HTML Inner Empire [v1.7] [Defiant Explorer]

[Defiant Explorer]

You are doing great man, despite these mishaps. For me personally, I'm excited to give her better stats so doesn't get taken by Cadanis's "commandeering" attitude and it turns into a non-con scene. Although I would like for there to be more options rather than getting mindlessly being taken. This has nothing to do with mechanism but a really defiant female who can't be subdued to spread her legs that easy. Know what I mean?

Also some of us don't prefer humans if we're playing female MC

But... There's that option out there. Right now. Doggy style is submissive and passive. But if you tell him to lie down, it turns into active cowgirl. And if your protagonist is dexterous enough (Agility 3) to press in the right place, there is even a dominatrix option.

Regarding the non-con variant. This particular character is a seducer, not a rapist. He just... doesn't need to rape anyone. Don't worry (or conversely worry). You'll meet rapists. I left enough hints in the game itself that this world is not a Neverland with ponies and unicorns. Sometimes things can be ugly. Really ugly. And the protagonist has no plot armor for that occasion, I assure you. But, of course, all sex scenes in the Inner Empire are avoidable, consensual or not. Although, not all of them are easily avoidable.

 

[kdratin]

Awesome game! Not sure if I'm allowed to ask here, but do you guys know of other similar games?

 

[MrAnarchy]

Love this game. Immediately upped my subscription when I saw your post. I wish there was something more we could do. Can’t wait to see more. My best wishes to you and hope you take care and stay safe above all.

 

[portiamento]

I hope there won't be any something tragic happens like, almost all the casts are killed by barbarians or something

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Awesome game! Not sure if I'm allowed to ask here, but do you guys know of other similar games?

Oh, I wish it could. It would be so much easier for me to work if I had a reference in front of me. Although... After the release of Chapter 1, several people at once compared my game with "A dance with rogues," NWN module. So, I got curious, played and... damn. I can say from everything I've seen - this mod is the most similar conceptually to my game.

What are your plans for this in the future? Do you plan on ever going back to earlier content and adding more options or are all future updates only going to add content onwards from the current last point?

At this point, my course is only forward. No returns or anything else are planned for now, except for fixing possible bugs. There's always the temptation to make things a little better, but it's a dangerous quagmire in which it's easy to get bogged down.

I hope there won't be any something tragic happens like, almost all the casts are killed by barbarians or something

Yeah, that would be a shame.

 

[baneini]

Writing is pretty solid. Not many sex scenes but they're fine, theres like the element of power dynamics woven in which is exactly whats needed.
At times the writing gets too wordy which encourages not paying attention but it could be worse. If it was rpgm they could pace it with gameplay.
I'd prefer bigger updates that look back at early game and fills things out where needed. Then again dev already wrote the games about to die to lack of funding.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Then again dev already wrote the games about to die to lack of funding.

Please be a bit more accurate in such statements. It sounds like the game is about to be abandoned. The game was released in September 2022 but actually has been in development since late 2021.

Part of that time was a time when my city was under siege, there was fighting in the outskirts of it, everything outside the window was covered in smoke from the fires and all this was accompanied by incessant loud booms (artillery, aviation, rockets, you name it). What was I doing at this time? I was sitting at my computer and working on the game, like, "...so what may Iolanta say to the protagonist here, hmm? Yeah, sounds like her. And what might she answer to her here? How about this? No, better another way. Yeah, that's definitely better..."

So if anyone thinks some trolls, lying reviews, insinuations about "blah, blah, blah, it will surely be abandoned", or whatever crap in that style is going to stop me - think again. Yes, my financial situation here is complicated. Yes, the Inner Empire is demanding and time-consuming. Yes, I gave a fair warning about that. But the funding situation is already starting to turn around. If things continue at this rate, the development will be in safe soon enough. At least from a financial point of view. Because for me it's not only and not so much a question of money, but also of self-expression. And the necessity of distracting myself from... things around me.

So I assure everyone, the game will not be abandoned. There are only three situations in which this can happen: my death, disability, or absence of money even to cover basic needs. That's it. Anything else can only slow down development but not stop it.

 

[baneini]

Please be a bit more accurate in such statements. It sounds like the game is about to be abandoned.

Heres the more accurate statement from the game:

the current support situation is such that the development itself is under threat. So if you don't want to see Inner Empire turn into another untold story, now is the perfect time to support its development. I'll keep the development afloat as long as I can, but without your help, this fight is doomed.

 

[deadboob]

Question for the dev, do you plan on ever making a full on hard vengeance route for the traumatic past backstory?
I saw a mention of a goddess of vengeance and that made my wonder what a route of the protag vowing to the goddess would look like. If that is a route you plan on making can I throw my hat in the ring for inspiration for the wording of the deal/vow the protag makes to the goddess of vengeance ?

