Others Going Deeper [Beta 2.1] [NRFB Games]

[CurseWave]

Unfortunate. I rather like it actually.

For what it matters, I am with NRFB on that one, I like the current implementation of hearts.

I think there's two speed, depending on intensity or another factor? If there isn't two speed, I am part of the crowd that wants to see "slow heart bumps at first, fast heart bumps if knight is charmed or monster is nearly exhausted".

nvm just read the thread no mc seggs gg uninstall have fun just want a good game with no ntr but its getting too rare these days

There's one or two scene with the MC though, it's just isn't front and center (nor is the MC actually featured visually, if that's the important criterion).

 

[Rosen King]

So can someone explain if the mc just watches them have sex with the monsters or if the mc has any scenes with the girls cus its taking a long ass time ((

There is sex between the player character and the knights.

Usually they require the character to already have high enough lust/be in enough trouble that you should probably have an eye on them anyway? In most cases anyway.

At high corruption, maybe, but I can't always keep up with them any time they're at high lust, which happens all the time. I also don't always *know* they're at high lust, since I don't always have that part of the UI open.

Actually, this might be a good time to bring up that parts of the UI are starting to get a bit too big. I know making a second "minimalist" version of each UI element would be a lot of work, but the more elements get added, the more screen space they each take up. I'm guessing you've been designing things with higher resolutions in mind, but I rely on lower resolution to keep things readable, and... Well...

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I tend to hide the left and top ones unless they're completely necessary, but I also shrink the bottom ones more often than not. Maybe there can be two tiers of pulling those out, with the first one leaving out the static stats (Physique etc.)? And maybe something similar for the top one. When a dungeon square is clicked it could show the name/modifier and the "dynamic" stats like health and rearm time, then when pulled out all the way it would show the whole thing.

Basically something like this, maybe. I haven't thought it all the way through, but in terms of what's necessary and what's not...

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That pretty much doubles the amount of screen real estate in the center there. Actually, as an unexpected bonus, I think the relevant numbers just feel easier to process at a glance here. Maybe those other numbers really were getting in the way.

...Come to think of it, is there an option to zoom out the dungeon map? I don't think there is, but there definitely should be. I mean, it won't help that much in *that* mess, but it is a pretty standard feature in these kinds of games that could come in handy for making the most out of the space we have. (Just... please let it work in steps instead of having a "slider" where I can easily lose my precise place. OCD and all. At least a "reset to default" option, if so.)

Edit: Oh dear lord, grouping them together makes it *entirely* unreasonable.

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Incidentally, I learned while grabbing these screenshots that the girls have no interest in stopping their masturbating leader in a dark room when on follow. Although maybe this is just part of the whole mess of interaction bugs going on right now.

Unfortunate. I rather like it actually.

Well, I think this is an issue with my motion sensitivity. I mentioned a while back that I can't play some games in 60fps, but that this one wasn't a problem because nothing moves quite so much/fast to actually cause an issue. The new sex animation is an outlier in that sense.

This is a "special skill ready" indicator, but there isn't really anything telling you that's what it is I guess (and I forgot to put it in the patch notes).

Perhaps this could be moved to a part of the UI that isn't normally static, or changed to something that is static? Maybe even more of a consistent (and slow) "aura" effect. As it stands, it's just this periodic blip that keeps calling attention to a corner of the screen.

This is a good game with no ntr

Well, setting aside technical arguments over what counts as "NTR", I would say that most people who say "I don't like NTR" are referring to a particular feeling rather than whether it checks off a set of specific criteria. (There are other things I'd say about people's usage of the term in general, but that's a whole other can of prejudices.) To that end, I'd say that focusing on whether the game evokes those feelings is more important than on whether it "has NTR".

 

[Entes1111]

Well, while currently there isn't much inquisitor MC content...I think that having the MC have sex with the knights as a gameplay mechanic of sorts would be interesting.

