- Jan 18, 2018
- 488
- 1,180
Hey there! Let me jump on in and join this chitchat, at least for a little bit. I left the first part alone so Unshi could see it and absorb the feedback directly, so now I think I should chime in with my take on things, yeah? Unshi may have come in a little hot, but I can tell you he doesn't think being rude or attacking. He and I appreciate the feedback, it's why were here after all, he's just almost always got a lot on his shoulders to carry for us, particularly now so close to a release.
You don't have permission to view the spoiler content.
Log in or register now.
Anyway, that's just interesting to know. The more relevent take away is that Unshi built the whole engine in Unity (not Ren'py), so he can code the checks. That's not the issue at hand, I'm afraid.
---
Now to my takes.
Forgive me this time, as I am not trying to be rude either when I say this, but your feedback is a little obvious. Of course it would be better for the game if it had more checks, activity interaction and depth to character skill building. It simply would and I agree with you. Now, that's not to say it's not important that you speak up and say it, letting us know it's as clear to see from a player's perspective, but we do know it ourselves. However, even though it's better for the end result, it also comes with it's own costs and drawbacks. I fear it's more than it seems, not simply a something we can do in 1 version's wait, or maybe even 2. The complexity of the matter is the issue from what I can see. Since our current internal deliberations concern whether we're going to even get to do all the side content threads we would like, or if we need to move to Mission #3 and the game end sooner out of necessity, it's hard to see how we can find a lot of time for this, even at the game's expense.
(This is next part is my supposition, for give me Unshi if I am wrong).
Originally when the game was first started up, it wasn't supposed to run this long, be this big, be so complex. That's my feeling on it from being an early follower on to working on it as long as I have. To your other point about Nat not being quite like the original, it comes from the same place. Unshi started off having been able to make a good lookalike for many of the girls we have, thought it would be some enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek, semi-serious, only thin excuses needed for sex mash up of characters he and others could enjoy like Nat/Cat/Lara/Ivy, all in a bit of fun. It was an experimental early project to test the waters and try out things like the stats, the infection pop-up in the beginning, the achievement system bit etc, that could then go on to be a proper game later on if things worked out well. It wasn't supposed to be this serious, and certainly not supposed to go into it's 5th year of development. That is down in large part to my doing, my influence on things, and may well be a catalyst of the issues at hand (a long with the fact we can't make as big as updates as we would like per month).
(End supposition)
The idea of Good, Corrupt and Bad Nat came after I was already on the team, and a lot from my pushing to add more meaning to choices and variants to scenes. I'd like to think it's been a value add overall (feedback here suggests it is) but its also a very complex system thanks to the crossover points between the paths, which was not something the game was orignally planned around or expected to be. Not tho this extent anyway. Already it has to track of scenarios like this:
"You are Bad Nat, but you were Corrupt Nat up until the yacht, so half of your game went one way and the other is on another path. You had sex with him, but not him. You also started the Cat eventline as Corrupt, and so finish it as Corrupt, even though you are Bad Nat. Do you have any chance at all to become Good Nat again by the end? Who is alive in your game and who has died?"
Now imagine going back through the whole game to add checks in places and then taking them into account above. It'd have to include "You were Corrupt Nat up until the yacht, but you didn't do this or that, and you fucked him this way but not that guy". Every little thing would be a slippery branch to hold on to, and an exponentially growing order of complexity for us to account for. That's why I think we haven't done it much, honestly. We have tried to include options along things like what kind of sex the player wants to see (so giving the the option to the watch Monster rape, or mind controlled sex) as much as we can and take a hit in more things to track, but that's important for it's own reasons.
---
So basically, as our game grew, as we became a team, and as we pushed on ahead, the project morphed into something bigger/different than what it was originally to be. We're still dealing with holder overs and remenants of those early days, particularly in the gameplay sections. But the key is what can we do about it that's practical at this point?
Going back and checks that add an entrance requirement to content/choices means adding alternate paths for scenes to play out, one for every check. That adds up quickly, adding more versions to the total, and more to account for later in the case of more prominent scenes. It is a big undertaking at this point, and yes, that's our fault, but it doesn't change the fact we have to work within our limits and what's best cost:value for us, so we can keep doing this month after month. Especially so since we've come this far and new changes will mostly effect new players. For others it's adding barriers to content they've already seen before (which is our own bullet in our foot, yes).
We've not made any decisions yet, and I'm not the one with the leading voice in the decision either, so we don't have a set solution yet. What I suspect is the most prudent way forward it to get to the end of the content development and spend some time cleaning up the game where it needs it. Reaching v1.0 is a big accomplishment, something worth celebrating in itself, and we'll not sniff at it. A first game under our belt will be quite the achivement, even if it's not been the perfect path to it. After that, we treat this as a learning experience, do the kind of in-depth analyisis and self review on the game and ourselves, figure out what worked, what didn't, what could have been better and what we didn't give a chance but maybe should have (stats included). We'll need to take that all into account as we form the base of whatever comes next, our 3rd project, and aim to do better than we did with this one. If there is ever an appetite (and I hope their might well be), for us and the fans, to really spend some time polishing old content and shaping up AoH:MoAR with a v1.1, or a v2.0, with some cleaner gameplay and improved early game renders, maybe even a dash of new content, then wonder indeed! Otherwise, being better and moving forward may well be the most prudent way forward for us.
Phew... I'll stop now, I've talked enough. Hopefully I've cleared up somethings for you and all here, even if my answers might not be what people want to hear. Also, I do want to thank you for your feedback, fandom and time. Cheers for enjoying our stuff so much you are wanting us to be better, enough to post to us, review and to be honest with us as we may need it.
All the best! We're going to keep on making goodness while the 2020 is still young. Ha.
