Others Abandoned Esoteric Erotica [v0.149 Alpha] [EsoDev]

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Well-Known Member
Aug 11, 2017
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I love the writing! Currently there doesn't seem to be much to do so I will keep my eye out on this one.

Here is a bug I found: "atashi.nipple-adj nipple in a squeeze" when masturbating and selecting breasts.
 

Stompai

Member
Oct 7, 2017
461
1,800
While I like the idea and will hope for the best, this is definitely throwing a few red flags
1) as Stompai mentioned, 1/2 year since the last content update, although the patreon is still showing activity
2) according to the patreon intro, the game was started in june of 2017, so it just passed it's 3 year anniversary. 3 years for a character creator kinda feels a bit like Female Agent. Granted, in both cases they're well done character creators, but there still isn't a game (even less so in this case, as FA's char creation is kinda a minigame of sorts). They did write thier own engine for the game as well, which would presumably take some time (depending on depth and how varied from other open sourced engines it is), but if you take issue #1 into account there's definitely dev speed concerns.
3) That's... a lot of descriptors, and there doesn't seen to be anything preventing conflicting ones from being chosen. Kinda makes me wonder if they matter, or if they're simply a pool that's randomly selected from. Definitely missing some potential if they're used solely as a descriptor pool, although it would definitely make scene production quicker.
4) Setting - supposedly modern, but a couple of the (few) events that actually are in the game seem to use dated dialog (fairly sure they'd be considered dated even for Queen's English). Not sure what's up with that, half expecting to see that there's going to be a rework due to the setting's being shifted back 100 years. Granted, this would be the ideal time to do something like that (before there's much content), but I tend to be skeptical of reworks. Too many dev's find them addictive.


Looks like most of the work he did for the past half year was focused on the engine and technicals.
I looked quickly at the 15~ or so past update posts and saw some pretty interesting things.

Such as the classic paper doll dress up system, which seems to be more complex than usual system you find in other html or text based game where you just "change" clothes.
EXn5Yp.jpg
And other such details about what he worked on.

But so far no definite answer about when a new build with new content will be available.
 

ShamanLab

[Industry News] Weird behavior (c)
Game Developer
Dec 16, 2019
1,889
1,906
Title from his patreon page:

Esoteric update #98

What the heck he updating 98 times when the story even didn't begin?? Zero characters development work noticed. Zero functionality. Another patreon milker.
 

Granola2975

Newbie
Feb 3, 2018
17
21
Title from his patreon page:

Esoteric update #98

What the heck he updating 98 times when the story even didn't begin?? Zero characters development work noticed. Zero functionality. Another patreon milker.
It's crossposted from the blog, so I'd say not quite as egregious as that.
 

kvier

Member
Apr 30, 2018
285
214
That installer is pretty suspicious. You should make it easier to install otherwise people may think there are viruses in there
The installer claims all it does does is insert one registry key, depending on whether you're using x86 or x64 Windows:
You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
That said, I haven't run it, and inserted the registry key manually using regedit instead.
 

chipsiup

Active Member
Aug 12, 2016
515
1,005
Title from his patreon page:

Esoteric update #98

What the heck he updating 98 times when the story even didn't begin?? Zero characters development work noticed. Zero functionality. Another patreon milker.
First, EsoDev is female. Secondly, did you miss the part where this is a custom engine? That takes a lot of coding and time. To use an analogy, if games are like cake, other developers who code using Renpy or RPGMaker start by going to the store and buying bags of flour, while EsoDev is starting by planting the wheat.
 

ShamanLab

[Industry News] Weird behavior (c)
Game Developer
Dec 16, 2019
1,889
1,906
First, EsoDev is female. Secondly, did you miss the part where this is a custom engine? That takes a lot of coding and time. To use an analogy, if games are like cake, other developers who code using Renpy or RPGMaker start by going to the store and buying bags of flour, while EsoDev is starting by planting the wheat.
Ok, it's look like we starting to talking professionally here. :)

If you are good writer it take you one or coupe of days to write really decent RPG quest. I'm not talking specifically about porn. I'm talking about any good RPG quest in whatever you want setting.

So why don't invest couple of days for making content for the game? And finally having some kind of game instead of homebrew text engine tech demo? :)
 
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Stompai

Member
Oct 7, 2017
461
1,800
Ok, it's look like we starting to talking professionally here. :)

If you are good writer it take you one or coupe of days to write really decent RPG quest. I'm not talking specifically about porn. I'm talking about any good RPG quest in whatever you want setting.

So why don't invest couple of days for making content for the game? And finally having some kind of game instead of homebrew text engine tech demo? :)
I'd personnaly rather wait for the dev to work for as long as she want on creating her own engine for a hundred weeks with regular updates on her progress showing that she is really working hard, and has true programation knowledge which is pretty important in a game industry imo.

Rather than just have a couple "decent" content updates, resulting in a "decent" game made with the same old engines and the same porn scene with juste a couple changes like protagonist name and daz model that we can already see thousands of time either on this forum or elsewhere on the internet.

TL,DR : I prefer to wait and see what a good programmer can do for an adult game rather than getting another "decent" writer or decent daz "artist" because I've already seen hundreds of them among the thousands available.
 

DuniX

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2016
1,178
778
You need both.

Without actual content all of that is "theoretical" no matter how sophisticated the demo.
It's only when you put actual content in can you see if the game is realized or if it fails miserably.

