1. In broad strokes, I have the full 5 game narrative arc planned, yes, although things obviously always shift a bit in development. But some general planning was needed, because there's an overarching story for the whole thing. That said, Chapter 3 is going to be a bit of an oddball, because it's somewhat separate from that. SOMEWHAT, but not entirely.
2. We'll see. A bundle is certainly a possibility, but that's a loooong way off. I certainly wouldn't hold off buying the games in hopes of getting a bulk discount.
3. It definitely gets easier and faster to do x or y as I go, and as I learn. But also, I want to make each game more sophisticated, more interesting and hopefully a little more fun than the last. 3 is going to be a LOT more complicated than GT: more content, more stuff going on in Haven (especially eventually with the addon packs), and just a lot more refinement to little things here and there. If I just cranked out GT, but with new setting and species, I could have finished a lot sooner, but every time I want to try out new things I wasn't able to do before.
I don't want to get expectations TOO high, it is an RPGMaker game at the end of the day. But there are a lot of neat little things going on with 3 that GT didn't have. I just spent a day, for example, setting up an instant retry option on a mini-boss, something I've never done before and something RPGMaker surprisingly has no built-in system for, and which is surprisingly difficult. This is definitely something people are going to die to their first few tries though, AND it has a fancy lead-up to it, so I didn't want to subject people to having to watch that same leadup over and over and over and over until they want to throw something. Now it's a nice clean "try again", like a real game!
Oh no worries. Officially, no. The only supported system is Windows. Unofficially, RPGMaker MV is just a bunch of Javascript running in a local web page, running in a headerless browser. So it's somewhat possible to get it running anywhere that has a modern browser. Literally just drag and drop the html file (You'll probably have to turn off some nonsense "security" features preventing you from running a local web page). However, some of my plugins assume a windows filesystem for various things, so you may end up having a variety of things break. You're certainly welcome to try though.
I can understand the enthusiasm, but, as they say, big no from me. Allow me to explain.
I show my age here, but anyone remember a game called SimCopter? No? Ok then. How about SimCity? Biiig popular game in the 90s, early 00s. Top-down, 2d/isometric sprite layout, managing a city. Crucially, everything was laid out in tiles and with pre-defined sprites for everything. So as basic 3d became possible on consumer PCs, someone thought "Hey, what if we just made a 3d model for every tile in the game, and made some code to populate a 3d map with those tiles, in the same layout they were in a given 2d map? And then you could like...explore it in 3d and stuff!" And so they did, both in SimCopter, and in Sim...driver? Some car game. You could take your existing Simcity 2d maps, drop them into these games, and drive or fly around them in primitive 3d. VERY buggy, but a lot of fun for the time.
RPGMaker has actually had a system like this for some time: take existing tiles, make 3d models, use the map file as an guide to arrange these models in a 3d space. The only real new thing in the system described in the article seems to be the...presentation of the 3d models? The style? But "3d RPGMaker!" has been a thing for years now.
However, the keen-brained among you may have already picked up the problem with this system:
1. It requires a 3d model for EACH tile
2. 3d models are orders of magnitude harder to create and modify than 2d sprites.
Thus, a system like this is fine and dandy as long as you're sticking to default sprites and tiles, but utterly falls apart as soon as you try to customize anything, because you're on the hook for making all the new 3d models. Now, details are scarce here: To be fair, it COULD be that the models are generated by the system itself automatically based on some internal ruleset (walls all look like THIS, player sprites all look like THIS, etc, with the textures grabbed directly from the 2d character and tilesheets.) The previous plugin that ALREADY EXISTED seems to work like this. But that seems...less than ideal, as, just as an example, said sheets are far too low resolution to look good on a 3d model, even a "low poly" one.
About 75% of the tile and sprite work in Chapter 3 is non-default. Mostly made by others, used with permission or bought, but a few hand-crafted myself. This takes some work, but that's mostly down to mixing and matching tilesheets, which amounts to editing image files on a grid. That takes some time, but it's not all that complicated. There is no way on earth I could make even simple matching 3d models (And matching textures!) for all these tiles and sprites. If everything is auto-generated, great, but that's likely still going to require more work to make the system happy, and leads into another problem:
3d is an entirely different design language than 2d. You can see developers discovering this in the early days of the n64 and ps1. You design differently for 3d than you do for 2d, it's not something that can be simply translated, because something is lost in that translation. You have to play to the strengths of having that 3d space, and the limitations, and if you do, that's a LOT more effort and time. When I started considering making games, I very deliberately went with 2d because the workload for even a simple 3d game is insane. There would be no time or energy left to build out something with fun space and detail and function. You can see this in the history of professional games: back in the early days, it wasn't uncommon for a game to be made by 1-5 people. That grew to 20 or so by the SNES era, and now it's HUNDREDS. It pays to keep the scope simple.
