Others Borrowed Lives [v1.0.0] [Corvienne]

[Nhenna]

I disagree, I think small sandboxes count as a form of tutorial & I feel like the game makes it clear that death isn't the end

It's not a 'small sandbox'. It's.. the whole game. You get a few extra options, mostly to look at your body (for some herbalism xp), or to try and remember something (to restore 1 mana). After that, you're just dumped into the game with absolutely no tutorial.

A 'tutorial', means teaching. You are not being 'taught' anything. You're being dumped into the game in the raw, without so much as a slap on the ass for good luck. Absolutely not a tutorial.

Not sure how this relates to my comment

It relates, because it's the only thing even vaguely 'tutorial'.

I disagree I think you could & should show all the options just make it very clear that they're all locked until first death

This, I can agree with. Just add some apersands (the '(' and ')' symbols) at the end to explain that those options will be available later, after they're 'unlocked' (even though the unlock requirements are essentially yeeting yourself off a cliff). Though, with that, I'd still like an option, in the options, to disable that requirement.. allowing me to start as a noble, or mage, or whatever, while still living at the ranch. However, having all the options visible but simply greyed out without any contex makes it appear that the game is simply largely incomplete.

This feels like a decompressed version of the previous paragraph see my response above

I could say the exact same thing. See my above response, about your last two responses.

My point has always been that the game needs clarification. Either obfuscate the additional options until you qualify for them, or show them but include context as to 'why' they're currently unavailable. Because for most people, seeing greyed out options for 'character creation', they assume it to be 'W.I.P.' unless given context as to 'why' those options are unavailabe (such as racial requirements, etc - i.e., only humans can become Paladins, etc)

To be completely honest, I'd actually suggest for the dev to include an actual tutorial, which includes the players first death.. to actually show that death and rebirth/possession is an actual game mechanic. But, I don't think that needs to be added in until later. Several other more pertinant things need to be addressed first.

Though, with that, I also think that the option to skip it should be added to the games options as well. Be it for players who just want to skip the tutorial, or for weirdos like me who'd prefer to at least attempt to go 'deathless'.

 

[Lord Ja'aM of Roland]

It's not a 'small sandbox'. It's.. the whole game. You get a few extra options, mostly to look at your body (for some herbalism xp), or to try and remember something (to restore 1 mana). After that, you're just dumped into the game with absolutely no tutorial.

A 'tutorial', means teaching. You are not being 'taught' anything. You're being dumped into the game in the raw, without so much as a slap on the ass for good luck. Absolutely not a tutorial.


It relates, because it's the only thing even vaguely 'tutorial'.


This, I can agree with. Just add some apersands (the '(' and ')' symbols) at the end to explain that those options will be available later, after they're 'unlocked' (even though the unlock requirements are essentially yeeting yourself off a cliff). Though, with that, I'd still like an option, in the options, to disable that requirement.. allowing me to start as a noble, or mage, or whatever, while still living at the ranch. However, having all the options visible but simply greyed out without any contex makes it appear that the game is simply largely incomplete.


I could say the exact same thing. See my above response, about your last two responses.

My point has always been that the game needs clarification. Either obfuscate the additional options until you qualify for them, or show them but include context as to 'why' they're currently unavailable. Because for most people, seeing greyed out options for 'character creation', they assume it to be 'W.I.P.' unless given context as to 'why' those options are unavailabe (such as racial requirements, etc - i.e., only humans can become Paladins, etc)

To be completely honest, I'd actually suggest for the dev to include an actual tutorial, which includes the players first death.. to actually show that death and rebirth/possession is an actual game mechanic. But, I don't think that needs to be added in until later. Several other more pertinant things need to be addressed first.

Though, with that, I also think that the option to skip it should be added to the games options as well. Be it for players who just want to skip the tutorial, or for weirdos like me who'd prefer to at least attempt to go 'deathless'.

