RPG Active Renfield

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

What you need: something solid, sexy and playable to show people.
What you do not need: alchemy system, shotagonist, ten character classes, multiplayer butterfly chasing.

We're still having an alchemy system no matter what.
How else is the player going to mix breast expansion potions?
Seriously though, I've already made the alchemy system and placed the ingredients in the world to find.
I just need to install the custom UI for mixing.

The shotagonist was a mistake.
It's more useful to have normal-sized actors as the animation targets.

As for multiplayer... one day... one day...

 

[Krh]

Re: Renfield

Voted Classic. Being able to see my character is fairly important to me, so a standing picture or a conversation portrait is a plus. Classic turn-based combat gives the opportunity to see the sights and add in clothing destruction, struggle scenes and whatnot. I only ever play Skyrim and Fallout in first person to take a difficult sniper shot from range or pixelhunt the hotspot to activate/pick up something.

Alchemy system is not a bad thing to have, as long as it's not mandatory or balanced around. I brought it up to illustrate your habit of wandering off after something non-essential. Shotagonist need not have been a complete waste: maybe you can reskin the little bastard into a goblin or something.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Renfield

For 1st and 3rd person, I imagine the quick switch Elder Scrolls style is ideal for a game like this, and adding FP-POV to the games resume is something certain people will be keen on for fetish reasons. That said, doing it well is quite hard, and does require extra work (or very advanced methods) to accomplish, so I can definitely see wisdom in keeping things simple with 3rd person. It probably wouldn't be too taxing to allow POV camera options for H-scenes alone, by de-rendering the head and fixing a wide-FOV camera point there as done in plenty of 3D h-games, but having smooth usable first person for actual combat and general gameplay, is not as easy. First person view points also place a greater expectations on the overall graphical quality of a game, with textures and details being naturally scrutinised up close more often by players.

So my opinion on this issue, is to keep it simple for yourselves at first and go with 3rd, and consider adding a rudimentary FP-POV a little further on, mainly just for use in scenes. A polished 1st person mode for general play would be nice, but really isn't crucial, so can wait until the game has a solid foundation to be re-evaluated. I've always been a fan of it in other games, but would honestly be fine without it.


Regarding alchemy, absolutely. I think all Krh was saying there, was that in the immediate time frame you need something demonstrable to show, if generating interest is desired. All the extra depth will be absolutely crucial to the games longer term value, and should be what elevates it beyond a mere animation gallery, but at present all that work is just floating promises, as far as the audience can see.

The full RPG experience will obviously take time, but as a short term goal for a demo, sticking the players inside a mocked up arena and having them trigger then fight waves of enemies, would probably work. It's far from the end goal, but basic combat and H-mechanics will be important to get ironed out early anyway, and it's the most direct route to putting something "sexy and playable" on the table. Once that's down, any other features that are ready can be squeezed in for testing, until there's enough to move on to a larger open RPG demo.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Looks like I'm off the hook for both multiplayer and modern 1st person.
I was excited at the prospect of the new features, but now I'm just relieved that I don't have to do it.

We're working on making maps you can walk around in and fight.
There will be lots of diverse biomes with subtle differences between maps.

Once those are implemented we'll move on to dungeons and caves.
Towns I'll actually save for last since a menu-based town is actually pretty convenient.

Other than that I'm STILL working on the voice files. Barely put a dent into them so far.
Also it looks like ambient head and neck turning for H-Scenes should be ready for the next update.
Even better, the dynamic facial expression might be ready soon as well.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Voted Classic. Being able to see my character is fairly important to me, so a standing picture or a conversation portrait is a plus. Classic turn-based combat gives the opportunity to see the sights and add in clothing destruction, struggle scenes and whatnot. I only ever play Skyrim and Fallout in first person to take a difficult sniper shot from range or pixelhunt the hotspot to activate/pick up something.

Conversation portraits should be easy.
Clothing destruction and struggle animations / struggle minigames are certainly doable, but won't be for a while.

How important is it that sex and combat be combined?
For Glasser's scenes it made sense to have them instanced since they weren't initiated by combat in the first place.
But for Hanna's GOR content, would people prefer it be integrated with the combat or instanced after a party wipe?

 

[Stranger]

Re: Renfield

Make a poll and you will have your answer.
But combat rape is always good in my book!
Not a fan of that game over screen - at least give me some corruption stats, send me to inn/hospital but don't make me redo everything by showing me a game over.

