RPGM Sword Art Online RPG Prototype

[Chuuni Badger]

Awesome reports; much better than most Patreon-based devs already.

Thanks! I'm glad they're not a waste of time.

 

[rnot2000]

looks interesting :3

 

[Chuuni Badger]

Progress report
As always, TL;DR/full task list can be found at the bottom of the post for easier reading.

I had a two task focus in terms of background NPCs this week. First, I simplified the randomisation system as I went WAY overboard with my initial implementation. It was a remnant from a different prototype used as a base for this project and should've been reworked from the start but whatever, at least it's fixed.
My second job was to start populating the new locations - so far I've added NPCs to the restaurant, weapon store and the inn in Tolbana. I also vastly increased the number of random NPCs in the Town of Beginning's plaza (it might still feel on the low side due to randomisation but should be much better than before).

Next was light and shadow layer creation. I finished layers for all the new maps (sans overworld as that doesn't really need them) and reworked ones for the blacksmith's interior in Town of Beginnings. They ain't perfect but they are as good as they're going to get with my current skill level and creation process. Should do their job well enough at least.
Here are some samples:




Besides that, I finished exporting dialogue renders in the updated art style - still need to cut them up for modular use but that's a quick task so I'm not worried about it.
I may or may not mentioned before that these updated renders will still be just placeholders in the upcoming prototype. In the long run I'm debating between two different approaches on how to handle dialogue pictures:

• Expansion of the current system - multiple poses, each has an option to display any emotion on character's face. More work, some combinations probably won't be used.
• Persona-like - poses tied to specific emotions (faces). Less work, less variety.

Both approaches have their benefits so that's something I need to think through properly (especially since, like many, I have a tendency to go overboard with plans and ideas). Either way, the general plan is there, I just need to choose.

Last but not least, I reworked Asuna's H stats screen. I grouped values into specific sections and added Kirito's data to help with making decisions in the future. It currently looks like this:



Some of the values here might seem redundant so I'd like to briefly explain my thought process behind them for clarity.

• Asuna:
  • Love - how much Asuna loves Kirito, affects her willingness to cheat but doesn't completely block such scenarios.
  • Arousal - how horny and close to orgasm Asuna is.
  • Lust - how used Asuna is to erotic actions, this value is used as a limit to check for orgasms (if Arousal >= Lust then it's reached).
  • Inhibition - willingness to do more "advanced" H stuff.
  • Partners - number of people Asuna fooled around with (willingly or not).
• Kirito:
  • Love - how much Kirito loves Asuna and how willing he is to forgive certain actions.
  • Trust - how much Kirito trusts Asuna, i.e. how easily he'll believe rumours about her and go along with her more dangerous or suspicious decisions.
  • Arousal - how horny Kirito currently is. Affects his availability for Asuna or chances to take measures into his own hands (sometimes literally).
  • Experience - number of sexual acts with Asuna specifically or in general (as in including solo and possible cheating scenarios), haven't decided yet.
• Experiences:
  • Number of acts participated in specific category.
  • Vaginal and Anal categories are planned to include every action taken with that part of the body (it might be full-on sex, fondling, licking or whatever else will make it in the future).
• Climaxes - OK, this section should be self-explanatory.

There are two more stats I'm thinking about adding but that's something I still need to brainstorm on - I don't want to overcomplicate things for a mechanic no one but me would be interested in.

Remaining requirements for the next release:

• Finish adding mobs and background NPCs to new maps.
• Implement 2 quests to make use of the new locations.
• Clean up dev elements.

That's all I have for this week, I think. The most time consuming tasks are one but we're still not done with this release. One day...

Spoiler: Full task list

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Edit: Added some dungeon screenshots since I forgot to do that initially. So yeah, more pictures!

 

[rnot2000]

Progress report
As always, TL;DR/full task list can be found at the bottom of the post for easier reading.

I had a two task focus in terms of background NPCs this week. First, I simplified the randomisation system as I went WAY overboard with my initial implementation. It was a remnant from a different prototype used as a base for this project and should've been reworked from the start but whatever, at least it's fixed.
My second job was to start populating the new locations - so far I've added NPCs to the restaurant, weapon store and the inn in Tolbana. I also vastly increased the number of random NPCs in the Town of Beginning's plaza (it might still feel on the low side due to randomisation but should be much better than before).