I am kinda a mechanics and theoretical guy myself and I like what I have been reading on the blog of the developer.
But there is nothing here yet.
 
Last edited:

EsoDev

Newbie
Mar 4, 2020
63
62
Dev here. I realize I'm wasting my time posting here, but I decided to at least clear a few things up. So...

1) My Patreon:
I'm not selling anything, I'm just asking for support on a personal project that I do in my off-time. The money goes back into the project in the form of various tools and services I use to develop the game. And if I manage to get a bit more money I've already made arrangements with some people who'll be getting a cut in return for help. Essentially, I'm not making any money on this, it's just so the game development costs me only my time and not my time and money. If you think it's financially worth my time to run a project of this complexity for 100$ a month, allow me to laugh in your face.

2) Updates:
I have no idea where you people got the impression that my last update was "half a year ago", my last update was 4 months ago and included a complete minigame you can play from the bonus menu, which I made with my "team" for a jam that never really took off. It's missing some animation work, but at the moment I am not interested in revisiting it. The writing is in its complete state, though.

My updates come when they are ready, and I am not interested in prematurely implementing things I'll need to scrap later when I'm further along with my mechanics. Mechanics is also what I've been focusing on since the last update that was released, as well as clearing up tech debt on callously implemented modules. What I'm doing isn't difficult to track since I do weekly progress reports on anything I do and if you are in my Discord, you get those in real-time, along with previews for various things.

3) Content:
In terms of sex, I'm only interested in writing consensual, sex-positive content. If you are looking for anything else, please go look for it elsewhere. The game will never contain rape, abuse, humiliation or anything of that sort happening to the player character. Though there's some rougher stuff on the in-game Internet. However, a lot of that has a more commentary-like nature instead of being reflective of the player character's experiences.

In terms of content in general, I'm treating preparing for that very seriously. Most of what you see in the game right now are experiments to test out various technical features I developed, and make sure that when the time comes to start up the story-lines, I'll be equipped with everything I need. This very much relates to my comment from before about paying off tech debt, since some of the early modules I wrote did not work well enough and had to be improved.


In general, I don't think this is a game for you people, and from reading the comments here, I don't believe many of you have any clear idea what I'm doing. But... I've seen a lot of traffic pouring in from this place, and I thought I might as well straighten up some of the points being made here.

PS.: Thanks for noticing the atashi.nipple-adj error, I've corrected the typo.
 

EsoDev

Newbie
Mar 4, 2020
63
62
What?

I wrote most of the interactive sex content that's currently available in the game (got some decent help on the masturbation module) all of which are consensual and sex-positive, and about 20 out of the 30 pieces of traditional erotica that are accessible from the in-game Internet, which either fall under that classification or are comedy.
 
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EsoDev

Newbie
Mar 4, 2020
63
62
The game gives you instructions on how to find all the currently available content. Considering that people here have been making reference to that content, it would seem that it's not that "people here" haven't found it, but you.
 

Beggarman

Member
Jan 14, 2018
385
693
To be honest, I don't have a great deal to say about the game, mainly because it's so novel that I'm not even sure what to say. Though I realise now that I haven't actually commented here, and wanted to pipe up and say that I really like what I've seen so far, although the game has gone onto my "Save for a good day because this feels special" pile with relatively little time played. With regards to your questions (which I'll post here because my itch.io is sanitised and I don't really want to make another account just for a post):

Would you like to see lore posts on my blog or elsewhere?
Yep. Having them available in the game is nice but posting them up outside means they can function as a drip-feed of interesting content, and it's good to have something to read without having to boot up the whole game. That seems like a small thing, but it's a weirdly large mental hurdle.

How did you find this game? (Some website you frequent? Word of mouth?)
This is probably obvious, but from here.

What games are you interested in? (Both erotic and not.)
Erotica-wise: Pretty much anything I consider "good" with a ~female protagonist, depending on mood. Prefer a text focus to a visual one if I can't get a synthesis of both. Especially like some degree of branching narrative, so it feels like my choices have an effect. Although I do tend towards the rougher side of things (which I know you have excluded and is fair), I think describing it as intense topics is more accurate - things where the thoughts and feelings are more important than the physical acts necessarily are - and consensual BDSM is definitely in there. Not sure if you're hunting for specifics, or just generalities. Most I can think of are some degree of non-con though (either a scene, or somewhat implied), and I'm not sure you'd particularly want those suggestions.

Generally: Turn-based/pausable strategy is probably my most played in recent memory, followed by RPG's. Any of the Paradox Grand Strategy games, or Disco Elysium (also on the "save for a good day" pile), for the most recent things I remember playing. Can't say I strongly dislike anything in particular.

Have you had any issues with the language the game is using? (If yes, what's the context? Is English your not-first language?)
[Native English] Can't say I've had a problem. Procedural text is something I'm very wary of, but what I've seen seems to work so far.

Do you have any suggestions? (I can't promise I'll implement anything you suggest, but I want to hear them regardless.)
Again, kinda hard to suggest much with what feels like so much uncharted territory ahead, but one thing regarding writing: You mentioned tossing out multiple passages and rewrites. I'm no master author, but I think that's totally acceptable. Three levels of rewrite seems about the same for what I do to get something I find acceptable, if not my best work, although I seem to think that about everything I do.
 
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