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

[SuperMaxo]

Your agent has to get spotted trying to hide the flash drive in her mouth.

To think that I kept trying to hide it past some other lips...

 

[Ripe]

This is one of the reasons we're upgrading the Sex Engine. We're aiming to move away from the existing model, in which you click every single action with every single partner (e.g. if both partners are standing up, to give a BJ you need to get down on your knees, undo his trousers, get his cock out, click "Suck his cock" over and over again until his arousal hits 100 and he comes...). The new vision is a system that still has decision points, but varies the pacing based on location and calculated factors (like how experienced the agent is at brothel work). So basically the eighth BJ of the night will not be played out in as precise detail as the first (which is not currently possible in the Sex Engine, all BJs are equal).

You're still missing the point... even if that eighth BJ of the night play out completely different than previous seven, it's still eighth BJ of the night! And on the next night, you'll have to go through them again (even if those play out completely different). Problem is not quality, it's quantity. In the end, it doesn't matter if we'll have to click every single action once we "pick a client" or those scenes are completely scripted in advance... what will matter is how many of them we have to go through in the first place.

Like I said, we'll probably need to go through 120-300 brothel sex scenes for each month of in-game time... and no matter how good your writing that is a lot, especially for what is essentially throwaway scene that doesn't affect the plot. Pretty soon (my guess after about 50 scenes or so) most players will stop caring if those scenes play out different or are always the same... we'll click through them as fast as we can so we can skip to content that affect plot (either main quest or side quests).

 

[ray3dave]

I've read that writers often create very detailed backstories for their characters. Not all of this stuff makes it to the screen or the page, but the writer chooses which bits to bring out in the story. (It would surprise me if Ian Fleming did not know whether Bond were right- or left-handed, for instance, and Bond does express a strong preference for coffee over tea in one of the books.)



The Lifepath is an attempt to let the player make decisions about their character's personality, preferences and prior life experiences (in a more interactive and hopefully engaging and fun way than just completing a massive questionnaire at the start of the game), like a writer creating a detailed backstory for their hero. The details are being accumulated so that Female Agent writers can make use of them in the future, and players can play the character they want instead of the one I pre-generated for them.

First of all, thanks for responding to all our posts here so frequently. I / we might be harsh on you and your game sometimes, but after all it is because we care.

I get the feeling that you don't get my criticism/ doubts right. WILL ALL THESE NICE DETAILS you put in with much dedication and love - thanks and all respect for that - REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE? We assholes doubt that, or at least me asshole I do doubt that. Prove me wrong and I'll be glad to confess that I am a fool and the game is great. That would be very, very nice.

 

[Zurrlock]

Without the skill system, in Bangkok we'd have to write all the quests in quite a generic way. One of the things I'm trying to get away from is the "choose your own adventure" model, where player choices lead to the same outcomes and randomisation is arbitrary, towards an "RPG" model, where the interaction between different characters with complex stats and a random element creates emergent outcomes.

Just mentioning here, if there's a random element that potentially locks you out of a scene, then unless the scene is available later - in which case it doesn't matter, why even bother with the check? To use your COD analogy, it would be the annoyance of having to redo the QTE to get that boss at the end repeatedly instead of just seeing the cutscene - then a lot of people are going to be savescumming to make sure the rolls hit high, I'm doing it in what's available now, even with like ten playthroughs so far.

 

[blackmeow13]

I think they're having a new version of this, march 30th Not sure if that's a bug fix version or adding new stories.

 

[Jester35]

I'm playing currently 1.4.5 P. Does the game really end in Dubai, or there is something wrong on my end?

 

[Zurrlock]

I'm playing currently 1.4.5 P. Does the game really end in Dubai, or there is something wrong on my end?

It ends in BKK Airport, and that's where it's been for quite a while, and seems like it will stay there for a while more until behind the scenes systems are in place.

 

[DinosaurUnion]

@Crushstation *edited to make reply to question more visible in a wall of text with a quote

The checkboxes are a relic of the old system. If you're so devoted to the new way then bin them if at all possible. I get the multiple choices are a part of the "P" version of the game, but they totally undermine everything you're trying to do with the RPG xp an stats.

Speaking of...

We're not seeing Bangkok for at least a year that much is certain. The immense frustration people are feeling right now is because of two major contributors:

1. We still have fuck all idea what Bangkok is going to be like to play, and won't for a year at least.

2. The current system works just fine, and is what you've sold your whole project with. Every Patron you have is because the current model, the one they've played and enjoyed, is great.

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What follows is my opinion on how to proceed. It involves instead binning the new system, which although you seem fully committed to go ahead with, please consider some of this for the sake of a version 1.0 some day.

I'm a firm believer that the game is already bloated with junk - to the point my browsers themselves are warning me they're running slowly. Not everyone going into a brothel is interesting. The overwhelming majority of them would be guys on Lad's holidays or just the saddest people imaginable.

I'm interested in your idea about "discovering" fetishes, can you expand on that a bit? The college encounters (Kink Vignettes) system is ready for more to be added over time (in fact, a fan started work on one set at a rock concert just yesterday!).

