RPGM Completed Star Knightess Aura [v1.2.1] [aura-dev]

[HolySwordOfExcalibur]

Will the 1.1.0 stable release include the maid bad end?

 

[Terix3]

Congrats on finishing the game. (I kinda always assumed this is one of those games that will never see finish)
And good job ? dev my gamer self was engaged. That means I will not see any smut and I will even save scum to achieve that! No seriously there have been a lot of effort put into gameplay/story/world building side to the point I think it can stand on its own legs without the porn aspect. With few changes I think it would have great success with normies.

 

[Terix3]

Nah, I think part of the issue is it would be nearly impossible to make "a walkthrough" because there are too many distinct ways to play the game. You can try to optimize unlocking lewd scenes, you can try to optimize earning victory points, you can try to optimize power gained from lewd actions, or you can wander from location to location and do your own thing. There is an incredibly detailed guide on steam that goes over a bunch of useful mechanics and demonstrates how much you can get done on the first day though. The wiki also has quite a bit of information.

An issue with a lewd scene walkthrough would be that the ending has branching decision based outcomes, so routing out every possible variant of endings and getting every lewd scene might be best done over multiple playthroughs or involve multiple checkpoints, which could be a pain to route out. I don't envy anybody undertaking such a task. Especially since the 1.1 release is going to be the start of additional bad ending paths and extra mental changes that will complicate it further.

Uh ah what? So its not really finished? What do the additional bad endings entail ? are those like game overs with a bit of art and story ? Or bad endings as in Aura becoming evil and doing bad stuff - which means some considerable amount of story and art? Any date for 1.1 ?

Also while walkthrough idd is very hard to make for such game, some guide would be great. Like having rough order of places / quests / bosses you should tackle, what to do with various materials and requirements for scenes I guess.
Because there is really no indicator of how strong something is in the game, you save and run your face into it.

 

[Blurpee69]

Uh ah what? So its not really finished? What do the additional bad endings entail ? are those like game overs with a bit of art and story ? Or bad endings as in Aura becoming evil and doing bad stuff - which means some considerable amount of story and art? Any date for 1.1 ?

Also while walkthrough idd is very hard to make for such game, some guide would be great. Like having rough order of places / quests / bosses you should tackle, what to do with various materials and requirements for scenes I guess.
Because there is really no indicator of how strong something is in the game, you save and run your face into it.

The two major story threads, corrupted and defeat evil, are both finished. There are other ending planned for other storylines in the game. More scenes to be added. And I would imagine some balance changes as well. So yes, this is a complete game and the two "canonical", for lack of a better term, endings are are done. The dev is just filling out the game more.

 

[flies12]

Congrats on finishing the game. (I kinda always assumed this is one of those games that will never see finish)
And good job ? dev my gamer self was engaged. That means I will not see any smut and I will even save scum to achieve that! No seriously there have been a lot of effort put into gameplay/story/world building side to the point I think it can stand on its own legs without the porn aspect. With few changes I think it would have great success with normies.

The game actually works without the porn parts. It needs a few more breadcrumbs leading you to different options. I'd never have known there was a vault in the lake if I didn't go exploring. I also wouldn't have known how to get there without the wiki, same with Mount Firestorm.

 

[smkey21]

Uh ah what? So its not really finished? What do the additional bad endings entail ? are those like game overs with a bit of art and story ? Or bad endings as in Aura becoming evil and doing bad stuff - which means some considerable amount of story and art? Any date for 1.1 ?

Also while walkthrough idd is very hard to make for such game, some guide would be great. Like having rough order of places / quests / bosses you should tackle, what to do with various materials and requirements for scenes I guess.
Because there is really no indicator of how strong something is in the game, you save and run your face into it.

Spoiler: bad ending spoiler

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Development is also split among other things at the same time. For example, 1.1 will also have sexier alternate versions of Aura's Earth outfits, which will have the final set of clothes added in the next prerelease as far as I know. Work is also now being alternated between Star Knightess Aura and another smaller scale project that has only had one month of development time put into it so far.

Even a guide that focuses on ordering areas by difficulty could get tricky. Enemies with sensitive noses can be pretty trivial if you have an oily coating on your weapon, but a pain otherwise. Ditto with human enemies and lightning damage. Quite a bit of the game boils down to figuring out proper resource management. Getting access to the magic academy (and the rest of the southern continent) expands Aura's toolkit significantly, but needs either a lewdness check or the combat abilities to survive consecutive fights with human opponents. Similarly, summon slime can become extremely powerful, but to get the maximum potential out of the slime you need to be on a somewhat lewd run and be willing to devote expensive materials to its development. In both the underground city and maid academy combat is entirely optional on a lewd run, but can be significant resource drains if you are trying to keep Aura's lewdness down.

