Cloptopia v1.20 (January Update)

This month I've been focusing exclusively on Cloptopia, finishing up this major update to get it ready for testing... but not without some trouble. I lost an unfathomable amount of time and effort due to file corruption. Although I religiously mash CTRL+S every few seconds, I don't make full .FLA file back-ups very often because while crashes are common, full file corruptions are not. There are methods you can use to 'uncorrupt' a project file but it's not perfect -- usually most of the data is lost, and what's gone is gone. I just walked around town for a few miles, had a sandwich, then got right back to work and managed to redo everything. On top of this, I started to come down with a cold a couple days ago, so it's been quite a fun month.

Anyways! Onto the update itself (changelog below): Even though I've done a lot of internal testing to fix the major bugs, I'm sure there's a handful of other ones I missed... so expect a v1.20b fairly soon after this release, haha. I've started a new forum board ( located at http://tiarahost.com ) that I'll be using to post patch notes and receive feedback for Cloptopia. So come make an account if you're interested in participating. Although google-forms were somewhat adequate for submitting bugs and suggestions, a forum will mean that ideas can be properly elaborated on - especially by multiple users - and that there will be less instances of the same issue being reported more than once. If Tiarawhy or myself creates another big project that requires lots of feedback and testing, we'll probably use these forums for that as well.

v1.20 Changelog (via Forum Post)

(links to play the game are here also)

http://tiarahost.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2

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This patch brings some pretty dramatic changes to the way you play the game. Based on the feedback I received, people weren't a big fan of the Changeling Invasions; and neither was I. They were very anticlimactic, and even with scouting it was really hard to tell exactly how much danger you were in. Well this patch I've replaced those invasions entirely with a new system: Wilderness Encounters. You will be able to pull up a 'map' of the area around your city where you can find aggressive or neutral encounters to be dealt with. Aggressive Encounters, such as Bandits, will slowly grow in power over time and if not dealt with can have dramatic consequences - including a loss. Neutral encounters are sort of 'optional', and will actually lessen in power over time (and eventually go away), but they can offer sizeable rewards if you wish to intervene. The system is pretty basic right now, just the foundation mostly, but with feedback I'm sure I can shape it into something people will really enjoy. I feel a big part of this new Wilderness system relies on having a good interface for it, and the current one is sorta shoddy and temporary.

Defense Rating now works like mana, with a current and maximum value, and can be spent to ward off encounters like these. This allows players to have a much more tangible idea of what they're up against and how much defense they need to stay alive, and it gives them more control over the situation. The types of wilderness encounters are very limited currently, but I will add more. In order to fit with these changes, Specialists are quite different as well. Rather than permanently generate additional defense, they can be used to restore your defense points back to it's maximum value. Raiding will attempt to weaken the aggressive encounters in the wilderness. Scouting will search for non-aggressive (neutral) encounters in the wilderness, which can be a great way to spend extra defense points if the wild isn't currently too much of a threat to your town. Although not implemented quite yet, I plan on giving specialists stats or abilities to make them more unique and versatile.

Another big change, one you will immediately notice, is that I have tweaked several areas of the interface. I want to make sure the interface is clean and easy to look at, not all over the place. Part of the reason the interface got so quickly bogged down is because as I've been adding new content, I had to kind of cram it in there. So I took some time and properly spaced everything out and made it a little more manageable for this update.

Although not a lot of adult stuff will be added this patch (one step at a time), I'll discuss some stuff that I have planned for that. I did manage to add Derpy this patch, who was by far the most requested pony after the main six. My biggest priority is to improve the Tavern scenes, not just by adding more content to them, but also personality. More of a build-up to the actual sex itself, some foreplay and dialogue that is unique to each character. Ideally each character will be a very different experience, certain characters might expect more foreplay or romantic build-up, others might be keen on jumping right into it. And of course for those who want to go straight to the sex, that'll be possible too. Eventually I'd also like to add some adult content involving the Specialists, but not before the Tavern scenes are properly polished.

Other than Cloptopia, I've been working on some other flashes that I'd like to finish soon, so I'll probably work on those for a bit.If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please don't hesitate to contact me via skype or email.

Thanks everyone~

-Mittsies