Upcoming Plans

Thanks to everyone that has tried the very early first version of LY1! I greatly appreciate all of the feedback I have received.

I've been working on fixing bugs, correcting typos, and all of the basic cleanup work needed to polish the current version. I've also been working to refine some of the basic systems and implement others that didn't make the cut for the initial release. My goal is to put out a new release by the end of February. I am hopeful that the next release will fix most of the minor issues in the first release, implement most of the remaining game systems, and push the game play through the first full week. I'm also working to ensure that all of the major images are included, such as room and NPC images, plus specific scene images.

As always, I'm interested in your feedback on what you would like to see in the game.

Thanks!

Finally...a release!

Life: Year One (LY1)

I am pleased to announce the initial release of LY1, a new game that combines AIF, RPGs, life sims, and dating sims into a single game. Similar games include Cursed by Anonymousman and more recently Newlife by Splendid Ostrich. The game is built in RAGS and uses text and images.

Download link is available on the LY1 page.

LY1 sees the player create customizable character that is starting their Senior year in High School while living with a foster family. Players can set or develop a wide range of abilities, skills, and interests for their characters, while building relationships with NPCs.

The initial release of LY1 is small, covering limited character creation and part of the game's first day. Future releases will expand on the customization options while pushing the game's content through an entire school year. Eventually, I would like the game to lead into a sequel covering the player character's first year in college, or whatever activity the pursue after school.

I'd love to have feedback on this initial release! Here is what I am looking for:

1. Fun - is the game enjoyable? What do you fund fun / not fun?
2. Writing - how is the writing? Do you like the current style?
3. Images - do you like the art style? Does it contribute to your enjoyment?
4. Bugs - are there any bugs or errors?
5. Quality of Life issues - is it easy to play? Are there any tedious or annoying aspects? What features would make it easier and more enjoyable to play? 
6. Future Content - what would you like to see most in future releases?

I'll have more information coming on future releases soon, but right now I am focused on your feedback so that I can refine the existing systems and content before I get too far into development.

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy!

Epic Fail...Recovered!

Well, that will teach me to be a panicky mess...

Got some great support from the RAGS team, and I managed to recover the file with minimum loss. Whew! I will be MUCH more disciplined in how I manage my backups now.

So the good news is that I lost a few hours of productive time for work, as opposed to days of completed work. Should be able to have the first 'demo release worthy very quickly!

Epic Fail

So I've been pushing hard over the last couple days and...

Yep, RAGS Designer crashed and ate my current version, which is now unreadable!

Luckily I have a backup. Sadly, I hadn't backed it up in a couple days. Every amateur has probably had this happen before, and I should have known better, but whatever...still stinks to lose a few days of work after being motivated and productive.

I've thought about getting away from RAGS for awhile because of issues like this, but it is still the fastest, most complete solution for a non-programmer I have ever used. I'm going to try to recover the file, but I'm not hopeful.

Good news is that I think I can redo everything this week with some dedicated work, and I haven't lost any of the images. Just means I won't be releasing today unless I figure out a fix for the file

Oh well...back to work!

Almost done...

When I started posting again, I mentioned that I was going to try to have something playable by the end of 2014. Slipped a bit obviously (as usual) but I'm nearly ready to post a playable version of my current project. I haven't gone into great detail because I wanted to wait for a release before I start talking specifics.

I would love to have it ready this week, and I might be able to do that. Likely will be buggy, but should at least give an idea of where I am going with this project...

Character Customization Poll

I was quite pleased with the number of people who responded to the Character Customization Poll. 120 people voted, and the results were interesting. At first, a significant number of people voted for Skin Tone / Ethnicity, which I found interesting. Very few AIF games allow for that choice, and when they do it is rarely ever referenced. I can think of several games that allow for the choice of the PC's skin tone, and then don't really ever reference it. It is especially challenging to include Skin Tone or Ethnicity in a game that uses static images for visuals, as it requires an entirely new character, rather than just swapping out hair colors or outfits. Eventually, the Body category won out, receiving 52% of the votes, which isn't surprising since it is such a major area of customization that can impact visuals as well as gameplay. Clothing was the second highest category with 21% of the votes, again not surprising due to the obvious impacts on visuals and gameplay. I was surprised that hair color and hair style didn't receive more votes. For my current efforts, I've decided to initially allow for a limited selection of body types, hair styles, and hair colors. More can be added if the demand if high enough. I will focus on clothing as the major option, since that has the greatest impact on gameplay. If demand if high enough, I will look at adding a Skin Tone / Ethnicity option later on. For the winning category, body customization, there are two main ways I see customization being done for a female PC. First, allow the Player to select from a small range of predefined body types (petite, voluptuous, lanky, etc.) or have a single basic body type with varied breast sizes. For a male PC, the same option would hold with varied penis sizes. However, I don't know how popular smaller penises would be, so that may be a waste of effort! For a male PC, it might make more sense to only allow the overall body type selection (muscular, average, skinny, etc).   Any thoughts?

