January 12 Update
Added 2025-01-12 18:00:05 +0000 UTCTime to call on the community! Both for input on a major future element and for volunteers, if anyone wants to help me finish something faster.
Steam Achievement Volunteers
I would like to have achievements fully implemented next build. I'm working on it, but the cumulative effect of different tasks is adding up and consuming my dev time. Are there any patrons with basic image editing skills who would be willing to volunteer to help? Obviously that would be extremely generous, but this is one of the few times you can directly speed up development!
Each achievement needs two 64x64 images, one color and one grayscale. All you need to be able to do is select images from TLS, crop them, and make one gray. If you could volunteer a little time (one person doesn't have to do them all), please let me know!
Postgame Timing
For most of TLS I've had a pretty clear vision of how everything was going to proceed, but there are occasionally points I figured out during the process. Unusually, one of them is still hanging: how much time should pass in between the final battle and the postgame.
The simplest would be a small amount of time, a few months or so. But I could also go in an entirely different direction: have ten years pass. This would show the world further into the future, allowing time for rebuilding, societal changes, and so on. Those are positives... but there are negatives as well. Child NPCs would grow up, some older NPCs might die. Do players really want to see Orri as an adult instead of a cute child? I think there's an argument for leaving some of the future to the player's imagination.
Right now I'm thinking that something like two or three years would be the middle ground, justifying some changes while making continuity believable. But this is a rare element where I haven't made a final decision, so I'm open to what everyone thinks.
That's all for this week, see you next time!
Comments
Appreciate the offer, but volunteers have covered all the achievements by now!
Sierra Lee
2025-01-22 13:45:54 +0000 UTCI haven't done any image editing in about 10 years, and I was never exactly proficient in the first place. I just familiarized myself enough to do some sprite work for an old RPGmaker project. If it's a simple enough process to accomplish with a quick glance at a youtube tutorial and readily available editors I'd be happy to try to take a few off your plate. A 3 year jump might actually be the most interesting to me. 10 years is enough time that I feel like there would be considerable distance between many of the "current projects" being completed, and whatever comes next being started. It might be harder to feel the connective tissue, but it's still fundamentally close enough that it doesn't have the massive changes in perspective that 50-100 years brings. 3 years feels like a good time period for the shorter duration projects to be finishing up to be replaced with whatever new project occupies societies time, the longer projects being well underway, etc. Any of the timelines could be interesting though.
Ark Tolei
2025-01-22 06:55:06 +0000 UTCThree years seems right for me. I wonder if anyone should have new skills in the post game. Yeah, there likely won’t be much challenge left to combat but maybe there can be an orc arena or final optional dungeon or something. As for specific skills I’m mostly wondering if Qum can use her epilogue alternate form to make herself stronger in physical combat. Maybe Simon can get an erotic scene with her in that shape too. Enjoyed the epilogue btw. ;)
AchtungNight
2025-01-18 19:10:36 +0000 UTCDefinitely 10 years, I prefer a time jump like this to be as far away in the future as possible. (If you offered 100 years I'd vote for that... maybe :P )
Handsome Stalin
2025-01-15 19:37:15 +0000 UTCRetracting my previous statement on not being picky on overall years, one thing that I think would be a must is seeing Simon and Neranda’s child be born. That arc would feel a bit unfulfilled if it ended with Neranda still pregnant. It also makes me wonder if anyone else would want children now that the major conflicts are all resolved? It’s finally cock whore Altina’s time to shine. But back to Neranda this may be too complex to suggest, but the birth of her child could have her seek Tetria’s guidance on how to deal with being an immortal. Maybe the child could be let into Death’s loophole, but it’s also possible Neranda and Simon will watch the full life cycle of their child from birth to death, and not age a day themselves. Since Tetria has watched countless generations of “her children” the dwarves be born and die, she seems the best to ask for advice. And since the Empress is sadly experienced in this field and usually hangs out in Tetria’s garden she might also have thoughts to share.
WaxerRed
2025-01-15 10:42:59 +0000 UTCI'd love a big time jump. See how things have happened, how times of changed. All sorts of little stories that couldn't have a chance to pan out in the short term could be grown. We've been with these folks for so long - I'd like to see our long term effects on the world. We've seen enough of the short term, are these changes here to stay?
