Others No Trace of Luck - A Strip Poker Dating Sim [v08 Beta] [NoTraceOfLuck]

4.80 star(s) 10 Votes

Thanny

New Member
Dec 20, 2017
8
7
117
The game gets stuck after taking Anna to the college. It shows ending 6 of 8, then sits at a black screen with no inputs doing anything. If I save at that point and load the save, it just jumps back to the beginning of the college outing.

Same thing happened in the previous version. I started a new game with this one.
 

NoTraceOfLuck

Active Member
Game Developer
Apr 20, 2018
500
824
163
Thank you both so much for the thoughtful reviews!

It's fun with some interesting things both with dialogue and mini-games, but does need some work. I know it's a beta release, and this is not a shit on dev tone, I like the game and strip card genre. Some of the jokes were funny. As for issues as it is a beta, Spelling errors as previously mentioned, also:

  • Reloading at times, most prevalent for when trying to reload a save at the beginning of a mini-game. However did occur when reloading prior to text conversations and poker matches too. Screen permanently displays information for the prior to reload task along with the new text from your reload. Need to close out whole game and restart.
  • At times game becomes unresponsive to any clicking on screen. Has occurred when playing game and also when loading a save after this occurs. Need to close and reopen game.
  • While replaying poker games (NOT because I lost but because I was nice enough to let them win) the unskippable cut scenes of dialogue can become annoying if it's your X time playing through.
  • Be nice for a way to go back while having a conversation as sometimes clicking/spacebar finger likes to click 2 times.
  • The poker is limited. It feels less about skill and more about luck or "grinding" whether I win. Taking some fun away from the poker and making cheats feel required to win rather than an easy way to complete all tasks. Maybe it's just me.

Overall the game is enjoyable, with a few different characters, albeit not incredibly long with a moderate amount of poker play. Thanks for what there is thus far dev.

I think most of the saving / UI / reloading issues were all caused by the same bug. I have uploaded a fixed version to itch: https://f95zone.to/threads/no-trace...m-v08-beta-notraceofluck.241585/post-18614084

Hopefully that resolves all of those types of issues.

I will look into adding a dialogue history in the next update. I don't think it should be too hard. It probably won't be a full rewind button, but will probably be similar to some Ren'Py games where it's just a history you can scroll through.

And yes I agree that the poker is limited. For what it's worth, I do consider cheats to another part of the "strategy." It can make sense to use your cheats strategically eg: If you saw Ashely keep 4 of her 5 cards, that's probably a good time to use a cheat. It's not much, but I do treat them as mostly a recommended part of the experience. Most of the issues really stem from 1v1 poker just not being particularly exciting, especially 5-card draw. This is a big reason why I started adding "different" types of gameplay to the game as well, such as the beach minigame and the "choices" sequence with Anna.

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I totally echo, the pubic hair request. :)
I got to the end of the current version and wanted to give my feedback. It's too early in the dev cycle to leave a review even if it would be mostly favorable. The following are the things that stuck to me.

First, I really enjoyed this story and game. The models are great, the dialogue seems for the most part to be intelligent and 'real' while still being fun. The poker and mini-games are fun.

Here is the constructive (hopefully) feedback that I think can make this even better.
- The first thing I will mention is when you create a quality product, having elements that go below that quality standard tend to stick out badly. A couple parts of Ashely's story I found jarring to immersion. The way she 'randomly' picked the protagonist just was wrong. Personally I think that whole setup scene needs to be reworked. She's coming across to me more and more not as any kind of professional but as a little girl playing pretend. And it's also weird that the protagonist isn't feeling that as well. As a side note, I was wondering if the 'mark' was really her brother or something given the white hair and how he just silently and submissively stayed outside while his car keys were inside.

- Along the same lines as the above, having the protagonist stand at the poker table is more of the same. I am guessing it's because you didn't have an asset available for 3 people at a table or something like that but that whole thing just didn't work for me.

- There desperately needs to be a 'back' button for when you've accidentally skipped past dialogue you wanted to read.

- The ctrl button to fast forward dialogue doesn't work during the poker sessions. Hopefully that can be addressed.

