Game Mechanics - Blog Posts

SMTIV's hilarious extortion mechanic and its meme status in the Japanese fandom

The grey morality of the alignments has nothing against pure greed.

[spoilers for both SMTIV and SMTIVA ahead]

1) Rundown

In Shin Megami Tensei IV, after purchasing the Fundraise App from Burroughs, Flynn will be able to request Macca from foes during battle. -> Foes will give Macca in small increments, at which point you can ask for more or stop talking and accept what you've been given. -> They may become infuriated upon being asked for Macca or repeatedly asked and attack the party. -> Occasionally, they will even simply give up and grant you a large sum.

2) Explanation

The rewards you get from only killing enemies are much more scarce in SMTIV compared to previous titles. Money is needed for buying good gear and filling your demon compendium, so you can understand how pivotal for game completion farming for Macca is in SMTIV. Hence the option for earning much faster through the Fundraise App.

On an additional note, the best way to take advantage of this method is through inflicting the enemy with the bind ailment before asking them, as it'll work 100% of the time with three turns worth of money without a chance of being attacked. Also, since enemies don't have a money limit, you can repeatedly fundraise from the same target as long as it's afflicted with the status.

Comic by みゃべ. This is a redraw of this meme

Flynn's boldness goes so far that not only random encounter demons but even story bosses can be targeted as well, including past companions:

3) Fan response

This uniquely cruel feature shocked Japanese fans so much that Flynn became commonly referred as a カツアゲ王 Extortion King .

@kingyo_neko "I don't think there's a more ruthless extortion king than Flynn. Unlike the first SMT protagonist, who only targeted Temple Knights, Flynn is an indiscriminate street attacker."

@ametoya "Someone said that Demi-fiend was the King of Chaos while Flynn is the King of Extortion."

To such an extent that many became flabbergasted by the contrast of how his personality was handled in SMTIVA:

@Fomalhaut15 "It makes me sick to my stomach to see Flynn, who has been mercilessly extorting his enemies previously, being called a star of hope and a hero by those around him."

@kakougg "The Flynn I know was a guy whose hobby was extorting demons, I don't think he was any sort of savior" @kuuusuke009 "The image of Flynn was of a protagonist without personality, but in SMTIVA he has become an eloquent young man, and I thought 'You lying bastard… you took off your pants and tried to stick something up your nose, beat up hunters in the tournament, and even tied up demons and robbed them…!'"

@sanbonosrmkr "Me playing SMTIVA: 'The Flynn I know extorted even the weak, and was merciless even to his peers…! He's a murderer, he's not a sociable, righteous person!'"

@kitaonglacier "Frankly, the only thing Flynn should be respected for are his extortion skills."

4) The junior extortionist continuing the legacy

While Nanashi's negotiation apps decreased in quantity (Dagda probably doesn't want you fooling around compared to Burroughs), Nanashi's greediness doesn't leave the older protagonist to shame.

In fact, the amount of fundraising targets is even bigger than the previous title's, with grunts from Ashura-kai and Ring of Gaea being particular examples of which Flynn couldn't dialogue previously while Nanashi is able to not only talk but do it in a threatening tone:

And if you thought that becoming a savior made Flynn give up on his old ways, you couldn't be more wrong! Flynn's (in)fame regarding stealing only became stronger with SMTIVA's release:

5) Flynn and Nanashi's fund partnership

Translation of SMTIVA's official guide, page 45:

> Additional funds provided by Flynn

While accompanying you in the Bonds or Massacre Route, Flynn will provide additional funds if you're successful in fundraising.

You can earn more money in the Bonds route, however Flynn will only follow you in YHVH's Universe. In the Massacre route, you earn less money but Flynn will accompany you wherever you go.

When farming for money (whether for the Demon Compendium or to purchase equipment), it's a good idea to make use of Flynn.

> Conditions for Flynn to acquire additional funds

Route | Occurence conditions | Effect

Bonds route | Give the fishing hook to Flynn and it will always activate when Flynn is in-battle inside YHVH's Universe | 1.5 times the amount of money earned per successful fund

Massacre route | Activates with probability of 50% after fund. If the enemy becomes affected by the bind status, it will definitely be activated. | 0.5 times the amount of money earned per successful fund

[Recorded usage of both routes (please click to zoom in!). Asahi is the best partner for fundraising as she's the only one that won't hurt the enemy which means it'll stay alive for much longer to suck it dry.]

