Love of Magic

Devlog

• Book 1 NG+ Complete
  July 21, 2024 by droid productions

  16

  One of the key inspiration for Love of Magic was always the Persona series of RPGs. The core game loop of a calendar with advances automatically (mixing fixed events and free roaming time), the inclus... Continue reading

  
• Book 1 New Game+
  March 15, 2024 by droid productions

  16

  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... Continue reading

  
• Love of Magic Trilogy Complete
  September 28, 2023 by droid productions

  22

  I just finished Act XVI: Eternal Summer, and with that... The Love of Magic trilogy is complete. It's almost exactly 4 years since I started it, and only slightly less since the very first Itch.io bui... Continue reading

  
• Updated Book 1 + The End is Neigh
  September 22, 2023 by droid productions

  17

  So. Big news first; Love of Magic book 3 is done, and is getting final testing. With that... the trilogy is complete, and MC's journey from young Evoker to God of War will be complete. The plan is to... Continue reading
• Book 1 Video Update
  July 08, 2023 by droid productions

  12

  As I work through Book 3, I decided to go back and re-render some early scenes to add more animations. Some of these are sexy, some just profile introductions the first time you meet a character. Most... Continue reading

  
• Act XV+
  June 28, 2023 by droid productions

  14

  #release, #act+

  Act XV+ is the last world expansion update in the Love of Magic trilogy. It adds a number of smaller world stories, kingdom events, side-quests, new gems, new enemies and two new epic fights against e... Continue reading

  
• Act XV
  April 23, 2023 by droid productions

  14

  And with that Act XV, the penultimate act of Love of Magic, is done. The story, started almost 4 years ago with an upload here on Itch.io is almost done. It's been one hell of a journey :) Act XV (The... Continue reading

  
• Act XIV+: Steamy Days in Edinburgh
  February 22, 2023 by droid productions

  10

  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 upda... Continue reading

  
• Book 1 updates
  February 22, 2023 by droid productions

  11

  I went back and added some more animations to the opening acts of Book 1. So far that includes a number of Emily animations (day 2, first and second homework scenes got updated with animations), Molly... Continue reading
• Talk to me like one of your French chatbots
  February 11, 2023 by droid productions

  11

  Playing around with ChatGTP, ElevenLabs voice generation, DAZ rendering and old skool phoneme extraction and 2D keyframing. Initial prompt for MollyBot (a Discord bot using DeVinci-3 to pretend to be... Continue reading

  
• Act XIV complete
  January 21, 2023 by droid productions

  12

  Just uploaded the new update that completes Act XIV: Dead Man Walking. Adds in a good chunk of new storyline, balanced between sexy, emotional and epic. There's also been a bunch of little update With... Continue reading

  
• Act XIII+ Complete
  November 22, 2022 by droid productions

  12

  With the completion of Act XIII+ I'm closing up on the halfway point of Book 3, and the end of the Love of Magic trilogy seems in sight. Act XIII+ is a 'world expansion' update, focused on filling the... Continue reading

  
• The Queen of Air & Darkness
  November 01, 2022 by droid productions

  14

  I did a little vis dev exercise for Mab, testing out her battle outfit, and playing with colors. You can read more about the full process at this free Patreon post. The workflow was DAZ->AE, with nota... Continue reading

  
• Act XIII: Air & Darkness complete
  October 25, 2022 by droid productions

  14

  Act XIII is finally out, adding another 20 days of primary line content. Expect epic, romantic, sexy and funny times as MC learns about the Suncourt of Amaterasu Ōmikami, explores the Unseelie Court... Continue reading

  
• 4K SFW Wallpapers
  September 27, 2022 by droid productions

  8

  I did a set of 4k non-compressed wallpapers for the girls, available from Patreon here (They're sadly all bigger than the 5MB max limit for Itch.io). You can also grab them from Imgur , if you prefer... Continue reading

  
• Act XII+ Complete
  August 28, 2022 by droid productions

  13

  This is the first world expansion update of Book 3; it adds new events in Elsewhere, Edinburgh, and kicks off Jenny's Book 3 questline. Black Rose was the biggest side-quest of Book 1, Collared was th... Continue reading

  
• Act XII Release
  August 09, 2022 by droid productions

  8

  This marks the first Act of Book 3, the final Book of the Love of Magic trilogy. With Act XII I'm now on Act 12 out of 16 planned, so... the end is in sight. Expect a new sandbox, new and old characte... Continue reading

