RPGM The "Benevolent" Tsar (Development Thread)

[IlliumGames]

Hey there Illium here, my last project fell through(lost a month of progress and gave up on it temporarily)
I wanted to present you all with a teaser of a new game I'm making.

The "Benevolent" Tsar

The game takes place in the fantasy equivalent of 17th-18th Russia where you play as the "Tsesarevich"/grand prince/heir of the "Northern Tsardom".
You start off in your own personal palace in the rural north and mostly interact with your family, the castle staff, and the denizens of the nearby town.
This is a harem game with incestuous themes, that being said you have the choice to not engage in incest by simply not seducing your daughters.
Though be warned, your family in game is a strange one and the themes of incest, as well as joke about it will be prevalent throughout the game.
Not much is set in stone, but here are some plot points and other shit about the game.

Spoiler: Why it's named this way

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Your wife is a hot elven woman. Must I say more?
Also she's a jealous bitch and it'll be hard to get her to agree on letting you get a harem...
Won't be hard to get her to accept incest though
Also some games like this really gloss over your relationship with your wife/girlfriend, not in this game!

You have an adopted daughter who was your childhood bestfriends(died like a decade ago) kid. She reminds you of him a lot and you consider her your own flesh and blood.
A bit of a dilemma this one, she's not your kid so it's not technically incest, but you can't betray your friend like that!

Your eldest actual daughter, a bit spoiled and bratty but she has a (dark) sense of humor and can kick it with you and the boys so she's alright. She can be a real bitch though when she wants to be, luckily she isn't to you but god help any woman(except her mom) who flirts with you in front of her. Also she has a sweet tooth and is a bit of a glutton, she would have been a bit obese if not for the fact that all her fat goes directly into her ass and tits(and that she makes you pay for her magical/fantasy liposuction)

Finally there is your youngest daughter... Not much to say about her, nothing kind at least. She's just a weird kid. A good girl though! She actually pays attention to her studies and likes learning for whatever reason. However as I said before, she's a bit strange...

Note: This game has strong themes of incest, but incest is not the main theme. What I mean is a focus of the game is on your daughters, but not fucking them, at least not right away.
Your character won't be compelled to fuck his daughters nor them you as it's still taboo in there eyes. That being said there are themes of incest throughout the game and you won't have to wait/grind for it as I'll through you a bone here and there if you actively pursue the incest routes.

Spoiler: A few bones(potential spoilers)

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There will also be other woman to seduce like

Your foreign mistress which you had a few kids with recently and whom your wife hates.

A new business woman in town. How modern!

A bimbo gold-digger the towns mayor brought home from a trip, she left him the second she saw there were bigger fish(you)

A noble woman with the audacity to think she could replace your wife. Also is racist against elves and half elves.

A new maid your wife absolutely adored! Until she was caught trying to steal cutlery. Your wife proposed a deal to let her keep her job.She gives you blowjobs, but your wife also wants to get eaten out by her

Other woman.

Here the link for the games intro, a little teaser to test the waters.

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Please try it out and provide feedback I really need it.
Things like was the music to loud or to low, did the music even fit, does it need more sound effects, etc.
Also feel free to comment on the writing, was it awkward at times, was I to blatant with the dialog between the mc and the daughter, what did you think of the characters and so forth.
Thanks

PS
Also feel free to ask questions about the project or just give your two cents.

 

[DragonkingKyo]

seems good as long as you don't have to share the girls(especially with other men and/or futas if they exist in the game) like what was mentioned about the farmer's wife and the soldiers

 

[IlliumGames]

seems good as long as you don't have to share the girls(especially with other men and/or futas if they exist in the game) like what was mentioned about the farmer's wife and the soldiers

No ntr dw

 

[Catapo]

Last night I got around to check your demo out so here are my 2 cents about your game:

PLOT
Even if I have no ideea what a 17th century Russia would be like the ideea itself and the scenarios you gave as example all sound very interesting but there are 2 things I would like to comment on
1. I have no ideea how Tsars were chosen but shouldn't MC have to fight against his siblings and his father's siblings or his mother for the right... why grandma ?

2. If you want to make a fantasy game that is fine but I fail to see what elves / magic can acomplish in this story. The whole magic plastic surgery / liposuction just sounds dumb to me. Is the eldest daughter a glutton who doesn't gain weight? Fine just leave it at that there are people like this IRL and not many people would question this.
As for the grandma you said it yourself people married young. Assuming the eldest daughter is 19-20 so the youngest could be 18 and that both MC's mother and grandmother married young I could see the grandmother being around 63-64 looking like in her 50s because she is royalty and still be believable without magic.

