[ENG] 2019 November Progress Report

Thank you, I did that, bought all upgrade and finally won against Darius :)

The exp gain is too low in the current patreon build. I've fixed it already but haven't uploaded the new build yet since I've been working on the new content. - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

Spirit Armor (I think that's what it's called) is how I farmed money. :3

Any suggestion on farming money? I'm broke now and each fight only give few money.

is pretty ez killing darius in the tournament, you have to upgrade you inner armor and outer armor to +15 plus collect some money an buy the following skill rampage holy smite and other thing that will deal 4x damage when you are in rage i win darius in like 4 or 5 turn? xD anyway i will let you know or maybe i can send you a video.

Also known as Determination @I Dare Korval

WolfheartFoxlover

I'm stuck at chapter 3 fighting Darius. I think it mainly because level gap (my Volga lvl 19, Darius lvl 28). Is this normal or is it because I use save file from demo ver?

They are ones of the romance options! - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

So I've completed chapter 3 and I can honestly say that I want Kakalu and Tharsix as romance options.

Michael Byrd

Sorry about that misunderstanding about how long you been making the game but I remember seeing the game concept in high school. I've been following the game off and on for all that time. So my patience is a little thin and I've been desperately wait for the full release the game. I love the game by the way, great work.

Bloodmage77

I get where you're coming from, but please understand that this isn't the only game we make. It's only these past 3 - 4 years that I can actually put most if not all of my time and effort into this game. The pre-production of the project started when we finished our third game under the name Dudedle Studio. We didn't make much money back then and was struggling to even sell any game or made any money at all. If it weren't for our previous games, I doubt we would have been able to build connections as well as building enough fanbase to pull this off. In any case, we're hoping the main part of the story will be done before the end of next year. - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

The new question is when will you be done the main part of the story? cause you been working on it since I was 20 years old and now I'm 30. lol

Bloodmage77

Only the main story. Not side quests, romantic routes, etc. We're focusing on finishing the main content first and we'll finishing the rest in the next iteration. - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

have they done everything in chapter 3?

Bloodmage77

He actually has a physical counter move called [Cutdown Counter] but due to the issue with exp gain, you won't get it unless you really grind until he's at high level (27 - 30, I think). I intended it to be a move for people who really can't beat Darius at lower level, since it works really well against him. The move allow him to dodge one full physical attack action and counter the enemy with a heavy damage. There's also a chance of creating a [Strength Bind] gem if he lands a cleanhit with his counter attack. You can dodge all of Darius' Rampage with this, and seal off all of his physical skills this way! - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

Not any time soon as we want to finish the main story first before adding all the romance routes while polish & rearranging events in the game. - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

Any chance for Lambert's dating route to start up? I want him to do things to Volga :x

idontknow

My biggest qualm about the game right now is that I want more and just can't get enough haha.

Thanks for your reply! Knowing that side/secret characters requiring special dedication for their affection is enough for me :D And yknow, I almost thought about recording my fights via OBS, but this replay system sound great to me as well. Here's a bonus for ya. If I can summarize what helped me survive extreme mode in this game, three things come to mind: 1/ TEC advantage 2/ Cleanses 3/ Stuns

@I Dare Korval That is definitely something we have always wanted to add and one of the reasons Kurono made the NPC spreadsheet. We want to add more meaningful NPC dialogues that will help player understand the game or giving hint to some battles or how to deal with some difficult situations. Murvin's one is an attempt to do that, but after that we didn't have much time to polish more on this part. The fighting tree is a good idea. We've been suggested that once before so I might add it in the future. - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

Oh that's super neat. I get both Lambert and Aquilo in the same chapter. That's perfect

MissingKeys

Thank you! The exp has been adjusted already but I haven't uploaded the build with that adjustment yet. Perhaps I should do that soon. You can get through the game without grinding for exp anymore and grinding is only necessary when you want to complete Gimdin's note. I wanna add hint in Gimdin's note too so you know which equipment you should get instead of depending on luck. I'm surprised to see you playing the game through extreme mode XD At some point I should add a match replay system so people can save and share me the replay files and I can see how they handle the match. Playthrough videos have been very helpful for me to see where I should improve the game. As for relationship, that will come later but we do care about minor casts as well! Mostly we want to keep whether the minor casts are dateable as a surprise and in dating simulation games, secret characters tend to have different ways to develop their relationship points than the main casts so we want to plan more about that. - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

The plan is you'll get to fight all of them in this chapter! - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

So Im curious. Have you revealed who is going to be the main rival / coliseum battle for this chapter? You've talked about 3 different character's battles but idk which to be looking forward to. Im personally hyped for Aquilo the most, he's always been one of my favorites alongside Cyrus and Lambert

MissingKeys

His crazy gimmick is being able to load a saved file and try again like it never happened. :P

I Dare Korval

Maybe I forgot this but to sort of help balance out the unique fighting abilities of the opponents, how about showing the fighting tree so we can better see who is where and who we might end up fighting next. I know we get some warning, but I'm not sure if it happened every time. It would allow more run up time to do dungeons and get gold to upgrade armor and skills and research our opponents. Like if when we go into town/pub/hotel we could talk to NPC's and get a bit more info on the fights we missed watching and what moves really impressed the NPC. Just a thought. P.S. maybe more hidden hints like when Mervin mention that Sylphlid bracelets were popular and Aboa was our next opponent and he uses vortex buffs on the gems.

