While I'm glad Crush's working on the next episode, did he even really finish the last one? The Big Mac update was packed full of placeholder text and non-functional choices.
HTML Female Agent [v1.20.1p] [Crushstation]
- Aug 6, 2017
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Fascinating looking at his graphtreon. I wasn't on this site when he started but that was a prodigious uptick at the start. In a year and a half going from very little to an amount that may well have eclipsed his salary at the time. I wonder if there was a moment where he thought 'I'm going to drag this out for as long as possible.' Or that was just a habit that he fell into? I imagine the latter but who knows. The first person we deceive is often ourselves.
Noticeable decline over the last year which is honestly a little cheering to see -- I can't imagine that for the average patron this last reboot has been particularly appealing. Hair colours? Moabs? Honestly. It's laughable. Especially when compared to making progress with the story.
I have to say though, if you think this game is ever going to be finished, you are on one. It will fizzle out and Crush will pack it up and move on. To new game, perhaps? And a new name, maybe?
Noticeable decline over the last year which is honestly a little cheering to see -- I can't imagine that for the average patron this last reboot has been particularly appealing. Hair colours? Moabs? Honestly. It's laughable. Especially when compared to making progress with the story.
I have to say though, if you think this game is ever going to be finished, you are on one. It will fizzle out and Crush will pack it up and move on. To new game, perhaps? And a new name, maybe?
- Aug 11, 2020
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I've gone back and forth on how he reached his current state. The conclusion I've come to is that he was a fan of H-games who wanted to make his own, which is something that has at least crossed the mind of all of us. He made plans that were vastly more than he could handle, as many novice devs do, because he was so enthusiastic about the project and because he simply didn't understand what would be required. He made progress for a while, but then he hit a wall when he realized that he had bitten off vastly more than he could ever chew or swallow.
That was the first big hiatus, the one where most people following the game thought it had been abandoned like so many before it. At that point he likely gave strong consideration to walking away, but his Patreon following was large and held steady and seemed to be willing to accept whatever he gave them, whenever he gave it to them. It was then that he realized that he could just keep milking this thing for years and make a living, and that any progress he made actually brought him closer to needing to find a different way to make money. That was when he consciously decided to become a scammer.
See, I don’t think he became a scammer until relatively recently. Even after the 2nd or 3rd restarts, there seemed to be some sort of plan or goal.
I think it was toward the middle of last year, when he realized he could take long breaks and release incredibly short and unfinished “chapters”…..and the fans kept paying and PRAISING him. When his discord turned into a mini cult and any opposition was chased out in when I think he saw that he could get away with the bare minimum. As long as he made a token Patreon post and had “Queen Victoria” to run interference for him.
And honestly, I believe he really doesn’t see himself as a scammer. I think he still believes he’s creating “the Great American Visual Novel”.
Nah, he's just making a game engine rather than a game. He should basically have a patreon that states he's innovating the way html porn games are made. And then open source everything and make a library for creators to contribute.
It's silly to see people posting here dreaming up dreams of crush as intentionally scamming. You can't ever prove ignorance is intentional. Unless he writes it himself or admits to it. So I don't really see the point with the speculation. Seems like stroking your own cock when people do this. Like look how smart i am I can deduce this guy is a scammer and this is how it happened. Stroke your cock in private please. I guess you can't because crush is taking forever to make a game that's playable. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I am just not nice.
What innovation? I've made non-h games in twine and nothing about FA seems innovative? The presentation is above-average, the UI very clean. But variables come and go with zero interactivity or consequence. There's not a lot(any?) of complex styling, etc. You said we were speculating: why are you 'speculating' that he is just making a game engine not a game? Slightly odd contradiction, no?
Also, no one's dreaming anything. There's the fact of the matter -- the endless delays, procrastination, the absence of work at the end of it -- and what must be a reason for this. It could be intentional or it could be self-deception (I'm frazzled or this restart will finally fix things, whatever). I lean towards the latter because if there's one thing humans are good at doing it's rationalisation particularly if that means we don't have to introspect or self-accuse. But the point is, the truth has to lie somewhere on this axis.
And what is a game forum for if not for speculating about that game? The reason I like this page is that many people on here are sane, they can see through Crush's obvious spin. It's remarkable that more can't. I also like the game because Crush is a talented writer and I'd love to see it continue. In fact, if Crush just wrote smut with limited choices and could produce to a reasonable timeframe I'd be supporting him on patreon right now (as I have done in the past). But he can't or won't. So I'll come here to speculate about the reasons why.
The whole part of the life paths are to make the background mean something. Will it ever come to fruition? Who knows.
- Aug 11, 2020
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The game started out with lifepaths and he stripped them out. There was no noticeable difference in the game. I can't imagine adding them back in would matter at all.
- Aug 11, 2020
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This isn't a court of law, pally. I don't need to prove a g-damned thing. And you've got a lot of damned gall to come to a porn game site and tell people to stop stroking their cocks. Quick, tell us to stop pirating games too.
