Despair Labyrinth (RPG) Latest Release: Ver.0.09 (4/18/12)

[Sync]

I was pleasantly surprised by this - it was a lot better than I was expecting.

I have no problems with the graphics, and I enjoyed the characters.

However, I think the offensive capabilities of the priest and the two mages need to be improved to be on a level similar to the warrior-type: I've completed the game easily with the warriors, but the mages & priest are difficult to get through with, especially when you're relying on MP for their abilites and the warriors can get through without having to use MP at all (just keep sucking down those potions to keep topping up your health and you're fine, where the spellcasters need both health AND MP...something that costs a lot of money, which is hard to get when you keep losing fights).

[alooulla]

Well, Asella is my favourite purely BECAUSE she's so religious and judgemental. It makes the scenes much more fun. Hopefully your backstory for her wont be something that could take that away!

[KITAmaru]

I mentioned that 0.05 will be released 'this' weekend as in, before the 9th or 10th of September (not as in, today), and so it will be out by then. The content is pretty much finished at this point, but I'm waiting for responses from my testers / bug fixers so as to not release something that's basically too rushed or incomplete (like 0.03 was, with regards to the chasers in the Chambers...).
Given my work schedule, I think it's reasonable to expect an update roughly once every two weeks, though I'm not making any 100% promises as to what days and so on.

Anyhow, I really appreciate the support. ^^ I hope you enjoy the next patch, as I feel that with 0.05 it's starting to look more and more like an actual game.

I definitely agree with the combat system needing a LOT of balancing to be done. I'll be the first to admit that I don't spend a whole lot of time on that particular portion of the game, so anyone volunteering to consult or simply offer suggestions / opinions on proper balancing would be great.
I'm experimenting with 5 new skills for each character next patch. Casters such as Lanie and Thyme's overall damage output will be increased, and will at least have some status effects for many spells, in an attempt to create a 'stunlock / paralysislock' type of tactic, like how Emilia can use Sever Nerve then spam Turning Swallow Cut to kill bosses.

Well, we'll see how it goes! You'll also get a leveling area that doesn't involve having to get sent to the Chambers or playing with those silly Assassins.

After this patch, there are a few things I can do.
-I recently found a decent program with which to resize my pics, so that they'll take up the entire screen instead of most of it. I could go back and start re-doing all the pics, but that honestly would take me another 2-3 weeks and I'd rather wait till I have a new laptop (on the 25th or so) for better resolution before I do all of that.
-I could try to backtrack and add facial expressions to all of the character portraits which would help add to the immersion, but again, that would take an IMMENSE amount of time. My main issue with doing this though, is that each character tends to have a 'blush' or 'shy' type of expression but not one that looks genuinely erotic, like the custom ones in Violated Heroine (for Nanako, Rin / Lynn, Ashley and so on).
-Or, I could simply spend the rest of my summer vacation, which is until the 21st, making new H-content, areas and enemies for you guys. Which is, honestly, what I prefer doing. I'm quite aware that the H-game playing population is constantly seeking new stimuli, so I honestly don't see the highest priority on backtracking and fixing all of the pics, except for consistency's sake and for friendliness to newer players.

[Sepra]

I've played this version and the previous one.

As far as combat goes, I think that it'd be pretty good if there were multiple mobs so that the AOE attacks dealt damage to more than one person. As of current you gain some abilities that really have no purpose - and as you said, things like Sever Nerve/TurninG Swallow spam really make it unnecessary to do much else. That being said, I also feel that killing enemies is on the lower end of why people play this game, so...

Unless there's some bonus you gain (sexually) from beating people, it's almost counterproductive to the H in the game, yes? As it is, I'll generally submit to every new enemy I see, regardless of how the fight would turn out.

I'm a big fan of Thyme though so I'd love to see her damage buffed (I use Emilia if I want to just test things out because she's so much stronger), and my only suggestion would probably be for certain encounters to gain you a scene if you win, namely defeating the overseer boss at the end of the Chambers. I don't think many would disagree with giving her a taste of her own medicine.

Excellent game. I made an account just to tell you that! I look forward to more.

[Lucky777]

Enthusiastically throwing in my vote as usual:

Making the new stuff sounds best to me.

