Blackmail Protocol Devlog #5: New City, Interaction systems, Inventory, Trade, Quests and More

Big update this month. Here's what changed:

New City
We’ve been working on a new procedural city generation system for Blackmail Protocol. Streets, buildings, alleys, lighting, and city layouts now have much more variety, and every new seed can create a different city to explore.

Interaction Systems
We also reworked the interaction system to feel more like an object detection system. Instead of a simple centered prompt, the game now detects the object you’re looking at and dynamically frames it with corner brackets, similar to a computer vision / C-style object recognition interface.

It makes interacting with the world feel much cleaner, more responsive, and much more fitting for Blackmail Protocol’s hacker/surveillance theme.

Inventory
We’ve added a new grid based inventory system where you can organize everything you collect and buy throughout the game. Photos, equipment, items, and other resources can now be arranged manually inside your inventory, giving you much more control over your loadout and storage.

You’ll also be able to manage the photos you capture, buy and sell items, and keep your operation organized from one place.

Trade
We’ve added a trading system with rival operators who are also out in the city collecting photos of their own.

You’ll be able to buy photos from competitors, hold onto them, and resell them later to other buyers for a higher price. It adds another layer to the economy, letting you make money not only from your own surveillance work, but also by spotting good deals and trading at the right time.

Quests
We’ve also expanded the quest system quite a bit. Different characters such as Asuka, the Loan Shark, and the police can now give you their own jobs, each with different requirements and rewards.

Many quests are directly tied to the evidence system, so you may need to capture specific types of photos, use the right angle, stay undetected, or meet other conditions before turning them in. Some jobs also unlock later depending on the day, previous quests, and your progress.

We’ve tried to make quests feel like part of the world rather than just a checklist, with new jobs appearing naturally through conversations, contacts, and events as the story progresses.

And more
And that’s not all we’ve been polishing and expanding a lot of the systems behind the scenes as well.

We now have multiple spy bug types with different abilities and playstyles, a deeper photo/evidence system, physical photo printing, upgrades, intel, city events, laundering and daily debt pressure, as well as a police heat system that escalates from being watched all the way to lockdowns and raids.

A.V.A. has also been improved to feel much more like a real companion, with movement, player tracking, contextual dialogue, and a more polished holographic presentation.

We’ve also spent a lot of time polishing the smaller details the minimap and full city map, surveillance feeds, UI feedback, save/load behavior, photo collection progression, and the overall day to day gameplay loop.

At this point, most of the major systems are in place and we’re mainly focused on polish, balancing, bug fixing, and playtesting before release.

Thank you so much for all the support you’ve been giving us.❤️❤️❤️