Patron's Exclusive - "The Original Sin's" (Project Update - II)

Reader beware:

This is a follow-up (sorta) to a project presentation's introduction from March 10. If you wanna catch up to things, check out the original, first post here: LINK

Introduction - "How's things going?":

Oh man, oh boy, there's so much to comment on since I posted about the "ToS's" project for you people in exclusivity, but given that I do kinda write these big-ass updates sort of "on the fly", I apologize in advance if anything I say sounds off or if I accidentally leave details out. If you think I've done anything of the sort on this update, please leave a comment with your question, and I'll be more than happy to elaborate!

With all of that said though... Let's start talking PROGRESS!

"From Concept to Practice":

So you may have noticed that I kinda work in "spurts" on my pieces. Like, I do a big one or two, maybe followed or preceded by a few sketches or doodles, then I go silent... Then I come back and do the same thing, once and again, rinse and repeat.

While "some" of that is, as you would expect, me just recharging my brain and taking a small break, the truth is that well over 70% of that time is just me working non-stop on the development of the "The Original Sin" project I showed some rough "conceptual sketches" of a few months ago. Sadly, since it's one of those things I can't quite update y'all on, like, once a week or so, because that would mostly just be me mentioning things like: "I spent the start of the week trying to find a way to make the buttons on the status panel dissolve into one another through scene transitions", I would be willing to go out on a limb here and assume you're not exactly dying to get that kinda dribbling, technical clutter on your Patreon feeds, making frequent check-ups on the project's progress a bit moot.

However... After a few months of work? Now I DO have the kinda goodies you'd probably wanna check out! >:D

(Prototype, first rough draft of the "post-opening" introductory scene. Each speaker's line is delivered with a dynamic sprite on the left edge of the dialogue box.)

"On the Novel side":

There isn't a ton to comment on the novel side of things in regards of technical details, because... Well, as the name would suggest, it's mostly composed of the narrative segments that would connect all different points of the game together. It's mostly a writting exercise, and to comment about progress in this particular aspect would entail talking about the plot, which... Would kinda defeat the purpose.

However, as you can see, at least for the moment, I believe I came up with a decent arrangement of the dialogue's UI, with characters displaying their dynamic avatars every time they speak, their expressions reacting to specific variables for a more customizable degree of expressiveness. These newer versions of Ren'py (a framework of Python language specialized for Visual Novel development) also provide a higher degree of flexibility and ease of customization, which was the main barrier stopping me from considering it in the past (TLDR: I've known and had experience wiht Ren'Py for ages now, I just didn't feel it was cut for the work at hand, in those days). Allowing for implementation of animated backgrounds is now one of the many improvements to the engine, and as you can see, I think it gives the whole feel a way more immersive style.

(Each segment of the core game begins with "Cammy" flipping her phone up, from where the player will be able to navigate through their options: from checking their stats and answering messages, to arranging their schedule for the day, saving, loading, and tweaking the game's settings).

"On the Raising Sim side":

Now, when it comes to the "core mechanic" of the "game" proper... There are quite a few things to comment on.

First of, the core of the mechanics is pretty much decided on and "roughly" designed:

After Cammy is brought to the city of Mysia by Nym and her group (no story spoilers, mind you), you will be given a full year for her to grow into a full member of the crew in whichever path you decide to explore. For example, you will be able to:

- Make her train her martial and gun skills to run black-market operations or security roles under Leona's guidance.

 - Turn her into a skilled, well-paid stripper and/or escort/hooker at the nightclub by Nym's side, from serving drinks and being a pleasant conversationalist, to... Well. Following on Nym's steps. That could mean a lot of different things. It's Nym, after all.

- Assist on dealings and the more diplomatic aspects of the crew's work behind the scenes with Aika as your chief of staff.

- Handle the cryptographic and surveillance details of the group's operations while trying to keep up with Sheryl's particular personality.

- Run on the street level managing the logistics and delivery grunt-jobs & mechanics with Amy, the team's firecracker.

- Attempt to assist the fugitive, gone-rogue and wanted genius professor of Planar Biochemestry and Physics, Dr. Alicia von Engel.

