RPG RPG Maker [TheCardWielder] Agents of P.O.R.N

[TheCardWielder]

Hello there, I'm TheCardWielder, and I'm here to tell you about my recently started game, Agents of P.O.R.N.

Currently I don't have anywhere really set up to keep people up to date on my game outside of my new Discord server, but I thought it was about time to release my latest demo of my game to the public after the amount of testing and tweaking I've done on it over the last few months. If people want a link to the Discord, please PM me on here and I'll try to send you an invite as soon as possible.

First of, a brief description of my game. Well it's made in RPG Maker MV and utilises a turn based combat system. The player will take control of Agents Symphony and Avarice as they are trying to uncover the sudden apperance of an underground scientific group that seems to be developing strange monsters with some interesting mating methods. As such, during combat the player will also have to make sure that the Agents don't get restrained by their opponents, otherwise who knows what may happen to them afterwards. The game also has an interesting leveling system as instead of gaining levels, the Agents will only gain access to new moves as they level until they have all four special attacks. As stats don't increase with leveling, the equipment system is all the more important, and I've gone with a more freeform "Gem" slot system, which should allow the player to tweak the Agents Gems to their own liking once they have acquired enough.

The controls for the game are your standard RPG Maker controls really, but further details are explain at the start of the game, including a few changes that I made to the system to better accomodate for what I have in mind for the game.

As for fetishes included in this game, well for now there is things like Hypnosis, Bestiality, Light Vore (Plants). Tentacles, Slimes, Machines. Honestly, there is a lot, and I plan on adding more further into the game. Ones that are and will not be in the game are things like Guro, Loli/Shota and Scat, to name a few of the top of my head, as I'm not particulally fond of them.

(UPDATE (02/12/20) Here is a link to the final version of the game! I do hope you all enjoy playing it as much as I enjoyed making it!:
Windows: - MEGA -

You must be registered to see the links

MAC: - MEGA -

You must be registered to see the links

This update includes a fair few things, such as the final section of the game, as well as two new enemies and the final boss!
I also tweaked the difficulty of the earlier parts of the game so it shouldn't be as hard for new players, and also buffed up Agent Symphony's first two attacks. Now her 'Heartbreak Heartbreak' attack deals more damage, and her 'Time to Make History' buff action doesn't end her turn! Instead, it's now called a 'Quick Action' which is a term I may use more of in the future!

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this final version of Agents, and as always, any and all feedback is appreciated please!

This speaking of my Discord server, here is the link!:

You must be registered to see the links

For now, I don't plan on asking people to pay for my game, nor any future games I make after I finish this one. This is mainly due to the fact that I know eventually, if my games are liked enough, that people may just pirate them online if they don't want to buy them. And personally, I would much rather people were enjoying my games more than me profiting from them at the moment, especially as this is my first game that I've properly worked on and released.

I hope this is enough information for people to want to check out my game, please let me know of your opinions on the demo so far, as I would always love feedback from players of my games so that I can improve as a developer.

(EDIT) I thought I should add some screenshots so people can see what the art looks like in game, as well as the battle system itself:

Spoiler: Overworld Screenshot

Spoiler: Battle Screenshot

Spoiler: Bad End Sequence Screenshot

 

[bobbot]

Forgive any spelling errors about half asleep but I recognize this. you shared this in lip's discord server any more progress since then? Also just to ask what will likely be added both fetish wise and mechanic's wise? Any chance of instant death mid combat that's non h related? will we see debuff's that linger outside of combat? also wondering, mission control seems oddly suspecious i take it they are responsible for this mess.

 

[TheCardWielder]

Since I first shared it in Lipucd's Discord Server I've recieved feedback from many people about bugs and changes I could make to the demo to improve it in many ways. One thing I did was a major overaul of my sprite work, and as such the in battle status are a lot more animated then they originally were. As for instant death mid combat due to non h related means is unlikely, mainly because I've not planned any yet within the game. As for debuffs that linger outside of combat, I could certainly introduce a few that might make for an interesting time for the Agents and those around them. As for Mission Control / HQ seeming suspicious, I don't want to tell you too much about the future plot of the game now do I?

