HTML The Outlaw: Empyrean War [v0.4c] [Flutewind]

Su13n

Newbie
Aug 12, 2021
57
65
I took the liberty and added HiEv's keyboard navigation to the game, as clicking through the fights was too annoying for me.
 

farmer_10

Newbie
Feb 14, 2018
20
4
I'm in the undead ruins fighting the necromancer and he casts Dark Bolt, but there's no buttons to go forward. I'm just stuck there
 

Kryptark

Newbie
Sep 19, 2017
57
36
Stuck on the Amazon's second totem. Text says to 'defeat gambler in gambling den', but there's no such option at the gambling den.
 

Flutewind

Newbie
Game Developer
Jun 5, 2021
57
77
I'm in the undead ruins fighting the necromancer and he casts Dark Bolt, but there's no buttons to go forward. I'm just stuck there
Fixed. Will release hotfix soon.
Stuck on the Amazon's second totem. Text says to 'defeat gambler in gambling den', but there's no such option at the gambling den.
You need to buy 5 gambling chips in the den, then the option to play against the gambler will appear.
 

1NeoWolf

Newbie
May 11, 2021
15
2
Im kind of confused with how im supposed to progress in the game. I see you added some sort of quests and locations but all I see is the village and the forest. Tried all the options each offered and spent 20+days in game and nothing new is popping up, the village elder and village hall do nothing, the traders just there to buy supplies or sell them etc.

So am I missing something or whats going on?
 

Flutewind

Newbie
Game Developer
Jun 5, 2021
57
77
Flutewind My speed seems to be slower each time I step on a trap in goblin's den. Is there anyway to restore it or is this a bug?
That is intended behavior.
Im kind of confused with how im supposed to progress in the game. I see you added some sort of quests and locations but all I see is the village and the forest. Tried all the options each offered and spent 20+days in game and nothing new is popping up, the village elder and village hall do nothing, the traders just there to buy supplies or sell them etc.

So am I missing something or whats going on?
Have you progressed the main quest? After 25 days a character called Natalie should appear and then you can progress.
 

Strykker

Newbie
Dec 30, 2021
82
106
It's permanent. Do you think that is too punishing?
In my opinion, maybe. But I don’t know whether you will gain the lost stats back later on in the story with items or some other ways or not since I’m still at this stage of the story. So if you can restore any stats back later then that’d be ok I think. However, maybe any notification about permanent stats lose would be nice for the player as well since you have goblin dungeon as repeatable with nice supplies and money (especially the juice) reward are attractive but if the player know the risk beforehand they can plan better how many time they want to dive in in exchange for the speed stat.
 

Flutewind

Newbie
Game Developer
Jun 5, 2021
57
77
In my opinion, maybe. But I don’t know whether you will gain the lost stats back later on in the story with items or some other ways or not since I’m still at this stage of the story. So if you can restore any stats back later then that’d be ok I think. However, maybe any notification about permanent stats lose would be nice for the player as well since you have goblin dungeon as repeatable with nice supplies and money (especially the juice) reward are attractive but if the player know the risk beforehand they can plan better how many time they want to dive in in exchange for the speed stat.
Thanks for the opinion. I'm considering rebalancing the goblin dungeon for the next release.
 

husofpgy

New Member
Jul 1, 2017
3
1
There is a lot I liked about this game.

The reluctant twin and her insatiable twin bit is both funny and hot. Selene's degradation is great. And the world building with the Incubus King and his harem, and the politics after the Battle of Dornburg, has my attention.

I think a renewed personal conflict between Selene and the protagonist prior to the Battle of Dornburg would make their first meeting as conquerer and conquered after the battle more personal. There was the excuse of giving her to the protagonist to maintain power balance, but it was not apparent in the council's decision making. It would be great to have scenes to show what political value she still has.

Have you progressed the main quest? After 25 days a character called Natalie should appear and then you can progress.
I also feel the 25 days was too long. It would be good to either reduce the gap or change things a bit to keep up player motivation. The battles are very grindy, and it is easy to give up on the game well before the 25th day. And it does not help that there is a bug that you cannot get the village elder's gifts while the ancient book quest is active. You can get the rewards afterwards, but they are easily missed at that point with the eagerness to get on with the plot.

