Well...at this point, that isn't saying much. Doubling nothing still leaves you with nothing after all. But during my recent road trip up north to pester and pounce various peoples, I pondered and pontificated as a man can only do when driving 12-18 hours a day and chain-smoking.
The result? Some sort of loosely assembled ideas for why this game is taking place! It's thin...horribly thin. And probably pretty damn lame, too, but it is at least some form of story.
The general idea is that the player is pulled from the clutches of Batche and Red (from the first game) by a mysterious benefactor, leaving you still partially changed...but at least away from those nuts. Or so you think. As it turns out, the woman responsible for getting you out was actually after another of the competitors. She runs this world's version of a brothel, you see, and as it happens, Red absconded with some of her hired help without asking first. This isn't a great surprise to anyone who knows Red, as he tends to do EVERYTHING without asking.
So, the player is given a choice: take her henchman's place and work for her, or scamper off and try to make your own way in the world. Either choice is just fine.
Choosing to stay with her will provide you with a base of operations, income, and direct assess to the main plot line if I ever get around to fleshing it out. Basically, she'll name her own terms for you: she gives you jobs to do, and depending on your performance (and the shape you are in when you get back), she'll either give you a promotion or a demotion. Get demoted too far, and you'll find yourself providing entertainment for her paying clients... But being promoted is a good thing, and will probably still end up with you being changed somehow. Folks around here tend to prefer others to be in a pleasing form, after all.
The goal of the little jaunts she sends you on are to collect things she plans to use to secure her power-base, taking over Batche and Red's territories and basically setting herself up as a slightly less evil overlord. Refusing to serve her will allow you to do this yourself, but it will be more difficult and you'll have to gather information in other ways.
Also resulting from these rambling musings were a few other little tidbits I am going to try to implement. The most interesting one being a combination of ideas from Hypnodragon and Elder Scrolls (yes, I have been playing Skyrim, but wasn't when this occurred to me).
You see...you are basically in hell. And in hell, souls are currency. So, what better fade for your defeated foes than enslavement, with you binding their souls in servitude? Thing is...down here, souls are pretty much all people are. Not exactly flesh and blood, so binding their souls just means forcing them into submission and bending them to your will...and allowing you to bend their shape to your whims as a result. There are all sorts of big long boring theories behind it, but the point of it is that people want these enslaved critters, and will barter for them gladly. They may end up reshaping their new acquisitions into clothing, weapons, items, tools, or just diminutive little house pets for their own amusement. Who is to say? This also means that the battle system isn't going to be about hack and slash so much as it is a pure contest of wills, trying to force each to the other's whims. Kind of like Change Match, if you've ever played that one.
Other thoughts involved things, ideas, or places I plan to work into the game, such as Boobco Castle. It's a setting blatantly ripped off from The Unending BE Addventure, but that's okay. I don't mind. XD As the name alone might suggest, the theme for the entire area is centered around breast expansion, so I have plenty of motivation to make it a reality...so to speak. Traps aplenty, along with a few interesting NPCs and foes for you to vanquish, Yay! Might even be a few puzzles involved, if I am feeling particularly sadistic.
There will also be a maze. A labyrinth, more accurately, featuring changes of all shapes and sizes. The goal is to weaken the player, so TG and Shrinking will feature here, but at the lowermost levels? Cow-girls and Minotaurs and lactation, oh my!! If, that is, I manage to work in non-human type TFs without breaking things too badly. Probably can, but dunno yet.
I am also considering adding age regression into the mix, but that will not only be a bitch to code, I'd have to implement some kind of triggers to prevent there being any kind of sexually explicit junk in the game when you are below the legal age limits. Some people don't care about that sort of thing, but I'm a picky bastard. Probably won't end up putting it in at all, though, just cause it'd be such a bitch.
Need a themed area for bunny girls and bois, too. Just haven't thought of anything fitting, yet. Maybe an illusionist's lair, done up like a giant indoor funhouse or carnival...hmm. Needs further pondering.
I have, as of this writing, got all of the TF system translated over with the pieces I intend to use, and the ones that I don't worked out without breaking it. Still needs further tweaking, followed by a hell of a lot of streamlining to smooth over my butchery, though. For one thing, I want penis expansion to be more of a thing. I mean, you can lose it, right? It's only fair to be able to take that in the other direction, and with all the attention to blowing up the tits...well, I'm all about equality. At the moment, though, max penis length is around 12 inches. I plan to bump that up to around 36 inches, along with all the mechanics needed for it to actually make a difference beyond just the numbers in your description. I don't expect most of you to ever encounter this little problem, as I'm sure you'll be doing everything you can to lose that sucker as quickly as possible...but ya never know. ;)
I have already got a bunch of cursed items in there for your TFing pleasure, with more on the way. Currently in development is a class of item that becomes part of things and will allow the occasional NPC or critter to interact with them, affecting you in the process. Still a work in progress, but the test item, just for example, is a dial that attaches in the center of your back where you can't reach it, and will allow anyone close enough and interested enough to adjust the settings...and thus increase or decrease certain things about you, the player. Like your height, breast size, IQ, ect. Once I have a working example to build on, I will add some others. Like that broach for Boobco Castle that inflates your tits a little every time you walk through a door. Or a corset with assisted laces that people can tighten with the press of a button.
