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

[DatBoit]

During yesterday evening and this morning, I played through the version that was on this site. Here are my thoughts:

I love the entire premise of this game, and I think the idea is fantastic. After playing several adult games, I have come to the conclusion that corruption, prostitution, degrading, whatever you want to call it, is my favourite aspect, along with bodily changes in the form of tattoos, piercings, plastic surgery etcetera. The developer mentioned that this will be a part of the game, which is really exciting. Apart from that, I think the setting is super intriguing, and allows for truly interesting corruption and some of the hottest scenes out there!

The mechanics of the game work well, and I like the customization that you can do with different traits, kinks, back-story and appearance. Everything is in general well-written, so I have nothing to remark on that (maybe, as some people said, reduce the amount of text for the sex scenes as they get a little repetitive). Overall, this game has truly sparked my interest and has been exciting to check out!

However, there is one thing I unfortunely can't get past, and that is that this game is HTML (text based). No matter how much I like, and want to like, everything, I just think much of the potential gets lost without strong visual elements. I do want to stress that this is only my personal opinion, and that I have no right to critique HTML game for being an HTML when I knew perfectly well what that implied. It's just a bit unfortunate.

Sadly, that is something I won't be able to get over, but I encourage all HTML fans out there to check this game out - I'm sure you have a lot to look forward to. Probably, I will also keep this game on my radar for all of the positive things I mentioned - that's how good and exciting I think they are - but I'm afraid it will never reach the heights in my book that it could have if it was a VN.

 

[Crushstation]

During yesterday evening and this morning, I played through the version that was on this site. Here are my thoughts...

Thanks for the detailed feedback @DatBoit, I really appreciate it. We're planning to improve the sex scenes in update 1.7.

 

[Crushstation]

Well, I'm kind of a transformation and humiliation freak, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt. I've found I'm usually not the target audience for most games.

I think I was mostly playing through everything so far just grooming the protagonist for the mission, molding her into someone who could cope with adapting to a terrible situation.

If not for how the story pulled you along so well, I would have probably started skipping past things up until Bangkok, where it feels like you'd be getting past the point of no return. Feeling like you're on your own, with no backup or anyone to save you, so you have to start using desperate coping mechanisms to survive. Just focusing on the moment and trust you'll be allright in the end. What will she be willing to do for the sake of the mission? That's kind of what I was looking forward to...

Thanks @Crossett, this is really helpful feedback! We're planning two systems in Bangkok, which I think you'll be interested in: Suspicion and Stress.

• Suspicion is a hidden meter that measures how suspicious the organised criminals who run the red light district (and the specific venue) are of the agent. If it gets too high, it will trigger progressively worse conditions, starting with "the PC's hostel room gets ransacked for evidence" and culminating in "the Red Wa attempt to abduct and disappear her" (which will be a playable Bad End in which the PC will either survive and escape, or go MIA – either way, the game is over). Suspicion can be reduced by doing things an undercover agent wouldn't do: the idea is to give the agent an in-world reason to consider things like piercings, tattoos, boob jobs, drug use, getting knocked up, dumbing down her behaviour...
  
  
• Stress is a visible meter that increases as the agent does stressful things (like work an eight hour shift in a Bangkok brothel). If it gets too high the PC loses some control over her actions (e.g. an agent who doesn't Like Rough Sex can tolerate it if her Stress is low, but she might have an emotional breakdown if her Stress is high). Prolonged high Stress can cause her to crack under the pressure of the assignment, resulting in her being pulled out of the field (bad end). Stress can be managed with rest, but it's much easier to manage it with alcohol & other drugs. This is a mechanic to encourage the "desperate coping mechanisms" vibe you're suggesting.

 

[Crushstation]

Completely agree with @ray3dave. A Harvard graduate with 130 IQ turning into a bimbo is so very unlikely that it completely destroys immersion and an intelligence agency would never employ a stupid bimbo as an agent.

Agreed, although I think the hypno path might be a way to play around a little with the bimbo fetish.