I don't mean to crap on people's enthusiasm, I can see it looking neat at first. But it PROBABLY (though maybe not!) involves more work, and I think, as presented, it would get old fast, and not really work with the mechanics of the game as such. How do you dodge chasing enemies, for example, when your camera is so low to the ground like that? Everything is obscured by a building.
P.S. I hate journalists so, SO much. This is not RPGMaker's "first major visual overhaul ever". RPG Tsukūru Dante 98 came out in 1992 for the NEC PC-9800. I'm willing to bet things have PROGRESSED a little since then visually. Even the difference between RPGMaker 2000 and VX Ace were pretty significant compared to MV (as I'm reminded every time I find a neat tilesheet only to discover I can't use it because it's the GODDAMN VX RESOLUTION). But no, you're right PCGamer, this 3d trick that has existed since 2019 is totally unprecedented.
if you had the time and money and man power of a studio would you make this game in 2.5d bitty?
Probably not. That massive book I wrote aside, I'm just not a fan of the style. If I had a bunch of people and money to work with, I'd probably put it toward:
1. Faster production of what I make now.
2. Higher quality of what I make now.
3. Parallel production (more than one thing cooking at a time, although this may just be a version of #1.
4. Possibly exploration of simple 3d games, playing to the strengths of the medium.
5. Some limited degree of merchandise.
Posters are another possibility, and high probability if I do anything because it's fairly simple to do and has a high likelihood of having room for a decent profit margin. As far as sex toys go, especially fuckable ones, my feeling is that they tend to be very expensive for something that wears out fairly quickly. As with the games themselves, I'd want to sell stuff (at least for the first few items) that was fairly accessible to people budget-wise. Also less health/safety concerns: I'd have to be REAL careful if I was selling toys that they were actual quality material and not contaminated with some shit.
Yeah I dont think toys would get very far. Did you have an idea when merchandise would be considered? Like after chapter 3 or all five chapters?
I've seen artists who've done collabs with sex toy companies with their characters like Braeburned and Twin Tail Creations. I don't know what the revenue sharing is like though. I remember one artist saying they got approached to do this once and all they would have gotten is a free copy of the toy? Which is neat but not exactly a great deal.
I do a dev log for each new release, and clearly label them, so if you're every curious you can just thumb through those. Since you asked though: It looks 1.0.6 changed data crystal handling, which will be important to carry your info over to Chapter 3. At the very least, you'll want to carry your normal saves over to an updated version of GT and play through to whatever ending/playthrough you want to be "official", so that the proper new datacrystal is written to the game directory (you can check the "created" date on the datacrystal file to make sure it's fresh).
1.0.6 also updated the lighting engine to run better, and added a load option to the menu, but those are obviously QOL, not crucial. 1.0.7 just fixed a sprite glitch in the gallery, so again, minor. Long story short though, I still would recommend getting the newest version and genning those datacrystal file(s) in prep for Chapter 3.
As for how 3 is going, again, I post an update to the dev logs here every three months or so, next one is planned at the end of this month. Currently nearing the end of the programming/game design for the game(for initial release) (hopefully also by end of next month), which will "only" leave drawing, writing, and slotting in the planned scenes, which I estimate at 4-5 months.
Of course, you already have stuff in place for 3! I didn't mean immediately, haha. I do know they will be cute in your art style, though.
Cant wait for the update. random question, will itch get CS3 at the same time as subscriberstar
No, Substar always gets the release a month early. This has its ups and downs: you get the game earlier, but you also get the very first raw version of it, before any bug fixes, extra balancing etc. I'll let people know once it's getting close regardless though, and for some people SubStar may be the better option, as there are a LOT of payment options now, including expanded credit card options. Definitely worth checking out, even just for one month to buy the game, if you can't use Paypal here on Itch.
will you announce when subscriberstar gets its release on itch. Also do i get a copy on itch if i cancel my subscription
Sorry to leave you hanging, not sure why I didn't see this earlier. I will definitely announce the public release of Chapter 3 a bit before it comes out. Whether I announce the substar early release will have to be a call made when it happens. To some degree I like to keep that a "soft launch" with a smaller group so I can identify bugs and other issues before it goes out to a wider audience. But we'll see.
Technically there are BRIEF moments of this in GT where one of the ordinary hyenas leads Mezz around a bit. But it's brief, and not really fully "playing". It's certainly a fun idea, but one I probably won't do for the immediate future, as I already have a lot on my plate (and a LOT in the game, as the gameplay nears finalization here). Will certainly keep in mind though.
