HTML Escape the Succubus Castle [Developer Thread]

[tendoism]

Taken from your simple and ordinary life, You've been caught in an strange scenario.
The Demon Queen has taken you to her bizarre magic castle where she intends to keep you as a sex pet for the rest of your days.
Armed with only your Might, Charm, Wits and the clothes on your back you must venture forth into the unknown to find your freedom.
There are many traps, monsters and secrets in this unholy castle.
Can you Escape from the Succubus Castle or will you succumb to your Dark Mistress?
​

"Escape from the Succubus Castle" is my first project in Twine/Harlowe and my first foray into Games development.
Intended as a sprawling labyrinth filled with many sexy adversaries who will treat you like the sex pet you are.

The Game is currently in its formative stages but will include:

• A descriptive Battle Fuck System! (Framed from a thoroughly malesub POV)​
• A cast of unique bosses based on a variety of different monster types​
• Optional Bisexual and Futa content​
• Escape Segments for when you are defeated by major enemies​
• A complex mega-dungeon filled with secrets that will allow you to progress​

Major Inspirations for this project include: "Monster Girl Dreams" by Threshold, "Slime Girl Caverns" by Elizzyviolet, and "Degrees of Ludity" by Vrelnir

Work is currently underway to make the effective "Demo" for the Game, which will include the content for the first major area of the game, the VIP Prison "the Birdcage"

I look forward to any comments, questions and suggestions.

[Preemptive FAQ]

Q. Why are you using Twine Harlowe instead of Sugarcube, ren'py, etc etc?
A. Simple answer is that Harlowe is the one I understand. I realize that Sugarcube has a lot more functionality but I found the approach to it a bit intimidating. I'm basically a forum lurker who wanted to make something of his own and I have no prior coding experience. Plus with a good grasp on Harlowe's functionality it can be made to do great things in spite of its shortcomings.

Q. Will there be images/animations?
A. The Short immediate answer is No. The long answer is "...nooo?" I intend this game to be a primarily text-based experience, and for what I lack in years of coding experience I double lack in my ability to create visual smut and I lack any funding to commission such things. I'm currently doing this as a hobby. If things change after the Demo is released then we will see, but I wouldn't count on it.

Q. Are you going to include "xxx" fetish?
A. I'm aiming for a large buffet of perversions but there are some you can safely not expect. No focus on footplay. I'm not against it, but it's not my bag, I'll leave the generation of that content to the people who actually see the joy in it. What I will not be including is Loli/Shota underage characters, or seemingly underage characters. Lets keep it above board. I'm not into that stuff and I don't want to encourage that sort of thing. All characters are depicted as of the age of consent (What is the age of consent for a Demon? Not sure. But she's the Demon equivalent of 18) Beyond those things I'm fairly open to exploring different ideas. Actual characters will be a mix of Succubi/Incubi and Monsters (slimes, goblins, Harpies, Lamias, you know the drill) and the occasional Human. I write from a Bisexual male perspective but I understand not all my fellows are interested in the sultry Demon Femboy as I may be, so Male enemies can be disabed at game-start, as can Futanari characters. The primary fetish is of course Femdom and Malesub action. If you dont want to get pushed down by a Demon Mommy, then this will be the wrong game.

Q. When will the game be out?
A. When I finish it. This is intended as something of a large, sprawling game. We are in the early stages. The only timetable I can offer is "in the future". The main things I'm fiddling with as of this first post is finalizing the mechanics of the combat system. Once that is done I can start work on the first area in earnest, which will comprise the "Demo" when that releases. When will that release? Sooner but still no set timeframe at this time.

 

[tendoism]

Update!

Q. Where have you been?
A. Life happens. Also I've been working on overhauling the "Combat System"

Essentially, when I first posted this dev thread I was more-or-less done with a functional but somewhat uninspired Combat system which seemed usable enough but I found it had scaling issues and was overall pretty limited. Ultimately I decided I wanted to change my approach to combat and have been experimenting with a new approach which leans more into Harlowe's strengths and away from its weaknesses. In essence I wanted to remove the RPG mechanics and in their place have a less traditional battle system.

The current goal is to make the battle system into one of management of select variables on the succubus. Finding a balance between the Succubi's anger and lust while trying to convince them to leave you alone. Mechanically it is at an in-between point between Undertale's "ACT" system and Fallout New Vegas' dialogue system. The idea being that you want to please the Succubus while avoiding getting her too excited or too pissed off with certain items found in the dungeon and a few remaining stats giving you contact sensitive options in your approach.