ENGINE
I don't hate RPGM, quite the opposite but you said nothing about what are you going to use it for, will there be battles ? or world exploration? From the demo it just seems useless.
Also I think you forgot some setting on. The text had these weird red boxes on it that displayed extra stuff when hovered.

WRITING
The game has A LOT of grammatical errors. You absolutely need someone to proofread your text.
I liked the first scene in the demo with the hunt. The dialogue was decent, the banter between father and daughter was cute and the subtle hint at incest was good. I think there was a mistake with the name in that scene though: you introduced the girl as Alina but later it referred to her as Anya.
As for the second scene I have mixed feelings. If you plan to make a parody I think the dialogue works but if you want a serious plot the dialogue needs to be changed. The sexual talk could be a bit more subtle and also a lot of dialogue seemed too modern for 17th century.

CHARACTERS
The game throws a lot of character names at you and it gets a bit confusing since you don't know who they are but so far from the demo I want to see more of the girl from the first scene (Alina) and the business woman, she was interesting.
As for the others I think they need more scenes / time to get interesting.

ART
This is what's going to make or break this game for me. So far the game is very "stock". But good sprites, CGs and map assets can work wonders on this.

SOUNDS
Demo was too short to give an actual opinion but it seemed fine for now, should not be your biggest concern right now.

Anyway sorry this got so long, but I look forward to see how this is going to evolve.

 

[IlliumGames]

Last night I got around to check your demo out so here are my 2 cents about your game:

PLOT
Even if I have no ideea what a 17th century Russia would be like the ideea itself and the scenarios you gave as example all sound very interesting but there are 2 things I would like to comment on
1. I have no ideea how Tsars were chosen but shouldn't MC have to fight against his siblings and his father's siblings or his mother for the right... why grandma ?

2. If you want to make a fantasy game that is fine but I fail to see what elves / magic can acomplish in this story. The whole magic plastic surgery / liposuction just sounds dumb to me. Is the eldest daughter a glutton who doesn't gain weight? Fine just leave it at that there are people like this IRL and not many people would question this.
As for the grandma you said it yourself people married young. Assuming the eldest daughter is 19-20 so the youngest could be 18 and that both MC's mother and grandmother married young I could see the grandmother being around 63-64 looking like in her 50s because she is royalty and still be believable without magic.

ENGINE
I don't hate RPGM, quite the opposite but you said nothing about what are you going to use it for, will there be battles ? or world exploration? From the demo it just seems useless.
Also I think you forgot some setting on. The text had these weird red boxes on it that displayed extra stuff when hovered.

WRITING
The game has A LOT of grammatical errors. You absolutely need someone to proofread your text.
I liked the first scene in the demo with the hunt. The dialogue was decent, the banter between father and daughter was cute and the subtle hint at incest was good. I think there was a mistake with the name in that scene though: you introduced the girl as Alina but later it referred to her as Anya.
As for the second scene I have mixed feelings. If you plan to make a parody I think the dialogue works but if you want a serious plot the dialogue needs to be changed. The sexual talk could be a bit more subtle and also a lot of dialogue seemed too modern for 17th century.

CHARACTERS
The game throws a lot of character names at you and it gets a bit confusing since you don't know who they are but so far from the demo I want to see more of the girl from the first scene (Alina) and the business woman, she was interesting.
As for the others I think they need more scenes / time to get interesting.

ART
This is what's going to make or break this game for me. So far the game is very "stock". But good sprites, CGs and map assets can work wonders on this.

SOUNDS
Demo was too short to give an actual opinion but it seemed fine for now, should not be your biggest concern right now.

Anyway sorry this got so long, but I look forward to see how this is going to evolve.

Thanks for all that it was really helpful. Now to address all that.

PLOT
1. The MC has a older sister and two younger siblings(boy and girl twins). The older sister is infertile(actually her husband is impotent) and thus has no children(and is a woman) and thus MC is the heir. He has to fight his grandmother for the throne as his father doesn't die, rather he goes mad and is declared incompetent. The Grandmother is manipulative and was the regent for her son(your dad) when his father died when he was a boy. She basically becomes regent again and wishes to hold onto power while you wish to gain your birthright. Also there will be a side plot where she tries to replace you as heir with a puppet(either older sis and her husband or younger brother) and your try and stop her. Also it was originally going to be the mother instead of grandma, I thought that sounded a bit to cliché so I changed it and might change it back.
2. I agree on the fantasy and magic part in regards to the story, I just simply wanted the setting to be a set in a fantasy world. And yeah the magical liposuction is a strange idea, I just wanted it to be a minor thing that helps convey the daughter(Anya's character). Basically she is overindulgent but due to her status she faces zero repercussions, she eats to her hearts content and doesn't exercise but that's okay as she can spend money to not get fat. I added the magical liposuction as that was the only thing I could think of.

