A video of Aria and Alyssa experiencing some body inflation that I animated a while back, though the SFX and voices were added by Lynn.
Going to be posting more artwork here. I'll try to bunch most of it up where I can. A few pieces will be artwork I've done and some will be commissioned pieces.
This is the poll for which NPC to tf for No.022. Patrons of 5 and 10 tier were allowed to suggest an NPC, though we only got two entries so here they are! The poll will last one week.
Sildiscia - 
Galitoray - 
One would assume that the special milk used in the golden vases with wings would be as potent as can be, but no. The fact of the matter is that it is diluted to prevent one's bosom from swelling too much. Even a sip of the base milk is enough to balloon one's chest to incredible sizes. It is even completely unclear exactly where these magicked coconuts come from. Some theorizing that they're placed individually as a prank by one of the gods. Others believe that coconut trees simply have an inherent chance to create this overly magical version. But it is unknown what the real truth is. Only the effects are well known.
Nokah undergoing some severe breast inflation from drinking a bit of magical coconut milk. Is this the source of all inflationary elements in the universe? Or, more likely, just one potential item to find the magical element in.
I kind of figure I should keep her still for the animation so it can be fully enjoyed but in game I will probably have her float and like, tie her leg down or something. maybe she will simply float off similar to the gobbos or something.
Edit: Also for some reason the display on this .gif cuts off just a little too fast. I'm not sure what's causing that. I think I may have fixed it though.
As filimuri have become more active in the surface world, so too have they adapted surface mannerisms and jobs. And while lumberjacks are nothing new, the wearing of more clothing is certainly a cultural change as is the smoking of cerdal in bedettes. Considering the lack of magic involved in the act of felling trees, it's almost expected to trade the long term damage to ones mana veins for a reprieve from pain and anxiety.
Nokah,a surface dwelling filimuri, has adjusted quite well both to life above the waves and also cultural norms. Enjoying the hustle and bustle of a above water city life versus the open freedom of the ocean and it's sparse filimuri civilization. And though palm trees are often not cut down until old, here she's found herself an already fallen coconut which may, or may not, be entirely normal.
Finishing up her inflation animation soon, but forgot to post her normal NPC post first.
2025-08-03 03:38:15 +0000 UTC View PostThe last month turned out to be picking a pre-existing NPC, but I'm not going to remove that option. However, Thay'valay will be returning as a possible pick.
Here is a lineup of the different species: https://www.patreon.com/posts/most-common-90237208
If you would like to suggest one of the currently existing NPC, please put it here. I will be taking these suggestions until 08/03/25 (Sunday). Then I will put them into a randomizer and pick 5 of them. If there are less than 5, I will just use the NPCs that were suggested. After that, I will hold one more poll specifically with those 5 NPCs lasting a week. The NPC which wins will be given a TF (or a second TF if they already have one).
Also even NPCs that are unnamed are valid targets such as Kirizimi guards. They’ll be given a portrait and name in addition to their tf.
And if you would like to suggest the type of tf to go with the NPC then feel free. Though it should be unique and not the same as the previous tf type they had if they already had a tf. (Though just them getting even bigger as the tf is fine too!)
Please bear in mind that a few NPCs will be invalid. I will notify you if you pick one and let you pick again. Only one suggestion please!
So we will have another month where patrons can pick the NPC to receive a tf. Like the previous month, 5$ and 10$ patrons will be able to make suggestions since they also voted on this option. Just like last time, I will take all the suggestions, then if they exceed 5, I will put them into a randomizer and pick 5 randomly using it. Then I will create a poll with those 5 options for the same tiers to vote on.
Another post will be added shortly where you can post your NPC suggestion.
Edit: Integration is now activated.
As a heads up to all patrons, I will be re-enabling the discord bot in a couple days. I'll likely do this Wednesday evening. If you would like to avoid the bot yanking you into the server the only two options I can find are to disconnect your discord permissions from Patreon or to message me to specifically ban you from the server. (Why this is the way it is, I really don't know.) The only other method I see involves de-authorizing apps in your discord, but I don't know if that will work. I am very sorry if this inconveniences you. (Also, if you want access to the discord, I think you will need to be integrated into Patreon and wait for Wednesday.)
So now I am going to write the post I had intended to do before sending out invites and give info.
I've started up a discord and this is primarily meant to give a way for Patrons to more easily keep up with the game as well as give more direct feedback and have a place for more centralized discussion. It should also serve a place you can check in on in case something happens to where I can no longer update via Patreon or itch or other public places. You'll be able to find pretty much the same stuff there as you would find on Patreon and I'll have the roles set using the Patreon bot to ensure that you are able to access the same content such as game builds and the NPC tfs like you get on here.
As of right now there is no extra benefit to your tier except to have a different title associated with your name on the discord such as Master Marshmellow Magician. Later on down the road I might consider changing that, but for now there's no real reason for it.
I will also consider to make Polls over here on Patreon only unless something happens that prevents me from doing so. In that case I'll see about moving the polls elsewhere, potentially to the discord server.
I think that's all there is to say for now.
Edit: I'll re-enable the bot a little later tonight so if for some reason you didn't get access or weren't set up for it, then it should do the auto invite later. Also I don't know if you will be pulled in again or what. If the bot auto inviting is a problem, then please tell me and I will turn it off and do manual invites.
As of right now I made the discord though I did it in a messy fashion and I apologize for that. I should have checked further into how it worked before pulling the trigger on it. I'm going to temporarily suspend the bot and sort things out.
I won't be removing anyone, but feel free to dip out. I didn't intend for it to auto invite like that. Again I apologize for how this was done.
