Hello again everyone,

As always, I hope you're doing well and if not I'm hoping better times come for you!

It's been a bit longer than I wanted since my last devlog, but well here we are. ^^

Devlog:

Last time I mostly talked about the new movement options and hazards, marriage, the different instruments each playable character has, how FM characters differ animation-wise, and small things like the merfolk form that lets you breathe underwater. In this devlog I want to talk a bit more about my vision for Forlorn Memories, because I don t mention it that often outside of Discord.

Again my idea with Forlorn Memories is to make an old-school-inspired RPG with replay value and optional life and dating sim elements, where the player's decisions have a real impact on the world, the story, and its inhabitants. Since a whole multi-continent world is too big a task for a solo developer working in spare time, the game focuses on a single continent that is divided into five areas (each with its own inhabitants, wildlife, and dungeons). You wll still learn about the other continents through characters, items, and books.

For story reasons, the number of towns you can visit is also limited. These towns together with your own airship act as hubs, similar to games where one town stays in focus. You can change or improve these smaller towns through your decisions (or even your (ingame) finances), either for your own benefit or to help the residents, more on that in another devlog. The number of NPCs is also intentionally smaller than in some RPGs (think closer to games like Rune Factory), because every NPC has a name, background, hobbies, a job, goals, and is relevant to the story. With a few exceptions like rank-and-file soldiers/guards (who still have personalities), you can build relationships with almost everyone you meet, and each NPC follows a simple daily routine.

At the start of your journey you choose one of two protagonists: Aria or Gavin. Both have their own personalities and backstories, and neither is silent; they actively comment on what they perceive and speak during dialogue. Gavin is more the rough, stubborn type, Aria is the more diplomatic and sensitive type. Both are fully customizable (name, body type, skin tone, hairstyle, hair color, eye color, voice, etc.). Starter stats are also adjustable. More details about character customization will be in my next devlog entry. Below you can see a small sneak peek showing that you can view your chosen character in several versions, chibi, concept art, pixel art, and non-chibi, so you can better see how they ll look in different situations in-game.

While not technically a new faction, the Savorian Federation hasn't previously had a proper spotlight beyond a few mentions on my little website. In Forlorn Memories it's one of the four major factions you encounter fairly early. The Federation is the largest polity during the events of the game, holding a big share of territory and ranking among the most technologically advanced, especially compared to the Giagocci Empire, whose lands make up much of the game s setting. The Savorian Federation rules the continent of Savorus and stands as a pinnacle of tech and global influence. Through covert sleeper agents and indoctrination programs within Legica, it exerts major sway over world affairs. It s governed by five royal houses, de la Karol, von Landaff, d’Cárlongian, van Hyvenfield, and zu Askan, and is generally a power best avoided in open conflict. During the events of Forlorn Memories, the Federation is at war with the Giagocci Empire. After annexing the strategically important kingdom of Gerdom, its armies press into Illum. The campaign is led largely by House von Landaff, notorious for ruthless bioweapon deployment. The Federation s arsenal ranges from fully automatic firearms and close-quarters gladii to anti-magic shields. At the center of the Savorian Army stands the Fusilier, the backbone of its fighting strength. Unlike some rivals, the Federation does not rely on clockworks (automata/robots) that need on-site engineer maintenance. Instead, it fields human soldiers with extensive, often brutal, mechanization, fusing flesh and steel. Besides their versatile equipment, Fusiliers are known for cold discipline and ruthless pragmatism; they won t hesitate to strip gear and even prosthetics from fallen comrades to repair or upgrade themselves if it increases the chance of victory.

Chibi Fusilier 3D Model:

As with every enemy type in Forlorn Memories, the player can obtain and equip Fusilier gear:

As some of you know, Forlorn Memories uses two 3D art styles: a chibi style for the overworld and a non-chibi style for certain story sequences and combat. A while ago I decided to add a button-toggle that lets you stay in chibi style during combat for those who prefer a more consistent art style. This was honestly originally planned as a Kickstarter stretch goal, but I just implemented it without funding but honestly, it took longer because my chibi rigs differ a bit from the non-chibi ones. Below you can see a few combat-related images and GIFs. Please keep in mind everything is work in progress, and I m constantly improving all aspects of the game. I don t talk often about the battle system, because FM is a story-focused game with social elements and light platforming, and it frequently allows you to avoid conflict through dialogue. But if a fight can't be avoided, you will find yourself in old-school inspired turn-based combat with a few simple twists:

- An attack-stacking approach (similar in spirit to systems like Octopath Traveler).

