Conviction Chronicles blog post #28 - First trial has been implemented

 Took a little longer than I thought, but it's implemented now.

First Trial

This is a change to the cast meeting each other overall with Bianca introducing the game. Before it's more of an introduction, but I've decided that it needs more tension. So this has it where someone is going to die right at the start. Why did I do this?

1. Gives a new opportunity for tension.

2. More player interaction during the scene.

3. Adds more replayability, as they cannot do everything with everyone in a single playthrough.

This uses one person from each group. If nobody in that group is in the current game, they are removed as an option. If only one group exists, then the vote turns into voting to kill whoever is nominated or to spare them. Mainly since by that point the cast is extremely small, and thinning further isn't needed.

The mole votes twice and they can split their vote for more manipulation. 

At the start under default settings, Agatha and Nova will always be two of the nominees. Mainly since Nova breaks the 3rd escape room, and Agatha is similar to Nova in terms of her importance. Mostly at the start the player will choose to go against Group 2 or Group 1 before going against Group 2 more often. Agatha reveals her hand quicker than Nova, which keeps Nova's importance in check with the player.

The second group is much more dynamic with who they can go with at all times. If Nova isn't alive, then anybody else in group 3 can be the nominee. Group 1 is different to be more consistent. For example, Edgar can only be the nominee if he is the only one in Group 1. Alexis if she is only with herself and Edgar, and etc. I mostly did this so each group has their own dynamics for how the nominees are handled.

The music for the first trial has multiple variations that degrades more with the tension.

Once the nominees are revealed, then the speeches start. The speeches are from the nominees and they have two options:

1. Reject the speech which gives bias against them for the vote.

2.Attempt to make a speech of three parts, and in each part they can be emotional, logical, or intuitive. 

I did this so they have a 20% chance to reject making a speech, and they can mix and match parts of their speech so it's more dynamic, even if short.

The vote results are randomized in terms of order to make it harder to see who is voting for who at the start.

The votes are showcased one at a time, then if there is a tie for first place, then everybody in the tie dies. If not, then only the one with the most vote dies. Unless there is only one group left then it's voting if they live or die.

If someone is selected to die, they have a reaction before they are vaporized. I don't have any executions ready at the moment, and it might not be the best thing to show them right away even if I did, so they are vaporized. Then there is a reaction by the group which shows up to 3 character's reactions to the execution every time it happens. 

Anything else?

I have to get some art for the execution reactions eventually, but I know it will take a long while once an artist starts working on it. I'm going to push an update to the steam demo build now just in case, but this won't be fully complete until the art is done.

I'm discovering more things I want to change/alter with the UI. For example, the game has no fast travel and the current map system for the menu is bad. So that needs to be replaced. The information for the cast needs to be turned into a layout instead of a massive text event. Same with gifting/crafting. Mostly to make interacting with the game systems a little better/easier/quicker. Since I made most of these systems almost a year ago at this point with some of them, I can see what needs to be added upon/altered to make it a better user experience. Then I can go back on track with what I wanted to do before. I know it's a bigger detour than I thought, but they are aspects to improve that the game would benefit from.

Right now the current rundown of things to do are:

1. Get art to finish the first trial up.

2. Start replacing/improving the UI in certain areas where it's weaker.

3. Transform the information boxes for the menu into a layout instead of a messy text event.

4. Add string logs for what everybody is doing at all times to keep in storage to reference later. And add that to the menu UI so the player can remember what they did before on previous days. And to allow the player to explore everything the AI has been doing across each day when the game ends.

4.5. Editing/testing the AI for interactions to make sure it all works correctly without any major bugs.

5. Cafe events. This is going to be a bulk of my time.

6. Setting up alternate trials for the investigation period and improving certain aspects of investigation.

7. Main Trial backend.

7.5. Remaining minigames and alternate trials.

8. Post trial events.

9. Bug events.

10. Finale events.

11. Executions. 

11.5. Possibly around here or maybe way before, change the animations for the cast to be more unique.

11.75. Maybe around here is when I should put in for a new trailer due to the executions.

12. Editing/finalization.

13. Translation.

14. Steam Fest.

15. Release.

This probably won't include everything that needs to be added/done. All things considered, a bulk of what's left are points 5-9. Which isn't too bad.

As this is being posted, the Steam demo should be in the middle of uploading the update.


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