Thanks, that's good to hear. :) Yeah, that's true, haha. One good advice I received from another developer is that when making a game, try to first simulate it physically. Like, cut out some paper cards and try playing the game with that, or try to do it as a simple boardgame. I did that with Harem of Commander (but on Excel), and I'm really happy with how that turned out. I think it's a good exercise in keeping the scope modest, because with paper, you really can't track too many variables, lol.
Thanks! Yeah, I don't want to abandon Delivery Pilot either, especially since all the groundwork and a lot of the content has already been done for it. Plus, I would love to put a 1.0 on it, someday!
I loved this game! The mood is great. The gameplay loop is fun. The characters are really likeable, too. I'm not a big reader. But, I really enjoyed reading about the characters' backstories and the banter between them.
Thanks, that's a great idea. I was thinking about something similar, where you can specify more physical details, like what color their hair is or how big their chest might be. But I haven't thought of personality or preferences, that's a good idea. I ultimately didn't include the physical features, because I wanted to get the release out sooner, and if I made the stories take those factors into account, it would have taken longer to make. But I think a long term project could really benefit from that. Either the player could enter those values or generate them at random.
About the 32 bit version, I friend of mine asked for it, because he has an old PC, so I made it for him. :D
Awesome! I fell in love with your work after trying Summer Sweepers, and I like to keep an eye on anything else you work on. I think the only thing I struggled with in this game was the earlier iteration of combat, but I think turn based combat would be perfect.
I think this game has great potential, with a lot interesting and unique mechanics. If the bugs can be sorted out, I think this game can be popular for a very long time.
That's right, you would start with the centre node already activated, and as the game goes on, you would get skill points, that you can use to activate nodes that are adjacent to already activated nodes. Through a playthrough, you would get 20 skill points, plus the centre node already activated. This means you can't activate everything, so you'd have to think about which potential paths you might take. Ideally, you would get 7 big nodes by the end of the game, and all the little nodes connecting them.
The bigger ones give you a lot more bonuses than the little ones, but they're on the same theme. For example, a big node might give you +40% damage and +20% evasion against undead, the 4 little nodes around that big node might give you +20% initiative vs undead, or +10% accuracy and +10% damage again. It's kind of weird that you're getting damage and evasion. That's the nature of random generation, and so it might be worth the time to hand tailor the possible outcomes a bit more. But then the downside of that is that I have to put time into balancing them, as well.
Yeah, that's a big reason why I wanted to try a random skill map system. I think rogue likes do something like this, where every run, you can get a new combination of skills or items. I think that's why rogue likes have a lot of shelf life. However, there is a downside, I think. If I use a random skill map, I think there is a desire to finish a play-through quickly, so that a new skill map can be played. On a longer running game, I think players would instead want more control over what skill they can take. What do you think, does that sound right?
Instead, it might be a good idea to use the Skyrim model. The player would still only get 20 skill points or so, so they still can't do everything in one run. But, it still gives them a variety of alternative builds.
That's a great idea about the icons. I could put icons on the nodes, or maybe on the top left of each of the colored tiles, to indicate the them of each of the tiles.
Wow, I am pleasantly surprised to hear you mention "A Dance with Rogues"! I have played it before, and I agree, it is perhaps the best adult game/mod I have ever played. It really is the chef's kiss gold standard, for me. I think the developer once gave an interview, and it is an interesting read for anyone interested in game development. One question was why there were so many responses in dialog that resulted in the same thing, and she said that she wanted the player to be able to respond how they personally would. This lets the player really immerse themselves in the game. Personally, I think her story writing and presentation skills are leagues above mine, and I certainly admire how well she mixes erotica and game-play. How open the game is, how much there is to do, and how you can approach it from different angles is also really worth note.
If anyone is curious, Warlockracy did a great 45 minute review of "A Dance with Rogues" (a mod for Neverwinter Nights 1) on youtube. It's worth checking out.
In regards to Dwarf Fortress, yeah, I had a similar experience. I knew about it for a long time, but I waited for the Steam Release. I wanted to get the best experience possible. I still don't think it's really worth that much money, so it's hard for me to recommend it. I think Factorio, Rimworld, or Songs of Syx are much more polished and deeper experiences for the same price. But, the developers did put a lot of heart and soul into DF in general, so I'm happy to have supported them.
Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I agree. It would be pretty cool if the ending reflected this specific relationship, I think as a reward for reaching RL10.
Hey, thanks for the feedback! It's good to hear that the balance is in a pretty good place, and that both the custom games and "Captains are always busy" are doing good things for the game. Those are the kinds of things that I'm most proud of. :)
In regards to difficulty, I'm not too focused on balancing right now, because the writing I'm doing now could impact that balance. I think it's better to re-balance after all the writing is complete. Balance is a really important thing though, that I do think about. I've been thinking about a few RPG game ideas, and I have no idea how I would balance them. I know what game mechanics I'd want to use, but balancing will always be a big job.
For the VIP scenes, there isn't much difference between the personalities. The intros change, and the middle text changes a bit, too. But, the morale penalty is the same (if I recall correctly). I did leave the code open enough that I can extend it later, but I ran out of time and wanted to move on to other scenes. It's kind of tragic, because I think it definitely has room to grow, but I will almost certainly not ever have the time to do that. D:
Part of me wants to wrap up this game as soon as possible, so I can start the next one, lol. I recently found a youtuber named William Papadin, and I was laughing my butt off at his skits, lol. One of his skits was about Fashion Souls (or Elden Bling), and I realized, "Holy smokes! This is exactly what I like in RPGs!" I'll be real, I used to love lore heavy RPGs, like Baldur's Gate and Fallout 2, but nowadays, I just care about what kind of cool outfits I can dress my character in. :| I liked this experience, because it helped me reflect on what's important to me, lol.