I Dare Korval

Amazing progress report, and though these unique boss fights do have seemingly broken skillsets, I do enjoy a challenge. I've went through the entire game up until this point fully on extreme mode (Ow Mortir, Ow Darius, Ow Kailano), and it was a thrill in the process (which, side note, xp progression honestly still needs more work. Lengthy gem matching fights don't combine well with grinding at all). That said, hopefully their gimmicks are balanced enough to quell the people's wrath on how op they are (I know it'd mean less suffering for me on extreme mode XD) One more thing that I seriously want to ask: While I know this is just adding more things to your plate, have you considered dating system (or at least endings) towards some minor characters? After chapter 3, some of them have far more (borderline sufficient) character development to be Volga's potential relationship partner, and seeing them not date-able does feel injustice to them.

you're giving all these bosses crazy gimmicks, but where's volga's crazy gimmick

Newt

There's a degree of strategy and there's a degree of luck. I can honestly say that while some unfortunate things happen due to poor luck, many times it's because I chose to keep certain armor bonuses or abilities that didn't suit the situation or I didn't level enough beforehand. But that's the nature of the game. In fact I'm very surprised at how they've been able to spin the matching-game genre to have so many elements that reduce the luck factor. The game doesn't feel like a breeze and Coliseum fights are intense and difficult. But that's how it should be and it makes winning them and getting through dungeons more rewarding. If you're having a hard time then either lower the difficulty or use different armor bonuses/spells. Also, remember, these skills are tentative so they are always subject to change even after the build releases.

Soojimasu

I'm a fan of those secret bosses or secret dungeons as well, so it's safe to say that we'll add them at one point. Although, the idea of the receptionist being the secret boss never occur to me! It's both funny and interesting so I'll definitely keep that in mind XD - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

While luck is certainly involved, your gears, armor bonuses as well as your skills can play a big factor into pushing the luck in your favor. There are players who found strategies to deal with the past bosses and enjoyed doing it. However, reading your comment as well as recalling your past comment on how you feel about the game regarding the gameplay, I don't think there's any way to convince you that this game has strategy. This is the direction that the game is taking, and I don't think it'll change since this is the game my team and I want to play. If you find it disappointing then I'm sorry this game isn't for you. I'm glad to have your support until now, but I'll understand if you want to stop supporting, seeing that the direction this game is taking isn't what you want. I hope you'll still enjoy the game's story as well as other erotic content once the game is completed, since even if you stop supporting, you will still gain access to the new build of the game. - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

I have to admit, I'm disappointed in the direction the game is going. Why is the focus on making each boss more and more absurdly overpowered? Aquilo gets 2 attacks per gem match as his "unique trait"? You say he goes airborne for several rounds; if it is like other enemies that go airborne this means he will be immune to attack. Why isn't it unique enough that he gets to attack Volga while he himself is invulnerable? Why does the damage have to be unguardable?? Because he will be attacking Volga- between forced matches because there is no other play on the board, and cascades the player didn't want but the game triggered anyway, this move will be ripping Volga apart. Bind gems that are "hard" to remove? They already are often hard to remove, given how frequently they spawn in areas where there is nothing to match with them. Lambert gets to hide like a coward between a Golem, so not only will the number of HP on each of his health bars no doubt be higher than Volga's, but he also effectively gets more health bars than Volga's 3? Not to mention the Golem having even more effects canceling the player's moves. You guys really like tying the player's hands so there is no move they can make for some reason don't you? Tharsix gets an instant KO???? Am I the only one who thinks it is stupid to create a system where the player loses a fight just because the game spawns some stupid gem somewhere on the board with no potential matches? Or because you made the "mistake" of actually using your abilities, instead of just sitting on them on the chance you might need to break a pin? Joy. Just what the game needed-another mechanic to tie the player's hands and stop them from actually attacking Volga's opponent. It probably goes without saying that all of these moves will have ridiculously low costs to activate, so the bosses can use them over and over. And these are just their active skills-heaven only knows how overpowered their passive buffs will be. Meanwhile Volga doesn't get any moves/buffs that are close to being comparable to how powerful or useful his opponents' are. You devs seem intent on deluding yourselves that this is a strategy game. It really isn't. The single most important factor in determining who wins a fight isn't Volga's level (that's a joke, given the level cap), Volga's gear level, Volga's abilities, or any strategy. You really can't strategize too much since the board changes with literally every match, often in ways you can't predict when cascades start happening. You win or lose based on Pure Dumb Luck. If the game spawns the color gems you need and gives you good cascades, you win. If the game doesn't spawn the color gems you need or gives tons of cascades to the enemy, you lose. In my opinion, this obsession with adding more and more complications to Pure Dumb Luck-based combat is turning a reasonably fun game into a tedious pain.

Wonderful work! I like the design ideas behind the boss fights as you continue to make them unique wherever you can! Tharsix seems like he could be very dangerous so that'll make for a great fight! Also, random idea I thought of awhile ago that I never got around to mentioning. I think it would be interesting if the receptionist lady you talk to in the Coliseum for training or before fights was a secret lategame boss that could be triggered somehow. She would definitely seem like a magical-focused fighter that could blow you up if you're not prepared and since it would most likely happen outside of tournament hours, there would be no need for a punishment scene. It's a silly idea, I know, but secret bosses always felt like a staple for RPGs for me haha.

Soojimasu

Gosh, I 'd LOVE to add a special cutscene with Volga being put in an erotic submission by Tharsix. For now, I'll have to pin that as something to consider when we polish the game next iteration *sigh* - Punipen

Dudedle Studio

Love those ideas for Tharsix! Would be nice if we had art to go along with those mechanics but that sounds like extra work :P

Daemarius