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2014 Project: Monster Builder Complete (PLEASE Comment)
12 years ago
Remember me talking about considering doing a big image collection or similar project next year? Well still no greater response other than “good luck with that” so let’s see if this breaks things loose.
My head has been stuck on my Monster Builder Ero-Game project. Now most of you probably don’t remember or never heard of it which is probably just as well.
nek0gami produced a set of build-a-beast images that were really inspirational for me as a way of making sex critters common place and not strictly for the realm of school girl locker rooms or 80s sic-fi movies.
Years ago (2009/2010) I decided to write an ero-video game that I would want to play. A sort of tentacle monster strategy RPG as it were. In the end that was of coarse just a puttering exercise until
nai-chan inspired me with her mock game screenshots. So I put more thought into it and figured, I like real things more than gag things so how's a bouts i make a tabletop game instead.
In the process of crunching all the numbers I realized that the system and mechanics would translate equally well or better into a paper-n-dice system. So I started posting bits and bobs on FA. Had a couple folks come up who wanted to play test it for me, made some more progress, then that was it. This project has been stuck in my head as something i want to finish because I still think that the system i wrote was solid and appropriate to the goal. Now having said that, I recently went back over my old docs and about wretched at how badly written and disjointed they were.
SO I decided to consider this as the big super duper uber pooper scooper project for next year. Finish Monster Builder and produce a complete comprehensive pdf or similar Game Manual. This would be a huge undertaking and would certainly involve me calling on other artists and folks that i know to help me. EIther with arting, editing, commentary or play testing so that when all is said and done we’ll have a premium book quality collection on our hands. And maybe even an actual book in our hands, i dunno yet.
Now naturally the only people who are going to be interested in this project are going to be RPG fans, Hentai fans, Monster movie fans and Smutties like me. But I know there are a whole lot of us out there so let’s have a look see.
There is still time for me to change my mind or for you to talk me out of it with a better idea before Jan 1 2014. Having said that, this system is also highly friendly to anthro character creation, even some of the craziest chimeric critters here on FA!
WHAT IS MONSTER BUILDER?
It is a paper and dice rpg system that allows the players to create characters and creatures based on the naughty monster genre. It uses a system similar to BESM where each stat or ability has meaningful game effect but is not specific to any one thing like DnD. For example if a character can fly, it doesn’t matter how they accomplish it or how they choose to explain or describe it, just how far and how fast.
Players can choose to build heroes, monsters, villains, beasts, kingdoms, lairs, dungeons, whatever they wish and customize them accordingly. The system keeps character strengths and development in balance for those of us who want some meaningful game play with our smut. Included are details, templates and suggestions for Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Modern settings. In its previous form it was able to accommodate all but the MOST amorphously alien lovecraftian super monsters accurately and efficiently. Talking to you anthro/furry/xeno/tentacle folks!
In the end it is an ero-combat/adventure game that is for highly creative people that should work simply and solid whether played online or offline. I am someone who loves using game systems to support character creation and my writing skills, so that’s the kind of person i’m making this game for. As well as the pervy gamer/dice-roller who can’t find that ‘just-righty’ thing.
Questions and comments are encouraged please!
So is this game about fighting monster?
It includes that and is heavily geared towards those types of scenarios. But as with all good RPGs, even the main theme is just an option .
So do players play as rape monsters then? or are they trying to survive one?
Either/Or. The game hinges around the character creation and interaction systems. Players can play as good or evil monsters/heroes in any combination they can come up with. I made it with the intention of remaining balanced regardless of who plays as what, while leaving room for players to modify as desired for difficulty.
How does this relate to FA and it's members?
I created a system for artists that can be made as dull/vibrant, sexual/subdued, violent/peaceful as people want. I see some ideas like Fantasy Genesis and know that there are people out there with the same thought, on combining artistic creativity with a gaming experience. Mine goes in a route naturally rooted in my own interests.
http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Genes...../dp/1600613373
What do you want from us?
Questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, art for the chapters and bestiary, play testers to confirm or deny the system i have created is as solid and balanced as i think it is.
What happened to the previous posts you made?
I pulled those off. they got little to no response and most of what went into those documents was actually not very user friendly at all. So they would just add to the confusion for anybody now who wasn't a play tester before.
You said you wanted to sell this, how much?
Too early for me to say really, i'm not sure what would be most efficient yet. But i am pretty certain that, after months of work, editing, artwork from other artists and play testing, i will have invested way way more than any return I would receive before people start ripping it.
Since all there is now is your brainstorming and Slime Creature, when are we going to start seeing results we can actually understand?
