Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Did you hear that? It sounded like a status update!

If you heard that, you've got some good ears, because it's a status update indeed! :D

Picture hunting is becoming the bane of my existance, but I think I am finally done for this part of the game (give or take a few rooms, maybe). The game has a new bad end (since I know you like them so much! ;D), and I'd say I have done about 50% of this second part of the quest.

I have added a lot of possible ways to solve this part of the quest, and I have decided to not allow the players to fail (except for the bad end, of course). This is for a number of reasons: the previous part of the quest can be failed (although it is really hard to do so), so I didn't want to push things, it's easier for me to code, it gives the players a relatively "safe" environment to explore, so that having multiple solutions available is fun and isn't hampered by the fear of making an error and screwing everything, pushing people onto the paths they already know to work. Also, it's part of the main quest, so I probably I shouldn't make it too hard to progress here.

There will still be a little optional event to this part of the quest, and I'll have players try to solve a little puzzle I came up with, so I should cover all the possible angles, with this one!

I am also getting close to needing some personal testing of my own, to see if all I have added so far is playable, or if it's a horrible pile of bugs waiting to jump at me and skin me alive (bug hunting can wield some hilarious results, so it is fun, in a way).

So, I did a decent amount of work on the game, but it's not really too exciting, yet. Maybe next week I'll have something more interesting for you. ;)

20 comments:

  1. (oocreepy here, from the collective)

    Thanks for the info.

    You could spend time with stuff that doesn't have to do with the main quest for a while if that gets you frustrated. As this is a open world game you can create in-game content deriving from the pictures you have, and not the other way around :-), meaning that you could use your option of pictures to give you some ideas about random stuff.


    Cheers.

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    1. Problem is, I browse a lot of pictures, but I usually don't download them, unless I need them in the game (believe me, with all the pictures I get to see, it would be a chore to even select them), so I usually just pick the ones I strictly need (with a few exceptions for rooms, since it can be hard to find sci-fi themed pictures, I tend to hoard them).

      The real problem is probably that the game is already really big, and my pool of favourite models is drying up, so it's taking me more and more time to find new ones, and then find good galleries of them for what I need. I should probably lower my standards a bit... :p

      Also, I want to progress the main quest right now. I do work on other stuff, from time to time, but taking breaks can affect the vision I have of the quest, so I try to keep working on it if I feel inspired, before things change and I find myself without ideas (that's usually a good moment to work on other content).

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    2. (oocreepy)

      Yes, you've got to be smart about the inspiration part since being inspired isn't exactly under your control. I remember Fenoxo saying something similar, along the lines of "When I'm not inspired, I code".

      By the way, do you intend to add new clothing and costumization options for Celeste anytime soon?

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    3. Yeah, sometimes I do that, but the problem is when I am not sure about the gameplay either (I usually do picture hunting when I am out of ideas, or when I can't seem to find a good way to add a gameplay mechanic, but there is only so much you can do before having to go back and work on the "actual" game.

      New clothes should appear (in fact, she will wear a new dress in a section of the quest I am working on), but if you are asking about a clothing system, I am not sure if I'll ever add one: it can be a lot of work (having different pictures and checks for all the scenes where Celeste strips, for example) for little return (it's basically window dressing, players might try it once, but then they wouldn't be examining Celeste to see what she is wearing every 5 minutes).

      As for customization, I am very limited by the use of the pictures. As long as I just add small accessories, we can handwave the fact that they aren't shown in the images, but when we talk about a tattoo or changing hair color (or a boob job ^_^), it should be noticeable in the pictures, or it starts to look awful.

      So it's a lot of "ifs" and "maybes", but I have nothing sure at the moment on these things, as they require a lot of time to implement properly, and I think they aren't a pressing matter, at least for the moment.

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    4. (oocreepy)

      You seem to have a good grasp of what you're doing :-P. All you're saying is very sensible, really.

