Scarlet Moon Episode 1: Bad Hair Day

Spankers, Spankees, and Switches of All Ages (18 and above),

I’ve just posted the next version of Scarlet Moon, 1.0.5. We finally have some new content! Included in this release is the entire second (and last) day of episode 1. Episode 1 is now complete. Get it in the Downloads section!

It’s not perfect (I think the beach scene could stand to be trimmed down a little bit, and the heroics at the end expanded upon), but I think it’s good enough to be released. And I’m kind of sick of working on this first episode, so I figure now’s a good time to release.

As for what I’m working on right now, there are two big priorities:

  1. Refactoring combat.

2. Working out the details of episode 2 (I know what villain I want to introduce, and rough idea of the major scenes, I just need to flesh them out).

I’ll talk a little bit more about my combat refactors once they’re done, but the basic gist is that every action in combat will be reduced to 1 or more of the following atomic actions:

  1. Do damage to a character (healing is negative damage).
  2. Inflict a status on a character for some duration (inflicting a status with negative duration attempts to cure the status).
  3. Move a character to a different position.

This should simplify the combat logic some (which will be nice. Combat is the most complicated part of the system). However, I’m doing this primarily because this will allow me to easily implement all sorts of interesting powers. For example, you could have a power that redirects the first X positive damage actions targeting you to a random target. Or you could attack the first X enemies that move. The villain in Episode 2 will be primarily using these kinds of powers, so it’s a little bit important to get this refactor done now. This will open the door for all sorts of interesting powers and synergies between powers that will hopefully make the combat compelling and fun.

AKA

19 thoughts on “Scarlet Moon Episode 1: Bad Hair Day

  1. I encountered an odd glitch during the second Buzzsaw fight. I somehow went into the fight with negative seven health, and I lose every time I make a move. I have no idea how it happened. Maybe it had something to do with me picking willpower twice during the stat choice scenes instead of strength this time.

    Very good work on the beach scenes though, got really giddy when the volleyball game started. Was hoping for another spanking scene with Buzzsaw, but oh well, they did escape, so there is always next time.

    1. How much health did you have after you defeated her minions just outside the warehouse? What’s likely the case is that you had a very small amount of health left after defeating them, and then your health went negative because of the cut-scene damage you took just before the boss battle.

      You’re going to want to have about twenty health I think after defeating the warehouses’ guards.

      If you’re having trouble defeating her minions before they hurt you too badly, don’t be afraid to use Scarlet Flash.

  2. Great story so far! I encountered a few bugs, though. During the beach scene, Buzzsaw’s pronouns started off as male (which I had selected), but switched to female later. I also noticed that, after picking the conservative superhero outfit, the game described the outfit accurately at first, but during the hunt for Buzzsaw, seemed to be implying that I was wearing the sexy version of the outfit instead.

    I’d also recommend that you give us a way of seeing what exactly are stats are, in regards to speed, willpower, strength, etc. Maybe in the Options menu or somewhere. I saw that my Strength test failed, and the game mentioned that if a stat isn’t high enough, it might fail, but without knowing what my stats are, I have no way of gauging how much of a risk I’m taking.

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed it so much! I’ve added an issue for the gender bug with Buzzsaw. I’ll try to work on that this week, and get a new version out (there have also been some typos and things pointed out by other people that I’ll be addressing).

      As far as seeing the stats, I agree that that is sorely missing. My development version actually already has a way of seeing the stats. Basically, I allow you to open up the original character creation screen again.

      This will allow you to see your stats, change your clothing , physical appearance, and name.

      Yes, yes it’s weird that you might be able to change your clothing in the middle of the street, to say nothing of suddenly losing twenty pounds.

      But I’m going to make sure that you periodically have short scenes in your apartment so that people who don’t like that kind of immersion breaking have a point at which they can change clothing.

      I’ll shoot for getting a new version out this week. Probably not today (I have new Christmas toys I want to play with!).

