Last Update before hiatus

 Hey Loki Castle,

From the 24th to the 28th I will be on break. I may work on stuff I may not. Really depends on how I'm feeling but friends and family will come first. This update will be small.

Let's get to the meat of what happened since the last update. Basically only one goal was accomplished. Considering how busy this week was for me. I consider that a huge plus. This week I skipped any work on my RPG focusing entirely on my VN.

*Quick goal focus at end 

Winter VN

When I first started writing the script. I kept hitting a stagnant point. The stagnation that I couldn't find a way to write the story without including gore. In the climax of the story, I wrote two major characters fighting in a proper duel. Due to the nature of the world I had created. It made sense to have the loser die at the hands of antagonist due to their warrior honor.  After a while I figured out how to write this part without the more gory aspects. I completed the outline. The outline was the hardest part. Without the outline I didn't really have a way to gauge how the story would work. Why it would work and where it would play out. I feel if I had more time I would have finished the script by now. The script is 25% done. If given 3 to 4 days I can finish the rest. Time during the holidays is hard to find. 

Concept Art Piece 

Arty first concept sketch

Say hello to Arty. One of the main antagonist. While this is not her final concept. It is a general gauge. I plan to add a skull of a creature. She killed in combat on her shoulder and also adorn her with charms and weapons from her many conquests throughout her many years of fighting. 

*This was the only concept piece I was able to finish during this past week.

Final Remarks/ Goals

If I have the time. I plan to work on the script and finish it. I still want to finish my terraria fanart. 

I believe that for now. I will slow down and, take some time to enjoy the holidays. I have some gifts to make and a few holiday plans. I've been resting a lot more lately due to work demands and the ending of the year. This has been a productive yet tiring year and I think my body wants a break.

Merry Christmas/ Happy Yuletide 

Enjoy the holidays and I will be back to start working again after the chaos of the holidays are over. Expect the next post to talk more about goals then actual updates to my work. I might post some art on my socials before the end of the month possibly holiday themed. Have a great holiday.

Stay tuned for more updates!

If you would like to see sneak peeks please support me here "https://www.patreon.com/SerpentLoki"

Small Update Horror RPG Working on quest system

Hey LokiCastle here,

I am back again with a quick update about my current progress. So for a general overview barely any work was done on my VN. Which means I will be skipping any discussion about it today. 

*Except for a quick goals plan at the end

Horror RPG 

Last time I talked about my RPG. I was working on map areas and adding little things to get the outline of the project done. During this week, I shifted my focus from mapping areas to quests. Quests are a great way for players to track progress. While the history of games may have started without quests markers. Quest journals are a huge part of gaming today. I wanted a way for players to be able to keep track of what they are doing while also providing incentives to do things. The best example is seemingly random side quests that reward the player for doing something repetitive or boring. While I don't plan to have fetch quests or quests designed to fill out time. I do plan to use quests in such a way as to hide joke items, weapons, and resources behind unimportant quests. 

*Think like the random overpowered spell/item behind a pointless fetch quest* 

The major problem I'm currently having with the quest journal isn't making quests but the code aspect of it. This is my first time messing with anything like this. The hurdles make it hard to get a good amount of things done in a single session of work. Even with these hurdles, I am still making progress in my own way. 

How the Quest Journal looks in game

As of now, I have plans for about 18 main quests 

Five side quests and 3 Character quests

(Side note) Character quests will follow the three main characters and are specific to the character you play. they don't have a real reward but allow you to explore the history of the character

*In the end I think the holidays are making it hard to keep myself motivated and focused on my goals. I want to work and polish more of the game but it's not easy when most of your time is taken up by random variables.

What's Next 

I want to try to focus on the bosses of level G. I had originally planned this before the journal took up most of my time. My reasoning for implementing the quest journal before finishing the boss events came from the fact that many objectives of the main quest are intertwined into the two boss battles. With the quest journal set up, I can start making an outline of what scripts will need to be used for the bosses. 

Final Remarks/Goals

I'm looking to work on some fanart for Terraria (As a tribute to the game and to test my art skills). I would like to make a few concept sketches for the Winter VN. The final thing I would like to achieve is finding time in my busy schedule to get work done consistently every day  

Stay tuned for more updates!

If you would like to see sneak peeks please support me here 

"https://www.patreon.com/SerpentLoki"

The Holiday season, coming in hot!

 Hello Loki Castle here, 

With the moving and holidays approaching like a freight train. I have had a lot of trouble making significant progress on my projects. Generally, during the holidays I slow down due to gift-making and time spent with friends/family. I plan to do a few more updates before taking a hiatus from the 24th to the 28th.

My current projects right now are my main project The Horror RPG and A Winter VN that will be part of The Winter VN fest 2024. My main goal is to finish the outline for the winter VN. Including the script. I will be adapting the story of the Nutcracker to tell the story. A traditional holiday story that has always interested me on a personal level.

  Horror RPG

Since the last update,

I spend a lot of time working on M3, M4, and M6. There are three different areas in the game. (On the same level) When made the entire map of the game. I calculated that each level would consist of about 20 different areas. Each map consists of multiple big areas and a lot of secret areas. As of now only two iterations of the map exist. the original entire game map and, the smaller village and starting level. My current hurdle with each level is. The starting level still has a lot more polishing required. For future reference I will call this level G and the other level V. G is the map all players will see after going through each of the character tutorials. It will be a less dangerous area compared to most levels but will also host special challenges. The two major bosses in this level are intended to be easy to fight and kill. When playtesting I noticed that enemies were so fast. It made it impossible to get away even with a small head start. This goes against the main idea of the game using stealth to trick and escape battles. While they are areas in game meant to be more of a chase some areas are too small for a cat and mouse game. So I made them slower making it possible to escape but not likely. The new changes to the main areas helped flesh out the main idea. I've been working with in my head. I added more events, enemies, loot, diaries, and traps. Still without any proper graphics it looks more like a skeleton creating a stark difference to more polished areas. 