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Question for the dev, do you plan on ever making a full on hard vengeance route for the traumatic past backstory?
I saw a mention of a goddess of vengeance and that made my wonder what a route of the protag vowing to the goddess would look like. If that is a route you plan on making can I throw my hat in the ring for inspiration for the wording of the deal/vow the protag makes to the goddess of vengeance ?

As for any future events or plot twists - I don't answer those questions, sorry. For a story game, spoilers are the worst poison.

But I can give you some hints. Determining what is true and what is false is part of the gameplay. Even your protagonist is just another unreliable narrator. But she believes in gods, yes. So does everyone else. Any doubt of this is heresy, and heretics are burned at the fires. Even the very concept of atheism is dangerous in this society. The protagonist, on the other hand, is an ordinary young woman without much education; she simply has no reason to have any doubts. Even Noble Origin (the most educated version) doesn't suppose that she has been taught dangerous philosophical doctrines (like atheism).

So is there anything supernatural in the game? Maybe there is. Maybe not. The definitive answer will be in due course in the game itself.

About Fathna. She is first of all the goddess of vows and laws, and only then revenge, and not any revenge, but justified revenge. That is why all legal contracts are approved in her temples. It is their additional function (and source of income).

And in Melea's temples, for example, both ritual sex and entire orgies take place. As part of worship. All of her priests and priestesses are also required to have, shall we say, pleasant looks.

Parvat temples are more like trophy halls, as soldiers bring there some of the spoils taken in war as offerings. And human sacrifices are also placed there. Usually the noble leaders of the enemies (similar to what the Romans did in honor of Jupiter).

And the temples of Astaron are a kind of proto-banks. It is customary to offer only gold to this god. And deposits can be left.
Having received a note in one temple of Astaron, it can be cashed in another of his temples on the other side of the country, or even in another country altogether. His priests can also give both business loans and patronize the arts by subsidizing creative people.

All this and more is not a secret part of the exposition, but potential hooks for future scenes and adventures. I try to pitch the exposition gradually so as not to overwhelm the players' perception. But overall - religion is an important part of this society. So I tried to work this aspect as accurately as I could.

 

[berny]

Good game, but like _DarkDesires_ , I wasn't a fan of the Cadonis encounter. I really didn't like that the MC, despite me not making any decisions in that regard, apparently was very attracted to him.
I am totally fine with situations where you don't always have full control over your character and the outcome of a scene, but the forced attraction really rubbed me the wrong way, because imo, who the MC is attracted to should definitely be something you have control over.
I think my problem is the seduction variable and how it is raised. I have three stats with zero points (willpower among them), so I wasn't able to avoid raising the seduction level and apparently that made the MC fall for Cadonis. Very annoying. Would have preferred it if you would be able to reject him (or better said influence how the MC feels) regardless of any stats. Imo this is too important to make it dependent on stats, but I don't want to sound to demanding or ungrateful.

Still a good game though. I'll probably use cheats to raise my willpower to avoid such unpleasantries in the future.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Hey, berny and _DarkDesires_ , I understand your sentiment, but try to look at this whole situation from a different perspective. Or from even two perspectives.

Game mechanic. A protagonist with Willpower 0 is either a submissive or a person who has absolutely no self-control. This is done intentionally, for people who are attracted to playing such a character. Everyone else is better to increase their Willpower to at least 1 (to be able to enhance at the right moment with Insight). To increase any Ability from 0 to 1, you only need 2 points of Insight. Playing without a few "insuring" Insight points can lead to some situations not going in the direction you want. There is even a warning about this in the game itself (in the Insight section).

Roleplay. You play as a young woman, not really experienced, who (in your case) made the mistake of giving in to temptation. Isn't that cool? It gives me (the author) so much room to develop this situation from that direction ("oops, I made a mistake"). Yes, it is also provided for, among others. However, to support this direction, make sure that your protagonist doesn't fall under his influence psychologically/emotionally. Don't choose further lines that demonstrate her enjoyment of what's going on. That part is in the works right now.

 

[_DarkDesires_]

Hey, berny and _DarkDesires_ , I understand your sentiment, but try to look at this whole situation from a different perspective. Or from even two perspectives.

Game mechanic. A protagonist with Willpower 0 is either a submissive or a person who has absolutely no self-control. This is done intentionally, for people who are attracted to playing such a character. Everyone else is better to increase their Willpower to at least 1 (to be able to enhance at the right moment with Insight). To increase any Ability from 0 to 1, you only need 2 points of Insight. Playing without a few "insuring" Insight points can lead to some situations not going in the direction you want. There is even a warning about this in the game itself (in the Insight section).

