Hi,
Wildman Dev, I want to mention that I really enjoyed the game. I thought its humor was actually great, as I had my share of laughs with it throughout the play-through up to this point. I think this is potentially a game I may eventually support on Patreon one day if and when I should free up my contribution to existing creators for another creator.
One thing I should note, though, is that this game thread appear to be lacking the Humor tag. I am not sure what are the criteria for this tag but should it not have this tag along with the existing tags used here?
Also,
spoiler warning (potentially if the story suggestion is implemented) for the readers here but
I think it would be potentially a big and interesting plot twist/surprise if another girl were to wake up and turned out to be Lexi, the sort of step-sister for the protagonist. Of course, that is assuming you have not developed the entire storyboard by now. I would hate to mess up your storyboard for that but it is up to you. Either way, game is great so far, story-wise.
It would also be interesting to see the information about the ship expanded on. For example, what kind of engine does it have? Obviously, it is not traveling on warp (in Star Trek sense) so it is likely traveling on a less than FTL (faster-than-light) speed so that rules out antimatter engine... possibly it uses something akin to
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which, in Star Trek, are essentially nuclear fusion reactor engine, as I understand it. The food supply issue suggests there is no
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technology yet, unless such technologies are only available in the areas locked but there could be the primitive
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technology or some more advanced technology in intermediate between 3D-printer and replicator, though, using materials to produce food somehow. To be clear, though, replicator technology in Star Trek lore is essentially an energy-to-matter transformation (not unlike their
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) so it would be very likely to be quite energy-expensive.
Also, one interesting possibility is that there might be a scenario where power were temporarily lost, in which
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,
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,
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, or
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may kick in (why do they have so many different terms for essentially same thing?
), meaning there would be a much
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and that only essential systems, such as life support, would be powered (so the bar, for example, would be non-functional). Star Trek, again, had this scenarios in many cases but also, there is a game on Steam called
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where you started in story with the ship being in emergency power mode, with lighting literally turned all the way down and doors were not functional, so you had to find another way to get around that and find a way to restore the power in some engineering section. Some kind of challenging scenario similar to that could develop on the ship in this game.
There could also be a situation where the Bridge Control might be temporarily inaccessible for some reason (maybe life support was mysteriously lost in this section?) which would require using something similar to
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as in the original Star Trek series, or using the Engineering section as in Star Trek: The Next Generation and later for controls similar to those found in Bridge Control.
Personally, I have always found mysteries to be interesting and, honestly, I am glad you have some mysteries in this game to start with, not only with the ship issues (e.g.
why did many people wake up earlier than they should? What is this virus? How do we resolve the issues in order to unlock the areas currently locked off?) but also with personal issues such as the protagonist's amnesia. I think not only you should have PvP conflicts but also NvP (nature versus person) conflicts, meaning ship (not quite a natural object or phenomenon but it is not person anyway) versus your protagonist. At least these are the types of conflicts I vaguely recalled from my writing courses I took years ago.
I think you should consider a detective-like mystery aspect for this game, with problems/puzzles solving, though I think you have already touched a bit on this. It is
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a coincidence that Sherlock Holmes was a recurring thing in the Star Trek: The Next Generation and that several episodes were focused around Sherlock Holmes simulation in
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. Speaking of which... I hope we will see something similar to the holographic simulation on the ship... can't go wrong with having a butt secks on the beach!
Just kidding but it would be nice to have some "simulated" outdoors scene from time to time... assuming that Earth civilizations are technologically capable of this in the game's world.
I also suggest considering for the laptop adding a database with information entries for various subjects such as the ship itself, planet Earth, Earth colony of Elysium, and biographical information on all characters on the ship. It may not be all full right away, because of data corruption, so that it may be gradually filled over with data retrieved from backup systems or something like that. The database entries for planets Earth and Elysium could include information about the planet itself, such as planet classification type (e.g. like M class commonly used for life-supporting planets in Star Trek lore), political systems (how is Earth and Elysium respectively governed?), what star systems they are in (what kind of stars? Red dwarf? G-type (The type that Sun is)?) and even some notes.
Also, this portal thing actually somewhat reminds me of the functions that Star Trek transporter serves. It, along with shuttle-transport method, could serve as a way to transport to a nearby planet... though, this might be unlikely scenario because the planets between Earth and Elysium may not be anywhere near the ship's routes and I doubt the crew would want to move the ship (I think the 'sleeper ship' might be the term for this) off its pre-determined route unless the situation absolutely requires it. For example, the loss of materials required to power the ship might be compensated for by acquisition of materials available on a nearby planet. This, of course, would depend on what kind of engine powers this ship. However, it is possible that there is already transporter-like technology on this ship if portal is in fact an more advanced version of that with virtually unlimited range, which it sounded like, since transporter in Star Trek lore usually have a limited range.
Also, if you need to include references to historical events from real Earth history and need help with information or background, I am your guy for it, since my major is in history. Feel free to ask me, anytime.
You can also even consider using holodeck-like simulation for historical settings. Maybe a private-eye detective's office in 1930's urban setting.
There is so many possibilities here for world-building, as you can see.
Finally, I want to express my appreciation for including pubic hair on some of the female characters. I want to inform you that, because of this, your game will have the honor of being included in an upcoming future edition of this index
here listing the games with known instances of female characters with pubic hair.
Good luck with the game's development and I hope you will see it to the end, regardless of the market outcomes! I believe it has a strong potential for even an under-rated game. Frankly, I think there is so much potential for the stories in this game. I strongly encourage you to continue working on this game no matter what the obstacles are.
-Robert Monotoli
Captain of U.S.S. Pubes Forest
"To boldly go where no pubes has gone before."