Your longer written encounters are fantastic. You can make a fantastic game with the longer Creation / Prologue on here by effectively treating your choices in these scenarios *as* check boxes. This is what I mean about discovering fetishes.

Threeway with the squaddies? Gain the Promiscuous flag.
Enjoy the cheers kissing the girl / Pose nude? Exhibitionist flag.
Invite the girl back / Experiment at the elite boarding school? Bi flag.

Etc...

Use the things like if your "Elite" father vanishes, is the terror group responsible (which I think is already hinted right?). Did she grow up with blood money? Her past coming back to haunt her in certain ways. Look at each of your options when creating an agent and see if you can devise any way you could get a sexy / dangerous ideally both event out of it with fixed interesting characters that matter to the plot. Hell even what degree she did at Uni can trigger some unique dialogue. Gain trust by helping the buisiness run better with your business degree. basic - but it feels like it matters and it's something the player *chose*.

Instead of a billions skills with XP to level on them, use binary enable / disable event triggers based on what you choose making the agent and playing through her prologue.

Your generic brothel goer is generic by definition. You can still work in Stress vs Discipline (iirc) depending on how you see to these with what random things they like / respond to. This at least stops people just clicking through eyes glazed over.

A few random events like the Psycho you mentioned could be fun, but instead of weighing all these skills against each other on an effectively randomly generated NPC with his own set, use your "Wet t-shirt" style event with options greyed out if you don't have those "flags".

That is what encourages multiple playthroughs. How can this already memorable event play out differently.

Feel free to ignore my unproffesional opinion. All I know is your biggest production major releases with big money going in cut major features all the time to get the game finished. Those devs are dissapointed, but the audience not only doesn't know what half made feature they're missing out on - they do not care. The completed product is in their hands.

I hope you consider scaling back on overhauls, I would love to subscribe again.

** other edit one more thing - performer turnover in these jobs is insane, lasting just a year is wildly uncommon even for local girls - especially if the agent's coverstory is saving money just to move on to the next country in her travels. Don't feel you need to plan out playing too long on this mission.

 

[ilovenudemods]

Honestly, I'm super impressed with Female Agent thus far. (The title could be better, though...lol)

The writing in this game is top notch. Above anything else, the story is what drives this experience, and other than Good Girl Gone Bad, nothing I've played off F95 has compared to this level of detail and choice. Really impressive stuff here, especially for a HTML game!

I really hope to see this one continue. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this review, the content ends right before the story gets into full swing. But this game has potential for being something legendary. It's also super refreshing to have a story that is based around a character of western culture instead of yet another Asian based storyline. No chans, sans, or kuns, no kunochis, no senpais and no broken english. Finally, an American character!

All in all, I'm giving this game a 8.5 of 10. Mostly because it's not finished. I would also admittedly like to see a few sex/oral images when engaging in sexual activity. It's great how the character portrait changes depending on your outfit, but I'm greedy and just want more. It's all so good, that more can't be bad, can it? Following this one for sure and will be checking out their patreon, as well.

 

[Crushstation]

Thanks @ilovenudemods, I really appreciate the positive feedback!

 

[MidaHanna]

Yeah the only bad thing about this game is that there's not enough of it !

 

[Crushstation]

@Crushstation *edited to make reply to question more visible in a wall of text with a quote...

Thanks for the detailed and constructive feedback, @DinosaurUnion (here and earlier in the thread). I really appreciate it.

Your idea for having the Kink Vignettes unlock the Kinks was actually something we kicked around as a possibility while building the Lifepath. I can't remember exactly why we didn't go with it: maybe just to reduce complexity. We might revisit it in the future, but I get the feeling I'll be excoriated here and elsewhere if I do that before Bangkok.

With regard to your general comments, your observation that we could be further along in the story if I would stick to simpler game systems is right. The reason I've decided not to do that is that the game I want to create is too complex for the binary, flag-based systems that most other TWINE games are based on.

I'm stoked that you were happy with the game up to Dubai and would have been happy to continue in that vein, because what I want to do is going to be way better. I want to make an effort to communicate my vision for it better because I think that I've done a bad job on that so far.

 

[Tanzie]

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Personally i'd enjoy more "crazy" coloured hair, bubblegum pink or violet for example.

 

[Zurrlock]

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Personally i'd enjoy more "crazy" coloured hair, bubblegum pink or violet for example.

Hm, for a stripper anywhere else than Bangkok then I'd agree, but blonde or red hair is considered as exotic there as blue hair would be here, to the point where you'd see eastern European and Russian skanks (sorry, but it's true) that barely would make a living in the west selling their subpar wares for luxurious prizes to Japanese businessmen. (Spent 5 weeks there over christmas and newyears, obviously only to pray at the temples and be all chaste, yep!)

 

[Tanzie]

I thought those were supposed to be natural hair colors which you picked at the beginning. I highly doubt that a secret service would employ a woman with a pink/blue hair, unless she's on a mission in disguise.

 

[Zurrlock]

I thought those were supposed to be natural hair colors which you picked at the beginning. I highly doubt that a secret service would employ a woman with a pink/blue hair, unless she's on a mission in disguise.