So in light of recent news where itch has begun de-listing indecent games (which includes Aria's Dreamland) I just wanted to make a quick statement on this. Whether or not there are issues with the game being hosted on platforms such as Steam, I'll continue making the game. As I have said previously, once the game is done I will, bare minimum, email links to everyone who has put in the 10$. I would recommend that if you want to ensure 100% that you will receive the final version when it comes out that you make sure that you have access to the email you used here.
To my understanding, Itch is just de-listing which means it just won't show up in searches. It should still be available though when directly linked to. Here is the page for those who may have lost it: https://silverearsentertainment.itch.io/arias-dreamland-dissonance In the case of Steam I'm not quite as sure what it will mean for the release, but we'll get there when we get to that point. If I have to censor the game to release it on steam, I may do that, and if I can I will have some kind of patch for it how you sometimes see with games on steam.
I really don't know what the future holds, but I am always hopeful and when we are closer to an actual release, I'll examine my options for release more closely. It may even come to be that by the time the release is ready that there is nothing to worry about, but I simply wanted to assure that I'm continuing to make the game in spite of all this and that so long as you maintain access to the email you signed up with, you will receive the game.
As for how this could affect Patreon, it is certainly possible that it could affect your ability to support me. As of right now I really don't have any backup method for this as every other site I am on goes through these same payment processors. If I figure out any alternatives, or if you have suggestions, please feel free to let me know.
To add to this, I am also open to other listed platforms to release on if necessary. I am also considering creating a discord. I've been nervous to do this because I worry the time it takes to moderate would take away from time I can spend on the game, but it's seeming that it might be necessary to keep up with everyone and actually show work and the likes.
Finally I just want to thank you all. I know... a big thanks doesn't feel as meaningful, but I really don't know any other way to put it than that. I'd love to thank you all individually if I could, but maybe the time would be better spent just working on the game.
Been slow these couple weeks. I did finish Zaphus of course and, actually, got started on the next girl too. I've still got to give her and axe and considering changing a few things, but here's a quick look at Nokah.
I mostly used the grappler as a base here to start so it was much easier, though kinda wanted to give her a 'fish hook' ahoge so I think I might skip the hat on her. Also silly me in my other post talking about felling coconut trees like as if tropical islands don't have other types of trees. Well, I'm sure she might be around a coconut tree at some point being in the tropics. And I really like the idea of coconut milk and magic granting some very big bust related results.
I'm going to make the animation itself much more simple this time too.
Really I don't have much else to say at this point.
Who could say why Zaphus started to swell up. Perhaps all the years of dodging partner was finally catching up to her all at once. Or maybe someone finally surprised her and the karma of the universe was coming to give her exactly what she deserved. (And she absolutely loves it) One thing is clear, her ability to sneak around will certainly be hindered by the sounds of her newly acquired assets anytime she moves. Looks like she'll be settling down. Of course she won't be alone. In spite of her reclusive nature, there are always at least a couple of thay'valay women looking to help a mother to be.
I hate that this took me so long. Not that I was working on it feverishly, but more so that I was feeling the burnout. Which is really disappointing because I was very excited to work on this at the start. When I finished her design and was thinking about what I wanted to do with her I was very enthusiastic. But for some reason I just couldn't get myself to do more than a little bit. It might just be that there was so much I wanted to do that it crippled my speed. Near the end the speed picked up of course and now it's done. I'm still not sure I'm entirely satisfied with how she's come out. I mean, I am really happy with her general design and appearance! Quite a lot actually! I just worry that her shape came out a little bit too similar to jelly thay'valay though. I tried to avoid that by lengthening it and also having a dedicated growth set for the three B's. I also wanted to make sure she was plenty sizable by the end and ended up actually pumping her hips/butt up another size. I tried to add some more detail to the general animation like having her look left and right during the BE segment.
I'm also less than happy that I didn't animate her turn around like I did with Licorice, but I was asking myself if it really hurt the animation like this. I'd be curious how everyone feels and if it's really egregious I can go back and add a similar animation to Licorice of course.
Also was a little silly with the added portrait and gave her purple heart eyes to fit with thay'valay blood being purple. And yeah, there's a clean version uploaded of her anim too in case the snow makes it less pleasant to look at. (And you can see how awful my animation on her cabalest is)
But what's important is that it's enjoyed so I hope that everyone does just that!
For the filimuri lumberjack, I'm going to try something a little more simple to see if it helps with my speed. I do already have a general idea for her physical appearance and I'm thinking a tropical/water based species with a lumberjack would probably cut down coconut trees (Is that even really a thing? Going to look that up after I'm done writing this). Which kind of made me think of coconut milk. I wonder what would happen if you drank magicked coconut milk? Ven'drothe is already designed so all I need to do is animate the lovely woman having a little backblast and blimping as a result.
Fog or mist in thay'varash, Zaphus is a light hearted, tomboy of a woman. Raised by monster hunters, she's got a sharp eye and a quick wit. Unlike most species of the world, thay'valay marksmen are well known for their powerful and deadly cabalests. These runic crossbow-like weapons utilize magnetic runes to increase the velocity of their deadly, sizable bolts. The weapon sports an easy reloading sled, able to be manipulated by swapping the magnetic polarities to push or pull the sled and bolt. Mix this in with the fact the weapon appears as large as a ballista to normal sized folk and you have an excellent tool for dispatching monstrosities.