Also in development: Critters and the AI to handle them. They are in there, but I'll wait on fleshing them out until I start doing the AI for the NPCs.
Next on the list of things to do: start building the map and the areas in the world, and hexes.
Yes! Hexes and curses that have lingering effects. Not as powerful as the outright TFs, they change you a tiny little bit either over time until certain conditions are met, or when certain conditions are met! ((like making your IQ drop a little every day until you manage to track down and enslave one of the rare virgins in this land, vice making your dick shrink a little more every time you touch women's clothing.)) Also will need to include a way to remove curses that isn't too easy, but doable. Probably a damned cleric somewhere around that will help you out for a steep price. Or hard to find priests that will undo curses affecting specific things they simply don't like, like huge tits. Have to see about that.
Anyway, also on the agenda: Clothing. Still need to decide how I'm going to handle that. Should I make it an actual thing as I planned, or go with the much easier method of just using tables and text? Or should it change with you at all? Should you have to go find new clothes because yours don't fit any more? Might use this method, with only some occasional effects actually changing things. A trapped pressure plate that turns your shoes into high heels, or increases the height of said heels, is one example of that. Or a trap that turns your shirt into a corset, which might then end up getting locked onto you if you keep it on around the wrong people! Yes, clothing will have benefits. Not only in the way the people react to you, but in the form of protective magics that make some things about you harder to change. I'll probably allow these to be adjustable, so you can wear the clothes you like and still get the effects you want out of them. Might have to have some souls fashioned into custom clothing...but this actually works pretty well, now I think about it. I'll try coding it next time I'm working on the game, and see how it goes. Should be much, much easier than the other two ideas I had.
Well, I have other thoughts...but I'm too tired to remember them. Bed time for me! But rest assured, the project is alive and well, and so am I. To the dismay of nubile young women everywhere...
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Still Alive!
That's right, I'm still kickin'. I'm sorry it took so long for me to update.
I got out of Japan back in August, followed shortly by my leaving the service. I am now back home in Texas, unemployed and nearly broke. Just the way I like it!! Seriously, though, I'll be dropping off the face of the earth around Halloween, as I head up north n a road trip. After that, I'll be going to school, and getting me some form of job.
So! That's neat, but what do you care? Well, it means it'll be a while longer before I release much of anything, game-wise. For that, I'm truly sorry. But I have at least been working on it! I've got the TF system almost completely installed. Now I just have to stream-line it, add to it a little bit, and start working on a plot of some sort. The next thing I do to it will probably be adding in 'monsters', or at least critters and the AI to handle them.
Anyway, thanks to you two who commented on the last post. If not for you, I'd have probably forgotten to update this thing till sometime in November!!
I got out of Japan back in August, followed shortly by my leaving the service. I am now back home in Texas, unemployed and nearly broke. Just the way I like it!! Seriously, though, I'll be dropping off the face of the earth around Halloween, as I head up north n a road trip. After that, I'll be going to school, and getting me some form of job.
So! That's neat, but what do you care? Well, it means it'll be a while longer before I release much of anything, game-wise. For that, I'm truly sorry. But I have at least been working on it! I've got the TF system almost completely installed. Now I just have to stream-line it, add to it a little bit, and start working on a plot of some sort. The next thing I do to it will probably be adding in 'monsters', or at least critters and the AI to handle them.
Anyway, thanks to you two who commented on the last post. If not for you, I'd have probably forgotten to update this thing till sometime in November!!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Status Updates
Right. So, first off, sorry for keeping everyone waiting forever and a day just to get a little news!
The most important bit of info is this: I'm leaving my job, and the country I'm in. That means I've been busy as hell trying to get everything taken care of here. I'll be back in the states by the 11th of August and home in Texas by the 20th. I'll also be unemployed, and pretty much homeless, unless you count freeloading off my parents till I get my own place. That also means my internet access is going to be pretty thin in the meantime, to say nothing about free time. I will continue to work on Arena, however, even if it's just writing things down with pen and paper to be translated into code later.