Like, if sex with the MC at camp makes them more resistant to sexual/lust based damage/attacks in the dungeon or some sort of inclusive gameplay mechanic that makes these scenes have replay value. This could help mitigate the lack of control we have when the knights go on a masturbating spree. lol. I think having a good balance of camp sexual scenes vs dungeon ones is important here...but that's just my personal opinion.

I sort of feel that there should be more ways for the MC to help support the knights and help them avoid issues in the dungeon and that sexual content with the MC could be utilized this way. It also does not necessarily need to be entirely just sex, I would always love to see more scenes like the lap pillow one be used as a gameplay mechanic too. As of now, I tend to play the game as thought it was automatic...since there doesn't feel like there is much for me to actually manage.

Overall I am interested in this game a lot, I fucking love the gameplay, but the lack of balance between MC scenes and all other scenes sort of makes me want to wait for more updates before playing again.

 

[EPGerhart]

Not sure what I'm doing all that differently, but I got to the bottom of the current content. Thus demonstrating that it is possible. Somehow I expected to have a harem of knights by this point, with maybe a witch in it too.

 

[NRFB]

For what it matters, I am with NRFB on that one, I like the current implementation of hearts.

I think there's two speed, depending on intensity or another factor? If there isn't two speed, I am part of the crowd that wants to see "slow heart bumps at first, fast heart bumps if knight is charmed or monster is nearly exhausted".

3 speeds, only depending on current lust at the moment (0-50, 50-75, 75-100)

Actually, this might be a good time to bring up that parts of the UI are starting to get a bit too big. I know making a second "minimalist" version of each UI element would be a lot of work, but the more elements get added, the more screen space they each take up. I'm guessing you've been designing things with higher resolutions in mind, but I rely on lower resolution to keep things readable, and... Well...

It's funny because I have had this exact conversation on /d/ earlier today. They even had similar suggestions on what elements to compress. I do agree though, and want to iterate on it soonish.

Incidentally, I learned while grabbing these screenshots that the girls have no interest in stopping their masturbating leader in a dark room when on follow. Although maybe this is just part of the whole mess of interaction bugs going on right now.

I believe I have it all fixed up on my side now, but I'm hesitating to go through the uploading everything process again just because I don't want to rush out ANOTHER broken version.

Perhaps this could be moved to a part of the UI that isn't normally static, or changed to something that is static? Maybe even more of a consistent (and slow) "aura" effect. As it stands, it's just this periodic blip that keeps calling attention to a corner of the screen.

Probably. Unlike some other things, I don't actually like this indicator very much.

Well, setting aside technical arguments over what counts as "NTR", I would say that most people who say "I don't like NTR" are referring to a particular feeling rather than whether it checks off a set of specific criteria. (There are other things I'd say about people's usage of the term in general, but that's a whole other can of prejudices.) To that end, I'd say that focusing on whether the game evokes those feelings is more important than on whether it "has NTR".

Well like I've said before some place or another, I actually like NTR. If I wanted to write it as NTR, the game would be rather different.

But yeah, I mean at present while I could say "sex in the dungeon is avoidable :^)" because it technically is, I won't even use that as a shield because honestly if people can't handle the idea that sex will happen and it might not directly involve the player avatar, they should probably give up on the game.

The way I'm doing it, I'm very much intentionally making to so that dungeon sex is not that big of a deal even if/when it does happen. The characters make it obvious through their interactions that they have all been sexually active in the past and have enjoyed being so (even Lucette, who is more uptight than average as far as Syran knights go). While they may or may not like the situations/partners the dungeon puts them with, it doesn't really change anything. Sex happening in the dungeon doesn't alter their relationships with each other or the player, is not intended to cause jealousy, and the knights will only opt into doing it on purpose if their decision making has been compromised.

And that's all without bringing up the other argument about the player having no current reason to claim ownership over these girls because none of their interactions are romantic or in any way committal. I know nobody wants to hear that one though.

I also know that actually engaging with the anti-ntr crowd in general is a bad idea, so I'll probably leave it at this.

Well, while currently there isn't much inquisitor MC content...I think that having the MC have sex with the knights as a gameplay mechanic of sorts would be interesting.

