HTML Female Agent [v1.20.1p] [Crushstation]

[asdfasdf12341234ACSACA]

My post was deleted, yet that didn't improve the game.

Proving the point of my then deleted post.

I won't argue against deleting those posts, they don't add that much to the thread.

But with that said, the metric for what counts as "off topic" (as that's the reason for deletion) is a bit skewed. Surely "off topic" is more supposed to cover situations where instead of talking about the game and the context surrounding it, people are talking about sports or politics or whatever.

 

[GodlessXVIII]

As with the deleted reviews, and my deleted post regarding said deleted reviews, what's off topic seems really one-sided. Some classy reporting going on

This thread, the Malice and the Machine one, any topic about Star Citizen, there's something magical each and every time I come to visit. Sunk losses is a hell of a drug.

 

[rbx4]

I'm fairly sure that there are more deleted posts than surviving posts in the thread. This and lateness seem to be the most memorable and currently fascinating aspects of the game.

Looking at other games, there are often posts from players who either need help or are reporting a bug, but that doesn't happen much here. This and the vast number of other contrasts with other games are what keep me interested. Plus, what other thread has such tragicomic conflict? If it was just another slowly developed game, and many of those exist, the conversation wouldn't be so fascinating to me. I'm not sure what else there is to say about the game that is strictly on-topic.

 

[MrZack]

I won't argue against deleting those posts, they don't add that much to the thread.

But with that said, the metric for what counts as "off topic" (as that's the reason for deletion) is a bit skewed. Surely "off topic" is more supposed to cover situations where instead of talking about the game and the context surrounding it, people are talking about sports or politics or whatever.

My deleted one was about how deleting reviews won't make the game better and that the developer should focus on the game itself instead of the critics, after all if dev made a good game he wouldn't need to worry about hiding bad reviews.

How is that "off topic"?

 

[Joe Steel]

You seem to be very much concerned about this.

I am not concerned at all. I was asking what your opaque post was about. Clearly, you either cannot or will not answer the question.

He reported posts that were certainly off-topic. Other off-topic posts remain, but I would like to remind everyone that moderators are unpaid as far as I know. Yet, can anything ever truly be off-topic when it is the topic of fascination for the most frequent viewers of this thread? Whoever is reporting, is asking people to work without pay, shameful!

If your boy is reporting posts that are off-topic and it bothers you, you should probably take that up with your boy. I neither report posts nor moan when a moderator deletes my posts. I've moderated discussion boards and know how thankless it is. I appreciate moderators even when they delete my posts or reviews.

You seem to care a lot. Maybe you know why? I don't know why you care, but others seemed to care about what Crush reports. I wanted to point out that Crush is not the only one who reports. I checked. The account that claims to be Crushstation has not been here since Thursday.

I don't care much at all, let alone "a lot." Every one of these exchanges between us happens because you vaguely attack one of my posts and it's off topic. Maybe you should consider that it is the contents of your posts that causes them to be deleted, not some nefarious action by your boy whose identity and actions you are completely ignorant of. Take responsibility for your own posts rather than trying to shift the blame for their deletion onto some imaginary foe.

Of course, this exchange is as off-topic as the deleted ones, so read this while you can!

 

[rbx4]

I am not concerned at all. I was asking what your opaque post was about. Clearly, you either cannot or will not answer the question.

If your boy is reporting posts that are off-topic and it bothers you, you should probably take that up with your boy. I neither report posts nor moan when a moderator deletes my posts. I've moderated discussion boards and know how thankless it is. I appreciate moderators even when they delete my posts or reviews.

I don't care much at all, let alone "a lot." Every one of these exchanges between us happens because you vaguely attack one of my posts and it's off topic. Maybe you should consider that it is the contents of your posts that causes them to be deleted, not some nefarious action by your boy whose identity and actions you are completely ignorant of. Take responsibility for your own posts rather than trying to shift the blame for their deletion onto some imaginary foe.

Of course, this exchange is as off-topic as the deleted ones, so read this while you can!

