Hex: Becoming a Succubus – Changelog

Version 0.0.9 – Leaving the Alpha Behind

2024-06-16 — v0.0.9 — Leaving the Alpha Behind This is a Patron Edition exclusive release!

This release marks the end of Hex's alpha stage of development! From now on, the game will officially be titled Hex: Becoming a Succubus (though I'll still call it Hex for short) and will be entering a regular development cycle similar to that of Succubus Stories before it! This update is fairly small, but includes some story and erotic content. It will also add the plug-in and server settings systems, allowing me to push small updates to the game remotely for players, both to test new ideas out, host neat community events, and to hopefully tide players over for a bit!

Warning

Starting in this version, Hex will no longer support support Windows 7 and 8; furthermore, support for 32-bit (x86) Windows systems will be ending in v0.1.0. The web and offline browser versions should still be playable on these older systems, however. If necessary, you can use the "Save to disk" and "Load from disk" options to transfer saves between versions.

This change is necessary to improve the game's performance and playability. Thank you for your understanding!

Bug fixes

• [World] Fixed more issues with rain, my eternal nemesis. The rain effect now mostly shows up when it's supposed to, and mostly doesn't stay when it's not supposed to. You'd think I'm doing brain surgery here. It rains indoors sometimes, sometimes it rains when it's not raining, but mostly it just randomly stops raining for one screen or one cutscene/combat/encounter when it's supposed to keep going, only to resume normally the next screen. Most of these issues (>90%) have been fixed, but it still happens sometimes.
• [Misc.] Fixed several other issues and typos! Some specific issues that were fixed:
  • Fixed issues with BGM; sometimes after combat/encounters, previous ambient or story BGM was not properly restored.
  • Fixed issues with the poison aura dealing much lower damage than intended.
  • Fixed a calculation error with the embers aura that prevented elemental damage from being scaled correctly.

Content

• [Event] A live event themed around autumn and Halloween will be running from October 21 to November 11. As long as the game is connected to the Internet, you should be able to play the event when it launches!
• [Story] Added the quest "Lunar Magic Arc: Thorns of a Rose," which introduces new characters, includes a new boss fight, and rewards players with a new school of magic!
• [Art] Added new CGs!
  • Added cut-ins for anal sex and finished the cut-in sets for all the other encounter types except footjobs. Added CGs for the new cuddling activity with Meila.
• [Cosmetics] Two new outfits for Iris.
  • You can buy the the Halloween 2024 outfit from the seamstress. This outfit will be 75% off during the month of October! This outfit can't be obtained from the offering box, but may be added in the future.
  • You can earn the Mummy Costume outfit from the "Trick or Treat" live event, which will go live on October 21. You'll be able to acquire the outfit after earning 200 pieces of candy during the event.
• [Activity] New major features have been added to the throne realm.
  • Practice and test out your defensive moves, like deflection, in the reflecting pool. You can also try out a few different challenges to earn silver coins.
  • You can now engage in rematches with defeated bosses in the throne realm's reflecting pool. You can fulfill goals you've previously missed, and gain silver coins for winning and flawlessly winning these rematches. Note that you cannot earn XP and G from rematches.
  • The challenge shop is a new shop in the throne realm that allows you to trade in silver coins for various prizes, including tinctures, money, and new gear.
• [Erotica] You can engage in cuddling with Meila in the throne realm. You must meet certain requirements for this, mostly in regards to "corrupting" Meila. You'll be able to go further with her in the future, too!

Additions and Enhancements

• [Interface] Various improvements. Here are the key changes:
  • Added message history function to cutscenes. Click or tap the icon in the top right, or press the L hotkey to access the message history.
  • Pressing Ctrl in sandbox mode now toggles the game menu. It still toggles the textbox when in cutscene, combat, and encounter modes. I made this change because in browsers, Esc will exit fullscreen mode, which may be annoying for some users, and I thought adding another hotkey option was better than overriding the normal function of Esc.
  • Redesigned the magic menu.
  • Added an clickable indicator and modal to quests and quest steps that are not completable in the current game version.
• [Combat] Added a new spell school and made several balance adjustments.
  • Added the spell school "dryad magic," its aura "thorn-pierced," and three new spells and three new expertise passives! As well as new graphics for the school. This spell school is unlocked during the quest "Lunar Magic Arc: Thorns of a Rose." Dryad magic has a focus on dealing bursts of physical damage by manipulating and converting auras, but has high MP costs.
  • New aura: thorn-pierced, which enhances physical damage taken by the target. Every time the target takes physical damage, there is a chance for the thorns to "bloom," dealing a large amount of damage and inflicting a number of wound stacks while clearing the thorn-pierced aura.
  • Added a new weapon, the wakizashi. With this dagger, Iris has a chance to chain multiple attacks together in a single turn, and every fourth attack with the weapon triggers the "blood loss" effect, dealing an extra burst of physical damage. It's high rate of physical attacks makes it pair nicely with the new dryad magic spell school.
  • Added a new story boss fight. Complete the quest "Lunar Magic Arc: Thorns of a Rose" to unlock her rematch challenge in the throne realm.
• [Skits] Added new conversations with Meila. Many of these are conditional based on your actions and story progress.

Balance and Progression

• [Combat]
  • Adjusted the damage calculation. For the most part, attack and defense have a little less of an influence on damage than before.
  • Adjusted the accuracy of most spells. In general, most of the player's spells are now slightly more accurate, meaning the player will miss less often. Most spells also now have lower critical hit rates by default, but the bonus from spell school expertise has been increased.
  • Adjusted the based damage, cooldowns, and MP costs of some enemy skills. Most of these skills were made more powerful.
  • Buffed Gemma's attack slightly. Also reduced the MP costs of some of her skills.
• [Progression]
  • Growth curve for some player stats has been adjusted.
  • Player level cap raised to 7.

Technical

• [Engine] Several changes, performance optimizations, and improvements. Optimized the order of media loading and rendering in complex scenes.
  • The game client now loads configs from the server, allowing for remote balance changes.
  • The game now features basic support for mods and plug-ins. Plug-ins are like mods but remotely managed in game clients via the server.
  • Currently, in-game interfaces for managing mods and mod tools for users are in an early stage of development.
• [Web Ver.] Textures and backgrounds can also now be loaded from the CDN in addition to sprites and CGs. Audio is also a target for future integration with the CDN service, but I think audio issues impact the feel of the game less than art issues, and the more I offload to CDN services, the more I have to pay, so I'm loathe to move the heavy-ass audio files over.