Like, if sex with the MC at camp makes them more resistant to sexual/lust based damage/attacks in the dungeon or some sort of inclusive gameplay mechanic that makes these scenes have replay value. This could help mitigate the lack of control we have when the knights go on a masturbating spree. lol. I think having a good balance of camp sexual scenes vs dungeon ones is important here...but that's just my personal opinion.

I sort of feel that there should be more ways for the MC to help support the knights and help them avoid issues in the dungeon and that sexual content with the MC could be utilized this way. It also does not necessarily need to be entirely just sex, I would always love to see more scenes like the lap pillow one be used as a gameplay mechanic too. As of now, I tend to play the game as thought it was automatic...since there doesn't feel like there is much for me to actually manage.

Overall I am interested in this game a lot, I fucking love the gameplay, but the lack of balance between MC scenes and all other scenes sort of makes me want to wait for more updates before playing again.

I was actually thinking recently that if the girls are willing to ask each other for sex in camp, surely they should also be willing to ask the inquisitor from time to time as well, right? Was just a thought and I hadn't considered if/how it would factor into gameplay, but yeah I get what you're saying. Also wouldn't be bad to have away to clear out masturbation compulsion while in camp (the number doesn't go down between floors).

 

[Rosen King]

I sort of feel that there should be more ways for the MC to help support the knights and help them avoid issues in the dungeon and that sexual content with the MC could be utilized this way. It also does not necessarily need to be entirely just sex, I would always love to see more scenes like the lap pillow one be used as a gameplay mechanic too. As of now, I tend to play the game as thought it was automatic...since there doesn't feel like there is much for me to actually manage.

I mean, in the end that would just be another feature on the pile of "manage things outside the dungeon, then leave them to do their thing inside the dungeon". Which isn't a bad thing at all, it just seems contrary to what you're saying (or how I'm interpreting what you're saying). There are tons of "prep work" mechanics in camp, and more (supposedly) on the way. The dev still intends to eventually somehow implement some mechanics that will allow you to increase the knights' stats and reduce their Permanent Corruption. The latter in particular would make sense to integrate with player sex scenes. (And/or mind control scenes.)

Not sure what I'm doing all that differently, but I got to the bottom of the current content. Thus demonstrating that it is possible. Somehow I expected to have a harem of knights by this point, with maybe a witch in it too.

Nah, that's normal. The game doesn't go all the way to its "true end" yet, so finishing the current bottom floor within a few runs isn't unusual. We've only just encountered the first of the major villains, so going full harem is still a ways off.

I also know that actually engaging with the anti-ntr crowd in general is a bad idea, so I'll probably leave it at this.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

I gotta say, it's weird beating all the current content while understanding maybe 25% of mechanics (probably a generous estimate). Leads to the feeling that there's a lot of complexity that affects nothing.

NRFB is there a chance UI gets some TLC in the future?

 

[RagueltheUFO]

If no one brought up the bug issues then I'll list some I found

1. The knights will not stop another knight from masturbating meaning that the corruption break will happen
2. When you tell the knight to rest, they don't move to home base. They just stick around unless you order them to go to the base and then click rest.

 

[Privitarium]

I also agree that the heart animation for the sex status is fine. Can't say much on motion sensitivity though.

As for UI, I'm not too fussed but I probably let the knights get separated very far too often and find myself wishing I could zoom out to keep an eye on all of them. I know there's a focus-on-turn option, but it slows the game that way (I set auto-speed to 0.2) and I prefer the camera only moving in an emergency.
Or just increase the game's window size(?) so that I can see more that way. I should check if that's already possible.

Must say though, it's pretty satisfying getting to the final floor, scrying the knights turn 1 to charge them up, then set them loose. Barring some catastrophic interaction, even corruption breaks don't stop a good setup from clearing the whole floor without help.

If no one brought up the bug issues then I'll list some I found

Sorry, both of these were brought up in the previous page already and are being/have been addressed. Until a patch is released though, regarding the first issue, set your knight who's to stop the masturbater to "explore" while they're in the same room.