- A rock-paper-scissors inspired elemental system (every enemy and character has an element, and you can swap party members mid-combat to adapt).

- A Morale system shown via a flower-like UI resource for both party and enemies; when Morale drops, offensive/defensive stats drop. Morale can fall for different reasons, for example, witnessing an ally's KO, or being forced (like Zain) to use self-damaging abilities. Certain spells/debuffs can also raise or lower Morale.

- The ability to attack the limbs of certain enemy types.

FM also features a kind of job system that applies only to the player character (Aria or Gavin). It lets you learn classes, abilities, and weapons from party members (e.g., Pina's Firebolt in one of the GIFs), but only if your bond/reputation with that party member is high enough.

Besides straight combat, FM lets you try talking to enemies mid-battle to end a conflict peacefully; success depends on your reputation with their faction. There is also a small knockback system that lets you launch or shove enemies(it is not just a visual effect) it can inflict injuries (debuffs) like fractures. And there is a hostage system that allows your enemies to take your allies and party members hostage as leverage or even a shield; these situations can be defused through dialogue, money, or items, or escalated if you choose to, depending on your playstyle.

In addition, there is an optional QTE system: with the right input, you can guarantee a dodge or boost an existing attack. Emphasis on optional, you can of course turn it off.

Forlorn Memories also lets you bring mounts and vehicles (for example, horses) into fights. They can improve speed and offer certain damage/defense advantages, but they come with risk. A destroyed vehicle can for example explode and cause massive damage even to nearby allies, and being thrown from a horse can cause temporary debuffs. I will share more examples in future devlogs. I'm also close to starting a small closed test phase, you can sign up via a Google Form on my Discord server to try it and give feedback.

Outside combat, I added small improvements to the chibi overworld. There are now item obtain animations (still WIP) to make special pickups hopefully more dramatic/rewarding. Common items are now picked up instantly and magnetize toward the player, which fits, at least in my opinion, Forlorn Memories somewhat fast-paced overworld movement.

I also finally made Zain's Beast Form playable for my upcoming test build. Zain has the unfortunate tendency, due to an addiction, to curse himself and experiment on himself with alchemy, which has left visible physical damage. That is one reason why he covers most of his body he doesn't want to scare the orphans he protects. When Zain transforms, his combat power and speed roughly double, and he switches to a completely different ability set/class. This form is also usable in the chibi overworld and behaves a bit like a mount/vehicle but with fewer limitations: Zain can still swim, dash, and climb with similar speed advantages. However, there is a cost: the transformation drains Morale (Zain's and any party members who witness it). In combat there is a chance Zain, in his frenzy, accidentally hits a party member. In the chibi overworld, certain NPCs and faction guards may lower reputation if they see him transformed.

Zain Skin Variants Example: Black / White. (Zain Beast form colors can be customized by the player):

Zain Transformation Syringe 3D Model:

Zain Transformation:

The optionally recruitable General Jarrus (depending on your choices) now has a passive overworld ability: when near automatons and drones, he can temporarily hack them so they act friendly, useful for avoiding those automata/drone encounters:

You can now rail-grind on more objects (e.g., tree trunks and stair railings):

You can push and ride minecarts to travel longer distances faster:

Jumping on NPC property while they are nearby (for example, Gerard s guest tables) now hurts reputation with that NPC a bit. (Please don't do it):

You can feed animals like cats or rats; they may follow you temporarily hoping for more food:

After reaching certain reputation thresholds, you can ask NPCs to follow you for a while on your journey:

Pina's pre-time-skip hairstyle, originally only shown on her non-chibi form, is now wearable anytime as a wig for story reasons:

I also added a Tea Party system. It is honestly visually very inspired by games like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, but it is not really a minigame more like an extra way to raise (or lose) reputation with a party member by steering the conversation well and learning new things about them. But if the talk goes the wrong way, you can also lose reputation.

Additionally, I have added a new enemy type to the test build: the Wellsinger. Found primarily in and around water, Wellsingers use a piercing song that can drive nearby targets mad and even lure NPC patrols to their deaths. Below, I ve also listed a few more enemy types I had mostly only shown on my Discord (or briefly on social media) that are now included in the test build.

There is also now a small optional helper system as well, which you can treat as an additional hint system. If you ve made a pact for example with a demon like Rena, you can ask for hints, have them remind you of the current objective, or just chat to build a relationship like with any other character in Forlorn Memories.

