itch.io

There has already been a lot of great people that have supported significantly to this project, and I'm just trying to get it finished at this point. I've moved to a "support if you can" model with itchio. I'm glad that you enjoyed it and I hope the ending matches the rest of your experience!

When  I get the next version out there, I can definitely do a mac release as well. RPGMMZ has a mac deployment out of the box. I don't know if it's compatible for Mac/Intel or apple silicon as well though.

The main character can take steps in the Medical Bay to increase their threshold, allowing them to get bigger in later acts of the game.

Brown ore is the uncommon ore. Every ore deposit drops some of the ore of same rarity, more of the rarity underneath it, and maybe a few of the rarity above it.

There are some rare ore deposits in caves. I'm working on adding more nodes across the maps for less materials grinding

That has been a bug that was tough to fix without a rewrite. I'm currently in progress for a fix for this.

Thanks for the heads up, link should be updated

Thanks for the heads up. I've updated the OP to include all links there, with the new patreon link to the game studio.
I've also gone through and deleted that older patreon link. Thanks!

Thirsty is going to be the blueberry story

Meanwhile, I went with the decision to enhance the individual story for each expansion theme instead of having them all just run on the main story alone. I disabled switching for this reason, so that the player can progress through the side quest for their own chosen theme. 
The new NPCs and encounter system will have the main character facing enemies from all expansion themes and there will be a strength and weakness strategy coming in. 

I do have a bug-reporting channel on my discord where I'm able to track all of the bugs the community has found in one place. Drop on by if you did find something. Meanwhile if you would like to help in some way, feel free to reach out. This is a single person effort, so I am trying to juggle everything.

Not today, spammers. Not today!
Still alive and well, just trying to code as much as I can.

The current implementation of the theme select came from when Pregnancy artwork and dialog was just completed, and there were artists lined up for Blueberry and Breast/hourglass expansion. At the time it seemed like I was lining up a lot of artists to add more themes, so I stubbed out some other possibilities to help plug them in later. 

I made the game itself to be modular, so that as long as I got artwork for any kind of expansion or transformation theme, I could add in the artwork and story for it. 

For my plans for release, I couldn't be happier that I have not one but three themes in the game. Although I planned for it in code, I wasn't expecting it. For now I'm releasing this game with Weight Gain, Pregnancy, and Blueberry for the expansion themes and stories so that I can keep to my already amended schedule for 1st Quarter, 2023. 

I do have plans to learn Unity, probably with RPG Maker Unite, and with that I will probably see about remastering SoGIV. If that comes around and I can acquire more assets from artists, then I'll look to adding more themes that are requested.

Thanks. It feels good to see the old code, and find new ways to improve it, or find things that I was missing. Feeling even better about the game than before.

I went in favor of setting the theme choice early so that I can write a side story specific to each expansion theme. 
That does mean that a separate gameplay is needed for each theme, but that there will be personal story elements for that theme that can give a different experience.
The new NPCs that can be encountered can be from any theme, and there are some upcoming combat elements that allow for some more strategy. For the main character, she can only be affected by one expansion type at a time.

When ALPHA 6 asks if you're experiencing any symptoms, select "I'm feeling a little flushed

There was plans from the beginning to add some robot like NPCs as drones. The anomaly energy would affect them more like a normal RPG, and that way I could focus on art assets for the MC. When art started opening up and then I was able to get content for three expansions, this feature was put off to the side. I'll be revisiting it once I have the combat revamp completed with the enemy NPC

Yes. Once I move to a single release with v0.10 I'll bring out a windows and mac release. 

I'll try to get better spec requirements for Joiplay with RPGM Mz. I've had some players have trouble on older phones and android. There's not much I can do but I can try to find some specific requirements.

Looks like they're not showing up because of a bug. Syrup is supposed to drop in some other gatherable nodes like nectar does. The grapes are supposed to be their own nodes that are not showing up.

Changelog for v0.9 is up in the development log

Hey everyone! Version 9 is out!
The main changelog is on the discord server. I'll copy it over here and on the Weight Gaming forum tomorrow. Enjoy!