 

[Entes1111]

I mean, in the end that would just be another feature on the pile of "manage things outside the dungeon, then leave them to do their thing inside the dungeon". Which isn't a bad thing at all, it just seems contrary to what you're saying (or how I'm interpreting what you're saying). There are tons of "prep work" mechanics in camp, and more (supposedly) on the way. The dev still intends to eventually somehow implement some mechanics that will allow you to increase the knights' stats and reduce their Permanent Corruption. The latter in particular would make sense to integrate with player sex scenes. (And/or mind control scenes.)

Oh sorry, my thoughts had jumped a bit at the end of that part. I didn't really connect those thoughts too well...I just meant that the dungeon aspect of the game felt mostly automatic after the camp parts.

Yeah, I personally would like some more aspects in the dungeon that I can manage to make more of a difference rather than it being wholly automatic feeling I guess (which is the contrary part I think you interpreted). Like, the MC could be at the rest zone of the dungeon and do things to help from there as well as monitoring the knights, which allows for an integrated feel of being the control operator and also physically be close enough to support their potential lust based issues (which can also be a sex based gameplay mechanic while in dungeon). This would allow for scenes with the MC in both the dungeon and camp, and would also be a management aspect while in dungeon to help the knights.

But you are also right that the current management order isn't a bad thing either. I just prefer that the MC could do more in the dungeon parts of gameplay as well.

 

[NRFB]

NRFB is there a chance UI gets some TLC in the future?

Sure, but did you have anything in mind in particular?

As for UI, I'm not too fussed but I probably let the knights get separated very far too often and find myself wishing I could zoom out to keep an eye on all of them. I know there's a focus-on-turn option, but it slows the game that way (I set auto-speed to 0.2) and I prefer the camera only moving in an emergency.

There have been many update cycles where I've started working on zooming before finding some number of finnicky things that look bad and don't play nice with zooming out and I end up deciding to shelve it and come back to it later. It's very much on my radar but it's surprisingly annoying (probably just because I don't understand godot's camera system).

Or just increase the game's window size(?) so that I can see more that way. I should check if that's already possible.

I know I support the game being played at as low a resolution as 1280x720, but if you're playing that way and don't HAVE to due to hardware constraints... Please reconsider. I care about you and only want what's best for you.

Yeah, I personally would like some more aspects in the dungeon that I can manage to make more of a difference rather than it being wholly automatic feeling I guess (which is the contrary part I think you interpreted). Like, the MC could be at the rest zone of the dungeon and do things to help from there as well as monitoring the knights, which allows for an integrated feel of being the control operator and also physically be close enough to support their potential lust based issues (which can also be a sex based gameplay mechanic while in dungeon). This would allow for scenes with the MC in both the dungeon and camp, and would also be a management aspect while in dungeon to help the knights.

Lore-wise, the inquisitor wouldn't be able to enter the dungeon without getting an Eschahn mark and curses, which would probably be its own kind of problem as far as gameplay goes. Though obviously, most lore stuff is technically malleable and I could retcon/excuse whatever if I REALLY wanted the inquisitor to be present in the dungeon (though I don't really).

 

[TeckXChaos]

I'm having issues where the game crashes the desktop every time I run a dungeon floor. I'm not sure what the cause is or how to describe it. At first I thought it was a trap event occurring in darkened rooms, but it has been happening even outside of that. I wasn't having this issue on earlier floors, but once my corruption advanced enough to start unlocking sex scenes I've been getting crashes.

 

[Privitarium]

I know I support the game being played at as low a resolution as 1280x720, but if you're playing that way and don't HAVE to due to hardware constraints... Please reconsider. I care about you and only want what's best for you.

Haha, about that... so I DID discover that playing fullscreen with the resolution upped definitely alleviated the problem. Still happens sometimes, depending on the map layout or size, but definitely not as much. My hardware isn't amazing though, so I may end up lowering it again if my computer can't keep up at the later floors (where every turn triggers a dozen different vfx every 0.2sec). I do actually remember lowering the resolution in earlier builds I think because there didn't seem to be a frame cap or something, which slowed my computer immensely.