Sweet, thanks! I'm really glad to hear that about the morale balance. Before, I was pretty nervous about how I was going to get it right. I think all the feedback you and others gave me earlier on is really what deserves credit for the fine balancing there is, now.
Yeah, I was really proud about how the photo obligation works together with the other scenes! :D I'm thinking about making the "photo taking" a cornerstone of his story arc. One thing I'd like to do is make it so that when he takes a photo of her, she tries to hide her face, but maybe 20% of the time, she doesn't do it in time. Then, the game will let the player know how many photos are in circulation with her face covered and how many with her face exposed. I don't think I want to spend too much time giving it any mechanical relevance. It makes sense for it to impact harassment chance, but maybe later. That could be hard and time consuming. Initially, it would just be for the player's fun and curiosity. At relationship level 10, I would have the main character agree to not cover her face, anymore. Maybe it could be a video recording of the main character saying who she is, and some embarrassing stuff about being the sleazy officer's woman. I think that would be a good way to end the arc.
I like how you're thinking about the "inner view". Not for this game, but I always thought about making another game that focused a lot on mystery. For example, you might play as a male assistant to a knightess. There would be a doll art of the Knightess on the side, and while she's away, you can see her character in compromising positions or maybe with some of her clothes being removed. The game wouldn't actually tell you (playing the male assistant) what happened. Your imagination would have to fill in the details. What do you think?
Phew! I was worried if there were any bugs that I missed, so thanks for letting me know! Yep, gender ratios (and personality ratios) affect the VIPs, as well. If you set it to only male or only female, you'll only get VIPs of that gender. The mostly male and mostly female options also affect the VIPs, but they're at 25%/75% rates, so it might not be too noticeable. I'm glad to hear that custom mode added value to the game! :D
Yeah, good catch! The third view will indeed focus on her legs and go all the way down to her feet.
To be honest, I'm not too keen on lewd scenes in the next game. I think you're totally right, that it's wise think about what lewd framework a developer wants to commit to, and then make sure it is compatible with whatever setting and mechanic they want to implement. That being said, I think making scenes turned out to be not very exciting for me. I really like game mechanics with randomness, and I really like paper dolls. I also really want erotica to have some kind of home in my games. But, I'm thinking about a new, slightly different balance.
Here's a couple of ideas I'm quite keen on:
1) The story focuses on 2 adventurers, a man and woman, who plunder dungeons. The focus of the game is finding loot and diversity in equipment and skills. But between dungeons, there could be short, sweet, romantic scenes between the two. So, there is an intimate relationship growing between the two, but the scope of erotica stays pretty small. Of course, there will also be erotica in the random sexy outfits the woman wears, including bikini armors.
2) The story focuses on a woman who salvages random loot, and then maybe she can somehow process that loot. Like you say, it could actually work in Fantasy or Sci-fi. I would get rid of the debt, morale, and the relationship levels (mostly). Instead, what I might do is give the player 100 days or 52 weeks for a playthrough, and then tally up some kind of score. The lewd events will be fewer but more focused and optional. Between each mission, she could go to an adult club, where she can let loose, drink, flirt and do naughty things. At the beginning, her options are limited, but as she does certain options, more options eventually unlock. I imagine her outfit changes over time, she can get tattoos and piercings, she might become more intimate with strangers, or she might start strip dancing. There's no bonus or penalty. It's just something to look forward to between jobs (for both the player and the character). The player will always be at the helm of which direction this progression goes. In fact, this time around, I think the player can choose what outfit to wear each day. But, the outfit parts have to be unlocked first, maybe using "boldness points" that the main character gains by doing activities in the adult club. Or, something like that. Hopefully this comes off as a smaller, more focused scope, but still a fun design. But like you say, the expectations would be pretty different.
Thanks for the feedback! I have a few other things planned already, that I want to address first. But afterwards, I'll loop back and see if there's anything more I could reasonably add.
I've been thinking about various RPG game ideas, and I thought about a game where there aren't any coins. Story-wise, it's assumed the players have a place to stay and the means to survive. Instead, the focus would be on crafting equipment, in a very abstract sense. For example, you can have weapons that have certain properties, such as doing bonus damage against undead. Then, you can use orbs or spirits or talismans to alter those properties. Maybe the weapon can be modified to give bonus accuracy against undead as well, or maybe bonus damage against demons, too. Or maybe it can do bonus damage against enemies that are bleeding. There wouldn't be any money involved in crafting or acquiring loot. It's just what you find and craft. Definitely inspired by Path of Exile, lol.
Another idea I was thinking was that you can craft an "outfit", using 5 parts, head gear, chest gear, hand gear, leg gear and feet gear. Each of the parts can be made of different materials and provide different bonuses to the outfit. That way, you can find and create a variety of different outfit types, which can look very different, too. I'll think about it, and maybe make a larger post about it later on!
Yeah, I was thinking about an infinite mode, where the debt goes forever higher, too. There are games like that. But as you said, I don't know how many people would really want that. I think Hard Mode used to be like that, or is still like that. The reason I decided to create an infinite mode was because there was a desire for a more h-scene focused playthrough. So, the goal was low pressure, instead of high pressure.
I did think about releasing "when it gets done". My worry is that I'd end up procrastinating, lol. I think I do like doing sprints, even if they are a month or two months long. That way, I have a deadline driving me, and I can measure how much I can do in a given amount of time. I was looking at how much I've gotten done in the last few months, and if I toned it down a bit (which I think is needed), I suspect I'll be done with this game after 1.5 years, lol. That sounds like a lot, but it really makes me appreciate how much work goes into making games, aye.
