Love of Magic Book 2: The War News

I first started writing Love of Magic in September 2019, talking to the characters and trying to make sense of the world they lived in. I spent weekends and nights trying to learn Daz3D and After Effects.

I've actually been making games for a relatively long time; I first entered the games industry back in '99, but for most of that time I worked as a programmer; this was the first real chance to stretch my writing muscles writing for something other than a compiler.



Along the way I fell in love with my characters; an unwise practice for an author that occasionally has to do terrible things to them. There's still chunks of the game I can't revisit, even just for fixing typos, without getting dust in my eyes.

I DID want to make sure the Emily, Katie and the rest had their happily ever after; hopefully with Act XVI: Eternal Summer I managed that.

Book 3 goes on sale on Thursday 28th; if you haven't yet, a wishlist is an awesome way to tell Steam that this game's real, and deserves some support at launch ;)

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

Apart from the new Act, and the Epilogue, this update also contains the usual mad scramble that occurs when, after a year worth of kicking the can down the road, you run out of road. Bugs were fixed, typos squashed, and finally collectibles and achievements added.



There's also an update to Book 2 itself, which includes bug-fixes to achievements, an improved debugging interface, and fixing some possible bugs in the Texas path, and the Stag party.

So. What's next? I've got two things on my plate. First, there's Morningstar:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2396740/Morningstar_Book_of_the_Fallen/

Once the launch is over, and I can start breathing again, I'll return to Act II of Morningstar, working to continue that world. I

Apart from that, I've got dreams of doing a New Game+ update to Book 1/2/3, inspired by Persona (which remains one of the touchstones for the trilogy). Some of the events in Book 3 hint that there are *other* stories left untold in the world... eventually starting a new game in Book 1, using the final save from Book 3, will let you explore some of those.

But all that is the future. For now, I hope you've all enjoyed the journey, and the characters. Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Droid.

The development of Love of Magic advances at two speeds; the story updates (I, II, III, etc) and the world expansion updates (I+, II+, III+, etc). These flesh out the sandbox, add additional side-content, improve the combat system and move the game from a linear to a non-linear experience.



The star of this update is of course Molly; I'd completely forgotten her birthday back on day 210 (thankfully she handled that better than my wife would have done), and I went back to add it in. Molly remains the great enabler, and her character weaves in and out through pretty much every story in the game.



While rendering Molly I came across this old poster from the movie Showgirls and I couldn't *not* attempt to recreate it. I liked it enough that it became the motif for this update's images.

Apart from that, this is an update with a lot of focus on Elsewhere; new Kingdom events, new gems, new enemies and two 'epic' enemies that should provide a challenge for the most hardened poker player. It also adds character development arcs for two of the companions that were under-appreciated in Book 3, and both Katie and Dylan have fun new events.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

All in all, this is probably the largest world+ update in the game, which is fitting, since it's the last one. I'm now starting Act XVI: Eternal Sunshine, the final act of Love of Magic. I hope you've enjoyed the journey.

Act XV (The Return) is now complete, and out on the Beta Branch. The story of Love of Magic is nearing it's final chapter, after almost four years of development.



With Act XV done, I'm moving on to XV+, which will focus on Kingdom Events and Elsewhere events across Book 3, before starting work on the final Act XVI: Eternal Summer.



Once the whole Book 3 is complete, I'm hoping to do a pass to update all the three books to use the same engine, and making sure I port over stuff from Book 1 (like TTS support, and localization support) to the shared Book 3 engine. I'll also be looking into making a New Game+ feature.

As many of you know, Persona 4/5 were two of the biggest inspirations for Love of Magic, and I always loved the ability to start a new game, using the "end of game" save, with enhanced stats, enemies and some new encounters along the way.


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

Apart from that, I've started work on my next series, called Morningstar. It's another Urban Fantasy story, featuring many of the same 'souls' in a very different universe. I'm hoping to start Early Access of that sometime in late fall 2023, and develop it in a similar way to Love of Magic (with periodic act releases). If it looks interesting, do give it a wishlist; it's super helpful in giving it a good launch.

I alternate story sequences and world expansion events (Act+ updates); this update to Book 3 is a World Expansion event, focused on Edinburgh.



I didn't actually *intend* to make this a super sexy update, but it seems to have accidentally happened anyways. Molly shows a fascination for shoes, triggering her Shoe Fetish sequence after Jenny's Shibari sequence.


Buying Emily's lingerie also opens up a new questline with Chloe, and a sexy scene to go with that. I've got to say, Kath is rocking that outfit.


Nobody's more surprised than me that I got inspired to make a new Sarah scene; there's no sexual content, but a little more backstory on everyone's favorite sex-ed teacher.


The capstone of this update is a big new replayable sex scene with Akane (again, triggered by buying her an outfit). Originally planned to be a short sex scene, I got inspired by how she looks in that outfit, and it... escalated from there. It also spilled over into a small update to her dining room scene (when you order sushi from her, you can now also request she wear the lingerie for you).

There's also a new book to read, and old friends to meet up with in the Crowley at night.

Hope you like it.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1992770/Love_of_Magic_Book_3_The_Return/

As always; if you're enjoying my work, please help make it a success by giving it a wishlist before launch. I've now got only 2 acts left, so... the day of it being complete are coming :)

For those of you who have Book 1 on Steam, I also updated it this weekend with new animations. Molly's Chosen ceremony got a big update, there's a new email sequence from her, and a new animation for Chloe on day 100.

Thanks for all the support, and let me know what you think of the new content in the comments :)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Book 3's progress continues, and Act XIV (Dead Man Walking) is now done. With that I've got 2 more Acts (The Return, and Endless Summer) before the epilogue, then the public release of Book 3.

Act XIV saw some changes. I finally managed to get my hands on a 3090 gfx card, and that's made a huge change to my ability to render animations and more complex scenes. I also made some small AI Art tests (most prominently seen in the new Paths of Elsewhere), and played with making movies a cleaner and more integrated part of the story.

Next up is Act XIV+, which will return to Edinburgh. See what your old instructors are up to, grab a drink in the Crowley and maybe enjoy a cup of coffee. But first I've got to see a girl about a pair of shoes.