 

[vsilvv]

So, after getting several floors into this game (I'm loving it! Super fun) I finally wanted to satisfy my burning curiosity about whether new games used an alternate save file or saved my research notes, since there are so many and it would take so long to actually accumulate all the scenes for this game. So I clicked new game, clicked to skip the intro... then had a moment of panic, as I realized it hadn't asked me to start a new file or anything.

I closed the game immediately, but it was too late. I lost all my progress.

Now I am sad. Maybe throw a little warning on the new game selection if there's already data saved. </3

 

[Devastator325]

Now I am sad. Maybe throw a little warning on the new game selection if there's already data saved. </3

You get points for how well you do in a run, which allows you to buy benefits (or negatives) when you complete a run. Some of those options are for carrying over research notes and the other time consuming stuff. But yeah there should definitely be a warning slapped up if it's going to overwrite an existing run.

 

[vsilvv]

You get points for how well you do in a run, which allows you to buy benefits (or negatives) when you complete a run. Some of those options are for carrying over research notes and the other time consuming stuff.

This is a great system for allowing people to unlock content and save it.

It's hard to speak on it too much because I've only just started playing, but there's always a clash in really well-made adult games between gameplay and erotic content. 99% of adult games are a vehicle for porn; this is one of the only ones where I'm not sure which I like more, the scenes or the gameplay.

Generally, I consider it a failure for erotic games if the sexy stuff isn't made easily available. And I'm still not sure I'm comfortable with the sheer amount of effort I foresee having to go through to unlock everything, especially later-game monsters, without any kind of save system. Looking at the conditions, I'm afraid I'd have to play for hours and then carefully skirt a high negative stat and deliberately fail a check on something to unlock its scene...

But the ideas in this game are really fun and it's just a well-made project. So I guess I'll keep playing and see how it goes.

 

[NRFB]

I figured out the crash on death problem by the way. Was actually pretty simple and a bit silly that I didn't find it before but it was basically just the game still attempting to tick limited duration status effects due to turns starting/ending even though the game over process had already cleared out the character's status effect managers (so a null reference would happen). I wouldn't run into it while testing because whenever I would test death I would just debug up corruption until game over without adding status effects. Silly.

Haha, about that... so I DID discover that playing fullscreen with the resolution upped definitely alleviated the problem. Still happens sometimes, depending on the map layout or size, but definitely not as much. My hardware isn't amazing though, so I may end up lowering it again if my computer can't keep up at the later floors (where every turn triggers a dozen different vfx every 0.2sec). I do actually remember lowering the resolution in earlier builds I think because there didn't seem to be a frame cap or something, which slowed my computer immensely.

My hardware is getting pretty old (built this pc in 2016 but it was pretty good at the time), but it usually stays up at around 120 fps. I could implement an option for an fps cap actually, I just never really thought about it before. I just tested it and 60 fps definitely makes interpolations less smooth (so like with camera scrolling or ui elements moving), but it's probably a good option to make available.

So, after getting several floors into this game (I'm loving it! Super fun) I finally wanted to satisfy my burning curiosity about whether new games used an alternate save file or saved my research notes, since there are so many and it would take so long to actually accumulate all the scenes for this game. So I clicked new game, clicked to skip the intro... then had a moment of panic, as I realized it hadn't asked me to start a new file or anything.

I closed the game immediately, but it was too late. I lost all my progress.

Now I am sad. Maybe throw a little warning on the new game selection if there's already data saved. </3

Dang that sucks. I especially wince at it because I've had this sitting in the code for forever and if I had gotten around to it you could have been saved.

It's hard to speak on it too much because I've only just started playing, but there's always a clash in really well-made adult games between gameplay and erotic content. 99% of adult games are a vehicle for porn; this is one of the only ones where I'm not sure which I like more, the scenes or the gameplay.