In Zaphus case, she matches the elusiveness of her namesake, keeping to camouflage and silently stalking prey. While she is no stranger to socializing, she rather enjoys the quiet and calm of seclusion with only the occasional meetup and gathering when loneliness bites at her mind. Though her pretty tomboyish looks and teasing attitude has made her the target of many potential suitors, she remains elusive. Often when she visits with others she makes the joke that she'll have the children of the first individual who could sneak up on her...
2025-07-10 06:03:43 +0000 UTC View PostI won't have a ton to talk about this devlog as I'm just starting back up work from having family visiting. The thay'valay NPC will be revealed shortly after I finish this devlog here and then I will be getting back to work on her. Due to working on a larger sprite, definitely feels like it takes more time to TF her, but I think that her TF will be a little more rewarding with how I am doing it. But yes, a good chunk of this time was just a bit of downtime with family to be honest.
I did also further do some bugfixing and a little more optimization as well as a few more changes to the game, but that didn't take too long really. There were a few things I went over that I decided not to bother putting into a whole new patch but that's because I didn't feel it would be worth spending the time. Nothing major like no new items or anything like that. Just moving a few things around, smoothing out a bit of design and code is all.
Also first time we have done the NPC poll differently here. I Was surprised that only a few wanted to suggest an NPC. Not that there's any issue with that of course. Though with how the poll is going so far, it's definitely looking like we'll have a ven'drothe blimp in the future!
Apart from that though not much else to say. This month is really just going to be catching up on the NPC tf animations, then getting back to work on the next patch. Not sure if I had mentioned it, but I also plan on reworking the wind blade weapon in this next patch to function smoother and likely have a three hit combo on the ground and a varied air attack. Though I'm thinking that it will not have the slowfall effect of other weapons.
I've kept that in the game so far all the way though I could definitely remove it from weapons if it was desired. The new bow weapon may also not use the slowfall either and is likely to require you to touch the ground to get shots back. We'll see once I get to that point.
Anyway, going to post the intro to the next NPC and then get some rest before going back to work on her tf!
This is the poll for which NPC to tf for No.021. This time, since it is a Patron chosen NPC, I also allowed the patrons to choose what the TF would be so I included it in the NPC themselves. Since we only got 3 suggestions, there are only three NPCs this time! Vote for the one you want!
Here are the sprites for each of the NPCs. (Ven'drothe already has a TF you can find in the collections section!)
Ven'drothe -
Sildiscia -
Melphi -
If you would like to suggest one of the currently existing NPC, please put it here. I will be taking these suggestions until 07/03/25 (Thursday). Then I will put them into a randomizer and pick 5 of them. If there are less than 5, I will just use the NPCs that were suggested. After that, I will hold one more poll specifically with those 5 NPCs lasting a week. The NPC which wins will be given a TF (or a second TF if they already have one).
Also even NPCs that are unnamed are valid targets such as Kirizimi guards. They’ll be given a portrait and name in addition to their tf.
And if you would like to suggest the type of tf to go with the NPC then feel free. Though it should be unique and not the same as the previous tf type they had if they already had a tf. (Though just them getting even bigger as the tf is fine too!)
Please bear in mind that a few NPCs will be invalid. I will notify you if you pick one and let you pick again. Only one suggestion please!
The last month turned out to be picking a pre-existing NPC, but I'm not going to remove that option. However, Dvari will be returning as a possible pick.
Here is a lineup of the different species: https://www.patreon.com/posts/most-common-90237208
It seems that this month the two polls for species and appearance are for an existing NPC to get a TF whether they already have one or not. I'll be taking suggestions for NPCs and put them into a randomizer and then pick 5 to go into a poll. (With the exception of a few NPCs. For example, I won't be doing Miles from Lascidial. Also if a male NPC is voted on, they'll likely undergo a tf into a girl as part of the tf.)
Also I had said that I'd take the first five that are suggested, but I worry that will prevent some from even getting a chance to make a suggestion. So I'll just take all of the suggestions I get for a few days, then I will use a randomizer to pick five of them. Though I'll only take one suggestion per 5$-10$ patron (since those are the voting tiers) and I'll have to ask you to make the suggestion on that post. (I'm open to doing something different or weighting it differently if anyone has any other ideas that seem better)
So I'm going to make a post after this one asking for NPC suggestions. I will take suggestions until Thursday. Then I will make a poll that will last one week for everyone to vote on with the suggested NPCs that won. Then I'll go ahead and give that NPC a tf! By that time I should have gotten done at least one of the other NPCs, though maybe I will have both done and can get right to work on them too.
Again, I'm open to feedback so feel free to give it to me!
0.5.3.8 contains the new crossy enemy in it. I detailed them in the build information itself. Feel free to download the new version if you'd like to see the new ratty crossy enemy in action. (Also contains a few bugfixes for things like a sign I modified and just failed to add the proper lines to it causing a crash)
This will be the final build released until 0.6 unless I find some other gamebreaking bugs before I start on it. Now I am going to begin working on the expandable NPCs until I am caught up, then I will proceed to move into working on 0.6!
I released the latest build of course, and then the past week I've mostly spent just bug fixing and optimizing. Several small little things that needed to be addressed along with a couple that were just busted. The filimuri lightning has code in it to manually create lightning sprites, then draw them, but I was not properly disposing of those sprites so it created a sort of pseudo memory-leak any time one would cast lightning.
Game Make is smart enough to clean this junk up, but not all the time, so it will build up very quickly and only release the memory much later down the line. This obviously resulted in some significant performance loss. It's all sorted now.