  
• We'll Meet Again
  July 11, 2022 by droid productions

  9

  It's probably no surprise to anyone who's played Love of Magic that I love epic music; this earbug by Sami J. Laine really echoed one of the core elements of Book 3 of Love of Magic. Design wise; char... Continue reading
• Book 2 of Love of Magic complete
  May 25, 2022 by droid productions

  10

  #launch

  And with that, Book 2 of Love of Magic is finally done. It advances the main storyline from Day 116 to day 194, telling the story of MC's War against the hordes of evil. With the end of Act III in the... Continue reading

  
• VFX Shot breakdown: You are about to die
  May 07, 2022 by droid productions

  6

  While waiting for Steam to approve the final release build for Book 2, I did a little VFX shot breakdown for this Book 3 cutscene. I thought I'd share it with you guys, in case any of you were interes... Continue reading

  
• Book 2 story complete
  May 01, 2022 by droid productions

  9

  For those of you playing using the Steam key you can redeem with your purchase, Book 2 is now story complete (meaning all the events that trigger on Day X are done, if you opt into the Development bra... Continue reading

  
• Act X: The Destroyer of Hope
  April 19, 2022 by droid productions

  10

  Book 2 rolls onwards, with Act X adding another ~2 hours worth of content across two different paths. The War is turning darker, and MC needs to start counting the cost of his actions, and what he's w... Continue reading

  
• Welcome to Corpus Christi, Act X opening shot breakdown
  April 07, 2022 by droid productions

  6

  I did a little shot breakdown of this Act X cutscene as a public post over on Patreon, if anyone is curious. It goes into more detail about the thoughts and dreams behind the shot. https://www.patreon... Continue reading
• Pay what you want bundle
  April 01, 2022 by droid productions

  3

  So I'm putting Love of Magic into a "Pay What You Want" bundle for the first time. It's time limited and available over here. https://itch.io/b/1327/pay-what-you-want-for-great-adult-fantasy-games I t... Continue reading
• Act IX+ Complete
  January 30, 2022 by droid productions

  10

  The King's Dragon is an inn in Camelot, run by your Chosen. As you expand the premise, adding in a Dojo, an Onsen, a Tea House and a Dining room, and fill it with visitors and residents, I wanted to e... Continue reading

  
• Act IX Release
  December 06, 2021 by droid productions

  8

  #release, #nsfw

  After a detour upgrading and polishing Book 1, I'm back on the grind with Book 2, completing the main storyline upgrade from day 151 to Day 166. This Act's called The Army of Life; the War is not goin... Continue reading

  
• Book 1 Android Update
  November 11, 2021 by droid productions

  3

  Updated Android build to include the various changes added to the Desktop builds; that includes re-rendering some early scenes to improve the quality (Chloe's first night, Katie's Strip MMA and the Ka... Continue reading

  
• Love of Magic: Book 1 Remastered
  October 02, 2021 by droid productions

  7

  I know I told myself I'd leave Book 1 alone, but I was working on a sequence from Book 2, testing out a new technique. I was originally going to just render a static image, then bring it into After Ef... Continue reading

  
• The real life girls of Love of Magic
  September 22, 2021 by droid productions

  6

  I had fun experimenting with a new AI filter to take my girls from 3D into real-life. Here's some of the examples. I think everyone's favorite submissive barrista worked very well, though it required... Continue reading

  
• Act VIII+ Release
  September 06, 2021 by droid productions

  7

  Act VIII+ is done, adding in about an hour of core story content, several new quests, an upgraded computer and a brand new strategy game. Taking the lead is everyone's favorite Barista, Jenny, who ret... Continue reading

  
• The Music of Love of Magic, Alexander Nakarada
  August 28, 2021 by droid productions

  3

  I think music's an absolutely huge part of setting tone and driving emotions in a story-centric game, and thanks to a new breed of creators licensing their music Royalty Free, and driving revenue thro... Continue reading
• Book 2 trailer
  August 27, 2021 by droid productions

  4

  I put together a little trailer for the new book on Steam, and decided I might as well make a version for itch.io as well. The game package at itch.io will include book 2 as a separate download, so th... Continue reading
• Act VIII complete
  July 25, 2021 by droid productions

  5

  It's time for another main-line game update; Act VIII (named Red Devil) marks the real opening of the War against the Outsiders. Where Act VII dealt with the scramble to set up alliances, we're now mo... Continue reading

  
• Act VIII progress
  July 19, 2021 by droid productions

  2

  And with the completion of day 151 the build counter ticked over from 0.1.44 to 0.2.1; the main timeline of the game is over. I've got one more side-event to do (day 144), and bug-fixes and typos, but... Continue reading

