Unity Abandoned Delivery Pilot Dreams and Debts [v0.8] [Acac]

[deadal]

Nice game, a lot of obviously lacking content but the structure is solid, mostly.... There is a lot of false choice, time where you have only one option yet you need to click several button to reach your one option.
ex:You always go sleeping in your ship after the afternoon entertainment, you always have to load after after accepting a contract, always have to discharge after arriving on a new planet, etc.....

If there is no plan to do anything else (sell the cargo to black market, sleep in the station at a cost but with some moral restauration, etc), could you smooth the transition and eliminate what is not useful?

 

[Joe Steel]

I think an even better idea is to make the other side break the commitment. The player won't have control over that, so the decision to commit will be significant, but it won't be permanent, so there's always the idea that you can eventually check out commitments with the other types.

Or, do both. PC de-commitment with a significant penalty, or other side de-commitment with no penalty but also no control over the random length of the commitment.

 

[acac]

Nice game, a lot of obviously lacking content but the structure is solid, mostly.... There is a lot of false choice, time where you have only one option yet you need to click several button to reach your one option.
ex:You always go sleeping in your ship after the afternoon entertainment, you always have to load after after accepting a contract, always have to discharge after arriving on a new planet, etc.....

If there is no plan to do anything else (sell the cargo to black market, sleep in the station at a cost but with some moral restauration, etc), could you smooth the transition and eliminate what is not useful?

Thanks, that's a good point. I did it this way, because I wanted the player to go through the tedious motions, that the main character herself goes through. This didn't really turn out very popular, though. It's a bit hard to shift it now, but I'll keep this in mind for the next game.

I think another lesson for me is that for the next game, I might make the "gameplay loop" an in-game week, instead of an in-game day. This way, you might go through the same loop maybe 40 times, instead of 300 times. The actions and decisions can be more abstract as well, so there could be less clicking within each loop.

I think an even better idea is to make the other side break the commitment. The player won't have control over that, so the decision to commit will be significant, but it won't be permanent, so there's always the idea that you can eventually check out commitments with the other types.

Or, do both. PC de-commitment with a significant penalty, or other side de-commitment with no penalty but also no control over the random length of the commitment.

That's a neat idea. After having tried the current system out, I'm not sure permanent commitments are such a great idea, after all. I love the system in the Devious Followers mod, for Skyrim. In that mod, you voluntarily take on random obligations to remove some debt. You can then pay to remove the obligation, and the cost to remove it goes down over time. So, it is its own small loan in a way, where you provide some benefits during the loan's existence, and the cost to pay off the loan goes down over time. You can also take on multiple randomly chosen obligations at once, so the collection of loans is always different and unpredictable. To me, that's really interesting, and that's the inspiration behind the stations having their own random sets of obligations, in my game. Devious Followers achieved a really interesting mechanism that stays fresh, without making it permanent.

Ah well, we don't know until we try, I guess, lol.

 

[Mercedes]

In March 2022, I already posted here once, and after 10 months, unfortunately, no improvement is noticeable, although there have been some updates.

On day 270, I had enough credits to pay off my loan, which causes the game to end.
I am currently on day 312 and have given my first HJ.
I have not yet managed to get any orders from the general.
In some places you lose so much morale in one day that you have to wait 3 days on a station to get your morale back above 20 so that you have enough cushion for the next job. (You can see in the screen how many credits you earned last week or the week before).

Conclusion:
Still far too many unnecessary clicks to switch through the menus.
Much too heavy a grind. The first 2 months can be slow, but after almost a year of playing I have still only done 2 jobs for some captains, because they pay far too little to be able to pay off the credit.

The MC lacks initiative.
If she's already walking around in her underwear at one station, but is still almost wearing her strat gear at another station months later, because she visits there significantly less often and the employees there aren't quite as perverse, why can't MC change the wardrobe himself to push for a pay rise?

After this attempt, this game will probably be ignored for the next 2 years and then I will read the reviews to see if the gameplay has changed and if it would be worth giving it another chance. Unfortunately, it's currently a massive time waster for nothing. There is simply no pleasant feeling of playing.

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[Ferghus]

I still don't really understand the point of making the game intentionally tedious, with nothing else in mind. Like the game doesn't necessarily need a happy ending or anything, but it needs to be a dynamic experience to hold the player's attention. Like most of us probably work and have boring enough lives, but it doesn't look anything like this, even if we take out the sexual harassment. Like what's the point of having relationship levels and a harassment counter if nothing changes? Sure, she unlocks scenes, but the contents of those scenes don't change and the way she's treated doesn't change. I think I asked this before, but what were you hoping for people to experience from this game? I can't wrap my head around the design choices.

