August Content Update 0.3.44 now live!

Hi everyone, the August content update has now been released on Steam. It adds story and worldbuilding content to the game as well as finally introducing the vampires into the open, at least for the player.

Going off where the July update left off, once you complete Ha-Yora and Ulyosha’s tasks, as well as informing Azedah that her contract is being worked on, you can return to Iolanthe to continue the story. 

A new location will be available in the overworld map: The Consulate.   

We are returning to the Infinite Library! The library is a mysterious location that exists in Interstitial Space, and room has been carved out for a diplomatic establishment between the different vampire lineages. The Consulate is hosted by the Corvan, a minor lineage known for ritualized divination. 

I won’t spoil too much but there will be lore, tests and rituals for the player to go on. At the end of the current content, the player will be able to join one of four major lineages, the Corvan, or remain unaffiliated. For this stage of the story I decided to make this choice less permanent, as the vampires are easing you into their society, for their own reasons. Later on in the game, the player will have to make a choice on who to side with. 

After unlocking the Consulate, Iolanthe will also give the player access to syndicate contracts. That means the player can now reliably build their reputation with the Iron Cartel, Dead Dragons, Dya Skapetr and the Kabila. The faction reputation system has also been revamped, and will now show a numerical representation of that faction’s attitude towards the player, along with various other minor changes. This is important as I plan on adding to the reputation system a lot over the course of the next few months.

Roaming mobs have also been added to the overworld map, including patrolling cops, corp convoys, and stationary riot mechs. As development continues, I expect to increase their interactivity and reactivity to the player. 

As usual some quality-of-life improvements have been made, including a setting in the options menu for the default camera distance to the player in the overworld map. I personally like mine zoomed out all the way, but now you can change it to your personal preference. Additionally, contracts no longer have to be acquired one at a time but now spawn as long as certain conditions are met. I actually spent way too much time building the previous system only to determine that it was ultimately more tedious than it had to be. 

The planned fivesome with the Consulate legates has been delayed slightly. I’m currently working out some bugs, but I expect it to arrive in a patch soon. It will be available for both male and female player characters. Likewise, as I mentioned in the last patch, Frankie’s scene will also be delayed as I want to further flesh out his romance path, but I don’t have a date on that one.

I believe the current state of the game should have about 11+ hours of content for the average playing speed. Content length seemed to be one of the main concerns of the initial launch, so that’s what I ended up focusing on the most for the first two months of updates. Now I will be switching to other issues, mostly to do with combat and combat maps.

As I’ve said before, roadmaps are always subject to change, especially since I wrote the current one before launch. It has been a very aggressive schedule and I think updates have increased story content nicely. Now I will be pushing back the assault on Lansa’s fortress and adding more to the combat side of the game instead for September. 

That’s it for now! As always, let me know what you think and please notify me about bugs.