I added another way to earn in-game currency: a light bounty system. You can hunt certain enemies and receive reputation and money from the faction that posted the bounty. These are completely optional just another way to earn reputation or cash. Because of this new system I also added a new quest tracker UI which can of course be disabled via simple button press if you don t want to see it.

A small pickup indicator to make pickup-able items easier to see (toggleable in the Settings Menu),

A chibi overworld buff/debuff display, so you don t have to open the character menu to see current statuses,

Less important dialogue lines now change depending on which character you re currently controlling (previously, dialogue auto-switched to the main player character). It is a small change, but it adds a bit more immersion and shows how others in the world perceive whoever you are playing as.

The instrument system changed from being fully automatic (for teleporting, changing time, influencing weather) to a small input-based minigame, with different inputs per song.

That's more or less it for this devlog. I also added an optional symbol-censor setting that lets you swap certain symbols (for example, the cross on Lihan s clothing) through the Settings menu (that counts for the bust illustrations but also the chibi and non-chibi 3D models), for people who might be uncomfortable with religion-inspired symbols for different reasons. The game's religions and factions are completely fictional and only take surface-level visual inspiration from the real world. But like the gore/blood options I mentioned in my previous devlog entry, I think this adds another accessibility option which at least in my opinion can never hurt to give the player a tiny bit more options.

Also a big thanks again to my bust illustrator Mai, who more or less since the beginning of the project has been kind enough (even though she usually only works for non-indie studios and is very usually very busy) to create detailed busts for the overworld dialogue. As in the last devlog, I have attached some new Bust WIPs as well as older ones for completeness, so these little devlog entries can become a small mini-documentation of my gamedev journey.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I honestly left out a few things, for example I originally wanted to include housing and character customization, and a bit more info what the character Ida is about and what role she plays in the game, but I m keeping those for the next devlog and for the trailer I'm planning to release very soon. In the next devlog I will also go deeper into the consequences of player choices. Below you can see a small sneak peek from the next entry, where party member Liridon confronts the player s party because he can t accept a certain action the player took.

Anyways, as always, thanks for reading, I wish you all the best, as always, and a wonderful day/night! Stay safe!

Hey everyone,

I hope you are doing well!

 I have recently decided to start a little Devlog series here on itch.io to share my development progress, explain my design decisions, and document what I have learned, including the ups and downs along the way. For those who don't know me, I'm Sascha Alexander but I go by the online pseudonym Forlorn Alex, and I'm a solo developer who loves to create classic-inspired video games in my spare time.

I'm currently actively developing Forlorn Memories, my little attempt at a fantasy-steampunk, turn-based RPG with an old-school inspired 3D chibi/non-chibi anime art style. It features optional dating-sim/Life-sim and monster-catching elements, multiple endings, and story paths that change based on the player's choices, some of which let you settle into a peaceful life with marriage and raising a family; become the lord of a town; or even become what you once swore to defeat. To put it simply, my goal is to create my own little RPG love letter where your decisions impact the game world and come with real consequences. 

A bit of history:

Forlorn Memories began, honestly, more or less as a small, fun little distraction for me. After I had to step back from my previous project, Liquidation, a love letter to the RTS genre which I worked on for several years, due to serious health issues that demanded my immediate attention back then, I handed it over to my development partner (who still works on it to this day) while I struggled to cope with the new situation back then. At the time, this little side project helped take my mind off daily worries. What was originally meant to be a simple pastime soon grew into something far larger than I ever intended. Initially, it was only supposed to be a very short proof of concept game, something I would share for free and perhaps update occasionally if time and energy allowed.

The community's unexpectedly enthusiastic response, even to my very rough, in my opinion amateurish work, and the suggestion that I set up a Patreon page (which I eventually did) opened entirely new possibilities. Thanks to my savings, a bank loan, and the contributions of my Patreon supporters, I suddenly found myself able to devote far more time (for a brief period, even full-time) and resources to the game which lead to that I decided to turn Forlorn Memories into a fully fleshed game. That budget let me hire professional freelancers for extra character concepts to speed up development, as well as voice actors, composers, and singers, most notably Emi Evans (known for her work on Drakengard and Nier). As an indie developer, that felt like a dream come true.