There is no cock stroking, unless you're posting on these forums for the last 11 years calling crush a scammer. What did you achieve? if not to stroke your cock. Go play another game and stroke your cock for real. There is no cock stroking here because crush is taking 1 million years to finish a game, and I'm tired of watching this thread seeing the same scammer posts that don't actually get to the bottom of anything or improve anything, it's all speculation. You are all nerds, if you're not calling people scammers you're hyping about some fictional characters relationships in games. Blow up a doll and name it and do that at home, why do I need to see stupid posts all the time?
The forums are kind of dumb. Just spam half the time about characters: look at AWAM forum, people writing fan fiction half the time. The other half is complaining about update times, or calling devs scammers. May be true, may not be true, either way If it was up to me I'd just offer the pirated game and shut the forums down. It has to be the dumbest thing, you might not understand that I've watched threads on here for 7 years. And it's just a repetitive cycle of idiocy or circle jerking hate over something.
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A lot of Crush's support stems from him just being a good salesman. He writes his updates with enthusiasm and it helps his players visualize the final product. People want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Then again, go buy a new car and tell me the salesman doesn't also have all those qualities. Most his supporters probably have enough money to where $5 a month is a drop in the bucket so aren't all that concerned about it. Is that scamming? Not quite. Scamming is those emails you receive daily telling you congratulations on your purchase of your new phone and to call number xxx-xxxx if there is a problem so they can steal your credit card # or bank account #.
- Aug 11, 2020
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Well Sharpie, you can always block me. Or STFU. I don't give a fuck which.
- Aug 11, 2020
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Good morning guys! We’re making steady progress on the next episode.
Since last week's report, 48 new hairstyles and 5 skin tones have been added to the character creator and are now working in the game. This will enable you to produce much more customisable and unique heroines, and I’m really looking forward to seeing some screenshots of your ‘Kates’!
Clicking the [Random Agent] button in the character creator now really feels like it’s producing a different doll each time, not just subtle variations of the same one. It’s all part of our aim to improve the game by giving you more control, choices and personalisation options and making it feel less on rails than before.
Character stats and skills
10
9
NEW
[5:56 AM]
The next episode is also bringing back character stats and skills, which you can keep track of on the character sheet. This will let you further individualise your heroine, and lets us weave them into scenes to make them feel less scripted and compulsory.
=================
Example: Allure skill
An example of this in action is the new Allure skill. (The heroine uses Allure to look good for the camera, and also attract male attention. It can be buffed with clothing, makeup and dialogue/decision choices.)
Let’s take a look at how introducing this simple mechanic can affect one of the early scenes in the mission, the poolside encounter with Max in Malaysia.
Existing scene (with no stats): the heroine (internally called “Kate”, for ease) goes to the swimming pool. She can make a few decisions (e.g. keep her bikini intact, or take off her top in front of Max and the other guests; later she can smile back at Max or just ignore him), but the scene always plays out in the same way: Max hits on her, and the player decides whether to take it further or not.
Changes by adding stats: Instead of the scene just playing out like a script, Kate makes an Allure check to attract Max; this check is modified by her stats and skills (in this case Beauty + Allure) and her decisions in the scene (e.g. if Kate takes off her top she gets +1; if she smiles at Max she gets +1; if she’s strikingly busty she gets +1*; etc). If Kate passes the check, Max approaches her (unlocking the optional dinner date side quest); otherwise the flirting stays non-verbal and the two go their separate ways.
This is a small change but a big improvement. Instead of following a script, the game world is dynamically responding to your individual Kate, weighting the chance of her being hit on based both on decisions you made in the scene, and decisions going right back to the start of the game.
It also mechanically captures a kind of male/female energy that’s present in the real world but currently missing from Female Agent: Kate makes the Allure check whether she wants to or not; she can’t exactly control when guys hit on her or who (but she can influence it). Making more use of Allure checks in seduction and story scenes will make Kate more a force of temptation in the story (and male NPCs acting on that is inherently interesting and hot).
=================
I’m really excited about updating the scenes like this – it’ll finally make Female Agent less like a story you click through, and more like a game you play. There are more complex uses for Allure (and other skills) planned for later in the game (e.g. Allure checks livening up the episode Girls’ Night Out; Kate making an Allure check while she’s trying to slip out of the hostel wearing the stripper dress leading to an extra dialogue scene with Noodle and his friend; potentially subverting the male/female approach/temptation dynamic in scenes where Kate fails her Allure check and finds herself having to make the first move/throw herself at a target NPC; etc).
Next tasks
But to make this possible, we need to make sure the avatar and the code base are set up to support it. The main focus right now is still on tech tasks, like making sure all agents get issued eyebrows before starting the mission. (edited)
My current task is fixing some glitches caused by incorrect layering of hair and skin tone SVG layers on the youth versions of the avatar. Once that’s done, there’s some tech work on the character sheet I need to look at (specifically how the game tracks and displays XP progress in each skill). I’m just basically trucking through the unglamorous but necessary tasks that need to be tackled before the release, and it’s more complicated than usual because of the changes to the avatar and the game logic.
I can’t give an ETA on when it’ll be released yet – making the game is hard and we’re a tiny team – but I’m putting in long hours every day and it’s a labour of love. Thank you to all supporters for making it possible.
