11/21 - Episode 2: An Homage to Lustiest Lair
This is a repost from an earlier devlog on my SubscribeStar, I just forgot to crosspost the update here for some reason.
As some of you may know, I am the original creator of a lewd overhaul mod for Darkest Dungeon, called Lustiest Lair. Due to wanting to work on my own game project and running into some issues with not being able to work with my primary artist due to the war in Ukraine, I eventually stopped work on the mod project. Though, one of the mod’s original collaborators, Freya (now known as the Ancestress), has taken on finishing Lustiest Lair with her mod, Lustiest Lair: Expanded.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because Lustiest Lair’s always had a special place in my heart and I’ve always wanted to create a section in Light-Space Love that’s a love letter to the mod that started my journey into the NSFW development space. And so, Episode 2 is going to be that love letter.
I feel like I've improved a lot as a developer over the many previous releases and feel that I'm ready to take on a somewhat ambitious project for Episode 2. I've also taken on an animator and an art director in a somewhat "full-time" capacity as well, so I think I have the help I'll need to realize this too. As many of you probably noticed, I've always loved experimenting with this project, with the Pilot Revamp being one of the more recent and ambitious experiments, and I'm feeling pretty good about this next experiment as well.
So, how’s that going to look? Well, I’m going to keep most of the story a secret until the first release, but essentially, as episode 1 bridges into episode 2, the basic story is that the crew unwittingly agreed to play a “game” where the stakes are much more real than it seems.
The setting will also be extremely similar to Lustiest Lair, with a re-imaging on how I wanted a lot of the mechanics to function to serve that setting, but since I was limited due to the nature of, well, it being a mod in another game’s engine, I’ll be able to better represent that here.
Also, you won’t be playing as Linessa for this section – although she will be present, she’ll be playing more of a supporting role for this section. Episode 2 will be following Leslie instead, who's essentially the intern of Deep 69, and due to unfortunate circumstances is the only one that can endure what lies within the dungeon. She will take on the role of the party’s Conjurer as Linessa and other crew members from Deep 69 that find themselves in this world must support her from the sidelines.
I made the decision to change the protagonist for this section for a few reasons, but the main two being that I've always wanted to spotlight other characters and you also won’t be restricted by Linessa’s L.O.V.E. level or corruption, especially since none of the previous systems that were introduced in episode 1 will be present in this section. The events will have an effect on the main game’s progress and story, but everything else will pretty much be its own thing.
I’ve already sketched out how most of the systems will work, and in future devlogs I’ll be giving a more detailed breakdown of each one. But just to give a brief overview of some of what you can expect in Episode 2:
- Persistent status effects, with many that will alter Leslie’s sprite and follow her around during combat and travel, including pregnancy, some light BDSM gear and “creatures” that will attach to her.
- An entirely dice-based combat, event and choice system.
- Dungeons with increasing difficulty and progression.
- Downtime activities to earn currency, reduce lust and remove conditions.
The section is planned to have at least 3 regions with its own boss, each representing a region inspired by Lustiest Lair with references to enemies and lore that appeared in the original mod along with some new enemies and lore that’s entirely unique to this setting.
And, that’s about it for now. I’m really excited to start work on this section. As progress… progresses, I’ll get a better handle on release dates. This is a bit of an ambitious project, so, similar to the release of episode 1, this will be broken down into 5 phases of development – which the roadmap should now reflect.
I also plan on revisiting some earlier sections during Phase 3 of this release cycle, such as finishing up the Pilot Simulation by adding in the missing content -- for example, the fuel just doesn't do anything right now. And the unfinished sections and animations should all be ready by that time too.