To show my gratitude to my patrons, and because I wanted to compensate them for their financial support in some way I offered Forlorn Memories as a digital reward in some Patreon tiers and because of it decided to turn it into a paid commercial title in their honor and because it would honestly be otherwise be unfair if the game remained free for everyone else. But to soften the shift from free to paid (even though probably nobody knows that I originally planned to release it for free), I also began work on a free demo (still in development and not released yet but more on that in my next devlog posts which will released relatively soon after this devlog) to gather feedback from my patrons but also later to release publicly so anyone can try the game for free and see if it s their cup of tea. Besides that, I also host occasional Forlorn Memories key giveaways on my Discord server, so there is still a way to obtain it at no cost.

Since then, I have worked on Forlorn Memories whenever my health and time allowed it. After shutting down my initial Patreon page, partly because I'm planning a crowdfunding campaign to fully fund the game (making Patreon redundant) and partly because surgeries and treatments slowed my update rhythm back then, which my patrons at the time had grown accustomed to because of that speed I felt uncomfortable keeping the page up and made it free at first for several months but then ultimately decided to delete it. I still share the Patreon-exclusive updates via Discord and will deliver the rewards to them upon the game's release. But as a result of the deletion of the Patreon page, the Devlog series on the Patreon page came also to an end, and in the hindsight anyone interested in FM lost erm some sort of central hub for Forlorn Memories development news, making it harder to follow progress outside social media and my little Discord server.

That s why I have now launched a new Devlog here on itch.io. With this first devlog entry, I want to talk a bit about the progress I have made in the past months, old and new. The upcoming entries will go into a bit more detail behind my design decisions and will go a bit into detail when it comes to my next steps for this project.

Devlog:

Anyway as for the Devlog: As some may remember from my short social media clips when I began developing Forlorn Memories, its controls were originally very close to some of my inspiration sources, games like Golden Sun, Final Fantasy IX, and Bravely Default, which, in other words, felt more like RPG Maker controls/grid based movement. That's what I grew up with and still love to this day. Over time, however, I wanted to allow a bit more movement freedom, which gave me more options for designing the Forlorn Memories game world. Below is a list of things that weren't possible before but are now fully part of the game. Honestly, this change took me quite some time.(sigh)

Jumping:

Sprinting:

Swimming:

Climbing:

Gliding:

Driving:

Riding:

Dashing:

Rail Grinding (Some Vehicles can do it as well!):

Something that also wasn't the case previously is environmental hazards, for example, traps, poisonous swamps, or even lava, that can harm your party. But worry not also thanks to the new movement options, players usually have several ways to avoid hazards or even deactivate traps permanently.

Health Orbs:

To compensate for these dangers and to also design how items are picked up with all those new mobility options, I made potions, resource items, and currency items physical objects in the world that you automatically pick up by approaching them; previously, you had to press an interaction button to pick them up, which was way too slow for consumable items you encounter frequently (but you can still manually pick up equipment items via button press). I also added completely new pickups, like health orbs dropped from chests or defeated enemies, which let you quickly recover a tiny bit of health in the overworld without having to spend precious potions which are either quite rate or expensive.

As some may remember, I talked in the past about adding cooking, not just as a way to obtain buffs and restore health, but also as a social activity.

You can share a meal at a campfire or invite party members home to deepen bonds. I will go more into detail in a future Devlog, but here is a short sneak peek:

Every party member now has their own set of movement animations, idle, walk, sprint, glide, open chests, etc., to make each character distinct and communicate their personality visually.

Another feature that wasn't part of Forlorn Memories before is marriage and the ability to have and even adopt children. Once they grow up, kids/young adults can optionally accompany you on your journey, play with you, or help out in the garden or even in battles. This feature took more time than I expected, especially since it considers parents genes, meaning I had to account for each parent's personality traits and create several modular child models for different ages, skin tones, hair colors, eye colors, and so on.

