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August 16th
1:26pm - Today I'd like to refine and define the game I'm intending to make.
The basic idea is "Dommy Monsters are Fighting Eachother to Own You" and I was inspired with the idea when trying to figure out a scenario for an erotic game that both matched my own interests and would allow for the player to fully enjoy themself, rather than avoiding the fun and kinky parts.
The game itself is set up as a sort of life-sim, with the player finding themself in a situation and having to choose where and how to spend their time, while fulfilling their needs, whatever those might be. The object of the game is to find a dommy monster who you like and want to stay with, and avoid or escape those you don't, while enjoying the strange world and all its activities.
When the player first begins, they'll have the option to choose kinks or themes to include or remove from their game experience. This will allow the player to tailor the experience to themselves, somewhat. It can de-activate locations, interactables, scenes, even whole dommy monsters. I do intend there to be a minimum of five monsters in the game, though. If your choices would forbid too many you won't be able to start the game.
Starting a new game begins with creating your character and their starting form. The plan is to give players several basic options for characters, if they want to jump right in, or let them customize something for themself. I want players to be able to play as their fursona or an OC or whoever else they can make. As such, the character creator will be very robust and probably include most or all form pieces available in the game from transformations, including more generic stuff. Playing a human or furry shouldn't be a problem. Playing a quadruped western dragon may be tricky but should also be possible. The game is a TF game so there may be monsters with very strict ideas for what your form should be, but most of the time they'll try to alter your 'current' form to match their interests and theme. Though, they'll also take the modifications of other monsters into account.
After choosing or building a character, the player will be presented with some backstory. What I'm currently going with, in brief, is that the player has come to a strange 'between' place, an adjoining space between several very different alternate worlds. Each of those worlds has powerful beings that do battle with eachother, at least somewhat. They're also on the lookout for new souls to draft into their own armies or just to claim, and that's what they want with you. You, the player, want this too! But, it's not going to be so easy, and you might not know where you want to belong.
Gameplay starts with the player character in the inbetween zone, and a monster finds them. The monster will want to take them, and the player can go with them or try to escape. If the player escapes, they run into another monster. They can only escape a few times before they just get taken. The idea is that some players might not want to be taken by any monster, but if the game really isn't for them they can just stop. They might also want to play hard to get, and so if they could just run away from all of them they would! It also removes some of the challenge of getting to meet the different monsters, since you could just cycle through them all by running over and over.
Once you're taken by the first monster, the gameplay is somewhat the same for any of them. You're taken to their domain, modified somewhat, possibly just to survive there, or to fit in a little more asthetically. Then the Monster will set you somewhat loose in their domain. Depending on their personality or theme, they may assign you a task or something, but not all will.
Once you're loose in their domain, you get to choose between various options of what to do. It's a life sim of sorts, but also a multiple choice game! You'll have needs to fill, like hunger, or whatever the equivalent of hunger is for your body. You'll probably start as something like a human, furry, or other animal type person, and you'll need to eat, sleep, do hygene stuff probably since that's kinky to some folks, all that sort of thing. As you get changed, though, you may end up with odd needs to fulfill. If your needs aren't filled, weird and/or fun stuff can happen, but you aren't going to die. It will have consequences, though, and that sort of thing will be detailed as the development goes on and the monsters and forms are figured out.
Each time you choose to do something, it'll have a time cost, and there's only so much time in the day. Passing time will also alter the levels of your needs, generally increasing their severity. When you first find yourself in a new domain, you won't know the area, who or what is there, that sort of thing. So, mostly you'll have an explore option you'll want to do. You could also try to escape, or just wait, or try to go back to the monster if you want. As you explore, you find new places and 'people' and things to do and ways to satisfy your needs. As you do actions, other things may also happen, as an encounter. You might run into the monster, or one of their minions, but you might also encounter a trap or the minions of another monster, since they're also trying to get you!
The player will have a chance of being caught straight out by a trap or minions, depending on their needs levels but also various stats about their body and mind, along with some random chance. If they are not caught, they can either avoid/escape the situation, or intentionally be caught. If you're being held by a monster you don't like, being captured by another monster may be easier than escaping on your own. Likewise, these traps and minions will often be trying to tempt you, even when you don't fall for their traps or tricks automatically. So, you the player may not be able to resist their charms, and will choose to go with them.
That broadly describes gameplay. You make a choice from the options of what to do, costing time and doing something for you. Each time you do, there's a chance of an encounter, and things may end up changing as a result.
There are a couple 'goals' in the game. The first one is endless, you're just there to have fun and explore your options. Play with many monsters and minions and see what happens to you. But, there is an end goal too. If you find a monster that you like and want to stay with, each of them are going to be trying to permenantly claim you by performing a ritual, which takes time and several encounters with the monster, generally turning you into something of their world and domain and then finally sealing it in place. This makes it so that you're not so easy for the other monsters to claim, and they'll loose their focus and interest in you, looking for unclaimed souls mostly, or at least treating you the same as the monster's other minions. This process can be interrupted by you being captured/kidnapped by another monster, so if you find one you like and want to stay with, the game gains an extra challenge; don't get caught or tempted away, while your new master finishes claiming you.