I did answer the question, but as we have established, you cannot understand what people post. You have been waiting for over 24 hours to try to turn my words against me however. I was wondering how long it take you to make a fantasy world where you could. After all, people have been doing this exact same thing on the Internet and elsewhere for years now. Other people have ruined this approach for you, and it is an old hat now, sadly. Everything that you say is fully interchangeable with all the other Internet arguments where people try the exact same thing that you just tried. I was wondering whether you had a plan for this, but I guess the point is go to on forever just repeating what other people tell you, all in situations where they do not actually apply.

Still look under the part where I wrote this: "But let's answer questions!" I made it easy for you. For future reference: If you are looking for answers to questions, look for the phrase "answer questions" and keep reading. I am happy to instruct you on such matters, and I hope that you can do better in the future.

I am of course fully responsible for my own posts. I like posting this, and I was amused when our boy did what was obviously going to happen sooner or later. You seem to be wishing for grief, but our boy generated amusement instead. May he spend even more time doing this, which can only generate additional amusement and can only make this topic more fascinating!

But I have a question! You seemed to be previously concerned with how I spend my time, as if I thought that I could convince Crush to do something differently. That is of course not what I am trying to do. How can this be more important than other things that you may have to do? If you have other things to do that are more fascinating than this, then it is sad that you are pulled away from them for your apparent duties here.

 

[TheDeviant]

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Hey guys! I had a tough but productive week's writing. It's getting there! I expect the next episode will be ready to play sometime this month.
I'm finding that this stage of the story is pushing me outside my comfort zone as a writer. I'm not that emotional in real life, so I find it hard to hard to write about girly things like feelings and relationships. (I'd much rather write about guns and missions and safehouses.)
It's just a silly NSFW game, so I shouldn't have to care too much about that kind of thing, right? But I've learned that sexy scenes aren't actually that hot unless you dig into the emotional undertow of the scene, and try to capture some of the ways that sex changes how people tacitly interact.
For example, while writing the previous episode, I'd expected it would be enough to just strip the heroine down to a thong and stick her behind a bar. Topless girls are sexy, right?
But, in the end, the scene only started sparking when we started exploring her psychology and emotions about the experience, and how they developed through the night. Turns out that "topless girl" isn't what makes that scenario sexy, the truth is a lot more complex than that. I had to really push myself to capture some of it.
This time, I'm grappling with something similar; even though the plot developments are fairly straightforward, I'm having some challenges landing the emotional tone. (Which needs to be right at this stage, or it's going to be very hard to write the next big change in the story.)
But I made good progress this week! And I think it's a good sign when things are difficult, anyway. Byron said adversity is the first path to truth. I'm hopeful that having to operate outside my comfort zone is improving the game's writing somehow. Maybe it's even improving me as a person?

Okay, I'm going to rest my emotion circuits for the evening, and get back into the fight tomorrow. I'll report on progress again next week. Have a greta Sunday everybody! I love you all!

 

[rbx4]

I always study Crush's posts, because I want to be successful like him too. In a perfect world I would be both productive and successful, but success should be able to increase what people do--and therefore success ought to lead to increased productivity. In contrast, one could say that high productivity ought to lead to success, but I must look elsewhere to study that possibility.

Studying this, it seems that there is emotion in his post. There is emphasis placed on points that should have impact. It is definitely relatable, and I wish there was something that could be done to help him overcome his struggles. The photo is nice. The grammar and spelling do not seem to be perfect, and therefore they are probably not necessities. Byron is quoted. Looks like Crush is in his comfort zone writing about guns, missions, and safe-houses, but he is also a good blog writer.

 

[herrzimm1]

OMG! Did Crush actually admit that it has taken like 3-4 format variations, multiple start-reboot processes, countless hours of writing/reviewing/editing and countless hours of "conversations" with co-workers to just NOW understand that there is some kind of "emotional" element to the writing process in general?

That is like key Writing 101, no f*** that, that is something that is taught in basic grade-level class. Characters have emotions, writers express those emotions through text. And yeah, sometimes it is difficult to explore or express those emotions in an effective and entertaining method, they are still nothing 'new' to the process. To make it even more amazing to me is that there are actual word-types that convey emotional issues. Words like adverbs and adjectives come to mind to expression emotional states. Shame, blushing, meekly, or other words, can convey massive amounts of emotional issues for a character. Especially characters who are outside of their normal comfort level.