Okay, here's one... We have a baddie who's protected by a group of female bodyguards commanded by a dominatrix who handpicks and trains these guards. She expects them to be pretty, strong, agile and most importantly, obedient to death. Anyone who fails her tests meets a gruesome death, gets eaten by sharks or something worse, like, ahem, in a usual Bond movie. Anyways, our goal is to sneak into these group of guards in order to gain intel about this guy. Edit: Naturally, these guards are pretty scantily clad due to no other reason than the hot weather!

Thanks for the idea!

 

[Crushstation]

...I would want to avoid any body changes and prefer a story line in which she can take risks or not, achieving a goal on different ways, maybe failing some steps inbetween without getting a bad end or failing a task, with a focus on how far she is going to take her role in order to get somewhere...

Yeah, this is an important point; I do want the game to support a variety of different play styles. For a player who makes good choices, it should be possible for his agent to complete the mission successfully and come back a heroine (albeit a heroine with a few skeletons in her closet).

 

[Crushstation]

I wish it had a different kinda use. Honestly, I was hoping to use it (or not be able to use it) on a random encounter with a psycho.

We actually do have a draft of a random encounter like that, but it's not in the game yet.

It's a minor issue, but in my opinion, asking for the player input about "where she wants it" every time she's had sex is a bit anticlimactic, if not a bit annoying.

Yeah, agreed, this is something we want to address in the Sex Engine upgrade (1.7).

Were you hoping for things like FF/FFM with Bettis, having real sex with Connor on the stage in front of the teenage crowd, having group sex during the porn shoot, getting gangraped in the men's toilets inside Oceana? I sure was.

At least one of these things is also planned for the 1.7 upgrade, to show off the more capable Sex Engine.

 

[Crushstation]

Actually I agree with what Ripe has suggested, because after a certain point the sex scenes will take too long to navigate through and eventually you'll just want them to be either a success or a fail. You should have a few base scenes and add in some extra events and then as the game goes on you can write more base scenes in for variation.

I think the only sex scenes that should have choices on what to do should be some of the important encounters where you have to seduce 'x' character in a certain amount of choices or something. Cause honestly even the night club pick ups at the moment are just long and tedious to navigate through.

You could generate npcs with x amount of confidence (based off their looks and what not) and roll that based against your seduction/persuasion/attractiveness or whatever, then roll off sex skill to see if you satisfy them or not or whatever.

Anyways looking forward to Bangkok content (hopefully sometime soon)

Actually, @euthanasia., we do have something kind of along these lines planned for the Sex Engine upgrade. More details on exactly how later, but we're planning a kind of progression so that (for example) the level of narrative detail changes the more Kate repeats a certain type of sex scene. The first time Kate lies on her back on a mattress in a back room in Bangkok and opens her legs for some tourist she just met will be a big scene that we'll want to play out in detail – but after a while that'll just be a normal part of her job, and the sex scenes will be paced differently to reflect her changing attitudes.

 

[Crushstation]

And that is where the problem lie... Avatar upgrade is almost completely pointless (so we'll have a backside... big deal)

Avatar rear view allows us to do things like spank marks, cum shots on her back or ass, and visible body mods like tramp stamps and butt tattoos. We're also adding new features in this update that include selectable facial features, varied bikini lines, and messed up hair/makeup.

and NPC generator while sounding important is really not that important. Because what will you use them for? Generating customers at brothel is a given but what else? Because if brothel is the only thing that will use them then don't bother... because they don't matter.

I think the relationship between Kate's SURPS stats and psych profile, combined with an NPC's SURPS stats and psych profile, can produce interesting emergent results. If we get this right, then sex scene #28 could be memorable because she had to spend 20 minutes getting him hard, and sex scene #29 could be memorable because she loved it, and sex scene #30 could be memorable because the jackass started slapping her around and one of the bouncers came in and broke it up, and sex scene #31...

