New Engine Features and the Future

For those unaware, SublteCube is what I call the game engine that I used to make Succubus Stories. If you're curious about the name or where the tech comes from, there should be some older posts explaining it. Basically, it's a heavily modified version of Twine. Twine has a runtime called SugarCube (Twine can be used with multiple different runtimes) and SubtleCube is a fork of SugarCube. Instead of calling it "SubtleCube 2," I'm dropping the "Cube" from the name of the engine for the next version, so now it's just "Subtle." The name doesn't really matter much, but if I say "Subtle" now you know what I mean.

I've been working on this new version of the engine for a while, basically since I started working on mod support. A lot of engine improvements from Subtle have been backported to Succubus Stories' version of the engine where possible, so this work helps that game too! Subtle as an engine is actually pretty far along, and I'm already in pre-production (that is, planning) on my next game, which will use this new engine. Of course, I will finish Succubus Stories, and I want you guys to know that issues that have caused me to fall behind have affected both projects; I haven't been working on this new project in place of Succubus Stories, instead I have specific time blocked out for this work, with a 4:1 split of my time focused on Succubus Stories.

You can see the engine in action in the above GIF, which shows the new cutscene system and the updated encounter system UI. Most of the assets are borrowed from Succubus Stories for testing purposes, the new game will have all new artwork with all new characters. Both systems more closely resemble a visual novel than anything in Succubus Stories, but the whole game won't be in this format. Many story events and sequences will still be expressed with normal paragraphs, particularly when those sequences don't feature much talking. The game's flow, menus, and general interactions will be more similar to Succubus Stories than a visual novel, and that's by design.

The new engine has a lot of other cool features, too. For example, dynamic audio, which will allow me to seamlessly transition between, say, an exploration version of a theme and a combat version of the same theme. The modding systems developed for Succubus Stories have also been refined and are used by the engine internally to keep the game running efficiently; new chapters can be downloaded in chunks and old data can be removed from memory. This lets me add a ton more stuff to the game, including tons of assets, while keeping the load times for web players reasonable, though there are short loading screens in the game itself now as a consequence.

Other features are more down to game design considerations. Succubus Stories used flags for everything, which was convenient but inefficient. The new game will still have flags for a lot of things, but new efficient data structures have also been added for things like the world model and quests. I'm also adding an AI system (as in video game AI, not machine learning) to the game for encounters and combat. Combat will be somewhat more prominent in the new game; usually optional, though. I think I've hit upon an interesting combat system, but you all will be the judges of that.

Likewise, I've tried to create a way deeper sexual encounter system as well, featuring different types of moves (normal, service, selfish, and teasing) with different effects, and players will be able to advance in unique ways by investing in these different move types. For example, focusing on teasing allows you to build up a huge multiplier for when you finally use a service or normal action, while service actions can have greater effects when the player character herself has high pleasure, but otherwise are pretty bad. I want this new sex system feel like something you can be good at without making it annoying.

I've been reluctant to talk about this new project because I feel like it might make people less excited about Succubus Stories, and I hope that isn't the case. I don't want to just make that game a second time but slightly better. I want this new project to be something with a different feel and design, but without alienating people who love Succubus Stories.