VN Ren'Py Battlemage From Obscurity [Development Thread]

[LutholianDev]

Battle Mage From Obscurity (Dev Thread)
By LutholianDev
​

Hi. Working on a new game.

The game's current working title is Battlemage from Obscurity. It is a fantasy visual novel about a wizard's apprentice, his journey to "greatness", and the people he meets(and sleeps with). Battlemage from Obscurity will be made in Ren'Py, with character portraits and most areas having unique backgrounds. At this time, and most likely still by the release of the first public version, the game's art is ai generated. I would love to have an actual artist work on it, but that is simply not economically viable to pursue at this juncture. The game's soundtrack is assembled from royalty free music.

To the right, one can see our current cast of characters, minus a few for varying reasons such as spoilers I don't quite want to tip my hand for just yet.

Plot Premise​

Our story begins with our protagonist being sent to the border regions of the kingdom(tentatively the Kingdom of Tulor during its heyday, for the something like three fans of my prior game to whom that might mean anything), where a group of undead has been reported. A border garrison has been dispatched to deal with the problem, and a the presence of a wizard requested just in case. Our hero's master, not wanting to make such a journey to provide unneeded help in dealing with the petty leftovers from the last War, sends him out to fulfill this task in his place. Shockingly enough for such a plot, the situation is more dire than assumed. Now our hero must do what he can to save the village, and in the process kick-start his rise from an obscure wizard apprentice to a famed battlemage.

What we've got so far
(accurate as of March 14th)​

• A good chunk of the intro to the game. The main plot introduction is completed, what remains to be done is a sort pseudo-tutorial that has the player encounter the mechanics of the "real" game in isolation first without being thrust into the full thing right away.
• The core village location of the first act, in full baseline functionality. The player can navigate from location to location, every location has a background, and so on.
• Working day of the week and time of day system. Areas can have different options depending on time of day, a current in-game example being a character who is working on his farm during some parts of the day and drinking in the tavern in the evening. Same for day of the week, a current in-game example being that Sunday is church and market day and new options being added based on those days. Location backgrounds have day and night versions.
• Several characters in-game have conversations available, as well as a bit of degree of limited interaction.
• The (unseen)player character has a bit of a wardrobe system implemented. Some characters will react to the player wearing a different outfit. The player is able to buy an outfit from the village's tailor shop.
• The player can choose to have the "femboy" trait during the intro/character creation. This unlocks different dialogue options and such and can interact alongside other systems.
• Soundtrack. Changes based on current context, for instance the market during market day has its own background music from the usual generic one.
• On the art front, every currently implemented character has artwork. Every location has a background and every location that can be visited during both day and night has a night version as well. A handful of adult scenes have been generated, but not yet implemented.
• The story outline for the first act is nominally complete, with enough space for a bit of flexibility if changes or rewrites need to occur as implementation forces it to confront reality. The basic concept of the second act is defined, and will become more concrete as Act 1 develops.

Think that's everything I wanted to say. Questions are very welcome. I'll be using this development thread to dump "art", talk about development, and hopefully get some feedback on my ideas and the direction of the game. With my prior game, F95 was the only place that gave actionable feedback and honest critique, and I hope you folk will continue to do so.

 

[LutholianDev]

Just claiming the first post in case main post ever gets long enough that I need to use it, if that's alright.

 

[damnedfrog]

Interesting.

But for what I see, unlike A World Adrift, there won't be an option to play a female MC?

And about the femboy trait, is it just that the MC will have some feminine traits (like the face, a smaller stature..)?
Or will he have a more feminine body (b cup or more boobs, larger hip...)?
In short, will he be more a trap or a dickgirl?

 

[Oliz82]

Hello.

From that description, this game seems more generic, not like it's a bad thing but what was really interesting in A World Adrift was it's originality.

Being an apprentice let's enough place for the player to grow the protagonist as he wants. It's a good thing for replayability too.

An introduction is always better to explain a game's mechanics (even if it's not complicated as in your other game, it's still necessary) and universe.
Nice to have people react to our outfits because it's usually only cosmetic (I woud love to see one day a game in which NPCs react to not only the type of clothes but also it's color or signs on it).
So the "femboy" trait is the only way to have a possible bi/gay playthrough?

