Development Diary #1

Hey everyone!

I wanted to make a small recap so you can understand where we currently are with development. And I will say it right away: something pretty cool is starting to come together.
So, let’s go through the current state of development point by point.

• 1. Character Morphs
  
  At the moment, I have recreated the morphs for the following characters: Carla, Kate, Laura, Eva, Melany, Alan (the new MC) and only Natalie is still missing.
  For version 0.1, I will not be developing any additional morphs. More will be added in the future, but right now I cannot say exactly who or how many.
  

• 2. Environment Building
  
  This part is honestly critical.
  Before starting development, I thought this would be the easiest part. I was wrong.
  Creating a hotel from scratch is turning out to be quite complex. It is not impossible, but it is definitely not the simple task I expected it to be.
  I have spent basically the entire last week working only on this, and I am still around 30% done.
  At the moment, two locations are ready: the Reception and the First Floor.
  Each floor will have 4 hotel rooms. The rooms are still in development.
  

• 3. Story Design

This part is going quite well.
We have developed a solid background for the MC and the various characters.
Now I just need to define the exact direction of the story.

• 4. Dialogue Writing

We have just started writing the first two events, so we are still at the very beginning here.

• 5. Ren’Py Coding

This part is going pretty well.
We have already defined the core systems of the game, which will be divided into:

1. Affinity System

2. Reputation System

3. Time System

Affinity System
This system tracks the relationship between the protagonist and each female character.
Every interaction can add or remove points from one or more characters at the same time. This also allows for “jealousy” dynamics, where getting closer to one character may mean distancing yourself from another. The points you accumulate determine two things: the progressive unlocking of that character’s future events, and the ending you eventually get.
There is also a “lock” mechanic that can permanently close a character’s route. Once a route is locked, that character will no longer receive points, and their events will become inaccessible.

Reputation System
This is a global counter, separate from the individual characters.
It is designed to represent the protagonist’s “fame” or the general impression he leaves inside the hotel. At the moment, it is still an embryonic system. It increases during certain key moments, for example during the first encounter in the hall.
The infrastructure is already there and can later be connected to future conditions, such as scene gating, NPC reactions, or even a fourth criterion for the ending.

Time System
This system controls the rhythm of the game through hours and days.
Every player action, changing area, changing floor, entering a room, pressing “Skip”,  advances time by a fixed number of hours. Each day is divided into four phases: morning, afternoon, evening, and night. These phases are not just cosmetic. Some events may require a specific time of day in order to become available.

• 6. UI & GUI

I have already started working on the GUI and UI.

• 7. Rendering

This part of development will only begin once everything else, except coding, is 100% complete.

• 8. Bugfixing & Testing

Well… this is the very final phase.
When the percentage of this phase starts going up, it means the release will be very close.

• 9. Final Thoughts

I have not added an “animations” phase.
Not because there will be no animations, but because I do not know yet if version 0.1 will include them, since this version covers Day 1.
That said, there may still be some surprises.

Some people have rightly asked:
“So, is this another sandbox game with an explorable map?”
The answer is: yes and no.

Let’s be honest: I hate sandbox games.
Out of 10 sandbox games, usually 9 are boring and tend to waste your time, which makes the experience frustrating.

I would define this game more as a “meta-sandbox.”

It has a structure very similar to a classic sandbox. You can “explore” the map, but the map will be packed with events. This will probably not be fully visible in version 0.1, but by version 0.5 or 0.6, you should have a game where simply moving from one place to another will keep triggering event after event after event. Of course, this assumes you want to build relationships with every character. If you only want to develop a relationship with Carla or Kate, then the game will naturally end much sooner, especially in the early versions.

I do not know yet if I will have enough time to fully implement this, but there should also be 3 different paths based on your choices:

1. Classic: build a bond naturally and gradually unlock intimate scenes.

2. Hardcore: develop a relationship based on power dynamics, where you either dominate or are dominated.

3. No relationship: After a certain number of events, the character will stop interacting with the protagonist.

This is because the game remains a Dating Sim, the player will be able to choose who to have a relationship with and what kind of relationship that will be.
It is a deep game, so do not expect a miracle in version 0.1.
As you can probably tell, before we even get to rendering, we are building a huge amount of stuff. What I can guarantee is that the game will stay on the same wavelength as The Golden Boy. Scenes will develop slowly and gradually, and the sexual tension will keep building more and more over time.