God, I'm going out of my mind right now with the amount of frustration that I am feeling from the latest post from Crush. And I don't even consider myself a "hobby-level writer". This "concern over emotions of character" crap just sounds like a massive stonewall of "future delay protection" being added now that the key issue of getting to Bangkok has been addressed. Now it is issues with new avatar features, issues with writing (that should have been clearly overcome after x-number of years working on this project), format changes, etc.etc. It just seems like every time that we get some kind of advancement in the story-line regarding location, we get 5-6 different reason why things will someone be "justified" in slowing down the amount of actual content.

 

[Marlin Brandy]

reminder that the new rework was meant to speed up development. it'd be interesting to compare old FA's progress after its first year and how much further we're at with MFAGA

Edit:
There is an argument to be made that his current slow writing pace is the fault of none other than D4n0w4r

Spoiler: Evidence

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Case closed, Watson!

 

[D4n0w4r]

reminder that the new rework was meant to speed up development. it'd be interesting to compare old FA's progress after its first year and how much further we're at with MFAGA

Edit:
There is an argument to be made that his current slow writing pace is the fault of none other than D4n0w4r

Spoiler: Evidence

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Case closed, Watson!

The road to hell truly is paved by good intentions.

 

[WalkTheEdge]

reminder that the new rework was meant to speed up development. it'd be interesting to compare old FA's progress after its first year and how much further we're at with MFAGA

Edit:
There is an argument to be made that his current slow writing pace is the fault of none other than D4n0w4r

Spoiler: Evidence

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Case closed, Watson!

Honestly, I remember the first like 2-3 updates after the new rework being actually fairly quick. Started to slow down with the university stuff. 1.13 and 1.14 were released three months apart and if he actually manages to release 1.15 this month like he said it will be 2-2½ months so while the production speed isn't great by any means (especially for a game that doesn't require lots of big renders) it's not exactly awful either. I'd call the current pace mediocre.

 

[prodigy]

Imagine that his initial realese that he worked on it in his free time had more content than his 3 years of full time paid work.

 

[berny]

Honestly, I remember the first like 2-3 updates after the new rework being actually fairly quick. Started to slow down with the university stuff. 1.13 and 1.14 were released three months apart and if he actually manages to release 1.15 this month like he said it will be 2-2½ months so while the production speed isn't great by any means (especially for a game that doesn't require lots of big renders) it's not exactly awful either. I'd call the current pace mediocre.

The problem with the latest builds isn't necessarily the pace (although in my opinion mediocre is too positive for a very linear text game), but the content.
The current build lacks pretty much everything that peaked my interest in the first place.
You have no stats, no relations, no agenda, no choices and consequences, no way to roleplay, it's basically a kinetic novel with a completely passive MC. So either it stays this way, which would be a pretty big disappointment I guess not only for me but many others too, or we're heading towards another inevitable rewrite. And I'm willing to bet a lot of money the update times will explode once this actually turns into a game and not whatever it is right now. Just look at the latest dev post. If he is having that much trouble with a pretty "straightforward" sex scene, imagine what'll happen when he has to consider different routes and variables.
Just to be clear, I don't want the first version with its insane number of skills etc. back and I'm perfectly fine with a more linear approach, but the latest build just has nothing.

 

[asdfasdf12341234ACSACA]

The problem with the latest builds isn't necessarily the pace (although in my opinion mediocre is too positive for a very linear text game), but the content.
The current build lacks pretty much everything that peaked my interest in the first place.
You have no stats, no relations, no agenda, no choices and consequences, no way to roleplay, it's basically a kinetic novel with a completely passive MC. So either it stays this way, which would be a pretty big disappointment I guess not only for me but many others too, or we're heading towards another inevitable rewrite. And I'm willing to bet a lot of money the update times will explode once this actually turns into a game and not whatever it is right now. Just look at the latest dev post. If he is having that much trouble with a pretty "straightforward" sex scene, imagine what'll happen when he has to consider different routes and variables.
Just to be clear, I don't want the first version with its insane number of skills etc. back and I'm perfectly fine with a more linear approach, but the latest build just has nothing.

