HTML Unholy Arts [v0.4.6] [Deep Interactivity]

[Nixeras]

Are the jobs you can work each day predetermined or are they randomized? So far it seems random but I know there's a calendar.

Do you think in the future we might get a visible map of the temple? I've gotten lost and run in circles wasting my time a few times already.

Speaking of time, while I know the right side of the screen has the current time and date and such do you think it would be possible to have a schedule of an average day in the temple below the clock, and an option for a 12 hour clock? You know:
X:XX to X:XX - Training
X:XX to X:XX - Work
X:XX to X:XX - Social

I assume the <X:XX is the way to tell when the current period ends but idk, it still mildly confuses me when I go to do something and don't have enough time or such.

Lastly, the tooltips for training are extraordinarily small and don't always have information on what they do (Reading energy doesn't mention anywhere that it increases perception, and many things don't mention at all what resource they cost. None of this is a problem in the work menu). Similarly, actions in combat don't really have any tooltips for what they do (I inflict debuffs on enemies but what do they do) or what resources they cost. I believe this is what some people were talking about in the last few pages. A little bit more transparency would be great in these situations.

 

[DeepInteractivity]

That being said, have you considered adding more positions like 69 or mutual insertion?

I should really get to add quite a few extra vanilla actions one of these days. Mutual insertion would be doable if there was a cowgirl continued action, and I can't believe I haven't added that just yet.

Are the jobs you can work each day predetermined or are they randomized? So far it seems random but I know there's a calendar.

Jobs are randomized, and so is the order to pick jobs. I chose it to be this way to force min-maxing players to deal with an extra degree of uncertainty: being capable of making flexible decisions is a good skill too.

Do you think in the future we might get a visible map of the temple? I've gotten lost and run in circles wasting my time a few times already.

I want to make a map when the Patreon goal to commission map icons is reached. But I may commission the icons of the Temple Map earlier, instead of new portraits, given it seems to be important for a lot of players.

Speaking of time, while I know the right side of the screen has the current time and date and such do you think it would be possible to have a schedule of an average day in the temple below the clock, and an option for a 12 hour clock? You know:
X:XX to X:XX - Training
X:XX to X:XX - Work
X:XX to X:XX - Social

I assume the <X:XX is the way to tell when the current period ends but idk, it still mildly confuses me when I go to do something and don't have enough time or such.

Iirc, you can see when the current period is expected to end, next to the current time, as of version 0.2.1.

Lastly, the tooltips for training are extraordinarily small and don't always have information on what they do (Reading energy doesn't mention anywhere that it increases perception, and many things don't mention at all what resource they cost. None of this is a problem in the work menu).

Noted, will update them.

Similarly, actions in combat don't really have any tooltips for what they do (I inflict debuffs on enemies but what do they do) or what resources they cost. I believe this is what some people were talking about in the last few pages. A little bit more transparency would be great in these situations.

From the Hypnotic Glance description:

The target will lose willpower, will, perception, control and control recovery.
Costs 2 willpower.

The underlined text shows the effects of the debuff. If you hold your cursor over the initials of an altered state (such as HySt), a tooltip will show up explaining the effects.

It's possible that there are specific combat actions that have effects I forgot to add to their descriptions. If this is the case, please tell me!

 

[blue12]

cowgirl continued action, and I can't believe I haven't added that just yet.

I mean, cowgirl is technically in game in combat as P2D, just for some reason it's not available during normal sex(was it not implemented for that lol). (and please do add a map, its pretty important gameplay wise)

 

[Cweez]

For what it's worth, I just made a map of the game (At least at the early stage of it that I'm at) including what skills you can train in those areas.

No idea if things change as the game progresses, so this might become outdated, but figured I'd share it since I'd made it for my own use and others could find it helpful.

 

[DaClown]

Thanks for the mention in the update. I look forward to trying out v0.2.3.