- There needs to be more guidance imo. Some people find it fun to figure out the rules on their own. I find it frustrating - my enjoyment is playing the game and watching myself progress. A few examples are:
- what purpose do the stars have in the progression bars. I thought they were the triggers for removing clothes. Then I thought they are dialogue triggers but sometimes there was dialogue even when no star was gotten and vice versa.
- how many progression bar refreshes there are, or phrased another way, how much space do I have before I lose.
- more info on the beach/talking point mini-game. I wasn't sure if I choose boardwalk if that ends things or just continues them. I ended up replaying repeatedly until i earned Beach and never did the boardwalk because I thought it would shut me out of the good endings.

- Unless the intent is to have the beach game be nearly entirely luck, there needs to be more turns to collect info or less colors to choose from. There is no way to do that 'puzzle' without slot machine levels of luck.

- It would be nice to know if the cards in the poker games are random or scripted. I suspect the latter because I saw a high amount of 4 of a kind and other low probability out comes.

- It would be nice to know if using the cheats gives some sort of negative consequence. I was really hesitant to use them and may have ended up grinding a lot more than was actually fun.

- I get the idea of maintaining the slow burn by having the girls cover up their private bits when they lose their clothes but all I could think of (after taking in the sexiness of the poses and models) was how unrealistic it was to play poker that way. Even if you're playing one handed, holding your arm like that for an extended period is tiring as well as clumsy - but admittedly it's still within the realm of possibility I suppose. Lisa's position though was totally unworkable especially if she is trying to keep her lower bits unseen. I do concede though it was sexy as heck to look at.

- This is kind of pie in the sky, but I'd like to see some kind of betting in the poker games. That's a huge part of poker and it fundamentally changes how the game is played. Under the current rules, unless your initial draw contains a pair or other combo, your highest probability for a win is to discard 4 cards (assuming you have at least one card J or above). The odds of pulling a pair (or other combo) are nearly 50%. It doesn't make sense to try for a flush even if you have 4 cards of the same suit. Same thing for a straight.

Anyway those are my standout thoughts of what so far is an outstandingly good game. I look forward to the next release!

I'd also like to give a shout out to how responsive you been in these forums and how fast you've been to apply hotfixes. Thank you again!! You rock!

You have many astute observations, haha, you've noticed a lot of the "oversights." I will address some of them just so they aren't a mystery.

  • Why does "the target" have white hair?
    • Well the idea was meant to be that he's old and rich, and old rich dudes have white hair. But... he doesn't look old at all. So this definitely isn't clear in the story. Having him be her brother would be an interesting twist though.

  • Why was the protagonist standing?
    • Really just because it's hard to get a good perspective that shows everybody, in the aspect ratio that the game is currently in. Also I think Ashely forcing you to stand up like a dork, is fitting!

  • There desperately needs to be a 'back' button for when you've accidentally skipped past dialogue you wanted to read.
  • The ctrl button to fast forward dialogue doesn't work during the poker sessions. Hopefully that can be addressed.
    • Will look into both of these for the next update!

  • What are the stars
    • These represent a guaranteed dialogue / progression to a new "character state", generally. Usually that's stripping, but in some cases it's eg: Lisa becoming more frustrated that she's losing.
    • Sometimes I also have "ambient" dialogue that happens randomly or semi-randomly, but this generally has no larger effect on the story

  • Will bad choices affect your ending
    • There will be no choices which affect the "big picture" ending. Any choices only affect the immediate scene you're in, and that's how it will always be. This is for 2 reasons:
      • 1: I think playing through the game again to get a 2nd ending is usually more frustrating than it is rewarding. Especially because you already have to play through specific scenes several times to see all the wallpapers.
      • 2: Branching the story takes a lot of additional work.

  • The beach game kinda sucks
    • Indeed it does. My original vision for that minigame was COMPLETELY different, but it eventually morphed into a screwed up version of a with the addition of RNG. Mostly a failed experiment. But I think it's "good enough" at serving a purpose of making you earn your victory, so-to-speak, so I don't plan to remove it. At most I will use it once, maybe twice, in the entire rest of the game.