I think the original premise for the game has been forgotten already.

The original premise for the game (or at least, what I understood from it and the very first few releases) is supposed to be "You wake up, what do you want to do? Options: Go to work to earn money/explore the city/do whatever. Choose for this day, next day you'll also choose whatever you want to do"

The current game is more like "Here's a novel, enjoy it"

Like, I know it might sound silly, but if instead of the linear walls of text, there were 2 options: "Go to work"/"Don't go to work" and he added a "Bad enidng: you're broke and starved to death in Bangkok", it would be more of a game (the game that was pitched) than what it currently is.

 

[Joe Steel]

The game was never pitched as a sandbox. It was always going to be story-driven, with the decisions being about how to survive as a brothel whore while keeping body and mind intact, and at the same time being alluring/loose enough to attract the bad guy.

While the choices are not meaningful in the game yet, I frankly prefer that Crush just tell the main story now and add the decisions later. It's pretty clear to me that Crush doesn't deal well with uncertainty, so I will settle for a VN that makes progress even if it doesn't conform to the platonic ideal first pitched. Crush needs to earn to walk reliably before he tries to run. People for whom choices are all-important should probably unwatch this thread for the next two years or so.

 

[stochastic]

I think the original premise for the game has been forgotten already.

The original premise for the game (or at least, what I understood from it and the very first few releases) is supposed to be "You wake up, what do you want to do? Options: Go to work to earn money/explore the city/do whatever. Choose for this day, next day you'll also choose whatever you want to do"

The current game is more like "Here's a novel, enjoy it"

Like, I know it might sound silly, but if instead of the linear walls of text, there were 2 options: "Go to work"/"Don't go to work" and he added a "Bad enidng: you're broke and starved to death in Bangkok", it would be more of a game (the game that was pitched) than what it currently is.

So far as I know, there was never anything concrete about the main game loop or any game mechanics. It wasn't clear if there were going to be time slots you planned out on a daily or weekly basis like in Newlife, if there was going to be a clock system like in Life Choices, a stamina system like Friends of Mine, or something completely different. What kind of actions, decisions, or options the player would have were never made clear either.

A long time ago, I suggested on the discord that Crush focus on figuring that stuff out rather than proceed linearly. It's very easy to insert scenes and pages into an existing sequence in SugarCube, so once you know exactly what you're introducing, foreshadowing, setting up, etc, you can slip some intro scenes in there. I explained that the whole character creation and lifepath system would be more straightforward to write and build if he already knew what the actual game would involve, what stats ended up being important, what traits impacted which scenes later on, and so on. His fans on the discord weren't having it, and all immediately dumped on the suggestion that the game dev design a game as though it's a game, instead telling me--prophetically, I might add--that Crush's development process was more like writing a novel.

Shockingly, Crush has produced a novel with some pictures.

 

[asdfasdf12341234ACSACA]

The game was never pitched as a sandbox.

Are you sure about that? Check these messages by the one and only, I've put the relevant aprts in bold:

Thanks cd13. My goal is to make Bangkok an open world experience that supports content written by others (i.e. side quests written by fans or hired writers). So with the RPG system, I actively tried not to limit the skills to ones that I anticipate using myself.

I think your observation about the granularity of skills is correct and it's something I've struggled with. With firearms specifically, I've reduced it to 3 skills: Sidearm, Longarm and Sniper. There's an argument for reducing those to a single Shooting skill, but that felt a little too simple when I considered it.

In terms of combat in the story, action scenes are in fact a popular user request! One fan has already contributed a complex action scene for Operators who get deployed to Syria, so agents may get to put quite a few rounds through an M4.

Wow, lots to reply to! Thanks everybody for being interested in the game – I really appreciate it, and I take all the feedback seriously.

In response generally to those who want more content more quickly – hell yeah, I agree with you, I want to get to Bangkok ASAP too.