 

[sappho]

Some tips for those that need them, exact numbers might vary based on difficulty:
-Pick your starting traits carefully and let them guide your play. If you roll something like 100% from officers over relationship 2 and 100% from officers above captain (to give an example that just popped up for me) focus on unlocking a major ASAP, use them to give you a buffer while you find the other major that will unlock a colonel then use them as your cash cow while you unlock the general. You get the idea.
-Personally I would reroll character until i get two traits that boost pay based on the officer, and ignore traits based on location.
-its better to wait a day or two to reset missions to get one that is boosted by your traits unless you are absolutely desperate for money.
-You can travel without taking jobs. Once you've got a but of a buffer (2-3 weeks payments) travel to each location and intro all officers. Use this to target specific officers to raise their relationship fast. This is especially useful raising generals relationship.
-pay attention to the morale cost of jobs, don't take 4-8 morale loss jobs unless they are extremely well paid if your morale is very high
-don't stress about morale, keeping it 30-50 is fine, low 20s high teens in a pinch
-pay attention to the recreation facilities on planets. A planet with 4-5 spots that restore 8-10 morale are places you go to to rapidly increase morale even without a mission. 3 days on a planet like that can raise your morale from 10 to 60

In my last game I had traits which gave 50% pay from sleazy officers and 100% from sleazy officers over relationship 2. I was able to unlock jobs for the general by day 110 and had him at relationship 8 by day 140. Once i unlocked a sleazy colonel money largely ceased to matter, I was getting 70k per mission. I think the general might have been paying like 150k but i had stopped paying attention at that point. I coudl have paid my debt off well before I started fucking the general


I do agree that while I love how the game depicts sex work, streamlining the amount of clicks and making the game a bit faster would help. It is a game and gams should be engaging to play even if they arent trying to tell a fun story

 

[raska42]

Thoughts, and a possible bug

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[acac]

I was watching one of my favorite Youtube channels, Ross's Game Dungeon, review a game that I had mixed feelings on but generally admired; Indigo Prophecy, or Fahrenheit.

Around 26:15, he states, "This does bring up an interesting point I've seen debated before though, because I imagine if you were to ask the director why he included this frustrating part, that I think the vast majority of people would not find fun, he might say something like, 'This is a way of expressing what actually someone with claustrophobia might go through, where they have to maintain constant focus to not be overwhelmed. It's not supposed to be fun.'"

"And that brings up the question, 'Should games be fun?' I've heard some people don't consider games art, because most are designed to be fun and entertaining, as opposed to an artist's full unbridled expression, where your enjoyment might not factor into that at all. I don't really have an opinion on the artistic merit, but I'm decidedly low brow on this issue, where I prefer games that are trying to be fun."

"Usually when a game is not fun, it means that the designers screwed up, or else you're not the target audience. It's rarer for a game to not be fun on purpose."

I think that was really thought provoking. For sure, a lot of the carpel tunnel, not fun aspects of this game is indeed me messing up. I think there are a lot of key lessons I should take to the next game I work on, here. But there was a little bit of an intention on my end to make the game tedious for the sake of tedium and monotony. I'm glad Ross articulated this pretty well, and he did a beautiful job of clarifying why games might or might not be art.

 

[Ferghus]

I was watching one of my favorite Youtube channels, Ross's Game Dungeon, review a game that I had mixed feelings on but generally admired; Indigo Prophecy, or Fahrenheit.

Around 26:15, he states, "This does bring up an interesting point I've seen debated before though, because I imagine if you were to ask the director why he included this frustrating part, that I think the vast majority of people would not find fun, he might say something like, 'This is a way of expressing what actually someone with claustrophobia might go through, where they have to maintain constant focus to not be overwhelmed. It's not supposed to be fun.'"

"And that brings up the question, 'Should games be fun?' I've heard some people don't consider games art, because most are designed to be fun and entertaining, as opposed to an artist's full unbridled expression, where your enjoyment might not factor into that at all. I don't really have an opinion on the artistic merit, but I'm decidedly low brow on this issue, where I prefer games that are trying to be fun."

"Usually when a game is not fun, it means that the designers screwed up, or else you're not the target audience. It's rarer for a game to not be fun on purpose."

I think that was really thought provoking. For sure, a lot of the carpel tunnel, not fun aspects of this game is indeed me messing up. I think there are a lot of key lessons I should take to the next game I work on, here. But there was a little bit of an intention on my end to make the game tedious for the sake of tedium and monotony. I'm glad Ross articulated this pretty well, and he did a beautiful job of clarifying why games might or might not be art.