 

[Krh]

Re: Renfield

Both integrated and instanced approaches have their perks; either can be great, if done well.

Integrated means more interesting and involved combat. Try to break free now or wait a bit and gather strength? Odds of success are better with more stamina, but if it manages to slip one of those aphrodisiac-secreting tentacles inside, the fight is as good as lost. Climax yourself to get rid of that debilitating arousal powder debuff or try to hit the devious ninja regardless? One more hit and he's dead. If you don't hit? If you take too long with the fingering? He might get a slave collar on you and that's it.

Instanced should be easier to get right. No random fox or rabbit wandering in to join the rapist line, no dragon showing up to kill everyone. Fewer moving parts, simpler, cleaner. An instanced H-scene could also have struggle and interaction in it; the same system could be used for consensual and non-consensual activities. As a bonus, the pervy parts could remain as is, should you eventually begin a crusade for that fabled modern first person combat.

And yeah, lazy game over screens stink.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

I've decided I need to pace myself while editing the moaning files.
There's simply too much to edit and process in one fell swoop.
So the unique voices will be added one at a time.
There's countless other systems that still need working on and the voice stuff is taking up my whole daily session.

However there's still good progress being made.
The "you explore the wilderness herp derp" filler text will be gradually replaced with NPC encounters and other events.
At the very least I want all of them to have unique flavor text.
We already have one guy working on the first explorable maps and the results are promising so far.

Games like Corruption of Champions or Flexible Survival (both great games imho) get away with "fish for an event" format.
But it seems that once you go full 3D realtime, the ante is raised in terms of expectations.
The Visual Novel style and the in game graphics will exist side by side for the time being.
Anything we can't portray live and in detail will be related through text and still images.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

But combat rape is always good in my book!

Integrated means more interesting and involved combat. Try to break free now or wait a bit and gather strength? Odds of success are better with more stamina, but if it manages to slip one of those aphrodisiac-secreting tentacles inside, the fight is as good as lost. Climax yourself to get rid of that debilitating arousal powder debuff or try to hit the devious ninja regardless? One more hit and he's dead. If you don't hit? If you take too long with the fingering? He might get a slave collar on you and that's it.

Integrated sex mechanics are admittedly a nice feature.
Games likes Violated Heroine or Vitamin Quest certainly made excellent use of them.

The barrier to having in-battle sex is the animation armature.
Renfield uses models with more articulate spines than the default Humanoid import and retargeting settings.
This means that unless bone length is kept precise across the avatar skeleton, or there isn't a carefully calibrated system of kinematic tracking in place, then you'll have animations that are misaligned.
For anyone who's used Skyrim and Oblivion sex mods, you'll remember how if you have sex with a tall Altmer or Nord, then use the same positions for a short Bosmer, the position will be off.
For this reason different models are used for combat vs sex.

Making Hanna was quick and easy.
However each potential partner needs to be configured for compatibility.
So right now a goblin can't have sex with her unless we duplicate the model, re-rig it to be of identical proportions, rename every node on its armature so the animation can target the correct joints and so forth.
Once we get a thoroughly tested kinematic system in place, these issues should be settled for good.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Oblivion and Skyrim had this great mechanic where you use pickpocketing to plant poisons in your target's inventory.
They would then suffer the effects of that poison as though they'd been hit with it or drank it.

Once the transformation items are implemented in the game, you could sneak a vial into someone's pocket to make their dick shrink,
or change their gender, or make them an anthro of some kind, etc etc.
I foresee a great deal of hilarious emergent gameplay in our future.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: Renfield

How important is it that sex and combat be combined?
For Glasser's scenes it made sense to have them instanced since they weren't initiated by combat in the first place.
But for Hanna's GOR content, would people prefer it be integrated with the combat or instanced after a party wipe?

...combat rape is always good in my book!
Not a fan of that game over screen - at least give me some corruption stats, send me to inn/hospital but don't make me redo everything by showing me a game over.

Seconding Strangers stance there. Personally, I find the integrated style very important in most games. I can't stand games where all the H appeal is only found via "scene hunting" or deliberately losing to each monster once before continuing. As far as sex during combat goes, it doesn't even have to be particularly common, but I do really enjoy the bit of thrill and peril added by knowing it could happen at any moment, rather than only in some external event or cg-scene.