I also discovered a strange nuance to game maker's VM rendering systems where it would not prioritize the best GPU on a system sometimes. Which naturally would cause the game to lag or just not run well even on decent systems. (Mostly laptops) This should be fixed now in the experimental version, but moving forward I will likely build most games like this. I swapped over to building out in YYC which takes much longer to make the builds, but will result in the higher performance of course. Really this is probably how I should have been doing it the whole time.
Aside from that there were a few bugs such as with ceranix substance still having a few situations where it would crash the game, but they should all be patched.
There is still a rogue bug somewhere involving the wind force spell, but I haven't yet been able to pin it down or even replicate it. Only had a report of it happening in one of the new areas. If you ever crash while using it, please send me the popup message it shows! (Really if you crash at all I'd like to see the log that pops up)
Overall though things should just in general run better and play better now.
On that subject, I'd love to hear more feedback on Kirizimi and if it feels significantly better not having to worry about your energy draining in the undersea area. I tried to offset this by forcing the player power level to 1 and hopefully it didn't feel too oppressive. If you have level 3 weapons, things are simply too easy. Enemies in the game don't even hit that hard and the vast majority of the damage you receive normally is from the passive drain from just running around.
With that in mind, as more items reduce that drain, the enemies in the game will start to hit harder to compensate. I forgot to add in one unlockable item that reduces the drain, but I'll put it in when I finish the ratty crossbow. Speaking of, I'm pretty much done all his animations. Mostly. I say that because as I'm programming him I may add more depending on how things go during testing. The one saving grace of being a solo dev is that I don't have to bother someone else to keep making me new animations and frames whenever I get a new idea for something. (Though I do still have to make it myself)
So should have another build up in the coming days with those things added and then I am going to focus on the NPC tfs. Once those ladies are done, and likely the next month one, I'll begin work on the next area!
In regards to that, here's the plan so far for it:
Kirizimi lets out into a peaceful field/canyon area which is basically the farms for the city, then into a more open autumn field. This will then lead into a regular forest area where there will be a storylet between Illaria and Milan. This will result in the forest becoming a spooky forest. There will be a few more rooms and then a checkpoint.
After the checkpoint will be the game's second (well third) boss followed by another checkpoint.
I will also likely add a small path split in the spooky forest too but it will only be a room to two extra.
As for 'things' that will be in this update...
Another boob statue will be somewhere.
Another way shrine (small shrine you can't miss) will be along the main path.
A new weapon will be introduced. (I talked about it in an earlier devlog, but it will be a sort of mobile, auto aim bow weapon)
A new spell will be introduced. (Not sure which one I will pick that I have planned)
'Something' involving Shopia...
There will be at least three new enemies with one of them being a recolor with different behavior, a new 'hazard' type enemy, and one new 'big enemy' who will start off quite small. The plan with her will be that she starts off small and gets bigger as you damage her. Using the wind inflation spell on her will remove one tick of her armor (increase her size by one). Similar to the slime girl, she'll have four states. Level 1 - Less threatening, small size. Level 2 - now a threat, can't dash through her, enhanced moveset. Level 3 - Might have one additional attack, but otherwise no difference mechanically, just visually. Level 4 - Defeated state where the enemy becomes a physical object in the world to interact with.
Regardless of inflation spell or not, the enemy will always reach the level 4 state by attacking her. However, she becomes more dangerous as you increase her level. You can also just bypass her by jumping over her or dashing through her at level 1. You'll only be REQUIRED to beat her one time. After that, it will be optional (though probably a good idea) to do it.
I might also add another enemy type resembling a gobbo just to have an inflateable enemy type.
One thing I will note is that most of this update's work will be in creating enemy sprites and just designing the levels. But I'm hopeful that since the number of levels will be significantly less than Kirizimi (Seriously, I think Kirizimi has four times the number of rooms overall as the field area.) that it will mean I can just focus most of the work on the boss fight and making her both fun and satisfying. Like the gargoyle boss, I'll integrate the inflation spell in a way to activate a 'hard mode'.
Anyway, that's all to report on for now!
I've released a new build (0.5.3.6e) with a change to the way the code is compiled and how it runs. (There is also a new regular version 0.5.3.6 which has some improvements and changes you can see in the actual build post.) If you have been experiencing any performance issues (especially if you are on a gaming laptop or a computer with multiple GPUs) then I would encourage you to try this new version. It attempts to force usage of the best GPU on the system. I'm not sure of how this will result for all systems so it's currently experimental.
If you do try this build, please let me know if you experience issues with it or if you experience better performance. To my understanding some GPUs can attempt to accelerate the game far more than necessary which may make it seem like the game is using way too many resources, but it's really just your GPU trying way too hard to accelerate the game when it doesn't need to. (Though I have not actually seen this happen with the game yet. I think it may only happen if you run overclocking on your device) If that happens, just swap to the normal version of the game and let me know.
The current version of the game and details on it.
Small update with some QOL, a sign added to bristle field to notify the player that there are sometimes split paths, Melphi now blimps Aria when kissing her, and inflatable Silver added to the main menu as a way to have links to sites shown.