I'm not a fan of art discussions, but if the goal was to have the players go through what the main character goes through, I think you completely missed the mark. Like there's a lack of focus in immersive experience. First of all, being a delivery worker (or even a worker in general) is not a static environment where you just do tasks as they come. The transit between point A to point B isn't just a vacuum of nothingness going on. Hell, the last thing I'd imagine a delivery person would think about while loading stuff on and off their vehicle is whether they'll be molested.
Secondly, the tedium you seem to be proud of is disconnected. It never occurs to me that the main character is expressing annoyance at the tedium. It never occurs to e that she might be feeling tedium. It never evolves the point where the tedium feels appropriate for the game's content.

Basically there's a lot of gameplay decisions that don't serve the goal you seem to be going for. But for some reasons, your answers so far can be summed up as "yes, I don't intend to change anything" and "I'll make the next game work". It's kind of jarring seeing you talk about whether games that aren't fun might or might not be art when you don't seem to want to actually improve, let alone succeed. How am I supposed to believe you'll actually make effective changes to your next game when you're kind of half-assing this one?

 

[dwfdf]

can we expect more updates soon? i love this kinda games

 

[boobthief]

can we expect more updates soon? i love this kinda games

I think the development on this game is

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for now.

Developer has a similar (themes and difficulty) previous game, Darkmorrow Arena.

I enjoyed the grind (but I saveeditonline.com a lot.) I think the developer will be back soon with another.

 

[acac]

can we expect more updates soon? i love this kinda games

I think the development on this game is

You must be registered to see the links

for now.

Developer has a similar (themes and difficulty) previous game, Darkmorrow Arena.

I enjoyed the grind (but I saveeditonline.com a lot.) I think the developer will be back soon with another.

Thank you for the kind words! I recently started working on Delivery Pilot, again. I can't promise a release date for the next version, but I suspect it will be around the end of June. The new content will focus around the sleazy female officers. Cheers!

 

[glyndas]

This game is nice, but i think it needs some corruption mechanic. After countless times of groping, harassment and sex, main character should start enjoying this treatment or be more accustomed to it. If this would make the main game too easy, this mechanic could only apply for easy mode or maybe infinite mode only. If this is possible this mechanic would be really rewarding for players for all that clicking xD
Also more obligations or some global ones (tatooes or maybe some piercings, maybe some global clothes restrictions that only general can force to player) would enhance the game greatly.
Last very minor thing: maybe some obligations like stocking could be banned for character by player if he doesn't enjoy it.
Of course it's just suggestions and the game right now is still good.

 

[raska42]

Based on what acac posted

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on itch, it looks like this is back to being on hiatus. Probably worth giving acac a week or two to respond here before someone requests staff to add the tag though (the post's wording suggested the likelihood of a hiatus, rather then flat out confirming it).

 

[Michael1957]

I don't like the dates - in my POV they are a nuisance and don't bring me money or corruption. The only thing I see is a rise in relationship. Not sufficient for me, but necessary to get approval for next level and payrise.
If there is more benefit please tell me.
I don't see it vanishing. It says it would not forget a "no", but my feeling is not like that. It seems to be repeated often (or there are several versions of it). I would like a button in the game settings to remove the dates completely (or to keep them).

I just prefer corruption. If that is not an option, I would likw a rise in relationship AND payment rise for every date.

I don't know which option would be easier to program.

Nevertheless, I consider this one of the best games available on this site. GZ! (Beware: it's my POV and MY taste! Your rating may be different.)

 

[raska42]

I don't like the dates - in my POV they are a nuisance and don't bring me money or corruption. The only thing I see is a rise in relationship. Not sufficient for me, but necessary to get approval for next level and payrise.
If there is more benefit please tell me.
I don't see it vanishing. It says it would not forget a "no", but my feeling is not like that. It seems to be repeated often (or there are several versions of it). I would like a button in the game settings to remove the dates completely (or to keep them).

I just prefer corruption. If that is not an option, I would likw a rise in relationship AND payment rise for every date.

I don't know which option would be easier to program.

Nevertheless, I consider this one of the best games available on this site. GZ! (Beware: it's my POV and MY taste! Your rating may be different.)

Them being a waste of the PC's time is kinda the point, she's forced to accept doing them if she wants to advance that NPC. That being said, the loss of morale restoration/location leveling is -far- harsher than the penalties for the sleazy officers though (even when factoring in their higher morale cost per delivery).

That being said, they're -sort of- avoidable. IIRC only stern female officers require them (maybe any stern?), so they can be fully avoided by setting either of those to none when starting. Alternativly, setting them to the minimal setting will limit them to 0-2 per run, which is pretty minor, losing advancement options with that few isn't a big deal (although it's still annoying if they're high ranked).