  
• Act VII+
  May 09, 2021 by droid productions

  5

  #Release

  A ct VII+ : New quests, new enemies, new events, and a pet for the player I've traditionally leapfrogged development; first I'll do the main Act, which advances the calendar and timeline, then I do an... Continue reading

  
• 0.1.8b hotfix: Map improvements + New Ally
  April 02, 2021 by droid productions

  2

  One of the interesting things about doing public releases is you get feedback from a bigger audience. One chunk of feedback was that the map was very hard to use on Android; the enter button's too sma... Continue reading
• Act VII release
  April 01, 2021 by droid productions

  4

  #release, #love of magic

  The way I've always developed Love of Magic is act by act; alternating between expanding the central timeline, and expanding the world. This is the first release since I launched on Steam that advance... Continue reading

  
• Love of Magic, Act VII: Fun with AE
  March 01, 2021 by droid productions

  4

  #shot breakdown, #after effects

  This started its life as a small side-render that I enjoyed enough to play with in AE. As always it starts in DAZ3D (I can't draw to save my life, so without DAZ, no Love of Magic) It's a simple enoug... Continue reading

  
• Book 1 final release
  January 02, 2021 by droid productions

  6

  With 1.0.7b I'm (hopefully) finally done with bug-fixes, quality of life fixes and optimizations for Book 1, and can turn my interest to Book 2. The final mile isn't as glamorous as the initial steps,... Continue reading

  
• Love of Magic - Book 1 complete.
  December 11, 2020 by droid productions

  6

  #Release

  1.0.1. Marks the final build of Love of Magic's Book 1 (The Crown). This takes care of the first 4 months of MC's rise from Newb to God, and sets the stage for the War to come. The story continues in... Continue reading

  
• Act VI Release
  November 20, 2020 by droid productions

  4

  And with that we've come to the end of Book 1 of Love of Magic. The Crown charts the journey of our Main Character from his arrival in Edinburgh to New Year's Eve 2019, and the rise of the Knights of... Continue reading

  
• Love of Magic Day: Day 115
  November 15, 2020 by droid productions

  4

  And with today's update, Book 1 is coming to a close. The next public build isn't *quite* ready; I'll tidy up some loose ends and fix bugs, but Day 115 (31st Dec 2019) marks the long awaited end of Bo... Continue reading

  
• Paradise Lust launches
  October 01, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  #Paradise Lust, #Open Beta

  I'm the programmer on a new project, Paradise Lust , that launched on Itch today. Like Love of Magic it's an erotic Visual Novel / Sandbox, though this time with an added dating sim mechanic, lots of... Continue reading

  
• Act VI teaser
  September 19, 2020 by droid productions

  4

  As I continue the march towards Act VI (Treason's Reward), and the end of Book 1, I decided to make a little teaser / trailer. The music is The Parting Glass, a Scottish traditional. It's usually sung... Continue reading
• Act V+ released
  August 31, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  Act V+ is out, and I can settle down to work on Act VI (which is also the end of Book 1). The War is coming. I usually stagger these releases; the main Act releases update the world (and drive the da... Continue reading
• Revisiting the Card Rendering pipeline
  August 29, 2020 by droid productions

  3

  I decided to revisit how the cards are being managed and rendered. There were a couple of steps involved. The first part was re-writing the card shader; the new shader is a simple Normal Map sprite sh... Continue reading

  
• Updated build: 0.5.7b
  August 08, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  I've spent the last week resolving issues from 0.5.4b, some very simple (like the typos), others much more involved. 0.5.7b is a bug-fix update, rather than a story-centric one. It also adds in two ne... Continue reading
• Love of Magic Act V
  July 31, 2020 by droid productions

  4

  #release

  Act V is live. I spent a lot of time working on videos this time (I might do a breakdown of the Call of the Chosen monster, a 1:24 second video that took me damn near 150 hrs to render in DAZ. Apart f... Continue reading
• Quality of Life updates
  June 17, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  I should be busy doing more story, but I took a side-trip to improve some basic quality of life things in the engine. The first one was to improve the quick navigation system; beyond making it city-w... Continue reading

  
• Trailer
  June 02, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  I enjoy making these little trailers; this one had a very Harry Potter vibe to it, which as a game about magical students, set in Scotland, makes a certain amount of sense... Continue reading
• 0.4.18 Release
  June 01, 2020 by droid productions

  4

  #release

  And a new release. This expands on the world of Love of Magic, without advancing the end date. It includes 3 new scenes for Akane (2 in Elsewhere, one in the Coffeeshop), an updated Gym, a new home fo... Continue reading
• Blooper Reel #2 : Katie Edition
  May 28, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  #blooper