As for the game itself, work is ongoing, as ever. If any of you played and enjoyed the Original Arena, I highly suggest you swing by the TFGamesSite.com forums and find Bimbo Mall Battle, by Narse. It's based on Arena...kind of. Started out that way, anyhow, but it's been pretty much completely rewritten by now, and in my own opinion: vastly improved. It's also given me tons of ideas and I'm still trying to decide how to implement them, and in what order. For you guys, the most significant thing would probably be my realization that the average of 10 steps in any particular stat was far too limiting, and that there is a lot to be said for percentages! And cursed items. And a more expansive environment, no pun intended. So, I'm working on vastly overhauling the stat and description portions, and want to completely redo the map itself. I like the mall, and it is probably going to stick around in some form or another, but I want to make a much larger, more interesting world for people to explore. That also means that the simple 'lock them in a room with a bunch of horny magic users and let them duke it out' isn't going to work as well. Having some 12 or 13 NPCs out for your gender-bent virginity seems a little less tense and dramatic when the map goes from maybe two dozen rooms to around a hundred, eh? But fear not! I has plans!
I've also been playing the flash games by Fenoxo and Xadera (both are on Fur Affinity, if you are interested), and I very much like having the environment out to get the player, too. Not 'OMG, Random encounter!!' so much as creatures and things and places that exist independently of the player and the players actions, but will waste no time doing nifty things should you stumble across them. I've also been working to address ideas submitted for the original Arena that never got used. One of them is an event of some sort that has the NPCs pretty much dropping whatever they are doing and come looking for YOU, exclusively. There are a number of ways this could be triggered. I'm also all about not all the NPCs being out to getcha. Some are neutral, or ever helpful, which should be a boon indeed with a much larger world to run around in.
One of the things I'm plotting are more items and equipment the player or others can wear to give them certain benefits, or purely for cosmetic effect...but which might have a little interactivity to them that may not even be obvious at first. Not until someone flips that little switch on the back of your collar and and find yourself muted, unable to cast any spells...or giggling when they discover that the vibrating chastity belt that was forced on you is sound-activated. Clap on! Clap off, clap on, clap on! Ahem. Yeah, so just a few things in the works.
The outline I posted on its own page for what I had in mind needs rewriting, but I've been too busy to sit down and do it. Just be advised that it's out of date by now, and will only grow more so as further inspiration strikes.
The most important bit of info is this: I'm leaving my job, and the country I'm in. That means I've been busy as hell trying to get everything taken care of here. I'll be back in the states by the 11th of August and home in Texas by the 20th. I'll also be unemployed, and pretty much homeless, unless you count freeloading off my parents till I get my own place. That also means my internet access is going to be pretty thin in the meantime, to say nothing about free time. I will continue to work on Arena, however, even if it's just writing things down with pen and paper to be translated into code later.
As for the game itself, work is ongoing, as ever. If any of you played and enjoyed the Original Arena, I highly suggest you swing by the TFGamesSite.com forums and find Bimbo Mall Battle, by Narse. It's based on Arena...kind of. Started out that way, anyhow, but it's been pretty much completely rewritten by now, and in my own opinion: vastly improved. It's also given me tons of ideas and I'm still trying to decide how to implement them, and in what order. For you guys, the most significant thing would probably be my realization that the average of 10 steps in any particular stat was far too limiting, and that there is a lot to be said for percentages! And cursed items. And a more expansive environment, no pun intended. So, I'm working on vastly overhauling the stat and description portions, and want to completely redo the map itself. I like the mall, and it is probably going to stick around in some form or another, but I want to make a much larger, more interesting world for people to explore. That also means that the simple 'lock them in a room with a bunch of horny magic users and let them duke it out' isn't going to work as well. Having some 12 or 13 NPCs out for your gender-bent virginity seems a little less tense and dramatic when the map goes from maybe two dozen rooms to around a hundred, eh? But fear not! I has plans!
I've also been playing the flash games by Fenoxo and Xadera (both are on Fur Affinity, if you are interested), and I very much like having the environment out to get the player, too. Not 'OMG, Random encounter!!' so much as creatures and things and places that exist independently of the player and the players actions, but will waste no time doing nifty things should you stumble across them. I've also been working to address ideas submitted for the original Arena that never got used. One of them is an event of some sort that has the NPCs pretty much dropping whatever they are doing and come looking for YOU, exclusively. There are a number of ways this could be triggered. I'm also all about not all the NPCs being out to getcha. Some are neutral, or ever helpful, which should be a boon indeed with a much larger world to run around in.
One of the things I'm plotting are more items and equipment the player or others can wear to give them certain benefits, or purely for cosmetic effect...but which might have a little interactivity to them that may not even be obvious at first. Not until someone flips that little switch on the back of your collar and and find yourself muted, unable to cast any spells...or giggling when they discover that the vibrating chastity belt that was forced on you is sound-activated. Clap on! Clap off, clap on, clap on! Ahem. Yeah, so just a few things in the works.
The outline I posted on its own page for what I had in mind needs rewriting, but I've been too busy to sit down and do it. Just be advised that it's out of date by now, and will only grow more so as further inspiration strikes.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Sorry folks.
While I hate to post with nothing really new to offer up, I felt I should at least let everyone know that I'm not dead, that Arena is still a live project, and that all my myriad other projects have not yet been abandoned, either.