Fans absolutely couldn't leave this feature uncommented:

@atumiko "Whenever he acted all cool I'd be like 'I don't know such a beautiful Flynn... who the heck is this guy...' But when he started doing his extortion thing, I realized 'Ah... this is the Flynn I knew...'

Flynn not only hunts after targets to steal from but also occasionally gives you pocket money that must come from his pillaging. I think it's not right to praise this guy as a savior"

@mousugu26 "I was shocked when Flynn started raising my funds. It's unprecedented for the protagonist of a previous game to be treated like a mugger. So it's canon after all?"

@shibakani3baisu "I love Bonds Flynn's gentle voice when mugging..."

@0225And "I think I'd be happy if Flynn-senpai put me in a bind state then mugged me gently and pleasantly with his handsome voice."

@kitaonglacier "Flynn in SMTIV mugs with a dirty look on his face, but Flynn in SMTIVA mugs in a gentlemanly way.

The sequel made him ooze so much gentleness to the point of even turning him into the kind of person who gives the money they extorted to their junior."

@tohuyasan "I like how Flynn seemed to want to say 'You're still lenient, Nanashi' to Nanashi's extortion. #don'tyouhaveanymoreanymore*"

* Fans love to quote まだあるんじゃないか" (don't you have anymore?) and それだけかい (is that it?), the two sentences Flynn say during fundraising

@maida0493 "Flynn is the best, he doesn't forget his spirit of extortion even after becoming a Godslayer… He rips off his opponents with such a deep voice…"

@yokarebing "In my opinion, Flynn's voice when extorting doesn't sound threatening. It's a normal and soft voice that gives the impression he's smiling while doing it, which makes you feel he's a pro at this.

Flynn helps you with stealing funds so it's the best, I do nothing but mug people at this point. I don't care about YHVH, I just want to keep extorting others with Flynn for the rest of my life"

6) Fan names

The most popular fandom term that has been used since SMT4 is 緊縛ファンド kinbaku fando (bondage funds) for when you fundraise targets inflicted with the bind ailment. I once saw a Western fan referring to it as "Bind Fund" so there's your ENG equivalent

When referring to Nanashi receiving additional fundraising from Flynn, fans say 追いファンド oi fando (mugged funds). As shown above, the term used in the official guide is フリンによる追加ファンド Furin ni yoru tsuika fando (additional funds provided by Flynn). The nickname comes from turning 追加 tsuika (additional) into 追い oi, a shortened form of 追い銭 oisen which is part of the proverb 盗人に追い銭 nusubito ni oisen (additional fee to a thief), a saying for when you give the thief more on top of what was already stolen from you.

Now, to wrap this up...

There's something many wonder...

7) Why the need for the fishing hook in Bonds?

@yokarebing "At Lake Mikado, Issachar's ghost entrusts you with a fishing hook to give to Flynn as a keepsake ← Got it Give the fishing hook to Flynn ← Got it You are now guaranteed to get an additional extortion when extorting demons ← Why"

@nobe0202 "Why does Flynn, who was born in the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado and lived a farming life in Kiccigiorgi, started extorting and currying favors as soon as he put on the Gauntlet?"

@kitaonglacier "That's probably a custom in his hometown as a form of a greeting"

@hnskk_ancyd "Flynn, a child that becomes an extortionist with an old playmate's memento"

@kuuusuke009 "I wonder if it was Issachar who taught Flynn how to extort money... ('w' ; )"

@Dunamis_Anthrax "Could it be that he had memories of extortion with Issachar and started doing it because he missed them?"

@vernogame "Issachar is the man who taught this devilish savior such a skill... Just how frightening is he...?"

@kuuusuke009 "Nanashi: 'The master who taught Flynn how to extort money must be a scary person.'"

Comic by カイザー. Please don't share publicly my translation, as it could upset the original artist.

@vernogame "Issachar,

your will has now been passed on… ( ; ; )"

Epilogue

Jokes aside, one can't help but wonder... does the fact that both Flynn and Nanashi come from humble backgrounds give a nuanced interpretation of the canonicity of this feature?

Nanashi must've seen his own share of fraudsters while Flynn specially would need an extra income to save himself from eternal death.....