Also, to Sync, just think Recettear, man. CAPITALISM HO! Sell those endless weapons you find in the maid room and you'll afford enough pots to grind levels with no problems, for any and all of the magic users. Lack of a bed to rest in DOES mean you're thoroughly screwed if they run out of MP and money at the same time, but hey, just take care not to let that happen. There's also like 500 G in the item shop room.

[KITAmaru]

Worry not, 0.05 has a place you can restore your HP/MP, so as to make it easier.
HUGE combat tweaks in that spells do roughly 150%+ of melee damage now, but only 1.) they cost MP and 2.) spellcasters are weaker in both max HP and most stats, so it balances out. There are also a good amount of chests laying around in the new areas as well.

Currently, I'm just polishing up the sayings for each character while awaiting proofreading on the main parts. It's amazing how many ways you can reword the simple phrase 'Fuck me' (or, depending on Purity level, 'don't!'!), given the character's disposition, history, or general mood.
Good news: There doesn't appear to be any fatal bugs and everything is working A-OK for this weekend's release, which, as long as work doesn't kill me too much, might actually be out before then (as early as midweek... Thursday, maybe?).

EDIT:
Sepra - Thanks for making the account to tell me this!
Well, I'm making some tweaks to combat, particularly for the spellcasters. Lowered overall MP costs, made Mindpotions a bit more affordable, and so on. Funny you mention the multiple opponents thing, as I finally threw in *A* battle involving them in 0.05, but there'll be more on the way. As for the party members thing... well, that's easily in the works as mentioned before, but it's still gonna be a little while until then.
Not the first time I've gotten a request for that regarding the supervisor / dominatrix, and well yes, I have my own plans for her--not this patch, but next.

There are actually a lot of things I had originally planned for this game, the only thing is you simply get to see them little by little, that is, unless people would prefer a monthly update instead. Higher Purity will definitely be rewarded, as I mentioned before, in the form of items, some skills, and special (romantic and sometimes non) H-scenes only unlockable with that score. Right now it's a bit too early in the game to establish good relationships, which is why I'm kind of in a hurry to introduce as many new characters as possible so those CAN be established in the first place, not 'omg i love u after 2 days!!11 lets do ittt!!!11' ;D
Hope you understand what I'm aiming for, but seriously, any suggestions are absolutely welcome and will at the very least be considered! PM them if needbe--and that goes for everyone, though I'm quite aware of the limitations of a new account. ^^;

Anyhoo, thanks for the support, and I hope you enjoy the next patch.

alooulla - Hahaha, the backstory I have planned won't ruin that by any means, but probably only serve to bolster it!

[Sepra]

I was wondering when there'd be a benefit from maintaining a higher purity level? As of current it generally just prevents you from seeing some things?

[webought]

Who knew pixels could be soo spicy lol

[Destrocto]

if you could tell me where you got those h-scene images from that would be awesome

[KITAmaru]

Sepra - As of current, and next patch, yeah, there's no immediate benefit to high Purity. Actually, next patch a low Purity will automatically damage your relationship score with a certain NPC, but you won't be able to reap the benefits of that (as in, make love to him or vice versa?) until another two patches down the road (so I'd say about a month). Would you like to see immediate benefits of high Purity? I can always add some quick-fix solutions in 0.06, though my overall goal in the end is this; a high Purity is essentially indicative to associating sex with love and / or emotional connection. A low Purity score tends to be correlated with seeing oneself as an object and sex as something more detached, I guess. So a girl with a Purity score of say, 25 or so would likely have sex with a total stranger easily, as the connection is not required for them. A score of 100 is the max that some girls like Irine start at.

Destrocto - The H-scene images are brought to you courtesy of 3D Custom Girl / 3D Custom Shoujo. I chose it over the other 3D girl simulators due to the huge variety of mods available, particularly for fantasy-type scenarios, plus the large selection of male mods for tentacle or bestiality type sex, which I guess kind of comes with the territory.

SpectralTime - Currently the mirror in the Chambers (SW corner) can display your Purity as a numerical value; however, I have an item in the works that will give rough ballpark estimates of one's Purity level. I can't guarantee that it will be out in time for 0.05 though, since it's not as simple as saying here, display this variable--since there is a different Purity variable for each character! Likely, I'm going to have to set multiple branching conditions for one, then copy the section multiple times and then just replace the variables as needed. G_G

[SpectralTime]

Could you give us some way of "seeing" our purity? Maybe not as a numerical quality, but maybe an item like a mirror or color-changing gem that would give us a ballpark estimate?

