Unity Completed Love of Magic [B1 v1.6.7d + B2 v1.0.12] [Droid Productions]

[Droid Productions]

And with that, the build counter ticked over to 0.1.0, meaning the full story of Act VII is in.

I've still got bugs to fix, a couple of optional events todo, 2 kingdom events that aren't done yet, and some hot and steamy scenes to do. But The End is in sight

It's been the longest update since I launched Love of Magic 14 months ago, so I'm getting itchy to have it out

 

[crabsinthekitchen]

Yeah I kind of figured it would be, I'll have to do a play through with Zero Nuggies lolz

I'm doing it now and I'm constantly scared of triggering side events because I'm not sure if it will break my run or not

 

[Violation2020]

o.0 I love it the way you did Act VII,

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[Droid Productions]

o.0 I love it the way you did Act VII

(Might want to add spoiler-tags )

 

[Violation2020]

Sorry not sure how but i'll look into it today to find out.

 

[Droid Productions]

Sorry not sure how but i'll look into it today to find out.

I mean, it's your post, I can't change it Usually for the discord we try to say that if you're commenting on latest beta use spoiler tags (|| like that in discord ||), because people might peek in that haven't had a chance to play the latest build yet.

I usually build every 1-2 days, so it's only for the very latest stuff on discord... on F95, I'd guess 95% don't play betas

 

[Real Kreten]

Sorry not sure how but i'll look into it today to find out.

Droid beat me with help abou spoiler.

So I only tell you, that you should comment here only on content from public release. When Droid will polish side content and bugs, he will release next chapter here, and then we can comment on it.
Experience from open alpha shouldn’t be used here because spoilers.

 

[Violation2020]

Sorry Just woke up and previous post fixed.

 

[Violation2020]

Ya Know I just thought of something kind of funny last night Evil Grin.

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[ut1stgear1]

Anyone who wants to keep up to date on how LOM is progressing should go to Droid Productions Discord site. It's very active and Droid is constantly there to answer any questions as well as other members also being able to help.

 

[UncleFredo]

So after a massively vertical learning curve that almost caused me to abandon the game I've come to like it quite a lot. I have decades of experience playing and developing gaming systems, covering every type of game. IMHO this game is desperate for two things.

First a straight forward description of the interaction of character stats and the impact of random stat checks on early play. The current representation of stat choices and supposed player freedom to craft their character as they choose is deceptive at best, because the player has no insight into game interactions that they will be denied because they failed to invest in a given stat. While it's true that the player can pick up the need stat as the game proceeds, it failure is quite disruptive to early progression. Further the player only learns of this after the stat check fails and long after the investment decisions were made. I'm not asking for a road map, but a discussion about how low values in a given stat is likely to affect NPC interactions and path opportunities would be helpful.

Second a detailed description of how gem allocation affects both combat and character development and its interaction with support NPC is needed. Using the poker model to drive combat makes the need for this information more pronounced than in a more traditional combat system. Nothing like selecting a group member for the first time in combat and selecting a proffered choice for their participation, only to be told that choice is inappropriate without explanation. Game play is far too unwieldy to take a trial and error approach to sussing out the nuances of these interactions.

I understand that the developer(s) seek to have players learn all of this by experiencing the game as they play, and that might have been perfectly fine at it's introduction, but at this point the game has evolved into something far to complex for a new player to take on without more context.

And yes I went to the wiki and looked at the walk through(s), but the wiki largely targets people who already have a basic understanding of game mechanics and the walkthroughs generally do not advise people of the early consequences of their choices in a fashion that prevents them from suffered the stat check disappointments. After many ever more refined web searches I stumbled across some references that allowed me to gain the needed insight. I could have gotten lucky early, but when searching the web knowing how to ask the question is often key.

At this point, 32 days into the game, I'm having a great time. I'm far from proficient with the poker combat system and still sorting out gem allocations but making progress is fun now unlike the frustrating annoying chore of the first few days.

As I write this it occurs to me to suggest you consider a tutorial to introduce basic game mechanics.

 

[Raptus Puellae]

So after a massively vertical learning curve that almost caused me to abandon the game I've come to like it quite a lot. I have decades of experience playing and developing gaming systems, covering every type of game. IMHO this game is desperate for two things.

First a straight forward description of the interaction of character stats and the impact of random stat checks on early play. The current representation of stat choices and supposed player freedom to craft their character as they choose is deceptive at best, because the player has no insight into game interactions that they will be denied because they failed to invest in a given stat. While it's true that the player can pick up the need stat as the game proceeds, it failure is quite disruptive to early progression. Further the player only learns of this after the stat check fails and long after the investment decisions were made. I'm not asking for a road map, but a discussion about how low values in a given stat is likely to affect NPC interactions and path opportunities would be helpful.

Second a detailed description of how gem allocation affects both combat and character development and its interaction with support NPC is needed. Using the poker model to drive combat makes the need for this information more pronounced than in a more traditional combat system. Nothing like selecting a group member for the first time in combat and selecting a proffered choice for their participation, only to be told that choice is inappropriate without explanation. Game play is far too unwieldy to take a trial and error approach to sussing out the nuances of these interactions.

I understand that the developer(s) seek to have players learn all of this by experiencing the game as they play, and that might have been perfectly fine at it's introduction, but at this point the game has evolved into something far to complex for a new player to take on without more context.

