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!!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
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.
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