Others Porn Empire [v0.92b] [PEdev]

[OUK]

As it was not (?) posted so far, there was a small update/info on his Patreon:

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Hi!

After some rough times we're back. Payments are still paused but i'll turn them on once i actually release something.
What can you expect for v0.9?
Mostly focusing on making rival companies more integrated into the game.
Main goal is to make each playthrough a bit different so you don't autopilot.

At the start all niches are covered apart from few (randomized).
Now one strategy is to tap into them and start building your company without interfering with your rivals too much.
If RNG wasn't on your side and free tags are hard to get or you just don't want them, well you need to rethink and start increasing market share without pissing off your rival too much.
You can straight up start sabotaging their servers, taking their stars and so on but they'll return the favor.
Lower your website subscription prices and attract more people while making your competition angry.

You can visit porn conventions, win awards, shoot high quality scenes and build your reputation & ms that way.


Each rival also has what you could call paranoia and companies with low values wont care at all what you do and don't perceive you as a threat while others will be on high alert by you just existing. This is so they don't react the same way in each playthrough.
So you can do it slow and steady or be aggressive with price dumping, deceptive marketing, sabotaging...
Now another not yet implemented idea is to include CEOs of those companies. You could get info on them and exploit it. For example one likes specific country, well why dont we take him there...
You're good buddies with one CEO? Why don't you suggest to form cartels and start crashing the third rival.
_______
I'd also like to mix up the policies and make them locked for 3 months. While I don't want to make decisions permanent, at least we have to live with them for some time.
Want to ignore websites, cams and photostudio and just continue publishing on net battling piracy? Well with certain policy combinations you'll be able to.
Like RPG builds with unlimited respecs.
Ideally, all ways of making money should be viable IF you specialize into them. Or spread around and be decent in all of them.

I also have some catching up to do, so you can expect many of the suggestions/bugfixes you've dished out in the last 2 months.

Thanks for the support.

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[Gouryo]

To be honest, when I read that, I have the feeling dev is talking about a total different game.

I understand the fact he want to dev rival companies and it could be a good idea. I like the idea of having different ways to play it.

But I think this game would be unbalance for a LONG time if dev just focus on developping new features and not to fix balance. I understand you balance your game at the end, but when I read :

Ideally, all ways of making money should be viable IF you specialize into them.

And on this forum, almost everybody cheat cause game is too grindy, I think dev doesnt really focus on the main issue right now.
If you want your game works with a lot of features, it should work with less features first.

But I like the ambition of dev for his game and it could be a really good management game when finished !!!

 

[UnderPM]

To be honest, when I read that, I have the feeling dev is talking about a total different game.

I understand the fact he want to dev rival companies and it could be a good idea. I like the idea of having different ways to play it.

But I think this game would be unbalance for a LONG time if dev just focus on developping new features and not to fix balance. I understand you balance your game at the end, but when I read :



And on this forum, almost everybody cheat cause game is too grindy, I think dev doesnt really focus on the main issue right now.
If you want your game works with a lot of features, it should work with less features first.

But I like the ambition of dev for his game and it could be a really good management game when finished !!!

To be fair, i'm playing this game for quite a while, and the balance change a LOT of times. For exemple consistency came on the last update. Before that photo studio was really too strong, and websites got buffed on the last couple updates. The dev took a break so obviously the problem stayed for a while, but he always adress those problems on updates. The goal of making the late game more satisfying is planned for a while. It's just a type of game which you play for 20 or 30h per save, not for quick fap.

 

[Gouryo]

Oh you know, like Free Cities, its a just a excellent management game and I play it for gameplay.

And okay, its good to know dev balance game sometimes. After playing it 20h since last update, I know its playable without cheat, and it just need some adjustements about contracts, lvl of fame, rivals and the game would be very good again. I think its pretty well balanc between camgirl, sites, carwash (dont know for photostudio).


And I found what I think is a bug. When you make a contract with a guy, contract cost... 3 times whats written. Maybe more. I play on easy diffculty and I took no mods at beginning

 

[BillieJeans]

And on this forum, almost everybody cheat cause game is too grindy, I think dev doesnt really focus on the main issue right now.
If you want your game works with a lot of features, it should work with less features first.