Sadly, I've been in a very long creative slump lately, and I don't know why. I've been tired, bored, restless, and irritable for months now, and it's gotten to the point that I haven't even been wanting to join in the TFGamesSite chat. My patients for some of the folks there has just been at an all time low. I only bother to join the chat at all for the pleasure of interacting with some 4 or 5 people there. Most of the rest are just...depressing. I'll spare you the rant about all that, though.
In any case, I have not made much progress on Arena 2.0 lately. Currently, I'm stalled while working on the magic system. What I have runs, and everything works, of course, but it's far from a playable game. No AI, for one thing. The cheats are in, and a magic system is in place, and a map has been set up, and a number of NPCs have been entered. A debug mode has been implimented, as well as stats and descriptions for various levels of TG. I'm not satisfied with the quality or variety, but that can be filled in much better later on. I also have a basic idea how I'm going to handle clothing.
The trouble, at this point...or at least the point I'm stalled on, is fleshing out the magic system. I have a sneaking hunch I'm just going to say to hell with it all, and build the game the way I feel like building it, and just paint over it with a plot after the fact. It's totally bass-ackwards...but I can at least ensure that way that the game itself works and looks the way I want it to. A way I am happy with. And honestly? Plots are over-rated anyhow. ^^
Sadly, I've been in a very long creative slump lately, and I don't know why. I've been tired, bored, restless, and irritable for months now, and it's gotten to the point that I haven't even been wanting to join in the TFGamesSite chat. My patients for some of the folks there has just been at an all time low. I only bother to join the chat at all for the pleasure of interacting with some 4 or 5 people there. Most of the rest are just...depressing. I'll spare you the rant about all that, though.
In any case, I have not made much progress on Arena 2.0 lately. Currently, I'm stalled while working on the magic system. What I have runs, and everything works, of course, but it's far from a playable game. No AI, for one thing. The cheats are in, and a magic system is in place, and a map has been set up, and a number of NPCs have been entered. A debug mode has been implimented, as well as stats and descriptions for various levels of TG. I'm not satisfied with the quality or variety, but that can be filled in much better later on. I also have a basic idea how I'm going to handle clothing.
The trouble, at this point...or at least the point I'm stalled on, is fleshing out the magic system. I have a sneaking hunch I'm just going to say to hell with it all, and build the game the way I feel like building it, and just paint over it with a plot after the fact. It's totally bass-ackwards...but I can at least ensure that way that the game itself works and looks the way I want it to. A way I am happy with. And honestly? Plots are over-rated anyhow. ^^
Friday, April 15, 2011
Sexy Secretary
The result of me sitting in a chat room, being bored. I gave a guy a magic pen, and this is what it turned him into:
From: (Name Withheld) is a tall 39 year old male, about 6' (183cm), 200lbs, blue eyes, short dark brown hair, circle beard (goatee+moustache), average build. He is wearing a button shirt, trousers, and dress shoes.
From: (Name Withheld) is a tall 39 year old male, about 6' (183cm), 200lbs, blue eyes, short dark brown hair, circle beard (goatee+moustache), average build. He is wearing a button shirt, trousers, and dress shoes.
To: (Name Withheld) is a sexy young woman in her mid twenties, about 5’8” with her shoes on. Her build is slim yet sexy, nicely padded with some eye-catching curves. Her skin is fair but lightly tanned, not quite pale enough to be called creamy but close to it. Her face is perfectly smooth and soft, forming a slightly oval, almost heart shape with just the cutest little nose and soft, bow-shaped pink lips almost begging for a kiss. The bangs of her long, golden-blonde hair occasionally obscure her wide, innocent crystal-blue eyes in a sort coy, shy look. Her fingers are long and elegant, tipped with fingernails about two inches long, slightly curled and perfectly manicured. Styled in French tips and coated with clear polish to the point they nearly sparkle, she really does have [i]gorgeous[/i] hands! She is wearing an almost sheer white silk blouse missing most of the upper buttons, showcasing the stunning cleavage of her creamy double D orbs. The lacy little barely-there red underwire bra that helps to form such a valley is clearly visible, though her nipples like grapes still poke impudent little dents in the material. Her blouse is tucked into a tight, hip-hugging black skirt that reaches to about mid-thigh on her long, shapely legs. A pair of sheer silk stocking hug those legs wonderfully. A pair of sleek red open-toe pumps with three inch heels perch on her delicate little feet, a single strap around her ankles with a polished silver buckle holding them in place.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
An Update
Updated the Arena 2.0 outline today after revamping it a little. Now if I could just make blogger work right with the outline format...grrr!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Clothes in Arena
So, thanks to Gunslinger (Or Gunny1), I think I have a pretty workable model for clothing transformations that will still allow them to remain individual objects instead of just text from a table.
"GarmentStyle is a kind of value. The GarmentStyles are studly, manly, boyish, girlish, womanly and slutty.
