RPGM Secret Dawn [Development Thread]

[HaldaneWorks]

Engine (base): RPG Maker MZ

Setting: Near future, neo-medieval, semi-dystopian, cyber-punk

Story: Follow Jon and Eva, young, lovestruck rural commoners in a world dominated by urban elites. Through a series of dramatic events they end up in a renowned hi-tech game show called «Crucible», where their bond will face the ultimate test. As dark secrets come to light, it turns out that the game means much more than they could have ever imagined.

Mechanics: Dialogue choices, locked areas and hidden/discoverable keys, puzzle minigames, action combat (real-time, not turn-based), deep worldbuilding, free-roam/open world discoverable content, blocked/partial vision/hearing, extensive bust/face renders

Art: 16-bit pixel art combined with 3d renders and animation

Porn/fetishes: NTR, corruption, voyeurism, interracial (list will be expanded). Both male and female protagonists will be available (male only in prologue).

Comments:
As you can tell from the screenshots, the game couples a 16-bit pixel art aesthetic with 3d renders. It is story-focused and will eventually weave together a large web of intrigue. In terms of its adult themes, it is heavily inspired by NTR games featuring mystery and corruption.

Despite the variety of mechanics, the driving force of the game is the worldbuilding and narrative. The player can go down one of two paths: following Jon, who is a tech-enthusiast, or following Eva, who is more physical, being a skilled bow hunter. Jon’s perspective will involve puzzle game content, whereas Eva’s will be more action oriented, but both paths will feature both types of mechanics. In either case, these mechanics won’t be very challenging. They could be thought of as fun and interesting flavor elements that add to the world and the story.

As far as the narrative goes, this is where the two paths really differ. Jon’s perspective will involve a heavy dose of mystery, with treachery gradually coming to light. It will be up to the player to discover it all – or be left in the dark. If you don’t like NTR, limited information, and letting your imagination fill in the blanks, Jon’s perspective might not be for you. Eva’s perspective will center more on «corruption» and difficult moral dilemmas. The NSFW content here eventually becomes more explicit, but again, the gradual nature of the story will be key to making it impactful. The game will take its time with some of the more hardcore content, but it all pays off before the end.

Release:
Right now the prologue is near done. Expect first version to be out within a week. After that, there will be regular releases every 6 weeks. A Patreon is up, but not sure if I can post link here given that this is a fresh account.

 

[HaldaneWorks]

I posted the first release in the Game Requests forum: https://f95zone.to/threads/rpgmz-secret-dawn-0-1-haldane.194693/

Hopefully it will be treated as a proper game eventually and some people might actually try it.

I just discovered that there was a crash happening in the first build about halfway into the prologue. It is a puzzling error that I thought had been eliminated. It is caused by a plugin (not one I've made, but a generally useful one nonetheless: Galv layer graphics) referencing a file that I used a few weeks ago, and have since deleted. But there is no place in the game where I actually reference it any longer, so there seems to be some sort of memory issue with this plugin. Wouldn't think that is possible, but it seems to be.

I have hotfixed this and uploaded the new version.

Now I will have to take a look at the aforementioned plugin and see if I can solve the underlying problem.

 

[HaldaneWorks]

Character Overview:
Eva Hewitt (19)



Eva was born in the outskirts of a megacity, somewhere in the northern parts of the world. She currently lives with her grandma and boyfriend Jon. Her main interest is bow hunting. She has little sexual experience.

Prologue scene "Recovery":
After being the victim of an attack by raiders, Jon passes out. Eva decides he needs some help to recover.







Did she enjoy the experience? Find out in the next installment of Secret Dawn. The player will be able to select main character, Jon or Eva, as they embark upon the Crucible game show.

 

[HaldaneWorks]

In the last update we met a woman named Moreau. With her persistent ways, she got Jon and Eva signed up for the game:



We'll see more of Moreau in the upcoming update, as she's the hostess of Crucible. We'll also learn more about her background. She already mentioned being the daughter of someone important...