  • Are the cards scripted
    • Not scripted! However both you and your opponent both get separate "decks", so if you have an ace of spades, it's technically also possible for your opponent to also have an ace of spades. I think this makes it more likely to get things like a 4 of a kind. Why is it like this? No idea! It's a bug that I may or may not figure out how to fix at some point.

  • Are there negative consequences for cheats?
    • Nope! Originally the game did not have cheats. However that made it almost entirely 100% RNG. When testing it, I sometimes had to play 10 matches just to win 1. Cheats are really just to help get through the RNG fest without rage quitting.

  • Betting
    • I actually had "betting" in the game originally (in fact it's still in the game when you play against Tessa). However it really has almost all of the same problems due to being 1v1. it's almost entirely RNG. It's also very hard to "script" events when you go all-in and lose all your chips immediately, for example. The game can end in just a few turns.

  • Why don't you fix all of that stuff
    • Really it's just time. I try to get the bar for quality reasonably high, but I always have to stop and just release the update eventually, otherwise I know I can spend months on just one scene. Since the game is 100% free, I of course can't work on it full time.
    • But I do appreicate the flaws being pointed out! it helps me to not repeat the same mistakes in the future, and sometimes they're easy things that I can just fix.
 

NoTraceOfLuck

Active Member
Game Developer
Apr 20, 2018
500
824
163
The game gets stuck after taking Anna to the college. It shows ending 6 of 8, then sits at a black screen with no inputs doing anything. If I save at that point and load the save, it just jumps back to the beginning of the college outing.

Same thing happened in the previous version. I started a new game with this one.
Can you try download the latest version from itch:

If the issue still happens, can you attach a save file?
 

CapnBlaze

Member
Jul 28, 2018
159
121
73
Thank you both so much for the thoughtful reviews!




I think most of the saving / UI / reloading issues were all caused by the same bug. I have uploaded a fixed version to itch: https://f95zone.to/threads/no-trace...m-v08-beta-notraceofluck.241585/post-18614084

Hopefully that resolves all of those types of issues.

I will look into adding a dialogue history in the next update. I don't think it should be too hard. It probably won't be a full rewind button, but will probably be similar to some Ren'Py games where it's just a history you can scroll through.

And yes I agree that the poker is limited. For what it's worth, I do consider cheats to another part of the "strategy." It can make sense to use your cheats strategically eg: If you saw Ashely keep 4 of her 5 cards, that's probably a good time to use a cheat. It's not much, but I do treat them as mostly a recommended part of the experience. Most of the issues really stem from 1v1 poker just not being particularly exciting, especially 5-card draw. This is a big reason why I started adding "different" types of gameplay to the game as well, such as the beach minigame and the "choices" sequence with Anna.

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  • The beach game kinda sucks
    • Indeed it does. My original vision for that minigame was COMPLETELY different, but it eventually morphed into a screwed up version of a with the addition of RNG. Mostly a failed experiment. But I think it's "good enough" at serving a purpose of making you earn your victory, so-to-speak, so I don't plan to remove it. At most I will use it once, maybe twice, in the entire rest of the game.
I *like* the beach game. I just think it needs to be tweaked to make it more a logic game than another RNG grind slog.
 
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Thank you both so much for the thoughtful reviews!




I think most of the saving / UI / reloading issues were all caused by the same bug. I have uploaded a fixed version to itch: https://f95zone.to/threads/no-trace...m-v08-beta-notraceofluck.241585/post-18614084

Hopefully that resolves all of those types of issues.

I will look into adding a dialogue history in the next update. I don't think it should be too hard. It probably won't be a full rewind button, but will probably be similar to some Ren'Py games where it's just a history you can scroll through.

And yes I agree that the poker is limited. For what it's worth, I do consider cheats to another part of the "strategy." It can make sense to use your cheats strategically eg: If you saw Ashely keep 4 of her 5 cards, that's probably a good time to use a cheat. It's not much, but I do treat them as mostly a recommended part of the experience. Most of the issues really stem from 1v1 poker just not being particularly exciting, especially 5-card draw. This is a big reason why I started adding "different" types of gameplay to the game as well, such as the beach minigame and the "choices" sequence with Anna.

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




You have many astute observations, haha, you've noticed a lot of the "oversights." I will address some of them just so they aren't a mystery.