 

[Ecroose]

Ok, all done with the demo

It isn't bad, spritework isn't top of the charts but it has it's own charm, the animated battle portraits are also a major plus

What needs improvement

• writing is VERY weak, almost no reason to like the characters. It's great that the two chars get along immediatly, but WHY do they get along? Common interest, former sorority sisters, why?
• The flooring in the lab gave me a headache, if you make it a solid color (black, grey, white) then it would be a LOT less jarring, especially for those who are sensitive to that kind of thing.
• Since the characters have no reason to grind levels since they get stats from gear, there is no reason for the "overkill x2 exp" effect. On that note, scatter a few more gems around for the player to use, or cause enemies to drop them sometimes
• All of Symphonys skills are persona song titles (I'm on to you). But she has no multi hit skills. (like avarice does) make last surprises instant kill % higher to justify the large amount of sp usage (that could otherwise be spent getting out of very common grapples

I'm going to keep this on my watchlist since it's a very good first demo, keep at it

 

[TheCardWielder]

Thanks for your opinions and telling me what you think needs improving Ecroose, I know my story writing isn't the greatest and I certainly need some improving in that regard. I certainly need to give some reasons for why they get on so quickly, as this is supposed to be their first mission together, and they are just randomly ordered to work together.

- As for the lab flooring, it actually used to be black and white, which I had some copmlaints about from my testing team, so I changed it to what it is now, what seems to be the problem for you? As I think a solid colour floor might not look good personally, but I always want the opinions of my target audience so I can improve.

- I've had people mention why the such low level caps and the lack of necessity to grind. Honestly, I've never been a fan of grinding in games, which is why I wanted to try to get rid of needing it in my game through the equipment to improve stats method, the issue then becomes whats the point of leveling outside of gaining skills. I've been thinking to rework the leveling system a bit, might need to discuss the idea with a few others over on my Discord Server.

- Glad you noticed the references in Symphony's move names, fan of the series myself, and with Symphony's name, I felt like I could try to slip the references in there. As for her instant kill move, I'll have to agree with you, I need to change some aspect of it, either the instant kill chance, the SP cost, or maybe even change it to her own multi hit.

Thanks for all feedback though Ecroose, I really want to make a game that both my audience and I am happy with

 

[Stiltzkinator]

Chiming in on the lab floor, I think a large part of it is that the pattern is too small, which makes it look busy, and thus very distracting. The subtle shading of each little square lends toward it being like an optical illusion that strains the eyes a bit. It's not a bad design per se, but an unfortunate one, and I think people either see it normally, or are very put off by it.

 

[TheCardWielder]

Oh, so maybe I should try "scaling" up the squares then, so that they appear less frequently? Might see how that looks myself then, hopefully it helps with the strain people are having with it.
Or should I try shading it differently? I'm still devloping my sprite skills, so anything people say that may help to improve is appreciated.

 

[Allsop2604]

Pleasantly surprised with this one. Originally passed by it looking at the art but I'm glad I played. Spritework isn't amazing but I found the characters very erotic and I enjoyed most of the animations. Combat mixed in with the capture animations is very solid. Story was clear and concise - I was able to skim through quickly and still understand the plot and ongoings perfectly. Extra points for no long unnecessary intro.

Only request would be for some proper mammal bestiality, but that's just to suit my own preferences.

All in all great little game and I'll be happy to see what any updates will bring.

 

[super_slicer]

Hrmmm, knowing that I wouldn't get any stats from leveling, I avoided most of the enemies and save-scummed alot. I've played a few games with this sort of leveling quirk and that's what always ends up happening. I'd suggest adding some other benefit to combat or it ends up feeling like a hassle.

Outside of that, you've added a lot of the things H-games NEED but almost never have. Auto-fire is very pleasing. Recovering all HP in-between encounters is a nice idea, allowing you to make individual battles more difficult.

 

[TheCardWielder]

@Allsop2604 Thanks for giving it a go, I know my spritework isn't the greatest, but you should have seen the first versions of some of my sprites. Glad you liked the combat mixed with combat animations, and that you were able to understand the somewhat simple story As for mammal bestiality, well we'll see is all I can say, especially without checking my design document to look ahead at what I have planned for this game.