Next was light and shadow layer creation. I finished layers for all the new maps (sans overworld as that doesn't really need them) and reworked ones for the blacksmith's interior in Town of Beginnings. They ain't perfect but they are as good as they're going to get with my current skill level and creation process. Should do their job well enough at least.
Here are some samples:

View attachment 5207670 View attachment 5207671 View attachment 5207673 View attachment 5207674 View attachment 5207675 View attachment 5207676
View attachment 5208143 View attachment 5208144 View attachment 5208145 View attachment 5208152

Besides that, I finished exporting dialogue renders in the updated art style - still need to cut them up for modular use but that's a quick task so I'm not worried about it.
I may or may not mentioned before that these updated renders will still be just placeholders in the upcoming prototype. In the long run I'm debating between two different approaches on how to handle dialogue pictures:

• Expansion of the current system - multiple poses, each has an option to display any emotion on character's face. More work, some combinations probably won't be used.
• Persona-like - poses tied to specific emotions (faces). Less work, less variety.

Both approaches have their benefits so that's something I need to think through properly (especially since, like many, I have a tendency to go overboard with plans and ideas). Either way, the general plan is there, I just need to choose.

Last but not least, I reworked Asuna's H stats screen. I grouped values into specific sections and added Kirito's data to help with making decisions in the future. It currently looks like this:

View attachment 5207669

Some of the values here might seem redundant so I'd like to briefly explain my thought process behind them for clarity.

• Asuna:
  • Love - how much Asuna loves Kirito, affects her willingness to cheat but doesn't completely block such scenarios.
  • Arousal - how horny and close to orgasm Asuna is.
  • Lust - how used Asuna is to erotic actions, this value is used as a limit to check for orgasms (if Arousal >= Lust then it's reached).
  • Inhibition - willingness to do more "advanced" H stuff.
  • Partners - number of people Asuna fooled around with (willingly or not).
• Kirito:
  • Love - how much Kirito loves Asuna and how willing he is to forgive certain actions.
  • Trust - how much Kirito trusts Asuna, i.e. how easily he'll believe rumours about her and go along with her more dangerous or suspicious decisions.
  • Arousal - how horny Kirito currently is. Affects his availability for Asuna or chances to take measures into his own hands (sometimes literally).
  • Experience - number of sexual acts with Asuna specifically or in general (as in including solo and possible cheating scenarios), haven't decided yet.
• Experiences:
  • Number of acts participated in specific category.
  • Vaginal and Anal categories are planned to include every action taken with that part of the body (it might be full-on sex, fondling, licking or whatever else will make it in the future).
• Climaxes - OK, this section should be self-explanatory.

There are two more stats I'm thinking about adding but that's something I still need to brainstorm on - I don't want to overcomplicate things for a mechanic no one but me would be interested in.

Remaining requirements for the next release:

• Finish adding mobs and background NPCs to new maps.
• Implement 2 quests to make use of the new locations.
• Clean up dev elements.

That's all I have for this week, I think. The most time consuming tasks are one but we're still not done with this release. One day...

Spoiler: Full task list

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Edit: Added some dungeon screenshots since I forgot to do that initially. So yeah, more pictures!

looks great

 

[Chuuni Badger]

Progress report
As always, TL;DR/full task list can be found at the bottom of the post for easier reading.

Man, time flies way too quickly! Despite that I bring you good news: I was able to complete everything I set out to do and even managed to slip in some unplanned additions as a bonus. It was a pretty good week.

I'm done populating maps with background NPC. I've added a few more folks in the Tolbana inn, as well as populated the general store, amphitheatre and the main hub of the town. With this, every location in Tolbana has a bunch of mouthbreathers running around, making it feel a little less empty. I also plopped a few more folks in the Town of Beginnings plaza since it's a big empty space waiting to be filled with life.



Speaking of life, I filled the dungeon with enemy mobs. It consists mostly of Kobold Troopers and Sentinels, with a single mini-boss thrown in to spice things up a bit. Some of these encounters will most likely be reworked or replaced with new enemy types in the future but for now I'm sticking with what's already in the game.