If you're able to include as much kinks as what was planned in A World Adrift, you'll create a wonderful game. I'm also curious how the 2 games are related.

Good continuation.

 

[LutholianDev]

Interesting.

But for what I see, unlike A World Adrift, there won't be an option to play a female MC?

And about the femboy trait, is it just that the MC will have some feminine traits (like the face, a smaller stature..)?
Or will he have a more feminine body (b cup or more boobs, larger hip...)?
In short, will he be more a trap or a dickgirl?

Right now I'm not planning on female mc. It'd be doable, I guess but it's kind of out of the scope I was envisioning.

As for the femboy trait, I am imagining the first option for it, but I don't think any game text specifically says that at the moment. This kinda inspired me a little though. Maybe there could be a "femboy+" trait that operates more like a dickgirl?

 

[LutholianDev]

Hello.

From that description, this game seems more generic, not like it's a bad thing but what was really interesting in A World Adrift was it's originality.

Being an apprentice let's enough place for the player to grow the protagonist as he wants. It's a good thing for replayability too.

An introduction is always better to explain a game's mechanics (even if it's not complicated as in your other game, it's still necessary) and universe.
Nice to have people react to our outfits because it's usually only cosmetic (I woud love to see one day a game in which NPCs react to not only the type of clothes but also it's color or signs on it).
So the "femboy" trait is the only way to have a possible bi/gay playthrough?

If you're able to include as much kinks as what was planned in A World Adrift, you'll create a wonderful game. I'm also curious how the 2 games are related.

Good continuation.

Yeah, its going to be a somewhat more generic premise, but hopefully some of the world building can be interesting as well.

That's the idea. Give the protagonist an arc.

Intro wouldn't be a tutorial in the sense of "click here for x", but rather more just introducing various concepts and how the game is one by one.

I don't particularly plan on there being a set appearance for the protagonist, the lewd scenes I've generated are from a pov perspective. Makes it easier for the player to self insert. So in that sense, it's impossible for player outfits to be purely cosmetic.

No, you can have gay/bi scenes outside of femboy. Most of the content is probably going to skew towards straight since most of the audience is likely to as well, but there will be some.

I don't want to promise anything in regards to trying to cover everything A World Adrift did. Battlemage from Obscurity is supposed to be of a more limited(and thus manageable) scope, and while that's primarily mechanically odds are content will also be a somewhat narrower as well. I'll do my best to meet a wide range, however.

 

[damnedfrog]

Right now I'm not planning on female mc. It'd be doable, I guess but it's kind of out of the scope I was envisioning.

Well, even if prefer female MC, it's probably best if you restrain the scope on what you are envisioning.
After all, you drop A World Adrift because it was too big.
Don't make the same mistake twice

As for the femboy trait, I am imagining the first option for it, but I don't think any game text specifically says that at the moment. This kinda inspired me a little though. Maybe there could be a "femboy+" trait that operates more like a dickgirl?

I would certainly enjoy a femboy+ trait more.
But again, don't go too big.

 

[Oliz82]

Hello.

Thanks for the explainations.

No, you can have gay/bi scenes outside of femboy. Most of the content is probably going to skew towards straight since most of the audience is likely to as well, but there will be some.

As long as there's enough content, I don't mind the quantity. As a bi man, what annoys me the most are adding one male LI, generally with a feminine build, in harem games (meaning, if you don't like the character, there's no bi/gay content anymore), or just stumbling upon 2 men having sex as a female protagonist. I can understand sissification games, though it's not my taste. I won't ask for bi scenes, I know it's difficult, though there's a lack of them in porn games.

Good continuation.

 

[Satori6]

Since you'll be using the character sprites on different backgrounds, add an "empty blank background" or similar prompt to your generations. That will make it much easier to crop the images without it being noticeable.

Helmet girl is looking fine. All of the characters do, but particularly her.

 

[LutholianDev]

Since you'll be using the character sprites on different backgrounds, add an "empty blank background" or similar prompt to your generations. That will make it much easier to crop the images without it being noticeable.