You mean the walking sprite? While there are cutscene art for each of the 10 stages, there are only about 5 stages of walking sprites. Plus, some of those walking sprites are reserved for the later game where med bay procedures can increase the MC's max on the blue meter even further. The sprites between WG and P are a little different. If you're still having trouble, let me know on the discord server. I have bug reporting channels dedicated to tracking issues there.

Thanks! It is a work in progress. If there is anything that you see that needs to be changed, I'm tracking bug reporting and requests on my Discord server. Enjoy!

@PaddedStreamer, I appreciate the feedback. After looking at your commenting history, it's a proud badge of honor to get three comments on my game to show the depth to which you've played it compared to some of your other reviews. It is a work in progress, and I've got some good notes to work on here. If you could remind your one follower about that, I promise to work to improve the game. Thanks!

There may be a combination of things that I haven't been able to single out. I had bought the entire Yanfly MZ plugin library, which is dozens and dozens of extra plugins. There are some that are still unused. I'm guessing that anti-virus is mad that these are extra javascript files that aren't being used at this time. I've had other reports that a certain unused plugin file can't be loaded, in which I just remove from the project completely. If you do see any logs that specify a certain filename, please let me know and I will trim it out in the next update.

Otherwise, it's a false positive from the antivirus.

That is a bug. There were a few of those that came in from having split functionality between expansion themes. The intent is to slow the character when they're in the higher stages of expansion, but to have all of that cleared when going through the med bay for recovery. Same thing for in caves, but just not able to beam out from underground. The best bet is to get to the surface and then you can reach the ship again.

This bug has been addressed, as well as adding more options for encounters and story that helps with the grind. But they are currently in the v0.9.0 which is in supporter early access. For now, the early access version is delayed from hitting the free general release by a version. v0.9 will hit general release once supporters get v0.10

Hey everyone, I have a few more notes for the v0.8, since it was such a big update. Namely, bringing in a major goal of the game which was to have multiple expansion "themes" that the player can pick from. That being said, bringing in the second theme did have a lot of bugs that were squashed through the several patch versions. Here's a list of a couple known bugs that are getting or already have been addressed in working on v0.9:

- There was a typo in the code. So the MC will always get pregnant when they give into their urges.
- Also, the med bay hasn't been able to understand the anomaly's effects so pregnancy may not be completely cleared after a recovery. (That has been fixed)
- Shields are not equipable, yet. That also has been fixed for the new theme.
- Some of the later maps puzzles also need to be reworked to be better suited to the MC's psychic powers instead

Thanks for everyone patience. Meanwhile, come in and check out the Discord server! A friendly reminder that I've had the best success with bug reporting and answering questions there.

v0.8.3:

Bugs:

- Fixed a bug where cave appeared in map 3 without selecting a gameplay first

- Fixed an infinite anomaly event node on one of the later maps

- Fixed variable assignment that was causing the infinite anomaly event on the blinding snow map

- ALPHA 6's sprite is direction locked, so won't change in appearance

- "Weapon_unleased" plugin removed: was causing startup error messages for some

General:

- Finished out logic for puzzle added to map 1

- Created code for gathering nodes for Cherries and Melon

- Pregnancy gameplay unlocked!

    - This is mainly to release the mechanics and to make sure they are working and fun while the last two art images are being finished by the artist.

    - The pregnancy gameplay had the most different mechanics out of any of the expansion themes

        - The anomaly energy seems to have made some sort of life form on the planet surface. And to a lonely sole survivor, they do look exactly like what you're thinking.

         - Resist their psychic calls. Or not. Beware if you give into your needs, the surprise comes quicker than you might think.

         - Most activities on the planet surface will erode at your willpower first if the MC isn't pregnant. Each psychic call from the aliens brings a chance that the MC gives in. 

- Upped the amount of ore rewarded from common, uncommon, and rare ores

- Pregnancy stages 8 and 9 art is complete and in place

  - Writing support has provided all dialog text for pregnancy stages and logs

- Added all pregnancy stages to the status check so that a player can track and enjoy the MC's current state

- New Tutorial is finally here!

    - Intro cutscene still needs some rewriting and formatting to fit into the text boxes

    - But intro cutscene now informs the player to visit ALPHA 6 to turn on the transporter, and gives the player the decision to select the expansion theme of choice from the beginning.