Okay so after corresponding with the dev on discord I've learned that being able to select different origins after first death is itself a bug (so this entire conversation shouldn't have happened in the first place), apparently the other origins will be enabled the upcoming week (another thing this game needs work on is clarity)

 

[LEET]

Wonder when we can customize our appearance.

 

[corvienneetalle]

Wonder when we can customize our appearance.

Next patch tomorrow! Stay tuned

 

[corvienneetalle]

Okay so after corresponding with the dev on discord I've learned that being able to select different origins after first death is itself a bug (so this entire conversation shouldn't have happened in the first place), apparently the other origins will be enabled the upcoming week (another thing this game needs work on is clarity)

I apologize for all of the confusion! I'm working on making things a little more clear

 

[karthmanter]

Really cool concept, I don't remember which game it was but this feels familiar (in a good way), especially in visual/UI presentation. I'm also a huge sucker for games that have a bunch of irrelevant-ish details like with hair texture, posture/gait, etc. That being said, the right column is pretty much filled with so much information that the column overflows the bottom of the screen most of the time. Maybe make the column itself scrollable instead of the entire screen or move some information around to balance it out a bit more?

I was kinda disappointed that pregnancy isn't finished/available but just going by the pregnancy statuses that are in the cheat/debug menu it already seems to be much more detailed than most games which is awesome. It does seem like pregnancy could be a run-ender though with how many really dangerous complications there are, maybe balance it out with some *relatively* safer complications like a cryptic-pregnancy type of effect (not sure what the medical term is) or polyhydramnios? Any complications that are a bit more gameplay-friendly, or more for flavor/mystery instead of mostly just "hey, your character is sick all the time now and would probably rather die". Otherwise it feels like interacting with the mechanic/kink (whenever it's finished) could just kill my character outright or turn the gameplay into spamming rest for nine months.

 

[Nhenna]

I apologize for all of the confusion! I'm working on making things a little more clear

Just to (hopefully) reitterate for what seems like a whole lot of people at this point are saying;

We're not complaining because we dislike the game. We're airing out our issues because we do like the game, and want to see it improve.

I know that receiving to much critique to quickly can feel like critisism. So, allow me to state that what you're making is right up my alley for the sort of project I enjoy playing. It's got really good bones, and a really good concept. I/we just want to turn something good into something great.

About the only thing I've read in the comments that I don't agree with is people wanting images. Because that can be a really slippery slope. I believe you're already excellent at 'describing things', and in my opinion adding images would only detract from that, since no image will ever be as vivid as what people can paint with their own imagination.

What I would suggest adding, however, would be.. fetish filters. So players can customize what they do and don't see in game. Personally, I enjoy BDSM content (from the domme perspective, not so much the sub side of things), but I absolutely loathe chastity content in any form, and I similarly despise feet content in any form. Though, I fully understand that many people do enjoy those kinks. So, while I understand that adding in that sort of system will be a ton of work, it would also (I believe) vastly grow the number of people interested in your work, since they'd be able to tailor the content to their personal taste, by filtering out the things that they're uncomfortable experiencing.

 

[LEET]

Next patch tomorrow! Stay tuned

Combat is bugged by the way. I killed a wolf, but I was still in combat and kept taking damage which teleported me back to town but then I was enslaved.

Sewing Needle also has no input which it should such as bone, iron ingot, or w.e.

 

[LEET]

Also, combat has no benefit. No loot to be found from killing wolves or spiders.

 

[Hardor]

This genuinely made me so mad it compelled me to finally make my first post here. This is not how semantic versioning works. 1.0.0 can be considered a first release. The numbers have absolutely nothing to do with percentages. Software can be 1.843894573804.38932792723 and never, ever, become a 2.0.0 unless changes are made to the API. Generally speaking, when it comes to games, when the first number changes it signifies a lack of compatibility with previous versions. Usually, this means the new version is not save-game compatible with those older versions. The middle number changes with backwards compatible new functionality, the third number changes with bug fixes.

I haven't seen even that kind of consistent connection about the version changes that saves work or not. The numbering seem to be quite random, some preferring to use X.X.X.X.X.[running version number], others X.X.X.[date] and others some weird running up from 1.0 with 1.11 either being higher version than 1.9 or not.