@super_slicer I've had a few people comment on this aspect of lack of stats leveling, as such I've currently got a build in the works of the game which changes the leveling system a bit, so that the skills are learnt at a slightly spread out set of levels, but in between the HP and SP stats increase depending on which character it is. Glad you like some of the other systems I have in place for the game's combat though.

As a general thing to everyone, what do you say I need to change about my sprite style to possible help make it more appealing please? As I've seen a few comments on here about it, so I would like to improve it so that I can attract more people to try out my game.

 

[super_slicer]

As a general thing to everyone, what do you say I need to change about my style to possible help make it more appealing please? As I've seen a few comments on here about it, so I would like to improve it so that I can attract more people to try out my game.

Hrmm, I'm assuming you're referring to the art? It's hard for most people to put it into words. I'd say more detail would be better.

Another way to go about it might be looking into artists that are widely considered as skilled?

 

[TheCardWielder]

Yeah I did, just edited the post to fix the missing word And thanks for the tip, I assume you mean more details on the characters, or just more details on things in general?

 

[super_slicer]

Yeah I did, just edited the post to fix the missing word And thanks for the tip, I assume you mean more details on the characters, or just more details on things in general?

Both, to be honest. I did have a bit of trouble navigating the forest because sometimes I'd try to walk where I wasn't able to between the trees now that you mention it. The trouble was more 'I got caught by the enemy I was trying to avoid' though.

 

[TheCardWielder]

I guess I could add some other foliage around my trees to fill in the gaps to the sides of them, especially as it does kind of look like you can walk into those spaces. When you say get caught by the enemy you were trying to avoid, how exactly were you getting caught? Was it because of the weird boundries on the trees?

 

[super_slicer]

Yeah, I was trying to walk in-between trees and couldn't. Think there was one where I was trying to walk under the branches part of the tree and it wouldn't let me either.

 

[TheCardWielder]

Okay, I'll try adding some foliage to the lower areas around the trees then to make it obvious that you cannot walk underneath them in those areas. There are parts where you can walk behind them, but those are mainly behind the tops of the trees, which makes sense. Thanks super_slicer!

 

[Stiltzkinator]

Now that I've had some time with this, I have a lot of thoughts, but hopefully they come across as constructive. I think this shows a lot of promise!

Also, all of the below is just my thoughts as someone who makes games, looking at this as though I were working on it. Feel free to disregard anything you've already planned for or that doesn't match your vision.

Spoiler

I think I see what you're going for with some of the writing, but I'm not sure how well it lands. If you want to highlight the humor of the acronyms and the absurdity of the setting, I think there's two directions you could go in with it, but there's a common facet to both. One of these is to have the characters say just a bit less. Use the silly acronyms and have everyone take it at face value, and allow the player to have the "Are you serious?" reaction. I'd suggest this if you want to spend minimal time writing out scenes and such, to communicate to the player that there's a lot of face-value humor but that they're otherwise going to be blitzing through content (which should be seen as a positive) while maintaining an abundant suspension of disbelief. I feel like that matches more closely to what you have so far, but there's an alternative approach too. I think this would take more effort to pull off, but you can really lean further into the in-universe awareness of the absurdity of everything, with the characters becoming more cognizant of how ridiculous the scenario is over time. The takes more focus on having at least a shred of believability, which make be hard to find in the first place without a ton of context, and it also requires pacing throughout the scenario to build up to something for your characters to ultimately recognize later, whether that exists as a capstone for humor or for drama (though I don't know if drama is really where you want to go with this). I will say that your game over scenes are probably fine as they are for the moment - personally, at least, I find that long-winded game over scenes are more annoying than enjoyable, and for the effort that goes into them, they aren't part of the core gameplay, and some players will simply reload the moment they lose a battle anyway.

Adding to the rest of the conversation so far, building on what has been said, the combat balance is actually pretty good overall in terms of how the numbers stack up, which is a rarity in hrpgs. Battles with 4 enemies can be brutal if you are unlucky, though, and as far as I could tell it looks like there is no escape option once you start a battle. Add that to the fact that all saves are manual, and there's a decent chance of frustration over lost time unless someone saves after every fight.

