HTML The Archmage [v0.1.2 Alpha] [Black Dahlia Studios]

[Rosen King]

What do you mean by MC-focused?

MC being short for mind control, not main character. Sorry if that's the part that was unclear. What I mean is a route where the primary focus ends up being situations where you brainwash people, corrupt them unnaturally, subject them to transformations that change their mental state, et cetera. I haven't played this game yet so I don't know how to give an example of how that might fit into this game, but something like a route where you're trying to overthrow a powerful sorceress by gradually brainwashing all of her minions and allies into helping you bring her under your power, or one where you join a magic research group that's experimenting with spells that keep backfiring and twisting their minds in various sexy ways. Or one where you become a demon's servant and help them corrupt all the forces of good into servants of evil. That sort of thing.

I'm not sure how much content you consider a slog.

To be frank, I consider any sexual content involving stuff that isn't my fetish to be a slog, in much the same way a straight person isn't going to be having much fun reading through a bunch of gay sex between people of their gender while trying to get to "the good part". I can power through some of it, but particularly when it comes to a text-based game (which I can't skip through as easily as a more visual game without feeling completely lost), I'd need it to at least be >50% focused on my interests, at least in the particular route I'm following.

Mind you, I'm not necessarily demanding that you meet these criteria, just asking if they are or will be met. If not, I'll simply pass on the game, no harm no foul. Though it is a shame that the criteria become stricter in text games, because I actually do prefer a game to be more focused on the writing than the visuals. Mind control is very much an "invisible fetish" that needs to be told rather than shown, and visuals simply help make the other details of the scenario quicker to digest.

Would a tagged flow chart be useful? I was avoiding the idea initially because of the risk of spoilers, but I could probably to compromise on that.

I'm not sure what exactly you have in mind when you say that, but it does sound like it could be useful. And not just for me. A lot of people would be grateful to know whether the branch they take will lead to the fetish they're looking for or a whole lot of nothing.

 

[BlackDahliaStudios]

MC being short for mind control, not main character. Sorry if that's the part that was unclear. What I mean is a route where the primary focus ends up being situations where you brainwash people, corrupt them unnaturally, subject them to transformations that change their mental state, et cetera. I haven't played this game yet so I don't know how to give an example of how that might fit into this game, but something like a route where you're trying to overthrow a powerful sorceress by gradually brainwashing all of her minions and allies into helping you bring her under your power, or one where you join a magic research group that's experimenting with spells that keep backfiring and twisting their minds in various sexy ways. Or one where you become a demon's servant and help them corrupt all the forces of good into servants of evil. That sort of thing.



To be frank, I consider any sexual content involving stuff that isn't my fetish to be a slog, in much the same way a straight person isn't going to be having much fun reading through a bunch of gay sex between people of their gender while trying to get to "the good part". I can power through some of it, but particularly when it comes to a text-based game (which I can't skip through as easily as a more visual game without feeling completely lost), I'd need it to at least be >50% focused on my interests, at least in the particular route I'm following.

Mind you, I'm not necessarily demanding that you meet these criteria, just asking if they are or will be met. If not, I'll simply pass on the game, no harm no foul. Though it is a shame that the criteria become stricter in text games, because I actually do prefer a game to be more focused on the writing than the visuals. Mind control is very much an "invisible fetish" that needs to be told rather than shown, and visuals simply help make the other details of the scenario quicker to digest.



I'm not sure what exactly you have in mind when you say that, but it does sound like it could be useful. And not just for me. A lot of people would be grateful to know whether the branch they take will lead to the fetish they're looking for or a whole lot of nothing.

Mind control focused makes sense. I thought you meant main character.

That concern is certainly legitimate. My primary answer is that character creation and content filters will hopefully prevent the player from encountering most content that is not aligned with their preferences, but that probably won't be perfect since it can only be so specific. The secondary answer would be outside assistance where the player has some idea of what they are getting into ahead of time.

What I have in mind is basically general descriptions of the various branches and the fetishes/tags contained in those branches. I don't want to be too descriptive to the point of spoiling the narrative, but it would need to be descriptive enough to be useful. I also don't want to simply list the decisions and answers such that the players aren't actually playing the game. So maybe an informational guide rather than a walkthrough. That seems like a fair compromise to me.

 

[BlackDahliaStudios]

Posted a bug fix.

 

[baneini]

What the hell is the dev thinking with allowing player to choose their gender
Also 90% of the tags are lies so thats great.

 

[BlackDahliaStudios]

What the hell is the dev thinking with allowing player to choose their gender
Also 90% of the tags are lies so thats great.

