togs-games

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Apr 22, 2021
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Again it really makes me wonder about what her long-term arc is going to look like; is our guy going to encourage that kind of thing or discourage it? If our guy weren't filthy rich I'd wonder if the 'dark' side might be exploiting her for money, but that doesn't seem too likely with him being inheritor to an empire.
The whole point is that she's so naive. But MC is not her dad. He asks if she's though this through, what else is he going to do?

Maybe I'm wasting my time because people just don't seem to get it. Whatever I'm doing clearly isn't working.
 

gregers

Forum Fanatic
Dec 9, 2018
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The whole point is that she's so naive. But MC is not her dad. He asks if she's though this through, what else is he going to do?
Wait, that's actually an image from the game? That's hilarious, I thought you were just trolling.

I am increasingly confused by her character: There's being naïve, and there's dumber than most single-celled organisms. At any rate it'll be interesting to get to see the next update and what you've cooked up.

And don't let us get you down: There are a lot of things in your game that work very well, so people'll focus on the one thing that isn't quite jelling yet.
 
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Master of Puppets

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Oct 5, 2017
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The whole point is that she's so naive. But MC is not her dad. He asks if she's though this through, what else is he going to do?
Right, she's naive, and seems willing to take a certain amount of direction from MC about what is and isn't appropriate/normal. So 'what he's going to do' is tell her that he thinks her going to work there is a good/bad idea. Is that not enough?
 

togs-games

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Apr 22, 2021
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Yes, but what would be the fun in that? ;)

I'm sorry if she actually comes across as stupid, that's obviously not my intention.

This is really hard!
 
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togs-games

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Apr 22, 2021
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Just to clarify:

People MC probably won't ever be able to have as a love interest:

Pete, The Creepy Guy from the V-Mobile shop, Randy, Jess from the Mike's Pizzeria, Mike from Mike's Pizzeria, anyone that's just a voice on the phone

People who definitely aren't MC's sister:

Pete, The Creepy Guy from the V-Mobile shop, everyone else. Well, except his sister.

I hope that's clear... ;p
 

Master of Puppets

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Oct 5, 2017
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Yes, but what would be the fun in that? ;)
Slowly influencing how her character develops and therefore what kind of relationship he has with her and the other girls. That's pretty much how these kinds of games go.
I'm sorry if she actually comes across as stupid, that's obviously not my intention.
I think she comes across as naive just fine. I can't really think of anything that stands out as something she just shouldn't have done no matter how naive she may be, though she is very naive.
 

togs-games

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Apr 22, 2021
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Ah. I'm all for slowly influencing. I thought you were saying MC should flat-out prevent her taking the job.

If it's of any interest, I wrote most of the interview sequences last night. It took until 4AM, so I guess I'd better make sure I proof-read those!
 

Master of Puppets

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Oct 5, 2017
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Ah. I'm all for slowly influencing. I thought you were saying MC should flat-out prevent her taking the job.
Well he probably could, or at least when she inevitably encounters horny perverts he can point out that he warned her and get her to listen to him more in future, for good or ill. It's hard to imagine her staying in a job like that for long unless he is influencing her to be slutty. The question is if he is really looking out for her best interests, or if he just wants to keep her for himself. I can see either encouraging her or discouraging her going in either direction really, for four general directions for the situation to push things.
 

togs-games

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Apr 22, 2021
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There's always more to do! I think people will enjoy the day of the interviews, although it is very "talkie".

You get to meet and chat with all six seven of the candidates for the receptionist position, then discuss them with Lois.

You'll have the option to give Lois a say in the process or just choose whoever you like the look of!

As always in "The Roommate", each character has a backstory that will be explored down the line.

With seven possible girls to choose from it will take some time to fill that out so I will have to either open up the poll on my patreon page or run one here (if that's even possible?).

Then I can focus initially on the most popular characters. Regardless, each of them will get their moment in the spotlight.

I have some odds and ends to tie up and then a couple of run-throughs in case I missed anything.

And look out for an unexpected turn in at least one character's story arc.

I'll post a couple of preview images when I get home this evening.

Finally, it's another BIG update. I would fully expect that we'll have to go to a v.04.01, so PLEASE don't start on translations, hacks, cracks or any of that other stuff until the second build for this version!
 

Deckmaster

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Jul 30, 2017
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If we can actually pick the new receptionist isn't that going to be difficult to programm as so many different routes need to be created? Or don't they have a personal story each?
 

togs-games

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Apr 22, 2021
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Yes, it is a lot more work than if I just wrote here's the new receptionist. And they're not all going to be epic tales. But that's why I'd be interested to see which ones turn out to be more popular - I can concentrate on those first.

Also things evolve. It's like the whole Kari and Randy thing. What was supposed to be a little tease provoked a very negative reaction so I cut it short. But I think most people will enjoy the resolution which happens in the coming version.

Also the thing with MC needling Mrs Jakes (getting her name wrong on purpose and hanging up on her abruptly) didn't seem to get much response.

So you try things, and you adapt.
 
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Deckmaster

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Jul 30, 2017
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Maybe you can start with some simple lines when seeing the new secretary based on her character and keep the indepth story for a later version. The way someone responds to your presence tells a lot about their personality as well and it's much quicker to create.
 

gregers

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Dec 9, 2018
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If we can actually pick the new receptionist isn't that going to be difficult to programm as so many different routes need to be created? Or don't they have a personal story each?
Yes, it is a lot more work than if I just wrote here's the new receptionist. And they're not all going to be epic tales. But that's why I'd be interested to see which ones turn out to be more popular - I can concentrate on those first.
I'll confess that my first reaction was also that this would just add a lot of unnecessary complexity, having to either render seven different receptionists in the background of shots or else write around why they're hardly ever seen outside of their own few scenes. But you do you, obviously. (And of course there's a difference between seven of them showing up to interviews and, say, two or three being actual options for the job.)

Also the thing with MC needling Mrs Jakes (getting her name wrong on purpose and hanging up on her abruptly) didn't seem to get much response.
I liked the interactions with Mrs. Jakes.
They were fine. As I believe this thread has shown repeatedly, people tend to respond most vocally to the things they don't like. A lack of response does not by itself mean that a scene or character is not appreciated.
 
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Mister_M

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Apr 2, 2018
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View attachment 1360142
Lois gives the receptionist candidates her "Welcome To ASi" spiel...
Well, I know who my MC is going to hire. But as the others said, if they all are possible secretaries won't it be too much work to render all the scenes later on? And also write 7 branching routes for seven different secretaries? Or is it that there'll be a limited amount of candidates we can really hire or some characters will later drop out from the game if they won't be in top 3 or 4 of most popular characters?
 

togs-games

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Apr 22, 2021
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No, the intention is that you really will be able to hire whoever you want. I"ll have something to the effect that maybe they don't start their job for a week or two, which will buy me some time, given that each release has covered a week of game time.

And not all of the stories will necessarily be hugely complex.

But then again, Lois was originally intended to be along those lines!

Some things take on a life of their own. Some things, as we've seen, don't work.

But as long as people are willing to accept that things are subject to "our policy of continuous improvement", we should be fine!
 
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