Version 1.5 will include a couple of new story scenes (a university scene, in which your agent can go to her graduation ceremony naked under her gown; and a new scene in the Scotland bunker, in which the agent models for the techies who are building up her fake social media profile). But it's mainly an upgrade of the avatar. The major improvements are:

• Rear view of the avatar
• Customisable facial features
• Customisable body shape
• Crisp, more detailed HD avatar graphics
• Downloadable "image pack" version allowing offline play
• Customisable tattoos, piercings, bikini lines
• New hairstyles and hair colours

I know everybody is keen to get to Bangkok, but there are still two systems I intend to overhaul before we get there:



Additionally: after 1.5 is released, I'd like to make 1.6 a kind of "mini update" before I address Random NPCs and the Sex Engine. When she's at university, the game hits your agent with 5 sexy scenarios called "Kink Vignettes", which are intended to let you build your character's sexual backstory. It pulls them at random, but I stopped once I'd written five, which means every player gets the same 5 scenarios:

• During a party game of spin the bottle, the bottle lands on another girl.
• A professor develops a flirtatious relationship with the PC.
• Two soldiers hit on the PC at a party.
• The PC can model nude for an art exhibition at university.
• A partner gets off on hurting the PC's boobs during sex.

Inspired by an earlier conversation here (thanks DinosaurUnion), I asked the fans to submit more scenes. I got loads of great storyboards back, including but not limited to:

• The PC has sex with her boyfriend in front of his "sleeping" roommate.
• The PC has sex with a guy she met in a bar and watches herself in a mirror.
• A geek girl PC is propositioned for sex by her favourite author at a book signing.
• The PC gets a booty call text from one guy while she's in bed with another.
• While clothes shopping, the PC is hit on by a handsome, wealthy older guy.
• The PC can pity fuck a classmate who is dying of cancer.
• One of the PC's friends asks her to take part in a threesome for her boyfriend's birthday.
• A geek girl PC's boyfriend asks her to dress up as Lara Croft during sex.
• The PC develops an online porn habit based on one of her Kinks.
• The PC learns that a Japanese exchange student is a budding shibari photographer, and can model for him in bondage.
• Elite or Upper Middle Class PC gets in a hot tub with her friends at a ski resort.
• Cheerleader PC gets hazed by the cheer captain.
• North American or foreign Elite social class PC goes to Burning Man festival and can go nude/topless/body painted.
• The PC's normally timid boyfriend asks if he can handcuff her during sex.
• The PC goes to a toga party at a local student night. She can choose how short to make her toga, and whether she wears underwear or "goes Greek" for authenticity.
• The PC meets and can be seduced by a sexy girl at her first Pride parade.
• A geek girl PC video gaming against a room full of men can debuff their skill rolls by "accidentally" showing some skin during the game.
• The PC can go naked for a PETA demonstration.

After 1.5, I'd really like to polish up these (and other) storyboards and incorporate them into the game. This would (a) add a bunch of new sexy scenes (b) make each playthrough different during the university section and (c) demonstrate my vision for the future of the game: an open world experience, that has a carefully written main quest but which also supports content written by others (i.e. side quests written by fans or hired writers).

So, my vision for the next steps are:

1. Release 1.5
2. 1.6: player-submitted Kink Vignettes
3. 1.7: random NPCs upgrade
4. 1.8: Sex Engine upgrade
5. 1.9: Bangkok

It is possible to to skip (2). I don't want to do that, but I'll put it out to a Patreon vote after the 1.5 release and obey the results.

Yes, absolutely. We've created some early code for an import wizard and will implement it in a future version.

Cool, and yeah that's the plan! Hit me up on Discord if you'd like to talk ideas for content.

 

[Banger_George]

Great and unique game! thank you, Crushstation for job you are making.
Need to say that new missions are very appreciated))
if someone someday will ask my opinion, my erply will be about including more of sex scenes than dressing options, make ups and so on))) the attention to details is truly epic)

 

[Joe Steel]

Are you sure about that? Check these messages by the one and only, I've put the relevant aprts in bold:

Yes, I am sure about that. The messages you quoted say nothing about it being a sandbox game. On the contrary, the game was always pitched as a game about the female protagonist going to Bangkok to infiltrate a brother as part of an anti-terrorist operation. Thus the title, "Female Agent."