      One final note: The failure scene in front of the warehouse is inevitable. It’s there mostly to demonstrate that you _can_ fail. I’ll add a little bit to the gameplay note that follows the failure to make that clear. Others have been confused about that as well.

      Finally, thank you so much for the bug reports, and the suggestion!

      1. Do you remember where it seemed to imply you were wearing the sexy costume? I found one place where the conservative option was triggering regardless of the costume chosen, but I didn’t find anyplace where the sexy costume seemed to trigger incorrectly.

        1. I remember it saying something about the protagonist using her energy to shield her bare skin from a hot piece of metal she was sitting on? Something like that, it was while she was investigating Buzzsaw while wearing the costume for the first time. I assumed that that was a feature of the sexy costume. I feel like there was a second instance somewhere in that scene, but I don’t remember off the top of my head.

          1. Scarlet Moon shields her bottom from the concrete in both cases. The only difference is that with the sexy costume, it says “exposed cheeks” whereas with the conservative outfit it says “lightly clad cheeks” (spandex is rather thin).

  3. Played through it once. I noticed a few text bugs.

    When I chose the thong bikini the narration is describing everyone’s beach outfits, Keiko is called a he”he” but I chose a female Keiko.

    I picked the conservative super hero outfit but during a cut scene spanking it is described as having my ass exposed.

    The biggest and most consistent error is that there are two Nulls. One Null plays volleyball and is consistently male the second Null refuses to play volleyball and keeps switching between Male and Female.

    1. Huh. Sounds like somehow your Vanessa and Alexandra got screwed up. What are your gender settings, and do you remember selecting a gender for Vanessa and Alexandra? Also, could you send me a save file with the Nulls?

      Finally, could you give me a bit more details on the cut scene spanking where your ass was described as exposed? Who were you spanking? Do you have a screenshot with the text?

      1. I was never given an option to select gender for those two, only myself, buzzsaw, keiko and nattalie. All female. I stayed to watch juliana spank Keiko and they alll entered the common room together. Null was introduced as a male talking about going to the beach.

        For the cutscene I was trying to sneak into the warehouse at the docks and part of the consequence of failing the skill check was getting spanked a little by a big burly man.

        1. Curioser and curioser. Does your data/characters folder contain the files “alexandra.yaml” and “vanessa.yaml”? If so, could you either send them to me, or tell me what the contents are?

          I haven’t been able to duplicate your problem from the save file you sent me. Could you send me a save file from the very beginning of the second day, rather than the beginning of the game that demonstrates the problem?

          Also, when your enemy is spanking you while sneaking into the warehouse, do you see “bare bottom” or “thinly-clad bottom?” If it’s the second, then the game is working as intended (though I’ve changed it to “spandex-clad” in the coming release to make it clearer).

          1. I think I figured out what the problem was. There was a bug in my code in which I was counting the risque of outfits that take up multiple slots _twice_ rather than once. So the risque of the conservative outfit was being registered as 6 rather than 3 (an outfit is considered “baring” if it has a risque of 4 or more).

  4. well, that was an awesome chapter, the only complain I have is that when i choose a normal bikini, it still says that i got a thong bikini during the spanking by the beach boys

      1. Nevermind, I found what the problem was. For clothing that takes up two slots (i.e. the bikinis) I was effectively doubling their risque, and an outfit is considered very risque (i.e. showing off your ass) if it has a risque of 4 or more. Meanwhile, the tie bikini has a risque of 3, so since that was doubled to six, the game thought you were wearing a more risque outfit than you actually were.

  5. heh good game and thanks for fixing the font text thing it was really ‘buging’ me XD

    also ^^ if you don’t min me asking,is the next part where we see more superheros…or more supervillans? O.O

    1. We won’t be seeing additional superheroes for a while yet. However, we’ll be seeing a new supervillain every episode for at least the next several episodes.

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