Yeah and btw that moment was hot af I gotta give you props to that the fact that Mezz's brain was fried at the end due to the drug was also really fitting it would have been interesting adding some sort of endless gamemode of just whoring out with small variations of the previous sex scenes to add some new spice to the whole act, think of it as a way to an in-built replayability feature as IMO replayability is underrated, if your game is good enough to always make someone come back that is a gem and it is true that if you can make the writing filthy and sexy you've got like 70% of it covered but the image is what is gonna stick in the mind.
I do believe like that was kinda the idea if you went through the main district servicing the dogs, but I was thinking of something more long lasting so to speak.
I don't know of many games that make you the Dom in a hypno scenario but I feel like the gameplay would also be different to play into a power fantasy. Maybe more in line with like a management sim or something like Pokemon but with more mind control.
I'm just a sucker for alternative gamemodes, have you ever played the zodiac knights on the ps2? you know, that game that allowed you to be the silver knights and then the other mode where you played as the villain within the same context? I suppose I was kinda referring to that, an alternative mode of sorts that allows you to be the one causing the "Game over" to the protagonist, I just really digged Khazeem and the fact that being a big Hyena hunk literally draping your musky genitals over your victims is enough to break their minds was such a power move that I don't think I've ever experienced such a delight playing a porn game in like, ever.
At that point you are essentially switching the POV from Mezz to the villain and formalizing that switch with an alternative gamemode would be absolutely amazing, like unlocking secret content.
Well thank you! Glad you're enjoying the games so far. I've always felt that people leave a lot on the table when they make explicit games; there's so much more you can do with an interactive medium than a simple graphic novel or a fighter that shows you a few mediocre cg when you lose or whatever. For a while, the Japanese were KILLER at this, and really inspired in terms of the fun a person could have if they cared. So if I've been able to capture and bring along at least a little of that, I'm glad.
On saves, you're correct! There are two saves with the game, the normal RPGMaker system, and an extended system I call "Data Crystals". In your game folder for GT, under js\plugins, you will find a "DataCrystal.js". This is, at first, a default placeholder. DataCrystal has an "inbox" and "outbox" location for each game (except the first, obviously, where it only goes out). When a game is finished in one of the survivable endings (where Mezz continues on one way or another), DataCrystal.js is written to the MAIN game folder (next to the exe). This contains certain details about how you played the game. You can then take this file and place it in js\plugins for the NEXT game, overwriting the placeholder file. When you start up the game (say GT) and start a new game, it will read this file and, depending on how you played the PREVIOUS game, unlock certain new scenes around Haven. The idea is that depending on how you play each game, certain corruption side-plots open up around Haven. Alternatively, if you avoid all this, you get a "pure" subplot, starting in chapter 3, where you get to date Scratch (NOT in the initial release, but will be there eventually). GT, like CS1, will also write a DataCrystal file to its main game folder on completion, which can then by carried over to Chapter 3 in the same way. As far as what matters for this, it's mainly how many times Mezz was defeated in the main "defeated by mobs" loop that each game has, though certain other things are tracked as well.
Awesome! Managed to get it working for the less "pure" route in GT haha. As for your hopes of making an standout explicit game on par with your Japanese inspirations, I feel like a bit of a broken record, but personally I think you're totally killing it and look forward to what is coming next :). Out of curiosity, have you thought about potentially updating the Data Crystal so that it carries over unique skills/key items earned in previous chapters as well as maybe levels for further immersion?
Aw, well thanks! Good to hear.
As far as adding more, it's important to manage scope on these things. A lot of stuff isn't carried over by design, because it makes balance and managing various things overcomplicated. I decided on 3, for example, to just stop scaling Mezz's level every game because the games aren't really ABOUT that and balance rapidly becomes over-complicated. I'll also usually have a particular special skill, and battlesex mechanics for each given game, and not carry them over so each has room to breathe on its own.
Sorry for the delay, this post got caught in automod. I do a LITTLE scent stuff here and there, and there will definitely be more of the same in 3, but not the heavy stuff most people into that kind of thing are probably looking for.
Apologies, that "demo" isn't a demo: I've been using the "demo" functionality on Itch to make sure anyone could download official translations (Japanese in this case). However, it's caused a lot of confusion, and realistically no one is going to need to download the translation unless they've bought the game to begin with, so I'll probably relocate that to the list of game files before too long here.
I should further clarify that the games don't install "on top" of each other: the TRANSLATIONS do, but each game is stand-alone. Only the datacrystal.js file is copied over to potentially unlock some extra scenes, but that's optional.
It depends on what you mean by "how many datacrystal files will we need?" GT, and Chapter 3, can only take one datacrystal file at a time. You save out multiples from the previous game(s) and explore each if you'd like, but you'd have to swap to a new one for each possibility.