I don't think the game is that grindy. but I do agree that balance changes are required.
Imho three main problems are
1) Taxes - calculated based on your income, not profit; not only is it not realistic and intuitive, it also greatly hampers any attempts at expanding business (as you can't write off costs), it makes it difficult to start shooting in studios (crew costs quite a lot, but again, you can't write it off) etc.
What's even worse, tutorial would make one believe it IS based on profit. LOL nope.

2) Contracts are way overpriced, but are mandatory if you want a high level model to stay with you. In other words, you have to invest a lot of money to turn them into superstars, then you have to invest even more - otherwise rivals with infinite money will steal them nigh instantly.
Oh, and not to mention contracts are heavily bugged. And they should not block everything that's not in a contract (model could just charge usual fee for it, or something)

3) What is unnecessarily grindy is looking for models. No way to add stats past the potential level and no way to add or remove traits. Basically if a model spawns without good traits - it's useless. With bad traits? Useless. With low potential and poor stat? Useless again. Keep rolling the dice. You need a petite model? Try again. Oh and you might lose this characteristic after surgery - which only adds up to 20 beauty anyway, so if the model is ugly to begin with? Yea, try again.
I understand that it would completely change the game, but then again, some even expensive and/or rarely available options would be welcome.
Oh, and contracts that should give extra stats and traits don't give those rewards (at least, photoshoots don't).

Furthermore,
4) Imho the game needs more ways to raise depravity, especially past 40.
Yea, you can just stuff them with all possible drugs, but it's way better and easier to find a model with high depravity to begin with. And that's despite my concern #3.

5) Photostudio requirement "models that have not shot porn" should only count published scenes.

I think its pretty well balanc between camgirl, sites, carwash (dont know for photostudio).

Photostudio is bonkers. Imho the most profitable venue (relative to the investment)

And I found what I think is a bug. When you make a contract with a guy, contract cost... 3 times whats written. Maybe more. I play on easy diffculty and I took no mods at beginning

This is a bug and it applies to all agency models. I believe there is a cancellation fee, like with rival girls, but the game fails to display it.

 

[Gouryo]

I totally agree with what you wrote, except this :

3) What is unnecessarily grindy is looking for models. No way to add stats past the potential level and no way to add or remove traits. Basically if a model spawns without good traits - it's useless. With bad traits? Useless. With low potential and poor stat? Useless again. Keep rolling the dice. You need a petite model? Try again. Oh and you might lose this characteristic after surgery - which only adds up to 20 beauty anyway, so if the model is ugly to begin with? Yea, try again.
I understand that it would completely change the game, but then again, some even expensive and/or rarely available options would be welcome.
Oh, and contracts that should give extra stats and traits don't give those rewards (at least, photoshoots don't).

I mean thats the part that make you play more and more at the game, trying to find some "perfect" models. For me thats the main thing to do during "mid game", or its just so boring to just plan scenes again and again every week.
Just one feature is missing : the way to pay a lot of money to find a perfect girl. You would need to pay a headhunter, looking for specific stats (potential > 90, that kind of traits, this part of the world,...) and after few weeks, he would come back with the girl that fit.
Im still comparing it to "Free Cities" game (play it if you didnt and if you like the gameplay of Porn Empire ; its just a text based game, but maybe the best management game here). In Free Cities at the end, you could pay a lot of money to find the girl who fit your taste.
The only problem is, its grindy to find girls cause of lvl 3 of fame when rivals steal yours.

And about other issue (taxes, contracts,...) I think its pretty simple to fix in first time to make game more playable then dev could focus to add more features !!!

 

[BillieJeans]

I totally agree with what you wrote, except this :



I mean thats the part that make you play more and more at the game, trying to find some "perfect" models. For me thats the main thing to do during "mid game", or its just so boring to just plan scenes again and again every week.
Just one feature is missing : the way to pay a lot of money to find a perfect girl. You would need to pay a headhunter, looking for specific stats (potential > 90, that kind of traits, this part of the world,...) and after few weeks, he would come back with the girl that fit.
Im still comparing it to "Free Cities" game (play it if you didnt and if you like the gameplay of Porn Empire ; its just a text based game, but maybe the best management game here). In Free Cities at the end, you could pay a lot of money to find the girl who fit your taste.
The only problem is, its grindy to find girls cause of lvl 3 of fame when rivals steal yours.