Known Issues :
-Crossy Ratties added to the wharf area and gobbos removed. Crossy ratties fire projectiles which hit quite hard, but they also project when their attack comes, when you are in range to be attacked, and they also have a significant reload time. If you approach a ratty too close, they will throw their crossbow at you and then attempt to use a smoke bomb to vanish and escape. If you attack them with a projectile weapon while they are 'thinking' (yellow ...) they will attempt to jump over the projectile and fire a retaliatory shot if you are close enough for an attack. They are vulnerable while reloading (but will still throw their crossbow at you if you get too close) - Added in 0.5.3.8
-Few small changes to hidden boss's arena. Modified the segment you have to 'jump across' to be more clear what you have to do and also to make it much more of a consistent jump instead of hoping the game actually catches the ledge properly for you. Also added a few healing items to the arena and one single MP pot to cap your mana off so you don't accidentally pick up the big pot while you have almost full mana. (won't protect you from doing that if you go to her after getting more mana though)
-Retaliatory bubbles crashes the game when hitting destructable loot box types such as crates or large gumdrops - Fixed in 0.5.3.8
-The first sign you encounter at the first Candimus Island will crash the game (Only impacts ver 0.5.3.6) - Fixed in 0.5.3.8
-Windforce can cause a crash, but as to what causes it is unknown currently. If you get any crashes while using Windforce, please report them.
-The second underground Candimus room is unnecessarily punishing, forcing you to blimp up a jelly'valay, then jump some pits. If you fail the jumps, you have to do the jelly'valay all over again. I've added a checkpoint after the jelly'valay. - Change in 0.5.3.6
-Some potential performance issues in regards to the way GML runs and how I have it set up. I'm attempting to see about improving it - Changes in 0.5.3.6.
-It's possible to get stuck in the floating mountain shrine by not going through the doors fast enough while being inflated with the S milk jugg. - Fixed as of 0.5.3.6
-Aria can maintain the silver milkjug form by using the teleporter in the floating shrine. - Fixed as of 0.5.3.6 (Sorry, but there are too many potential bugs and exploits to allow this one to remain and duration of said buff is simply too significant. (40 hours real time, though I did shorten it significantly) Also it causes the player to become softlocked anyway.)
-Filimuri lightning causes a memory leak (Not really since it's temporary, but it's still soaking up unreasonable amount of resources) - Fixed as of version 0.5.3.6
-The game uses the wrong GPU on some systems causing significant performance loss. (Will be testing a new version with GPU forced which will file under 0.5.3.6e!) - Uncertain, try version 0.5.3.6e if you experience performance issues! (The dev builds from now on will include this)
-Gems picked up are not lost on death. Pertains specifically to gems you pick up before transitioning to a new area.) So if you pick up a gem, then immediately die, you will retain that gem. - Fixed as of 0.5.3.6
-If retaliatory bubbles hits a barrel that is mid flight, it will cause a crash. - Fixed as of 0.5.3.6
-It's possible for filimuri grapplers to lock Aria against a wall or solid objects. - Fixed as of 0.5.3.6
-The player is able to bypass the death cloud in the undersea by using phoenix dash, or rejuvenation without the proper upgrade. - Fixed as of 0.5.3.5 (There is also a new NPC in upper Kirizimi who has a couple of hints about a pair of unlocks)
-Bronze Membership card not offered by Shopia after visiting the Inn and quitting without purchasing it. (You can work around this until I fix it by taking the Kirizimi boat ride again and then buying it before quitting) - Fixed as of 0.5.3.4 (Should be retroactive)
-Game crashes during the intermission before Telumur and after the gargoyle/golem boss fight. (Probably also happens near Kirizimi) - Fixed as of 0.5.3.3
-Ceranix retaliation causes a crash on new boss fight if you get hit by one of the attacks. Working on fixing it. - Fixed as of 0.5.3.2
Latest version: 0.5.3.12
Last updated: 8/6/25
AS ALWAYS, back up your saved game file just to be safe!
Before I begin attempting to document all the changes that I remember, I want to apologize. Even though I intended to add one more creature, I found myself short of time to do so. The reason for that being that I made the questionable decision to add a boss fight of sorts at the last minute. I didn't plan for it, I just sorta had sudden inspiration for it while working on the shrine. Speaking of, if you can figure the shrine out, you'll get to fight her. I'll spoil the 'who' of the boss fight, but let you figure everything else out. I've tested her quite a bit so she should be beatable with all of the weapons, though she is quite difficult and requires you to be quick. Less of a traditional boss fight and more of a stage boss encounter. I hope she's fun to fight!
I should also apologize in that I sort of lied about not doing any expandable NPCs until later. Sort of because I didn't plan on this, but uh, the boss is actually one of the voted on NPCs that's expandable. I'm sure you can figure out who considering where the fight takes place but yeah. So I guess the hidden boss is our first NPC who you can expand! (Though you'll need to beat her first)
But the creature I intended to add? Well I would still like to add them of course, though I just don't want anyone to wait any longer while I get them sorted. I still have to add most of their animations and program them. So I replaced them, for now, with their gobbo equivilant.
Here's their base, damage, and defeated sprites in a .gif to at least give you a peek at them.