My thoughts: On the one hand, this is welcome and necessary to change a VN into a game, which is always what he's said he wanted to do.
On the other hand, going back to redo every scene in the game will change this from an update that takes 9-15 months to an update that might or might not come out before the sun uses up all its hydrogen and becomes a red giant.
Since last week's report, 48 new hairstyles and 5 skin tones have been added to the character creator and are now working in the game. This will enable you to produce much more customisable and unique heroines, and I’m really looking forward to seeing some screenshots of your ‘Kates’!
Clicking the [Random Agent] button in the character creator now really feels like it’s producing a different doll each time, not just subtle variations of the same one. It’s all part of our aim to improve the game by giving you more control, choices and personalisation options and making it feel less on rails than before.
Character stats and skills
10
9
NEW
[5:56 AM]
The next episode is also bringing back character stats and skills, which you can keep track of on the character sheet. This will let you further individualise your heroine, and lets us weave them into scenes to make them feel less scripted and compulsory.
=================
Example: Allure skill
An example of this in action is the new Allure skill. (The heroine uses Allure to look good for the camera, and also attract male attention. It can be buffed with clothing, makeup and dialogue/decision choices.)
Let’s take a look at how introducing this simple mechanic can affect one of the early scenes in the mission, the poolside encounter with Max in Malaysia.
Existing scene (with no stats): the heroine (internally called “Kate”, for ease) goes to the swimming pool. She can make a few decisions (e.g. keep her bikini intact, or take off her top in front of Max and the other guests; later she can smile back at Max or just ignore him), but the scene always plays out in the same way: Max hits on her, and the player decides whether to take it further or not.
Changes by adding stats: Instead of the scene just playing out like a script, Kate makes an Allure check to attract Max; this check is modified by her stats and skills (in this case Beauty + Allure) and her decisions in the scene (e.g. if Kate takes off her top she gets +1; if she smiles at Max she gets +1; if she’s strikingly busty she gets +1*; etc). If Kate passes the check, Max approaches her (unlocking the optional dinner date side quest); otherwise the flirting stays non-verbal and the two go their separate ways.
This is a small change but a big improvement. Instead of following a script, the game world is dynamically responding to your individual Kate, weighting the chance of her being hit on based both on decisions you made in the scene, and decisions going right back to the start of the game.
It also mechanically captures a kind of male/female energy that’s present in the real world but currently missing from Female Agent: Kate makes the Allure check whether she wants to or not; she can’t exactly control when guys hit on her or who (but she can influence it). Making more use of Allure checks in seduction and story scenes will make Kate more a force of temptation in the story (and male NPCs acting on that is inherently interesting and hot).
=================
I’m really excited about updating the scenes like this – it’ll finally make Female Agent less like a story you click through, and more like a game you play. There are more complex uses for Allure (and other skills) planned for later in the game (e.g. Allure checks livening up the episode Girls’ Night Out; Kate making an Allure check while she’s trying to slip out of the hostel wearing the stripper dress leading to an extra dialogue scene with Noodle and his friend; potentially subverting the male/female approach/temptation dynamic in scenes where Kate fails her Allure check and finds herself having to make the first move/throw herself at a target NPC; etc).
Next tasks
But to make this possible, we need to make sure the avatar and the code base are set up to support it. The main focus right now is still on tech tasks, like making sure all agents get issued eyebrows before starting the mission. (edited)
My current task is fixing some glitches caused by incorrect layering of hair and skin tone SVG layers on the youth versions of the avatar. Once that’s done, there’s some tech work on the character sheet I need to look at (specifically how the game tracks and displays XP progress in each skill). I’m just basically trucking through the unglamorous but necessary tasks that need to be tackled before the release, and it’s more complicated than usual because of the changes to the avatar and the game logic.
I can’t give an ETA on when it’ll be released yet – making the game is hard and we’re a tiny team – but I’m putting in long hours every day and it’s a labour of love. Thank you to all supporters for making it possible.
My thoughts: On the one hand, this is welcome and necessary to change a VN into a game, which is always what he's said he wanted to do.
On the other hand, going back to redo every scene in the game will change this from an update that takes 9-15 months to an update that might or might not come out before the sun uses up all its hydrogen and becomes a red giant.
- May 23, 2018
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More stats that won't actually do anything of significance and re-doing old content that has already been re-done to death?
This is just a scam at this point right?
This is just a scam at this point right?
- Aug 11, 2020
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My brother, it's been that for quite some time.
- Apr 8, 2020
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Putting in checks where the player doesn't do anything to affect the outcome doesn't make something feel more like a game. It just causes people to save scum so they don't get locked out of content.
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To be fair, that option has always been there in the game. It would be a lot better if a failed roll led to content that was interesting and could change the game rather than just causing you to miss content, but asking Crush to make who-knows-how-many alternate scenes is only a recipe for additional llleeennngggttthhhyyy delay.
- Apr 8, 2020
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Don't be that way. It will save the universe.
It is written: the heat death of the universe will not happen until all porn games in development are completed.
It is written: the heat death of the universe will not happen until all porn games in development are completed.