Whew! It's finally here! I've made the correct changes to the game's page. I hope everyone finds this interesting and exciting, even if it's a very rough cut from a player's perspective. A LOT went into this, so I'll lay out everything that you might be concerned about here.

Why now?

As I'm mentioned in a previous post, the reason I'm releasing a prototype now instead of next year is because this year really was dreadful, and it's time to make some changes in my life based on how this works out. Something has to see the light of day because I'm broke and tired.

Why 20 dollars?

Would you rather I do what others do? String you along for a couple years early version access at 5 dollars a month on patreon? Or would you rather pay for the game once and be done? There's many smaller components to this, but this is the most ethical way for me to sell this game based upon the existing data and my experience so far. Like it says on my profile page:  No early access hustle, no dragging on forever.

So, what's in it?

This prototype represents 10 months of development in Ren'Py - building off of the structure and mechanics of the twine version. It's been full of ups and downs. This game pushed my knowledge and codebase for all of my projects quite a lot; especially since summer. It's not done. I'm not done. 

You folks can all see how long I've been around and how seriously I take this - I'm not giving up, but I DO need to recover. It's playable, it's beatable in theory, the ending is there, and it's both hard and easy at the same time. This is why I'd call it a prototype - it represents what I feel is the basics of what I want to accomplish.

OHYAD Version 0.1.0:

• You can beat it. Maybe not easily or quickly, but you can; and there IS an ending.
• Basic events with all characters - there will be a lot of additions and revisions towards v1.0.0.
• WTB/WTS at a basic level - skills and other things influence the haggling.
• Gaining Kota and reputation may not be easy, but I've made sure there's ways to get money and items.
• Combat is just not ready, which means abilities are not ready. For now, you auto win or auto lose - enjoy it.
• Encounters are very basic, but they function. There's a few enemies that need pics.
• Perks/Boons are also very basic, but you should be able to unlock areas and perks with rep.
• Events and Hazards are also very basic, as a lot of work the last two weeks has been furiously hooking them up and making revisions to everything needed to be connected to them.
• Challenges and checks are all straight randoms for now - skills and stats will take some time to hook up everywhere, as well as increase via training (mentors) and study (consumables). I just didn't have the time before Thanksgiving.
• No growth content yet, but the visuals all all better than the TWINE version.
• Crafting didn't make it in time, but once item generation and processing are polished up, it'll happen.
• Please make reports in discord, or in an appropriate discussion thread.

Known Issues:

• It's not done. Please don't report or complain about it being undercooked.
• DO, however, report any instance of the game returning to the main menu. There is a LOT of logic here, and it's still entirely possible for me to miss them because the game is at least 400 files worth of code.
• DO report things that seem impossible to overcome. While everything is a simple random roll right now, sometimes something in the chain of mechanics and process can break it for some players.
• AI pics?! OHNOZ! Yes, but the estimated cost of THIS version in commissions would be $12,000 USD and take a single artist around 3.5 years to complete. Anyone? Anyone? Yeah, I thought not.

As always, I am thankful to everyone who has supported me, especially since the fire. As much as it's cost me to continue doing this, I hope you can find my work worthy of continued support. I am available for commissioned works over at my Ko-Fi page, and I have a patreon page for those wanting to make sure I can eat and safely sleep.