Dev-Log: Version 1.9.0 Released

Hi everyone! The newest version of Euphoria: AI Choices has been released and I'm excited to talk about everything that's changed.

This is my first dev-log for the game. I wanted to take this opportunity to present and explain in depth the latest changes in version 1.9.0. What goals am I trying to accomplish and what is my reasoning behind each feature I've decided to build? In what way am I adopting the feedback I've received in the in-game survey you may have seen in version 1.8.0?

I hope to give you a better insight into the development of Euphoria in an attempt to set up a closer feedback loop between you, my players, and the app's product roadmap.

What's changing in v.1.9.0?

Here is a list of the most noteworthy changes in this version.

Audio Narration

One wish expressed to me in your feedback was that you desired the game experience to be more audiovisual, e.g. for characters to be able to talk. I'm happy to say that I'm now delivering on that front: The story text is now being narrated, together with each character having their very own voice!

This should work automatically on all newly generated turns (so not for story text that already exists).

While there are voices preset for all characters (new and existing), of course you can change it for each character in the character edit screen. Not only are there 28 voices to pick from, you can also mix them together to create a unique voice! This means there is a huge number of voices to choose from.

As a bonus: I'm adding this at no additional charge. I can afford to do this because the AI model used for text-to-speech is quite efficient to run, albeit not the highest quality. I'm curious whether there would be interest in the option of higher quality voice acting in exchange for a higher turn cost.

I hope the audio narration brings another dimension in which the story becomes more interesting and mentally stimulating.

Enhanced story creation

Another popular request was to have more control over the plot. I can understand this wish, because it is true that I have developed quite a sophisticated system for the AI to steer the narrative in engaging ways. For many players, I believe, this makes for a very good experience, where you get surprised by the AI and can sit back and enjoy the story similar to traditional choice games.

However, I understand that players approach Euphoria with different expectations. Some players have either a pretty clear idea of the plot they'd like to play through, or they want to have full control over what happens next. For these players, the regular redirection of the story by the AI can be a distracting experience, if not a nuisance.

Therefore, I have improved the book creation in three different ways:

Story drafts

When creating a new book, the AI guesses what type of story you are looking for based on your initial prompt. This guess can be accurate or not, often depending on how specific you are in your prompt. Unfortunately, in the current process you may only see at the very end of the book creation whether the AI has understood what you were imagining.

So, I have added another step in the creation process where you are presented with three drafts of story ideas based on your prompt. These drafts show a two-sentence plot idea and describe the main character and the setting.

This is surprisingly helpful for creating great books. You can pick the plot direction you prefer, and not only that – if you have any suggestions or modification requests, there is a text field for just that. Whatever you type in, the AI will consider when creating the final book.

Guidance level

Right after selecting a story draft, you will now see a slider with three different values: Freeform, Balanced and Structured. These values correspond to a degree to which the AI will attempt to steer the plot into a predefined direction.

This is what the values roughly mean:

• Structured: When the book is created, the AI will think of an overarching narrative (master plot). Before each chapter, the AI will consider what might happen in that chapter plotwise in an attempt at following the master plot. As a player, you still have agency, but your choices might be redirected and interpreted in a way that serves the overarching narrative.

• Balanced: There is no overarching narrative. The AI will plan what plot could happen in each chapter as it creates them, and it will try to follow that plot as it integrates your choices.

• Freeform: There is neither an overarching narrative nor are there plot points the AI will map out. There are only loose ideas it will conceptualize when creating each chapter. Otherwise, the AI improvises using the player's input and choices.

Up until version 1.9.0, all books were created with a guidance level of structured. I encourage you to experiment with the settings. Certainly, for some genres some guidance levels make more sense than for others. For a murder mystery, you might want to have a preplanned plotline, whereas for a romance story you may not.

Multi-language support

There were quite a few players who tried to create books in languages other than English. I had previously sort of hardcoded the AI to only create English ones, but have now removed this guardrail and now the AI is instructed to always create books in the language that users prompt it in. In my tests, this worked perfectly fine.

I'm excited to see how you use these new tools to create the story you want to play!

UI Changes in-game

I have noticed that my most loyal and active players extensively use custom choice input, meaning they don't typically select one of the suggested choice options but rather type in their own. Often, they type in a lot, narrating their character's and other's actions in detail.

To better support this and to encourage newer players to do the same, I have moved the custom choice input into the spotlight. The AI generated choice suggestions are now less prominently placed as chips below the input field. The input field is also now taller, better suited for longer inputs by displaying them in multiple lines.

Upon entering your input, while the AI is generating your story continuation, the game now shows a more obvious loading animation. I had received the feedback that some people were confused whether the app became non-responsive after selecting the choice, even though it was just loading for a while and they didn't see the loading dots near the top edge of the screen.

More free Essence!

The previous periodic bonus I was giving out was 5 Essence every 7 hours. This 7-hour interval encourages people to open the app multiple times per day (typically, three – e.g. 8 a.m., 3 p.m., 10 p.m.). I have come to realize this interval is more suitable for casual games and not for Euphoria. Players typically come for fewer, but longer sessions in Euphoria. It made sense to reflect that in the periodic bonus by increasing the amount but making it less frequent.

With 10 free Essence, you now you get the option to directly play two turns for free every twelve hours (assuming you watch 2 ads to gain 2 more Essence, else it would be only one turn with 4 Essence to spare).

Closing words

In case you don't know, Euphoria: AI Choices is created by a solo developer, and I work on this game in my free time alongside my regular job that pays my bills. While my main goal is to give my players the world's best AI story experience, another goal is to make this an economic success that would allow me to drop my main job and work on this full-time. Therefore, the number of players and my retention of them is something I try hard to increase.

Nevertheless, while I am far away from having Euphoria generate a livable wage for me, there have been a handful of players contributing generously either by purchasing Essence or by watching a ton of ads. This has led to a hefty growth of revenue in the last month. I don't believe I will be able to replicate that growth month after month, but if it were to continue, then I would achieve my goal of having Euphoria become my main job in less than a year.

If you are one of the contributors, I want you to know that I am incredibly thankful. It remains an emotional rush to see players invest so much time or money into a product you have put so much effort and thought into. Just the same, I am thankful for all the people who are not supporting the game financially – you help the game grow and reach new players around the globe!

I always think this after every new version, but I believe version 1.9.0 is in a good spot to attract and, most importantly, retain more players. I am therefore going to focus more on marketing tasks – updating my store presence in the App Store and Play Store and expanding the online presence of the game.

Thank you for reading. I'm excited for the future of Euphoria and hope you are too.

— Patrick