2:02pm - So, that's the game, basically, but there's going to be a lot more to it than that. I need to decide on what the stats are, how the form works, and how the game will be presented visually. I want to make a prototype first, with the basic elements needed to work. Some folks focus on a 'minimum viable product' but even that is bigger and more detailed than the sort of prototype I want to make first.
I do also need to come up with monsters, their domains, and all that sort of thing, but for the most part I want that to come late in the development. It should be extensible easily, so I can keep adding monsters to the game over time.
So, let's try making a list here of things I need to do and figure out in order to make the prototype.
The structure of the player's form is a big one. While the specific parts and changes will mostly come with the new monsters, and need to be extensible just the same, I do need to know how the parts will work and be related, how their data will be formatted, that sort of thing. I'm thinking I'll probably take a lot of inspiration from Lilith's Throne in that regard, especially since it's open source. It has a lot of the sort of detail I want, laid out in an interesting way. An important part of this is figuring out how the monsters will judge your form and compare it to their ideals, since that sort of thing will be different from anything in Lilith's Throne.
I need to figure out what kinds of needs there can be. It'll be hard to add new functionality to needs without thinking it through a lot beforehand. Likewise, if I'm using other stats beyond the needs, I need to figure out what they are and how they'll work.
I'll need a few test monsters and domains to start with, because so many of the mechanics rely on your interactions with them and their domains, and there has to be more than one since the game is broadly about them competing to claim you.
I need to figure out what the UI should look like. I can change that later, but I do want to have a good idea of where the various interface bits shared with the player are located, and what info will be on them.
I think those are all the main things. I'm a bit tired, I ended up only having a short time to work today after a lot of other things. Is there anything you think I'm missing?
I think my next task will be to look at the code for Lilith's Throne, and see if I can figure out how they do things. It's a Java game, and I know Java, but it's been a while. My game won't be in Java, but I should be able to take a look at how they structure their data and get some good ideas for my own stuff.
2:23pm - Now it's time to go home. My Dad texted me and wants one more thing from the grocery store after he checked the sales. So, I'll go pick that up, and go home. I think I've made okay progress today, and now know what my next real step will be.
1:26pm - Today I'd like to refine and define the game I'm intending to make.
The basic idea is "Dommy Monsters are Fighting Eachother to Own You" and I was inspired with the idea when trying to figure out a scenario for an erotic game that both matched my own interests and would allow for the player to fully enjoy themself, rather than avoiding the fun and kinky parts.
The game itself is set up as a sort of life-sim, with the player finding themself in a situation and having to choose where and how to spend their time, while fulfilling their needs, whatever those might be. The object of the game is to find a dommy monster who you like and want to stay with, and avoid or escape those you don't, while enjoying the strange world and all its activities.
When the player first begins, they'll have the option to choose kinks or themes to include or remove from their game experience. This will allow the player to tailor the experience to themselves, somewhat. It can de-activate locations, interactables, scenes, even whole dommy monsters. I do intend there to be a minimum of five monsters in the game, though. If your choices would forbid too many you won't be able to start the game.
Starting a new game begins with creating your character and their starting form. The plan is to give players several basic options for characters, if they want to jump right in, or let them customize something for themself. I want players to be able to play as their fursona or an OC or whoever else they can make. As such, the character creator will be very robust and probably include most or all form pieces available in the game from transformations, including more generic stuff. Playing a human or furry shouldn't be a problem. Playing a quadruped western dragon may be tricky but should also be possible. The game is a TF game so there may be monsters with very strict ideas for what your form should be, but most of the time they'll try to alter your 'current' form to match their interests and theme. Though, they'll also take the modifications of other monsters into account.
After choosing or building a character, the player will be presented with some backstory. What I'm currently going with, in brief, is that the player has come to a strange 'between' place, an adjoining space between several very different alternate worlds. Each of those worlds has powerful beings that do battle with eachother, at least somewhat. They're also on the lookout for new souls to draft into their own armies or just to claim, and that's what they want with you. You, the player, want this too! But, it's not going to be so easy, and you might not know where you want to belong.
Gameplay starts with the player character in the inbetween zone, and a monster finds them. The monster will want to take them, and the player can go with them or try to escape. If the player escapes, they run into another monster. They can only escape a few times before they just get taken. The idea is that some players might not want to be taken by any monster, but if the game really isn't for them they can just stop. They might also want to play hard to get, and so if they could just run away from all of them they would! It also removes some of the challenge of getting to meet the different monsters, since you could just cycle through them all by running over and over.