While the difficulty balance of the encounters is good, they feel just a bit more numerous than necessary for the length of the game so far, especially since they stop giving you any benefit once you hit the demo level cap. I see your next build will have a bit of stat boosts doled out via leveling, though, so that should help make the battles feel more worth it - I still wonder if portions of the game (upstairs in the lab in particular) have too many encounters clustered together, on top of the fact that interacting to look for keycards can trigger even more battles.

Another note on rewards from battles is that there doesn't seem to be any form of currency? Items are pretty sparse on top of that, so supposing the boss was in the demo, it would feel prohibitively suboptimal to even consider using an item before fighting it.

I'm curious how you plan to mix up the mechanics portion of combat going forward. Of your enemies so far, the majority (all but one) of them have an attack that damages HP and another that stacks a condition which leads to an alternate defeated state, and nothing else. I don't know what your planned scope is for the game in terms of length, but you'll want to be able to keep players interested throughout, generally by not having do the same things the whole time. Part of this is giving them new skills to work with, but the other part is giving them different things to react to. I think the art assets so far are fine, especially considering the variety of animated states that can be displayed, but if you remove the art, the enemies are mechanically the same overall and require no different tactics to defeat.

The one exception, the slimentists, have a status skill which makes it impossible to decrease the alternate defeat state progress, and itself can't be removed until it wears off, which is another point of potential frustration (but employing a status effect that messes with the established subsystem of defeat at any HP is good!). It never came up for me, and I think it would be rare to happen in general, but the person who has the lustful state land on both characters right when they would want to decrease progress toward being fully defeated is going to have a really bad time if they can't do anything abotu the state. It's not that the state itself is dooming necessarily, but not being able to remove it when you get the 3 turn version is a concern. Either a skill or a recovery item that cures such a state would go a long way to making it so that the player hasn't lost multiple turns before the battle even ends.

As a final thought, I see the AI script you are using and will caution that it's actually a major headache in my experience, supposing . If you're interested, I can show you how to put weighted option into an array and have the enemy AI choose an action from that instead.

 

[TheCardWielder]

Thank you @Stiltzkinator for the report of your opinions about my game, I certainly will be using it to reflect on some things I plan on doing with the game from here onwards.

To be specific, in terms of the writing for the story, I'll admit, I'm not particularly good at writing stories nor appropriate lines for them, especially as this is my first game and story to tell. As such deciding on how the story will go talkative wise from here is difficult, as I do have an overall story planned out, but not really in much great detail in terms of what characters will say at certain parts, so most of the writing so far has just been what I've decided while working on that particular section, which is certainly not a good way to go about writing a good story.

The lack of an escape option is mainly due to the potential frustration of what would happen should the player escape from the fight, as the enemy would easily be able to attack them again going back to the overworld. The other issue regarding an escape option would be how I have the number of enemies in a battle decided by random before each fight.

As for the lack of benefits from battles, for the first part about the lack of leveling rewards, I do indeed plan on changing the system for the next version to include a higher level cap, as well as stat increase for HP and SP. I also plan to spread out when the Agents learn their skills, which should hopefully help vary up the earlier fights. As for a currency system, I'm trying to figure out how best to add a shop system to the game which makes sense storywise honestly, which is the main reason why there isn't any currency rewards from fights.

As for mixing up things from now on in battles, well, I'll be honest. I hadn't actually thought about it much, most people that have tried my game so far haven't really complained about the lack of variety in enemy attacks, so I hadn't really thought about adding much variety outside of normal attack and the alternate defeat state. Of course, I have experimented in adding in additional enemy skills such as that of the Slimentists, but haven't really thought about including any others so far. Maybe the future areas I have in mind will bring about some ideas for additional attacks and statuses, I can certainly try experimenting further.

As for the AI script, well. I'll private message you about that, as anything that could help improve the AI of my game would be amazing!

 

[super_slicer]

Ya know, as far as a shop is concerned:

Works pretty well. Granted, if you're going for super-serious story it's... hard to pull off. Though I'd buy an enemy that's just so greedy he doesn't care who he's selling to.

 

[TheCardWielder]

Funnily enough, that was exactly what I was imagining to do for the shop recently! I've got an idea in mind for whom the Merchant could be as well, plus I'm probably going for a more comedic story anyway, so it will be easy to put something like him in.