1tomadeira

Engaged Member
May 25, 2017
3,276
9,917
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Future!Phantom

"Someone else might get it wrong"
Game Developer
Aug 13, 2018
335
561
So... it's been a while
On the offchance people are following this thread or want to hear more directly from me, this seemed the best place to do it

I should probably start with a key point that no, Community Service is not being continued as a project at this time. Having recently replayed my own game after nearly a 2yr break I can still see a lot of potential there, but I need a smaller project to get me back in action.

A smaller project? Yes.

I am actively developing a new HTML game. This game is being made on a much smaller scale. A smaller map, a smaller cast of characters, and admittedly a smaller roster of available events. This is because a lot of work has gone into the gameplay loop, and updating a lot of the UI elements from Community Service.

Taking inspiration from The Company and Lab Rats, this game will follow a sort of corruption and influence style. Admittedly this has been done to death through HTML so I'll be adding other elements over time to expand the core gameplay mechanics.

I can't give an accurate date on when the release will be. It could be next month it could be January. A lot of the core mechanics I want for the v0.01 build are in their final stage, and now I'm working on adding the full content for one of the characters. I will also be reopening a Discord Server in the coming weeks, but won't be reopening Patreon.

This will be another parody title. In the same way Community Service adapted Misfits, this new game will adapt a different media. Maybe it'll stand out, but I don't know, as the variety of games on F95 seem to constantly change.

But war. War never changes.
 

Rat-attack

Active Member
Aug 18, 2020
543
441
May I ask then as to if you have plans to return to community service and if not or those plans change will you release source data so people whom may want to continue it or make parodies/remakes can do so easier and with your blessing?

The reason why I ask of this is due to you previous post saying
SNIP SNIP SNIP
Shockingly to myself, I have really resonated with my new job, and as such have made the decision not to return to develop the game any further.

SNIP SNIP SNIP​

I have not taken this decision lightly, but due to the workload exceeding any potential income from game development, my work as a developer must cease.
Which to me makes your return while surprising and great, I don't wish to miss out on clarification or the opportunity I didn't have to see if the project can be continued. As since you made it clear that you needed the spare time spent on this project or similar to work with no leeway since you didn't move to an smaller project as you now are. It make me honestly a bit concerned for your real life and hope you aren't comprising that, it isn't my place to inquire, but I would like to know if a repeat of before may happen and thus have preemptive measures so nothing goes to waste. (And thus the game hopefully does get it's full potential realized)

I hope you've understood what I've tried to put across as I've got it in my head and not take any of it as insulting or questioning life choices, do what you gotta do.
 
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Future!Phantom

"Someone else might get it wrong"
Game Developer
Aug 13, 2018
335
561
May I ask then as to if you have plans to return to community service and if not or those plans change will you release source data so people whom may want to continue it or make parodies/remakes can do so easier and with your blessing?

The reason why I ask of this is due to you previous post saying

Which to me makes your return while surprising and great, I don't wish to miss out on clarification or the opportunity I didn't have to see if the project can be continued. As since you made it clear that you needed the spare time spent on this project or similar to work with no leeway since you didn't move to an smaller project as you now are. It make me honestly a bit concerned for your real life and hope you aren't comprising that, it isn't my place to inquire, but I would like to know if a repeat of before may happen and thus have preemptive measures so nothing goes to waste. (And thus the game hopefully does get it's full potential realized)

I hope you've understood what I've tried to put across as I've got it in my head and not take any of it as insulting or questioning life choices, do what you gotta do.
So the last 2 years have been a lot of ups and downs. The job I resonated with was great, I found a bunch of new friends and started doing more outside of work, and then my mental health also tanked and I experienced more stress than I'd ever felt.

Recently, having mostly forgotten a lot of the inner workings of Community Service, I played a blind run through of the game myself. It showed me a lot of the breadcrumbs I was leaving for future plot threads, some of the shortcomings of the core game mechanics, and ultimately made me appreciate how much work I'd put into the project.