I was thinking: "It provides a more personalized user experience and shouldn't be horribly difficult to implement"

Some tags are present only in Demo, some only in Main (including the Teaser section hidden behind the content filters). Some are relatively underdeveloped with plans to expand in the future. Demo and Main will also be integrated in the future. I can remove the specific tags that you feel are lacking at the moment if you wouldn't mind explaining which tags you are referring to.

I understand that inclusion of a tag requires a relatively significant amount of that content, so I have no issue removing the tags temporarily until players feel they are developed enough to be considered worthy of the tag. My intention was not deception.

 

[VorpalGhost]

I look forward to future updates. Can't wait to see how the plot develops.

 

[baneini]

I was thinking: "It provides a more personalized user experience and shouldn't be horribly difficult to implement"

It de-personalises the protagonist whose story we follow. Degrades the integrity of the story and its characters. People don't speak the same in context of female x female, female to male, etc. so are you going to write a whole new games worth of dialogue and descriptors to account for the possiblities? No? Is every character pansexual to accomodate the "personalized user experience". Stick to 1 pov and make everyone react accordingly.

Planned tags shouldn't be the games actual tags, but in the extra info spoilers. They might never materialize and no one searches for games tags that might in the future have such tags, so that removes almost all of them.

 

[BlackDahliaStudios]

It de-personalises the protagonist whose story we follow. Degrades the integrity of the story and its characters. People don't speak the same in context of female x female, female to male, etc. so are you going to write a whole new games worth of dialogue and descriptors to account for the possiblities? No? Is every character pansexual to accomodate the "personalized user experience". Stick to 1 pov and make everyone react accordingly.

Planned tags shouldn't be the games actual tags, but in the extra info spoilers. They might never materialize and no one searches for games tags that might in the future have such tags, so that removes almost all of them.

I don't believe it de-personalizes or degrades anything. The major plot elements will work with any combination and the side plot elements that don't will be filtered.

I am planning on writing maybe about half a game's worth of extra content. There is a lot of overlap. The NPC's don't have to have preferences, I can make them whatever I want to fit the convenience of the situation. But yes, you are right, I will be doing extra writing in order to accommodate character creation.

For clarity: I am planning on expanding the tags not implementing them. They all exist currently to varying degrees (I previously removed some that didn't). Which ones were you unable to locate?

Edit: I have removed the tags that are located only in the Teaser section of the game. You say almost all of them should be removed. Which specifically do you feel shouldn't be included?

 

[BlackDahliaStudios]

Added a

You must be registered to see the links

account with "name your price" membership. Planning poll voting and content suggestions in order to guide the development process.

 

[Deleted member 1971455]

I had a cool thought for a shapshifting character that challenges the players morals by transforming into more taboo things either during sex or at the players request. Could be really hot if done right.

 

[Necrosian]

Another suggestion:
Could the game show the content enable settings when starting a new game? Other wise people will miss them guaranteed.

 

[BlackDahliaStudios]

Another suggestion:
Could the game show the content enable settings when starting a new game? Other wise people will miss them guaranteed.

In character select?

 

[Necrosian]

In character select?

I was thinking when pressing "I'm ready" at the very start.

 

[BNets]

Good luck with your game, looking forward to seeing how it goes.

 

[Fruzsina]

I was thinking when pressing "I'm ready" at the very start.

As you open the main one read this:
Disclaimer: This game contains adult content that some players may find disturbing. It is disabled by default. Check out the Settings Menu to enable this most excellent experience for players over 18 years of age. It is important to enable these before character creation if so inclined.

 

[BlackDahliaStudios]

As you open the main one read this:
Disclaimer: This game contains adult content that some players may find disturbing. It is disabled by default. Check out the Settings Menu to enable this most excellent experience for players over 18 years of age. It is important to enable these before character creation if so inclined.

I will do both. Can't trust people to read disclaimers

 

[heerwa2]

Really love HTML games, more space for imagination & romanticism which made everything beautiful with your guaid. Also it is effective learning english by this way. A big thank you cultured good sir

 

[BlackDahliaStudios]

Really love HTML games, more space for imagination & romanticism which made everything beautiful with your guaid. Also it is effective learning english by this way. A big thank you cultured good sir

Guaid?

 

[legendppk]

Me:
*Sees Archmage* Sweet!
*Sees Mind Control* Fuck yea! I'm gonna love this game!
*Sees Corruption* Oh boi!
*Sees futa/trans* Umm okay I can still make this work!
*Sees gay* Ight Imma head out.

 

[Elli Wölfin]

Me:
*Sees Archmage* Sweet!
*Sees Mind Control* Fuck yea! I'm gonna love this game!
*Sees Corruption* Oh boi!
*Sees futa/trans* Umm okay I can still make this work!
*Sees gay* Ight Imma head out.

...really? None of it is required. Do you look at tags for games and assume every one of them is necessary for progression? If so I imagine you're missing out on a fuckload of things.