      When I spoke about clothes & customization the idea (which somewhy I didn't make any reference at all...) was basically to add a little something to go with whichever path you choose for Celeste, bimbo or "uptight" (for lack of a better word).
      It seems that just like Mass Effect has "renegade" and "paragon", or Knights of the Old Republic has "Jedi" and "Sith", TotDC has "bimbo" and "uptight". For me, who followed the Path of Bimboness >:-P, it would be interesting to have a skimpy dress or something, with some reactions of the in-game world, and putting Celeste further down the bimbo road (while hopefully not giving me a bad end >_<). In this sense, it wouldn't have little return, as knowing that Celeste is wearing a microskirt without panties makes quite some difference from knowing that she's wearing a mercenary outfit. And there are many in-game possibilities with these.

      Of course, I don't really know the viability or work involved in any of this, neither the interest of the others who play the game about these things. But you seem unlikely to mess up, so I think I can speak freely :-P.


      And bigger acessories that don't appear on pictures can definitely make for a shoddy looking game, you are very right about this.

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    5. Well, this is my third game, and I have played a LOT of video games so far (other than porn games), so I have developed a good aestethic sense when it comes to them, and I have enough experience with RAGS to know what features require more effort than others.

      I think I answered similar questions/suggestions before, but basically, it's one of the hardest things to do, as I would need to write a LOT of alternative text (any time you try to get a work as a mercenary/bounty hunter, they shouldn't take you seriously... Or examining rooms, items and characters the description might not be fitting her mental status, etc...), and there isn't a way to get around it, you need thousands of checks everywhere, to control what you are wearing, and pick the appropriate text.

      I might do something similar for the second chapter of the game (it would at least make it easier, if I plan that feature from the get go), but for chapter 1 it's too late now, it would be a coding nightmare.

      Sometimes I think about making a game without pictures, as that would save a lot of time to me, and allow all sorts of things that now would conflict with the shown images.

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    6. (oocreepy)

      I understand. As I said I'm not really aware of the viability of things.

      Making a game without pictures could be an interesting idea. But I don't even know what I myself would prefer, to say nothing of the others who like the game. If you were seriously thinking about this I guess the best to do would be check with the community.

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    7. If I ever do a game without pictures, it will probably be a much smaller work, as I believe a lot of players would prefere having images in the game, so it would be more to see what I can do, rather than making it a main project.

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    8. Erm, I read "Sometimes I think about making THE game [TofDC] without pictures".

      Nevermind that :P

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  2. It's true that the random side quests in the game are awesome! KZ

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  3. Hey mdqp just wanted to say that for a pornz game this is actually rather fun to play..

    And the porn is pretty good too, though you could use some more redheads. :)

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    1. Eh eh, thank you! :D

      I would welcome more variety, but I have a really hard time finding gorgeous redheads with enough pictures. So if you have any names you want to suggest, I would be glad to take a look at them! ;)

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    2. I just reliased both the perks and difficulties related to developing a game such as this with pictures..
      Don't you uhm get.. distracted? ;)

      As for some personal favourites how about Faye Valentine, Kelly Divine, Tarra White or Cherry Poppins? (bound to be a fun research expedition)

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    3. I ask you to withdraw the question! :D :D :D

      ...But yes, it can be distracting, especially after the first hour @_@

      The problem with Faye Valentine (AKA Faye Reagan) is that she doesn't have a lot of pictures where she is dressed and isn't being fondled by someone. The rare galleries with her dressed, seem to have weird poses or angles, and I can't use them either. The same can be said for Cherry Poppins and Kelly Divine, at least at a first glance. Tarra White was actually supposed to be in the game, at some point, but I believe I changed the model at the last moment, I can't remember why... She will probably appear in the game, sooner or later.

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    4. "..The problem with Faye Valentine is that she doesn't have a lot of pictures where she is dressed and isn't being fondled by someone.."

      I don't see a problem there.. ;)

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  4. i have a red head for you, Type in Kendra James

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    1. Thanks, but she seems to have the same problems as the one suggested previously (number of galleries, some low quality pictures, unusable clothes, etc...). Usually, if the model doesn't have more than 100 galleries listed on Freeones, it's hard to find the pictures I need (just to give you guys an idea, that's not the only criteria, of course).

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    2. i understand, if you are willing to search one more for the fun of it, try Cali Logan. i just tried it and there seem to be more clothed pictures at least.

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    3. I believe we have a winner here! :D :D :D

      I wrote down her name, and I am definitely going to use her, sooner or later! Thanks for the tip! ;)

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