Sorry this one was a bit late…

…This week’s development update will still be written this week, though this is an update meant for last week.

I don’t think there’s much I’ve been doing with Infidemia lately besides planning out the battle system’s GUI (There is a working battle system, but I would prefer to customize the user interface) and rewriting attack descriptions to be more… informative.

On terms of gameplay, there aren’t many updates, though I do have something I’ve been working on this week that I may be able to announce tomorrow (since this post is for last week’s updates).

Oh, actually, there was kind of a big update to the game. The progression system in the game is planned out (though it is subject to change, and how it works isn’t finalized yet). Because there are different approaches to “grinding” that you can take in Infidemia, I’ve been trying to work on every aspect, but, it would be better for me to focus on getting one thing working at a time.

So, the new progression system isn’t finalized at all, but it’s specifically for how the player manages four stats – hopefully this will offer some customization, while also being a reward for getting through the filler content.

I’d like to plan out every redesigned user interface at once, though apparently it’s only possible to do one thing at a time, so I’ll be working on the battle system’s user interface for a while. (Since I meant to post this last week, this is still something I’m working on this week too).

Some other additions to make later: (As of this current week, none of these 3 things have been completed, alike the same in last week)

• Clock
• Action Menus
• Easier-to-access features (Custom Menus)

Yeah, there aren’t too many things that I was working on last week… …since this update is all about what I was going to post but ended up not doing because of some issues with website certificates.

For this website’s own updates, I asked about the certificates being updated though will wait to see when things can be fixed.

Another focus of development has been working on the music (also known as noise, because the tracks I’ve been working on sound terrible) yet, noise) for Infidemia, though it’s not going very well because I’m unhappy with how it’s turning out. For future games, I will likely not do any of the sound design, because this is something that I should not work on. For Infidemia, my plan changed from working on the battle theme to remaking the old version of the battle theme to see if it is possible to fix it. If it’s not possible, I’ll find another track I made from a while ago to remake into the battle theme or just start over on that.

I’ve also been planning how many playable characters there should be, and whether beating the game with any or all party members should be possible. Currently, there are 6 fully-playable characters, with the original goal of 7 characters, that means I’ll add them once the story gets to the point where the 7th character is introduced, though for now there are other characters who can join the party besides the 7 protagonists.

Balancing battles has been a big focus and playtesting the game still feels boring, though now I kind of know what I want to do with the game’s combat system, which is a new update, to know what to do.

Overall, don’t expect to hear anything useful about this game. I will not show any screenshots of gameplay, the battle GUI, or planned menus yet, as I do not intend on releasing a demo.

I have also changed some plans and do not intend on releasing the game, however, as stated last time, I’ll still write updates about it.

Until the next update,

-ZoruaAl

Sorry this update was posted a bit later than usual.

Some new changes:

• Every playable protagonist has a casual outfit now (these outfits are likely subject to change as development progresses).
• New potential track to use as the battle theme
• Map design – one area way later in the game that I planned out early on now has a temporary placeholder – one area early on in the game that ended up being added later is now… in the game
• Soundtrack – this has not been going well. Every track sounds too similar and feels too repetitive. I’ll listen to more genres of music and learn about different styles, but, for now, I’m not using my custom soundtrack. The game’s title theme has now been changed… 5 times since the initial version? The game’s main battle theme (not counting the 2 other areas with a different battle theme) has changed at least three times… …new themes that play during the game are being worked on but are facing the same issues. There’s probably enough content to have different “main themes” (theme of conflict, theme of peace, etc.) that play in a combined “final track”, but, I don’t think it’s good. I started the soundtrack in the late second half of 2019 and have been revising it since, but the goal for now is to get the core music (battle theme, boss themes, major area themes, a few plot themes, etc.) ready and then fix it later.
• Story – planned out a protagonist’s story who didn’t have much content before. Characters still need more depth, but this is a turning point (for the other characters to follow a similar development of getting more depth added to them). Filler content in the introduction has been added. Plot elements I considered adding but didn’t add are now being added (somewhat) – the story’s changed a lot since I initially planned how the game would work, but, for the most part, it still feels like “Infidemia” to some extent.
• Gameplay Balance – keeping the intro on the easy side, or what I consider to be “easy”. Boss fights are meant to be hard, but there are also frequent challenging encounters… …since the player’s healed after every battle, the focus of the challenge is on individual battles.
• Mechanics – I added way too many unused things at the start of development, so I’m building the battle system without the extra stuff, but for the most part, battles feel the same… …The total number of elemental attributes will likely decrease (but the core elements will stay, meaning that all battle abilities should be fine…) though the modifications to the core battle system have been beneficial. (There’s a bug where the player can make any actions while being knocked out, as long as another party member has HP… I’ll fix this)
• Instruction Booklet – I don’t know if I mentioned this. There’s a side project for the game I’m doing that involves making a visual + text based instruction guide. This is also to help me check if the battle system becomes too hard to explain.
• Random Stuff – Adding this later, but I’ll write it down for now (remember to add it later, but focus on the core first). This includes things like references to mention or goofy item description ideas.
• Changes to Core Gameplay – This will definitely change how the game is played… …how the player progresses in the game has been changed, but it’s meant to work with the other aspects of gameplay.
  