Helmet girl is looking fine. All of the characters do, but particularly her.

I actually already do! Something in either the model or the prompt decides that backgrounds should come back anyways a lot of the time. I looked at the tips page in your signature, I'll be visiting it again next time I need to generate sprites. I think it could greatly improve my current workflow.

Helmet girl is technically supposed to just represent a generic female soldier. I'm thinking of making the soldiers more static characters though. Some fears about scope creep around that, but I think I can keep them as at least somewhat minor characters. We'll see how feedback goes once it releases, if its a common request I can't see why not.

 

[LutholianDev]

Gonna try to make some more substantial posts showing off parts of the game some time. Got a few drafts for that in various states of completion.

Functionally, the intro is fully complete, but there's lots of placeholder text to fill in and dialogue options to expand out. What I mean by that is that it can be played through and exited into the standard gameplay. From a development perspective the challenge of the intro is making it quick enough that the player doesn't feel trapped and bored(especially on subsequent saves), but substantial enough that it doesn't feel rushed or lazy.

Also thinking of adding some sort of "starting item" sort of thing. Think like a coin pouch of savings, the Mage Skirt if playing femboy(you can buy one at the tailor shop otherwise if you don't choose it here.), maybe some books for a knowledge boost or something, and so on. Might be a neat bit of customization for the play through, but if I can't think of enough good options we aren't gonna see it.

I've also generated a new character, but she's not quite finalized.

Spoiler: Character Image

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I feel like she should wear more of a proper robe given her character and personality, but it is a lewd game so I suppose that can be excused. She's somewhat sheltered and shy.

I've also been working on generating some more of the side characters, but the neckbeard-looking local magistrate isn't too interesting for sharing.

 

[LutholianDev]

Hey folks, some new developments!

The intro has been reworked and rewritten. I know it keeps coming up as something I've "accomplished", but it's taken a few tries to get it into something I'm satisfied with. No dialogue or segment is a placeholder anymore. Some portions might get rewrites so the dialogue is more interactive or flows better, but the basic sequence of events is completely finalized.

Spoiler: Remember the starting gifts idea mentioned last time? They're in now.

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The "starting item"/"starting gift" system mentioned in the last update has been implemented. Current starting gift options are:

• The Mage Skirt if femboy
• Some extra books
• A portable alchemy set (can be acquired later)
• Some saved up coins (more starting money)
• And of course nothing, for any gigachad ascetics out there.

I'm also thinking of adding a sort of ritual dagger that would help in spell casting, but would need to think of more ways to use it in enough content to justify its existence. If anyone has suggestions for additional starting gifts, I would love to hear them.


A full on quest system has been implemented. Quests have objectives, side objectives, can start and end properly, can be completed and failed(as can objectives), have a system of flags to record what the player did in the quest, and so forth. This comes complete with a quest log that the player can pull up to check their progress or get an idea of what to do next. The quest log and the system for saving quest progress properly(but without adding irrelevant data to the save file) was a good amount of work to implement correctly and I now know a whole lot more about how Renpy saves or doesn't save data than I thought I'd need to.

Implemented or partially implemented some quests:

• Call for Help: Main Quest for the intro sequence. Fairly basic, but handles things for it well enough. Able to be fully completed, has some optional approaches for some starting gifts.
• Silence of Orles: Main Quest subsequent to the intro. Is a bit of an overarching quest for the initial stage of the story.
• Delivery: Sidequest from the tailor. Able to be fully completed. Has two main options to complete it, and a subsequent choice depending on one of them. Also intended to have some lewd resolution options, but the content you'd need to see to enable those isn't in yet, so we'll have to come back to add that in. Unlocks working in the tailor shop, and opens up the Tailor character for future relationship stuff.

Additionally, a portion of the old intro centered around gathering scattered soldiers of the Border Company is still in the code(and happily bugging my test saves since it uses an older quests implementation) and will be re-implemented as an early quest given in the early stages of Silence of Orles.

Spoiler: A quick peek at the quest log.