Games like Maiden Snow, Jumble Jokers, or Princess Sacrifice, are examples of the kind of thing I'm keen on. All of which also include some degree of corruption/degradation tracking, which is always popular and ideally suited for this game. Maiden Snow also had a subtle but quite nice system within it's armour and clothing, where different clothes had both a "coverage" and a "hard to rape" rating, which effected how likely certain sex attacks were to succeed, or how effective they are if they do hit. Layering stuff like that into the game can help create some fun choices, particularly when looting enchanted gear comes into play, providing potentially mixed incentives.

Clothing destruction is also obviously a must for this kind of gameplay, but all in due time, naturally. Long term goals. But overall, this is the kind of thing that I'm most interested in personally, and believe would synergize very well with the open and sandboxy style of gameplay discussed so far. As I mentioned before, scripted events or predictable scenes triggered by KO alone, can get old very fast. Moments of "emergent H-content" can stay fresh for a surprising amount of time.

 

[Krh]

Re: Renfield

Expectations only become a burden if you promise the moon and the stars and end up delivering a small, grey rock that may or may not be from your backyard. The game doesn't need to implement every neat feature and grand idea under the sun in order to be good.

Do you really want to account for every single named NPC and every variant of every randomized one reacting to the effects of reverse-pickpocketed transformation items? The blacksmith is now an actual bear, but he does business like usual and nobody seems to give a damn. The busty waitress everyone drools after now has a flat chest, but the inn patrons still behave as though her prodigious rack were intact - and so does she. Emergent gameplay hilarity or suspension of disbelief snapping painfully?

Fishing for events is fine, as long as the fishing isn't tedious. If it takes twenty clicks and five minutes of mindless routine for one fishing roll... I'm gonna nope out quickly. One "explore region" click without significant gametime or in-game resource cost is harmless. Interesting, even. What will be encountered this time? Click, click, click.

The encounters and interactions are what makes or breaks a sandboxy game. Not just what's found out there, but how it's presented and what can be done with it. Textwall is the fun-killer, the little-death that brings total boredom. Any kind of interactive fiction suffers terribly when the interaction is removed or reduced to irrelevancy. Writing an interesting or arousing scene only does so much if it's the same static textwall every single time. But if it's interactive? If the player can influence how it plays out? Instant replayability. Text and still images are more than sufficient, if they're put to good use.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Games like Maiden Snow, Jumble Jokers, or Princess Sacrifice, are examples of the kind of thing I'm keen on.

Jumble Jokers was a real gem.
I don't think any game handled in-battle H content quite as well.
It's corruption mechanics were also very good.

This chart shows an overview of how I plan to handle GOR.
You no longer have to let each individual creature beat you.
Instead you get a procedural series of events based on the faction that beat you.
It ends when you finally escape.

Think of Carla's scenes in Viper RSR.
She loses once to the big bad guy and then all these critters get a turn with her.
Hanna might reach a level where she's practically invincible and wouldn't lose to most enemies.
But if she gets captured by a powerful warlord, he might let his dog mount her.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

The emotion system is up and running.
Still needs a lot of refining.
Plus I've pinned down some issues with the hair textures rendering incorrectly.
They should look a lot better now.

It's about time I release a new version.
There aren't really any earth-shaking differences.
But there are some important combat balances and bugfixes.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Uploading version 1.03 right now. Usually takes a few days before new versions appear on DLSite.

New patch includes lots of small upgrades and fixes. Nothing too exciting.
Combat has been balanced a bit more by having attack damage average out at a median rather than being wildly different with each strike.
It's still possible to fumble or crit, just less common.
A bit more battlefield variety has been introduced. Animations are also more varied.

Today and tomorrow I'm going to focus on writing flavor text for traveling through the wilderness. As always, let me know if you find any bugs or have suggestions of any kind.

 

[Krh]

Re: Renfield

You no longer have to let each individual creature beat you.
Instead you get a procedural series of events based on the faction that beat you.
It ends when you finally escape.

Hanna might reach a level where she's practically invincible and wouldn't lose to most enemies.
But if she gets captured by a powerful warlord, he might let his dog mount her.

Good plan. I really like that line of thought. You could also mix it up with in-combat molestation scenes - if it makes sense for the critter being fought and the outfit worn.

Say Hanna is wearing a suit of classic tin can full plate armor. Not much can be done with it. Player's choice to go with safe and unsexy armor; no in-combat scenes can happen. Or if the critter is a normal animal, not cursed/corrupted/magical beastie of some kind. They'd just kill her or chase her off instead of getting freaky.