Promenade
2025-01-14 19:46:24 +0000 UTCi also like to think of longer time jump i think it will be nice to see the longer lasting effects of your decisions especially cus certain choices already pertain to "macro" world building so a further time skip allows u to see the big picture changes
Chaplain Grimaldus
2025-01-14 02:34:31 +0000 UTCI'm not picky with overall years, so whatever you think works best sounds good to me! I like everyone else want to see how all our choices and actions have effected the overall world. That said, I think it could also be nice to see some things we had nothing to do with, new groups setting out for adventure, new projects being started throughout the land. For a long time Simon and company have been there to fight every monster, fund every investment, but now as they settle into their retirement/ascension it could be nice to have scenes of them letting the "next generation" carve their own path into the world.
WaxerRed
2025-01-13 18:56:45 +0000 UTCMessage me an email address, please!
Sierra Lee
2025-01-13 14:58:04 +0000 UTCMaybe I'm just brutal, but I want a pretty big time jump. One of the key things we were concerned with was Yarra's impending mortality. Giving her a shard or not has weight if we actually get to see a world where enough time has passed for her to reach the end.
ThomWithAnH
2025-01-13 14:11:56 +0000 UTCI'm personally in favor of 10 years out, but I recognize the spritework involved in that, so go with your gut.
Runcible Technician
2025-01-13 12:44:53 +0000 UTCProbably on the far edge of prefrence here. Twin Peaks had its final season set 25 years later with barely a clue as to what most of its cast were up to having gone through twice as many life changing events while we weren't looking as when we saw them last. What stood out profoundly in contrast was the people who hadn't moved on at all. Also the people who had gotten started and were in the middle of whole new things. Some people were disappointed but I came to understand I clearly adore long timeskips.
Jens Mikli
2025-01-13 11:03:43 +0000 UTCNo worries ^^ Even I knew I was asking for too much. But hey, at least I tried ^^
guillaume nguyen
2025-01-13 08:54:37 +0000 UTCI think 3 years, more or less. That's enough time for the aftermath to settle, not so much that you could be closing out ideas for future games in the same world by defining longer term shifts (in real world terms, 1948 is more 'after ww2', not 1955 'early cold war').
Andrew Harding
2025-01-13 08:25:05 +0000 UTCI think that a timeframe of 2-3 years works best, but if I may do a suggestion why not to put a poll in a Patreon Post? Other creators use them quite often and, in some cases the weight of each vote depends of the tier that each contributor has.
lostone2
2025-01-13 08:09:13 +0000 UTCI was gonna suggest a staggered timeskip option but I see someone already said that and it was understandably declined. So I'mma toss in my hat for say, 5-10 years, closer to 5 maybe - I'd like to see some of the children get grown up and some of the younger characters like Sho and Rachila to have their own developments that we just don't see, and it gives time for plenty of developments on its own while still retaining the characters that we've gotten attached to, to see how they're doing in this new world. I mean, I don't think 5, or even 10, years is gonna be enough for some of the succubi we know to just keel over from old age?
genericname12345
2025-01-13 06:54:44 +0000 UTCI think this idea of people not longer being defined by what we experienced of them during the story is very interesting and mature. And it doesn't even need to be sad. Well, hopeful to see it in the far future then!
Decarabia
2025-01-13 05:23:19 +0000 UTCI volunteer for the image editing taskforce! I think 10 years would be great! Although we have spent years in the process, we haven't had the opportunity to see a more dramatic timeskip such as this one. This would surely be more impactful and memorable. It would be a waste to miss it. I understand this would be scary for many, but I think this appeals to TLS at its core. We are here for the long term! Changes come, good or bad, but we tried our best and deal with the consequences.
Decarabia
2025-01-13 05:16:31 +0000 UTCI’d say 3-5 years, but if possible also just a short recap of how the world looks like in a hundred.
Waffles
2025-01-13 04:34:42 +0000 UTCFor most story based RPG's, the focus is very short term (saving the world, stopping a bad guy, ect.). But as others have said, I would argue that Last Sovereign is very much built around the long term. There are so many decisions both player and characters make that are scaled in years, if not decades, if not *centuries*. I think being able to not only see the specific outcome of things in 10 years, but also able to simply see the ways the world changes outside of simply your decisions in 10 years would be awesome.