GarmentSize is a kind of value. The GarmentSizes are extra large, large, medium, small, and extra small.
A garment is a kind of thing. A garment is wearable.
Every garment has a GarmentStyle. Every garment has a GarmentSize.
An upperwear is a kind of garment.
A pullover is a kind of upperwear.
Rule for printing the name of a pullover (called ThisShirt):
if ThisShirt is studly, say "sweatshirt";
if ThisShirt is manly, say "team jersey";
if ThisShirt is boyish, say "t-shirt";
if ThisShirt is girlish, say "tank-top";
if ThisShirt is womanly, say "crop-top";
if ThisShirt is slutty, say "tube-top".
A P1 is in the TestRoom. The P1 is a pullover. The P1 is studly.
A p2 is in the TestRoom. the P2 is a pullover. The P2 is manly."
This, as you can see, will change the name of a garment depending on one stat: it's GarmentStyle. A simple action or mechanism to change the GarmentStyle will change a sweatshirt to a team jersey to a t-shirt and so forth.
The issue facing me now is simply that of descriptions of the clothing itself, but that's just a bunch of typing, very easily solved.
Now, the next project is to get this all put together and working in a draft model of the game itself, and begin work on the spellcasting system I plan to use. And update the outline that I keep forgetting to do. Or just putting off...
"GarmentStyle is a kind of value. The GarmentStyles are studly, manly, boyish, girlish, womanly and slutty.
GarmentSize is a kind of value. The GarmentSizes are extra large, large, medium, small, and extra small.
A garment is a kind of thing. A garment is wearable.
Every garment has a GarmentStyle. Every garment has a GarmentSize.
An upperwear is a kind of garment.
A pullover is a kind of upperwear.
Rule for printing the name of a pullover (called ThisShirt):
if ThisShirt is studly, say "sweatshirt";
if ThisShirt is manly, say "team jersey";
if ThisShirt is boyish, say "t-shirt";
if ThisShirt is girlish, say "tank-top";
if ThisShirt is womanly, say "crop-top";
if ThisShirt is slutty, say "tube-top".
A P1 is in the TestRoom. The P1 is a pullover. The P1 is studly.
A p2 is in the TestRoom. the P2 is a pullover. The P2 is manly."
This, as you can see, will change the name of a garment depending on one stat: it's GarmentStyle. A simple action or mechanism to change the GarmentStyle will change a sweatshirt to a team jersey to a t-shirt and so forth.
The issue facing me now is simply that of descriptions of the clothing itself, but that's just a bunch of typing, very easily solved.
Now, the next project is to get this all put together and working in a draft model of the game itself, and begin work on the spellcasting system I plan to use. And update the outline that I keep forgetting to do. Or just putting off...
Monday, April 4, 2011
Descriptions
So, I've managed to convert the old Arena method of figuring out people's stats and descriptions to a number of simple 'to say' phrases. This saves a ton of effort on the part of Inform itself.
You see, with the old system, everyone had a set of stats. Then, every turn, riht after changing those stats, and again before examining them, it would run through every person in the game and figure out what their stats were, run through a bunch of tables, pick out the corresponding text, and plug it into the person's description. Very wasteful.
In the new system, they still have similar stats, but Inform already knows what to say for each level of each stat. No more repeating through a dozen different tables all the damned time, no more lines of text assigned to individual people, and so forth.
I have also done the same thing with the descriptions from TG-Tads. This is mostly because they are nicely written, and do pretty much everything I wanted to do with Arena anyway. I'm still unsure if I'll use the TG Tads version, or my own.
The issue now is with clothing. In the old system, clothing was just text. Every outfit was a seperate table with different levels starting with masculine and normal, and working it's way down to super feminine. All the tables were randomized at the start of play, so you never knew who would be wearing what. This was done for replay value.
Now, I really want to make clothing actual things you can interact with. Take em off, put em on, set em on fire, whatever. And I can do that pretty easily too. Already have the code for it. The trouble is making it reflect the TFs to the body, as well as being able to actually TF the clothes themselves. Hard to do. I could be ineffecient and make it replace something with a different article of clothing, which I'd have to set up in advance. Or I could say to hell with it, and not have it change clothes at all...or I could stick with it just being text. This would probably be the only tables used for descriptions in the game.
I am leaning toward using the seperate pieces of clothing and just having the TF done to it be pretty minimal, while setting up different things to say depending on how TFed the person wearing it is. That perfectly fitting shirt and slacks, for instance, will not be nearly so perfectly fitting when you have been reduced to 2'8" tall with GG cup tits and a nice hourglass figure. It's just...tricky. Might need to consult with some of my fellow Inform7 TF writers to figure this one out.
Once I've got a fix for the clothes, I think I can actually start (or resume, rather) coding on this.
P.S. Note to self: update the damned outline.