Hanna in some variety of bikini armor fighting an intelligent humanoid could get a lot smuttier. Groping, grabbing, slapping, attempts to dislodge or remove armor parts and similar foul play makes good enough sense. H-content without even losing.

Any plans for stats? HP, SP, MP, WP? Lewdness, lust?

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Any plans for stats? HP, SP, MP, WP? Lewdness, lust?

Characters have HP, MP and Stamina but these don't play a direct role for now.
They each have 3 stats that are only H-pertinent.
A Mind Rating to resist corruption / brainwashing / humiliation etc.
A Body Rating which governs sensitivity.
And a Fertility rating. This is how potent the sperm is on a male or how fertile the eggs of the female.

Losing a Mind saving throw would mean giving in to an attacker to a degree.
Once the first "Mind Break" occurs, it tends to be a downward spiral.

Losing a Body saving throw would result in an involuntary orgasm.
If you lose several Body saving throws in a row, it could reach a point where she hates it on an emotional level, but has a growing physical addiction.

Losing a Womb saving throw results in a pregnancy.
At this point the character's belly will swell over time.
I have 2 different pregnant belly morphs and they each change the shape in a different way.
By blending them together in different amounts, each character can have a slightly different shape to their pregnancy.

===============================

In an upcoming combat-focused update, I'm going to implement Skill stats.
These will be the stats you use when trying to escape captivity.
Each round you can try to escape or "plan your escape".

So let's say that the last Skyrim character you played was captured.
Try to remember their skills as best you can.
If you try to escape right away, the game will select one skill that you'll roll against.
It comes up with One-Handed Weapons.
You roll a 92.

Most characters will lose that roll and end up spending the night being abused by their captors.
So let's say that you spend a turn just planning your escape.
This means that you'll endure another round of abuse.
But now it adds another skill you can choose to roll against.

Now you can roll against your One-Handed or your Enchanting.
A success on a One-Handed roll would lead to a scene where you fight your way out.
Success on an Enchanting roll would provide a scene where you use your knowledge of Enchantment to provide a diversion and run free or maybe break past some magic barrier.

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Writing is one of the most arduous parts of game design for me.
I tend to stress over each turn of phrase, second-guessing my way through the whole process.
With Renfield, the need to translate everything into Japanese makes this even slower.
Tried hiring scenario writers in the past and was never happy with their results.

Many RPGs inundate the player with text.
Especially arduous are the long, tedious introductions and prologues.
This combined with the endless tutorials and handholding
means that many games take a great deal of time before they truly "start".

Yet it seems that when you wordlessly plop people down and let them explore, they don't feel free; they feel abandoned.
One note from a playtester said literally "Game doesn't tell you exactly what to do". (!?)
I don't WANT to be told what to do when I play a game.
But it seems that the bulk of players have been indoctrinated / institutionalized.

At any rate, I'm fleshing out the world events and scenarios.
That's going to be my primary focus (aside from fixing bugs as they crop up) over the next few weeks.
Now when you explore you'll have a 50% chance of getting into a fight, 50% chance of getting something else.
The "Something Else" will be 4 categories of events.

The Wilderness events will each have unique flavor text.
NPC events will let you stop and chat with some traveller or townsperson.
Gathering events will let you hunt, fish, mine, or gather herbs.
Finally there will be Choice Events that will be miscellaneous things that you can react to.

 

[Stranger]

Re: Renfield

Put tutorials, hand holding, world building and all that text in a separate section / menu. People who want to - can read. People who want to explore - are not forced to read. win - win.... I think?

 

[KleptoLizard]

Re: Renfield

Put tutorials, hand holding, world building and all that text in a separate section / menu. People who want to - can read. People who want to explore - are not forced to read. win - win.... I think?

Yeah that's basically what I'll have to do.
Version 1.03 has 2 sets of splash screens.
First 2 screens show you the controls (these need to be redone because they look terrible).
Then 2 screens give you a very brief overview of who you are and what you're meant to be doing.

All of the lore and story content will be optional.
You don't need to sit through any exposition if that sort of thing doesn't interest you.
We'll try to make a broad base of appeal for people who want scripted content vs freeform.

On that note, I've had some great ideas for Hanna's scenario.
I'm working on her (completely optional) "Main Quest".
She'll be approached by someone at the beginning and the player can accept or decline.
Furthermore you can always go back and accept if you change your mind.

Even though Hanna isn't in the game yet, I felt like she needed to be the focus of the quest content
since the femprotag was such a popular suggestion and Glasser already has an implicit task that involves harem-building.