Friday, November 15, 2013

Dating Piper? Dating Piper.

So, dating in videogames is really awkward, and since I want you all to feel awkward, I decided to work on Piper's romance. I probably talked about this a lot of times already, but I feel I should reiterate the fact that since the game wasn't supposed to have romance in it at first, the mechanics don't seem to properly account for these options, at least in my opinion. I second guess my writing and the gameplay a lot more when I deal with dating in my game, and Piper is no exception. As a result, I am experimenting a bit on the gameplay side. I feel that the way I am currently handling it might be a little too lazy, but it's the kind of decision I usually don't take until my testers get to try the game, so for the moment it's still unsure how it will pan out. On the plus side, I think the writing isn't too shabby, so in theory I could "recycle" it, even if I decide to scrap the gameplay system I put together for this.

So that's what I have been up to, I put together the the current system and 2 dates, I plan to add at least another date, and a couple of scenes related to the romance, so that people chasing after her have at least something to look forward to. Hopefully, it shouldn't take too much to add this and move on.

And now, for the usual, kind-of-always-here-but-not-quite anime intro of the week! This time I'll surprise you by going full circle and talk about Lupin the 3rd (the original series, not the one centered around Fujiko)! Why, you ask? Because thinking about the "weird" intro Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine got, I remembered that the italian version for the first season of Lupin the 3rd was actually weirder!

If they tried to this now, when everyone knows how to speaks english, they would have censored the shit out of it

If you never saw the anime, go watch it right now, it's a classic, enough said. But let's talk about the intro, instead. It's basically a not too veiled homage to the Hystory of O (the song itself is called Planet O), and if you played my game, you should have a vague idea about how many people would find it inappropriate for a child show (thankfully, ignorance was rampant back in the days, and foreign languages weren't understood by most, so no censorship there!). Then again, Lupin the 3rd, especially early on, was hardly a "child show" (I am really sad thinking just how much they censor what children watch nowadays, and how tame the content usually is), considering what the lyrics were all about. Anyway, other than being kind of an odd match for a cartoon, I find the music actually really good. Since I am feeling generous today, here is a link to the full version of the song (I would suggest you listen to it, I really like it!).

Fujiko, we all love you! I should probably make a game about her sooner or later
 
And this should be it! Not exactly food for thought, but hopefully you find my little ramblings interesting or at the very least informative. Until next week!

16 comments:

  1. I know that the focus has primarily been on dating the crew members, and while F/F scenes seem to have been your primary focus, how about some M/F for those of us who aren't so "into" same-sex action? I think it would be nice to have a romance arc that didn't necessarily include the all-female crew. Just a suggestion, humbly made in hopes that others of us can enjoy something more in keeping with our desires.

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    1. No need to be humble when making suggestions, we are just discussing ideas for the game! ^_^

      To be honest, I have considered this several times already, having a male love interest seemed the natural evolution to the whole "romance" thing, my main problem with it is logistic, so to speak: Celeste doesn't have any M/F galleries, so it's way harder to find pictures I can use (that's why M/F content in general is pretty scarce). Also, dating wasn't part of my plans at first (I had just some minor plans for Piper, at first, and not a full blown romance system, anyway), so it's kind of weighting a lot on my development schedule. It's also a matter of finding romance hard to write (I always get the impression that I am writing something very shallow, not connected to the mechanics or the plot, so I waste a lot of time to get anything done).

      Basically, I would like to, but I have no idea if I'll ever get around to actually doing it, as it's time consuming and a tad stressful for me. The bartender on Kantor is actually who I would have in mind as a love interest (I think people can see I left myself a way out with him, if I decide to actually add another dating option), but as I said I am a bit doubtful about whether I'll do it or not right now.

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  2. I'll make some apologies to the OP now, but I'm absolutely a fan of the F/F stuff and *ahem* would like to see more of it!

    Which is might explain why I like this game so darn much as well.

    So while I'm here, could I just be "one of those guys" and ask if there's plans for Celeste to get dirty with even more ladies out there? But does that involve losing mental resistance pointssssss? Argh choices!

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    1. Well, considering how often F/F features in my games, you can probabably guess I like it as well! :D

      With getting dirty, do you mean more possible romances, or simply one night stands? I won't be adding more female love interests, that's for sure (3 are already hard to work on as it is), but I am pretty sure other ladies will end up having a private meeting under the sheets with our heroine. ;)

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  3. We need more chances of corruption. And the chance for Celeste to be corrupted by the person who runs the whore house In the red light district.

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    1. That seems very specific, what could you possibly have in mind for Celeste, I wonder? ^_^

      On a slightly more serious note, by corruption, do you mean losing mental resistance, or is it more of a "she should do some kinky stuff"? I have something in my notes along the line of giving a chance to Celeste to "whore herself out" for money (although it wouldn't be simple to unlock), would something like be what you are looking for?

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    2. Look that Celeste whoring herself and didn't get game over? I'm really look forward to this!

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    3. Well, it was suggested to me a few times, and since I already have plans for some more spicey situations for Celeste, I thought this one should probably get in as well.

      As I said, though, it won't be so easy to unlock the option! ;p

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  4. Uh, I am a little new to this blog, which is why there's a question I'd like to ask: when, at least approximately, should we expect the new version?

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    1. I am currently aiming for a christmas-ish release, but if I haven't done enough progress by then, I might decide to push it further away. I usually just work on the game in my spare time, and when I feel like there is enough new content to justify a new release, I go for it, so I don't have a precise schedule I am following.

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    2. The Saints Save Christmas dlc, a Doctor Who episode, and a possibility of an update for Tales of the Drunken Cowboy? Be still my beating heart!

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  5. So, will the new release feature the "boss" scenes, or is that already in game and I just haven't figured out how to get them?

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    1. By the "boss", do you mean the guy who's behind the whole situation with ALICE? Probably not, then. There is at least one more release before the "final" one (that is to say, one where you can see the ending). I would like to add another part of the main quest for this release, though.

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  6. Thank you for your great work! Totdc is one of the most enjoyable RAGS game out there :) I really can't wait the next release XD A question, any chance to see new scenes for the Malena romance? (it's by far my favourite one)

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    1. I am not sure yet. I would like to, but I am not sure if I have enough time. I would like to have a public release within a month or so, and I am running out of time. I can always push the release back, but I am already so slow, my players will end up dying of old age before they see the game done! XD

      To answer your question, I think it's a bit unlikely at the moment, I'll have to see if I manage to get more work done than I expect to.

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