Examples of the maps I worked on

When using base assets. I have to remember that this isn't the final product but an outline to be carved into something more keen to my liking. While it doesn't look like much right now. I need it to work on the base level before I can move any further.

Visual of Area/Maps in Level

Sometimes, I don't even understand how naming works. I don't even name the areas correctly. I have gotten lost trying to figure out which area is which from time to time. M doesn't stand for anything similar to how everything in the village level (V) is named T (T stands for nothing). 

 Plans before the next update 

I want to finish the events and battles for the main two bosses of G. After I have polished most of G. I will move to V. The only thing that worries me is V will be too big of an undertaking for the demo. V is as stated the village. where the most NPCs can be found. It is also where the majority of quests can be started and ended. While having a central hub is a great way for players to easily get to and from different areas and levels of the game. It also has the most happening. Compared to most levels. V is the level with the most content, interactions, characters, and etc. This sounds great. Giving players a lot to work with is fun. I want this game to be fun even before it's fully released. It really depends on how long it takes me to get through G. I want to finish the concept sketches for all characters and finish a few more sprites. A few of the main characters will need multiple sprites during their introduction. This shouldn't be too hard depending on time. It will be necessary for the demo. Wrapping it up I believe that I should have more success after the holidays die down. Allowing for me to wrap myself back into a proper working schedule.

Winter VN

For my upcoming VN. It still needs two things done. The rest of the script which should take a week. The characters have already been created being borrowed from the Lavdun universe. The art itself shouldn't be too hard as I plan to keep it simple. The game will have a few backgrounds and only three different expressions. If I had more time it would be longer and more complex possibly including live 2D. Something I have wanted to add to one of VN for a very long time. Due to this project deadline approaching. I will be focusing on it more than my RPG.  The story is heavily inspired by the nutcracker and follow a famous witch named Hazel. It is canon to the Lavdun Universe, diving into the backstory of Hazel. While this VN will not be dark. Hazel's main VN that is currently in script phase is. It follows her descent into madness as she goes from a healer to monster. 

-Hazel is mentioned as the creator of soul soup in  "A Tale of Two Flowers"

Stay tuned for more updates!

If you would like to see sneak peeks please support me here 

"https://www.patreon.com/SerpentLoki"

First Post! Update for all upcoming projects!

Howdy, I am Loki Castle 

A small indie developer with one published game "A Tale of Two Flowers". A visual novel from my expanded universe of Lavdun. This novel follows the story of May (bunny girl on the left of the cover art) as her life falls apart over a week. A Tale of Two Flowers had a very rough start getting banned from Steam and a few other bumps along the way. It spent about a year in development hell. The game only took me about two months to make, but due to delays and real-life problems, it took a lot longer to get out there. 

The store page was set up on July 15th 2024 

Then the game was released on October 18th 2024 KST 6PM

Game page

https://lokicastle.itch.io/a-tale-of-two-flowers

Why make a blog?

I like to write. I also thought a blog would be a lovely way to keep myself motivated. Especially on the hard days when I just don't want to work. This blog will be a place to track and view progress on my upcoming projects. Including games, art, and other fun things.

I plan to update at the very least once a month and more depending on time constraints and other things.

Main Project!!

Currently, my main project is an upcoming horror RPG that I'm working on. It currently has one fully playable character and plans to add two more. It will be a mix of survival horror, turn-based strategy, and full of plenty of reading. 

Image1: Pod Area 

Start area for one of the three MC. It has a save spot and a chance to look through the memories of the character you are playing. This area has a few secrets including a special death.

Image2: Unknown god room

This image is an example of what can be expected in the finished demo. My art is fully implemented and very few edits are needed before the final version. Not very different from unfinished areas except for the visuals, sound, and effects.

Video of Image2 in action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1421ER_ILE

When should we see the game demo on itch? 

Perfect question. The demo with the name will be released on August 1st 2025 subject to change. While I have confidence in my ability to deliver. I can't predict if my job will take up more time or less time and of course, family and friends come first. This is by all means a personal project with only one person behind it. I do tend to put a lot of time and effort into this project but also jump to other projects to keep myself motivated. Which is why the release date for the demo is so far away. While I have faith the game will do well. It is a slow process.

Side Projects

Where the Water Flows 

Where the water flows is a dating sim VN. That has been in the planning phase for about a year now. While I would love to finish it. I have to be careful with how I write the script and how I handle the art as the game will be for sale on Steam and will be about 100K in words. It will have a free adult patch on itch.io.

Dino Run (Placeholder Name)

A VN/Survival Horror similar to Dino Crisis in the idea it follows a character trying to run and escape dinosaurs. To date, only two pieces of concept art exist with a 5k unfinished script. Originally it was planned to be a 60k VN but I plan to add RPG elements due to a desire to make it more of a survival game to honor the original Dino Crisis game. 

Spooky Themed Metroidvania

This is possibly the hardest project of all considering it requires knowledge of a new game engine. I don't plan to make anything groundbreaking but rather make a simple MV using a scrapped script about a toxic relationship between a zombie and a vampire girl. 

Current Art Projects 

I am working on a few art projects right now. Including a battle scene from the Empire Age of Star Wars. I am also working on moths as humans which may take me a while as I plan to do a video of it. It will include the speedpaint and information about the moth in general. I want to do a series of videos like this. 

Some Art that I have done in the law few weeks 

Older Art from this year

Stay tuned for more updates!

If you would like to see sneak peeks please support me here:

"https://www.patreon.com/SerpentLoki"