Roleplay. You play as a young woman, not really experienced, who (in your case) made the mistake of giving in to temptation. Isn't that cool? It gives me (the author) so much room to develop this situation from that direction ("oops, I made a mistake"). Yes, it is also provided for, among others. However, to support this direction, make sure that your protagonist doesn't fall under his influence psychologically/emotionally. Don't choose further lines that demonstrate her enjoyment of what's going on. That part is in the works right now.

I think the origin of any displeasure some might feel about that scene is centered around the concept of submission. I 100% enjoy playing such a character, but to me submission means submitting against her will. Attraction and seduction are vanilla and the complete opposite of a female submissive imho - and thus I feel like attraction should be a choice.

But anyways it's all good bro, don't sweat it. I'm not pressing you about this after my initial comments. Those posts I made were because what you've created so far feels like such a great setup and has such immersion that I guess I feel passionately about it. That's good right? So truly the mechanics in this game are excellent, as is the storytelling and (almost ) all of the choice architecture behind the scenes. I can't wait to see what further develops.
Best of luck for the development!

 

[berny]

Hey, berny and _DarkDesires_ , I understand your sentiment, but try to look at this whole situation from a different perspective. Or from even two perspectives.

Game mechanic. A protagonist with Willpower 0 is either a submissive or a person who has absolutely no self-control. This is done intentionally, for people who are attracted to playing such a character. Everyone else is better to increase their Willpower to at least 1 (to be able to enhance at the right moment with Insight). To increase any Ability from 0 to 1, you only need 2 points of Insight. Playing without a few "insuring" Insight points can lead to some situations not going in the direction you want. There is even a warning about this in the game itself (in the Insight section).

Roleplay. You play as a young woman, not really experienced, who (in your case) made the mistake of giving in to temptation. Isn't that cool? It gives me (the author) so much room to develop this situation from that direction ("oops, I made a mistake"). Yes, it is also provided for, among others. However, to support this direction, make sure that your protagonist doesn't fall under his influence psychologically/emotionally. Don't choose further lines that demonstrate her enjoyment of what's going on. That part is in the works right now.

I'm with _DarkDesires_ , I don't want to cry about that one scene I disliked like too much, in fact, consider a compliment that this one scene bothered me that much because I have only positive things to say about the rest.
Maybe one tiny thing though. There are actually a couple of options in the game where you can specificially express that you are not interested in Cadonis (which the game doesn't seem to track). That, combined with what was mentioned before, makes the attraction a lot harder to swallow for me as the player. But this is your game, and you obviously put a lot of thoughts both in the game and this realtionship, so all is good and do your thing.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

I'm with _DarkDesires_ , I don't want to cry about that one scene I disliked like too much, in fact, consider a compliment that this one scene bothered me that much because I have only positive things to say about the rest.
Maybe one tiny thing though. There are actually a couple of options in the game where you can specificially express that you are not interested in Cadonis (which the game doesn't seem to track). That, combined with what was mentioned before, makes the attraction a lot harder to swallow for me as the player. But this is your game, and you obviously put a lot of thoughts both in the game and this realtionship, so all is good and do your thing.

Are these a couple of choices in the style of declarations of intent before Iolanta? Yes, they are present. But people don't always act as they declare. Not only to others but to themselves too (non-willpower-based, pseudo-resistance choices). Also, the protagonist's purely physical attraction to him is served gradually. Or not. For example, the wet dream moment. It may not be there if the protagonist successfully resists temptation. And many other things.

If I understand correctly, some people would prefer that the protagonist say no and he takes her anyway. By force. This scenario has too many problems for the narrative.

Spoiler: Just some of this problems. Spoiler warning.

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I think I understand what you would like to see. But I had reasons to unfold this specific situation in this these possible ways (to be seduced or not to be seduced). Additional "forced" option in this scenario... problematic. Give me some time. Something tells me that there will be situations in the game that will satisfy... dark desires.

 

[berny]

Are these a couple of choices in the style of declarations of intent before Iolanta? Yes, they are present. But people don't always act as they declare. Not only to others but to themselves too (non-willpower-based, pseudo-resistance choices). Also, the protagonist's purely physical attraction to him is served gradually. Or not. For example, the wet dream moment. It may not be there if the protagonist successfully resists temptation. And many other things.

Sorry, but imo that sort of thinking doesn't work here. Your explanations might work in real life, but not in a choice-based game. You can't give players options like "I won't ever let him touch me" and then assume that they didn't actually mean that.