You see, with the old system, everyone had a set of stats. Then, every turn, riht after changing those stats, and again before examining them, it would run through every person in the game and figure out what their stats were, run through a bunch of tables, pick out the corresponding text, and plug it into the person's description. Very wasteful.
In the new system, they still have similar stats, but Inform already knows what to say for each level of each stat. No more repeating through a dozen different tables all the damned time, no more lines of text assigned to individual people, and so forth.
I have also done the same thing with the descriptions from TG-Tads. This is mostly because they are nicely written, and do pretty much everything I wanted to do with Arena anyway. I'm still unsure if I'll use the TG Tads version, or my own.
The issue now is with clothing. In the old system, clothing was just text. Every outfit was a seperate table with different levels starting with masculine and normal, and working it's way down to super feminine. All the tables were randomized at the start of play, so you never knew who would be wearing what. This was done for replay value.
Now, I really want to make clothing actual things you can interact with. Take em off, put em on, set em on fire, whatever. And I can do that pretty easily too. Already have the code for it. The trouble is making it reflect the TFs to the body, as well as being able to actually TF the clothes themselves. Hard to do. I could be ineffecient and make it replace something with a different article of clothing, which I'd have to set up in advance. Or I could say to hell with it, and not have it change clothes at all...or I could stick with it just being text. This would probably be the only tables used for descriptions in the game.
I am leaning toward using the seperate pieces of clothing and just having the TF done to it be pretty minimal, while setting up different things to say depending on how TFed the person wearing it is. That perfectly fitting shirt and slacks, for instance, will not be nearly so perfectly fitting when you have been reduced to 2'8" tall with GG cup tits and a nice hourglass figure. It's just...tricky. Might need to consult with some of my fellow Inform7 TF writers to figure this one out.
Once I've got a fix for the clothes, I think I can actually start (or resume, rather) coding on this.
P.S. Note to self: update the damned outline.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Red/Aro
P.S. This image, as well as Rosa, were both done by SpiralingStaircase from Deviant Art. A link to his blog can be found beneath the image of Doctor Bimbeau.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Collaboration?
Yes indeed, Scipio and I have decided to work on a little Inform7 project together in our free time, bouncing ideas back and forth along with snippets of code. I've already sent him the first draft of what I have come up wit so far. I have a second draft already on stand by which if better filled out, but I'm waiting to hear back from him before I send it, in case it needs further modification.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Spells and stats
So, I've pretty much decided to cannabalize the spell system I was talking about for use in my game. The way it works isn't important to you guys really, as far as the code goes, but here is what it actually will do and/or allow:
Firstly, you can know a spell, or not know it. You have no way of knowing what spells exist or anything about them until you actually know the spell itself. I can make things or actions give you spells, or you can learn them from scrolls by casting the memorise spell on them. Everyone starts off knowing that spell.
Casting a spell requires a certain number of strength points (like mana points). Could be 0 for free spells, or 3-5 for a midlevel spell, or up to 10 or more for the most powerful spells. Some spells require you to have certain objects or materials on hand in order to cast them. Metal or wood is an example. Things can be made of these materials, like a pencil or a pair of scissors. These would work as the materials for the spell.
Spells could cost more or less strength points to cast depending on if you have certain things in your possession, if you are in certain areas, what your stats are like at the moment, or any number of other conditions I can think of.
Spells can be targetted or untargetted. Untargetted spells you just cast, and they have whatever effect, typically on yourself, your surroundings, or possibly all creatures in your area. Targetted spells you cast at a single target, like the creepy bald guy or the flower pot. Only one target at a time, and it can't be yourself.
Now, before I can even begin to properly code this, i have to work out how I'm going to be handling stats and descriptions. This is really the trickiest part of any TF game. I could do each stage of every possible combination of TFs for every person in the game individually...but that would be time consuming, ineffectient, and would drive me nuts. I could reuse the old system for it, which certainly works, but doesn't allow me to customize the NPC's appearance much. It's always a trade-off, and I'm still racking my brains for the answer.
On top of this all...I need to work on map design. I'm strongly considering basing my maps at least in part on a few places in Second Life that I have visited. We shall see.
Firstly, you can know a spell, or not know it. You have no way of knowing what spells exist or anything about them until you actually know the spell itself. I can make things or actions give you spells, or you can learn them from scrolls by casting the memorise spell on them. Everyone starts off knowing that spell.
Casting a spell requires a certain number of strength points (like mana points). Could be 0 for free spells, or 3-5 for a midlevel spell, or up to 10 or more for the most powerful spells. Some spells require you to have certain objects or materials on hand in order to cast them. Metal or wood is an example. Things can be made of these materials, like a pencil or a pair of scissors. These would work as the materials for the spell.
Spells could cost more or less strength points to cast depending on if you have certain things in your possession, if you are in certain areas, what your stats are like at the moment, or any number of other conditions I can think of.