I know you'd like to have brothel scenes interesting and varied, but unless you plan to write several hundred (if not thousand) variations of the same scene you will most likely fail because grind can never be interesting.

That is exactly what I plan. We're building this with an extensible framework, which means new descriptions can be added over time – so the 1.7 Sex Engine might be bare bones, but it will get deeper throughout the whole life cycle of the project.

So of the three things you plan to upgrade before going to Bangkok, the only one that really matter is Sex Engine... and you plan to do that last.

Sex Engine has to come after Random NPC Generator because it will be based on NPC traits and decisions. Avatar Upgrade is getting done first, because the game's patrons told me to work in that order.

 

[DinosaurUnion]

First off, honest congrats on the explosion of Patrons. This is a genuinely cool idea but I'm afraid I can't be one of them anymore.

This kinky text adventure has lost it's fucking mind. It sounds like you want to account for every day of their life in the mission and every second of their life before.

When someone overhauls / rebuilds their engine it's the biggest red flag indie games have going and it's happening again. It's going to happen more. It has to happen more. Apparently.

I know I sound full of shit totally detached on the other side of this project, but your comments have me put off, and I literally don't know what this is any more.

It was a tongue in cheek spy romp with a silly scenario where you could cater to a couple (or all) of fetishes, some random NPCs as seen in the 3 Scottish hookups (generic brothel patrons yeah?) - or fewer, but fleshed out scripted events with branching paths (story moments right?).

Based on the checkboxes at the creation screen.

Everything is being changed, but staying the same. Bangkok will be different, but similar to LIONESS. SURPS, Psyche Profiles, if your fucking Dad was in 9/11. Jesus Christ there was 5 checkboxes and how big you wanted your tits at the beginning, there still is! You don't "discover" new fetishes in the college encounters, you just see greyed options from not picking other boxes!

Your roadmap is spending the entirety of 2019 spinning your wheels for content disposable by design.


I've deleted and rewritten this a few times trying to be as balanced as possible but I'm really struggling to see the light here when I just can't see the point.

It's fine. It works. I played through these encounters as a few different agents and all it ever came down to was what boxes I ticked an hour ago - and that's just fine as that's delivering on exactly what I expected.

 

[zombiejoh]

does anyone happen to have the supporter version of 1.4.6?

 

[Ripe]

Avatar rear view allows us to do things like spank marks, cum shots on her back or ass, and visible body mods like tramp stamps and butt tattoos. We're also adding new features in this update that include selectable facial features, varied bikini lines, and messed up hair/makeup.

All of which is not really important... and most of the body mods really make no sense (just like hypno content make no sense) in this game. She's intelligence operative working under cover... having any kind of tattoo makes is that much harder disappear if things go wrong since those would make her easier to identify. Hair and even eye color could be easily changed (wig and lenses), but covering tattoos take time... time she might not have.

The agent is inteligent young woman (her IQ is 130+) who potentially graduated from elite college... someone like that turning into a stupid bimbo is completely unbelievable and will end up ruining your game.

I think the relationship between Kate's SURPS stats and psych profile, combined with an NPC's SURPS stats and psych profile, can produce interesting emergent results. If we get this right, then sex scene #28 could be memorable because she had to spend 20 minutes getting him hard, and sex scene #29 could be memorable because she loved it, and sex scene #30 could be memorable because the jackass started slapping her around and one of the bouncers came in and broke it up, and sex scene #31...

That assume players actually take time to read them... but most of them wont. Because those scenes involve throw away, one time characters that don't advance the plot in any way. In essence, those scenes will be grind and nobody likes grind. We all do our very best to avoid it as much as possible. And we'll have to go through a lot of them for each game day (8 hour shift at brothel should have at least 4-6, 12 hour shift should have 8-10). There is a reason why every other game similar to what you plan to do does not try to script random NPC scenes. I'll be honest and admit that I might read them during first playtrough (and even then maybe just for first few game days), but on each subsequent playtrough... hell, no. I'll skip over them as fast as I could to get at parts that advance plot and that matter (because none of those scenes will matter in the end).