And about other issue (taxes, contracts,...) I think its pretty simple to fix in first time to make game more playable then dev could focus to add more features !!!

I mean, there is Talent Search and you can throw parties - both helping you find some high quality models that vaguely fit your requirements. Vaguely, that's the problem. Also, for the "play more and more" - it's kinda pointless. Just let me train the girls properly!
And yeah, Free Cities are awesome, I've spend playing FC way more than I'd like to admit.

Also, fun little bug - Night Club does not count as a steady job for retirement purposes - but Strip Club, Carwash and Photostudio all do.

 

[mbmb]

I don't think the game is that grindy. but I do agree that balance changes are required.
Imho three main problems are
1) Taxes - calculated based on your income, not profit; not only is it not realistic and intuitive, it also greatly hampers any attempts at expanding business (as you can't write off costs), it makes it difficult to start shooting in studios (crew costs quite a lot, but again, you can't write it off) etc.
What's even worse, tutorial would make one believe it IS based on profit. LOL nope.

2) Contracts are way overpriced, but are mandatory if you want a high level model to stay with you. In other words, you have to invest a lot of money to turn them into superstars, then you have to invest even more - otherwise rivals with infinite money will steal them nigh instantly.
Oh, and not to mention contracts are heavily bugged. And they should not block everything that's not in a contract (model could just charge usual fee for it, or something)

3) What is unnecessarily grindy is looking for models. No way to add stats past the potential level and no way to add or remove traits. Basically if a model spawns without good traits - it's useless. With bad traits? Useless. With low potential and poor stat? Useless again. Keep rolling the dice. You need a petite model? Try again. Oh and you might lose this characteristic after surgery - which only adds up to 20 beauty anyway, so if the model is ugly to begin with? Yea, try again.
I understand that it would completely change the game, but then again, some even expensive and/or rarely available options would be welcome.
Oh, and contracts that should give extra stats and traits don't give those rewards (at least, photoshoots don't).

Furthermore,
4) Imho the game needs more ways to raise depravity, especially past 40.
Yea, you can just stuff them with all possible drugs, but it's way better and easier to find a model with high depravity to begin with. And that's despite my concern #3.

5) Photostudio requirement "models that have not shot porn" should only count published scenes.



Photostudio is bonkers. Imho the most profitable venue (relative to the investment)



This is a bug and it applies to all agency models. I believe there is a cancellation fee, like with rival girls, but the game fails to display it.

1) it should be based on profit, not income. i've changed that some time ago(pretty sure based on your feedback).
i have to check, maybe i fucked up when merging the changes.
also tax% is variable and lower at the start.
2) well at least you'll be able to adjust contracts now, so you can start with only few clauses and add more as their depravity rise.
3) you'll be able to remove certain bad traits, thats the role of all those unfinished doctors.
4) maybe yeah. have to find some non retarded way to do that. dungeon is whatever, why would low depravity chick agree to go there in the first place.
5) was adjusted a bit in the latest dev. it's still too good lol

To be honest, when I read that, I have the feeling dev is talking about a total different game.

I understand the fact he want to dev rival companies and it could be a good idea. I like the idea of having different ways to play it.

But I think this game would be unbalance for a LONG time if dev just focus on developping new features and not to fix balance. I understand you balance your game at the end, but when I read :



And on this forum, almost everybody cheat cause game is too grindy, I think dev doesnt really focus on the main issue right now.
If you want your game works with a lot of features, it should work with less features first.

But I like the ambition of dev for his game and it could be a really good management game when finished !!!

didnt want to spend time on balancing the game before introducing rival companies, let's say the last big feature before 1.0
ideally i want almost all the side shit to be viable in some sense, so you can start there and not feel like you've fucked up.
like focusing on photo contracts, strip club, carwash, cams, low budget porn with whores, ... but you'll never be great in them unless you focus on them and specialize with policies.

could be said for every game ever, but once you figure it out it's super easy. thats why many use cheats to just fuck around and try to break child support records and such.
it's only grindy when you're new, bombarded with 12 different things and you dont know all the traps. questionable balance doesnt help here either.