This small project is not designed to be a long project. The game will be finished within 8-10 updates and then after that it'll be straight bugfixes. At that time it's likely I'll return to Community Service. If I remember correctly the game ceased development during Chapter 2. I originally had around 7-9 chapters planned out for it.

My return to game development won't be as regular as before. It won't be accompanied by Patreon pages or monthly updates. People will always be informed about how long things are taking but I'm not going to promise regular content. This will create a healthier balance between work, personal life, and game development.
 

1tomadeira

Engaged Member
May 25, 2017
3,276
9,917
So... it's been a while
On the offchance people are following this thread or want to hear more directly from me, this seemed the best place to do it

I should probably start with a key point that no, Community Service is not being continued as a project at this time. Having recently replayed my own game after nearly a 2yr break I can still see a lot of potential there, but I need a smaller project to get me back in action.

A smaller project? Yes.

I am actively developing a new HTML game. This game is being made on a much smaller scale. A smaller map, a smaller cast of characters, and admittedly a smaller roster of available events. This is because a lot of work has gone into the gameplay loop, and updating a lot of the UI elements from Community Service.

Taking inspiration from The Company and Lab Rats, this game will follow a sort of corruption and influence style. Admittedly this has been done to death through HTML so I'll be adding other elements over time to expand the core gameplay mechanics.

I can't give an accurate date on when the release will be. It could be next month it could be January. A lot of the core mechanics I want for the v0.01 build are in their final stage, and now I'm working on adding the full content for one of the characters. I will also be reopening a Discord Server in the coming weeks, but won't be reopening Patreon.

This will be another parody title. In the same way Community Service adapted Misfits, this new game will adapt a different media. Maybe it'll stand out, but I don't know, as the variety of games on F95 seem to constantly change.

But war. War never changes.
Thanks for your insight. Glad everything is going well on your life at least.

Just a bit curious, as since I've played both Lab Rats and The Company, specially taking into account The Company, it was quite a fun game, yet the plot started to get some stale. Personally I was a bigger fan of Lab Rats due it's simple playstyle and quite nice scenes (for it's time). Even though, Lab Rats 2 started to get way too complex to have fun, at least for me, but of course tastes can differ. Can we expect something more plot wise, or something with replayability like Lab Rats? Finally, without spoiling much or giving promises, can we at least expect something like personal art or real porn if the project comes around?

At least speaking for myself, besides the incest and corrutpion flavour, which is a personal taste of mine (I like taboo stuff if well written, don't judge me), what made me like the game was the characters being pretty likeable, along with good writing. The MC wasn't a dick, the heroines actually had some depth and decent development, besides being gorgeous pornstars of course, but it was just shown care. They had a reason to exist, they weren't there just "for content".

While I like html with real porn and incest, the main complain me and others have from many of those games is the lack of depth in a believeable story and characters develoment. Many focus to fast on the corruption theme (even though I love it) without giving a goal and, at least, a "believeable" plot. If you know what I mean. Of course if your "minor project" goes along, I'm not expecting a detailed game as Community Service, as you mentioned is to get inspiration. Even though, I found this is important to mention as to why people liked this game. Everyone likes beautiful girls with beautiful scenes, but it was the good UI of the game, the heroines and MC being likeable, and the plot, while not extraordinary but fun to read that made me hooked into the game.

Sure the game wasn't a masterpiece like, let's say, Cyberpunk or Crysis at the time of it's release, but it was definitely memorable and replayable to me. And that's what matters me, and I guess that's what also grabs fans. It's also what encourages me to recommend a game to others, which I did.

Thanks again for your insight, and good luck on future endeavors.
 

Future!Phantom

"Someone else might get it wrong"
Game Developer
Aug 13, 2018
335
561
Thanks for your insight. Glad everything is going well on your life at least.

Just a bit curious, as since I've played both Lab Rats and The Company, specially taking into account The Company, it was quite a fun game, yet the plot started to get some stale. Personally I was a bigger fan of Lab Rats due it's simple playstyle and quite nice scenes (for it's time). Even though, Lab Rats 2 started to get way too complex to have fun, at least for me, but of course tastes can differ. Can we expect something more plot wise, or something with replayability like Lab Rats? Finally, without spoiling much or giving promises, can we at least expect something like personal art or real porn if the project comes around?