For Example:
If you encounter The Slime Girl and you have a food item in your inventory you can select an option to give her food which gives a big increase to her Happiness. Or if you encounter the Whip Succubus and you are wearing Armor, she starts out with higher anger because she can't whip you as easily. Trying to use Might-based options on the Minotaur girl will almost always fail unless your Might stat is REALLY high. etc.

Now the bugbear of this decision is finding a way with Harlowe to do this in a way that is easy to organize and still functions out of a main "Battle" menu. I have considered just using individual nodes for option and have each battle structured like a typical flowchart which would suit Harlowe the most but causes complications mainly in that it greatly increases the number of nodes in my game which will probably already have a lot of nodes since Im planning a lot of enemy encounters and a large dungeon to move through.

All that said, I'm now returning to work on this project The new combat system is my main priority and once it is functional I intend to finish the first area of the Castle and populate it with several unique encounters. Once completed I will publish the first portion as a demo while I start on the main meat of the game.

For anyone interested in this project, thank you for your patience. Making this game is a hobby so the ETA is in the far future, but once the trickier mechanical systems are in place Dev progress should speed up.

 

[Feyschek]

Taken from your simple and ordinary life, You've been caught in an strange scenario.
The Demon Queen has taken you to her bizarre magic castle where she intends to keep you as a sex pet for the rest of your days.
Armed with only your Might, Charm, Wits and the clothes on your back you must venture forth into the unknown to find your freedom.
There are many traps, monsters and secrets in this unholy castle.
Can you Escape from the Succubus Castle or will you succumb to your Dark Mistress?
​

"Escape from the Succubus Castle" is my first project in Twine/Harlowe and my first foray into Games development.
Intended as a sprawling labyrinth filled with many sexy adversaries who will treat you like the sex pet you are.

The Game is currently in its formative stages but will include:

• A descriptive Battle Fuck System! (Framed from a thoroughly malesub POV)​
• A cast of unique bosses based on a variety of different monster types​
• Optional Bisexual and Futa content​
• Escape Segments for when you are defeated by major enemies​
• A complex mega-dungeon filled with secrets that will allow you to progress​

Major Inspirations for this project include: "Monster Girl Dreams" by Threshold, "Slime Girl Caverns" by Elizzyviolet, and "Degrees of Ludity" by Vrelnir

Work is currently underway to make the effective "Demo" for the Game, which will include the content for the first major area of the game, the VIP Prison "the Birdcage"

I look forward to any comments, questions and suggestions.

[Preemptive FAQ]

Q. Why are you using Twine Harlowe instead of Sugarcube, ren'py, etc etc?
A. Simple answer is that Harlowe is the one I understand. I realize that Sugarcube has a lot more functionality but I found the approach to it a bit intimidating. I'm basically a forum lurker who wanted to make something of his own and I have no prior coding experience. Plus with a good grasp on Harlowe's functionality it can be made to do great things in spite of its shortcomings.

Q. Will there be images/animations?
A. The Short immediate answer is No. The long answer is "...nooo?" I intend this game to be a primarily text-based experience, and for what I lack in years of coding experience I double lack in my ability to create visual smut and I lack any funding to commission such things. I'm currently doing this as a hobby. If things change after the Demo is released then we will see, but I wouldn't count on it.

Q. Are you going to include "xxx" fetish?
A. I'm aiming for a large buffet of perversions but there are some you can safely not expect. No focus on footplay. I'm not against it, but it's not my bag, I'll leave the generation of that content to the people who actually see the joy in it. What I will not be including is Loli/Shota underage characters, or seemingly underage characters. Lets keep it above board. I'm not into that stuff and I don't want to encourage that sort of thing. All characters are depicted as of the age of consent (What is the age of consent for a Demon? Not sure. But she's the Demon equivalent of 18) Beyond those things I'm fairly open to exploring different ideas. Actual characters will be a mix of Succubi/Incubi and Monsters (slimes, goblins, Harpies, Lamias, you know the drill) and the occasional Human. I write from a Bisexual male perspective but I understand not all my fellows are interested in the sultry Demon Femboy as I may be, so Male enemies can be disabed at game-start, as can Futanari characters. The primary fetish is of course Femdom and Malesub action. If you dont want to get pushed down by a Demon Mommy, then this will be the wrong game.

