RPG Patreon Active RPG Maker [mdqp] Caliross

[mdqp]

So, I am back with another game, and here is my pitch for it (shamelessly taken from my own patreon page):

Caliross, The Shapeshifter's Legacy, is a fantasy-themed game, which will follow a young up-and-coming historian, as she takes her first steps outside her hometown and into the real world, to learn more about the elusive nature of her own kind, the shapeshifters. Will she become a member of the Mage guild, or of the Adventurer's guild? Will she find out more about her heritage, or will she be too busy working extra time in sleazy bars to make a living?

The game will feature several factions, each with their own goals and objectives. With your actions, you might willingly or unknowingly benefit this or that group, as the event unfolds, but the open-world nature of the game will leave it up to you if you want to get more involved with the politics of the world, or if you want to just do your own thing.

As far as the adult content goes, the game will feature fetishes such as mind control, cowgirl TF, corruption and more, depending on the paths you'll follow. It will have a female protagonist (as hinted above), and will likely have submissive themes, for the most part (I can't exclude some dominant content completely, but it wouldn't be widespread).

The plan is to release monthy updates and have the latest version be available only to donors, unlocking the previous version to the public after a month. If you like what you see, consider following me, and telling your friends about my game.

Gameplay:
A mix of puzzles similar to old-style Zelda games (but you use spells, instead of items, when those are involved). There is some turn-based combat like in any JRPG (it's mostly standard RPG Maker fare, with a few twists and mostly customized stats/spells). The game has quests that function like many standard RPGs (you know, possible multiple solutions, factions might be involved so certain outcomes favors one over the other, there might be combat and ways to avoid it). The Zelda-like elements are probably the most fully realized of them all, since they are tied to the main quest structure. There are no levels or Xp, but you can raise your stats by collecting items, training, progressing through the main quest, and of course collecting/buying more equipment.

Here is a link to the Patreon page (which also always has a link to the latest public version, near the bottom!):

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Link to the

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.

Link to my "unofficial"

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(plenty of spoilers).

Link to the

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(please contribute anything you can think of to improve it).

Link to the

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(highly unfinished at the time of this writing, august 2020).

Do let me know what you think of it, and I hope you'll consider supporting me if you like what you see.

Note: this game requires you to have the RTP installed, here is the link:

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[Keyen]

I was interested by the game few months ago, but I was waiting for CGs. How it is currently? Do you have Cgs? How many?

Thanks anyway!

 

[mdqp]

I was interested by the game few months ago, but I was waiting for CGs. How it is currently? Do you have Cgs? How many?

Thanks anyway!

There are about 20 CGs (more if we count all the variations) and a fair number of images for the "layered model", which I use to show off the player body in more generic scenes and in the personal info page (it shows different breast/butt sizes, tattoos, piercings, certain clothing...). I get more CGs every month. I should probably start ordering three commission per month instead of two. I was hoping to get a bit more support before investing on a third artwork each month, but I might go ahead and do it anyway, since the game is going to need a lot (and there always scenes which could be improved, anyway).

 

[mdqp]

So, like every month, the game gets updated, both for the public version, and the Patreon version. Here is a

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, where you can find a link to the changelog and the public version (near the bottom).

 

[mdqp]

With another month, comes another update (

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)! Do let me know if anyone gave it a shot and liked it.

 

[Slam Sector]

You wouldn't happen to have a walkthrough or guide for your game would you?

 

[mdqp]

You wouldn't happen to have a walkthrough or guide for your game would you?

So far there isn't one (and I am not too keen on writing it myself). There is

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on my blog, however, which contains my personal notes on the game, and works unofficially as my help page (I should probably add a link to the opening post).

 

[Keep]

i only played a little, and mostly ran around in the city, collecting money.
Still, i very much enjoyed the world and the freedom you've given us, your non-linear approach with a pretty custom MC is a refreshing breath of air, in a pretty stale genre, most of the time.
Even the lack of Art sometimes didn't really bother me, even tho it's usually something i do put an emphasis on.

Looking forward to playing some more !

 

[mdqp]

i only played a little, and mostly ran around in the city, collecting money.
Still, i very much enjoyed the world and the freedom you've given us, your non-linear approach with a pretty custom MC is a refreshing breath of air, in a pretty stale genre, most of the time.
Even the lack of Art sometimes didn't really bother me, even tho it's usually something i do put an emphasis on.

Looking forward to playing some more !

I am glad you are enjoying it so far! I kind of like RPGs with choices and consequences, and you usually need an open world for those. I kind of wish I had designed the game to better accomodate more changes to the protagonist, but overall I am happy with how things are going (I just wish I was faster or that the days were longer XD).

I am slowly adding more CGs as the game grows. I get 3 of them each month (not counting variations on the same CG for sequences and such), so I hope to eventually have all major events covered (which reminds me, I should maybe add some non-sexy CGs for discoveries in the temples).

Anyway, I hope you'll like what else is there to find. ^_^

 

[mdqp]

Issue: in the beginning, if you go back to change your base stat, it does't register said change, also, the gods stat stuff affect the wrong stat.

What do you mean "it doesn't register"? After making the choice, it displays your current stats, and the numbers don't match? I just tried it out, and it seems to be fine for me.

 

[mdqp]

Got a -20 to Will instead of Inhib, could be because it registered my original choices, but not that I went back to change them...

