new weapon in later stages it give you a big boost to one stat for a small cut in another stat! for example, if you came across a berserker sword you typically get like +5-10 in strength boost and get a negative boost to your intelligence! its the same once you get to the events in the later stages where instead of getting a flat +1 for doing athletics or chess club, the new ones give you a +2 to a stat but also subtract 1 from speed or charisma or something! its a way to add strategy in balancing your stats! you have to choose if you want the extra strength but be slower or be smarter while taking a cut in strength! typically you can grab the item/event that boosts a lower stat to lose a point off a stat thats already high! it just adds another level of strategy to the game!
I think the point in this game is choosing the card with the negative stat to unlock that image in the gallery (the first time I ever got a Fantasize, they were all negative, so I incorrectly extrapolated at the time that the whole point of it was taking a hit on your stats for the sake of eye candy). I agree that's not really worth it in a game that's already so difficult at times.you would never choose the card with the -1 to the stat.