Ah, could be, have no concept beyond the image itself, but if it's character creation then stick to natural hair colors obviously and change in game. If it is what the avatar could vary between, then more exotic stuff should be included.

And if you go the punk/rocker route in the background you could end up with a very different hairstyle pretty quick, and possibly have a rather unorthodox look when being recruited, so it's already in the game that the recruiters don't care too much about your looks.

 

[Tanzie]

As @ray3dave have also pointed out, I'm not sure that this many hair colors is necessary in the game, honestly doubt that it would make any significant difference in the game, seems like it's purely for cosmetics and a waste of time if you ask me.

 

[Crushstation]

The recently added hair colours are supposed to be the agent's natural hair colour. Rock Chicks will still be able to dye their hair various colours throughout University, but will revert to their natural colour before graduation.

I plan to introduce a new mechanic called "personal change" which will give the player the choice of one personal improvement activity to carry out at the end of each Lifepath episode. This will be some kind of change or improvement such as getting laser eye surgery (so agents who need glasses will no longer need glasses); learning to surf or scuba if posted to some place with a beach; or changing hair colour. Tasteful colours will be supported before the mission – any agent should be able to go bottle blonde or bottle auburn – but wild colours will have to wait until Bangkok, when the agent will have a lot more freedom to define her look.

(This will be a mechanic built either after Bangkok, or with polishing days if the patrons vote for it.)

As @Tanzie points out, the hair colours are mostly cosmetic at this stage. To me, that's not a bad thing – allowing the player to customise the avatar is a very important design goal for me – however, there will be minor gameplay effects (e.g. in the wet t-shirt contest, the nickname Connor gives the player can vary based on hair colour, and hair colour plays a role in the optional attempt to seduce the agent's professor just before her final exams).

In the future, I intend for hair colour to play a role in the brothel. Something I noticed in strip clubs is the total inversion of the normal power dynamic between men and women; girls from whom I would be delighted to get a smile in real life have to flirt their asses off to get me to pay them to go backstage. So I want the agent to have to work at getting clients in the brothel, and client preferences (including hair colour) will play a part in that. This is something we'll hit in the next version (1.6) when we work on the random NPCs.

 

[Zurrlock]

Something I noticed in strip clubs is the total inversion of the normal power dynamic between men and women; girls from whom I would be delighted to get a smile in real life have to flirt their asses off to get me to pay them to go backstage. So I want the agent to have to work at getting clients in the brothel, and client preferences (including hair colour) will play a part in that. This is something we'll hit in the next version (1.6) when we work on the random NPCs.

As I indicated I may have some experience in the subject myself, even in Bangkok at that, and if you are looking for info that 'punters' would be aware of, first is what I said above, classic western hair-colors especially blonde and red are considered very exotic there (in comparison in Tokyo and Okinawa you'd see a lot of strippers with blue or neon green hair and advanced costumes where cosplay and anime culture has blended into the adult scene, seriously those places often look like sci-fi movies). Majority of prized customers in Thailand are Japanese businessmen that fly in on weekend passes, spend all of their money on overpriced shit, then return home, not the classic western or other Asian customers (many places if you go there as a westerner you get plainly told to leave as they only serve Japanese). Indians make up the second biggest portion of customers, Russians the third, and as with the Japanese there are establishments that only serve those where you are denied entry otherwise, even sections of the red light districts with only Indian locations for a big stretch. Western prostitutes and strippers are becoming less rare there also, firs time I was in Pattaya some ten years ago there was a single strip-club with only European women (mainly Russians and eastern Europeans), this year there were at least seven, same deal in Bangkok.

Prostitution laws in Thailand are also kinda weird, it's illegal but ignored for the most part, in fact all kinds of obscenity including public nudity (stripping included to anything less than a bikini), pornographic content and sex toys are all illegal in Thailand, and you could face a fine if you meet the wrong official (usually looking for a bribe if they don't have a quota to fill). Strip joints that do nudes tend to be in slightly back allies, and have look outs that give signals when it's okay for the girls to get undressed... or they are paid up. Sex shows ("ping pong show!") tend to be very hidden away, with tons of people walking around the regular red light district with flyers and trying to lure people off the beaten path to visit the more sordier venues, where you'd still likely see way more tame shit than you'd see in Amsterdam or Hamburg). Majority of stories of dirtier stuff in Bangkok are just stories, or based on things that took place decades ago, as a combination of enough regular sex tourists that they don't really need to draw people in with really nasty stuff to earn coupled with a general crackdown on harder stuff as well as drugs (even weed could potentially get you locked up in the kind of prison you'd see in POW movies, making it just not worth it) has worked to sanitize a lot of it. Honestly I'd be way more nervous about working in certain Russian, European or middle Eastern locations than Bangkok at this point...

A novel I recommend checking out for a great insight into the life there (and generally a good novel) is Private Dancer by Stephen Leather (guy who wrote The Chinaman, who the recent Jackie Chan/Pierce Brosnan thriller The Foreigner was based on), it delves deep into the sex trade and organized crime sections of Bangkok, following a foreigner who murders his stripper girlfriend.

 

[Crushstation]

That's really useful, thanks @Zurrlock! I'll check out the book.