Monster Girl Quest Gaiden: Ali in the Arena

[Scherzo]

Hello, everyone.
I'd like to talk about my latest project I've been tinkering around with. For the moment, It's called: Monster Girl Quest Gaiden: Ali in the Arena.

I may as well get this bit out of the way first: I can't draw to save my life, so I'm using 3dCG art. However, I have absolutely NOTHING to do with that 3d remake or whatever that thing is that's been floating around.


Fair Warning: Spoilers for the original Monster Girl Quest trilogy are inevitable. If you have yet to play it, and intend to play it blind, here's your chance to turn back. (And go play it. It's awesome. Then come back here)



MGQ is one of my favorite H-games, not just for that content, but also for the characters and story. I'm exited to see how Paradox turns out, and I'm glad the series is getting continued, but I do admit I'm kind of disappointed by the time-line reset because I feel the series ended in kind of an interesting place and I'd kind of like to see how the rebuilding process pans out after the war.

So... I thought I'd take a crack at doing it myself! I'm not too interested in writing a strait-up fanfic, so instead I decided to do a fan sequel/epilogue kinda thing. I took a look at just using the included side-story system in the actual game, but I can't do several of the things I'd like to within that framework, so I'm just making a standalone game.


So... The story takes place roughly 20 years after the ending of the original trilogy and primarily follows Alipheese Fateburn the Seventeenth, or Ali for short. (I.e: Luka and Alice's daughter) Since Torotoro hasn't released ANY info on Alice and Luka's future kids, aside from the fact that Alice is pregnant with twins during the final ending, so obviously anything I do with them is just my own headcannon so... I'm hoping I'll write this well enough to not muck things up.


In this game, Ali isn't nearly as skilled at dark magic as her mother (which bothers her immensely) so she tried taking up sword training in the style Luka and Granberia use, but she had some difficulty with that as well. Turns out that it's hard to utilize the proper footwork for many sword techniques without actual feet. So, at her mother's suggestion, she takes up the spear instead, since lunging and distance attacks are better suited to a lamia-type body, and she's managed to adapt several of Luka's skills to work with a spear instead. As a result, she's developed a fighting style similar to Luka's but with some altered skills and even some limited magic spells. She decides to join in the battles at the Grand Noah Colosseum to develop her fighting skills and get stronger.


The game itself will mainly consist of running through a gauntlet of fights in the arena, but you'll have the opportunity to explore the city between fights. For the most part, I'm matching the original trilogy's gameplay style very closely, so it's basically a visual novel with a combat system, and the exploration just consists of picking locations off a menu and choosing people to talk to. If you're wondering where the hentai comes in, and haven't actually played the Monster Girl Quest games... know that in the Colosseum, "pleasure attacks" are a valid battle tactic.

The attached images are my currently pending design for Ali, a couple early WIPs of the battle system, and also a test render of Alma Elma from the original trilogy.

I'm still playing around with render settings and such to figure out the artstyle, so these screens aren't entirely consistent.

I'm currently looking for any feedback, including thoughts on my current designs, and suggestions for monsters/fetishes you'd like to see included. Hell, go ahead and post your "Oh dear god, another 3d MGQ thing, plz no!" comments as well, though be warned I've already got a few of those. I'll also answer any questions you might have. But I'd kinda like to get some feedback and bounce this project off a few people before I get too far into it.

I hope to have a playable demo by the end of the month. But I might need to add a couple weeks to that because this is a busy time of the year for me.

 

[krisslanza]

Re: Monster Girl Quest Gaiden: Ali in the Arena

While this does have that... uncanny valley issue the 3D MGQ project suffers from, I can understand that without a dedicated artist (or one's own artistic skill) it is one of the most accessible options around.

The concept sounds fairly interesting however. The idea if Critical Ecstasy works on women (or monstergirls, for that matter) is never really brought up in MGQ's canon though. Maybe it does though, if we go off part 3's events in the village perhaps...

 

[Scherzo]

Re: Monster Girl Quest Gaiden: Ali in the Arena

I'm really hoping I can mitigate that a bit once I get more used to working with the rendering software but I have no delusions that 3d is any sort of 'improvement.' But I REALLY don't want to be one of those people who shows up and says " Hey, hey! I got this game idea, but I can't program, or draw, or write well, or anything, and I'm looking to get people to do all the work to make my shitty 'dream game' FOR me!" ... I'm exaggerating a tad but we've all seen "that" kind of recruitment thread before...