This crossbow ratty is meant to take advantage of the fatty ratty stun and I wanted to make it so he would follow the stun up with a high damage attack, but would otherwise fire bolts similar to the bow gobbo. I also may make him do what I do in Chiv 2 and have him throw his crossbow at you if you get too close. (Maybe) Otherwise I may make it so if you attack him while he's loaded and hasn't fired, he'll jump and shoot at you, but give him a really long reload. So you basically have to wait for him to attack first, then attack him. I'll be working on him and replace the gobbos with him after. (Though I'll have to test how powerful he is. The archer gobbos right now can be really annoying, but without the passive energy drain, it's honestly not that bad, just annoying to get ratty stunned and then pecked by arrows immediately after. If you play through the wharf area, let me have some feedback on how you feel about the setup. I may end up only replacing a couple gobbos and deleting the others, then make crossy ratty very dangerous to leave alive)
Now that that's out of the way... lets talk about what this update actually contains... (That I can remember)
*Content*
-Added an inventory function
-Added a map to the inventory
-Added six types of gems
-Added Kirizimi Cove
-Added Kiri Sea
-Added Kiri Undersea
-Added new puzzle shrine
-Added numerous upgrade items
-Added new short storylet
-Added new quest system and a few quests
-Added new elixir system and Alyssa, the alchemist NPC who sells them
-Added blacksmith Sio'nico (weapon vendor) who sells you weapons for a high price (makes the purchased weapon your default too)
-Added spell vendor Tuloi (Also has a quest if you can find her)
-Added gem trader PoiPoi (Also has a quest)
-Added main quest giver Li'leyna and a simple main quest needed to progress
-Added Vadeya, an NPC who will comment on your current size and talk to you about Malphosia
-Added a few NPCs. Some of which give you hints to hidden things
-Added a hidden boss
*Quality of life changes/additions*
-Modified stair system to make it so you automatically ascend stairs. Holding down will let you go down stairs attached to platforms. Hold down to hop off stairs while ascending them. You can also change the behavior of stairs in the menus.
-Modified platform hitboxes so now Aria should no longer be one pixel lower on platforms
-Modified the functionality of purchasing some items so that it should always auto pickup items after you buy them. (Except where you cannot in the case of buying an MP potion)
-Modified save file system so it shouldn't be necessary to delete your config file again (hopefully)
-F2 brings up the debug menu and F3 removes it. You can access the debug menu even if you are using the regular build of the game. It's not really necessary for anything, but it's there in case you want to check your FPS.
Something else I should note is that when I added the map to the game, it now causes some brief pause at times when things are loading. Such as when you load your game or save. It shouldn't have any impact on the actual game itself, just when it's saving/loading is all. This is because I added a second database for the map data. Which I doubt we'll get through all of the possible map data.
But I think that's all. At least all I can think of. Feedback is very important here so I know what is and isn't fun about this since a lot of it experimental. Please let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy it!
Next up I am just going to be shoring things up with this for a little while, fixing stuff, adding that last enemy, and then I will move onto version 0.6.0.0 and the next official boss!
I just want to get back to working on the game so this will be a short one. I've got nearly everything done now, just a few more things to do. I've finished the entire undersea area save for about half of the puzzle shrine there. I also still need to do the final wharf area. I need to add the short storylet and I'd like to add just a couple more generic NPCs you can talk to. So things are really close to being done. Maybe two more days?
I'll leave the undersea stuff under wraps for now since you'll get to see it soon, but here's the weapon vendor, the spell vendor, and the jewel trader NPCs completely finished. (They're fully coded and done now too)
PoiPoi
I showed her sprite before, but if you look close something may seem off. Well, that's because she faces left. I realized too late that her hair was wrong. Thankfully it's fixed now. It looks fine in game so no worries. She offers a quest which will help increase the number of gems you find.
Tuloi
An abysser filimuri who has come to Kirizimi to find exotic spells. She's inspired by a wizard from an anime I never watched. (It costs a medium amount of golden candy to buy spells, but you can buy any you have encountered) She will also offer you a quest which will be very useful to your town wandering if you complete it.
Sio'nico
An a'garian blacksmith who came to Kirizimi because no one would take her seriously back home. You can buy any of the current weapons you have from her, but they'll be expensive. (Shopia's display items are much cheaper, but less predictable) She doesn't have a quest just yet, but I will likely add one to her in the future.
And now that you'll be able to easily buy any spells or weapons, that does hurt Shopia's display items effectiveness. In the future, I want to make it so whenever you complete an area, it will randomize Shopia's display items to make her be a cheaper alternative. I also want to make it so her display items can even possibly be spells too that will be very cheap. So she'll basically be a very cheap alternative, but not predictable. (I MIGHT make it so that rarely a small handful of unlockable items show up in the display shop, but I am hesitant to lock that kind of stuff behind RNG like that)
On the subject of Shopia, I want to add a couple more discussion topics to her, but I'm going to wait til after I get this new version out and then I'll do that along with some other things I am delaying adding.
There's quite a few new unlockable items from a new Tri Crescent Disk upgrade to a Rejuvenation upgrade. (Technically two) There is also a new mechanic tied to a hidden item. One of the NPCs I still need to add will have a hint as to where that item is so make sure you pay attention.
There is also a new NPC in the church who will size you up based on how big your bust is.
There's more than that too, but I just wanna get back to working on the game. When I release the new build, I'll try to recall all the new stuff I added. I hope I don't forget too many of the things that are actually new. Spending so much time with the inventory and map and I keep forgetting that it will be a new feature. Same with the new stair system.
Anyway, that's it for now! New build SOON.
With filimuri picked, they will be unavailable again and returning this month will be elf! Just a reminder on the existing NPC tf, both the species poll and the appearance poll need to be picked for it to get picked or it will be the second place. And if it does get picked, I will hold a third poll. Then I will take the first five suggestions on that post (by different patrons) and put them on that poll. (Though I may decline certain NPCs)
There was another species that I intended to add at one point to the lineup, but I don't know that polluting the species pool further would be a good idea. Plus their design is a little more complex so probably not the best. Something I might add later in development.
Here is a lineup of the different species: https://www.patreon.com/posts/most-common-90237208
The results are in for this month and it's looking like we'll be having a filimuri lumberjack. Definitely a clashing theme considering most filimuri live underwater. (Maybe this universe has underwater trees? Hmmm or just kelp forests hahahaha) Though we'll make it work and abide the outfit I outlined. Most filimuri are lanky things, but maybe this one will be a little more thick. Perhaps an ideal extra for her will involve a larger posterior! Either way, once I have finished last months NPC (And by proxy, the Kirizimi update), then I'll begin work on her. I'll be posting the next set of polls soon!