Once you're taken by the first monster, the gameplay is somewhat the same for any of them. You're taken to their domain, modified somewhat, possibly just to survive there, or to fit in a little more asthetically. Then the Monster will set you somewhat loose in their domain. Depending on their personality or theme, they may assign you a task or something, but not all will.
Once you're loose in their domain, you get to choose between various options of what to do. It's a life sim of sorts, but also a multiple choice game! You'll have needs to fill, like hunger, or whatever the equivalent of hunger is for your body. You'll probably start as something like a human, furry, or other animal type person, and you'll need to eat, sleep, do hygene stuff probably since that's kinky to some folks, all that sort of thing. As you get changed, though, you may end up with odd needs to fulfill. If your needs aren't filled, weird and/or fun stuff can happen, but you aren't going to die. It will have consequences, though, and that sort of thing will be detailed as the development goes on and the monsters and forms are figured out.
Each time you choose to do something, it'll have a time cost, and there's only so much time in the day. Passing time will also alter the levels of your needs, generally increasing their severity. When you first find yourself in a new domain, you won't know the area, who or what is there, that sort of thing. So, mostly you'll have an explore option you'll want to do. You could also try to escape, or just wait, or try to go back to the monster if you want. As you explore, you find new places and 'people' and things to do and ways to satisfy your needs. As you do actions, other things may also happen, as an encounter. You might run into the monster, or one of their minions, but you might also encounter a trap or the minions of another monster, since they're also trying to get you!
The player will have a chance of being caught straight out by a trap or minions, depending on their needs levels but also various stats about their body and mind, along with some random chance. If they are not caught, they can either avoid/escape the situation, or intentionally be caught. If you're being held by a monster you don't like, being captured by another monster may be easier than escaping on your own. Likewise, these traps and minions will often be trying to tempt you, even when you don't fall for their traps or tricks automatically. So, you the player may not be able to resist their charms, and will choose to go with them.
That broadly describes gameplay. You make a choice from the options of what to do, costing time and doing something for you. Each time you do, there's a chance of an encounter, and things may end up changing as a result.
There are a couple 'goals' in the game. The first one is endless, you're just there to have fun and explore your options. Play with many monsters and minions and see what happens to you. But, there is an end goal too. If you find a monster that you like and want to stay with, each of them are going to be trying to permenantly claim you by performing a ritual, which takes time and several encounters with the monster, generally turning you into something of their world and domain and then finally sealing it in place. This makes it so that you're not so easy for the other monsters to claim, and they'll loose their focus and interest in you, looking for unclaimed souls mostly, or at least treating you the same as the monster's other minions. This process can be interrupted by you being captured/kidnapped by another monster, so if you find one you like and want to stay with, the game gains an extra challenge; don't get caught or tempted away, while your new master finishes claiming you.
2:02pm - So, that's the game, basically, but there's going to be a lot more to it than that. I need to decide on what the stats are, how the form works, and how the game will be presented visually. I want to make a prototype first, with the basic elements needed to work. Some folks focus on a 'minimum viable product' but even that is bigger and more detailed than the sort of prototype I want to make first.
I do also need to come up with monsters, their domains, and all that sort of thing, but for the most part I want that to come late in the development. It should be extensible easily, so I can keep adding monsters to the game over time.
So, let's try making a list here of things I need to do and figure out in order to make the prototype.
The structure of the player's form is a big one. While the specific parts and changes will mostly come with the new monsters, and need to be extensible just the same, I do need to know how the parts will work and be related, how their data will be formatted, that sort of thing. I'm thinking I'll probably take a lot of inspiration from Lilith's Throne in that regard, especially since it's open source. It has a lot of the sort of detail I want, laid out in an interesting way. An important part of this is figuring out how the monsters will judge your form and compare it to their ideals, since that sort of thing will be different from anything in Lilith's Throne.
I need to figure out what kinds of needs there can be. It'll be hard to add new functionality to needs without thinking it through a lot beforehand. Likewise, if I'm using other stats beyond the needs, I need to figure out what they are and how they'll work.
I'll need a few test monsters and domains to start with, because so many of the mechanics rely on your interactions with them and their domains, and there has to be more than one since the game is broadly about them competing to claim you.
I need to figure out what the UI should look like. I can change that later, but I do want to have a good idea of where the various interface bits shared with the player are located, and what info will be on them.
I think those are all the main things. I'm a bit tired, I ended up only having a short time to work today after a lot of other things. Is there anything you think I'm missing?
I think my next task will be to look at the code for Lilith's Throne, and see if I can figure out how they do things. It's a Java game, and I know Java, but it's been a while. My game won't be in Java, but I should be able to take a look at how they structure their data and get some good ideas for my own stuff.
2:23pm - Now it's time to go home. My Dad texted me and wants one more thing from the grocery store after he checked the sales. So, I'll go pick that up, and go home. I think I've made okay progress today, and now know what my next real step will be.
