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

[Nymphonomicon]

"Some dialogue dead ends and placeholder text need to be fixed"

6 months and there is still placeholder/dead end text. I expect that if the update was 1/2 months.

"He's doing a text-based game in Twine, those updates should be fired off EVERY month!"
It's amusing to see how divorced from reality people can be here.

 

[ffive]

Looks like he's almost done stalling. After close to 6 months this one better be good

Don't worry, he'll play test it, find it not hot enough and take it back for another 6-month rewrite.

 

[CassieBare]

"He's doing a text-based game in Twine, those updates should be fired off EVERY month!"
It's amusing to see how divorced from reality people can be here.

There are definitely games out there (Twine and otherwise) that hit updates with new content every month or two. *cough* *cough*

So. It is possible and realistic.

 

[asdfasdf12341234ACSACA]

Japanese devs seem to be able to put out finished/semi finished games based on RPG Maker (primarily) and Ren'Py (occasionally) every few months with art (usually character stills), animations (pixel animations or 3D based) and roughly the same amount of text as this game (yes, the whole game), as well as the same rehashed combat system that everyone does.

But somehow almost all of these Twine western games are stuck in development limbo (to say it lightly, because the scamming accusations are getting repetitive). I guess japanese devs have special courses to make lewd games and they have a framework and teams with years of experience...

...or maybe, I dunno, the fact that they only get money once they release it and it's sold is a good incentive.

 

[robin312]

"He's doing a text-based game in Twine, those updates should be fired off EVERY month!"
It's amusing to see how divorced from reality people can be here.

it's not a game, but a kinetic (that means without routes/choices) novel, basically a simple book divided into slides. and it requires in general the same amount of coding on this stage of development as an ordinary book.

so, yes. I expect that a guy who writes the same book for 7 years will be more productive. Or if he isn't capable of doing so, at least hire some professional writer to help him

 

[Ripe]

"He's doing a text-based game in Twine, those updates should be fired off EVERY month!"
It's amusing to see how divorced from reality people can be here.

I'm curious what about that statement makes someone "divorced from reality"...

Because this is a text-based kinetic novel (not a game... it would need branching paths and decisions that matter and make difference for that) with almost no graphic ouside the paper doll... putting out an update EVERY month should be the norm! And that is only because of that paper doll... without it for the amount of story each new update contain TWO WEEKS should be more then enough.

You do realize that this game is by now SEVEN YEARS old and we're still in very early stages of story... with close to a third of current content being written more then six years ago! Even worse, that in those seven years several other developers whose games you can find here that also work on their games alone (which Crush is not!) released multiple full games with fully rendered images and some of them even include animations?

So yeah, I really fail to see what is so amusing about expecting Crush to release and update every month and why would that be "divorced from reality"...

 

[ffive]

putting out an update EVERY month should be the norm!

I wouldn't be this harsh because writing even linear, regular novel can take time (and even the most basic VN has room for scripting errors and such which have to be potentially tested for, spotted and fixed) But yes, it is relatively easy kind of game to develop, one that can be produced at decent pace.

But then, that's a theory. In practice, if you have a look at how similarly amateur devs work on their purely text-based Choicescript games (and there's quite a few of them out there) you'll also see plenty of WIPs which can take multiple months between updates and sometimes more, and it still can take them 4-5 years to complete such game, if they even complete one at all.

 

[TheDeviant]

Say goodbye to any new content updates (after the upcoming one) for at least the next 12 months...

You must be registered to see the links

Hi guys! We’re prepping the next episode for release, and it’ll be with you shortly. This report is about what happens next.

Story planning
The whole point of Female Agent was always just to make the game I wanted to play. While I’m very excited about future episodes, the truth is I feel like the pacing and story beats have been off recently. I think there’s too much repetition and not enough action.
That’s my fault, and I think the problem is too much focus on writing and not enough on overall story planning. I’ve spent some time this week just thinking through the details of exactly what key story beats are needed next and what order to place them in. I think this extra work will help get the next episodes back on target. (Special thanks go to contributor XG, who very kindly spent a lot of time talking this through with me on calls this week.)

Lifepath?
Separately, Victoria and I have been talking about whether now is the right time to restore the Lifepath (a long character creation minigame where you set your heroine’s backstory and unique skills – play a demo version

You must be registered to see the links

). We’re tempted to do it next, because that’ll allow us to add in some cool new features that will improve the next few episodes.
(Being 100% honest – I also think it might be good for me as a writer to have a little break from the Bangkok story chain before going back and completing the heroine’s transition from barmaid to bargirl. I think I can make a better final product that way.)

What do you think? Lifepath next, or later? Let me know your thoughts, here or on Discord. ❤

 

[Senor Smut]

Say goodbye to any new content updates (after the upcoming one) for at least the next 12 months...

You must be registered to see the links

Hi guys! We’re prepping the next episode for release, and it’ll be with you shortly. This report is about what happens next.