Also, stoked to see what you're coming up with. Good luck!

EDIT: Dang, that does sound rough! O_O. Good luck again then... I guess...

[Sepra]

Sepra - As of current, and next patch, yeah, there's no immediate benefit to high Purity. Actually, next patch a low Purity will automatically damage your relationship score with a certain NPC, but you won't be able to reap the benefits of that (as in, make love to him or vice versa?) until another two patches down the road (so I'd say about a month). Would you like to see immediate benefits of high Purity? I can always add some quick-fix solutions in 0.06, though my overall goal in the end is this; a high Purity is essentially indicative to associating sex with love and / or emotional connection. A low Purity score tends to be correlated with seeing oneself as an object and sex as something more detached, I guess. So a girl with a Purity score of say, 25 or so would likely have sex with a total stranger easily, as the connection is not required for them. A score of 100 is the max that some girls like Irine start at.

Oh, no. I'd rather you developed things as you felt they should be developed. No quick and easy fixes for me! I like your system a lot, I was only wondering if I was either missing something or if something would be happening down the road.

As you explain it, it certainly makes sense. Degradation or trading sex for favors (obviously!) lowers purity, and once lowered you're up for doing more things. Ultimately, I think you're doing an amazing job and only had that small wonder.

[KITAmaru]

Thanks a whole lot. Yeah, I'd personally rather have people play it all at once so they can get the 'full experience' but, on the other hand, it's nice to see that others actually care for the game at all, since I honestly wasn't sure about how well it'd be received. Good things don't come overnight I guess, as much as I'd like them to sometimes, so with a lot of constant tweaking each patch (and thanks to my beta testers for that, who can even get credit in the form of easter eggs if they so wish), hopefully it'll turn out to be something I can be proud of... as silly as that sounds. x_x;

I was thinking of offering a menu-based skill next patch that would either involve masturbation (which may or may not drop your Purity score, though really, I'll find a way to actually raise it) or an attempt to offer yourself to random guys in the Chambers or bar, if your Purity is low enough.

One thing that's going to be a royal pain is the party system. Because, if another girl or a male protagonist joins your party, how will all the other H-scenes pan out if you lose a battle from backtracking and what not? It's simply nuts to try and make a combination of every single girl team out there, so I'm thinking I could always have one scene play, then the other... hrrrm.

In development news, I have about three more scenes to 'personalize' for, so it's looking pretty good. I would likely estimate the end of Thursday, or Friday depending on how many grammar mistakes I made and need to fix... x_x;

[Lucky777]

While I like the idea of fucking the prudishness STRAIGHT out of someone, it just occured to me that I can't imagine a way to raise it again, in game terms.

Uh ....

Lots and lots of Saltpetre? Or, to take a page out of slave maker's book, study scriptures of some chaste god, or some shit? (No idea why the bandits would have those around, but I guess one of the adventurers could carry them on him/her, or something. Maybe the same guy who wants you to be pure before he'll condescend to fuck you consensually in the first place.)

Also

Apart from just being awesome and leading to scenes, what sort of thing would the menu skill do? Just be a convenient way to grind down purity, or is it going to have some other purpose as part of a game-mechanic later on, like a mechanic in that chambers fuck-championship scheme you had mentioned earlier?

[KITAmaru]

Haha, yeah I haven't thought of the details regarding Purity being raised or lowered. Purity does exist separate from one's virginity--in that sense, one can be not a virgin but still have a fairly high sense of Purity (as with Emilia), whereas a girl can actually physically be a virgin but still have relatively low Purity (Sairyn) depending on her attitude regarding sex. Originally they were one in the same, but I think it works out better this way and still makes sense.

Raising Purity will indicate that she is closer to a standard where she won't have sex with just anyone, but perhaps the person she loves--actually, consensual relationships can help to serve this well, especially if a character finds herself falling in love. The deeper into a relationship you go, the higher your Purity score will raise.
(For you sadistic types, it makes it all the more tragic for when she's raped in front of the potential love interest and he's forced to watch, or something...?)