At least speaking for myself, besides the incest and corrutpion flavour, which is a personal taste of mine (I like taboo stuff if well written, don't judge me), what made me like the game was the characters being pretty likeable, along with good writing. The MC wasn't a dick, the heroines actually had some depth and decent development, besides being gorgeous pornstars of course, but it was just shown care. They had a reason to exist, they weren't there just "for content".

While I like html with real porn and incest, the main complain me and others have from many of those games is the lack of depth in a believeable story and characters develoment. Many focus to fast on the corruption theme (even though I love it) without giving a goal and, at least, a "believeable" plot. If you know what I mean. Of course if your "minor project" goes along, I'm not expecting a detailed game as Community Service, as you mentioned is to get inspiration. Even though, I found this is important to mention as to why people liked this game. Everyone likes beautiful girls with beautiful scenes, but it was the good UI of the game, the heroines and MC being likeable, and the plot, while not extraordinary but fun to read that made me hooked into the game.

Sure the game wasn't a masterpiece like, let's say, Cyberpunk or Crysis at the time of it's release, but it was definitely memorable and replayable to me. And that's what matters me, and I guess that's what also grabs fans. It's also what encourages me to recommend a game to others, which I did.

Thanks again for your insight, and good luck on future endeavors.
For the most part, Lab Rats is providing the core inspiration. I also didn't play much of Lab Rats 2 because I preferred the art style of the first game and the second game was way more complex. You can expect it to be along the lines of creating serums and developing influence and resistance over time, in what I aim to make a lore friendly way to the source material I'm parodying.

The main influence from The Company will be the crafting side. This won't be in the initial release, as the experience can be streamlined somewhat, but further down the line I have plans (and functional test games) to create an in-depth crafting system for the different serums that will alter the effects in different ways. This is being done later to ensure that the implementation of all the crafting materials can be done effectively, and will also bring the ability to craft more than just the "corruption serum".

I think it's worth noting the difference between corruption and influence. Many corruption games sometimes do have the tendency to reduce the characters to being a bit like mindless drones, which I don't want to do. The idea of using influence is that these characters are now more susceptible and are being changed over time, but are still at their core the same characters we meet at the start of the game.

The core gameplay loop I hope will be very replayable, and a lot of the events won't be as plot driven as compared to Community Service, but would still have some of my usual dialogue and character style. Which is where quests come in. At a point during the character's influence gain, they will open up a quest to the player. These quests will be slightly longer than the ones found in community service, and a lot less about just going to one location and speaking to someone. These quests will give me the opportunity to expand the characters and delve into their backstory and history so we can really get a feel of who these people are.

It will be a HTML real-porn game as that's where my strengths are. And a good amount of early development went into picking models that suited the events of the game, with around 4 or 5 characters being completely redone before full development even began. A lot of my UI from Community Service has been ported for this new game as well, with necessary improvements made to it.
 

1tomadeira

Engaged Member
May 25, 2017
3,276
9,917
For the most part, Lab Rats is providing the core inspiration. I also didn't play much of Lab Rats 2 because I preferred the art style of the first game and the second game was way more complex. You can expect it to be along the lines of creating serums and developing influence and resistance over time, in what I aim to make a lore friendly way to the source material I'm parodying.

The main influence from The Company will be the crafting side. This won't be in the initial release, as the experience can be streamlined somewhat, but further down the line I have plans (and functional test games) to create an in-depth crafting system for the different serums that will alter the effects in different ways. This is being done later to ensure that the implementation of all the crafting materials can be done effectively, and will also bring the ability to craft more than just the "corruption serum".

I think it's worth noting the difference between corruption and influence. Many corruption games sometimes do have the tendency to reduce the characters to being a bit like mindless drones, which I don't want to do. The idea of using influence is that these characters are now more susceptible and are being changed over time, but are still at their core the same characters we meet at the start of the game.