  • Why does "the target" have white hair?
    • Well the idea was meant to be that he's old and rich, and old rich dudes have white hair. But... he doesn't look old at all. So this definitely isn't clear in the story. Having him be her brother would be an interesting twist though.

  • Why was the protagonist standing?
    • Really just because it's hard to get a good perspective that shows everybody, in the aspect ratio that the game is currently in. Also I think Ashely forcing you to stand up like a dork, is fitting!

  • There desperately needs to be a 'back' button for when you've accidentally skipped past dialogue you wanted to read.
  • The ctrl button to fast forward dialogue doesn't work during the poker sessions. Hopefully that can be addressed.
    • Will look into both of these for the next update!

  • What are the stars
    • These represent a guaranteed dialogue / progression to a new "character state", generally. Usually that's stripping, but in some cases it's eg: Lisa becoming more frustrated that she's losing.
    • Sometimes I also have "ambient" dialogue that happens randomly or semi-randomly, but this generally has no larger effect on the story

  • Will bad choices affect your ending
    • There will be no choices which affect the "big picture" ending. Any choices only affect the immediate scene you're in, and that's how it will always be. This is for 2 reasons:
      • 1: I think playing through the game again to get a 2nd ending is usually more frustrating than it is rewarding. Especially because you already have to play through specific scenes several times to see all the wallpapers.
      • 2: Branching the story takes a lot of additional work.

  • The beach game kinda sucks
    • Indeed it does. My original vision for that minigame was COMPLETELY different, but it eventually morphed into a screwed up version of a with the addition of RNG. Mostly a failed experiment. But I think it's "good enough" at serving a purpose of making you earn your victory, so-to-speak, so I don't plan to remove it. At most I will use it once, maybe twice, in the entire rest of the game.

  • Are the cards scripted
    • Not scripted! However both you and your opponent both get separate "decks", so if you have an ace of spades, it's technically also possible for your opponent to also have an ace of spades. I think this makes it more likely to get things like a 4 of a kind. Why is it like this? No idea! It's a bug that I may or may not figure out how to fix at some point.

  • Are there negative consequences for cheats?
    • Nope! Originally the game did not have cheats. However that made it almost entirely 100% RNG. When testing it, I sometimes had to play 10 matches just to win 1. Cheats are really just to help get through the RNG fest without rage quitting.

  • Betting
    • I actually had "betting" in the game originally (in fact it's still in the game when you play against Tessa). However it really has almost all of the same problems due to being 1v1. it's almost entirely RNG. It's also very hard to "script" events when you go all-in and lose all your chips immediately, for example. The game can end in just a few turns.

  • Why don't you fix all of that stuff
    • Really it's just time. I try to get the bar for quality reasonably high, but I always have to stop and just release the update eventually, otherwise I know I can spend months on just one scene. Since the game is 100% free, I of course can't work on it full time.
    • But I do appreicate the flaws being pointed out! it helps me to not repeat the same mistakes in the future, and sometimes they're easy things that I can just fix.
Appreciate your engaging with the thread and not immediately becoming defensive or saying "Well than make it yourself."

For the informal vote developing about the beach game. I like the game, however I reset for what I view to be the optimal strategy of finding the X colors within first few turns. A quick solution could be to make a choice of "easy" or "normal" with the former making the game 6 or 7 colors vs 8? Again not a dev, but on the surface that seems simple to implement if you were considering changes there.

You spoke about finding a way to make the 1v1 poker better so nothing more to really say, as it seems you are equally interested in a solution.

The 1,2,3 star achievements can be confusing. When they appear does that mean they have been completed? Is that the full list regardless of completion?

Maybe change the star or text color of completed vs incomplete or strike through completed. Something to indicate this is done this is not.

EDIT: I've thought of what I wanted to say. Many aspects feel that you the dev know what you intend or how to properly progress, because you are the creator, but forget the player may not be aware. For example

I like the date conversation mini-games but does mood have any impact on the game or relationships? Does asking more of the questions not tied to stars matter?

I like poker and know winning hand strength order but does anyone who plays? Maybe add a help there for players to reference.
 
Last edited:
4.80 star(s) 10 Votes