Love of Magic News

This update pushes the New Game+ mode to default branch (where 85% of players are). Hopefully the weeks of testing has smoked out any remaining issues; if not, let me know and I'll stomp on the bugs :)

For those discovering New Game+ for the first time, this is my love-letter to the Persona series; if you start a new game in book 1 after completing book 3 you'll have the option to start a New Game+. It starts with additional cash, higher stats, and all your gems from book 3, but more importantly it also adds in new events and changes the dialog in subtle ways based on decisions you made throughout the 3 books.

Apart from that it also updates the game to Book 3's engine, with things like rollback, improved graphics, more music, and several additional events (Kath, Jenny, Olivia and Nimue all get new questlines).

As always, enjoy... and thanks for helping complete this project.

One of the main influences for Love of Magic was of course Persona 4 and 5. I loved the way it combines a sandbox with a constantly progressing calendar, the themes of balancing a normal life against a supernatural destiny, even some of the character archetypes.

One feature that all the Persona games share is the idea of a New Game+ mode, where you can start a new game with the end of content save, and experience a subtly different game, and maybe even a ‘true’ ending.



With that in mind I set out to create a New Game+ mode for Love of Magic; you can find lots of hints for it, especially in Book 3 (but occasionally also in book 1 and 2). The way it works is that it takes your end of Book 3 save (called Act16.sav3) and begins a new game with it. You’ll start with higher stats (15/15/15) and more cash (£10,000), as well as all your existing gems.

The game also remembers a number of the actions you committed throughout the game, and occasionally reacts to them. A lot of dialogs change in subtle (and not so subtle) ways, especially those related to your core group of characters.



The game also adds in several new NG+ only events, with Fae showing up at the Crowley, and some of the more unique characters of Book 2/3 returning to engage with the player.



I also decided to add some fan-service. The Kult of Kath’s long been asking for an event with everyone’s favorite werelynx, and this time I finally agreed. Diana’s got a new book for you… make sure you read it before Kath becomes your barmaid on day 112 onwards. There’s also new questlines for Jenny, Olivia and The Morrigan.



Finally I ported all of it to Book 3’s version of the engine, which adds a number of quality of life improvements, including rollback, video backgrounds, a gallery for replaying erotic scenes, gamepad support and hundreds of other little tweaks.



Some of the new content is only accessible if you’ve got a final Book 3 save (called act16.sav3), while most of the new side-events (like Kath, Jenny and Olivia) can be played either from a new save, or a NG+ save. It’s now live on Beta and Development branch… once I’ve ensured it doesn’t break anything terrible I’ll shift it onto the default branch.

And with that, I'm back to working on my next game, Morningstar: Book of the Fallen, an Urban Fantasy set in New York, inspired by movies like Highlander, Rocky, John Wick and The Crow. Give it a wishlist here, or try out the free demo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2396740/Morningstar_Book_of_the_Fallen/

After 4 years of development, Love of Magic is finally complete. The build is getting a final testing by the awesome testers on Discord, and will go on sale on Steam on the 28th September

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1992770/Love_of_Magic_Book_3_The_Return/

The final story ends on day 288 (Midsummer Night), after which... it's done. It's a strange feeling, after 4 years working on it, but also really gratifying. Hopefully it's been a fun journey for all of you as well.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

To celebrate I went back and added a new set of 14 collectible cards to find, and added some animations for Bella's Chosen date.

The cards are the same style as the Book 3 collectible cards, with a more detailed background.



They also get an updated normal map, with more noticeable lighting.


So... what's next?

Well, the *first* thing I'm doing is returning to Morningstar. The first Act is done, and once the launch is over I'll be returning to write the second act. You can check it out here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2396740/Morningstar_Book_of_the_Fallen/

Or come join us on discord to beta-test it.

The other thing I wanted to look at doing was New Game+.

Obviously one of the biggest inspirations for Love of Magic was Persona 4/5, and one thing I loved was the idea of starting a new game using the end of game savegame, and the world responding to that in subtle ways. It might be unlock new events, new conversation options, and of course set you up with higher initial stats, cash and gems.

So that's the future for Love of Magic. I couldn't bear to *totally* stop working on it.

Thanks for coming along for the ride, and I hope you've enjoyed playing the games as much as I enjoyed making them.

Droid.

With Act XV+ finally done, I've only got a single Act left of the Love of Magic trilogy. All that remains is Act XVI: Eternal Sunshine. You can check it out on the Beta branch of Book 2, or wait for Book 3 to launch properly:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1992770/Love_of_Magic_Book_3_The_Return/

I keep putting my new graphics card to use, and went back to add a couple of new animations to the early game, including two new Molly animations, a new Katie intro and a new Sarah intro.

The more interesting part, I guess, is what comes next.

Love of Magic was always very much inspired by the amazing Persona series of games, especially Personal 4 Golden and Persona 5. One thing they both share is the idea of a New Game+, where you start a game all the way back in book 1, but using the end of book 3 save. This will start you with more cash, better stats, all the characters named, etc... but it'll also open up new side-events. Meet the Morrigan or Queen Mab while pouring drinks at the Crowley, etc.

There's a couple of storylines that will only give you the final ending through a NG+ game.

We'll see how that goes, obviously as a solo dev, I've got slightly less resources than Atlus :) NG+ will also be a side-project, something to go tinker with when I feel inspiration strike. Once Book 3 is done, I'll be switching the main part of my focus over to Morningstar, a grittier story about an MMA fighter who one day meets an Angel.



I'm working on it as a side-project now; the dream is having Act I more or less done before Book 3 is complete. Check it out over here.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2396740/Morningstar_Book_of_the_Fallen/

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

I like to keep the PC busy, and have gotten into the habit of having an animation set up each night for it to chew on while I'm sleeping.

Most of that goes into Book 3, where I'm splitting my time between rendering new content (Act XIV+ is now content complete, ending with the biggest and most complex sex scene so far), and working on end of game content (which, like in Book 2, is going to be heavy on both video and music).

As the inspiration strikes I occasionally go back and tinker with Book 1; in this case doing a quick typo pass and adding a couple of new animations. Most of them are for Molly, connected to her getting Chosen (3 new animations there, and one new email triggering day 80+). I can't really show any of them in a SFW update, though, since in most of them she's just wearing a choker :)

I was inspired to do this little video clip by some work I did for the end of Book 3, featuring cloud simulations. It's from Day 100, called The Last of the First. Here's a quick breakdown for those of you who're interested in the development side of things.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Book 3's coming along well; with Act XIV+ done, I've only got three more releases to go before it's done (Act XV: The Return, XV+ and XVI: Eternal Summer). After spending pretty much every free hour on this game for three years now it's a strange, and slightly melancholy feeling to know that it's ending soon... but all good things must finish.

If you haven't already, please give Book 3 a wishlist; it's hugely important at launch.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1992770/Love_of_Magic_Book_3_The_Return/


Full changelog:

1.3.3
- New looping handstand video for the Chosen ceremony
- New email, day 80+
- Tweaked probability of Starcucks random encounters

1.3.2
- three new animations for Molly, at her Chosen ceremony

1.3.1
- New video for Chloe day 100

1.3.0d
- Added some guards on day 80+ to help ensure players complete the Crowley upgrade
- Day 86, if the pub isn't upgraded, the morning wakeup will include a hint that it's something you should be doing.
- Day 80+, if the pub isn't updated, entering a treasure site will give you 5 special ingredients and tell you to hand them to chloe.

1.3.0c
- Restored call of the chosen video clip

1.3.0b
- Transcoded all videos to deal with a video potentially not playing on some systems