And no, I didn't want a non-con scene here (although I would have prefered that to the forced attraction). Imo the non-con alternative was simply brought up as a possibility to make this scene happen even when you haven't sown any sexual interest in Cadonis. But your reasons why you didn't do it make a lot of sense.
What I would have liked to see is actually very simple: When you have 0 willpower (and therefore can't reject Cadonis first thing at the lake) the scene is very irritating for players who haven't shown any previous interest (the opposite actually) in him, because the MC is suddenly extremely attracted to him. That's just not something you want to see as a player in a choice-based game. Imo this scene needs a "not willpower dependent" way out. Track the attraction towards Cadonis previous to this scene and if there isn't any, then give us the possibility to simply walk away.
For example: I didn't trigger the Iolanta scene in the first chapter the first time I played because apparently I haven't shown enough interest in her, but here I have shown exactly zero interest in Cadonis yet my MC acts like she can't think about anything else.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Sorry, but imo that sort of thinking doesn't work here. Your explanations might work in real life, but not in a choice-based game. You can't give players options like "I won't ever let him touch me" and then assume that they didn't actually mean that.

And no, I didn't want a non-con scene here (although I would have prefered that to the forced attraction). Imo the non-con alternative was simply brought up as a possibility to make this scene happen even when you haven't sown any sexual interest in Cadonis. But your reasons why you didn't do it make a lot of sense.
What I would have liked to see is actually very simple: When you have 0 willpower (and therefore can't reject Cadonis first thing at the lake) the scene is very irritating for players who haven't shown any previous interest (the opposite actually) in him, because the MC is suddenly extremely attracted to him. That's just not something you want to see as a player in a choice-based game. Imo this scene needs a "not willpower dependent" way out. Track the attraction towards Cadonis previous to this scene and if there isn't any, then give us the possibility to simply walk away.
For example: I didn't trigger the Iolanta scene in the first chapter the first time I played because apparently I haven't shown enough interest in her, but here I have shown exactly zero interest in Cadonis yet my MC acts like she can't think about anything else.

Your protagonist behaves this way because Cadonis begins to act (seduce). If you want to play in RPG with a character that can resist this or similar things, you obviously need Willpower of at least level 1.

This scene ends in variations:
- No, fuck off, lover boy (successful Willpower check, no sex).
- She just can't say no because of weak Willpower, or because the player has allowed the "seduction" to escalate. (sex)
- She can say no, but she doesn't really want to. (sex)

The whole further situation evolves depending on this (next update). And hypothetical option to just walk away strips the whole situation of any challenge. As if in some other RPG just walk out of the obligatory plot battle with the words "you know, I'm not in the mood, I'll just leave" and the enemies are like "oh, well, okay, see you." With the adjustment, of course, that in the Inner Empire, the battles are of a different kind. Most of the time. So I honestly don't understand what it was that made you uncomfortable. In the future, there will be much tougher situations, with much more difficult checks.

 

[chu2834822]

Are these a couple of choices in the style of declarations of intent before Iolanta? Yes, they are present. But people don't always act as they declare. Not only to others but to themselves too (non-willpower-based, pseudo-resistance choices). Also, the protagonist's purely physical attraction to him is served gradually. Or not. For example, the wet dream moment. It may not be there if the protagonist successfully resists temptation. And many other things.

If I understand correctly, some people would prefer that the protagonist say no and he takes her anyway. By force. This scenario has too many problems for the narrative.

Spoiler: Just some of this problems. Spoiler warning.

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I think I understand what you would like to see. But I had reasons to unfold this specific situation in this these possible ways (to be seduced or not to be seduced). Additional "forced" option in this scenario... problematic. Give me some time. Something tells me that there will be situations in the game that will satisfy... dark desires.

Is there a way to have quiet sex with Cadonis? It was very awkward afterwards. I think the whole camp heard it.

 

[berny]

Your protagonist behaves this way because Cadonis begins to act (seduce). If you want to play in RPG with a character that can resist this or similar things, you obviously need Willpower of at least level 1.

This scene ends in variations:
- No, fuck off, lover boy (successful Willpower check, no sex).
- She just can't say no because of weak Willpower, or because the player has allowed the "seduction" to escalate. (sex)
- She can say no, but she doesn't really want to. (sex)

The whole further situation evolves depending on this (next update). And hypothetical option to just walk away strips the whole situation of any challenge. As if in some other RPG just walk out of the obligatory plot battle with the words "you know, I'm not in the mood, I'll just leave" and the enemies are like "oh, well, okay, see you." With the adjustment, of course, that in the Inner Empire, the battles are of a different kind. Most of the time. So I honestly don't understand what it was that made you uncomfortable. In the future, there will be much tougher situations, with much more difficult checks.

Yes, it's obvious we're running in circles here, so let's just leave it at that. And you're right, the willpower thing kind of solves it so all is good.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Is there a way to have quiet sex with Cadonis? It was very awkward afterwards. I think the whole camp heard it.

Spoiler: they heard. I could add an option for the protagonist to be quieter, or at least try, but there's still Cadonis howling at the end... So, it's kinda useless.