And yes I went to the wiki and looked at the walk through(s), but the wiki largely targets people who already have a basic understanding of game mechanics and the walkthroughs generally do not advise people of the early consequences of their choices in a fashion that prevents them from suffered the stat check disappointments. After many ever more refined web searches I stumbled across some references that allowed me to gain the needed insight. I could have gotten lucky early, but when searching the web knowing how to ask the question is often key.

At this point, 32 days into the game, I'm having a great time. I'm far from proficient with the poker combat system and still sorting out gem allocations but making progress is fun now unlike the frustrating annoying chore of the first few days.

As I write this it occurs to me to suggest you consider a tutorial to introduce basic game mechanics.

the only really bad if missed stat check is the 50 charisma needed by day 112

 

[Adry Lemon]

So after a massively vertical learning curve that almost caused me to abandon the game I've come to like it quite a lot. I have decades of experience playing and developing gaming systems, covering every type of game. IMHO this game is desperate for two things.

As I write this it occurs to me to suggest you consider a tutorial to introduce basic game mechanics.

Sorry you have been having such a hard time, if you played general RPG's before this should all come easy to you, I know I never had that problem with it first time I played this.

 

[crabsinthekitchen]

Early game gem allocation advice: remove junk before you even have other gems. Katie is right when she says this

 

[Adry Lemon]

Early game gem allocation advice: remove junk before you even have other gems. Katie is right when she says this
View attachment 1100827

After this you get a nice explanation yeah.

 

[crabsinthekitchen]

After this you get a nice explanation yeah.

I was hinting at the fact that "no gem" defaults to Damage 1 and Damage 2, which do more damage than junk, but yeah, Katie explaining different types of gems later is also helpful

 

[Droid Productions]

Further the player only learns of this after the stat check fails and long after the investment decisions were made. I'm not asking for a road map, but a discussion about how low values in a given stat is likely to affect NPC interactions and path opportunities would be helpful.

I think what's happening is you're trying for a minmax run the first time through; the game's structured so none of the early choices have a huge influence to make or break your game.

There's only two non-recoverable issues in the early days (if you can't afford to pay for dinner the first date you miss out on a +2 CHR bonus when you talk to Molly later, and if you don't have a high enough CHR when you ask Chloe for a gem to enter the paths you miss out on a Damage3). The net gain is something you can recover from in a day by mid-game. All the other early stat-checks are entirely replayable, and in fact meant to be replayed (like Katie's Strip MMA challenge, which I think would actually play out as abuse if you just focus on winning the 'fastest' way. The way it plays out, it's going to be more fun getting your ass kicked the first time, drawing the second, and finally winning and feeling some character growth along the way).

Poker/Gem wise, yeah... I could do a better job of providing additional tutorial information there. Part of it is of course the fact that I'm one guy doing art, design, code and writing on this. Some stuff had to give. But I wonder if now that book 1 is done, it might be possible to do a video walkthrough and make that an optional ingame resource.

 

[UncleFredo]

I think what's happening is you're trying for a minmax run the first time through; the game's structured so none of the early choices have a huge influence to make or break your game.

...

Poker/Gem wise, yeah... I could do a better job of providing additional tutorial information there. Part of it is of course the fact that I'm one guy doing art, design, code and writing on this. Some stuff had to give. But I wonder if now that book 1 is done, it might be possible to do a video walkthrough and make that an optional ingame resource.

I wasn't trying to min max my character, I was trying to understand the interactions in the system to make informed choices. Explain why trying to make the early days an enjoyable progression, rather than stepping in gopher holes, learned about after the fact, is a bad thing. I think that I acknowledged that missteps could be recovered in following play, but that's hardly the most pleasant progression.

In any event, once through the gauntlet your game is really entertaining. Truly excellent. I'm glad I was too stubborn to walk away. I offered my view point because of the enjoyment your game provides me and because I know that I am far more reluctant to give up on a game than many players.

Ask yourself these simple questions. In a typical game which of the three statistics would most players deemphasize? Strength, intelligence, or charisma? Which stat checks, if failed, are most disruptive to the flow of progression in the early game? If you don't think the charisma stat checks feel like a setup, given the assertions that a player can choose how to invest in stats with no loss of access to the game, you're kidding yourself. Sure it turns out that you're mostly/technically correct, but it sure doesn't seem that way in the moment, and frustration is an enjoyment killer for a lot of people.

I get that you have limited resources and must choose wisely where to spend them. If you can find the resources for a tutorial I sincerely believe it would really improve early play for newcomers.

My input was offered as positive feedback. It comes for free and you should take it for what you feel it's worth. I'll say it again, I'm really enjoying your game. Thanks for creating it.

 

[ut1stgear1]

Somehow I was able to "blindly" get through the early game play without making any noted mistakes along the way. The CHR stat always seemed to advance faster than INT and STR even when I chose I wanted a balanced approach to stats increase so I went with it.

LOM is very replayable due to Droid Productions concentrates primarily on advancing the story first and when done adds, usually, repeatable events that can increase odds to succeed in the game. Since I use his discord site for help and the joy of playing book 2 I am able to learn even more about every aspect of the game and that he spends a lot of time with this and other games he is developing other games. I swear he doesn't sleep even though he claims to, always says night and morning just to keep up that ruse.

 

[Ianuda]

At this point, 32 days into the game, I'm having a great time. I'm far from proficient with the poker combat system and still sorting out gem allocations but making progress is fun now unlike the frustrating annoying chore of the first few days.

This is an incredible write-up! I honestly could never get into poker, I saw a few YouTube videos and got turned away by the arcane terminology they use. The only card game I can understand is Hearthstone.