I said it before and I'll say it again. My advise is to not script those scenes, to simply use stats and run them against each other to see if agent succeeded or not in satisfying her customer. And then use those scripted scenes on unique customers tied to side missions or something like that. You said it yourself, "If we get this right"... problem is, I don't think you can get it right because of what those scenes represent, which is grind.

That is exactly what I plan. We're building this with an extensible framework, which means new descriptions can be added over time – so the 1.7 Sex Engine might be bare bones, but it will get deeper throughout the whole life cycle of the project.

Then I wish you best of luck and hope you don't end up disappointed...

 

[Crossett]

Thanks @Crossett, this is really helpful feedback! We're planning two systems in Bangkok, which I think you'll be interested in: Suspicion and Stress.

Shucks. Didn't expect I was that much on point.

"Suspicion" sounds like a perfect way to give the player an excuse to indulge in specific humiliating kinks they like, while avoiding others.

If you're going as dark as I think you are... Hmm. Could first have the mission seem easy, like the target is within reach after the first week, but then have something else happen that triggers his paranoia, and another girl ends up executed in front of her, while our agent and the other girls have to prove immediately why they're not after his head as well - picking from a list of incredibly degrading and horrible acts. A choice that has to be taken immediately in a state of mental shock. And then the target still goes into hiding for an unknown time before you even get another chance at all. Could be solid motivation to show how bad it would be to even try using your outside contacts for anything, if you become convinced someone else might die from a mistake.

In any case, good luck with the game. Try to not get over your head with trying to implement too much at once. It seems easy to get overambitious with a project like this.

I said it before and I'll say it again. My advise is to not script those scenes, to simply use stats and run them against each other to see if agent succeeded or not in satisfying her customer. And then use those scripted scenes on unique customers tied to side missions or something like that. You said it yourself, "If we get this right"... problem is, I don't think you can get it right because of what those scenes represent, which is grind.

True, takes a lot to have repetitive scenes keep your attention. Works for starters, but once things become a habit, it might be easier to just describe events out of the norm, along with your general emotional and mental state. Violence, interactions with other girls, customers asking for especially weird things, repeat customers picking you as their favourite and trying to emotionally get under your skin... Lots of ways to try to break out of a repetitive grind. Unless a player wants to see everything happen, if the system in the background keeps track of it anyhow. But still, keeping the system running in the background might just build more immersion. If it works.

 

[Tanzie]

@Crushstation Here's a genuine advice, try to wrap this project up as quickly as possible. You can always extend it later on. *Extensible frameworks* which you consider building before the actual game, either never get completed or get barely completed but you'll have no energy or enthusiasm left to complete the actual game and the people who've been waiting for it will lose their interest in the game. I'm a modder myself and I've seen that happen so many times before.

 

[DatBoit]

All of which is not really important... and most of the body mods really make no sense (just like hypno content make no sense) in this game. She's intelligence operative working under cover... having any kind of tattoo makes is that much harder disappear if things go wrong since those would make her easier to identify. Hair and even eye color could be easily changed (wig and lenses), but covering tattoos take time... time she might not have.

The agent is inteligent young woman (her IQ is 130+) who potentially graduated from elite college... someone like that turning into a stupid bimbo is completely unbelievable and will end up ruining your game.

This is an excellent point. Even though I am a huge fan of any type of body modification in games, when I thought about how to incorporate it into Female Agent in a way that makes sense, I struggled. Suspicion, in the way that Crushstation described it, is the closet we get to a somewhat believable reason for it.

As you say, the problem with tattoos and piercings is that it makes her easier to identify and in some instances raise even more suspicion. If you're going off the fact that she's posing as a broke, western backpacker, you wouldn't expect them to go full bimbo or get multiple tattoos. A small tattoo here and there is believable, but any type of larger or more extreme ones, aren't. While that might ensure that she won't be suspected to be an agent, it could imply that she's active in other types of networks or is not just your average person.