Scene Differences

So far I have shown a few basic portraits. In the current design, players will also be able to examine a full character of themselves and NPCs, which will show the current outfit. Below is an example of this view:

In addition to examining characters, there will also be images for specific scenes. These images, when they show the PC, will of course take into account the PC's outfit, hair, etc. Here is an example of the same scene, with two different PC hair styles:

Great new game!

I want to highlight a great new game that includes some of the same gameplay concepts I have been working to develop in my own work. This game includes a great blend of schedule management and detailed interactions during specific scenes. This dynamic allows for a wide range of game play, without tons of extra clicking or micromanagement. End result is an efficient system that allows for a high level of player control while remaining focused on the most interesting decisions and scenes, instead of spending most of the game clicking through the same mundane actions.

The author has extensive plans to deepen and lengthen the game play, and I am excited to see where this goes!

Splendid Ostrich: Newlife
http://splendidostrich.blogspot.co.uk/?zx=e27d28b51bc6ea3a

For my own work, I would kill to have a system like this to work with. RAGS is great, and saves tons of time with basic systems implemented, but it lacks some features I would like, such as built-in scheduling.

Updated Portrait Example

Here is another crack at a simple portrait. I've played with the head shape a bit, and I think I fixed the eyes - let me know what you think!

One key element of the current design is age. The current portrait is designed to show a female PC, at least 18 years old. The PC can then age over time (episodes of the game in practice). Does this example seem like a good crack at that initial age?

Thanks!

First Preview of New Art

Here is a preview of the updated art style.

I am currently using Daz Studio, but have now begun to work with Reality as my rendering engine within Daz. I like Reality so far because it allows me to rapidly create high quality images. This same image would likely take an hour or more in Studio, but using Reality it only took 15 minutes.

 This image is a basic character portrait. In RAGS, this would be a basic portrait for the PC and could be seen in the small portrait window, or in a larger form through an 'Examine Myself' action.

Let me know your thoughts on the general quality of the style. Enough detail? Too much? Too light? Too dark? How about the composition of the image as a portrait? Is this expression too neutral? I try to keep portrait images for players fairly neutral because I don't want the game to dictate the player's state of mind at all times, and if the portrait shows the player with a gigantic smile right after they have their lunch money stolen, it seems a bit disconnected.

Thanks!

Character Customization, Gameplay, and Visuals

Here we go with the first actual game designed related post!

One of the big struggles for AIF is the tension between visuals, text, and gameplay. In the early days of AIF, this was simple because very few games used visuals. Now it is far more common, and is certainly a key part of my vision of the games I want to create. I understand those that are against visuals being a key part of AIF, but I enjoy creating them and featuring them in the games I design.

The challenge comes in terms of the amount of images needed for a game, which increases with the game's complexity. A linear game without customization can get away with a limited number of images, because the possible variables are low. Once you start allowing for non-linear gameplay and / or customization, the number of required images grows exponentially. This not only increases the amount of images that need to be created, but also increases the size of the game file, which is a consideration for some players.

With my current efforts, this becomes an issue with player character customization. While no game using static images can ever compete with the Sims or Skyrim in terms of the variety of possible character visuals, I believe that complex AIF can allow for some customization of the player. Personally, determining the player's visuals are a huge part of RPGs, and AIF as well. I always feel more connected and immersed in a game that lets me define my own character, rather than being forced to play a pre-generated one.

The question comes with the balance between having many options, versus the number of required images.

For example, if we allow the player 2 clothing options, 2 hair color and 2 hair style choices, then the total number of basic images for the player is 8. But what if we decide that the player should also be able to have a custom body, with 2 options? Now the total number of required visuals is 16! And what if we decide that the total number of clothing options should be 10? Now we need at least 38 images of the PC! And that is just for a single portrait view of the character, not including the number of variations required if we want to show the PC in various scenes or other images. Yikes - that gets out of hand quickly, especially considering my crummy math abilities!

I'm curious what the playerbase wants most out of this part of the game design. No customization / pre-generated PC with tons of images? Limited choice between pre-generated PCs with lots of images? Some customization with some images? Or tons of customization with few images? Or the best of all worlds with full customization and many images? And if customization is desired, which elements are most important?