If anything, there seems to be complete lack of standardization in game/program industry that goes beyond any single studio or company.

 

[misterlindo]

black screen on pc ver

 

[corvienneetalle]

This genuinely made me so mad it compelled me to finally make my first post here. This is not how semantic versioning works. 1.0.0 can be considered a first release. The numbers have absolutely nothing to do with percentages. Software can be 1.843894573804.38932792723 and never, ever, become a 2.0.0 unless changes are made to the API. Generally speaking, when it comes to games, when the first number changes it signifies a lack of compatibility with previous versions. Usually, this means the new version is not save-game compatible with those older versions. The middle number changes with backwards compatible new functionality, the third number changes with bug fixes.

I appreciate you saying this, because this was my line of thinking lol

 

[corvienneetalle]

Combat is bugged by the way. I killed a wolf, but I was still in combat and kept taking damage which teleported me back to town but then I was enslaved.

Sewing Needle also has no input which it should such as bone, iron ingot, or w.e.

Combat fixes will be in the next update, I appreciate your reports!

 

[LordUlrich]

Walked out during some rain now I'm permanently wet, lol. Also confused about currency, certain stats, how to buy anything and why bathing doesn't clean my hair.

My current opinion; game is heavily bugged and is overfilled with potential. I wish I could minimize my background screen, seems kind of unnecessary to have that constantly opened. I'm still playing it, just trying to learn what I can and can't do currently.

 

[corvienneetalle]

Really cool concept, I don't remember which game it was but this feels familiar (in a good way), especially in visual/UI presentation. I'm also a huge sucker for games that have a bunch of irrelevant-ish details like with hair texture, posture/gait, etc. That being said, the right column is pretty much filled with so much information that the column overflows the bottom of the screen most of the time. Maybe make the column itself scrollable instead of the entire screen or move some information around to balance it out a bit more?

I was kinda disappointed that pregnancy isn't finished/available but just going by the pregnancy statuses that are in the cheat/debug menu it already seems to be much more detailed than most games which is awesome. It does seem like pregnancy could be a run-ender though with how many really dangerous complications there are, maybe balance it out with some *relatively* safer complications like a cryptic-pregnancy type of effect (not sure what the medical term is) or polyhydramnios? Any complications that are a bit more gameplay-friendly, or more for flavor/mystery instead of mostly just "hey, your character is sick all the time now and would probably rather die". Otherwise it feels like interacting with the mechanic/kink (whenever it's finished) could just kill my character outright or turn the gameplay into spamming rest for nine months.

I appreciate the feedback! I made it so you can move things around in settings, as I did think the right side was a bit much - I might implement that scroll thing though as it might be a better solution!

Trust me I did want to finish pregnancy asap haha, but I thought it would be a bit much to do without fleshing out the game fully first. I'm glad you brought up the death concerns about pregnancy, and I'll definitely keep that in mind when I balance it. At the moment, you would get pregnancy notes in your journal about what your character is experiencing, and occasionally a popup in the scene about your status. But I think I should add a few more ways to handle your health during pregnancy, so you don't have to rely so much on a midwife and guesswork. Other than that you should be able to edit pregnancy time in settings so its more 'gamey'.

 

[LEET]

Where does one procure logs and cloth? Can't get leather from bears.

 

[corvienneetalle]

Just to (hopefully) reitterate for what seems like a whole lot of people at this point are saying;

We're not complaining because we dislike the game. We're airing out our issues because we do like the game, and want to see it improve.

I know that receiving to much critique to quickly can feel like critisism. So, allow me to state that what you're making is right up my alley for the sort of project I enjoy playing. It's got really good bones, and a really good concept. I/we just want to turn something good into something great.

About the only thing I've read in the comments that I don't agree with is people wanting images. Because that can be a really slippery slope. I believe you're already excellent at 'describing things', and in my opinion adding images would only detract from that, since no image will ever be as vivid as what people can paint with their own imagination.