Story planning
The whole point of Female Agent was always just to make the game I wanted to play. While I’m very excited about future episodes, the truth is I feel like the pacing and story beats have been off recently. I think there’s too much repetition and not enough action.
That’s my fault, and I think the problem is too much focus on writing and not enough on overall story planning. I’ve spent some time this week just thinking through the details of exactly what key story beats are needed next and what order to place them in. I think this extra work will help get the next episodes back on target. (Special thanks go to contributor XG, who very kindly spent a lot of time talking this through with me on calls this week.)

Lifepath?
Separately, Victoria and I have been talking about whether now is the right time to restore the Lifepath (a long character creation minigame where you set your heroine’s backstory and unique skills – play a demo version

You must be registered to see the links

). We’re tempted to do it next, because that’ll allow us to add in some cool new features that will improve the next few episodes.
(Being 100% honest – I also think it might be good for me as a writer to have a little break from the Bangkok story chain before going back and completing the heroine’s transition from barmaid to bargirl. I think I can make a better final product that way.)

What do you think? Lifepath next, or later? Let me know your thoughts, here or on Discord. ❤

And so it ends, not with a bang but an, "I think I'll do Lifepaths next."

 

[okokok]

Guy can't manage a game when it's nearly entirely linear. Thinks the answer is to add a shitton of complexity

 

[_Zebra_]

Guy can't manage a game when it's nearly entirely linear. Thinks the answer is to add a shitton of complexity View attachment 3589817

I think the correct way of reading this announcement is: "Guys, I have no idea what to do with the story and actually thinking, planning things ahead and working on it is really hard. I need more than one hour of work, each week, in order to push the story forward. That is too much! I think the best approach is to rewrite the game (4th time is the charm). This way I can push the same content again, with minimal changes and do that at a constant pace for the next 3 to 4 years. After that Kate will be back in Bangkok where you will see some cool new features."

But Crush, you've added new features before, but you keep forgetting about them 4 months later, when the new update is out.

"I hear you! But this time will be different "

 

[TheDeviant]

Exactly. He could not make the complex life path work - so he reworked it and slimmed it down a bunch. Then he scrapped the life path to go forward while adding as little choice as possible. The few variables he introduced weren't even used in any of the next updates. It is very clear he cannot design choices and variables and make something out of them.
He always promised his Patreons he would add the lifepath back - but don't be surprised if it takes a while...

 

[allenjohn]

My favorite part of Female Agent's development, being a game about being an agent in Bangkok, was the 6 years where you weren't actually an agent and weren't in Bangkok. I'm glad we're finally returning to our roots, here's to another 6 years of this story spinning its tires in the mud.

 

[Ragnar]

Say goodbye to any new content updates (after the upcoming one) for at least the next 12 months...

You must be registered to see the links

Hi guys! We’re prepping the next episode for release, and it’ll be with you shortly. This report is about what happens next.

Story planning
The whole point of Female Agent was always just to make the game I wanted to play. While I’m very excited about future episodes, the truth is I feel like the pacing and story beats have been off recently. I think there’s too much repetition and not enough action.
That’s my fault, and I think the problem is too much focus on writing and not enough on overall story planning. I’ve spent some time this week just thinking through the details of exactly what key story beats are needed next and what order to place them in. I think this extra work will help get the next episodes back on target. (Special thanks go to contributor XG, who very kindly spent a lot of time talking this through with me on calls this week.)

Lifepath?
Separately, Victoria and I have been talking about whether now is the right time to restore the Lifepath (a long character creation minigame where you set your heroine’s backstory and unique skills – play a demo version

You must be registered to see the links

). We’re tempted to do it next, because that’ll allow us to add in some cool new features that will improve the next few episodes.
(Being 100% honest – I also think it might be good for me as a writer to have a little break from the Bangkok story chain before going back and completing the heroine’s transition from barmaid to bargirl. I think I can make a better final product that way.)

What do you think? Lifepath next, or later? Let me know your thoughts, here or on Discord. ❤

So he played CassieBare game and now he wants to go back to make his own

 

[ffive]

So he played CassieBare game and now he wants to go back to make his own

I... actually it wouldn't really surprise me if this was very much the case. Well, at least in part, because it sounds that as far as the main plot goes it's literally that "I have no idea what i'm doing" dog meme, unfortunate as it is.

 

[okokok]

So he played CassieBare game and now he wants to go back to make his own

Gone full circle on that one. Wonder if he's willing to admit some of the things Cassie recognised on day 1, like that you can't do it all yourself

 

[robin312]

Wonder if he's willing to admit some of the things Cassie recognised on day 1, like that you can't do it all yourself

if only his income dropped from 4k -> 1k

 

[MrAnarchy]

As someone who loves the Lifepath, there was a time where I would’ve jumped for joy at this news.
That was 2 years ago. Now, I just don’t have it in me to care anymore.

 

[Harebariossahan]

As someone who loves the Lifepath, there was a time where I would’ve jumped for joy at this news.
That was 2 years ago. Now, I just don’t have it in me to care anymore.

The thing is he actually has all of the lifepath content written up until the heroine gets recruited by the agency. The old lifepath does not have Bangkok, but it does have the parts where she graduates and is screened by some intelligence folks for a job interview. For a competent developer, it should be pretty doable to recycle much of that content.

I said competent developer. We have Crush.

 

[Mr_Ainz]

10$ by next year this project gets restarted again