I think the game genre also plays a role. If I am working on a fantasy game like Adventures, I don't see customization as being quite as important as a game with a modern theme. The reason is that in a game like Adventures, players are off in the wilderness or dungeons or whatever for most of the game, and thus it makes sense for them to have a limited wardrobe, for example. In a more modern game, players should be able to head to the mall to buy outfits or get a hair cut or dye their hair or whatever. A rogue sneaking through a dungeon is probably going to stick with the same leather armor much longer than a college kid is going to stick with the same t-shirt and jeans - or maybe not!

I have created a poll, which should be available on the right side of the blog. I'm interested in which elements of customization are most important to players. I'm also interested in your feedback / comments on this subject, or requests for specific topics to be raised.

In the next few days, I plan to have some details about the project I am focusing on, with some of the current visuals as well.

Thanks!

Alive!

First off, my apologies for the long, awful silence. Life became rather complicated over the last year, and my ability to work on these projects was extremely limited.

Thankfully, that has now changed!

I am back at work again, and there has been some progress. However, it may be progress on something unexpected...

I will be more active now, on the blog and in development. I have been working on Adventures, but also on a game with a modern theme. Both projects have a couple years of halting progress behind them. I tend to get stalled on one and then shift to the other, which helps keep me fresh.

My goal is to have something ready for release by the end of 2014. It won't be a complete, finished game, but it will hopefully be playable. That release will help me get your feedback before I spend too much more time on something that you may or may not even like!

Coming soon, I will be asking for basic feedback on some game design concepts I am working with. I will also have some new, vastly improved game images to share, again with an eye towards feedback.

More to follow soon!

For comparison, here is the same image I posted, but with higher quality lighting. Is it worth the extra time? Personally, I think so. I can still do more to improve it, but it doesn't make me say, 'ugh' the way the first one did.

The best of intentions...

Good news is that I have made some real progress, most progress in months. Bad news is that I lost a big chunk of time to a fever with the chills and shakes. Or was is the shakes with a chill and fever?

Anyways, I'm not happy with where the current version is. I have pushed it much closer to release, but it still isn't where it needs to be.

So, excuses aside, I apologize for yet another delay, but I would much rather give you something that I am proud of than something that isn't ready.

My goal now is to finish the starting area and the first full day of gameplay, then push that out for release. For those that played the last version, you will be familiar with this - it will stop right when you leave town. I also will probably change my focus from improving the images to finishing the writing. I can then go back and add more images later.

No idea how long that it will take. Going to have a busy couple weeks, but I am still looking forward to a big chunk of free space coming up soon...

Thanks everyone.

Compromsing on Lighting?

So one of the main slowdowns I have experienced is that I have been trying to vastly improve the quality of images. I have had some success with this. However, I have also been spending tons of time on it that could go towards actual writing.

I'm experimenting with some compromises to increase the speed at which I create images. Here is an example. In this picture, I have reduced the quality of lighting a bit. The time to render the images drops to a much, much faster time when I use these settings...but does it still look ok?

Let me know what you think.

Update incoming!

Good news...I have tons of time for the next couple days, and will be focused on making real progress. Unless I completely screw something up, I *will* be pushing out an update within the next 48 hours. It will be limited, but should give a feel for what I have been working on.

Thanks again for all the support and patience. Wish me luck!

Edit: I've added a preview portrait. I've been spending waaaaay too much time redoing all of the images. Hope they are enjoyed!

A question of content...

I'm getting really close to kicking out the new version. Development has been much slower than I wanted, mostly because of how much new content I am trying to squeeze in. I also have had very little free time to work. The good news is that I am anticipating a massive increase in my available time, but that is a few months out. I want to get this version out very soon, and then use my more open schedule to make lots of progress. I need to finalize the text for a couple of encounters,  and then I will mostly be down to testing. For those that played the original systems, you will find that the new version is much shorter, but more well developed.

I have some complicated systems (under the hood), and they can be hard to test at times, but I think the end result will be worth it.

However, as I continue to plug away, I find myself considering two questions:

1) How do people feel about interactive sex scenes versus non-interactive scenes? One of my goals with the game was to create scenes that are interactive, not just cut-scenes with massive paragraphs of text. The reason for this was that I wanted the Player to have more control. I am sometimes frustrated by games that use large blocks of test to describe entire scenes because it stops being an interactive game and turns into a non-interactive story. So I have developed a system where the Player and their partner (s) take turns taking actions, with various actions having varied effects. The only other game I have seen doing anything like this is Pornarium, but it only uses it for a few scenes and it is fairly shallow overall, despite the quality of the idea.

The drawback to this is that it takes much, much longer to write, and it is more complicated to play. Instead of reading a scene that includes foreplay, intercourse, and climax, you now take different actions, with each participant taking an active turn.

