I know the title seems weird. After all Heileen 3 is a dating sim, a life sim, but not a RPG. So what's about this level up thing? Well, first of all, in the game there will be all the classic relationship bar/values we're used to in dating sims, as you can see in the screenshot below:
The romance subscreen in Heileen 3 status screen
Before going on I want to clarify again, that the main game will have otome romances but only because the yuri version was delayed - this time it wasn't my plan to release them separately, I wanted to have them both ready on launch day, but alas had some problems during the yuri development path :)
The next screen could still be common in a life simulation or a dating sim, even if the theme is quite original (the Seven Sins / Virtues):
The Seven Sins / Virtues subscreen in Heileen 3 status screen
Those aren't bars, but "sliders". Meaning that they don't fill up, but the thumb can move towards the left if you're a "Sinner", or on the right if you're a "Saint". The values will be a requirement to get a specific ending.
What I'm talking about, regarding the leveling, is the new skills system I have designed. In my previous life/dating sims, you had a bar with a value from 0 to 100 (usually). It was ok, but this time I wanted to do something more interesting: the skills are divided into levels. So for example you start at level 1 of Wisdom, and donig certain activities you raise the values up to 100, after that the counter resets but you gain Wisdom Level 2. It works exactly as the experience bars of a RPG.
The Skills subscreen in Heileen 3 status screen
This will have several implications on the gameplay and will make the game more interesting. Differently from Spirited Heart, your skills values will never decrease, but if you had a bad day they will just increase by a slow value: in this context, even gaining values like 2-5 points is not a big improvement, considering the scale 0 to 100 and the level which will probably go up until 10 or later.
Other examples of new features include the possibility to ask one of the characters to join you in your activity, and depending on the choice you'll get a bonus or not. For example asking Juliet to do Fencing will surely be a good idea, while asking her to help you in Farming... well let's just say that you might not get a very polite reply!
Discovering who likes what will be part of the game fun and I'm sure will require me to write a strategy guide or walkthrough later in my forums ;)
One of the new background locations of the game
Right now the music of the game is being done, using only natural instruments (live guitar, etc) and the background artwork is being finished. I still believe the game should be out in the beginning of December, at least the preorder phase!
Stay tuned, and next week will talk about a very different game, Bionic Heart 2.
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