Feedback? some tips and a minor request.

Suggest future changes or request additions you would like to see here
b00marrows
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri May 13, 2016 12:25 pm

Feedback? some tips and a minor request.

Postby b00marrows » Sat May 14, 2016 8:27 am

Its too early to give much feedback, but ill say this.
The game is great, Theres not much to say other than "continue what you are doing". I will give my classic tip i give aspiering developer(s) these days:

1. Build your foundation than build it up later, if you understand that than you will do well.
2. PLEASE dont fall for the "we need to please everyone" approach, you cant please everyone. Perfection is impossible.
3. Dont force yourself out of your ideas due to the community, theres nothing worse than not making the game you wanted/invisioned.

I may sound arrogent but i have a history of watching these issues happpen again and again, its never pretty.

Now to contredict myself a little:
A minor request, if i may. Could you make balls optional for your intersex/hermaphrodites/futanaris, that would be great!

User avatar
amloessb
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:22 am
Location: San Jose, CA, USA

Postby amloessb » Fri Sep 09, 2016 9:32 pm

I just wanted to give my whole-hearted endorsement to bl00marrows' suggestions, but especially the first one.

While all the work on the customizer is nice (and it looks great, it really does!), I think you should figure out what you want the core gameplay to be and implement that in the game first, before working on the amenities (e.g., character customization, cutscenes). Not only does this mean that your patrons get something to actually interact with in the meantime (as opposed to a mildly-obtuse player of 3D animations, which is what the game effectively is now), but they will also be able to give you more feedback over time about it. Since the core gameplay is (ostensibly) what the players are going to be spending most of their time doing, it's in your best interests to get as much feedback as possible, so that it ends up being the most functional and polished part of the game.

To tie bl00marrows' first and second suggestions together, I want to quote one of my college computer science professors: "First, write code that works. Then optimize it." The implication for making video games being that you should get all of your planned features in first, then spend time tarting everything up. It doesn't all need to look amazing from the start. If we can see the scaffolding and frame for what the game is going to be, it will be much easier for us to see your vision and the game's potential, and subsequently be more incentivized to keep following this game on its journey.
Patron since May 2016; $12 tier

T3X
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun May 01, 2016 8:27 pm

Postby T3X » Tue Sep 13, 2016 7:49 pm

Well, point 1 is actually why we needed to spend all that time on the customizer first. It was a hard decision to make given patrons expect decent updates each month, and it unfortunately took longer than expected, but for the very reason stated is why we had to do it, the customizer is how a character is created, and that character is the most core part of the whole game, we can't build other systems that involve the character without first having our character system nearly completely figured out and implemented due to the complexity of the kind of game we're trying to make. And believe me, this was not at all a "tarting up" step, there is still a lot more planned features customization wise and things we need to do to improve there, but we have the core system implemented now and are shifting focus back to other aspects of the game now that we can build on it.

As for the balls b00marrows, the modular way we've developed the customizer, we will be able to create as many variations of groins as we want, and any other part for that matter (hair, horns, ears, heads, eyes, arms, legs, penises, tails, accessories, etc..) no problem, so I can guarantee you there will be a ball-free herm groin :) among many others!

User avatar
amloessb
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:22 am
Location: San Jose, CA, USA

Postby amloessb » Thu Sep 29, 2016 1:57 am

Thanks for the reply. It's good to hear straight from the horse's mouth, as it were. Your explanation as to why the customizer is so important and integral to the game was very helpful, and I understand a lot better why it had to be done now, rather than later.

(Apologies in advance to b00marrows for hijacking their thread even further.)

I do still want to revisit my comment about the "core gameplay" and what I mean by it, since I don't think I communicated it as clearly as I could have. Almost every game, even if it has a strong story focus, has a core gameplay loop that the player is expected to engage in if they want to proceed. In Skyrim, for example, you raid dungeons until your pants are so full of loot you can't walk anymore, and then you spend the next 15 minutes flogging the lot to any merchant on the continent who still has money left. Skyrim's story quests, themselves, end up being dungeon crawls more often than not, so it integrates into what you're already doing, anyway. In many RPGs, as another example, you get some clue as to where you're supposed to go, fight some little dudes on the way, maybe get a little story while you're at it, fight one big dude at your destination, then get a whole bunch of story, along with a hot tip on where you're supposed to go next. This is the core gameplay that I'm talking about.

Back in TCHT A5.0.2 (pre-hiatus), with picking your clients, the variety of clients and positions available, and being able to have sex with them at different speeds and different depths, I could see a lot of ways that could be turned into a core gameplay loop, in service of the plot. Maybe you have to save up enough cash to be able to afford something you need, or maybe you have to grow your reputation based on the good service you give the clients. There might even be a "boss battle" with a very picky client, and you have to pay attention to how they react to your ministrations in order to be able to satisfy them. Who knows? But I could see the potential, and I could see multiple ways that it could be turned into a means to challenge players while simultaneously offering variety and advancing the plot.

What has worried me thus far, since the game got "rebooted," is the absence of such an identifiable core gameplay element, or indeed any meaningful agency on the player character's part. Lithier said in their recent essay that a lot of the gameplay system is still "up in the air," but I hope that won't be the case for too long. Even if not implemented yet, some basic idea of what the gameplay progression would look like could go a long way toward managing the expectations of the patrons, and satisfying our curiosity, besides. ;)
Patron since May 2016; $12 tier

Lithier
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 01, 2016 7:19 pm

Postby Lithier » Fri Sep 30, 2016 2:17 am

Hello, amloessb! Thought I'd pop in and say I definitely agree a strong gameplay loop is important. And we do have one planned! It's actually fairly similar to what you describe, to tell the truth. The problem is, our current plans for the main gameplay rely on some fundamental animation technology that we're not sure will actually work yet. That's actually going to be our big focus after v0.4 is out: researching solutions to all the problems we see with what we're trying to do, to see if it's actually possible. And THAT whole system was waiting on the customizer system, because it's going to be all about seeing how much we can modify animations both to accommodate different species and anatomical configurations as well as players' control over the action.

Basically, everything we're doing at this point is foundation building. We had to figure out how the most important, commonly used model and rig in the game will be put together. Now we have to figure out what all we're able to do with it and still make it look good. If we hit any unexpected problems at any step in this process, we have to change everything we have planned after. Yes, we add on some nice-looking bits while we're at it to make it a little more palatable because we still want this to be something our patrons can enjoy playing with. Yes, that's slowed us down a little, but that's the price you pay with crowd funding.

Once we've answered THIS question, we have still OTHER questions to tackle, but with every big step we take we get closer to a final, solid picture of exactly how our game is going to work, from beginning to end. So as we learn more about what's possible and how we're going to do it, of course we're going to share it with you guys! But I don't want to get everyone's hopes up too much with our crazy ideas if it turns out later they're straight up not possible, or they would look awful.

Hope that clears up our process at this point! Thanks for engaging with us on our design, it's good to make sure we're covering our bases! And it's great to hear somebody asking us to actually tackle this in order rather than just demanding more porn now now now xP Cheers!

User avatar
amloessb
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:22 am
Location: San Jose, CA, USA

Postby amloessb » Sun Oct 02, 2016 11:06 pm

Thanks for the wonderful reply, and for laying out your (anticipated) roadmap for building the game's foundation. Knowing that you have a sane plan and are thinking ahead has certainly helped cement my decision to continue supporting you.

Until next time, I wish you and the team all the best. Knock 'em dead!
Patron since May 2016; $12 tier


Return to “Suggestions/Feedback”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest