There hasn't been a proper devlog in a while so I think this time I'll give a little more information on what's been developed so far.
I already shown some changes to Kotone's moveset. You can now aim paint manually by using the strong attack key and you can now crouch and attack with other weapons besides the kodachi. The dash attack I decided to remove entirely however, as I found it wasn't that useful and had too many end frames making the combat feel stiffer than it should, so instead holding forward and attacking for now just does a regular high slash regardless of the weapon Kotone has equipped. The dash attack animation is still used with some weapons however.
I also made changes to the way the stages are structured and how the
player progresses so that the game won't feel quite as linear. The idea I
had at first was to have each area be mostly linear with the stages
being unlocked after the previous one is cleared, but with the option of
finding a secret goal that would open a different route(This is the
reason 1-3 has a blocked off path currently).
That will most
likely still be the case in the final version, though now clearing the
stage normally won't always open up a new stage, the player will have to
search the stages more carefully for certain key items(in addition to
the blue flames) and finish the stage in order to progress. Because of
this though, the stages will now be generally shorter and easier to
reach the exit, sometimes within less than a minute, but they'll be
harder to "fully complete" if that makes sense. So some stages will take
multiple replays at different points in the game in order to find
everything.
One last thing is I teased an NPC in the last screenshot I posted before this devlog, and though I want the game to have more NPCs VD is going to stay very light on story and dialogue, as writing is another thing I struggle at and had a lot of difficulty while making Moon Rhapsody. I can say that it does have a story, though until I get around to making an opening cutscene you'll just have to use your imagination.
Regarding NSFW scenes which is what most people seem to mainly care about, VD will have more sexual content and animations, but it's not a guarantee that there will be very many or that there will be things like a gallery mode or MR's captured scenes. With that said I don't like promoting the game as an H game because some people may, and still often do come into it expecting lewd content to be the main focus, but that does not mean I'm opposed to adding more.