So I'm hoping to make a game that is genuinely enjoyable despite the graphics I'm using, and maybe if it's good enough I'll actually have enough clout to do some team recruiting for other projects. For the record, this isn't my first game, so I know (roughly) what I'm doing. But it's my first adult game, and my first one using this type of graphics.

That said, I'm attaching a few more WIPs. The first one is an attempt at making Chrome, which might be my best one yet, probably because the uncanny valley works in her favor since she's SUPPOSED to be creepy. The others are some rough designs for a couple other potential enemies.

The idea if Critical Ecstasy works on women (or monstergirls, for that matter) is never really brought up in MGQ's canon though.

It's heavily implied that it's the reason Granberia is unable to beat Alma Elma in a fight. The yuri scene with their sparing match is miss-able, but it basically establishes that Granberia is weak to pleasure attacks in particular, though she may be a special case given that she is one of the few monsters that doesn't use them herself.

My personal feelings on the matter is that the "Critical Ecstasy" thing is a result of some kind of monster ability so they can do it to each other, but it would be really mary-sue-ish for a man to turn the tables and put a monster girl into submission that way. (Unless they're Rance) But that would be completely against the spirit of MGQ being a femdom thing anyways so I'd discount that as a possibility.



And this is going to become a VERY long post now, but I guess I'll take a moment to post a current list of the opponents I plan on making:

Tabitha, the black cat peacekeeper lieutenant:
The peacekeeper militia is a volunteer military-like organization established after the war to help police disputes between humans and monsters. A lot of former heroes joined, which worried many monsters, but many monsters joined as well. Peacekeeper officers are forbidden from using lethal force so they often have to resort to unconventional weaponry.
Tabitha is a low-ranking officer and primarily attacks with bombs and grenades. Since they're non-lethal, they're gimmick items like a smoke bomb, a stun grenade and glue grenade. She's a pretty easy opponent once you figure out how to deal with the effects of her gadgets.


Alma Elma: 20 years later, and she's still a top-ranked fighter in the arena. She gives you some help and advice early in the game, but you'll eventually have to fight her in the arena if you want to become the champion yourself.

Yuki Kunoichi: A yuki-onna trained in ninjutsu. (Undoubtedly from Yamatai village) Uses weapons like snow shuriken and icicle kunai. Expect clone jutsu shenanigans.

Dark Elf Magician Girl: If you remember the succubus witch from MGQ part 2, expect something similar, but this one is themed after a stage magician kinda theme. Her “grabs” are themed after some of your typical cliché magic tricks like the classic “saw a person in half” bit and will probably have a bit of a bondage-y sorta feel given the themes of this game.

Scyroid: Remember all those “-roid” monsters from part three? Here's a Scylla-type one.

Sir Fredrick: Since you're playing the monster girl this time, I thought I might sprinkle in a couple human male opponents for variety so this isn't a pure yuri game. So yeah... have a knight to beat down with pleasure attacks If you're into that kinda thing. You monster.

Mistress Victoria: And on the other side of the coin, why not a normal human female opponent too? Well... normal is relative. Victoria has a serious inferiority/superiority complex verses monster girls, so despite being human, she mainly uses pleasure attacks in the arena to try to assert “human superiority” (with little success) And yup, whip-carrying dominatrix, in case you hadn't already guessed.

Minotaur: A muscle-bound minotaur girl. I'm taking a slightly different approach from the original MGQ one and trying to make her a bit more bull-like rather than cow-like.

Giantess: I haven't started on her design yet, so I might add an additional “monstrous” aspect, but I do know I want to include a huge giantess type opponent.

Slime assassin: Slimes generally aren't known for high mobility, or for wearing clothes... but this one wears a wetsuit which acts as something like an exo-skeleton allowing her to move with great speed. She's poisonous, but her slime isn't deadly, but it is hallucinogenic and will make you increasingly drunk with prolonged exposure.

Battle Doll: Remember in part three where Alice thought Chrome wouldn't get into too much trouble swtiching to being a doll-maker after giving up necromancy? Yeah... about that... She's been dabbling in robotics, so she's testing out one of her latest creations by entering it as an arena combatant. (Chrome herself won't be an arena combatant. Doesn't really suit her)

 

[krisslanza]

Re: Monster Girl Quest Gaiden: Ali in the Arena

True I suppose that scene suggests it. That or Granberia herself is just REALLY weak to pleasure attacks.

The Chrome render actually... looks pretty good. Will be interesting to see how this all pans out to be honest.