 

[Manju]

Uh ah what? So its not really finished? What do the additional bad endings entail ? are those like game overs with a bit of art and story ? Or bad endings as in Aura becoming evil and doing bad stuff - which means some considerable amount of story and art? Any date for 1.1 ?

Also while walkthrough idd is very hard to make for such game, some guide would be great. Like having rough order of places / quests / bosses you should tackle, what to do with various materials and requirements for scenes I guess.
Because there is really no indicator of how strong something is in the game, you save and run your face into it.

1.1.0 is still months away. Although there are weekly updates for patreon members, I'm not sure if they will be included in steam updates before 1.1.0 or not, aura-dev left that a bit vague.

 

[F69]

Does anyone have a maxed NG+ score save that they can share? I'm interested in playing a "as powerful as you can legitimately be from the start" run.

 

[Crowie]

Does anyone have a maxed NG+ score save that they can share? I'm interested in playing a "as powerful as you can legitimately be from the start" run.

I just want to note here, story mode is very easy once you have familiarized yourself with the game on higher difficulties. Other options is getting the deluxe version on Patreon which has a built-in cheat mechanic (though it's not intended to be in the game), or farming some quick points by turboing corruption on normal or higher difficulty. You can already get all of the stat-related new game+ benefits with 50-60 points or so.

However it should be noted that the new game+ benefits are limited and are mostly there to make the start for higher difficulty a bit easier. It's only a +2/3 stat increase and it doesn't mean much in the long run.

(Another note, if I recall correctly you can't even buy every new game+ benefit even if you have max points)

If you really want an easy, overpowered run for SKA, story mode is your best bet. Or cheat with the deluxe version.

 

[Iexist]

Does anyone have a maxed NG+ score save that they can share? I'm interested in playing a "as powerful as you can legitimately be from the start" run.

I don't think there's many masochists that did a full purity run on the highest difficulty mode AND hunted all of the optional bosses and whatnot... In fact, there's only one that I'm aware of on the forum, and dunno if they have that save anymore, much less if they're willing to share it.

I just want to note here, story mode is very easy once you have familiarized yourself with the game on higher difficulties. Other options is getting the deluxe version on Patreon which has a built-in cheat mechanic (though it's not intended to be in the game), or farming some quick points by turboing corruption on normal or higher difficulty. You can already get all of the stat-related new game+ benefits with 50-60 points or so.

However it should be noted that the new game+ benefits are limited and are mostly there to make the start for higher difficulty a bit easier. It's only a +2/3 stat increase and it doesn't mean much in the long run.

(Another note, if I recall correctly you can't even buy every new game+ benefit even if you have max points)

If you really want an easy, overpowered run for SKA, story mode is your best bet. Or cheat with the deluxe version.

I'd say that the most important bit of the NG+ bonuses isn't the stat bonuses (which are pathetic), but rather, the extra skills you can have learned from the start. Depending on what you get, you can completely change the early game in a number of ways, to say nothing of the huge amounts of money you can save up, which you can then use elsewhere. Bless Item and Radiance for example are both extremely powerful spells, and both of them are painfully expensive and take 2 days minimum to learn, on top of the fact that you only get access to them much later in the game. Just being able to have a few Blessed Bombs and later Blessed Bombs+ on hand can make all the difference in some boss fights.

The reading boost skill is another one that you get access too much later in the game, and makes a difference in picking up any of the special books (like the Fire boost book and the M.Atack boost books which have some notable boosts to them).

Storm, Air Bubble, Lightning Sword, Stone Mind... There's a long list of skills that can make a huge difference by having access to them from Day 1, and more importantly, before Festival of Greed, either because of the opportunities they create or the time and money that they help you save. (or Lewdness in some cases...)

The thing is, the best NG+ bonuses are clearly designed around the idea that it's genuinely NG+ and you know what you're doing, and thus aiming for specific builds and whatnot in the next playthrough, with the express goal of maximizing results with targeted skills and strategy.

Not that I specifically like SKA's NG+ system, since the bonus is based on the best playthrough, and the best bonus is for the hardest playthrough, at which point, you don't need it for anything anymore. So the system is extremely flawed tbh...

 

[Crowie]

Yeah agree, could've worded it better but that's basically it. Skills are the bigger part of the equation, I just kind of didn't go into that too much cuz like you said, it requires game knowledge. My impression of the person I quoted was that they wanted to do an overpowered run, and the most straightforward way to do that is to brute force with high stats. Story mode is the best way to do so.