How do you guys feel about this system in theory? You will have a chance to try it in practice in the new version. If people don't like it, I will scrap it and go with something more traditional.

2) How do you guys feel about dark content vs. keeping things light, even when dealing with dark content? For two examples of fantasy games, think about Corruption of Champions and Goblinboy's Gifts of Phallius series. Both are brilliant fantasy AIF games, with a similar tongue-in-cheek style, even when dealing with dark subjects such as rape. I enjoy those games immensely, but I wanted to approach darker material with a slightly more realistic viewpoint.

In the new version, your character may be subjected to things like rape, torture, or hunger. These events will have a major impact on the Player's character. Over time, the Player's character may develop or select traits that turn an awful event like being tortured into something more positive. This way, I give the Player a degree of control over how their character views the world and events. I like games that let the Player decide how they feel about things, rather than dictating it. Maybe a player likes being a victim. Maybe it is the worst thing they can imagine. Again, this adds a great deal to the writing requirements since I need to write and setup varied Player responses and actions, but I again feel it could be worth it.

How do you feel about the treatment of darker content? Would you rather keep things tongue-in-cheek or address it in a more realistic way? Do you want a high degree of control (and thus a need to make more choices) on how your character views things and reacts?

Thanks - hope to have the new version out soon (maybe this week...but no promises).

16 January 2013 Status

Hey all. Thanks for the continued feedback.

I have made some major progress, and still hope to finish the new version by the end of the month. I am still debating whether I should try to use some placeholder content or wait till everything is done.

Right now I am focused on fleshing out the early content in Ravenwood. This includes new NPCs and encounters, plus a revamp of the store and Roaring Lion Inn. I may go ahead and post it once that is done because it will showcase the new game mechanics, combat, sex, and images. However, it will leave much of the old content unchanged.

Thanks for the continued patience and support.

The new version: Status and Contents

Thanks to everyone for the positive responses and support! Knowing that people want to see the project move forward is extremely motivating!

I have mostly seen questions about the release timeline and the old version. I will address those two issues as well as the new content and differences between versions.

1) My goal for release of the updated version (a major update, not even close to final) is no later than February 1st 2013. However, it is a strong possibility that I can get it done by mid January.

2) I am not supporting the old version, because it is incomplete, buggy, and very out of date. If you get a copy and want to try it, go for it. Just be aware of the nature of what you are playing.

3) Here is a list of new features and changes:
- New, better artwork. Many more images, with variations.
- Improved gameplay systems. Instead of a D20 style RPG system, I am keeping things simpler and faster. You will still have character stats, experience levels, dialogue, combat and plenty of options and depth.
- New encounters and enemies
- New NPCs
- New Quests
- New dynamic, interactive system for adult content. This is AIF, and I want the sex to be much more interactive and repayable than most games.
- Revised and updated existing content.
- Initial areas of open world gameplay.

This is a big update, and it is foundational. Much of what I am doing now involves creating modular systems that can be used multiple times. This will speed the creation of future content.

Right now my only debate is whether to release the new version with some placeholder content, or finish writing everything first.

So that is where we stand and where we are going. Let me know if you have questions!

I created Adventures back in 2009. My ambitions were huge, but my available time was limited, and I ended up sidelining the project after a few initial releases and restarts. The game originally featured a version of the popular D20 RPG rules, but I later found it to be far too complex for what I was trying to create. The early versions of the game did a decent job of setting the stage for later content, but I neglected many areas that could have fleshed the game out better. The original version also included a fair amount of pictures, but these were fairly limited in quality.

Despite these shortcomings, the game was well received, although the audience was rather limited.

I have come back to work on the game and have already made great progress. I have stripped out much of the D20-inspired content, and focused on a simpler system that still preserves enough depth to be interesting. I threw out most of the original pictures, and have started fresh with images that are of much higher quality and quantity. I have expanded many of the early areas, with plans for further expansion. Most important of all, I have a much more solid plan this time, one that I can accomplish far easier than the wide ranging ideas I had early in development.

If you played Adventures in the past, and liked it, you will probably enjoy the new version. It is basically a bigger, prettier version of what you have already seen. There is some new content, but I haven't pushed the storyline much further...yet. That will come in due time. I wanted to release this updated version before pushing into new territory so that I could get some initial feedback before I really dig into the new content.

So...that is it for now. I hope to have the updated version out sometime over the next couple weeks. After that, I will be going into new content. This won't be a fast process, but I would like to finish the game over the next year. Wish me luck!

Oh, and for a preview...here is an example of a character portrait...just an example, because you can now pick things like hair styles!