Not until Jan 2014, where i hope to have lists made and start creating example entries based on known characters (on and off FA). These starting lists will include things like game type suggestions and Bestiary/Warchest entries.
I imagine that doing this whole thing up right is going to take a very long time, all 2014 potentially. So those folks who are interested will probably forget about it quickly enough
Well good luck with writing the system!
The system is written already, the hard work is already done, I have the diamond. This is a matter of cutting it, polishing, placing it in a gorgeous ring and marrying it to the players' shapely/fuzzy/slimy dice throwing finger.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3364000/ Level 5 Slime
FA SUPPORTERS
ecurps 
Orbital_S 
bigdad
My head has been stuck on my Monster Builder Ero-Game project. Now most of you probably don’t remember or never heard of it which is probably just as well.
nek0gami produced a set of build-a-beast images that were really inspirational for me as a way of making sex critters common place and not strictly for the realm of school girl locker rooms or 80s sic-fi movies. Years ago (2009/2010) I decided to write an ero-video game that I would want to play. A sort of tentacle monster strategy RPG as it were. In the end that was of coarse just a puttering exercise until
nai-chan inspired me with her mock game screenshots. So I put more thought into it and figured, I like real things more than gag things so how's a bouts i make a tabletop game instead.In the process of crunching all the numbers I realized that the system and mechanics would translate equally well or better into a paper-n-dice system. So I started posting bits and bobs on FA. Had a couple folks come up who wanted to play test it for me, made some more progress, then that was it. This project has been stuck in my head as something i want to finish because I still think that the system i wrote was solid and appropriate to the goal. Now having said that, I recently went back over my old docs and about wretched at how badly written and disjointed they were.
SO I decided to consider this as the big super duper uber pooper scooper project for next year. Finish Monster Builder and produce a complete comprehensive pdf or similar Game Manual. This would be a huge undertaking and would certainly involve me calling on other artists and folks that i know to help me. EIther with arting, editing, commentary or play testing so that when all is said and done we’ll have a premium book quality collection on our hands. And maybe even an actual book in our hands, i dunno yet.
Now naturally the only people who are going to be interested in this project are going to be RPG fans, Hentai fans, Monster movie fans and Smutties like me. But I know there are a whole lot of us out there so let’s have a look see.
There is still time for me to change my mind or for you to talk me out of it with a better idea before Jan 1 2014. Having said that, this system is also highly friendly to anthro character creation, even some of the craziest chimeric critters here on FA!
WHAT IS MONSTER BUILDER?
It is a paper and dice rpg system that allows the players to create characters and creatures based on the naughty monster genre. It uses a system similar to BESM where each stat or ability has meaningful game effect but is not specific to any one thing like DnD. For example if a character can fly, it doesn’t matter how they accomplish it or how they choose to explain or describe it, just how far and how fast.
Players can choose to build heroes, monsters, villains, beasts, kingdoms, lairs, dungeons, whatever they wish and customize them accordingly. The system keeps character strengths and development in balance for those of us who want some meaningful game play with our smut. Included are details, templates and suggestions for Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Modern settings. In its previous form it was able to accommodate all but the MOST amorphously alien lovecraftian super monsters accurately and efficiently. Talking to you anthro/furry/xeno/tentacle folks!
In the end it is an ero-combat/adventure game that is for highly creative people that should work simply and solid whether played online or offline. I am someone who loves using game systems to support character creation and my writing skills, so that’s the kind of person i’m making this game for. As well as the pervy gamer/dice-roller who can’t find that ‘just-righty’ thing.
Questions and comments are encouraged please!
So is this game about fighting monster?
It includes that and is heavily geared towards those types of scenarios. But as with all good RPGs, even the main theme is just an option .
So do players play as rape monsters then? or are they trying to survive one?
Either/Or. The game hinges around the character creation and interaction systems. Players can play as good or evil monsters/heroes in any combination they can come up with. I made it with the intention of remaining balanced regardless of who plays as what, while leaving room for players to modify as desired for difficulty.
How does this relate to FA and it's members?
I created a system for artists that can be made as dull/vibrant, sexual/subdued, violent/peaceful as people want. I see some ideas like Fantasy Genesis and know that there are people out there with the same thought, on combining artistic creativity with a gaming experience. Mine goes in a route naturally rooted in my own interests.
http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Genes...../dp/1600613373
What do you want from us?
Questions, comments, suggestions, ideas, art for the chapters and bestiary, play testers to confirm or deny the system i have created is as solid and balanced as i think it is.
What happened to the previous posts you made?
I pulled those off. they got little to no response and most of what went into those documents was actually not very user friendly at all. So they would just add to the confusion for anybody now who wasn't a play tester before.