- Plus a lot more tiny bug changes.

You're right. The check status item will let the player see the current stage and image for the main character.

v0.7.4

Bugs:

- Fixed where sector map and map 1 events looked different depending on which direction you activated them from.

- Using the Move Events Core plugin to fix phantom wall bugs, especially in underground maps

- The transporter console cancel "button" wasn't using the new event I made that also handles the dynamic sprite selection

- Removed some transparent walls in the crew deck of the survey ship

- Fixed small bug on laser puzzle from mid to left that caused the smallest laser to disappear

Side Quests:

- Working on puzzle for helping to fix ALICE further.

    - Completed puzzle that will help to fix ALICE further, making one possible ending easier to achieve.

- Setting up story and location to find out more about aliens and last survey team

General:

- Language support

    - All menu elements not extended by the menu core plugin support Spanish

- Added new gatherable foods for Wg gameplay for 9 in total. Adjusted WP and Dist amounts for each

    - Gatherable foods will still provide some WP restore at the cost of some Dist in a pinch, but amounts are reduced in favor of crafted foods.

- New craftable food menu for Wg gameplay, with 15 recipes. Adjusted Wp and Dist amounts for each. 

    - Recipe ingredients entered. Entered into the bio-processor

Rewrote the battle formula for Deep Scan. Now hits much harder than a basic scan. Still going to keep the energy costs for abilities at their new, cheaper amounts.

* More research into existing plugins

  - Enhanced TP mode hidden from character menu until it can be made relevant

  - Made some unnecessary states hidden in the character menu

* Working on Preg gameplay mode pending art assets

  - Setting up new skills for new monsters and encounters

  - Fixing logic for the different way that distortion would start to accumulate in the MC

  - New logic for handling the different conditions for the emergency transport

* Working on story cutscenes and dialogs for Wg story

* Created the first branching ending! Story and dialog are not complete for each yet, but there are now two possible endings to the story

  - Obtaining the home ending has enough of its conditions ready to be triggered. With more possibilities to be unlocked later.

  - The first branched ending has enough dialog to comfortably fade to black until more content can be properly added.

* Jump drive gauge will now read correctly when charged. Well... eventually

* Tweaks to Wg specific states hungry and starving. Testing to ensure that these states are more significant in gameplay

* Fun with puzzles! 

- Big hunt for enemy art assets. Lots of new enemy art to go with an enemy revamp.

    - Working on attribute numbers now for load balancing, implementing into 1st map A-001 random encounter framework

- Cleaned up 1st Act smoke around damaged systems on the survey ship

    - And added a visual aid to see the jump drive charging status.

- No longer see the MC in the bottom corner during the beginning intro

- Ending cutscenes has removed the MC from the screen.

- Improved the personal logs so that they all appear on the same choice menu.

- Added more texture to the snow map, because hopefully players are not so blinded. (Seriously, wasn't that bright in RPGM editing.)

- Auto Battle removed from menu settings. Was causing wonky effects in battle and paralyzing enemies.

Story

- All Wg personal logs are completed and tied into the game

- Finally have second ending art in the game, and a small cutscene for it.

- Added in puzzle to help attempt to fix ALICE before trying to return home to help achieve one possible ending.

- Add in path to activate alien artifact to trigger second ending. Will improve in later release.

- Provided a prize for solving the puzzle on the snow map. Better dialog in progress. 

Hey everyone, just uploaded v0.7.4!
Patreon supporters just got their hands on v0.8 in early access.
I’ll update the dev log in the morning!

New release! v0.6.4

- Last maps for Act III content are nearly complete. Working on the side quest for one, and then the transformation after a puzzle on the other one.

  - This one is taking the longest. I want more on the maps and some simple puzzles. Something that is more fun than some of the early maps.

    - One map's puzzle is complete, now adding gameplay specific zones.

- Objectives complete for Act III. Act III is not story and dialog complete, but the most important thing:

  - The final WG stages and art is unlocked. Enjoy!

  - Now able to repair the jump drive. It will still need to be charged with exotic energy to jump. If only there is a supply of exotic energy somewhere...