Some updates this week took longer to add than others, but everything’s subject to change. I’ll be focusing on the core gameplay/story content for now, as I think I have some ideas on what to do next.

Thanks for reading this,

-ZoruaAl

This update is a bit late due to difficulties with some issues in development, particularly trying to debug a game freeze that happened if the player faced the first boss’ map event in a specific direction.

What’s new?

Summarized edition:

• Bugfixing and a little bit of work on the next part of the game

Detailed edition:

• Tutorial is now playable
• Game doesn’t freeze upon finishing the first boss fight
• Unintentional shortcut removed (bug with moving the player to the wrong area after exiting one area), additionally stopped the event before this shortcut from endlessly repeating
• Started modifying the UI a bit more
• Added an “Afternoon” time to the game, will be adding a “Midnight” time as well.
• Fixed a glitch where the player would constantly be reminded that it was afternoon, thus being unable to progress in the day.
• The core time system has been adjusted to account for a full day rather than half a day (I changed how I’m counting some things which should make it easier to add time-based events)
• The day of the week will also be counted, but is not currently implemented. If this becomes too challenging to implement I may remove it
• There’s no UI for a clock yet but I’m strongly considering it
• Added one new mini-dungeon
• Adjusting the game’s soundtrack
• The next optional dungeon in the game is being worked on, recently started the first room
• Balance changes
• Fixed some buggy events that happen after the first in-game day of gameplay
• Dialogue for a boss talking about a boss fight that wasn’t implemented yet has been temporarily removed
• Fixed an issue where the player would be in a conversation with all playable characters at that point despite not having all those characters with them
• A (hidden) treasure chest visible without having to find it has now been made harder to find
• The player can now walk in chairs; this means certain events won’t “freeze” player movement anymore.

There’s not really that much work that’s been done on Infidemia yet, though this is only the 9th development update so far.

I’ve been “considering” a lot of things for this project and all what I can confirm for now is that it’s less buggy and that the core story content will be available. As I’m trying to focus more on gameplay, I decided that it’s better to keep going with the game and stop restarting development because eventually the boring introduction will be over and the parts of the story I find slightly interesting will be worked on.

However, there is not enough content for a demo, and, even if a demo is made, I would have to make sure that I carefully review what I have so far and that it’s possible to play the demo without any prior context (relying on everything the game tells you). Please do not expect a demo, screenshots, or any other form of gameplay to be made available. Additionally, the script will have to be reviewed much more before I decide if this game is worth making a demo for. On terms of release date, cost, etc., it is best to assume that Infidemia will indefinitely have a delayed release and I have no plans whatsoever to publish the game.

Since I’m still working on the game, I decided I should probably post an update every week about what’s happening with it, even though I’m not going to do anything with the game.

Until the next update,

-ZoruaAl

I’ve been working on some sprites for the game, specifically enemies that you can encounter in battles.

So far, a few basic (non-boss character / smaller sprite) enemies have a prototype, and one boss character is getting a full sprite (still being worked on) though will also require an animated spritesheet (which I will start off with a prototype for).

I have a few new themes that might play during the game, but I haven’t decided how these will work yet. Most of the music for the game has been worked on in reverse chronological order (end of the game –> beginning of the game) but I have a sample track for the tutorial room and a placeholder battle theme.

On terms of gameplay, the simulation-focused gameplay will mostly be about what you can do at the in-game school, while there will be opportunities to study, or visit dungeons outside of the in-game academics.

I’ve also planned to experiment a bit more with story elements, though since playthroughs can be impacted by your decisions, you might find out more about the story by doing certain things or talking to certain characters at certain times. …You could technically get all of the story regardless of how you play the game, but, events would turn out differently… There isn’t supposed to be a right or wrong way to make choices in the game, though characters will still comment on choices (especially in Coffee Time, the conversation-simulator minigame that is required to increase friendship levels between protagonists).

Anyway, until the next development update,

-ZoruaAl