Introducing the New Real-Time Cinematic Battle System

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https://ci-en.dlsite.com/creator/24720/article/1838541

Hello everyone, this is LactoQuest.

It’s been a while. Time really does fly.

During this period, I’ve been working on game testing and filling in the remaining content. The workload has been extremely heavy, so I haven’t had much time or energy to reply to everyone’s messages recently. I’m truly sorry about that.

In today’s development log, I’d first like to show you something I’ve been having a lot of fun with over the past few days.

For a long time, many players have mentioned that my games are somewhat weak in terms of “gameplay.” Even though this is an adult game, I know many of you still want to feel like you are actually playing a game while enjoying the erotic content. This is something I’ve been reflecting on as well.

However, gameplay in an adult game is very difficult to balance.

If there is too much of it, some players will feel, “I came here to play an adult game. Why am I being held back by all these mechanics?”

But if there is too little, it becomes, “This is boring. I’m just clicking through everything.”

So I’ve been thinking:

What kind of minigame actually fits this type of game?

In my view, it cannot simply be click-through gameplay.

It needs to have a certain amount of control and fun, but it also cannot be too complicated.

At the same time, it needs to meet the basic comfort requirements of an adult game, meaning it should be easy to play with one hand and should not make the controls themselves feel like a burden.

Most importantly, it needs to be closely connected to the erotic content, story presentation, and character states.

If it were just a normal turn-based battle system or a simple push-box puzzle, even I would feel bored while playing it, and it would also damage the atmosphere of an adult game.

That probably sounds like a lot of requirements.

But over the past few days, because I’ve been studying a new battle system, I’ve actually been having a lot of fun.

Next, I’d like to show you the “real-time cinematic battle” system that I’ve designed and implemented.

At the moment, I’ve created two test bosses.

The demo content is not related to the official story. It is completely fictional and only exists to showcase the system.

The first boss is an enemy who uses a greatsword.

He performs jumping attacks, and when his HP drops below half, he activates a strengthened skill similar to “sword aura.”

The second boss is a ground-based enemy.

He repeatedly charges at the player, and if he crashes into a pillar, he enters a stunned state. In addition to that, he can also use grab attacks and earthquake attacks. Once his HP drops below half, his skills become further enhanced.

Of course, the skills themselves are not the most important part.

What truly excites me is that this battle system can be combined very well with event presentation.

It can be paired with the crystal ball scenes, and it can also insert real-time CGs, dialogue, special events, and even more complex story branches during battle.

In other words, battle is no longer just battle.

It can become part of the erotic presentation and story progression.

Over the past few days, I’ve barely made any progress on the story, and I haven’t continued large-scale testing either. I’ve been completely absorbed in this system. In particular, inserting NTR scenes into battles turned out to work surprisingly well.

However, I won’t be showing that part to everyone for now.

Aside from that, I also understand that some of you may have concerns.

First of all, this battle system could definitely be made flashier and more complete.

However, my goal is not to create a full-fledged action game, so I will only develop this system to the point where it feels “fun enough.” I do not plan to expand it endlessly.

Secondly, this type of battle content can basically be skipped.

It will mainly exist as side content. Players who only want to progress through the story or watch the main erotic events will not be affected.

A small number of endings may involve battles, but the difficulty will be kept very low, and there will also be additional ways to handle them.

In short, I will present the fun side of this system to everyone, while removing or weakening any troublesome parts that might negatively affect some players’ experience.

The normal battle system will remain the simple system used in the Demo version, and it will not receive any major updates.

Next, I’d like to talk about the game’s progress, which I know many of you are concerned about.

At the moment, the Merchant route, the Minister route, and the Flying Dragon route have been completed.

The Flying Dragon route can be further divided into a pure love route and a corruption route. Some events will also have different versions depending on the player’s previous daily actions.

These parts are currently undergoing intensive testing.

The Blacksmith route is a little more complicated, but it is still being worked on.

The issue is that I have temporarily removed the “Great Forest” and “Goldstream Street” sections of the game, so many parts of the Blacksmith route need to be adjusted.

There are mainly two reasons for this decision.

The first reason is that time is extremely tight.

The second reason is that, while continuing development, I realized that this content is not actually difficult to make, and quite a lot of it has already been completed. However, both the story progression and the map structure overlap to some extent with other routes.

Because of that, instead of forcing myself to keep making it as it is, I think it is better to polish the content that is already completed.

Even after temporarily removing these two maps, the full game still has around 20 hours of total playtime across all routes.

There are over 100 CGs, around 300,000 characters of text, and more than 50 different BGM tracks used for scenes and story moments.

Speaking of BGM, this part has also taken a lot of time.

It is not only the map BGM that needs to fit the atmosphere. The emotional BGM used during story progression also needs to carry enough weight.

Sometimes, I listen to hundreds of tracks in a single day just to find one piece of music that fits.

I’m not saying this to complain.

I just want to let everyone know that I truly am doing my best to make this game as good as I possibly can.

The content that has been temporarily removed will not disappear forever.

I plan to bring it back later as DLC or additional content.

After the game is released, I will also hold a vote and let everyone choose which partner characters’ stories they would like to see.

It could be a route combining two partner characters, such as the Blacksmith and the Merchant. It could also feature a new partner character, such as the perverted little brat who has already appeared in the game but does not yet have character art.

In any case, the basic content and main routes currently in the game will not be cut.

Only content with too much overlap, or content that cannot be polished properly in the current version due to time constraints, will be handled later.

Also, the huge amount of text and the extremely tight schedule have placed a lot of pressure on the translation staff. I understand this as well.

From this point on, I will also help with translation and proofreading to make sure the game will not be delayed beyond the planned date.

Overall, the pressure is definitely heavy right now.

But for the moment, it is still within a manageable range.

I will continue doing everything I can to reach the goal I have set.

Finally, I know what everyone is most interested in.

Below is a demo of an in-game event. I hope you enjoy it.