ENGINE
There will be no standard rpgm battles. What I will have in there place is a text/choice based system. What I mean is I will narrate a scene like a duel, you will be give a set of choices. There will be a bit of challenge but not grindy(maybe 4-5 choices as an average). They will be intuitive: If you have a rapier or stabbing sword than stab. If your opponent does "this", then "that" is a good countermeasure(A bit like rock paper scissors at times but the opponent goes first)
I'll provide a example later.
ALSO
This isn't a renpy game as rpgm felt more suited towards the type of gameplay that'll be present in the game.
You have a day-night cycle and a week cycle. Three events per timeslot and 3 timeslots per day(morning evening night)
And some days are assigned for different things-> On Sunday you, your family and the court spend the day and evening at church. On Tuesday you have to *work* all day(kind of skips day but there are "events" you can unlock at work(Like taking your Daughter(s) with you and show them the ropes. Or later in the game have them give you oral so work is less tiresome and tedious) On Thursdays you and your wife will sit in the throne room and meet locals and hear their struggles, or foreigners and hear their offers.
*The work will range on what you wish to focus on that week. It could be military where you can oversee the training of your personal retinue or perhaps the modernization of them by replacing their swords and bows with muskets and pikes. Other focuses could be in regards to stewardship or law.
As for the other days you will be spending time however you wish, whether that is with your family, with your court, or perhaps in the local town.
And sorry about the red boxes, I forgot to remove a script after I was done playtesting it.

WRITING
Grammar: Yup that's definitely something I need to work on.
Side note, where did you find that it struggled most? Was it my use of comas? I tried to add them to simulate speaking patterns but it seems I missed the mark.
Also, I purposely made the second scene like that. I wanted to create a contrast between scene 1(MC's father and sister) and scene 2(MC and his daughter).
In the first scene it's the typical father-daughter bonding moment, the hint of incest was subtle and not expanded/acted upon, the daughter is innocent.
In the second scene it's a father and his spoiled daddies girl daughter, but things quickly turn absurd. I want to convey that the MC is a degenerate and has already managed to corrupt those around him. Also the business woman, Lena, she's an outsider and see's first hand the strangeness of it all. The absurd atmosphere tones down as Lena begins to rationalize what she's seeing as "normal foreign customs". Also this is a H-game, there will be serious moments, but there will also be moments like this one. Finally the sexual talk tones down and I agree on the dialogue. I'll try and make it less modern, but don't expect much as I still don't want to off put people and the dialogue in it's current form was the best way I had of conveying what I wished to convey.

Characters
Yes is does, but don't worry, it only gets worse
I still need to introduce the wife and other two daughters in the next scene. And don't worry about the mentioned characters like Olga, Anika or Aubrey. The first one doesn't even make a appearance in game and is more of a background/easter egg characters where you hear references of her and her shenanigans. As for the latter they don't appear until later in the story and when they do they get there own introductions. Unfortunately for you Alina doesn't make an appearance for quite a while.
And yeah your right about the others, though they are core characters and you have ample time to get to know them.

Art
Yep, I agree with you there, I plan on completely revamping all the assets once I have the groundwork. As for CG's that's where the game will fail, until a few actual releases down the line once I get funding. I'm not a artist, I can make something half decent but even that takes hours upon hours.
I've experimented with DAZ, but I don't think that it will be a good fit for this game, might make a renpy daz side project to help fund this one.
So yeah, for now the sex scenes will be text based with the only art being the character models fucking or a placeholder cg.

Sorry If this is long and thanks for the feedback

 

[IlliumGames]

Quick Monthly Update
I've rewritten the story to make it a lot less convoluted. I've completed the intro and have a lot more planned but I haven't been able to add much else because I'm swamped with schoolwork. I'm not gonna be able to work on the game until early April; hopefully I'll be able to pump out a update before my exams.
Anyways that's all I have for now... But rest assured that sometime soon(maybe in one or two months) I'll have plenty of time to waste away on this project.