Q. When will the game be out?
A. When I finish it. This is intended as something of a large, sprawling game. We are in the early stages. The only timetable I can offer is "in the future". The main things I'm fiddling with as of this first post is finalizing the mechanics of the combat system. Once that is done I can start work on the first area in earnest, which will comprise the "Demo" when that releases. When will that release? Sooner but still no set timeframe at this time.

After reading your cap, I have a couple of questions about your approach to the case.

Choosing a game engine, why did you choose this engine? Given your task, an RPG maker would be suitable for you. Why him? Yes, because it is easier to work with it and the task you set it performs easily out of the box has basic functionality.

The question about animation and scenes is easily solved by the Koikatsu engine. You can easily learn how to create simple scenes, and with the help of a plugin you can already create videos for a scene in the engine itself.

Remember the main time is the most expensive resource for a person, so they need to be properly disposed of.

 

[tendoism]

After reading your cap, I have a couple of questions about your approach to the case.

Choosing a game engine, why did you choose this engine? Given your task, an RPG maker would be suitable for you. Why him? Yes, because it is easier to work with it and the task you set it performs easily out of the box has basic functionality.

The question about animation and scenes is easily solved by the Koikatsu engine. You can easily learn how to create simple scenes, and with the help of a plugin you can already create videos for a scene in the engine itself.

Remember the main time is the most expensive resource for a person, so they need to be properly disposed of.

I think the most honest answer at this stage to the main question is brute stubbornness. But to break it down at least for my goals, I started the project with wanting to explicitly make a Text-Based adventure game. I take a lot of inspiration from games like Corruption of Champions and Degrees of Lewdity which are almost entirely text based. I've lurked these forums for a little while so things like Koikatsu and RPG Maker obviously came to mind, but I decided at least for my first game I would start with what I know and then grow outwards. Part of why I pitched my original ideas for the "combat" system was because I acknowledged that I didn't set out to make an rpg, it just seemed like a convenient (at the time) way of resolving gameplay mechanics. In truth I think I like what I'm doing now more. Maybe what I'm doing wont necessarily be preferred by my target demographic, but this is a hobby project so that is a secondary concern.

Another concern is in fact my own time. I work full time hours and I have a social life so working on this game comes when I have a few hours to devote to it. Fiddling around with Koikatsu while probably an interesting creative challenge in its own right is ultimately a distraction from the project and the original goal. I'm willing to accept my own glacial approach to the project but adding on the visual element would just eat up more time.

Another thing that keeps me from doing RPG maker or fiddling with Koikatsu is that as a consumer of games made in my preferred fetish genre I'm well aware that it is very easy to do those very poorly. Poor visuals, boring gameplay, awkward looking cgs and the like. Being a one man team means that I'm more likely to fail in a lot of ways if I broaden my horizon. Personally with HTML text based games it is a lot easier to buy in because your brain does most of the work so the appeal of the scenario isn't dragged down by the technical lack of savvy by the creator.

 

[Feyschek]

I think the most honest answer at this stage to the main question is brute stubbornness. But to break it down at least for my goals, I started the project with wanting to explicitly make a Text-Based adventure game. I take a lot of inspiration from games like Corruption of Champions and Degrees of Lewdity which are almost entirely text based. I've lurked these forums for a little while so things like Koikatsu and RPG Maker obviously came to mind, but I decided at least for my first game I would start with what I know and then grow outwards. Part of why I pitched my original ideas for the "combat" system was because I acknowledged that I didn't set out to make an rpg, it just seemed like a convenient (at the time) way of resolving gameplay mechanics. In truth I think I like what I'm doing now more. Maybe what I'm doing wont necessarily be preferred by my target demographic, but this is a hobby project so that is a secondary concern.

Another concern is in fact my own time. I work full time hours and I have a social life so working on this game comes when I have a few hours to devote to it. Fiddling around with Koikatsu while probably an interesting creative challenge in its own right is ultimately a distraction from the project and the original goal. I'm willing to accept my own glacial approach to the project but adding on the visual element would just eat up more time.

Another thing that keeps me from doing RPG maker or fiddling with Koikatsu is that as a consumer of games made in my preferred fetish genre I'm well aware that it is very easy to do those very poorly. Poor visuals, boring gameplay, awkward looking cgs and the like. Being a one man team means that I'm more likely to fail in a lot of ways if I broaden my horizon. Personally with HTML text based games it is a lot easier to buy in because your brain does most of the work so the appeal of the scenario isn't dragged down by the technical lack of savvy by the creator.

Doing what you want and not trying to follow the general trend is worthy of respect.