Below you can see some romance and children related example interactions:

Baby Variant Examples:

To further illustrate just how close a bond you can have with your optional in-game love interest, I have also added the option to sit together with your partner on a mount or vehicle:

Besides that, I have also added some accessibility options. While Forlorn Memories probably gives off a welcoming or perhaps even cute first impression, its main story and side stories can cover darker themes depending on the player's choices. The same goes for combat: Forlorn Memories will feature blood to better communicate the consequences of choosing a violent, battle-ridden playthrough. But since I know some people are looking for a more wholesome experience while still interested in the battle aspect, I decided to add the option to disable blood completely, so you don't have to see it if you don't want to. I consider myself a huge fan of games that let you customize your experience, so this probably won't be the last new accessibility option I will add, in addition to features already implemented like for example customizable keybindings, text speed, font size, color-blind modes, and the ability to hide your user interface, which may be useful if you want to immerse yourself or take a screenshot (not sure if FM is screenshot-worthy). But anyway there will likely be even more accessibility options down the road (feel also free to suggest me some if you have any ideas)

Hide Blood and Gore via button press:

Hide UI via button press:

Not only major story choices, but also your trade decisions influence Forlorn Memories World. For example, buying or selling rare goods with the Giagocci Empire can give them access to new resources, leading to equipment upgrades that make their troops stronger, and you will see those upgrades visually on the enemies, so you know what you are up against.

Visual progression was important to me, so characters now display equipped weapons, clothing, earrings, rings, helmets, hats, glasses, masks, and even your currency pouch and potions. I have also added requested items like glasses and top hats.

But don't worry I will do a full Devlog on character customization soon.

You can obtain a Merfolk form that lets you swim and dive faster and breathe underwater, opening up optional submerged areas.

I overhauled the dialogue UI to match other interface components with a hopefully cleaner, more consistent look.

Since I more or less promised that the demo build will include some voice acting, I included recently voice acting for some of the playable characters in the game.

Below you can listen to a short example of Gavin one of the starter characters in the game:

Technically some older news, but I never did a proper announcement except for posting it once via a short video clip which had the track as background music on social media. For me, this is a little personal achievement, because it was always a little dream of mine since I played the first NieR game to be able to work with Scarlet Moon and Emi Evans, and thanks to the Patreon support I received back then, I was able to collaborate with them and have Emi Evans on board for the project. Below, you can listen to the menu song of Forlorn Memories, which features her voice. I personally hope that I can work with Scarlet Moon and Emi Evans again in the near future.

In-game time affects NPC schedules, monster spawns, and item availability. Each party member carries an instrument for example a mandolin, trumpet, triangle, pan flute, maracas, saxophone, tambourine, flute, ocarina, harmonica, handbell, or violin, that lets you control the day/night cycles a bit.

Gavin (Mandolin):

Liridon (Trumpet):

Alduran (Triangle):

Kiri (Pan Flute):

Luna (Maracas):

Lihan (Saxophone):

Pina (Tambourine):

Aria (Flute):

Alengia (Ocarina):

Xela (Harmonica):

Zain (Handbell):

Ida (Violin):

Meet Integra and Zain, an underground resistance duo you can hire as mercenaries, who will fight alongside you for a small fee. When they are not with you, they operate against the Giagocci Empire and care for orphaned children on the streets. Zain also enables the player to adopt children, given that he trusts the player enough for that.

Besides that, I have expanded the upcoming demo build (the one I have been talking about for quite some time now, so sorry for that). I have made Alastair and Pina playable for the demo, as some may remember, they previously weren't planned for this build, but since the current version lacked sorcerer alternatives, I decided to add them as well. I'm also happy to say that I was able to collaborate again with Mai, my bust illustrator, who kindly agreed to work with me once more after all this time to maintain a consistent art style for the bust illustrations in Forlorn Memories.

Last but not least, some of you may already know what happened to my Discord server, it unfortunately got deleted due account comprising. But I'm happy to say I have created a new one as some sort of replacement (Sorry that it took me so long to create a new one), but this time I'm aiming for a smaller scope server and a more comfy vibes, which is why I called it Forlorn Alex's Corner this time instead of Forlorn Memories, the small name change may also allow me, if my health allows it by then, to use the server for other potential projects after the release of Forlorn Memories, or for general, comfy conversations and discussions about your own projects with the community, rather than strictly talking about Forlorn Memories.

Although the server is currently still more than empty, it will come back with all the old emojis, stickers, roles, and benefits, which I will be happy to reassign to anyone who had those roles (especially my former patrons, to keep my promises to them). I also plan to continue my usual Steam key giveaways for all kinds of games, since I noticed they brought some people joy back then.

Anyway, if you are interested, feel free to join:
https://discord.gg/hxfZvPmTQW

But anyway to keep this first blog post from getting too long, I will continue showing and explaining what I have been working on during my longer absences in my next updates. I hope you look forward to it as much as I am, I can't wait to share my next Devlog post with you!


Thanks for reading. I hope you have a wonderful day/night! Stay Safe!