The prologue focused mainly on Jon and Eva. Now, they enter a game show with dozens of other contestants. Secret Dawn will do the "Lost" thing of focusing mainly on a handful of people. One of the contestants seems more competent and dangerous than the others, but you'll have to wait for the update for his introduction. First, here's someone you'll meet right away:


A short bio of this lady is behind spoiler tags, as it's disclosed in-game:

Spoiler: Character Info

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In addition to the plethora of new characters, maps, and renders/animations, there will be two major mechanics updates in this upcoming update:

Firstly, the basics of the Crucible game show. Both the player (you) and the contestants will have to familiarize yourselves with the rules. There will be a division of characters where Jon and Eva are on different sides, and hi-tech challenges (like fixing-the-generator minigame in the prologue) will play a big role. The biggest change here from the prologue will be the more open nature of the gameplay. The player (as Jon or Eva) will get to walk around freely between different sectors and their actions will be less guided. There will be an in-world clock that ticks regularly.

The second major mechanic will be the Link. The Link is a communications technology that everyone uses in the world of Secret Dawn. Think of it like a smartphone, except

Spoiler: how it works

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When you open the Link, what you're faced with isn't some fixed set of .PNGs or anything like that, it's an actual dynamic app where characters can send messages/images/etc. to each other at any time. It could actually be shipped for your smartphone or browser, but I just made it for this game. This should contribute to a more interactive experience. The Crucible contestants communicate through the Link, and they also get access to (curated) feedback by the audience from around the world. However, will the Link promote honesty and openness, or secrecy and betrayal? (The latter. Definitely the latter.)

 

[HaldaneWorks]

Trials and hope
Game dev isn't easy, and the difficulty depends on the format. An RPG is on the harder end, and it can be extra tricky if you're releasing on platforms where there's an expectation of regular updates of fresh story content.

You may be thinking I'm using RPG Maker so it should be easy. But nope. I'm using RMMZ as a base, true, but with heavy engine modifications, since I'm not a huge fan of the default RMMZ player experience. So the development is not a linear a process at all, at least not when compared to making a pure VN with something like Ren'Py. The payoff is more delayed. I'm working on the game's mechanics overall, not just adding additional scenes to the story. Or, it's more mixed. My focus is about 50/50: half developing/improving/fixing mechanics and audiovisuals, and half adding narrative content to the upcoming update.

With both v0.1 and v0.2 it feels like I didn't have that much content to offer the players. Since a lot of the work had gone into the background, I needed to synthetically add story in the form of cutscenes. But the aim is for that to change now that the story becomes integrated into the free-roam gameplay and the regular mechanics are getting established. The game should feel more like a proper game, whereas up to now it's felt more like a movie. Meanwhile, the cutscenes will be more focused on what everyone comes here for: erotic situations, corruption and NTR.



Until next time,
Haldane

 

[HaldaneWorks]

Hey. I owe anyone interested in this game an update.

First things first, I'm still working on it as hard as ever. But I've been slow to update the thread on F95, and I should explain why.

So far the feedback has mostly been people flaming me because they dislike NTR, for some reason? I don't mean that they dislike NTR "for some reason" -- it's not surprising that someone dislikes the genre. I mean that for some reason they think it's smart to flame someone making a game just because they dislike NTR. So, to anyone who does that, kindly fuck off. You're wasting everyone's time, most of all your own.

I've uploaded version 0.3 on the Patreon. It's got some more mechanics (like some action mechanics on Eva!) that got implemented, and some story but... Not a ton of content. So the reason I haven't updated the version on f95, which would be seen by more people, is that I'm unhappy with the amount of content so far. My standards are pretty high (according to me anyway lol), so I won't just churn out lots of story until I think the gameplay is good enough.

I'm honestly wondering whether it's worth releasing v0.3 (the last one on patreon) on here at all, or just wait for v0.4. Let me know if you are genuinely appreciating the game and want to see how the features are evolving even if there isn't a ton of new story. If so, I'll gladly upload v0.3 here.

However, speaking of 0.4, it's coming together well. It features a couple new minigames that I think are decently enjoyable. And the Link (neural implant that Jon/Eva got) is now fully featured and pretty cool. It's got stuff like secret camera footage, and you can guess what that will lead to eventually. Version 0.4 will be done in 1-2 weeks and after releasing on Patreon I'll definitely upload it on here.

Here are some screenshots.




(Yes, that's a breakout clone on the bottom. What, thought RPG Maker couldn't do that?)