 

[Deleted member 1571565]

Oh gosh, I'm looking at people's maps and I'm getting flashbacks to my MUD days...I wonder if I have my old macros for mapping out routes automatically, and whether or not that will work

 

[damppanties]

I can´t open 2.1 save files for 2.2

 

[Obscure]

Oh hey, this is a solid piece of work.

 

[Arryn]

 

[DeepInteractivity]

Img

Thanks for the catch! I've uploaded versions with the fix to itch.io and Patreon.

I can´t open 2.1 save files for 2.2

Saves from versions with different names aren't compatible. In order to make them compatible, I would have to put a considerable amount of work into coding patches that updated the game's objects for each version, which includes a considerable risk of bugs slipping by.

The exception to this are hotfixes. For example, versions 0.2, 0.2b and 0.2c were compatible, because the changes in the code were so small that I could add hotfix functions that made the appropriate changes without important risks.

To put a different example: Version 0.2.3 includes the move "Double penetration", which Val learns by reading the scroll "Surprised in the rear". If I wanted to make a patch that made saves from version 0.2.2 compatible with this change, the patch would not only have to change the effects of the scrolls, but also check retrospectively if Val ever read the scroll and apply the change. When decens of these changes add up, these patches may as well double the development time.

Oh hey, this is a solid piece of work.

Thanks!

 

[Rosen King]

I noticed that you tend to respond here more than on other forums, so I hope you don't mind that I copy/pasted a response I had elsewhere here. (I also haven't read everything in this thread, so apologies if it was answered here before.)

At some point in the close future I also want to rework the way social proposals work, so that it costs willpower to reject proposals that a character may want to accept, to the point of becoming impossible to reject them if you have no willpower left, which should create interesting gameplay outcomes along with hypnosis-based builds.

Interesting. But if memory serves, the only way for other characters to lose Willpower is through combat, right? I haven't played since 2.0 so I don't know if you changed that, or if I misremembered something, but it sounds like that means you would essentially have to challenge someone to a fight and then have a chat with them afterwards in order for that mechanic to have an effect. I wonder if maybe a future update could have some way to affect other stats during social interactions, since it seems a bit strange that you can surreptitiously hypnotize someone mid-conversation yet not affect their willpower at all, but I'm not sure how that would affect balance.

Speaking of balance, I'm not sure if you've addressed this at all in recent updates, but it seems far too easy for social situations to devolve into a spiral of insults for no good reason - and for the animosity from that to then become permanently locked into a character's stats. In particular, characters tend to get angry because your character automatically rejected a gesture of kindness from the other character, which then starts to cause the other character to deliberately insult you more often and causes your own options to become limited to insults and other forms of conflict escalation. One issue with this is that I feel like the player should have more control over what we're willing to accept from other characters, and perhaps even more control over our "starting mood", so for example we can enter the conversation with the intention of developing intimacy and not immediately reject when characters try to hold hands or something.

But another thing I'd like to help address this would be to have more options of conflict de-escalation. Maybe once your anger gets too high, new social options could open up that would allow us to channel that anger into something more productive. A hypnotic character might have the option to launch a frustration-fueled hypnotic assault that's particularly effective at calming our conversation partner, while satisfying our own anger and converting some of it to feelings of dominance. Or a particularly flirtatious character could start getting handsy and attempt to convert that anger into arousal. A submissive character might even start egging their counterpart on with a smile, signaling that they like the abuse and are happy to let their partner vent their frustration. Things like that would help with the feeling of getting stuck in an anger loop with no way out.

 

[DeepInteractivity]

I noticed that you tend to respond here more than on other forums, so I hope you don't mind that I copy/pasted a response I had elsewhere here. (I also haven't read everything in this thread, so apologies if it was answered here before.)

I pay more attention to this forum because it gets far more activity. I quote my response here too, but let's avoid making this a habit

There's a lot of refining to do in many areas of the game, and social interactions is definitely one of them. I expect it to feel far more natural when I code a more sensible AI for it, similar to the update for combat AI. Making some social interactions deal lust and willpower damage is on the list too, but they'll definitely be weaker than sex and combat actions. Using the feature I mentioned to make a character be unable to reject your proposals should only be circumstantially possible: for instance, if your target is tired from training and combat, and you push them with willpower-eroding interactions, it should be feasible, but if it's something you could do right at the start of the day, it could make social strategies far too powerful.

