I emerged from my crib after spending my entire weekend playing Baldur's Gate 3 - and back into the development with a refreshed mind.
Desert Stalker is proooobably the best adult game I've played, maybe only below a couple of Japanese ones. Def the best 3D one.
It has only one issue, I want 10x more content xD
I can't help but noticed some similarities or parallels between
Chimera: Bloodlines and
Desert Stalker early scene
, can't really say it is coincidence but rather like an homage to
Desert Stalker perhaps?
| Chimera: Bloodlines | Desert Stalker |
|---|
| Kill or Knock Out Emmy. | Spare or Kill Asani. |
| Option to Grope Ashley's breast. | Option to Grope Asani's ass. |
| Option to Face Fuck Ashley. | Option to Face Fuck Asha. |
| Option Capture ( die ) or Let Go of Emmy ( after she wakes up ). | Similar to Spare or Kill Asani above, where in the Spare 'route' lead to future contents with her. |
| Option to Bring Home or Kill Ashley. | Spare/Trade or Left the Elf/Ivy/Yuna to her fate. |
| Ashley & Prison. | Fairy & Basement. |
Well, Dessert Stalker is overall close for what I'm going for, but instead of the Stalker / Egypt stuff, mine is more Supernatural / Tokyo stuff, but all stuff with interactions, etc. might be similar in some places, since our life provides limited number of choices overall xD
Fairy is a weird character btw, but I liked the idea of making her a pet, especially with a dog's bed lol.
Anyway, since for some reason
Chimera: Bloodlines reminded me of
Desert Stalker, let me share why I love
Desert Stalker ( especially from "storytelling" perspective ) just from its first release ( early game ).
1. Intro.
Brief intro into what a Desert Stalker all about: "treasure" hunter among other things. Followed by a glimpse of the background of the protagonist, flashback sort of, showing 2 girls/women and what looked like a house behind a wooden gated entrance.
Let's all agree here - I fucked up my intro by overexposing, I will do it very differently now, and just throw in 3 sex scenes in quick succession. The flashback in Stalker didn't get me hooked, but the super violent fight did.
2. Raider scene ( Asha, Asani & now dead dude )...
Asha best girl, Zetan really nailed her, when she's in the submissive mode it's amazing.
And you can't spoil it, I finished it, and will go for an evil route now xD
3. Decayed scene ( Decayed brothers & the Elf/Ivy/Yuna )
After a brief history lesson, just before entering the Decayed compound, player is asked to provide a name ( unconventional since usually this happens at the start ). Multiple choices to deal with the Elf situation, which involve kill, don't kill among others. Get fuel and go home.
Here is the interesting bit you are essentially guided to give them the artefact because it clearly wouldn't have ramifications as you don't care about the money.
4. Coming home ( Ain ).
MC is greeted by Ain, the youngest, who is a "klutz" that lets his "prisoner" escapes....
I'd say she has the best design out of all characters (a little taller would be nice), but Asha is still the best, I want more raider content xD
There are more to it but I just simplify a lot...
That paragraph is a good example how I ended up messing up my intro.
Also, I love cockblocking Omar, he reminds me of a guy I really dislike irl, with whom I had a similar situation xD [never said I was a nice guy...]
Anyway, back to CB, I try applying the same "formula" but I immediately hit a snag...
If you think that's a lot, good thing I didn't go with my first draft, it was soooo much longer, I get pretty intense with writing, I spend most of my time cutting down what I've written, rather than the opposite...
I know what you mean, I need to break these things down to make more sense. I didn't even introduce parallel storylines yet. But also, I consider the intensity & style of writing my uniqueness, so rather than the writing & speed itself, it's probably the overexposition... Works for Disco Elysium, but it's a little different for VNs.
I am not saying it is bad "storytelling" either, because there are people who like it especially since it involves plenty events and contains a lot of information ( easily accessible via ChimeraPad ), and it is entirely up to you with what kind "storytelling" you are comfortable with. I play it either way
, although I enjoy more the "storytelling" that I am aligned with. I feel like v1.5 and possibly v2.0 are still "Demo", to be exact "Pilot". Usually, "Pilot Episode" contains condensed story/storylines, only after the series/publications are greenlit, it will be made into expanded "serials". I think the current "storytelling" is more suited towards movies where the runtime is quite limited ( preferrably around 90 to 120 minutes ). For a serial type publications, perhaps different and/or mixed approaches are more suitable.
Yeah, I should've kept the DEMO or Pilot tag at v0.1.5, that was my fuckup. There will be a significant difference to v0.2.
I still don't know what's the best way to call stuff: Day 1, Chapter 1, etc.
Character Introduction.
On a different note, regarding character introduction, I think you did great with Lily on the Demo i.e. she first appeared on the Battlefield, but in v1.5 her first appearance is earlier which reduces the impact of the Battlefield appearance. I don't know what it is called but the "grand entrance" is a very common technique used to introduce main characters. Definitely not to overuse it, like using it for every characters will be overkill IMO. But yeah in movies, this is usually used when the female character is dressed "sexily", "elegantly" or advertising/promoting something, even at 1 hour into the movies where the character had been seen in like hundred scenes before. Anyway, back to CB, I feel like there is a missed opportunity with the build-up to Kiri's "grand entrance", since she is the spy that shadows the MC. Just some ideas:
JohnF95zone - what Intro did you like more Morgana (if we ignore the very long sequence of introducing many characters) or Battefield?
I'm thinking of maybe doing (I just now came up with it after reading your message - been thinking about it):
1) Start at battlefield pre-fight sequence. Introduce Kiri as the spy who is watching you, and Lily who is fucking shit up with flames.
2) Do a Flashback of "how did I get here?"
3) Flashback into Morgana mansion with the intro (adapted)
4) Proceed playing everything
5) Go to Battlefield, reach the flashback starting point, continue playing.
2. In relation to #1, mangas also used it to establish a trait or personality for this "mysterious watcher", like introducing a unique speech pattern, speech disfluency, verbal ticks, filler words etc in the dialogue.
I was too tired to do this, but yes, introducing accents is dialects is a big priority.
3. Or, it could be a gesture, for example the "finger gun" hand ....
Did you watch too much Inuyashiki? xD
You already have 20 female characters so far and that is a huge task to develop them individually so that they are not just "carbon copies" or standard template characters. There aren't that many projects with at least 3 team members ( dedicated writer ) have that many casts. Perhaps you might want to consider reducing the scope of the first game or at least few early versions of the game?
I can write infinitely, it has never been a problem for me, my only bottleneck is renders. There is obviously main/support split, with around 2 main characters per faction. I can figure out the scope later. I want to have strong fundamentals, which I can call in at any point when the characters would already be introduced.
Protagonist/Main Character.
Just a personal pet peeve of mine with regards to Archer, he is supposed to be the strongest Chimera but he is a "drunk", too much overpowered IMO, just like Hancock. "Drunk" character is not always bad though, like Captain Jack Sparrow which fits the comedic mood/genre of the movie, it also suggests that he is just lucky most of the time instead of being all too powerful. But yeah, just a small thing.
I'm going for a mix of One Punch Man and the sexiest man in England Austin Powers. I def like the MC, who is OP, drunk which takes away the seriousness of the situation, and has the MacGuffin power. I think it's a good fit into a dark world.
I've also been thinking of making choices: Drink/ Don't Drink - and then he gets progressively more suicidal and depressed - which will be funny in a dark way.
Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Go away now!
Always helpful, you got my mind on track after vacationing xD Lmk your thoughts about the intro, that would be great.
I read everything and considering all feedback as I am working on the next version.