Nicholas
2025-01-13 03:14:48 +0000 UTCSo... I resonate with this idea, and you'll likely see me explore it in the future, but I think many readers would just view it as a betrayal, especially at the end of a long game. The time to do that would probably have been over the course of a story.
Sierra Lee
2025-01-13 01:20:15 +0000 UTCI think I'd prefer a skip of 3 years or so to 10; I feel like too many people would have died, or moved on to totally unrecognizable places in their lives in ten years. But in the specific case of whether we'd actually like to see Orri grown up, rather than as a cute child, I'm going to register a vote for "yes." Because we've already seen a bunch of Orri as a cute child, and I'd honestly be really interested to see your take on what happens when a character we've only ever known as a cute child, and whose role in our viewpoint of the story has been *defined* by her status as a cute child, grows up and moves on to other things with her life. I don't want you to take too much work on yourself, and I've never seen you inclined to take on too little, but I'm interested to see what happens when the characters we're familiar with have had enough time to move on that their lives are no longer defined by what they were doing when we last saw them at the end of the game.
Desertopa
2025-01-13 00:10:18 +0000 UTCI simply vote against anything shorter than two years, I feel like two years is the minimum to feel a good amount of change in the world. More than two years would be appreciated as well, but two years are the minimum of the time that needs to pass in my opinion.
Alistair
2025-01-13 00:00:42 +0000 UTCI agree, either that or maybe like 4-5 years sounds good, though having a few scenes either during or after the post game set way further in the future would be really cool
An_Insane_Rogue_AI
2025-01-12 23:59:49 +0000 UTCJk... mostly.
GingerBardMan
2025-01-12 23:42:08 +0000 UTCBoth? Both. Both is good.
GingerBardMan
2025-01-12 23:40:52 +0000 UTCUnfortunately, this is one thing I'll have to decline. I intend to put a huge amount of effort into making the world filled with new encounters and things to find (with lots of variants based on your choices), to really make the postgame feel worthwhile, and I can't do that three times in a row!
Sierra Lee
2025-01-12 23:26:59 +0000 UTCI’m in favor of a longer time skip. A few months or years simply isn’t enough time for the world to settle in and find the new status quo, and I’d like to see what effect our legacy has in the long term.
Arramos
2025-01-12 22:31:38 +0000 UTCI like the middle ground, 2-3 years. Enough to believably see a rebuilt, restructured and improved world, but not so long that it feels disconnected from the events of the game. We have seen incremental change happening within smaller timeframes. I think it would be good to have the final state of the world to be one with a larger time period for some even bigger changes, than the many smaller ones that happen from free-roam to free-roam.
DankPotatoes
2025-01-12 22:18:47 +0000 UTC10y
Dmitry F
2025-01-12 22:11:14 +0000 UTCI'd vote for a couple of years of time after the final battle. Would give the opportunity to detail some more interesting things that may have transpired. An alternative would be to have only a few months skip, but then end the whole thing with some scenes set at different times in the future? Like you check in with certain characters and go "they ended up doing this". Doesn't have to be the same future date for everyone?
Jeno
2025-01-12 21:55:23 +0000 UTCI would vote for the longer timeskip, so much of what you do in the game sets it up for a longer view. It's unlikely to be able to fully explore the effects of investments in e.g. Takkan without a significant amount of time passing.
elonashooter
2025-01-12 21:55:22 +0000 UTCI vote for the longer time skip, iirc, you said there won't be a direct sequel to TLS (i wonder if that'd be even doable given the amount of possible outcomes). I'd like to see the long term impact of choices made
Lutvik
2025-01-12 21:01:59 +0000 UTCI would prefer for a 2, 3 year skip, but Grim8P makes a good argument. It would let us see more, especially how the 'deaths' of some of the harem would impact the world and lingering politics. Plus seeing Tyna and Kalant children would be cute ^^ I think the best would be to give the option to the players. Leave a sparkle in the base to jump in time, and build 3 free roams versions of the world, where the players can choose and change which timeline they prefer. Basically like Mass Effect, but much better (it would also realize the meme Lusty lust, purity lust and pure Purity that was published here). It might also be good to create some small changes based on your actions in the previous versions to add even more replayability and optional content. The only question would be if you want to go through with it. ....Please do ^^
guillaume nguyen
2025-01-12 20:46:29 +0000 UTCI would be in favor of a short timeskip, up to one year, and let us imagine what happen next. A longuer timeskip would mean leaving less place to headcanon. And would imply new model, Orri is indead a good exemple.