If you maximize new game+ the way it is intended, you basically play the game like it's designed which means it's challenging either way. Like the early game will be much easier, but if you don't get in the rhythm of it mid to late game, it still slaps you in the face. Normal and up is still a challenging game, even with new game+ helping you out.

But you def explained new game+ much better than I did

 

[Crowie]

I don't think there's many masochists that did a full purity run on the highest difficulty mode AND hunted all of the optional bosses and whatnot... In fact, there's only one that I'm aware of on the forum, and dunno if they have that save anymore, much less if they're willing to share it.



I'd say that the most important bit of the NG+ bonuses isn't the stat bonuses (which are pathetic), but rather, the extra skills you can have learned from the start. Depending on what you get, you can completely change the early game in a number of ways, to say nothing of the huge amounts of money you can save up, which you can then use elsewhere. Bless Item and Radiance for example are both extremely powerful spells, and both of them are painfully expensive and take 2 days minimum to learn, on top of the fact that you only get access to them much later in the game. Just being able to have a few Blessed Bombs and later Blessed Bombs+ on hand can make all the difference in some boss fights.

The reading boost skill is another one that you get access too much later in the game, and makes a difference in picking up any of the special books (like the Fire boost book and the M.Atack boost books which have some notable boosts to them).

Storm, Air Bubble, Lightning Sword, Stone Mind... There's a long list of skills that can make a huge difference by having access to them from Day 1, and more importantly, before Festival of Greed, either because of the opportunities they create or the time and money that they help you save. (or Lewdness in some cases...)

The thing is, the best NG+ bonuses are clearly designed around the idea that it's genuinely NG+ and you know what you're doing, and thus aiming for specific builds and whatnot in the next playthrough, with the express goal of maximizing results with targeted skills and strategy.

Not that I specifically like SKA's NG+ system, since the bonus is based on the best playthrough, and the best bonus is for the hardest playthrough, at which point, you don't need it for anything anymore. So the system is extremely flawed tbh...

Also to add to the last paragraph, I feel like new game+ is designed for nightmare difficulty. Tbh I didn't tinker around too much but nightmare is incredibly unforgiving and it feels very designed around you having new game+ benefits. I definitely agree new game+ isn't useful for the casual player, but I think that was never the intention of that feature to begin with.

SKA as a whole is just not intended for the casual porn game enjoyer, which I think creates that big disconnect between people who don't like it and people who do.

 

[FluffyBunnyCarrotStick]

1.1.0 is still months away. Although there are weekly updates for patreon members, I'm not sure if they will be included in steam updates before 1.1.0 or not, aura-dev left that a bit vague.

Good to know this. Was going to play this again, but if it's not finished-finished, I'll just wait till it is.

 

[whittle]

Does anyone have a maxed NG+ score save that they can share? I'm interested in playing a "as powerful as you can legitimately be from the start" run.

I would echo that the NG+ bonuses are both over- and under-whelming in some ways, but I suppose I can throw out a save that is at least "pretty close" to what you're looking for (204 points)? It's from an older version since I haven't had time to get into the final version, probably a couple missing skills here and there. Might be sufficient for what you're planning, unless someone has a fully padded save out there.

 

[smkey21]

Good to know this. Was going to play this again, but if it's not finished-finished, I'll just wait till it is.

It won't be finished when 1.1 comes out either. Unless the plan has changed relatively recently there's going to be similar content patches up to at least 1.4 that will take similar amounts of time. All of the planned content for the game from now on is going to be expanding side content and polishing that shouldn't really impact any of the main story.

The game has the completed tag for a reason, and you'll be able to put a ton of hours into it without seeing all the content it has. Besides under the hood stuff there are, so far, four things being added this month for the 1.1 release. First is pre-festival of greed content with Arwin. Second is alternate clothes options for Earth Aura that are basically just up to the player's preference. Third is additional difficulty modifiers, called NG-, that will mostly be of interest to people who are interested in challenging themselves or trying to maximize their NG+ score. Finally, there's been work done to make the game easier to mod.

 

[NTR unavoidable!]

It won't be finished when 1.1 comes out either. Unless the plan has changed relatively recently there's going to be similar content patches up to at least 1.4 that will take similar amounts of time. All of the planned content for the game from now on is going to be expanding side content and polishing that shouldn't really impact any of the main story.

