Redemption Harem - Training

Redemption Harem might be using a "zero XP" system that means your characters don't gain levels, but it's definitely still an RPG, and your characters will definitely still grow as you play the game.

More accurately, Eckhard grows as you play the game. Lots of different actions increase his profession skills, his stats, and teach him new skills (even if there aren't a ton of opportunities for that in v0.1), from fully exploring areas, to reading books, to using those skills.

Eckhard is meant to fill a mentor role for the other characters that join you as Redeemers, so how everyone else grows is a little different, both from Eckhard and from each other.

The first example is being able to replay scenes. With Asgina, if you haven't done her daily training already, her attack will rise at the end of the scene. With Nadua, she doesn't gain stats, but gains more Condition than Asgina does.

This will follow through for most characters. Some will get more out of replaying scenes than others, and the possible results from the other training options will also vary - which will be a little different from how they are in v0.1. From v0.2 onward, you'll have a Quick Drills option, a Sparring option, and a "Training" option.

Quick Drills is your "skip" option - it fades the screen to black and doesn't require you to actually do anything, but which stat gets raised will be randomized among the possible outcomes. As a character's stats get close to their caps, this means running basic drills is more and more likely to not result in an increase.

Sparring will actually begin a combat encounter. Which stat increases for the character you're training will depend on the outcome and the character themselves. You'll have a degree of control over the outcome, as you can try to capture your sparring partner (except for Asgina, who can just phase through the ropes and is immune to being Bound), or try to KO them (though you only need to bring them to 50% HP or lower), or run away from combat, or get KO'd yourself (which means falling below 50% HP yourself).
Which stat rises will change based on which outcome happens, and may be different from character to character. For example, capturing Nadua while sparring will raise her defense, as the lesson she learns is how to protect herself from those tactics. Other characters may get agility as they learn to avoid those attacks, or Max HP as they learn to endure them. While which stat rises may change depending on the character, the same outcome will always raise the same stat for a given character. Using Nadua as an example again, capturing her while sparring will always raise her defense (provided her defense isn't capped), and will never raise her Max HP.

"Training" is the scene replay option. Like I mentioned above, different characters will respond differently to this, and some characters may even get different effects based on the scene (though I'll generally avoid this so you don't feel like you're required to replay a certain scene over and over for the gameplay benefit). Where Quick Drills and Sparring will only be available if you haven't trained with that character that day, "Training" will always be available, only counting as being training if you haven't already taken another option.

As for the stat caps that I've mentioned a few times - I'm still working out the details, but I promise it won't be overly restrictive.
It likely won't be relevant to game balance for a while, but the potentially infinite nature of the game means I need to put something in place early on. Both so you don't break something and so I have a point of reference to balance the game around.
The basic idea is that the stat in question will always increase if it's below a certain number (the "soft cap"). Above that number, the chance of it increasing will get lower until it hits another number (the "hard cap"). Once you hit that final number, the stat can't go any higher.
Since this part is still a work in progress, the soft and hard caps may change in future updates, or I might put "story caps" in place so you can push past a character's initial limits as you progress. I'm trying to avoid talking about what might be to focus on what's actually in the game in these posts, but these caps are something that'll be in v0.2, so it feels worth mentioning.

There is still more to cover here - like characters teaching each other their skills - but it's all still firmly in the idea phase, so you'll hear more on that later. Which is probably for the best, because this post is already pretty long.