Dev-Diary: The "new" roadmap

Greetings everyone,

time to deliver the promised updated roadmap. You guys should have an idea to where we're headed after all. So here's the "new" roadmap, which is totally different from the old roadmap...

Sooo... Let's tackle some of the bigger topics regarding act 3:

Growing girls:

• My original script only had plans for Gina, Stella and Jade. I wanted all of them to have a different type of growth for their initial scenes (Training, Draining, Temporal Growth). Of course now we have Aline and Akari too, but I leave this in the capable hands of their respective authors.

• Now with the start of arc 3, the growth will most probably work like this:

  Just like Gina, every girl needs to accumulate points of strength to a certain threshold. Each stage will cost a lot more than the last, so even if girls earn strength at a different pace, no girl will be completely left behind (maybe 2 levels or so... we'll see)
  
  Some growth-scenes may be accompanied by other quest-goals though. For example Stella Lvl. 6 would probably need Gina Lvl. 6 and maybe one other character-specific quest-goal besides the required strength-value. The idea is to give the players some choice on which girl to focus on, while still reigning them in, to not break the context of the story. (Their quest arcs should be much simpler than Gina's though, so maybe one quest-goal maximum per stage + Gina being at least that level too)
  
  Every girl would get a passive income of strength per week, reflecting their efforts and training at the gym. The passive gain could probably be increased by completing character quests (just as an example: getting a new drain-potion for Stella or a new version of the pills, etc.) Gina can however influence which girls grow faster by actively choosing to train with them for bonus points. (yes, training together no longer only benefits Gina)

Main story:

• With the end of the dramatic story arc 2, we enter a relatively peaceful episode of "ceasefire". Both parties will use their time to build up their strength (quite literally). The idea is to give Gina some time to build up her relationships, which only makes sense if the girls are not in any sort of immediate, mortal danger. I mean, of course, love can bloom on a battlefield, but they would hardly go on a date to the beach while Tanya keeps on of their friends in a chokehold.

• The overlaying concept for this arc is the recruitment. Gina will seek like-minded people and factions in Burlingfort, that would join her crusade against the mafia. Each faction is then tied to a character arc, as Gina goes on a quest with the associated characters to convince the factions leader to join. I will probably introduce the factions in small posts over the next weeks. I have not yet decided if we work through the factions in a pre-defined order or if I may let you all vote on which faction will be tackled in the following updates.

• Apart from the recruitment arcs, a large story involving Xici, Tanya and Susan will be spanning over the next updates. Oh, and more of the mysteries revolving around Richter and his formula will come to light.

• A topic that had me thinking is the balance between the goofy, the sexy and the dramatic. The problem is, that I like all of them, and all of them belong to Gina's Gym somehow, but combining them will be a challenge. Like a bad Marvel movie, when the heroes crack some super bad jokes, while millions of people around them get killed in an alien invasion. So I will try to gauge each act/scene and see when bad humour and boomer jokes fit, and when they don't fit. Ultimately I want a more light-hearted tone on the Gina story (well, until the final arc, when it's time to get real serious), and a more serious tone on the Tanya/Susan story.

Combat:

• I heard the voices and I'll rework the tutorial again. In addition, the amazing Rho has offered to improve the combat UI, to make more information easier accessible.

• The alleys will see themselves slowly filled with more events and enemy types, as well as new bosses tied to the main-story will come over time.

Romance:

• In the update 6, each girl should have get a chance to earn her first affection with Gina. Starting with update 7, I'll probably "reserve" one time-window for possible dates then. So probably Saturday evening, Gina can invite one of the guys or girls to go on a date with her. I definitely want lots of cute (or hot), written-out dates, but I'll see if a "filler"-text may be necessary to accumulate points over time or if the character is then locked until further updates.

• Currently planned dateable characters are Phil, Mike, Stella, Jade, Aline and Akari (we'll see about Xici or Jonathan. Cause I want Xici too and we miss a dominant guy-character.. or I'll make another vote before update 7 to make a final list of dateable chars)

Summary:

So, if anyone reached this point, then I don't have to worry about our story being too long 😅

All in all, I'm very happy with how my little game developed. It has surpassed my expectations and I'm looking forward to improve it even more. With the current amount of supporters, I decided to reach out to an external writer again (the great Beriya, who wrote snippets for me before) and I wouldn't mind spending some of the money on images (maybe with Fourbe, lets see), animations or sound if I find people willing to help.

You guys can gladly leave some thoughts, as now is a good time to maybe influence the process before it's set in stone.

I wish you all a lovely week and I'll post some more info on the recruitment arcs in the coming weeks.