The game has the completed tag for a reason, and you'll be able to put a ton of hours into it without seeing all the content it has. Besides under the hood stuff there are, so far, four things being added this month for the 1.1 release. First is pre-festival of greed content with Arwin. Second is alternate clothes options for Earth Aura that are basically just up to the player's preference. Third is additional difficulty modifiers, called NG-, that will mostly be of interest to people who are interested in challenging themselves or trying to maximize their NG+ score. Finally, there's been work done to make the game easier to mod.

So up to 2.0 (final?) there will be similar type of content added. Side events, clothes etc?

I also wanted to wait some more but guess I will just try it before the next update. I will strangle my ocd somehow lol.

 

[smkey21]

So up to 2.0 (final?) there will be similar type of content added. Side events, clothes etc?

I also wanted to wait some more but guess I will just try it before the next update. I will strangle my ocd somehow lol.

I'm pretty sure getting to 1.4 was expected to take about two years with a shift to only working on this game's development every other month. Note that a goal of development after 1.0 is to not have "to be implemented"/"in development" roadblocks anymore, so everything worked on for 1.1 will be feature complete for that release. There's a public post on the patreon, but it does spoil bits of the plot.

For relatively non-spoiler things there are a couple things I remember off the top of my head. Eventually, there's a goal for Aura's reactions in scenes to be more consistent with her level of corruption. An example used was heavily corrupted Aura doing the alchemist's discount scene is currently very jarring. Some of the ending cutscenes will reflect her corruption/lewd stats more than they currently do. There's also a plan to add some variety to the repeatable content. The game has a single artist being commissioned for art, so low priority stuff like clothes will probably depend on how much work is needed for required CGs and such.

The four releases will each have lewd content added that will lead to bad endings being added for already started chains of lewd events. I already mentioned that 1.1 is Arwin, 1.2 and 1.3 are two of her potential Royan cheating partners Roland then Hermann. 1.4 will be about further corrupting Aura's companions.

 

[FluffyBunnyCarrotStick]

It won't be finished when 1.1 comes out either. Unless the plan has changed relatively recently there's going to be similar content patches up to at least 1.4 that will take similar amounts of time. All of the planned content for the game from now on is going to be expanding side content and polishing that shouldn't really impact any of the main story.

The game has the completed tag for a reason, and you'll be able to put a ton of hours into it without seeing all the content it has. Besides under the hood stuff there are, so far, four things being added this month for the 1.1 release. First is pre-festival of greed content with Arwin. Second is alternate clothes options for Earth Aura that are basically just up to the player's preference. Third is additional difficulty modifiers, called NG-, that will mostly be of interest to people who are interested in challenging themselves or trying to maximize their NG+ score. Finally, there's been work done to make the game easier to mod.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I played this one early in development and have been waiting to come back to it. I get disinterested with playing unfinished games over and over and want to just play the 'finished' project. If he's fleshing things out and adding more stuff, even if it's just cosmetic, to me the game isn't actually finished. So I'll wait, as I said before, and if it takes years and I'm still interested, then I'll come back.

 

[Sir Edward Ross]

I think the idea with NG+ is that you use it as a sort of stepping stone towards whatever your goal is. So sure, if you have the best possible score already, it might not be doing much, but you don't even have to beat the game to start over with NG+ bonuses, let alone beat it with the best possible score. If you get stuck, you can start over with a boost, and maybe that helps you get further. And if you have already mastered the game, well, you can go for a faster completion or something.

 

[TrickyL]

Interesting news for 1.1:

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Hidden Alicia - I am very pleasently surprised I was able to implement this this week. I thought I would at most be able to present a technical proof of concept or be forced to abandon this concept, but I found a nice architecture that allowed me to engineer this mode quite nicely. What this mode is about: You will not be able control Alicia as usual and you won't see her actions in Aura's mind. Instead she will apply mental changes automatically and except for a random sound effect that occurs when she successfully applies a mental change, you will have no clue as to what's going on.
This mode is aimed both at role-players who want a higher level immersion as Aura, and to experience the game in more of a mystery-mode and to those who have problems with the two-player nature of the game and would rather be able to just focus on the Aura-side.

I have tried my best to implement an Alicia strategy that avoids getting locked, but I still need to figure out a good solution for the case where Alicia cannot progress due to some lewd stat being too low (e.g. 20 Lewdness for the Temperance Orb). Since the player cannot see the mental world, they don't know which stat they might be lacking for. For the checks that require Lewd Knowledge, Exhibitionism or Cheating, Alicia will use the Lewd Token Machine in order to generate those stats if necessary

I was able to perform a full playthrough in this mode but I only recently finished its implementation, so bugs will most likely ensure. In particular since I developed the feature as I went deeper into Aura's mind, so there is a good chance that I might have broken something from the earlier / middle parts I didn't retest.