What I would suggest adding, however, would be.. fetish filters. So players can customize what they do and don't see in game. Personally, I enjoy BDSM content (from the domme perspective, not so much the sub side of things), but I absolutely loathe chastity content in any form, and I similarly despise feet content in any form. Though, I fully understand that many people do enjoy those kinks. So, while I understand that adding in that sort of system will be a ton of work, it would also (I believe) vastly grow the number of people interested in your work, since they'd be able to tailor the content to their personal taste, by filtering out the things that they're uncomfortable experiencing.

No worries about the criticism! I appreciate it most definitely, and I'm glad people enjoy and/or see potential in the game enough to give it the time to do so. I did develop this solo, and tried testing as much as I could but a community helping me iron these kinks out helps a ton.

I personally want to add images in the future but only using custom art, however the game will never be reliant on it as it should be a text based focus - it will be toggleable.

There are fetish toggles in the gameplay settings, but there is a bug with them that I'm working on.

 

[little_oni]

So, after trying the game for a little bit, I just can't get past how disfunctional the sex system is, so I'll be wating for an update on that. What do I mean?
On a standart 1080p monitor, full screen, the text output and the options don't fit on the same screen, mostly. If I minimize the middle menu (clothes, toys, etc), I can see some of the actions, but not all of them. This means that to do anything, I would have to scroll down. Then after an action is selected, the screen does not scroll back up, so to see the feedback of the action I just picked, I have to scroll up. This is disorienting and annoying. The "Participants" panel doesn't have to be that big, and most of the side panels serve no purpose at all during the encounter (the character's background, inventory, relationships or even appearance serve basically no purpose here. In fact, I would argue that there is no reason to permanently show the background). Removing all of that would free some screen space to actually fit everything nicely.
More UI issues: You can see your appearance, yes, but not your partner's. This made trying to figure out what was going on with the scene extremely hard. Also, you can't easily check what's going on in general: where are we, and what are we doing. The only way to get this information is to navigate "surfaces" and "positions" and crossreference with who is the top and who is the bottom. A text based game is powered by the player's imagination, yes, but come on, give me something to go off of.
There is no clear indication as to why something is not possible. This is compounded by a bug that causes the partner to always show up as completely naked, even when they are not (the partner was showing up as naked from the beginning, but then I got a message saying they removed some clothing). And I guess this bug is what's preventing me from trying to strip my partner.
The mess with the references ... Reading the action log and actually figuring out what's going on is quite the challenge. My character is sometimes referred to by name in third person, sometimes by "you" in second, and sometimes by pronoun. When my partner is referred to in third person and not by pronoun, they are referred as just "the". The pronouns switch wildly during the scene, but that's another issue I'll tackle later.
As some people pointed out already, there is no option to just continue doing what you were doing, or allow the partner to progress the scene without actively doing something. There is also no clear option to end the scene (you can withdraw consent in the "control" tab, and that will usually do the trick, but otherwise there is nothing else you can do).
And the big elephant in the room ... The gender of the participants. There is something very wrong with whatever part of the system that's managing it. If I go to the tavern and fish for a male, referred to as "he", there is a non-zero chance of starting an encounter with a female partner. And even when the encounter starts with the intended gender for all participants, it may switch at some point for no apparent reason. This is also where seeing the appearance of my partner would be useful, as I could tell you if it's just a case of them growing organs mid encounter, or if they had them from the beginning, or what is going on in general.
I know all this wall of text seems to be shitting on the game, but I do think it has a lot of potential. But for a sandbox game, I think it's core, reusable mechanics are the most important part. Having a solid sex scene system from the beginning will make other things so much easier in the future. I do hope this can be fixed. If it is, I'll gladly sign up for the patreon.

 

[medassin]

How far in bdsm of this game?

 

[VictorHayes]

has this been vetted by F95 if it has a virus or not? downloading from the links leads to a much larger file size than downloading from itch.io . there's also that concerning "this might be a scam" when trying to download from itch, as well as the original poster of the game being a relatively new account