 

[Michael1957]

...
That being said, they're -sort of- avoidable. IIRC only stern female officers require them (maybe any stern?), so they can be fully avoided by setting either of those to none when starting. Alternativly, setting them to the minimal setting will limit them to 0-2 per run, which is pretty minor, losing advancement options with that few isn't a big deal (although it's still annoying if they're high ranked).

Thanks for this information. Thus I'll avoid getting the stern officers more than necessary.

I've had 1 full run in the meantime. The moral losses in later game are quite strong when several harassments are combined.

 

[deadal]

Thank you for the kind words! I recently started working on Delivery Pilot, again. I can't promise a release date for the next version, but I suspect it will be around the end of June. The new content will focus around the sleazy female officers. Cheers!

Is the next version close to finish? or did you get stucked? did you plan on some cross scene between sleazy female officer and stern female officer?

 

[raska42]

I was watching one of my favorite Youtube channels, Ross's Game Dungeon, review a game that I had mixed feelings on but generally admired; Indigo Prophecy, or Fahrenheit.

Around 26:15, he states, "This does bring up an interesting point I've seen debated before though, because I imagine if you were to ask the director why he included this frustrating part, that I think the vast majority of people would not find fun, he might say something like, 'This is a way of expressing what actually someone with claustrophobia might go through, where they have to maintain constant focus to not be overwhelmed. It's not supposed to be fun.'"

"And that brings up the question, 'Should games be fun?' I've heard some people don't consider games art, because most are designed to be fun and entertaining, as opposed to an artist's full unbridled expression, where your enjoyment might not factor into that at all. I don't really have an opinion on the artistic merit, but I'm decidedly low brow on this issue, where I prefer games that are trying to be fun."

"Usually when a game is not fun, it means that the designers screwed up, or else you're not the target audience. It's rarer for a game to not be fun on purpose."

I think that was really thought provoking. For sure, a lot of the carpel tunnel, not fun aspects of this game is indeed me messing up. I think there are a lot of key lessons I should take to the next game I work on, here. But there was a little bit of an intention on my end to make the game tedious for the sake of tedium and monotony. I'm glad Ross articulated this pretty well, and he did a beautiful job of clarifying why games might or might not be art.

Honestly, this post of yours has bugged me for a bit. Makes sense in some ways, but ignores a couple key element.

1st: Game, not program. Games are played for enjoyment (either traditional fun or lewd gratification. Occasionally both, but those gems are hard to find). Artistry is fine, but remember the point of a game.

2nd: Your game is crowd funded. Taking a very 'artistic' route and making a game that people won't enjoy is an option I suppose, but the expression 'starving artist' comes to mind...

3rd: It's been done. Desert Bus did it better. So well in fact, that after the sega cd flopped (the intended platform) they couldn't even get anyone to publish it (only a few review copies existed until it showed up on an abandonedware site. It has had a revival, mostly due it it's fame as being one of the worst games ever made). Try it out, and decide for yourself if you really want to simulate tedium. Takes 8 hrs without breaks.

 

[stochastic]

Honestly, this post of yours has bugged me for a bit. Makes sense in some ways, but ignores a couple key element.

1st: Game, not program. Games are played for enjoyment (either traditional fun or lewd gratification. Occasionally both, but those gems are hard to find). Artistry is fine, but remember the point of a game.

2nd: Your game is crowd funded. Taking a very 'artistic' route and making a game that people won't enjoy is an option I suppose, but the expression 'starving artist' comes to mind...

3rd: It's been done. Desert Bus did it better. So well in fact, that after the sega cd flopped (the intended platform) they couldn't even get anyone to publish it (only a few review copies existed until it showed up on an abandonedware site. It has had a revival, mostly due it it's fame as being one of the worst games ever made). Try it out, and decide for yourself if you really want to simulate tedium. Takes 8 hrs without breaks.

Games/books/movies/music/etc do not have to be "fun". Atonement is a relentless downer, but that doesn't mean that there's anything inherently wrong with the book or movie adaptation; Spec Ops: The Line, is especially after a certain point, not very fun to play, but that isn't a knock against it, it's part of the point. The point of a game is whatever the creators want it to be.

I don't see where acac is soliciting funds from anyone, so I'm not clear on the crowd funding thing, but I think we're all very familiar with the oft-made argument that "I think X feature(s)/design would make more money and this is an inherently commercial product so you're obligated to make the game that I want and not whatever you're doing now". It's a bad argument, especially when the dev is making a something as a side project or a hobby and there are no other stakeholders involved.