The core gameplay loop I hope will be very replayable, and a lot of the events won't be as plot driven as compared to Community Service, but would still have some of my usual dialogue and character style. Which is where quests come in. At a point during the character's influence gain, they will open up a quest to the player. These quests will be slightly longer than the ones found in community service, and a lot less about just going to one location and speaking to someone. These quests will give me the opportunity to expand the characters and delve into their backstory and history so we can really get a feel of who these people are.

It will be a HTML real-porn game as that's where my strengths are. And a good amount of early development went into picking models that suited the events of the game, with around 4 or 5 characters being completely redone before full development even began. A lot of my UI from Community Service has been ported for this new game as well, with necessary improvements made to it.
Thanks for the detailed answer.

Yes that's what I meant about corruption. I like when the characters "lose their morals", specially against taboo stuff, but I don't like when they actually look like mindless dolls. Basicly, I meant "corruption of their morals", but not corruption or common sense or their entire personality, which it's relatable to the influence you mention. Basicly you focus more on the "dragging to you your side", to me it's more enticing the "removal from their zone of comfort", but I guess it's basicly the same direction if we get into it. I personally don't like the complete "mindbreak" or "mindless drones" thing, and even to some extent was what made me feel "meh" about certain aspects of Lab Rats final gameplay, which I guess my opinion about "corruption" goes along to your as what you meant "influence". Just to give an example, if you ever played College Daze, while not related to crafting but more into "special powers", I usually go around the "bimbo routes" specially because of that. It's really not my thing, I like when the love interests actually do fall in love with the player.

Since I've already mentioned College Daze above, keep in mind that that specific game is also extremely replayable, but that's because it has an extreme amount of content. While it definitely doesn't have the crafting elements you want, the way "influence" works on that game may go along to the ideas of routes and replayability you mentioned you want to achieve. At least it definitely achieves that much better than Lab Rats and The Company, even if I like those games as I said in the previous comment.

Thank you again for the detailed answer, and looking forward to try it out when it comes out. I'm glad the interface will be influenced by Community Service, because it was definitely very engaging and easy to use by the player, so it should be fun to play. Good luck also to your projects outside "game development". Best Regards.
 

shazamify

Newbie
Oct 11, 2023
72
61
I have re-opened a Discord server. The links in my signature and on the OP page have been updated. Over there I'll be talking and teasing my new project, as well as just having channels for both my new project and Community Service.
Hey Future!Phantom. Seems like the discord link is expired
 

Lianland

Archangel of Lust
Game Developer
Apr 21, 2022
126
331
So the last 2 years have been a lot of ups and downs. The job I resonated with was great, I found a bunch of new friends and started doing more outside of work, and then my mental health also tanked and I experienced more stress than I'd ever felt.

Recently, having mostly forgotten a lot of the inner workings of Community Service, I played a blind run through of the game myself. It showed me a lot of the breadcrumbs I was leaving for future plot threads, some of the shortcomings of the core game mechanics, and ultimately made me appreciate how much work I'd put into the project.

This small project is not designed to be a long project. The game will be finished within 8-10 updates and then after that it'll be straight bugfixes. At that time it's likely I'll return to Community Service. If I remember correctly the game ceased development during Chapter 2. I originally had around 7-9 chapters planned out for it.

My return to game development won't be as regular as before. It won't be accompanied by Patreon pages or monthly updates. People will always be informed about how long things are taking but I'm not going to promise regular content. This will create a healthier balance between work, personal life, and game development.
That's a really great news, glad you're doing okay ! You're right to take time for yourself and not forcefully put you on a project you don't want to. Will look upon your next projects with great interest !
 

Druid64

Member
Dec 11, 2019
201
91
Glad to see you're back and doing better. I hope you continue doing well Any type of health issue is serious and comes first. That being said I personally am looking forward to more content in the game and thank you for your efforts.
 

yougopurple

Newbie
Oct 16, 2018
68
50
Just been playing this and well...
ah...
Let's just say that the mood died when I saw a familiar youtuber with flamethrowers.

No, I don't want to see or think of colin in a fap session. :FacePalm::rolleyes::ROFLMAO:
 
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