Also, which you mentioned as well, the agent is described as an incredibly smart individual. It feels like such a person would go very far to try an avoid any type of permanent changes to her life and always be focused on the mission.

Either way, if body modification is always optional, and you can play without it, there isn't much of a problem. But for the ones who want to see it (me), there has to be logical reasons for it, and those are not easy to come up with.

 

[Crushstation]

Also, which you mentioned as well, the agent is described as an incredibly smart individual. It feels like such a person would go very far to try an avoid any type of permanent changes to her life and always be focused on the mission.

Yeah, this will be a supported playstyle.

Either way, if body modification is always optional, and you can play without it, there isn't much of a problem. But for the ones who want to see it (me), there has to be logical reasons for it, and those are not easy to come up with.

Suspicion is the best mechanism for this that we've come up with yet, but share any ideas or improvements you come up with!

 

[Crushstation]

@Crushstation Here's a genuine advice, try to wrap this project up as quickly as possible. You can always extend it later on. *Extensible frameworks* which you consider building before the actual game, either never get completed or get barely completed but you'll have no energy or enthusiasm left to complete the actual game and the people who've been waiting for it will lose their interest in the game. I'm a modder myself and I've seen that happen so many times before.

Thanks Tanzie, this is actually what I'm doing – for example, the avatar upgrade will take less time now than if we implement it *after* arriving in Bangkok, which is why we're working in this order.

The extensible framework tech is already built and in the game, we use it in the random encounters in the first Scotland nightclub, and in the university Kink Vignettes. Lots of the systems that have been built so far (like the RPG rules, and the working game clock) are the tools we'll use to build Bangkok.

 

[Crushstation]

All of which is not really important...

Thanks for the detailed feedback, Ripe.

 

[DatBoit]

Yeah, this will be a supported playstyle.



Suspicion is the best mechanism for this that we've come up with yet, but share any ideas or improvements you come up with!

Good, it's great that you're taking in all the feedback and realize the balance must be there in order for this to be as successful as possible.

I also think the suspicion mechanism is the best idea thus far. I've thought a bit about how you can incorporate body modification in a logical way, but I'm yet to come up with something good/better. I'll of course write a comment if I figure something out.

 

[SuperMaxo]

We're planning two systems in Bangkok, [...] Suspicion and Stress.

• Stress is a visible meter that increases as the agent does stressful things (like work an eight hour shift in a Bangkok brothel). If it gets too high the PC loses some control over her actions (e.g. an agent who doesn't Like Rough Sex can tolerate it if her Stress is low, but she might have an emotional breakdown if her Stress is high). Prolonged high Stress can cause her to crack under the pressure of the assignment, resulting in her being pulled out of the field (bad end). Stress can be managed with rest, but it's much easier to manage it with alcohol & other drugs. This is a mechanic to encourage the "desperate coping mechanisms" vibe you're suggesting.

I wonder if Stress has to be fully visible. What if Stress was partly visible (player doesn't know exact value, only that it's low, medium or higher-but-still-manageable, or other such broad categories), until such time when it starts to be less manageable; and then, when it reaches that (yet-to-be-determined) threshold, agent has a "hypno flashback", similar to what she experiences in Scotland when she tries to wear pants instead of a short skirt on her laid-back Saturday. Such a "hypno flashback" would be the signal that stress is too high for comfort, and agent would become aware of it (reflected by a Stress value having become fully visible to the player) and would start to want/need to lower it.

But I'm no programmer, and no programmer's son, so I don't know if that is even feasible. And my idea works well in case the agent actually underwent hypnosis, but I don't know how it would even integrate with a play-style that refused hypnosis. Oh well...

 

[SuperMaxo]

Or maybe the way to use those "hypno flashbacks" lies elsewhere. What if their appearance was more random (I'm sure some kind of hidden skill roll could be devised), but they actually helped lower Stress when they appeared (meaning an agent who chose not to undergo hypnosis would have one less means of lowering stress than an agent who was hypnotized).