The • Clock's • Stopped • Hand

Talking about my personal life for a bit: while this month wasn't very exciting, I'm going to be going to Miku Expo very soon! If you somehow didn't know already, a lot of Snow • Fall's lore is heavily based around J-Pop/Vocaloid music, so this is a huge moment for me. Might even serve as some nice inspiration....

I'm gonna say right away that this one is going to be more...boring than usual, if that makes sense. A lot of the things I got done this month weren't very interesting. That's why I'm dragging less fun mechanics to meet my monthly quota.

If you care about the technicals and the less impactful parts of 0.4, please continue reading!

Boring • Stuff

Let's start with the boring stuff. So sorry!

Most of this month was spent finishing things that I mentioned in previous devlogs, so that's why I don't have anything interesting to show. Things like polishing the Cubes, fixing the sprite of each enemy, etc.

I didn't even finish the second part. It's so painfully boring that it's killing my motivation.

I'm basically done with the enemies, but now I gotta redo some of the Love/Hate effects for each player. New Cube system broke 'em, who woulda thought.

I need to put temporary fixes on the shop and the event screen before I can allow playtesters to come in. If I'm actually locked in...I should have people testing characters in the middle of May. But knowing me, just assume June instead.

And I haven't even STARTED on the balancing changes, oh boy it's looking rough!

While I was procrastinating and lazing around like a loser, I got some pretty cool game mechanics done. So let's start with those, shall we?

Follow-Up

As I was pondering the various builds of Snow • Fall, I really had to wonder: What makes Focus so different from Emotions?

Currently, nothing! And dare I say that Focus is simply worse?

They both focus around building up a certain currency and spending it for various benefits. With an Emotion build, you can make it positive pretty fast, and those positive Emotions are really helpful with winning with Droplets.

What Snow • Fall really needs...

...Is more Emotion buffs ‼️🗣️

Lore accurate Mika. This is the REAL Dodge and Parry!

...Kidding. Focus just lacks stand-alone content that doesn't rely on other status effects. It'll get some good Cubes, trust me.

What I'm calling a feature too cool to keep to one archetype: Follow-Ups.

It's a pretty versatile mechanic. At first, I used it to allow people to pick specific Cubes. For example, there's a Cube right now with the effect "Select 1 of 5 random Cubes to draw." I thought it would be lame if there were so many effects that you don't have the ability to choose.

However, as you can see, it can also be used like that. Selecting a Cube in under 3 seconds to play.

It fits the game's fast-paced vibe, and is also just pretty satisfying to hit. So much stupid shit I could make it do...

Also, I worked on marking, which WILL be more exclusive to the Emotion keyword. It's in the game already, it's just been standardized so that I can use it for more things.

I know Rod of Compliance was a little inconsistent before this, so this should help it.

There's something satisfying about seeing a marked up deck. If I keep this up, Emotions might be a new favorite of mine! Good job, me!

Other

Dreams/Challenges, whatever you wanna call them. I think this update's Dreams are gonna be the most unique, for sure.

Dream: Abi's • Awakening. A cult classic, available now on the GameOjou Color!

This idea came to me in a dream. That's how you know it's gonna be peak!

The challenge is simple. Make sure Abi doesn't die while also trying not to die yourself. If you kill the enemy before Abi gets enough XP, you lose. If you die before Abi gets enough XP, you lose.

...This is either gonna be really fun or straight ass. My playtesters suffer so you guys can fuck around, I hope y'all know that.

I have two more Dreams planned, both of which being fairly high effort.

The first one is planned to use the Follow-Up mechanic to make a fighting game, of sorts. The enemy either blocks high or low. Make it through their block and they get stunned. Positive Slush can be used as meter for ultimates.

I also HAVE to make an April Fool's challenge. It's a real shame that the game is in a drought right now, skipping out on one feels really bad. Still brainstorming this one, but I want the gameplay to resemble a particular spire slaying roguelike.

...Uh, what else...I guess I added these little quotes for Cubes.

They're really nice for lore reasons. None of the characters in Severance will be getting any, but a lot of the Reminiscent Mode exclusive characters and enemies will have their decks updated to match.

Sigh...is there ANY exciting happening this month?

House• Cat

"If the only thing that awaits me is more rejection, then maybe I should turn into a common house cat." "I both hate and love that thought."

I guess there's that.

She's so pretty! This is definitely my favorite CG in the game, no contest.

Something unexpected meant that Caiyin's sprites were done faster than expected. So here we are, I have all her assets, yet she's not done at all.

She'll be releasing alongside her character selection cutscene, House Cat. Now, I don't wanna brag, but a close friend of mine said that they liked the writing in it. And that person was pretty critical of Severance, so that's a really good sign!

I hope people really like her character. The character selection cutscenes in general are a stronger showcasing of my writing abilities, and I want to keep that momentum into Griffn Side Story 01.

Putting that aside, let's talk about her actual gameplay.

Lore wise, her electric guitar has the ability to increase her speed significantly, at the cost of being very stamina intensive. The more her sound waves resonate in your heart, the more they'll stun you.

In game, Du Caiyin is a Glacial unit. Her unique Glacial type deals more damage depending on the BPM of the currently played song, as well as how much she personally enjoys it.

She can up the Distortion Level of her electric guitar, which gives her Cubes various offensive buffs in exchange for a percentage of her health.

Of course, it would be such a shame if a character that literally plays music DIDN'T have her own custom theme.

So...she can also change the battle music under certain conditions. Hype moments and aura, bitches.

She's very cool, a true rockstar. I'm purposefully being vague on the descriptions, because I want to have her properly tested before I say some bullshit that'll end up getting changed. On everyone's soul, she's gonna release with a 50-50 Cutscene Droplet

VENOM Caiyin is not implanted in game yet, but honestly I'm more excited about her gimmick than the original. I showed her deck to one of my playtesters, and he said "it reminded him of og Zhu Haoyu."

For reference, the original concept for Zhu Haoyu was SO bad that it was literally impossible to win a run with her. Safe to say, I think VENOM Caiyin is gonna be really fun lmao.

Product • Showcase

Right, onto the Product Showcase. Man, even this is also boring this time around.

...Sorry, I'm hating. I'm actually quite fond of these ones. You didn't hear this from me, but Chamber Burn is my favorite status effect to run. I like the constant damage.

Gravedigger shafted again. I actually don't think he's shown up to a Product Showcase in ages.

I actually forgot there was already a Cube with "unmoving" in the name until just now. I try to make Cube names very unique, so it was pretty shocking.

AND it was a Gravedigger Cube, poor guy can't catch a break!

Numbers might need some tuning. These were more so designed with Reminiscent Paths in mind, where enemies have insane health pools.

I love Magma Chamber, it's always been a memorable Product to me. It's got an interesting background. I think I'll implement it as an alternate Station Excerpt for ashes to Ashes.

An all consuming love...doesn't everyone dream about being burnt alive? How romantic!

Oh, before I end this, I wanna let you know that I've been trying to showcase more things to the Discord! I've been trying to show a sneak peek every Friday! So, y'know join for that!

We're doing something cool at 100 members! We're pretty close, y'know?

Alright, that's it. See you next month, everyone!

-flower baasket