Also you can't hire a thief to steal the ancient book because "$player.money" does not exist.

Let me keep Thalia pls
This. Or give us the chance to claim her later.

It's permanent. Do you think that is too punishing?
It is a guaranteed -10 speed every time the protagonist enters the goblin dungeon. Enter it enough times and the protagonist will have negative speed. It seems reasonable to recover that on the next day.

There are other issues while in chapter two, like the outpost captain who attacks continously without letting up. And if you flee any combat, you do not recover on the next day and this can lead to a soft lock. You can also lose max HP, if you had gotten hurt, then flee combat, and then take the hooded man's potion. Because the potion adds to the HP first, and then the max HP is set to the current HP. "$player.HP to $player.HP + 30;$player.maxHP to $player.HP + 30;"

As for the Battle of Dornburg, I found it is not possible to get the best outcome for Dornburg's northern battle. And Natalie's report of central battle is not correct, probably due to a typo with "$DoB_Central".
 

Flutewind

Newbie
Game Developer
Jun 5, 2021
57
77
There is a lot I liked about this game.

The reluctant twin and her insatiable twin bit is both funny and hot. Selene's degradation is great. And the world building with the Incubus King and his harem, and the politics after the Battle of Dornburg, has my attention.

I think a renewed personal conflict between Selene and the protagonist prior to the Battle of Dornburg would make their first meeting as conquerer and conquered after the battle more personal. There was the excuse of giving her to the protagonist to maintain power balance, but it was not apparent in the council's decision making. It would be great to have scenes to show what political value she still has.



I also feel the 25 days was too long. It would be good to either reduce the gap or change things a bit to keep up player motivation. The battles are very grindy, and it is easy to give up on the game well before the 25th day. And it does not help that there is a bug that you cannot get the village elder's gifts while the ancient book quest is active. You can get the rewards afterwards, but they are easily missed at that point with the eagerness to get on with the plot.

Also you can't hire a thief to steal the ancient book because "$player.money" does not exist.


This. Or give us the chance to claim her later.



It is a guaranteed -10 speed every time the protagonist enters the goblin dungeon. Enter it enough times and the protagonist will have negative speed. It seems reasonable to recover that on the next day.

There are other issues while in chapter two, like the outpost captain who attacks continously without letting up. And if you flee any combat, you do not recover on the next day and this can lead to a soft lock. You can also lose max HP, if you had gotten hurt, then flee combat, and then take the hooded man's potion. Because the potion adds to the HP first, and then the max HP is set to the current HP. "$player.HP to $player.HP + 30;$player.maxHP to $player.HP + 30;"

As for the Battle of Dornburg, I found it is not possible to get the best outcome for Dornburg's northern battle. And Natalie's report of central battle is not correct, probably due to a typo with "$DoB_Central".
Hello! Thank you so much for your interest and feedback. Regarding your points:

1. About Selene and the protagonist's dynamic, I might do this in the future, but for the near future there are no plans to further develop their relationship prior to the Battle of Dornburg.

2. The -10 speed will be changed in the next version

3. Dang. I'm always worried something in the earlier parts would screw up. I've changed the time to 15 days in the next version, and I'm considering changing things so the ancient book quest won't interfere with the village gifts.

4. HP, MP, and attack will be restored when sleeping in the next version.

5. About the bugs, I'm on my way to solving them.

Once more, thank you very much for your feedback, especially your bug reports.
 

Flutewind

Newbie
Game Developer
Jun 5, 2021
57
77
The Outlaw: Empyrean War has been updated to version 0.4a!

Hello everyone! Today the 0.4a update is released. For full information, please read the changelog. I hope everyone enjoys the update. Please report any bugs or issues if there are any. If there are any crucial bugs that need squashing, I'll release 0.4b in one or two days, similarly to updates 0.2 and 0.3.

