Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Content

As always, I end up posting on monday! XD One day I will to it on sunday, I swear! Anyway, tardiness aside, it was a good week: I added 6-7 scenes to jobs I am adding. I did reconsider my previous approach to the tea house job, and I am now in the process of "redistributing" the content I had already created to other venues (like the bakery). I think having them separate works better rather than leverage that variety with a single job and random events.

I also improved the bulletin boards in the commercial district (since I am adding new jobs, it was a good idea to follow some of the suggestions I got and organize them in groups), I worked on changing all the scenes which used the bust to the layered system (I am not sure if I missed any, because I had the impression they were a little too few, but maybe I am wrong) and I finished the map for the random events in the city.  I am unsure if I should make the map more anonymous, so that it doesn't look jarring when the random events grow in number and you get to see the same street too many times, or if I'll need more maps to avoid the issue. Still, the scene seems to play just fine after I moved it, which is cool.

I think next week will be more of the same, as I try to bring these jobs to a reasonable level of content (since there is more of a "progression" in those, I have to consider where I want the events to stop). I think after that it might be worthwhile to work on the slums, at least start working on the map. If I am lucky, I might have the first few areas ready for the next release, but of course it depends on how much content I plan for them. I'll try to add the tattoo and piercing parlor, at least: now that we have the layer system in place, it only makes sense to have it actually in the game.

Speaking of plans, I had this weird thought about how I am not completely satisfied with the "inhibitions" system, as it feels a little too sterile, too easy to game, and ultimately too quick to lower, and I was wondering if I should add some sort of "traits" system in there: the idea would be to have certain actions relate strongly to certain traits, which would "lock-in" after a while (exhibitionist, sub, masochist, etc.) and use those as the main source for different reactions during scenes. Maybe it's too much work for what could be achieved with what's already in the game, but it almost feels like inhibition is too generic (I always find myself thinking "to unlock scene x, how low should the inhibition score be? What about that extra line for the truly kinky event?" and it always feels like comparing apples and oranges).

Anyway, enough of my inner turmoil, let's talk about the giveaway. During GOG last sale, I got my hands on a free code for a game I already own (Expeditions: Conquistador), after sitting on it for a while, not really knowing what to do with it, I figured I could offer it as a prize to my patrons.

To keep things interesting, I didn't want to have a simple raffle, instead I figured I would have a simple contest to reward originality and those who follow the game: suggest me a god/goddess for my pantheon! People have probably seen the temple in the game, and I want to add an interesting divinity to it (maybe I'll swap out one of the boring ones, though, if it's similar enough). So, just leave a comment here with the god's name, its description (both what it is/does, and how it is represented) and by next week I'll pick the winner, add the divinity to the game, and give a key to redeem Expeditions: Conquistador on GOG to him/her. Bonus point if the God doesn't need custom art for me to add it to the game. ;p

So, if you are interested, just leave your comment below, and do the same if you have any questions/suggestions! See you next week for another update, and to find out who won the contest! ^_^

Comments

Djunk101

Maybe in addition to "traits", you could add levels to them. Like if you unlock an "Exhibitionist" trait, the MC just has to do a certain amount of smaller exhibitionist things before she can do anything extreme. I could see this working in two way. First, would be it takes a certain number of events before it levels up and you could balance this by having each event only count once even if repeatable, that way people have to make an effort to find other content before they can see the next step, encouraging exploration of the game. The second is practically the same, just having the events give "experience" that would add up to "leveling up" the trait, which would give people a better idea of how much they have to do. My idea for gods and goddesses is that, instead of replacing the current ones, make fetish based cults around them. Have a god/goddess of Nature? Exhibitionist cult. One of strength? Cult of domination that turns "blasphemers" into subs. One of Thunder and Lightning? Electroplay cult. Fertility? Pregnancy cult. Harvest? Tentacle plants. I could go on, but you get the idea. You could even make multiple competing cults for the same god/goddess, who interpret them differently. If you like the idea, please note that I have no interest in the game you're offering, I just want to help out :P