  Animation in DAZ is very much hit and miss. iRay rendering times are pretty insane, there's no reliable in-editor preview (you can press "play", but it runs at seconds per frame, making timing and con... Continue reading
• Revisiting Emily's appearance
  May 22, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Samuel Beckett Emily's first appearance is pretty pivotal in the game; I kept chewing on it, and now at the third attemp... Continue reading
• Blooper reel #1
  May 16, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  Continue reading

  
• Making of a wallpaper
  May 15, 2020 by droid productions

  3

  One of my Patreons sent me this photo of Russian model/dancer Yanochka Kuzmina , remarking how similar to Molly she looks. I got inspired to create a little Wallpaper (I frequently do as learning expe... Continue reading

  
• Act IV+ released
  May 13, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  It's been a busy 2 weeks since Act IV's public release. The big focus has been on resolving bugs and polishing things; improving how things sound, how they look, inconsistencies in the world, etc. Ass... Continue reading
• A study in sex animations
  May 09, 2020 by droid productions

  3

  Okay, this is going to get pretty explicit pretty quickly. Love of Magic is mainly an erotic game; romance and tension tends to figure more prominently than nailing someone against the wall. But somet... Continue reading
• Love of Magic Act IV
  May 03, 2020 by droid productions

  3

  And with that, Act IV is done. This one's a pretty big chunk of work; ~2 hrs play-through assuming you don't spend any time on the paths and only do new story-content; that brings the game up to ~8 ho... Continue reading

  
• Putting together an After Effects shot
  May 01, 2020 by droid productions

  3

  I'm going through final testing for Love of Magic's Act IV's public release; one of the things I spent a lot of time on in this episode was integrating video into the game. Here's a shot of Emily goin... Continue reading

  
• Happy Birthday, Molly
  April 04, 2020 by droid productions

  5

  I just realized today was Molly's birthday. Congrats, Molly, you can now legally drink in the US. Not that it would have stopped you before. To give her a nice little birthday precent I'm working on o... Continue reading

  
• Streamception
  March 25, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  One thing I've historically done is to have games within games for devs I've enjoyed interacting with online. I've really loved watching LauraS stream, so I decided to duplicate that for Streamers as... Continue reading

  
• New release : The Crowley Expansion (0.3.24b)
  March 22, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  #release, #nsfw, #love of magic

  It's not really a Corona-virus update, but I guess being stuck at home the last weeks have made me more productive. So what's new? Crowley can now be upgraded (using special ingredients), bringing in... Continue reading

  
• Molly's Prophecy
  March 12, 2020 by droid productions

  3

  I love foreshadowing, and in Act III Molly's got a Prophecy. Most of it isn't particularly deep (though some of it has multiple meanings). I decided to visualize it for fun. Part of this is because I... Continue reading
• New release: 0.3.16
  March 08, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  Finally got around to the new public release (if you're interested in Beta builds you can always check out the Discord). What's new? This build does not advance the story; it's primarily focused on im... Continue reading

  
• Online help and tips
  March 05, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  There's quite a lot of stuff happening in the poker game, so I decided to write better documentation: https://gitlab.com/droidproductions/love-of-magic/-/wikis/Poker I worry that a lot of people would... Continue reading
• Strategy Guide
  March 02, 2020 by droid productions#Strategy, #Love of Magic

  I added a new sticky to the community channel, making the beginning of a strategy guide for the game. https://itch.io/t/697827/poker-strategies If you prefer, here are the straight Wiki links as well:... Continue reading
• Act III release
  February 29, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  #Act III, #Release

  And Act III is finally done. It adds another 3 weeks of story events, and a long planned conclusion to one of the major storylines in the game. Hope you enjoy it!... Continue reading

  
• Act III's main story complete
  February 18, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  With the ending over Act III finally complete the build counter ticked over from 0.2.22 to 0.3.1. I've still got work to do; apart from bug fixes and continuity, I'm also doing a final sequence of sid... Continue reading

  
• Character Bios
  February 10, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  I've always been a fan of the Japanese style of bio pictures, so I added my own to Love of Magic. Each one comes with a horoscope that tries to represent her personality, a quote and some..er.. vital... Continue reading

  
• Making Characters
  February 05, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  #Love of Magic, #WIP

  A common question is how i do my characters; while they're done in DAZ, they tend to have little breathing animations and touches. I figured I'd do a quick timelapse video to show the character from p... Continue reading

  
• Linux Build
  January 31, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  I've not actually used Linux since University, but in theory Unity has native support for it. A user asked me if I would mind supporting it, and offered to help play-test it. As with the OSX version,... Continue reading