 

[Ofdimaelr]

didnt want to spend time on balancing the game before introducing rival companies, let's say the last big feature before 1.0
ideally i want almost all the side shit to be viable in some sense, so you can start there and not feel like you've fucked up.
like focusing on photo contracts, strip club, carwash, cams, low budget porn with whores, ... but you'll never be great in them unless you focus on them and specialize with policies.

Really nice that you are offering choice to us.

It's a really good game but it feel soulless I would say either it's the lack of story or the intro, do you plan on adding some music ?

 

[BillieJeans]

First of all, please, don't take my post bad. PE is one of only three adult games that got me really hooked. I really love it.

1) it should be based on profit, not income. i've changed that some time ago(pretty sure based on your feedback).
i have to check, maybe i fucked up when merging the changes.
also tax% is variable and lower at the start.

Then perhaps it's just Stats screen that's bugged?
In Stats I'm seeing 12% nominal tax rate, 218 474 tax and 1 828 392 income, 476 007 monthly bills (tax included) and 1 453 966 expenses (overall a small loss).
That's 11,95% tax rate based on income, but I don't know if that's the amount I actually paid.
Also, I think it was not my feedback, though it did annoy me greatly.

2) well at least you'll be able to adjust contracts now, so you can start with only few clauses and add more as their depravity rise.

Makes sense and it fixes my biggest concern, so I'm definitely looking to it.

3) you'll be able to remove certain bad traits, thats the role of all those unfinished doctors.

Yooo, I love you! Though the word "certain" makes me a bit less excited about this change (and probably will be more realistic than unlimited removals)
And it makes perfect sense, too (psychiatrist... I should've guessed!)

4) maybe yeah. have to find some non retarded way to do that. dungeon is whatever, why would low depravity chick agree to go there in the first place.

Perhaps tie it to relationship and corruption like with staff members?

5) was adjusted a bit in the latest dev. it's still too good lol

Oh yea, Photostudio is too good. Please don't nerf it too hard!

could be said for every game ever, but once you figure it out it's super easy.

Yup, I definitely agree with this. It's definitely not hard if you know what to do and what to expect.

Also, the post is long allready so I guess I'll report some extra exploits/bugs that I don't think were mentioned anywhere in this topic.

1) Special characters can be recruited with almost no time lost - simply leaving to world map and returning to the location rerolls them, and it costs no time. Only characters that can't be cheesed like that are Miss Payton (Entering main hospital hall takes 10 minutes, which might be a bug itself), twins (they actually spawn based on ingame days, though something's wrong, see screenshot)

In reality, it rerolls recruited characters too (so as long as you don't fail, you can keep recruiting characters from single location with no time loss)

2) "Models required" contracts don't require available models; even already scheduled models will do (though their completion does make models unavailable)

3) Employees in training, while unavailable, immediately start working with upgraded skills.

4) Shooting scenes with starting model (random one, not modded) seems to get cheaper as time passes. I've seen one go all the way to $100 per boy-girl scene.

5) When offering contracts to rival models there's a cancellation fee. Makes perfect sense.
The problem is, it's different whether you're offering contract yourself or just using PA to get the model to cancel her current contract.


And the 310k value is not correct (perhaps related to this post). It took almost 6m to get her to sign relatively unremarkable contract for ~50k.

Using Financial Advisor works properly, or at least it's close enough that I've never noticed a difference.

6) When performing surgery (and perhaps other appearance changes, too) you can override alt and hair color tags. The thing is, this override changes model's characteristics even if you back out of the surgery.

And the last one, unfortunately vague...

7) In one of my playthroughs Sabine Engels' storyline just wouldn't finish (I think the scene where she tells you about creating company was the last to trigger?). I'll try to replicate it if I can, but I don't have that savefile anymore. It was one of the playthroughs that wouldn't shoot porn for few months, so perhaps something's related to that?
Also, have you considered tying it to triggers other than publishing videos? Photo contracts, for example, could also trigger her visits.

 

[NecessaryEvil69]

Would it be possible to add background audio volume control? The office is driving me nuts. I like to hear the GUI, I dont want to turn all the sound down, but that office...