You have some good ideas regarding mood management. I could implement an option that allows the player to set a base mood for their character, perhaps with limits influenced by empathy and will.

 

[damppanties]

Saves from versions with different names aren't compatible. In order to make them compatible, I would have to put a considerable amount of work into coding patches that updated the game's objects for each version, which includes a considerable risk of bugs slipping by.

The exception to this are hotfixes. For example, versions 0.2, 0.2b and 0.2c were compatible, because the changes in the code were so small that I could add hotfix functions that made the appropriate changes without important risks.

To put a different example: Version 0.2.3 includes the move "Double penetration", which Val learns by reading the scroll "Surprised in the rear". If I wanted to make a patch that made saves from version 0.2.2 compatible with this change, the patch would not only have to change the effects of the scrolls, but also check retrospectively if Val ever read the scroll and apply the change. When decens of these changes add up, these patches may as well double the development time.

Alright, thank you for the insight! I love the game so don´t mind starting over once in a while.

 

[DeepInteractivity]

New update released!

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is the changelog for the latest free version, and

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the changelog for the latest higher tier Patreon version. Have

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to the latest devlog post as well, explaining the design behind a feature intended to simulate the evolution in the characters' behavior and psyche.

Happy New Year!

 

[Slaanesh Champion]

Can protagonist grow a dick?

 

[DeepInteractivity]

Can protagonist grow a dick?

Unless you disable it in the settings, it happens automatically by the end of the prologue.

 

[dark_dragon7]

i said it on peatron but i keep getting bad reads it says shomthing about charkey or shomthing like that and it makes it so i cant keep playing the game

 

[DeepInteractivity]

i said it on peatron but i keep getting bad reads it says shomthing about charkey or shomthing like that and it makes it so i cant keep playing the game

Just replied you on Patreon, but it would help me if you told me which version of the game you're playing, how long into the game does the error take place, and a save file would be extra helpful as well.

 

[Slaanesh Champion]

Unless you disable it in the settings, it happens automatically by the end of the prologue.

A LOT OF POG

 

[EternitysInfinite]

So far I'm enjoying this game. I like the various characters, the art is good, and its an interesting gameplay idea.
I read your post about performance on itch.io, and I have a few suggestions. Not as good of suggestions as I'd like, but suggestions.
The simplest would be forcing the user to only save to disk, since that is essentially of arbitrary size. This is unfortunate as it requires 'downloading' (though, its generated on the page so it won't cost any data limits and will be constrained by their device speed rather than network), and then 'uploading' for saving and loading.

Then there's putting your twine game into a Electron/NWJS instance (a stripped down browser, but gives you more control) and distributing it like that. This would allow file access. Then you could have a saves folder and check that for existing saves to provide the same UI. Sadly, I don't think Sugarcube supports this. So, extra development work and it would increase the download size a significant amount to include Electron/NWJS. I did look to see if you could expand the localStorage size in Electron so then no modifications would be needed, but I failed to find a good method. Also has cross platform issues due to different platforms needing different executables, while the current html file can easily be ran anywhere.

Then there are your usual compression methods. Make sure it isn't saving history since you don't allow going back. Try using 'enums' instead of strings for values. Ex: If you have three values ("Easy", "Medium", "Hard") then store them as 0,1,2 and have an object Difficulties that has the keys 0,1,2 defined to the strings. That way you only store a number rather than a string. This is more useful in cases where you're using it a lot (so for difficulty it doesn't matter at all since its stored as a variable in like one place).
Sadly, I'm not entirely sure how Sugarcube does its stores since its somewhat complicated to try to drive down space (

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), but if its essentially doing a more efficient JSON.stringify then compression then shortening field names could also help. .fr rather than .friendship. Tedious to do lots of replaces, and more confusing. Technically could be done 'easier' if you can hook/modify saving and apply transformations.