That said, I've added two new enemies: Thicket Spiders and Little Nepenthes'! Technically speaking, they've been in the project pretty much from the start as I've implemented them around the same time as other monster but I didn't have proper locations to put them in until now - with forests filled overworld I finally have the perfect place to do so! Unlike other monsters these overworld encounters will act as random battles instead of current avoidable map events (they will be present in the latter configuration once I make some forest maps in the future).

I didn't want to drop the two as basic mobs with different sprites so I took a moment to rebalance them and add something extra, meaning both monsters come with their own mechanics. One of Thicket Spider's attacks has a small chance of applying weak Poison to the target, giving purpose to the Andidotes implemented some time ago. Little Nepenthes on the other hand might call for help when their health is low - make sure to finish them off as fast as possible or you might end up overwhelmed by their numbers.



Next, I spent some time polishing the dungeon secrets. They were pretty much done, so all I did was add tracking skill markers and fixing minor light layer issues.
When testing these changes I stumbled upon a pretty significant bug related to the tracking skill so I spent some time to trying to figure it out. It turned out to be a stupid mistake related to toggling between two states of a chest based on the status of the tracking. I completely forgot that switching back to previous state (page) of an event repeats its movement and in this particular instance, a chest was trying to move into a wall, locking player input when failing to do so.
It was an easy fix so I have that going for me.

Quest work is finally underway. I came up with the general outline for one of the new mission, wrote its description and most of the initial conversation with the requester. I also created a mcguffin that will be the target of this adventure and plopped it on the map as the location for that was ready and waiting ever since I finished the map work for the dungeon.

Lastly, I want to mention a test change I made since last week. If you've read some of my previous updates you'll know that skills in this game work similar to the source material - they have to be equipped to be used in combat and gain skill EXP.
This works fine in battle as it not only requires people to make choices and prepare based on their equipment but it also keeps the skill menu tidy when fighting. On the other hand there are double purpose skills (ones that can be used both in battle and during exploration) as well as utility ones.
The only examples of this for now are the Investigation skills (Hide, Tracking) and Cooking. These two categories provide useful functionality when exploring, so people might want to activate them at random times. This however will require them to remember to equip the skills (well, skill category) if they want to level them up, which in turn might lead to frustration from those who forget to do so.
I've decided to temporarily remove this requirement (just outside of combat) to see how I feel about it as right now I'm a bit torn on this issue. While I do think this new approach is better from the quality of life perspective, it does limit the need for awareness and prep I'd like to instil in players. That said, I am someone who tends to lean towards more immersive (and often tedious) ways to play games and I don't want to make things annoying just because I like punishment.
I'll keep testing and thinking about it for now but if anyone has thoughts about this issue, feel free to let me know - any outside perspective on this would be useful.

I pretty sure that's all I have for today. We're getting close to the next release and hopefully it won't take much longer - I need to finally get started on "real" progress after all.

Remaining requirements for the next release:

• Implement 2 quests to make use of the new locations.
• Clean up dev elements.

Spoiler: Full task list

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[timurotbasaroglu]

Now I took a seat. Thank you for your hard work. This looks very promising.

 

[rnot2000]

good luck dev ":3

 

[Chuuni Badger]

Now I took a seat. Thank you for your hard work. This looks very promising.

Hopefully it'll live up to its potential in the future!

good luck dev ":3

Thanks! I'm going to need it.

 

[athosberger]

im new here following this post, we have any link to test the content?

 

[Chuuni Badger]

Progress report
As always, TL;DR/full task list can be found at the bottom of the post for easier reading.

Well... it is done. Things took way longer than initially planned but life do be like that sometimes and there's not much that can be done about it - what matters is that the new (and final!) prototype is finally here.
The usual progress report portion can be found in the second half of the post - it's not like I've been lazing around all week, doing nothing so there's stuff to talk about. For now however lets start with what everyone is waiting for.

There's A LOT of mechanical changes coming with this release. We have improvements to combat ranging from new weapon types, skills and status effects, to more under the hood changes for time calculations and surprise mechanics.
There are now tangible effects of time progression in the form of seasonal tilesets for exterior maps and weather conditions based status effects, making your clothing choices more than just visual modifiers outside combat.

We have the first example of an NTR event showing the ideas for how I'd like to turn it from a passive story moment into more interactive part of gameplay with potential player-driven relationship implications in the future.

Finally, we have two new locations which really helped me solidify my ideas of how I should proceed with map design going forward.