I tried this, but the numbers always seem to work as intended. The way the game works, it sets the values with the first choice (so that part is always correct no matter what), and then it applies the changes of the second choice on top of that, so it doesn't record anything (I just need to reset a handful of items and variables, and they are all accounted for). Could you try again?

 

[mdqp]

I could, but my guess is that it was a weird bug on my end, Jap locale (because Dlsite games) + no RTP first time trying to start the game.

Well, just in case, do let me know if it happens again, and tell me exactly what you did, so I can try again, but hopefully it was just a random issue.

 

[ell_123]

Are there any estimate on how far is the game from being finished? Will future versions be save compatible? I like the premise, but wound't want to replay same sections of the game when new versions arrive.

 

[mdqp]

Are there any estimate on how far is the game from being finished? Will future versions be save compatible? I like the premise, but wound't want to replay same sections of the game when new versions arrive.

I try to make the game as compatible as possible with old saves, but sometimes it's not really possible. A few months ago, I would have said we were at least one year away from full completion, but the scope keeps getting readjusted every now and then, so it might still be a year from now, at least. I am trying to speed things up, but I don't want to force the pace too much and ruin the quality of the game.

 

[mdqp]

Bug while replaying the slime scene (from bed), two box of texts then nothing, aside from the music.

Noted and fixed (although it won't show up until version 0.79)! I wonder how nobody noticed before.

 

[mdqp]

Maybe not many use the feature, or replay other scenes more...

Still, it's been added a while ago. Oh well, as long as it's fixed now, no need to get too worried about it.

 

[mdqp]

Get this weird thing: View attachment 15123 during the drunken convo with Karen.

edit: also, the "getting votes" thing is kind of a pain in the ass.

Fixed the crash (the fix will be there in version 0.79).

Well, becoming a noble is supposed to be at least a bit hard (it's not mandatory either). Is there something specific that bothers you about it?

 

[mdqp]

A certain lack of in game hints, and some hints are either way too subtle, or all over the place, like the spell and the flowers ones.

and from

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, those guards might need some debugging.

Considering the rest is more straightforward, I assume those two are the only ones that really bother you, or did the king's quest cause you troubles somehow? I am planning to add more spells which might work as solutions, so hopefully it will just be a matter of exploring the world a little, and won't cause too much grief in the future.

As for the flowers, do you think it was too hard to figure out you needed them, or was it more troublesome to get the right combination?

Note that there was a bug (eventually fixed) which didn't count the king's vote, so in the future, you won't need as many votes (this fix doesn't work if you already completed the king's quest in a previous save).

I am not sure what the problem with the guards is (they work fine for me), so I am trying to investigate that issue.

 

[mdqp]

Right combo... and what is/are the hint for the spell?

Could be related to talking to them beforehand? like the one asking to see your panties or something?

For the right combo with the flowers, she gives you a hint hidden within her words: "If you know enough about me, maybe you'll be able to ask for my help in a way I like, and then we can be friends. There is more than one language, right?"

The part about the language of course is a hint about the flower "language", but the two words I underlined here (help and friends) are the key ones for picking the right combination. I was considering coloring them differently, but I thought that could have made it too obvious, instead.

As for the spell, I must admit it's my fault. I wanted more spells to work for the challenge, but I don't have many special spells in the game yet. The idea would simply be to explore the world, and any rare spell you find should work. As such, there isn't really an easy way to leave hints either, as it just needs some more development. Once I have in the game the magic academy and/or I add a quest or two for the mage guild, things should sort themselves out.

I think the problem with the guards was fixed in the latest version, but not in the public one, that's why I couldn't figure it out at first, so I'll just have to let him know it will be fixed in the next release.

 

[mdqp]

Figured the first one, but the second one kinda went over my head. There could be visual hints in her room...

so, is there any spell that work? and the hints could be spells she knows...

You love having references to things you watched/read/played?

In the future, will there be some ways to shake off the effects of some of the hypnosis scenes?

Game need a bit less "parasitic" relationships, and some more "symbiotic" ones.

I wonder what could work as a visual hint, though. I thought the wording sounded deliberate enough that people would catch onto the hint, and together with how unlikely some of the flowers meaning were (like "love"), it wouldn't be too much of an obstacle, while still providing a brain teaser. Riddles are harder to balance compared to normal puzzles, I guess. XD

There is currently one spell, a secret one:

Spoiler

You need the gemstone from the first temple. Once you can transform into a fish, you must return to the floor with the mermaid, flood the corridor again, and go into the water. This will open the floodgate that is closed when the corridor is dry, and you'll be able to access a secret room. Note that the spell isn't functional yet, but will be used to open certain secret, optional temples I'll add in the future.

I do like to sneak in references, yes. I think everyone likes to pay tribute to whatever they enjoyed. I try not to be too on the nose with those, but as long as I don't ruin the mood, it should be fine. XD

There currently is a way to "rewind" certain paths in the game, but it's really well hidden (maybe I'll add some hints for it in the future), and it's limited in number of uses and the paths it can affect. Right now, it's pretty much just the cowgirl path that can be "erased". I do plan to expand this more, but I'd like to have a path complete, or very close to complete, before offering the option to rewind it. That's to avoid having to tweak the interactions multiple times. I figure some of the hypnosis paths will end up on this list, eventually.

I think that could be fun. Are you thinking of anything specific for the symbiotic relationships? I can't promise anything (there is already a lot to do), but maybe I can find a way to work something in.