Clans: Rewritten Devblog #9

Maybe its a little ironic starting the post following huge changes with, this one is like tiny. I didn’t do a lot, most of the 2 weeks was spent at a sleepover, and then at work and school, then personal issues hit very hard, but I guess I’m writing this anyway

I fixed a strange bug where picking up a fresh mouse kill gave you a fresh squirrel kill, it was caused by duplicated code.

Leveling up is now also finished, everything minus the aging with it and gaining a sudden large amount of XP causes issues but i don’t see why that would happen and I'll address it at a later date

and finally the pick up and burry overlays have very smooth and nice clean text instead of the old blurry text

New BitMap Text

I also worked on some concept art for the game which i will be trying to implement soon, as seen below, and I worked a LOT on the saving and loading system however I've come to the sad conclusion after a lot of testing that either I need to fix a bug with loading days, OR every-single variable (anything that holds a number value) needs to be replaced with an identical one of a different type.

Current WIP Save and Load Screen

Graphics Update Concept Art

I'll get started on fixing that potential bug later today but I just hope that that’s it and the rest of the saving screen should follow in mediocre amounts of time

.anyway I'm sorry for how short this one is, also if you join the discord my main account is suspended for the time being because i made a joke about being 7 years old a while ago, I'm working on getting that resolved now.

Want to follow the progress of Clans:Rewritten?Here's a list of our social links as of the posting date!Enjoy :3

TRELLO BOARD (https://trello.com/b/wDOtypeX/clans-rewritten

DISCORD SERVER ( check my profile for the link!

TUMBLR (https://www.tumblr.com/clansrewritten?source=share

GAMEJOLT (https://gamejolt.com/games/warriorcatssimulator/928727

INSTAGRAM (https://www.instagram.com/warriorcatslifesim?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWc2bjBhbzB3bHVzaw==

REDDIT (https://www.reddit.com/u/warriorcatslifesim/s/bAzYJw8Zvu

If you don't know what Clans Rewritten is here's a short descriptor: "Clans Rewritten is a 2D RPG game inspired by warrior cats, it provides a single-player role-playing experience where the cats around you act dynamically with your and each-others actions"

hello, let's do this! Devlog #8!

Biggest of all: reworked secondary system! Complete overhaul, as you can see below the colors of primary pelts have been adjusted alongside this, the design of the secondaries, although just as bad, are different. The new system simply sprites for each of the secondaries with the fur red and the secondaries blue. It then in-game replaces those colors with your requested pelt/secondary color! This fixes the old bug of secondaries displaying over objects like trees.

Smaller but as important is the display, on the left of the character creation screen is a small panel displaying information on your selections, it was displaying information in the wrong place and that has now been fixed.

Desktop and mobile icons for the game have also been added, however they are temporary, it was only a button press so I did it because I could.

A GAMEPLAY RELATED FEATURE, burying prey, in the future birds will steal unburied prey (and maybe even other cats!) so you can now bury and unburry them for safe storage! In the inspiration, cats bury prey a few times as a method of catching more prey and quickly circling back to collect in a time efficient manner, and now you can do the same.

When you scared a mouse, it would dash away, however if you followed it long enough it would just stop moving. I fixed the code and now upon fleeing they will delete themselves after leaving the screen! Happy hunting!

Another gameplay mechanic is *rotting prey*, you see after uneaten food is left out for a few days it will rot, when eating rotten food you'll gain hunger back as well as take damage

Later these could foster disease, however for now they just disappear after a couple more days.

Along with the new gameplay changes a lot of progress has been made in the level of the UI section, although very close to finished it is not soon maybe tomorrow it will be and I'll be able to share it in the next log.

And finally a little bit of very easy news I finally got back into the Reddit account therefore the same log post your reading will be posted there accordingly,

Sorry if this one is shorter than usual, motivation is lacking and it's been tough in general. However I still love this pet project and will continue as I live.

Another Monday another bi weekly blog post!!

This week, like the previous, is juicy! I really am enjoying the one-a-day method even if it's not the most efficient it keeps me working on this passion project and from burning out!

First things first, I fixed the *AWFUL* lag spikes caused by the calculations mice run when fleeing from the player. It was running the code more than necessary but it is now fixed! When the full base mechanics are done, before we add npcs I'll be doing tweaks to polish the prey AI's but for now it's great!

Next is secondaries,(secondaries are the patterns that go on your pelt, ex: spots,) there was a problem with them, they are *always on top* of everything, unfortunately there is only one way to fix it but it is a hefty load that I'll start on today after I shower and get this out!