2025-06-01 10:32:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Still working through stuff for Kirizimi, but I'm getting pretty close to done now. I feel strangely stressed about it which I find really odd. I just keep telling myself that I should be done by now, but I worked on it nearly every day of the past couple weeks just trying to finish it off. Though I think the reason I feel that way is that I spent some of that time on stuff that wasn't integral to completing Kirizimi. And that is adding in some guards, each one having a slightly different sprite. Though I didn't give them portraits. There's about 20 of them so I won't show them all here, but I'm sure you'll see them soon.
Here's a few of them:
It really didn't take me too long to make one version for most of the races and then I also made a few variants including a few male guards. Above there are two male guards so you can have fun trying to figure out which is the second one. (Hint, it's not the elf)
Nearly all of the guards have a small bit to say. A few of them have just general stuff to say, but quite a lot of them comment on events that have recently occurred related to the main quest you have to do. None of them say anything critical to figuring out how to complete the quest though. You can just wander around the city and you should eventually be able to find the quest objective. You also don't have to start the quest to find the necessary item either. The stuff the guards have to say just 'might be interesting' is all.
Also, Li'leyna now has her captain of the guard, Slish, protecting her.
Maybe at some point I will give her a portrait too, but for now she has a blank portrait. (This is also the same blank portrait that all the NPCs will have for the time being. I might refine it later)
As for Poipoi, the gem exchange NPC, I'm still sort of working on her. Her side quest is fully done, but the way I set up the gem exchange system is rather limited. I'm not 100% sure I like how it works, though I will leave it like it currently is for now. Here it is right now.
The idea here is hopefully simple. You give 3 of one type and you get 1 of another type. It's also limited in that you can only trade certain types of gems for other types. I'm kind of iffy on this because I think a better system is letting you choose the gem type you want to receive and the gem type you want to exchange for it. Then I'd have to figure out gem value to determine how much one is worth compared to another. Really, I think that if I just keep it this way, the value of gems is then determined by the player's RNG and it becomes a bit irrelevant having to go to the trouble of programming that complexity.
In short, if there's demand for it, I'll change it, but otherwise, this is it for the time being.
As for mapping, I still need to do the underwater segment and one single wharf area. I have one enemy type I still need to make, but the bat enemy is completely programmed and art done too.
Another thing that I probably could've skipped for a short bit was that I went ahead and added in a side house with Parfait and her master. Parfait isn't programmed, but her master, Dizzy Duluci, is mostly done. (She's done until I do the NPC tf system I should say) When I do the NPC tf system, Dizzy will ask you to tf Parfait for her and act as a kind of soft introduction to the NPC tf system (If you find her). She may also give you a free catalyst item (but not any gems). Parfait will likely be the cheapest NPC to tf as well.
Well, something that eventually needed to be done is done at the very least.
Also I did spend some time improving and adding more art assets in general. The center of the city looked just a bit too plain so I added more cart variants.
Each of the carts has a little flavor text to go with, but you can't buy anything from them. There's a few others and not just these. I also plan to add a generic shop keep for each one. Right now the (well endowed) Tarradarian wizard is the only one tending her cart.
The blacksmith is still coming! In addition, I realized that the player didn't have a way to get spells easily so there will also be a wizard. Not the above wizard though. Instead you'll have to find her. (Shouldn't be too hard)
This 'yet unamed abysser' filimuri will provide the 'spell' equivalent of the blacksmith. She'll sell you spells that you've discovered so you can decide what spell you want to use without having to hunt it down in previous areas. I was also considering allowing you to donate some symbols to her for her 'research' and an unlock item sidequest too. I even thought about adding the ability to give her a different outfit just to test some systems. (That top barely fits her!) I think I'll pass on doing those for now though. I just wanna get Kirizimi done so everyone can play it first, then I'll think more about the extra 'fun' stuff to add.
Once I have Kirizimi done and out there for you to play, I'll start considering adding in some small extra things before progressing into the next area.
Something I completely forgot during the last devlog, but I didn't mention that I planned to have another brief storylet with Milan and Illaria when you are traveling to Kirizimi. It's weird that I'm about to have another boat segment with story stuff added. Hmmm... I used to think doing that was just for hidden loading screens. Well, you can get off the boat this time and just jump in the water if you want. (The storylet will still play) Hopefully the story doesn't get in the way of everyone having fun.
One last thing to say is that I will be delaying doing the NPC of the month until I finish this build. I am going to just focus entirely on it until it's out. Then I will go back and I will do the NPCs.
But that's all I have to say for now. I am hopeful to have this next build out soon!
2025-05-29 11:21:18 +0000 UTC View Post
Filimuri act tough, but dvari tend to be even tougher. In this case Cordelia managed to beat a grappler up enough to make her armor burst off her. The grappler immediately ran away with her tail between her legs. Satisfied with her victory, Cordelia decided to do some pearl diving, a dvari favorite past time. Little did she know that the grappler has been stalking her the entire time just waiting for a moment to get her revenge.
Honestly I don't know how this will actually 'look' in game once I actually implement it, but I'll try to keep it looking just like this if I can. Probably be smoother though. I may also make it so you can jump on Cordelia too. Maybe. We'll see how things go.
I'm really surprised that the moving animation for the filimuri translated as well as it did into a normal animation. Obviously there's no acceleration/deceleration, but I didn't expect it to look good at all.
I hope everyone enjoys this little animation! Now next up will be that thay'valay markswoman...