Spells can be targetted or untargetted. Untargetted spells you just cast, and they have whatever effect, typically on yourself, your surroundings, or possibly all creatures in your area. Targetted spells you cast at a single target, like the creepy bald guy or the flower pot. Only one target at a time, and it can't be yourself.
Now, before I can even begin to properly code this, i have to work out how I'm going to be handling stats and descriptions. This is really the trickiest part of any TF game. I could do each stage of every possible combination of TFs for every person in the game individually...but that would be time consuming, ineffectient, and would drive me nuts. I could reuse the old system for it, which certainly works, but doesn't allow me to customize the NPC's appearance much. It's always a trade-off, and I'm still racking my brains for the answer.
On top of this all...I need to work on map design. I'm strongly considering basing my maps at least in part on a few places in Second Life that I have visited. We shall see.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Ponderings
So, I've messed around a little with a few example games, getting ideas from their mechanics, and I have to say I like them.
A good example is a magic system. It requires you to actually learn the spells individually, though you can start with a few you know off the bat. You have to use a spell to memorize additional spells from scrolls you find. Casting spells requires a certain number of strength points, which work pretty much like mana, and may require you to have a focus item on hand to cast them. The more powerful spells consume the focus when cast, too.
This would be very handy, as not all the spells I'm thinking of should cost the same, much less be able to cast with ease. For example, a simple bust enhancement is a pretty simple matter, but changing a man further toward femininity is a much more complicated process, so it should be more difficult, and less often usable without a lot of effort. Then of course there are the curses that cause on-going changes, counter effects, ect. I am still trying to think up defenses against the spells.
Another thing is actual combat. Should I include weapons and critters to kill? I don't think I will, as it would just distract from the main theme of the game. But what to do if you can't cast a spell? Your options shouldn't be limited just to running away in that case. I'm thinking of allowing you to try and seduce them, plea with them for mercy, or some such, or maybe just trying to physically subdue them with your hands. I don't know yet.
The biggest hang up's so far are not being sure how I want to handle stats and their effects in the descriptions of people, a clothing system, and maps. The mall isn't going away, and in fact I plan to improve on it, but I also want to expand things a bit. Which means more places to go and things to see. A slightly less hectic and chaotic pace that will let the player actually have time to wander and explore without feeling like they are wasting time, and little things like that.
A good example is a magic system. It requires you to actually learn the spells individually, though you can start with a few you know off the bat. You have to use a spell to memorize additional spells from scrolls you find. Casting spells requires a certain number of strength points, which work pretty much like mana, and may require you to have a focus item on hand to cast them. The more powerful spells consume the focus when cast, too.
This would be very handy, as not all the spells I'm thinking of should cost the same, much less be able to cast with ease. For example, a simple bust enhancement is a pretty simple matter, but changing a man further toward femininity is a much more complicated process, so it should be more difficult, and less often usable without a lot of effort. Then of course there are the curses that cause on-going changes, counter effects, ect. I am still trying to think up defenses against the spells.
Another thing is actual combat. Should I include weapons and critters to kill? I don't think I will, as it would just distract from the main theme of the game. But what to do if you can't cast a spell? Your options shouldn't be limited just to running away in that case. I'm thinking of allowing you to try and seduce them, plea with them for mercy, or some such, or maybe just trying to physically subdue them with your hands. I don't know yet.
The biggest hang up's so far are not being sure how I want to handle stats and their effects in the descriptions of people, a clothing system, and maps. The mall isn't going away, and in fact I plan to improve on it, but I also want to expand things a bit. Which means more places to go and things to see. A slightly less hectic and chaotic pace that will let the player actually have time to wander and explore without feeling like they are wasting time, and little things like that.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Rosa
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Doctor Bimbeau
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| My OC, Dr. Bimbeau from the TFGS chat. Done on Commission by http://spiralingstaircase.deviantart.com/ Her description as originally written: Doctor Bimbeau looks like a woman of Japanese decent, standing about 5'2" and amazingly curvy for such a petite Asian. Her long, silky smooth blonde hair is tied back into twin pigtails with bright pink scrunchies, bouncing a bit with every step, framing her pretty face. Her fingernails are long, permanently covered in bright pink polish, and around her neck hangs a thin gold chain with a pink heart shaped charm hanging from it. She is wearing a pink pleated mini-skirt showing off a pair of feminine legs that just seem to go on and on. Just barely covering her impressive DD-cup breasts is a bright pink tank top, with 'SCIENCE!' spelled out in stick-on sequins, the garment so tiny that it fails to cover the tops or the bottoms of her heavy bosom...though large as they are, her most prominent feature is still likely her wide hips and obscenely round rump. Finally, bright pink sneakers cover her feet. Her voice is high pitched, bubbly, and overall nearly impossible to take seriously. Over it all is a white lab coat, unbuttoned, the numerous pockets filled and heavy with gizmos, gadgets, bottles of root beer, and who knows what else? |
List of things to do if I start work on Arena again
- Re-write the original code to be more effecient, uniform, structured, ordered, and the same throughout.