Now, I'm personally not so prudish as to associate this game's idea of 'Purity' with being in an exclusively monogamous, heterosexual, and consensual relationship--people with high Purity will eventually be able to still have a certain amount of fun, but the mood would certainly be different. You won't be willing to degrade yourself by referring to yourself as a 'fucktoy' or get raped, and you likely won't be able to bring yourself to fuck uhm... uglier people. Unless you have a thing for defining the scruffy slave trader and bandit guy as 'handsome', that is, in which case, I'm sorry your standards do not match that of the game's, so enjoy your lower Purity. On the bright side, there's no shortage of scruffy bandit dick, so if that + the selected character is your thing, you're lucky!

The menu skill would honestly... just be awesome and lead to scenes. LOL. It COULD serve a purpose, actually nearly anything in this game can go back to serve some sort of purpose if I just add a switch or variable control to the event (about 8 times... eheh). In RPG VX, 'events' are pretty much anything you can interact with--a character, an enemy, a shop, a restore point, a treasure chest, a door and so on.

[ExistentialGhost]

I don't know if the usage of a skill can be made dependant on Purity, but if that were possible... See, I've had these ideas about "end-game" skills, the skill you gain when you reach the maximum level of the character, and I have this image stuck in my head of Rhiannon one-shoting enemies by putting their heads between her breasts and suffocating them to death, providing her Purity is low enough to tolerate holding a stranger's head against her boobs. I think that would be fairly awesome, lead to a scene, AND serve a purpose

[KITAmaru]

Heya Ghost! I'm sure there's a way to implement that, actually...I just don't personally know of it yet. Gotta do some searching. I at least do know how to unlock a skill based on Purity, but am not sure as to the details regarding locking it again if Purity goes up.

[Sepra]

One thing that's going to be a royal pain is the party system. Because, if another girl or a male protagonist joins your party, how will all the other H-scenes pan out if you lose a battle from backtracking and what not? It's simply nuts to try and make a combination of every single girl team out there, so I'm thinking I could always have one scene play, then the other... hrrrm.

Yes, I was going to ask you about that. I can see how that would be difficult... maybe the last person to be defeated ensures who gets the H-scene? Just a suggestion.

[Lucky777]

Been tryin' to think of a suggestion on that "party scene" front too, but I haven't been able to come up with anything better than both scenes one after the other. That's probably best, I think.

'Cause like, a scene per combination is going to end up nightmarish to write, and for very little actual bonus content.

A generic group scene referring to the group or the pair in general would actually be LESS fun than each individual scene played one after the other, I think so ... seriatim is pretty much where I'm at.

[KITAmaru]

Sounds good--I just did a test run with a party of Rhiannon joining you, one playing as Emilia, and once playing as Asella. The way H-events are set up in my game, they are done page by page, with each page being 'if Asella is in party, 'if Rhiannon is in party' and so on. The basic order of girls in the game go like this:
Emilia
Rhiannon
Irine
Cesca
Thyme
Lanie
Sairyn
Asella
Just like in the voting polls. When confronted with H-events, the girl in the party who is closer to the end of the list will always receive priority for some reason. So for example, if I'm playing as Emilia, with Rhiannon joining later and we get an H-scene, Rhiannon will always get priority and have her scene showed. On the other hand, if I'm playing as Asella, with Rhiannon joining later and we get an H-scene, Asella will always get priority. Sigh.

Unfortunately this makes things a bit more complicated with the party system, so what I'm going to have to do is, if someone who is part of the original cast joins your party, I'll have to install a 'switch' basically stating that they're in your party to default the scene to one or the other.
Until then, I can always introduce other NPC's that will join the party instead, as I found a pretty good resource site and have a lot of ideas for F/F pairings and M/F pairings alike. And it doesn't rule out the possibility of an Irine x Cesca les scene or Thyme x Lanie, whatever you guys want really.

This is something I'll have to do some research on, asking around at VX forums everywhere, until I can figure the damn thing out. Until then, I'm not too terribly worried as there are plenty more characters to introduce and uh... play around with, I guess. You can also get into fights with some of the girls, I suppose--I have appropriate 'battler' images for Rhiannon, Lanie, Cesca, and Thyme at the least.