TDLR: the system needs a rework.

Next is that I added BACKGROUNDS, you can be a kittypet, stray or a clan born cat! Technically because the first map has no houses and there's no npcs yet, stray and kittypet have no difference but later they will be distinguishable! These backgrounds also change where you spawn, clan born cats spawn where their clan is while strays spawn in random-ish locations, I made a small map below with the red being stray locations and the blue being clans!

Minor change but the ugly generic sand bridge is now a super awesome path of rocks in the water, although it's functionally decoration now, in the future it'll cost stamina to cross, you can pounce on other cats crossing (hopefully they can swim 😬) and special events may cover it preventing non swimming cats from crossing!

Stamina is another mechanic that has been added! When doing actions like pouncing, you'll lose stamina, stamina is slowly regained every couple seconds in a batch of 10, you start with a base maximum stamina star of 100. It's not super complicated but I want to add it as another mechanic that affects your decision making but isn't a drag to play with.

Another base mechanic has also been added, sleeping and sleep deprivation! You have 4 bars of sleep that fade as the passes, but I'd you don't sleep out will go into the negatives causing you to have less stamina and eventually, *die*. You can also see i made an awful looking sleep indicator button, it needs polishing but it's the basis for other button prompts for things like burying prey.

A concern was brought up a long while ago by the games co-desginer (MsWolfy/Whimsy). The issue was that some people with disabilities or just in general may struggle to estimate where they will land when pouncing on prey, in the settings there is now a pouncing indicator! It's simply a red circle, I prefer to adjust myself but for someone who really needs it, it's there for you!! Also making this mechanic forced me to re-look at the pounce mechanic and realize that it was abhorrently coded and a mess to figure out where you would land, however it is now an exact sciences, down to the pixels!

And lastly but definitely not least, character randomization! Randomize; names (currently breaks when building the game for release but I'm working on that) pelt color, pelt secondary and the secondaries color too!

Anyway, my next update may not be so packed, I think the first week will be spent on bug fixes and polish, adjustments and smaller mechanics however I think that that's just as important as the big things!!! Have a lovely day or evening

Want to follow the progress of Clans:Rewritten?

Here's a list of our social links as of the posting date!

Enjoy :3

TRELLO BOARD (https://trello.com/b/wDOtypeX/clans-rewritten

DISCORD SERVER ( check other accounts like Tumblr for the link!

TUMBLR (https://www.tumblr.com/clansrewritten?source=share

GAMEJOLT (https://gamejolt.com/games/warriorcatssimulator/928727

INSTAGRAM (https://www.instagram.com/warriorcatslifesim?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWc2bjBhbzB3bHVzaw==

If you don't know what Clans Rewritten is here's a short descriptor: "Clans Rewritten is a 2D rpg game inspired by warrior cats, it provides a single-player roleplaying experience where the cats around you act dynamically with your and eachothers actions"

Heyy my lovelies, more information on Clans: Rewritten to spill.

Starvation and Dehydration have been added! Isn't that lovely? No?

Adding the new mechanics forced me to rewrite the existing scripts since I wrote them with the default max as 160, but when I did my logistics for starvation/Dehydration harm rates I assumed a default of 100.

Sounds like an easy fix, but I'm stupid and write my scripts dumb, it was easier but probably not as efficient to just remove it and rewrite it since it's early on in the project.

Below is a screenshot of me dying of thirst, yippe!

As of now, you cannot actually die or pass out from lack of health; both require a little more art as we want a cutscene sequence; however, I may work on that next, that or prey functionality. As of now, they just walk out of their bushes and stand around.

Also last update, I'm going to start trying to push out these blogs bi-weekly. Or as close to bi-weekly as I can, that means every other week. I'm bad with schedules but we'll see how it goes.

If you want to follow the progress of Clans: Rewritten here is our social links (helper approved!):

TRELLO BOARD (https://trello.com/b/wDOtypeX/clans-rewritten

DISCORD SERVER (https://discord.gg/zQEYHhzcFQ

TUMBLR (https://www.tumblr.com/clansrewritten?source=share

GAMEJOLT (https://gamejolt.com/games/warriorcatssimulator/928727

INSTAGRAM (https://www.instagram.com/warriorcatslifesim?utm_source=qr&igsh=MWc2bjBhbzB3bHVzaw==

here we go!

color might be off, i open to suggestions