My thoughts, and where to go from here

When I started this game, I was honestly just trying out twine, and I thought about making a small game. I find myself enjoying the process immensely, and I hope players can enjoy playing the game as much as I do making it. As I mentioned, I only work the Outlaw in my spare time. The Outlaw will update every roughly two months as usual. Thank you very much, everyone.
 

ShinyBoots1993

Well-Known Member
Apr 7, 2020
1,078
2,760
Screenshot 2024-08-14 200011.jpg
I think some spelling and description checks are in order.

I didn't think to take screenshots at the time but Dahlia has a lot of sentences starting in the lower case.

Natalie's scenes could also be linked to a screen independent of camp so they're not accidentally skipped.

For actual critique though. I suggest adding some livelier descriptions to areas. The initial village is just... I don't know. At points, I get the feeling that it's some tribal huts with a shaman but then there are fair-skinned people with European names that mention regular trade but Thalia says they're a backwater. There are no environmental descriptions, and interactions are very conflicting with what this society actually is. Dahlia's house for one is confusing because it seems nice and comfortable but she trades it for a second-hand tent. With the amount of gold I was giving her I'd assume she'd easily be able to spruce the place up.

Another thing about Dahlia is that I think there should be some event to introduce her? I was focusing on grinding gold and doing the main quest. I clicked on the prostitute by accident and went "Wait that's the lady mentioned in the changelog." She has enough content and can easily be missed by people who usually pass on NPCs labeled generically such as "prostitute."

This is a personal gripe but I feel like the reveal that her kids were just mentally stunted and malnourished 18-year-olds was kinda weak. Even if it was a curse. Which makes her sharing a tiny tent with them weird. I don't really have too much of a solution. Maybe extend Chapter 1's content or add a few months to the day counter as despite descriptions of lengthy travel, it's still less than a month.

Side note: Is there planned pregnancy content? If not I'm not sure why bother mentioning the rat curse's infertility is sometimes reversed.
 

Flutewind

Newbie
Game Developer
Jun 5, 2021
57
77
View attachment 3932361
I think some spelling and description checks are in order.

I didn't think to take screenshots at the time but Dahlia has a lot of sentences starting in the lower case.

Natalie's scenes could also be linked to a screen independent of camp so they're not accidentally skipped.

For actual critique though. I suggest adding some livelier descriptions to areas. The initial village is just... I don't know. At points, I get the feeling that it's some tribal huts with a shaman but then there are fair-skinned people with European names that mention regular trade but Thalia says they're a backwater. There are no environmental descriptions, and interactions are very conflicting with what this society actually is. Dahlia's house for one is confusing because it seems nice and comfortable but she trades it for a second-hand tent. With the amount of gold I was giving her I'd assume she'd easily be able to spruce the place up.

Another thing about Dahlia is that I think there should be some event to introduce her? I was focusing on grinding gold and doing the main quest. I clicked on the prostitute by accident and went "Wait that's the lady mentioned in the changelog." She has enough content and can easily be missed by people who usually pass on NPCs labeled generically such as "prostitute."

This is a personal gripe but I feel like the reveal that her kids were just mentally stunted and malnourished 18-year-olds was kinda weak. Even if it was a curse. Which makes her sharing a tiny tent with them weird. I don't really have too much of a solution. Maybe extend Chapter 1's content or add a few months to the day counter as despite descriptions of lengthy travel, it's still less than a month.

Side note: Is there planned pregnancy content? If not I'm not sure why bother mentioning the rat curse's infertility is sometimes reversed.
Hello! Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'll spruce up Chapter 1.

There is, but not soon. Dahlia's family just got an update in 0.4a, so it'll be a few more updates advancing the main quest before they show up again.
 
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52000758

Newbie
Aug 9, 2022
78
32
[/QUOTE]
Heheh. Fair enough. I guess I should explain it a little more than just "budget constrains". I live in a pretty conservative country with anti-pornography laws. They're pretty weak and ineffectual, but just in case, I don't want to get into legal troubles. Therefore the no donations part.
So you are basically an outlaw :))