  
• Love of Magic 0.2.14 Update
  January 29, 2020 by droid productions

  3

  #Release, #NSFW, #love of magic

  The halfway update for Act II is done. This is a big update, focused on elsewhere. Several new enemies, new elsewhere events, a new companion, lots of balance modifications to make the game more fun,... Continue reading

  
• Walkthrough
  January 27, 2020 by droid productions

  I get a lot of questions asked about Walkthroughs and guides, so I figured I'd write one up. I'll keep updating it and expanding it as new events come up, or people raise other questions. It is (of co... Continue reading

  
• The Paths of Elsewhere
  January 26, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  One of the goals with Elsewhere was always that it shouldn't just be a grind, but also provide a way to tell additional story snippets. I finally fixed up the first of these, which triggers an optiona... Continue reading

  
• Act II Launch
  January 22, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  #ACT2, #Release, #NSFW

  Finally. After almost 2 months, Act II of Love of Magic is finally complete. Rejoin the girls in Edinburgh, explore the mysteries of Magic, and find your destiny. So what is new? Well, the big one was... Continue reading

  
• Act II final testing (and some TGIF wallpapers)
  January 16, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  #NSFW, #BETA

  I'm in the final run-up for Act II, with testing ongoing for all 3 platforms (PC/OSX/Android). If you want to be part of the testing team, come join the Discord https://discord.gg/SUmyfs . I'm almost... Continue reading

  
• The paths of Elsewhere
  January 11, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  Beyond the core story, the other big thing coming for Act II is the random paths of Elsewhere. It's still in development, but it's pretty key for a bunch of the chunks of the game. Ingredients collect... Continue reading

  
• Love of Magic Act II: Only human. Story complete
  January 09, 2020 by droid productions

  1

  #beta, #NSFW

  The build counter finally ticked over onto 0.2.1 today, with the completion of the central story for Act II (subtitled Only Human). I've still got lots of work to do before I'm completely done, mostly... Continue reading

  
• Magic and Cards
  January 05, 2020 by droid productions

  2

  #NSFW, #Game Design, #World building

  In the 2nd date with Emily (the princess), I discuss the various suits of cards, and how they map up to the western schools of magic. Spades for Evokers; raw power in the service of War. Diamonds for... Continue reading

  
• The power of sorcery
  December 21, 2019 by droid productions

  3

  Part of making the world of magic come alive is expending on the Poker game. I'm spending some time this week working on the paths of elsewhere, and the various companions. There are several types of... Continue reading

  
• Act I complete (0.1.24)
  December 19, 2019 by droid productions

  3

  A huge thanks to everyone that's been helping test, give feedback and played the game. With the final batch of bug-fixes, I think Act I is more or less done. The good news is that frees me to start wo... Continue reading

  
• Act II thoughts
  December 15, 2019 by droid productions

  2

  With Xmas coming up shortly, I decided to have fun with a side-render. While there's still lots of small things being fixed, I've also started putting down the stakes for Act II. Act I was very much t... Continue reading

  
• Hakone Kitsune, Fox Demon Bodyguard
  December 13, 2019 by droid productions

  1

  I finally got some space to start working on Act 2's characters. First character is Hakone Kitsune. A merely 150 years old, with her third tail still embarrassingly red, Kitsune is a demon-fox, servin... Continue reading

  
• Love of Magic Android hot-fix
  December 11, 2019 by droid productions

  1

  Updated Android build: Love of Magic 0.1.22b.apk The android build was built with incorrect asset pak (basically the splitting of data into different archives internally). Fixed and updated. Let me kn... Continue reading

  
• Update v0.1.22
  December 06, 2019 by droid productions

  2

  Finished a pretty big update; the last week's been a flurry of changes based on user feedback and bug-reports. Content wise, the big change was adding in the first 5 slice-of-life events. To add addit... Continue reading

  
• Slice of Life + Updates
  December 02, 2019 by droid productions

  2

  Version 0.1.18 is live. It's mostly small typos and bug-fixes. Meanwhile I'm working on a new feature, what I call Slice of Life . Love of Magic draws a lot of inspiration from Persona 4/5, both fanta... Continue reading

  
• Build updates
  November 29, 2019 by droid productions

  Thanks for all the feedback and bug reports. We've got a big list of fixes; one critical (a potential progression blocker in day 17) and lots of spelling fixes Changelog: 0.1.18 What's changed: - Fixe... Continue reading

  
• First release
  November 28, 2019 by droid productions

  1

  #launch, #love of magic

  I've been working on Love of Magic for a couple of months now; the first release is finally ready for public consumption. Love of Magic is an erotic / romantic visual novel, drawing inspiration from H... Continue reading