Is this release bug free? Fuck no. I tried to test and fix as much as possible (just look at this week's task list) but at the end of the day I'm just a one person and I NEED a deadline - otherwise I'll be tinkering with this thing till the end of time. It should be fine overall but I'm ready to hotfix any unexpected issues if necessary.

All in all, this release was a huge step towards a "proper game". The content is sparse, sure, but you can't make a game without fleshing out the mechanics - not if you want to avoid reworks and complications down the line. With this, I have a solid foundation to build upon and, hopefully, this will lead to a decent title in the future.

It'll take time, effort and a lot of pain but I finally have a pretty clear idea of where I want to go with this project and how to do it. All that's left is to actually do it... Easy, right? Ehhh...

Few important points to keep in mind before trying this release:

• This is still just a prototype, not a proper release you'd normally find in the downloads section.
• Because of the above the focus is once again on mechanics and features rather than content - the latter is very limited.
• Expect very rudimentary balancing - it'll require way more content, testing and third-party impressions to get it where it needs to be.
• Content available in this build uses placeholder or work in progress writing and assets.
• H scenes are just mechanical tests focused on showing the direction I'm planning to go with. Expect simple implementation, no story relevance and placeholder... well, everything.

Alright, so we're done with prototypes - what's next?

Besides hotfixing any unpleasant surprises, my current plan is take a month or two to read, watch and (possibly) play as much of the source material as possible to prepare for phase 2 of the project. I need to finish my lists of core characters, locations and events to implement, as well as get ready for writing the characters in a way that will keep them close enough to originals to keep them recognisable.

After that's done I'll jump back to fleshing out the mechanics that weren't needed until now and start working on the stuff everyone is waiting for: content.
I mentioned before that I never really wrote smut, let alone did so for pre-existing characters so I'd be lying if I said I'm not terrified of what awaits me. That said, I do think that with enough time (and patience) I'll be able to come up with something worthwhile. Eventually...

Spoiler: Patch notes for v2.0.0

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Now, for the progress report!

Since last post I've implemented two new quests, expanded the test NTR scene with more choices, reworked some existing ones and fixed a few minor mistakes I haven't caught before. I also continued with populating various locations with more randomised NPCs.

Besides that, I reworked the H stats screen again (for a good reason!) and moved some of the stat manipulation to plugin code instead of doing it all manually - updated the H scenes to make use of that as well.

On the feature side of things I decided to rework my approach to continuously ongoing mechanics, like paying the skill movement cost (moving with "Hide" or "Tracking" active) or updating weather based status effects.
Until now I kept them all in Common Events which ran with every step - now they're still triggered as often but I moved the actual mechanics to plugin code instead. The original implementation worked fine but manually activating a Common Event the way I did broke mouse controls (you couldn't move more than one step at the time) which is not ideal. The new way of doing things not only avoids this problem, it's also easier to maintain and expand if needed.
I did the same for save access toggling when playing with limited saving, though for a different reason. The effect however is the same - more robust functionality and easier modification if I ever need to change things in the future.

I also added missing skill level requirements to some skills and fixed a few instances of incorrectly set up requirements which would prevent some skills from (un)locking correctly.

Finally, there was A LOT of technical issue - stuff related to regen/damage over time calculations, saves not keeping the in-game date and breaking player stamina, broken enemy cooldown behaviour after combat escapes, borked item effects... As I said, there was a lot (though not everything was as serious as these examples). I should probably start doing full testing more regularly as task limited focus does have its issues.
Thankfully, I caught the most important problems so things should be playable. Probably.

It was a doozy of a week, I hope it was worth it.

Spoiler: Full task list

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im new here following this post, we have any link to test the content?

Welcome! The first post has a link to the current version, you also dropped by at the perfect time as I just released the second prototype.

 

[athosberger]

Welcome! The first post has a link to the current version, you also dropped by at the perfect time as I just released the second prototype.

This is the way

 

[Chuuni Badger]

Minor hotfix incoming!
Thankfully nothing game breaking popped up since the last post (I'm still testing...) but I thought I'll patch what I found so far. Rest is just a concept anyway.