These and many other possible ways will be given to Cammy in order for her to pay off her debt to the crew and earn her place among their ranks! What she becomes after the year is over is up to you, your choices, and a bit of luck!

(Besides main stats like Strength, Intelligence, Charisma and the like, a set of sub-stats for more specific acts like skills with handling firearms or bartending abilities will be available to increase your chances of success along the many different paths and events through the story. Temporary Effects like some moods or drugs will play a role every now and then as well, and some decisions may even bestow permanent or semi-permanent effects, both negative and positive, in the form of Traits).

In line with how most raising sims tend to work, each day you will be given a series of activities to partake on, and depending on a combination of luck, dedication and timing, Cammy will see her many variable stats grow and adapt to the choices you make, both through the story and by the type of activities you pick for her to focus on as the days go by.

(Once you've figured out the way in which you want Cammy to spend her time for the day, just choose from a vast array of options through the "Fixer" app on her phone. Just make sure you don't overwork her, lest you risk making her fall ill or run exhausted. Always plan ahead, whenever possible).

All these animated GIFs, by the way, are directly captured video of the actual game. These are all operational mechanics, and functionality, even if very bare-bones, is actually there. The math works... At least on a very basic level. This leads me to the final point of this little (pft... "little") update.


(Each activity will have a fun little animation cycle displaying the possible outcomes determined by a mixture of RNG and other variables, like how developed the involved stats are, how much energy Cammy has left, as well as all other active status effects, Traits and mini-skills. Succeed, fail, critically succeed... Just always keep in mind the possible consequences of your choices).

"So what's next?":

As just mentioned above, the reality is that the project is still way on the "pre-alpha" stage. Nothing in the game is set in stone yet. Hell, I'm still not fully sure which stats and skills will end up making it on the testing phases. There's a high probability skills or aspects of the game may end up being redundant, not used, not applicable... And on the other hand, I may add mechanics or the like I've not even thought of yet, but that may end up coming to mind as I write the story (or may be borne out of suggestions from y'all I may end up realizing mesh well with the general feel of the project).

Most of the "working" mechanics right now are more "proofs of concept" than fully fleshed-out designs. The point right now is, for example, to fully make the "Sparring" activity work fully (as in, make it roll the "right dice", calculate the math correctly, react to different status effects and variables, etc). Why? Because after that, making the "Poledancing", "Meditating", "Jogging", "Makeup" activities and so on would mostly just entail taking the "skeleton" of the "Sparring" activity and just re-working it to match different actions (change the animation file, alter the numbers and skills to calculate and so on, but the structure remains the same).

This design philosophy applies to almost all aspects of the game: Make a thing work, then copy the basics and re-work it rather than starting from scrap every time. Work in "modules" you can reform and mold to each specific new thing you need to add. This gives the game a consistent structure (the "feel", so to speak), while making future developments and additions easier.

(Most of the game will work through a Morning/Afternoon/Night cycle, effectively giving the player 365 days of 3-set points where to arrange a schedule, very roughly translating to around 1095 different moments to pick a set of actions for extensive variation of possibilities in multiple playthroughs). 

In any case, now that at least the very, super-rough base mechanics of the core "gameplay loop" have at least some semblance of shape (and by this I mean: I at least know what the "point" of the game will be, mechanically speaking. Besides enjoying the story, that is), I've put the whole "scheduling/stats" aspect on hold and moved to work a bit at least on the introductory narrative beats, because I think writting the story will give me a better feel for the type of activities (and subsequently, stats) that the game will more likely use than not, but this is where I ask you all for your feedback!

What do you think? What are your expectations, if any? Are there things you would like to see, ideas or questions you ever had about the "Sin's" universe? Which part do you think you'd enjoy the most? The micromanaging/raising sim part? The story/vn part? How much or how little outright smut you expect to get? Anything in the captures here you wish to make any observations on?

Leave me your comments and questions! I'd love to hear what you think about the project so far!

Oh, and yes, I do expect to later down the line create a higher Patreon tier here for beta-testing and crediting purposes, but this was never about raking in the big bucks for me, so I don't wanna start doing that before I got something more material to share (even though any and all help is welcomed, as always ;D).

Lemme hear what you got!

Fate out!!!