- A more story and dialog to the orginal, so as to flesh it out more and explain what the fick is going on, why, how, where, and to whom for what reasons.
- Give the NPCs stories, appearances, attitudes, motivations and goals of their own, possibly reflected in the actions they take during the game-play itself.
- Design and develope new maps and 'levels' for the player to play in, after adding interactivity to the original.
- Design and develope new TFs for the player and NPCs, prefereably themed to match or compliment the map in some way. ie. Bimbos in the mall, centaurs in the plains, minotaur(or cow girls) in the mountains or on the farm, Mermaids on the tropic island, ect.
- Devise a method for the TFs to be induced via traps or other inanimate objects, a few of which should spawn in random locations and may or may not be visible to the player.
- Develope 'safe zones' where the player can rest without fear of being TFed, and interact freely with some of the NPCs for plot exposition, character developement, and interactions depending on the current TF state of those involved. Possibly the most difficult and tiem consuming part to code for.
- Seperate different facets of the game into optional extensions, and allow for new levels to be designed as such, with templates for custome-made user content, to include maps, NCPs, TFs, TF-related items, traps, and clothing.
- Revamp the way the game handles clothing, outfits, clothing changes, and the various states of clothing from being wet, improperly sized, inappropriate, and unremovable for one reason or another. Also difficult to code.
- Code any and everything to alter in description and possibly even functionality dependant on the mental state and some TF states (ie. being shrunken or reduced in IQ) of the player.
Discussing Arena
So, yeah. For those who don't know, Arena was a game I worked on off and on for about a year and some change. The theme is transformation. Specifically the Trangender, male to female variety. The goal is to turn the NPCs into bimbos before they do the same to you. It's 100% text, no images or fancy user interface. It was also, I feel, a big success. It started as random thoughts between myself and a few folks over at the TFGamesSite chat, where I spend waaaaay too much of my time, and evolved slowly but surely into what it is today, thanks in no small part to the comments and contributions of many fine folks.
The game lacks pretty much anything resembling a plot, with some thin reference to you being sent to hell by mistake (you didn't even die yet!), where two demons through you in with a few other guys doomed to be punished for their abusive attitudes toward women. And for the amusement of the perverted demons, naturally. So after a brief indoctrination, you are cut adrift in an arena level currently set up to look like a mall designed by airheaded bimbos. TFs are handled by collecting gems that spawn and drop randomly around the map, and casting the spells associated with each type on either yourself to reverse previous changes, or on the other characters to change them. Having the right type of gem on hand that matches a spellcast on you will consume both gems, but block any changes, automatically counterspelling them. This works for NPCs you are targeting too.
I learned a ton of things while making this game, most of it from scratch. The trouble is, I didn't really plan out things from the beginning. Whenever something struck my fancy, I just messed with stuff until I could fit it in...which made it damn hard to maintain any kind of smoothness, regularity, or regimentation. The source code is all over the place with little rhyme or reason. I didn't get around to adding more levels, more TFs, more story, and more interesting features, environmental interaction, dialog, or much of anything else that I had intended...but the game itself is still a reasonably fun little time waster. Now, though...I'm strongly considering continuing it.
The game lacks pretty much anything resembling a plot, with some thin reference to you being sent to hell by mistake (you didn't even die yet!), where two demons through you in with a few other guys doomed to be punished for their abusive attitudes toward women. And for the amusement of the perverted demons, naturally. So after a brief indoctrination, you are cut adrift in an arena level currently set up to look like a mall designed by airheaded bimbos. TFs are handled by collecting gems that spawn and drop randomly around the map, and casting the spells associated with each type on either yourself to reverse previous changes, or on the other characters to change them. Having the right type of gem on hand that matches a spellcast on you will consume both gems, but block any changes, automatically counterspelling them. This works for NPCs you are targeting too.
I learned a ton of things while making this game, most of it from scratch. The trouble is, I didn't really plan out things from the beginning. Whenever something struck my fancy, I just messed with stuff until I could fit it in...which made it damn hard to maintain any kind of smoothness, regularity, or regimentation. The source code is all over the place with little rhyme or reason. I didn't get around to adding more levels, more TFs, more story, and more interesting features, environmental interaction, dialog, or much of anything else that I had intended...but the game itself is still a reasonably fun little time waster. Now, though...I'm strongly considering continuing it.
First Post, 8MAR2011
So, this is the first post for this new blog, where I'll be yacking about all manner of things from my fiddling around with Inform7 to create TG/TF style games, to my roleplaying happenings, and just about anything else I can think of that pretains to my online persona. Just in case somebody out there might be interested, and to give me a way to help keep my thoughts organized.
Still pisses me off that redneckdemon was already taken, thus the longer url. *grrrrl*
Still pisses me off that redneckdemon was already taken, thus the longer url. *grrrrl*
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