Hello horse-fanciers. Updating a little early this week as I'm away the weekend.

Last week I thought the Noble was a bit dull so changed it so she (it might be a he, but in keeping with the show the population of Hoofsville is roughly 75% female) now changes into an Alicorn after a while and my plan was she would then become a kind of 'super lookout'!

Turned out that was just annoying, so I've come up with a better plan. Once the Noble becomes an Alicorn they will assist the town in other ways. If active that night, she might become another lookout, but she might instead conduct an interview like an investigation role or even attempt a mind-read like the Magician can!

That makes her a kind of multi-class character. She can't do any of those things as well at the dedicated role (e.g. she can only watch streets, not specific houses and she can only interview at the same level as the Deputy) but it makes her much more interesting. She has another advantage too. She cannot be framed in any way - the townsponies will always consider one of their beloved Alicorns above suspicion (that's not the case while she's still only a Noble).

So the obvious solution is to murder her before she transforms, but there is a game mechanic called 'Full Investigation!' when is triggered when you kill either the Mayor or the Noble/Alicorn. Usually higher level investigators become active when you've reached a set level of murders or you kill their subordinate (e.g. the Detective will become active immediately if you kill the Sheriff), but if you trigger a full investigation, they ALL become active immediately. If you trigger that off early in the game, it's going to make life quite difficult for you! You'll have to set it off eventually, but hopefully you will have eliminated a couple of them first!

I've also given the Reporter a bigger role. She posts bulletins every morning that help you keep track of what went on in the town last night such as who was investigated and the results - she also gives you a nice scary Serial Killer nickname. This is useful info that you'll lose access to if you kill her. Trouble is, once things start getting serious she'll start snooping as well. She will check houses for anything suspicious, and if she checks yours and finds your stock of evidence or that you have a kidnap victim in the basement, she'll alert the entire town! The only way to avoid this is to make sure you have nothing suspicious at your house until she's safely dealt with. She can only find these things if you happen to be out that night, so if she checks a night when you've stayed at home, you can put her off.

And with that, I'm considering the mechanics of the game complete. From this point, it's all about tidying it up, adding graphical assets and putting in lots more 'chance' events that can happen - but nearly all the hard work of coding is done!

Still set for a release in August, first on Steam ($4.99, 10% discount on launch week) and then soon after on Google Play (free, ad-supported with the option to pay to remove the ads). Do wishlist it on Steam if you haven't already, having a healthy wishlist is a big boost to a game when it goes live! :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2076260/Slaughter_Horse_2

Someone made a Slaughter Horse wiki, mostly based on the first game but SH2 is also pencilled in. You can read that (and edit it) here!

https://slaughterhorse.fandom.com/wiki/Slaughter_Horse_Wiki

Finally, I've been asked for a definitive list of main roles in SH2. Here they are.

Confectioner/Serial Killer (You)

Disciple (incognito as a minor townspony)

Deputy

Sheriff

Detective

Visitor

Noble (later becoming a Prince/Princess)

Royal Guard

Lookout

Mayor

Reporter

Veteran

Magician (always a Unicorn)

Preacher

Naturist

The Changeling Spy (incognito, not considered a townspony)

The Mule (could be anybody!)

TTFN