"Simplifying the mechanics. All the mechanics are there for a reason...but there's no point in having them if we don't have time to make use of them. It's time to trim some fat, so we can get story content out quicker."
HTML Female Agent [v1.20.1p] [Crushstation]
I kind of disagree with that and it's a mistake many game devs do (porn or otherwise). "Illusion of choice" is a very strong tool that most good RPGs use. From giving the exact same reply no matter what dialog option you choose, to simply not taking into account a minor detail you used during character creation.
Easy example to see what I mean: Chest size
Option 1 is giving 5 (or more) different chest sizes and shapes, and then having to write every single variation for every time "your tits" appears on screen (be it dynamically or hand crafted text). So yes, you would have to write "he grabs your humongous milkers/small tits/moderate chest" and so on and so forth...
Option 2 is giving the exact same options, and then just not mentioning it but leaving the player to fill in those details. This is something that is already done, involuntarily. When you pick your hair color, you don't (usually) get it mentioned all the time. When the scene says "He grabs your hair with one hand and your tits with the other" you, the player, fill in the details with the character you created.
Really they can do both. Just because you can reference a choice, doesn't mean the dev has to. They can go with default text/paths, and when it seems appropriate, add in text/paths to respond to specific character traits or player choices.
This is one of the things about Crush's plan that I just fundamentally don't get. He's removed a bunch of character customization stuff that, if I understand the long-term plan, will eventually go back in.
If you want to focus on getting the core story/game loop out, and not, for example, spending time with alternate versions of text for each country of origin, then just..... don't write alternate text until later. Just ignore the customization options until you're ready to use them.
That's my point, that "Option 2" is actually already implemented, whether they're aware of it or not.
Also, I guess I'm nitpicking, but, about the part in his post where he says "the branching choices and rolls that transform a VN into a game" is...well, I dont know what VNs he's heard of, but most visual novels have branching choices. From "you can either go to the park or go shopping this afternoon" to "if you follow this guy you get a completely different story".
You can easily unlock patreon features on older public versions, there are some guides in this thread. But if it still seems complex, here's my quickly edited version (only tested at start, no full playthrough). You can use it with the 1.6.3 assets in first page:
View attachment Female-Agent-163-IP.7z
- Mar 14, 2018
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- Nov 15, 2017
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I suspect the experiment will conclude that fans would have preferred the gamed didn't go through two reboots, and just got to Bangkok already. Will Crush actually accept that as feedback even if it is universal? probably not.
The game development certainly has gone round in circles (and reversed), and just to put that in perspective read the 31 Dec 2018 year review:
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At the time the objective for 2019 was getting too Bangkok but it needed (results in brackets)
(i) Better Avatars (Built in 2019, and then binned in 2020 as too complex)
(ii) Improved Sex Engine (Built one in 2018 but it was no good, then built a new version for Dubai in 2020 which was too complex)
(iii) Random NPC generator needed for Bangkok customers (Still struggling with)
Sadly every year always has this or similar as reflection "I’ve worked hard on the game this year, but the progress has been much slower than expected" (from above link). Now I believe Crush puts in a solid amount of hours into the game but just constantly over complicates the game and gets stuck.
2019 saw more complexity with SURPS and a 'background' to the character turned into the Lifepath and at the year end review..... "I've been thinking seriously about how to increase the development speed". 2019 review here:
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2020 started with the new Sex Engine (
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) and ended with MFAGA and the sex engine scene not completed. The sex engine ballooned into a monster and Crush was out by 1000% on his time estimation (see the number of pomos in the Jan post) after thinking seriously about development speed.I'm still a fan of the game though, but the development path is torturous.
So... the rework was supposed to avoid the previous issues, which included getting sidetracked with overdone character creation and the messiness caused by having skipped ahead to make the task force training, right?
So now crush is putting a new (ballooning) character creator on hold to skip ahead again? I'm kinda hoping I'm missing something here. I know some people have trouble learning from their mistakes, but to literally make the exact same ones?
So now crush is putting a new (ballooning) character creator on hold to skip ahead again? I'm kinda hoping I'm missing something here. I know some people have trouble learning from their mistakes, but to literally make the exact same ones?
- May 21, 2020
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- May 21, 2020
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I adored the character creation menu, and how you start the game. But, yeah...the progress. I kind of wish I could do one of those reddit reminders so I can check in every six months on it. I'd almost become a Patron of this thread at times! I support many games, but this is definitely one I can't even though I like the concept a lot.
- Apr 6, 2019
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So let me ask this straight, his main content of getting to Bangkok, he didn't even got there ever?