Mycroft
2025-01-12 20:40:04 +0000 UTCPersonally I'm a big fan of the longer timescale options. I'm sure that things will happen in the immediate aftermath, but with how much time we spend seeing our actions affect the world through the game, I'd love to see that expanded. Some stuff that's been started/planned wouldn't even realistically take off even in the 2-3 year mark, much less see it come to fruition.
Troqu
2025-01-12 20:14:34 +0000 UTCI'm all up for 10 years+ time skip. As others have mentioned, a few months would be too early to see significant changes in the world. But, regardless, I'm certain any time skip lenght will be awesome because you are an excellent world builder and writer. Cheers!
Fram The Bipolar Bear
2025-01-12 19:38:13 +0000 UTCMy vote would be for a somewhat shorter skip for the post game free roam and then let players talk to someone in the Teleportation Chamber to "finish" and then they can get a ~10 year skip the way OEA recaps decisions once you're done.
Grim8P
2025-01-12 19:13:49 +0000 UTCLet me know your email address, please!
Sierra Lee
2025-01-12 19:12:25 +0000 UTCI literally just forgot about those LMAO. Okay, and is there a method you'd prefer them to be sent over in?
Connorsseur
2025-01-12 19:09:30 +0000 UTCCan you access TLS on Steam? There are currently three achievements I used as a test, so they'd need to match that.
Sierra Lee
2025-01-12 19:05:15 +0000 UTCI would prefer 2-3 years, but a longer time could work too.
Wrath
2025-01-12 18:18:31 +0000 UTCI would be very happy to see a 10+ year timeskip! Like...not just to see the movements of the world, but because the chance to see characters like Orri as adults is the chance to see what sort of world we've made for them to grow up in. The whole idea of the harem's goals is to make better circumstances, right, to be the rising tide that lifts all ships? Mere months can't be enough for that.
QM Vox
2025-01-12 18:18:26 +0000 UTCI'll take an unusually clear-cut stance on this and say go for ten years or more. I find it more gratifying to see both how and how much the world has changed because of my choices than to have the postgame feel more like an extension of the present. I'd absolutely love to see Orri as an adult or for the Ferroholm grandma by the graveyard to die with a loving grave marked for her. It also preserves the gravitas of everything that had happened in the game while unequivocally being an optimistic look into the future. I don't think this'll impair the player's imagination either. It does show more, but it can also stoke the imagination in a different way - less of 'what happened after x and y', more 'what happens next.' To say nothing of the more long-term projects and events that may only see wisps of progress over several years that can't be covered as compellingly by only a few. I wouldn't complain about the middle ground, but I say go all out!
AnythingAtAll
2025-01-12 18:16:54 +0000 UTCI'd potentially be willing to lend a hand with some achievement portraits. Do you have a few examples to go off for reference?
Connorsseur
2025-01-12 18:13:36 +0000 UTCMiddle ground seems to be best. See how growing up with Qums schools is affecting the kids. But write where your ideas take you.
Okcorral
2025-01-12 18:05:50 +0000 UTC\greedy All of them of course! 3 months-blimp-3 years-blimp-10-years-blimp-100 years /greedy. 😜
Warstrike
2025-01-12 18:04:08 +0000 UTCI vote for "as long as you're comfortable with", for two reasons. One, it's a rare thing for a game to let the player interact with the world of a game beyond a pre-defined 'scope of the conflict'. Not that this would be that, but it would give the impression. The second is, this game is all about making decisions that may (or may not) pay off in the LONG term, not the short. It's all about planning for the future. The ending should reflect this, and letting the player see the actually 'long' term impact of their choices, for better or worse, would fit perfectly. Just my two cents.
eidolic
2025-01-12 18:03:42 +0000 UTC