Generally, I consider it a failure for erotic games if the sexy stuff isn't made easily available. And I'm still not sure I'm comfortable with the sheer amount of effort I foresee having to go through to unlock everything, especially later-game monsters, without any kind of save system. Looking at the conditions, I'm afraid I'd have to play for hours and then carefully skirt a high negative stat and deliberately fail a check on something to unlock its scene...

But the ideas in this game are really fun and it's just a well-made project. So I guess I'll keep playing and see how it goes.

The ideal situation to get to would be one where the gameplay is fun enough that people are playing it for fun rather than just to tick off all the content checkboxes and the content available (including the lewd stuff) is plentiful enough that they keep finding new stuff as they do so. Different people have different expectations and such though. Personally I'm sometimes surprised at how much I enjoy it when I sit down for playtesting (considering I get nothing out of the erotic content at all), but I'm not going to disagree when people say they want more of whatever they want more of.

It just takes a while.

 

[vsilvv]

The ideal situation to get to would be one where the gameplay is fun enough that people are playing it for fun rather than just to tick off all the content checkboxes and the content available (including the lewd stuff) is plentiful enough that they keep finding new stuff as they do so. Different people have different expectations and such though. Personally I'm sometimes surprised at how much I enjoy it when I sit down for playtesting (considering I get nothing out of the erotic content at all), but I'm not going to disagree when people say they want more of whatever they want more of.

It just takes a while.

( No worries about losing the file, I'm already back to where I was. You did betray me forever, though, and I'll never forget. )

The main issue is that while the game is super fun, if one is going into it to view erotic content, that's a very... specific intent? So while it's great to enjoy a unique game with a lot of fun depth and some bonus lewdness, presenting it in this way with no alternative for easy content viewing makes it objectively worse as erotic material.

But, you obviously didn't set out to make, just, porn, so I guess that's the point. I wouldn't really have a solution to suggest for a game of this caliber, other than maybe unlocking some sort of sandbox mode where you can check off which traps and monsters are allowed to appear and a free camping mode with infinite time. Sounds like a lot of work both in design and implementation, though.

Thanks for replying. Keep up the awesome work.

EDIT: I'm going to throw a random gameplay request in here for funsies while I have your attention: I'd really love an option to make character destinations highlighted automatically during their turn. I keep having to check where they're going. Thaaaanks

 

[Privitarium]

Finally got the second Waking Up Late scene. Some typo catches:
Elli relax: "I'm sure you'd know that you've give a girl time to prep" (I believe that's "you've GOT TO give")
Elli trance: "Although she's tall, and the size of her breasts bouncing up and down may have made you assume otherwise it doesn't matter." (I believe there should be a comma between OTHERWISE and IT, and there may also be an accidental double-space between the two)
"prove a point about how she isn't isn't lazy" (repeated ISN'T)

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

Sure, but did you have anything in mind in particular?

Hooo boy, where do I start? Okay, the crawl main screen is a good start, probably.

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1. I see no reason why character paths should not be visible at all times (perhaps not animated). Also the big marker could be placed on every cell to be visited, not just the final destination.
2. Why the passages between rooms aren't depicted like this? The presense or absence of traversal is much more important that the existence of the node. Instead, the color of choice for path is cold grey or dark cold grey. Why? Reading the map is a challenge. Really inconvenient, especially considering the palette for background art, which is also dark-greyish.
3. This tiny ass button exists while the highlighted area does nothing? Make clicking on stats bring up stat window.
4. Skills are not dimmed when it's not the character's turn, or when the skill is not applicable. You have that logic coded, because the skill is shown in the popup menu dynamically. Also the button is a tiny ass button. You could either grey out skills out of turn, OR just make characters activate skills at their next turn.
5. Actually, why isn't the skill button located here instead?
6. Speaking of highlighting whose turn it is, why not do it on a map, with a portrait border?
7. Tiny ass button! Also ironically, clicking on the stat window does nothing, but clicking on well-rested doubles the focus functionality.
8. There's no visual indication on who's following who. Since it's probably the most convenient way of moving in groups (rule 0, don't split the party), it's really inconvenient.