Spoiler: Patch notes for v2.0.1

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New download links:

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• You must be registered to see the links

 

[Fioli]

I am very happy to see that you are working on a new game based on SAO. I have always liked it, and now, looking at your project, I am glad that there is someone who wants to make a game. Having played the prototype, I can say that I basically like the concept, but at the moment there are bugs in the game (such as when you run, you run through all the textures, or the endless training battle with Ronald) and there is not much content. I'm curious to see what your project will turn into. I'll be following it and helping to test your future builds. Good luck!

 

[Chuuni Badger]

I am very happy to see that you are working on a new game based on SAO. I have always liked it, and now, looking at your project, I am glad that there is someone who wants to make a game. Having played the prototype, I can say that I basically like the concept, but at the moment there are bugs in the game (such as when you run, you run through all the textures, or the endless training battle with Ronald) and there is not much content. I'm curious to see what your project will turn into. I'll be following it and helping to test your future builds. Good luck!

Thanks for the report, it helps a lot!

I slightly rebalanced the sparring enemies and fixed the never ending combat loop. I also found and fixed a few minor mistakes in one of the quests, though these ones were just cosmetic issues, thankfully. Will post a new hotfix today if nothing else comes up.

Before I do that however, could you clarify on what you mean by "running through all the textures"? Do you mean there's no collisions with anything or that you can move behind certain structures and character becomes slightly transparent? The latter is actually a feature to add some depth to the world and allow you to walk behind instead of around some of the buildings (like the clock tower in the starting plaza). Visible (but slightly transparent character) is there to make navigation easier though I might have to rethink how this works if it ends up causing confusion.

 

[Fioli]

Thanks for the report, it helps a lot!

I slightly rebalanced the sparring enemies and fixed the never ending combat loop. I also found and fixed a few minor mistakes in one of the quests, though these ones were just cosmetic issues, thankfully. Will post a new hotfix today if nothing else comes up.

Before I do that however, could you clarify on what you mean by "running through all the textures"? Do you mean there's no collisions with anything or that you can move behind certain structures and character becomes slightly transparent? The latter is actually a feature to add some depth to the world and allow you to walk behind instead of around some of the buildings (like the clock tower in the starting plaza). Visible (but slightly transparent character) is there to make navigation easier though I might have to rethink how this works if it ends up causing confusion.

When I press Ctrl, the character starts running, and in this state, I was able to run through any texture. If it was in a building, I ran through everything and could even run outside the “location frame.” It was the same in the starting area. I didn't check every corner, but I could definitely run through the cemetery and the castle.

 

[Chuuni Badger]

When I press Ctrl, the character starts running, and in this state, I was able to run through any texture. If it was in a building, I ran through everything and could even run outside the “location frame.” It was the same in the starting area. I didn't check every corner, but I could definitely run through the cemetery and the castle.

That's definitely weird. It never came up during testing but I can reproduce it as well - seems like a plugin issue. I'll make sure to fix that before releasing the next patch. Thanks again for letting me know!

Edit: A'ight, that was an easy fix. For whatever reason function which allows to noclip around when testing had one of the conditions commented out, enabling it for release builds. I don't remember changing this (I didn't even know this existed) but my other prototype doesn't have that problem so something got funky along the way. I blame cyber ghosts.

Anyway, issue is gone.

 

[Chuuni Badger]

Another hotfix, hot from the stove!

All of the reported issues (as well as some freshly found ones) were fixed and tested, should be gone for good. Hopefully no other game breaking surprises lurk quietly in the background but I'll get back to testing as soon as I can, just in case.

Spoiler: Patch notes for v2.0.2

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New download links:

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• You must be registered to see the links

 

[Rinar]

LOVING THIS GAME

 

[Artemissu]

To be completely honest I have no idea if this will become a game or, if it does, if it'll stay SAO related (it makes things easier in some regards but ties my hands in other).
All I want for now is to show it off and gather feedback on whether this is something people would be interested in playing.

i'm down to play it. And keep the Sword Art Online theme please, because it unironically is a great anime for a hentai parody due to how many rapey stuff the anime already have lmao (dunno about the visual novels, but they're probably the same)

 

[athosberger]

i like alot of the ideas about the game, the size of man is wonderfull, lots of stuff, but man, i played for like 1hr ou more and, got like lv 3-4 and i tink the problem is the combat sistem, is rly rly slow. if i can do a sugest is some kind of rework on the battle sistem. wait a timmer do to stuff do wait again to act, to wait a new timmer to do again is rly slow.