Another couple weeks and this time I made quite a bit of progress! The first actual quest for the game is now added and functions perfectly! Of course it'll need to be tested to make sure it's actually perfect and not my sleep deprived view on it. The quest is a simple one to locate a control unit to the peace crystal. Once you find it, you'll deliver it back to the quest giver. Speaking of, here is Li'leyna, the Burgomistress of Kirizimi.
She'll be cordial to Aria, for the most part, and you'll be able to ask her quite a few questions if you like. I tried to make it somewhat non-essential to talk to her about everything. But if you want to, you can! One thing I'll likely add is a little ! mark next to the dialogue option which is the actual 'quest' so that you'll know which one is actually quest relevant.
And here is the lovely lady in the town hall where she resides.
There are indeed some transparent windows in her house, but unfortunately due to the way I have the day/night cycle programmed, I can't make the house fully lit during the day. Not yet at least. I may come back to that if I feel it's really necessary. For now, even with transparent windows homes will remain either lit by light sources or just fully lit. I think being lit by light sources looks better especially when you consider how things may look at night time. Though now you will at least be able to see weather through the windows along with bushes and plants! (Though it's not really the same thing, it just reminds me how daggerfall you can't normally see out of any of the windows, but there is a mod which adds windows to many buildings and lets you see out of them. So while my game is still in fact room based, at least you can see out of the windows now!)
Among other areas I added, now there is a transition between lower and upper Kirizimi and also the area outside of the town hall above.
Next, I also modified the park area and put in a cliff background which also leads up to the shrine.
You may notice Licorice in the first picture there though I would say to not get too excited. She's just an asset right now with no code. You'll at least be able to see her in game though! I'll be adding several of the NPCs into the game as well, but just as assets for the time being.
For the church/cathedral, I only made a couple of extra tiles here... most of these are just background tiles I carefully rotated and put down. Honestly... you can't even see it at ground level which upset me a little bit after I went to the trouble. Though... in the future there will be more mobility options and I am thinking I will add a 'charge up' upgrade for the wind inflation spell that lets you inflate yourself. The only issue being that you'll go straight to 'blimp' form so you'll have zero control. Likely will not have a very long duration either, but who doesn't want to be able to just BLIMP themselves at any time? (for an MP cost of course...)
And I also added in the church area too! It has a small climb up to it followed by the church itself. (I know I been referring to it as a shrine or church, but I just use them interchangeably honestly. I think church is the correct term for this particular location) It has a statue in it which will not require a lot of power to activate.
And that's it for map additions currently. Next up I will have a wharf area and another underwater area planned with one additional challenge shrine in the underwater area. After those two areas are complete, I will add in a couple extra side quests and then some more NPCs. I have to add guards for example as they are part of the main quest too.
Speaking of NPCs, I already designed a couple more.
Thojo
And Poi(poi)
I may skip out on giving Thojo a portrait since she's just going to be a basic dockworker NPC who you can talk to briefly, but Poi is the jewelcrafter who will give you one of the sidequests to get her a gem. So she'll definitely have a portrait and you'll be able to talk to her a bit and also do some gem exchanging. With working on Li'leyna I think I have gotten a good grasp on how to do NPC discussion menus and shop menus now so replicating them should be quite easy! I do kind of wish I had made them a bit more scalable so I may spend a bit of time modifying them, but I may also not since they are non-persistent objects. Should be fine to have one for each NPC as it will make organizing them easier.
On the list of important NPCs, I have a blacksmith I want to add and one more to give you another side quest too. But after that I may make a few of these sprites of some NPCs that don't have portraits that you just talk to. (Also just a random thought but was looking back at some of my portraits and a couple of them aren't great. After I'm done the game I would like to possibly redo a couple. Like Lilly and Sildiscia)
Also right now the only wandering NPCs in the game are talimari. I'm not going to add more just yet, but I do plan on adding more of them. Just wanted to put that out there. At least a few generics of each species and a few recolors of each of those. Just get a lot of variety into the game basically.
So as a recap on what's left to do...
A few more areas - Wharf, Underwater, challenge shrine
One, but probably two, new enemies. The simple bat enemy and a second one that will likely follow gobbo archer logic. I don't think they'll be hard to modify to fit into what I want to do with them.
Jewelcrafter NPC Poi
Blacksmith NPC
Third NPC you can talk to and get a sidequest from
A few more semi-generic NPCs you can have a brief conversation with
Update Kirizimi's map data
Update location data
And probably something else I can't think of right now...
But that's it for this devlog! And if you are wondering about Cordelia's inflation animation, it's done! I'll be uploading it shortly! It should be enough for it to be it's own standalone animation in a way too.
I should have worded it as 'existing' NPC and not 'current'. I just want to point out that if you want an existing NPC to get a TF (First or Second) then it needs to be the top pick in both appearance and species poll categories! Just wanted to make sure that's fully clarified.
2025-05-02 02:34:49 +0000 UTC View PostWith thay'valay chosen, they'll be off this month. Returning is a'garian!
This time I am adding "Add TF to current NPC" as an option to both this and the species poll. If both of them are picked, then I will make a third poll after they end which will ask the who and Enhancer Mancers and Master Marshmallow Magicians will get to both vote. I will include all of the NPCs of the month so far as well as normal NPCs in game. (Most of them anyway) So you'll be able to pick one who already exists that doesn't have one if you like to see them get tfed in some way! If both options get picked that is... (Both species and appearance polls will need to pick this option!)
Here is a lineup of the different species: https://www.patreon.com/posts/most-common-90237208