More broadly, what are the dc files for and what do they do? Primarily, they determine which of three additional scenarios you unlock in Haven as things progress: Boars, Hyenas, and Scratch. Boars and hyenas are unlocked by meeting the right triggers in the previous game. If/once you trigger their Haven scenario, that is ALSO tracked, as those scenarios have stages that unfold with each game (the second boar stage will be in Chapter 3's haven, but only if you triggered the first in GT). Scratch will be unlocked in 3 (eventually) if you manage to get through both CS and GT "Clean" (well, clean enough). The hyena and boar scenarios can exist side-by-side in 3 and onward, but you'll have to chose one or the other ultimately. Scratch's scenario is exclusive.
So let's consider:
If you wanted to see everything in GT, you'd need one DC file, with the requirements to unlock the boars.
If you wanted to see everything in Chapt. 3 (eventually, hyenas won't be in on release, nor will Scratch's scenario), you'd need 2 DC files: one with the boar scenario triggered in GT and the proper triggers from GT to start the hyena scenario in 3, and one that was "pure" so you could start the Scratch scenario. I suppose you could argue you technically need 4 if you want there to be a. a scenario with JUST hyenas in Haven b. A scenario with JUST boars c. A scenario with both d. A scenario with Scratch. But you don't get any extra content from being boar or hyena exclusive, it's just a neat little reflection of your choices up to that point.
So in practical terms, you'll need one DC file for Chapter 3 on launch to see everything, and a second variant eventually if you want to see the Scratch stuff.
And thanks! Will be fun to share how things are going so far.
Oh I'm aware. The reality is there isn't a lot I can do about it: I don't have tens of thousands of dollars I can shovel into a team of lawyers to constantly play wack-a-mole with these sites, and even if I did, that would only have a limited effect. But the reality is ALSO that games tend to make most of their money on release, and most people just buy it on release rather than waiting, even a little, for a pirated copy to come out. Buying is more convenient: you don't have to go looking for a good source, fuck around with shady download sites, and then repeat all that when new content comes out. You can just go to itch and hit download.
I would also say that at least in the US, this is a VERY affordable game, which helps. The $80+ price tags a lot of professional games have now are a huge pain point, and undoubtedly fuel increased piracy (or even worse, just total dis-interest), but if you're not homeless you can probably afford to drop $10 to get a couple days worth of horny entertainment.
The other advantage I have is that my work lies squarely in the furry fandom, and the fandom is crazy, in both good and bad ways. But one of the GOOD ways is that they are VERY willing to buy things and support creators, so if you give them something that's actually WORTH buying, even better. You're definitely going to have a market. A LOT of the people in the fandom both have money to spend (on non-essential stuff) and are happy to actually spend it, which is an increasingly rare thing in the current national and global situation.
And although it's almost cliche at this point, Gabe was right: what matters isn't how many people pirate a game, but how many people buy it. So far, enough have to allow my life to transform from horrible to manageable, and when 3 finally releases I may manage to reach "Kind of mostly alright."
I just typed the name of the game into the browser search engine for fun to see what it would give me besides your game page on itch.io . I didn't think that games with itch.io They are also susceptible to piracy, as are games from Steam. However, this piracy can be justified, because some people cannot buy the game not because of financial problems, but simply because payment systems are unavailable depending on the country. For example, I am from Russia and I cannot use PayPal because it cannot be registered in Russian, only in other CIS countries. I can't even pay for a subscription to SubscribeStar.Adult is not easy because payment systems are unavailable, but simply because SS itself does not allow me to do this
I thought I saw that you wrote that you are ready to give access keys to the game if someone really does not have the opportunity to buy the game in the usual way, I would like to discuss this with you on this topic, but in a more private setting. Do you have a discord or other social media?
I assume by your user name you may be in the fandom: do you have an FA account? If so, you can drop me a note there, I'm just "bitshift".
I will point out a few things as well that may be useful. First, my Substar page is under .art rather than .adult, as it contains no actual humans. This is a split substar did a while ago for various reasons. Second, in addition to the typical credit card payments, Substar also now has a "wallet" feature that can be be filled with various means, including crypto. I know this is a big hassle, and a lot of people don't want to mess with it or are unable to, and I'm also not sure if Substar is simply ip-banning Russian use at the moment, but I thought it might be worth pointing out. Regardless, drop me a note on FA if you can and we can talk further there.
But yes, obviously if people are literally unable to buy my games due to thoroughly enforced international sanctions, I have no problem with them pirating at that point.
In fact, I wrote to you a long time ago in the FA, my account is named Bendy (please do not watch my favs), you will see a comment on your FA page. I also decided to check if your nickname in FA matches any discord account and entered your nickname with FA into the friends search bar and he found an account with such a nickname, the only thing I could do after that was send a friend request to this account and that's it, he doesn't accept messages. I do not know if this is your account or not, it's just an incredible coincidence.
Edit: I noticed how you wrote to me on FA that you don't have a discord, then the situation with that account from the discord becomes more mysterious.