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The system for different areas(think a room in the manor, the church, the villager market, basically anywhere that has a background image.) has been reworked. For the most part this has no effect on what the end-user sees, but for the programmer holy shit does life become easier. For example, areas now select the proper time of day variant of their background much more efficiently.


On the subject of the time of day, the time of day and day of the week is now displayed to the player and the player can click on the time to pass to the next part of the day.


Improved how the clothes system and the player's wardrobe is handled. Much more cleanly implemented now. Likely will get its own wardrobe UI in the future. While there are no immediate plans to do anything with it, the wardrobe class doesn't require that the player be the owner, so it should be fairly simple to implement a wardrobe for npcs if I ever wanted one in the future.

Added Tavern Dress outfit for femboy. Yes, yes, another dress, I know. Will be some outfits for non-femboy characters too.


I added some new areas to the game:

• Village Alleyway: Added for an older iteration of the intro.
• Manor Interior: Added because it made sense to have some hallway backgrounds to some scenes. This also makes life easier by splitting manor navigation.
• Manor Cellar: Added to get some intro quest items out of, and likely to be useful in future quests and content.
• Manor Bathing Room: Been planned since day one. Added to get intro quest items out of, will certainly be used in future scenes and content.

Alleyway, Bathing Room, and Interior have night variants as well. Cellar does not because it is underground.

Spoiler: The Alleyway, using the old upscaling approach.

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Spoiler: The Manor hall, using the new upscaling approach.

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While adding the new manor areas, I improved my method of upscaling them to a good resolution for background images. I will be going back over the old backgrounds in the future and upscaling them using my new method for crisper art throughout the game. You can hopefully see the difference, but it might be harder to see when they aren't full size like in the game.


I also reworked how the market day in the village functions slightly. Mostly nothing the end user sees. Expect more tweaks.


Books are implemented. You can view the books you own and read them. I have written one, and am working on another. Overall a system I'm conflicted about. On one hand, having lore books and getting knowledge from them that you can use in dialogue checks is neat. On another, time spent writing little lore tidbits is time I'm spending not writing code or game content. Might move to a system of them just having a short summary of what they talk about instead of longer text. Or perhaps a hybrid system where important ones are fully written and the rest aren't? Either way, books are in. The menu for reading them is a little janky, but ultimately functional.

Spoiler: The janky, fairly empty, but fully functional books menu.

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Player's money/gold system has been reworked and improved.


Not yet viewable in game, but created a system and ui for vendors to use so you can buy stuff without the complications of the basic renpy menu system. Mainly stalled on implementing items themselves. Need to do some thinking on what the player spends money on so how items work doesn't need to be heavily rewritten later. Right now planned:

• Outfits(actually buyable in game atm, but not via the new vendor ui yet)
• Alchemy Kit and upgrades
• Books
• Various misc stuff for quests

Spoiler: The Nomad Merchant, one of the primary vendors we'll encounter.

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Added in a new music track that plays in the tent of the Nomad Merchant(she shows up on market day).

Also added two new music tracks to the files and credits, but they aren't used in game yet.


That's it for now. I really ought to make these posts more often, I think.

 

[Oliz82]

Hello.

It's becoming more and more interesting.

The different starting items should all be available afterwards because it's just a matter of priority, not because we aren't necessarily interested in them.
You could add a weapon or a tool if you think it's fitting. A family's item or a memento if it was to matter.

For the quest, you should display the rewards, both for completing and failing, to know what is worth for the character we're creating.

The samples for the new areas are very nice.
You've included a bathroom but what for? Hygiene management? Washing dirt and blood? Just fun?

You've implemented a day cycle. Does that mean there'll be something to do in each time period, day and night?

For outfits, I know it's not that important but, if you decide to include revealing clothes, try to do it for both genders. It's common for women but it's often left aside for men, outside feminine ones and gay sluts, as if a man shouldn't highlight his body's assets.

For the books, it depends on the types you want to include. For example, for historical ones, you need to describe everything but, for magic ones, you just need to describe the formula, for training ones too, the move is enough.

I don't know if it's planned but some players may ask for sexual favors instead of money to buy items.

Good continuation.