Madking2

What if for the inhibitions, when you get low enough to unlock the regular version of a scene you can start unlocking a keyword to unlock the kinky version. You have to experience certain scenes or even have other keywords to get the new keyword. You learn which scenes/keywords you need to unlock only after doing the regular version of the scene. Kinda making this a tech tree in a way.

mdqp

The general idea I have for traits is to tie certain actions and scenes with a specific fetish/trait, which unlocks if you get enough "points". In a sense, it would probably work in the way you describe, although that leaves me with the problem of inhibitions being a bit of an awkward concept when actually playing. For example, let's say you did a good amount of kinky stuff with a certain NPC but through various means you kept your inhibitions high or the events didn't change your inhibitions to begin with, should I really prevent you from going to the next level if your inhibitions are high? The answer should be no. So are inhibitions just for having different "reaction levels" to kinky stuff? It's kind of a messy, nebulous concept, and I was struggling a little to make it relevant in the new jobs I am working on.

mdqp

I am not sure about levels, mainly because I feel people would start "grinding" for them, and I'd like for this to be a more natural development, but yeah, I was hoping traits would encourage people to explore more, as well as being a nice reminder of what you are doing with your character. There will be at least a few "cult-like" entities in the game, and the love and fertility goddess will eventually have plenty of rituals which involve "spreading her teaching" if you know what I mean. Probably not competing cults for the most part, simply because I am not sure how many temples/factions I would need to turn that into something meaningful, but I am sure it would take a little too much away from other elements of the game (having it for maybe one cult would be possible, though). I really hope at least a few people will try to get the game, otherwise I'll feel silly having put together this giveaway! XD

Djunk101

I was trying to say that each event would only count/give experience once towards "leveling up", so that repeating the event doesn't help at all (I had taken grinding into account; I guess you missed that part of my suggestion?). Basically, you'd have to find a certain number of DIFFERENT lower tier events before you can "level up" the trait. Maybe even make it so that once you've "leveled up", the previous level events don't give you any more experience because now you've become comfortable with that level of it.

mdqp

Well, in my opinion hunting scenes to level up a specific trait would qualify as grinding too, in a sense, that's why I would say levels in general aren't something I would like to use. Without levels, you stumble upon a trait more "organically", while if there are levels you'll know you need to find more to get the next level, I think it changes how you approach the game (you start trying to find the ones you like, instead of just "collecting" them as you go).

mdqp

By the way, does anybody know if there is a spam filter of some sorts here on Patreon? I got emails for a comment that isn't here anymore, and I was wondering if the person simply deleted it for their own reasons, or if there is some automated system which might get in the way. I didn't see any options for a filter, so I don't think so, but I figured I would ask.

Joe Steel

I like the idea of traits vice inhibitions because it will increase replay value. If, in any given playthrough, you can't get all of the traits (or, at least, not easily), you can start a new game to get different ones and see how that plays out. I realize that this will make any given playthrough shorter, but think it is worth the price.

mdqp

Well, the hope is that this won't be insanely difficult to make. It should actually not increase my workload considerably, because it will often be used to replace variations I might have previously assigned to your inhibition score. It's just a way to make it more sensible and fun, while give players better feedback about their situation.

patricle

I was the person, and I deleted it! Socially awkward moment, sorry :P

mdqp

Ah-ah, it's fine. I was just left wondering, because blogger (for example) has a spam filter which kept stopping a few followers from posting comments, so I figured I would ask if that was the problem.

VonDoom

Have you considered a Persona 4-esque system, where you offer choices in scenes and add requirements to some of the more extreme options? That way you could still use the statistics (or traits) but keep variants limited. If you can transfer your stats/traits to a New Game+, it might allow you to more readily access those hard to get options.

mdqp

I feel like the same issues might present themselves (although limiting the system only to extreme options would simplify it for sure). It's worth considering, but what is really annoying me is having 3 variables for 1 system (dialogue), it makes a lot of situations dilemmas when they shouldn't be.