 

[Hans Zuchter]

Someone said before that this is turning into the Dwarf Fortress of porn games, and I agree.

This is a good thing. Far too many porn games are either 100% porn and no actual gameplay, or they're too focused on game mechanics to deliver enough porn to satisfy.

This game strikes that elusive perfect balance, IMHO.

 

[Hans Zuchter]

How to get PERFECT models & staff (without cheating):

1) Go to the Employment Agency

2) Click on Potential twice to sort them from highest to lowest.

3) For staff, grab any level 1 person with a potential of 95+. For future models level doesn't matter.

4) As staff, give them any job that they don't dislike. As models, hire as random staff and then use Corruption to turn them into models.

5) Because of their high potential, you can train all their stats to 100.

Note:

This isn't cheap, because you'll have to pay for training. Expect to blow $100K to get your uberbeing, and it will probably take six months until they're out of training. But you will have the ultimate model/staff member when you are done, no cheating required - just time and money.

The reason you want L1 for staff is that staff salary demands don't scale the same for those you trained vs those who are already trained. What this means is that if you hire a level 10 staff member they will demand twice as much pay as a level 1 staff member that you personally trained up to level 10. Yes, training isn't cheap but in the long run having a level 10 staff who is Ecstatic over their $2500 a month salary is far better than a level 10 staff who is Angry at their $5000 per month salary.


Another reason to go straight for camwhores: They work from home so they don't have to live in the same country as you. If you recruited them in Japan, then they can work from Japan. No need to offer them any kind of contract or even fly them over.

 

[BillieJeans]

How to get PERFECT models & staff (without cheating):

I love this idea

 

[Seikatsu Shin]

The special character in the hotel lobby doesn't show up anymore, she hasn't joined yet, and talked about 3 times and she doesn't show up anymore, I've tried waiting many times in the hotel lobby but she doesn't show up

Is there a guide on the appearance of special characters?

 

[Schlusenbach]

The special character in the hotel lobby doesn't show up anymore,

Check the mall if you can access the jewelery store, if you can she's there on weekdays.
You can have fun with her, but she's not recruitable.

Guide has been posted a few times, I could only find the a .TXT version on my quick search though -> https://f95zone.to/threads/porn-empire-v0-84-pedev.2857/post-3075243

 

[adonzo]

mbmb feature request: Buttons to remove all models from camshows/carwash/whatever (eligible models only for photostudio), and/or the ability to auto-schedule models assigned to these jobs for scenes. Also fix the photostudio exploit where you can get around the removal block by assigning them to somewhere else like a carwash and then removing them from that job.

 

[Seikatsu Shin]

Check the mall if you can access the jewelery store, if you can she's there on weekdays.
You can have fun with her, but she's not recruitable.

Guide has been posted a few times, I could only find the a .TXT version on my quick search though -> https://f95zone.to/threads/porn-empire-v0-84-pedev.2857/post-3075243

Alright, thanks mate

 

[Gouryo]

Could someone (or dev) explain how consistency works ???

It makes absolutely non sense for me. When Im shooting same type of scene, consistency decreased. When I shoot different type of scene, it decreases. Sometimes I have the feeling its happening with a few weeks of delay, sometimes I have the feeling its instant.

And another question about piracy. When you advance in game, piracy becomes stronger. Do you have a way to avoid it ? Or the only way for both issues is just... having your own website ??? So you dont care anymore about trends for ex !!!

 

[BillieJeans]

Could someone (or dev) explain how consistency works ???

It makes absolutely non sense for me. When Im shooting same type of scene, consistency decreased. When I shoot different type of scene, it decreases. Sometimes I have the feeling its happening with a few weeks of delay, sometimes I have the feeling its instant.

And another question about piracy. When you advance in game, piracy becomes stronger. Do you have a way to avoid it ? Or the only way for both issues is just... having your own website ??? So you dont care anymore about trends for ex !!!

For consistency - more or less it penalizes scenes less popular than your recent scenes - though I don't know details yet. Yet. I was wrong, very very wrong; See the folliwing post for the complete explanation.
As for piracy - I believe nothing can be done about it other than using websites, yes - which is a shame, but it kinda IS realistic. And I believe trends do affect scene popularity which helps getting subscribers, so they do matter (though not as much).