- Other expansion illustrations won't be done in time for this release. Holding off on other gameplays.

- Working on concepts for new encounter gameplay and handling events.

- Found a text code to have all the text in the box appear at once. However it also doesn't play well with the Text plugin I have for the word wrap.

- Still working on a rework of food craftables. 

- Fed up with RPG Maker trying to make my players as deaf as I am. Reducing volume on all music entries until I start customizing. Will be doing the same for effect volumes soon.

- Adding more dialog to npc's. Also adding a data reward for secondary discoverables. Large Anomaly encounters also now providing data.

- Added more ore deposits to A-043

- The Deep Scan is a big pain point for a lot of players. I'm realizing that leveraging battle core plugin for higher crit rates is working as planned, and the skill is too sensitive at lower levels and improved gear. Working on a new formula and other ways to improve.

- To attempt to make saves safe for porting into future versions, created the crew quarters level where the player can save the game in the captain quarters wall console.

  - Autosaves and saving anywhere will still be active until this is confirmed to be a solution. 

Med bay medical procedures for Act III stages are now properly unlocked.

The Act III maps can now be walked around on.

There were a few typos found, one more unlimited gatherable found and fixed.

Also reduced the Energy Costs for advanced scan skills in encounters. Still working on tweaks to the damage formulas. 

- Fixed some typos in different places.

- Fixed where jump drive charging wasn't applying, or doing a proper check on MC's distortion status

    - TODO: Charge Gauge still reading zero even though it's charging.

- Fixed bug where navigation console was disappearing after jump drive is fully charged so can't kickoff the Act III end cutscene

- Fixed more infinite ore on anomaly deposits.

- Sector map now allows traversing over any terrain. Mountains no longer blocking movement.

- Fixed potential bug where completing medical procedures after all other objectives in an act may not have triggered the objectives complete.

- Learning new things about plugins:

  - Found a label tag so that all sections of the ship have better signs

  - Found a more reliable way to track steps and use that to trigger an event. Which allows me to have more control on random encounters, not just with traditional monster encounters. And also better control of rewards, instead of a chance for one item. Will test this in A-001 to test reliability, and to setup more random events.

- A lot of the crafted materials were accidentally marked as consumables. Fixed. 

The game will have a free version on itch io until at least a finished v1 comes out. It will just be delayed a version behind those that support.

If you are interested in supporting, it does help in giving me the resources to acquire some amazing art assets! Take a look at the [patreon](https://www.patreon.com/majesticbluefalcon?fan_landing=true) page. $3 gets you the early access.

I have just completed the first patreon supporter early access version: v0.6.0!
Act III is unlocked with the final stages of art for the Wg gameplay.
Lots of small tweaks. Found some more places to add dialog and story.

v0.5.1 is the current free version here on itch.io. If you enjoy it, supporters will get early access to the very latest version. v0.6.0 will release for free to itchio once supporters get their hands on v0.7

The second act was unlocked, and the third act is near completion and will release to supporters first. I'm in talks with the wg illustrator to put a final ending cutscene into the game.

I am in talks with other illustrators to release additional themes. Each theme will have it's own sequence, and it's own story.

v0.5.1
In adding 20+ some skills to the class skills list, I forgot to add back the escape skill

v0.5.0
Revamp of the skills system. Surveyor Skills have been revamped, and will upgrade as the surveyor rank increases.

Anomaly skills added that will appear in higher stages of distortion to add choices to encounters.

v0.4.0
Added some more walking sprites
Added first SFX for some of the expansion content
bug fixes.
Lots of other stuff.
It was a big list, check out the discord channel for the full list.

v0.3.0
Bug fixes
Added dialog and log content for Act II

v0.2.2

- Added Act II medical upgrade and procedures in the med bay that would increase the MC's threshold capacity.
- Finished dialog for Act II WG stages
- Found a better solution for recovery when outside of communication with the ship
- Added a new walking sprite for when the MC takes it a little too far

It's harder to update all the forums with the change log. The formatting is different with each one. I keep a progress and backlog thread in my Discord channel. Please come on over and check out the status updates there!