You said you wanted to sell this, how much?
Too early for me to say really, i'm not sure what would be most efficient yet. But i am pretty certain that, after months of work, editing, artwork from other artists and play testing, i will have invested way way more than any return I would receive before people start ripping it.
Since all there is now is your brainstorming and Slime Creature, when are we going to start seeing results we can actually understand?
Not until Jan 2014, where i hope to have lists made and start creating example entries based on known characters (on and off FA). These starting lists will include things like game type suggestions and Bestiary/Warchest entries.
I imagine that doing this whole thing up right is going to take a very long time, all 2014 potentially. So those folks who are interested will probably forget about it quickly enough
Well good luck with writing the system!
The system is written already, the hard work is already done, I have the diamond. This is a matter of cutting it, polishing, placing it in a gorgeous ring and marrying it to the players' shapely/fuzzy/slimy dice throwing finger.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3364000/ Level 5 Slime
FA SUPPORTERS
ecurps 
Orbital_S 
bigdad
my art skills may not be of any use, but i'm a fan of RPGs and smuttiness. >w< i've also written some smut and other works, and though i view my own works as amateurish, i can at least help lay down a skeleton. =)
After reading your journal Nai sent me in to give some feedback in full. Nai and I are in much the same position with a number of our RPG projects, ie: I made the system and played with it, but it's just a bunch of notes and scribbles. Now it comes time to edit and publish and all that stuff where I as the designer suddenly seem to find something else to do. >.>iii
My favorite game designer helped me realize that design and development are two different things, with two different mindsets. I never finish and polish things because I am a designer by nature, so I get caught up making new games and new ideas. Unfortunately I'm not as practiced at RPG development as I am its design, but let's see if I can say anything useful.
Something I'm hearing a lot in your explanation of the system is that it can handle a lot of different variations, both in characters and campaign design. If you're trying to publish for a particular audience, I suggest starting by taking one aspect of the game and focusing on it. Eg: First making a stand-alone module about players being a team of themed tentacle monsters with a mission to molest their way through a school for contrived reasons. It cuts down a lot of what you'd otherwise have to explain and gives a focus that you can then hype up. Then you can come out with other variations of the game to play into it's other options - expansion packs and alternate adventures using the same system. You build yourself a kind of brand name by using the design space of your game more slowly.
How to best explain myself? Not long ago I saw the on-vehicle ad for a trade company. It said "We do everything!" and I realized how unhelpful that was, and how I'd never end up thinking of them no matter what I needed, preferring instead a specialist in the field. By focusing on one aspect you can get people excited about it, and take the concept further. It allows you to single out your target audience and shout to them. "Hey you! Did you ever want to be a tentacle monster!? Then this is the game for you!" Does that make sense?
The other advantage is the 'getting it done' factor. A while back I went to write a Zelda RPG for Nai for her birthday one year and I laid down some grandiose plans - but then like years went past and it wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't even sure why. Now I know it's just that I was overshooting. I stripped back my vision for the game until my personal estimate wasn't "I can achieve this." but "Are you kidding? This'll be easy!" at which point it actually started getting done. It still took ages and a lot of work, because the extra features just creep back in at every corner. It's like.. you start off thinking "I need to pack this with every cool idea I can!" but it's actually more like you have to fight the cool things off so that you end up with a coherent project that actually gets finished. All our Puppy Love games violently suffered from every member of the team not being able to hold back. I wrote too much, Thomas programmed too much, the girls animated too much.. and the games basically all went over deadline. So I guess the moral of the story is, strip a project back to it's 'minimally acceptable feature set' and by the time your done you'll find the cool stuff has crept back in.
Actionables! Choose just one story idea that perfectly suits the game, then build a mini-module around it to publish! It'll be easier to get done on your own and will be a nice, focused product that should be easier to advertize! Draft the heck out of it! Sketch the layout then use the existing content to fill the holes!
Wow ok this post is getting long. Got lots more I could say but I'll cut the throttle there for now. I hope any of that is helpful!
Grahhhh ok short version then.
Treating as different processes - hadn't occurred to me, thought of development and design as two steps in the same process
Casting too wide a net - By marking the project as comprehensive, it sounds vague and unremarkable. Highlight specifics to get any hooks.
Project Modules - Normally i work with much smaller more tightly focused projects and i seem to have that down pretty well, but this is quite large and rather than try to incorporate everything together, it may in fact be to my greater advantage to make distinctly separate things. In this case, the main module is based on a fantasy adventure. Then separate packages could be made for Modern settings (school you exampled) and Sci-Fi.
My biggest struggle - I think the part that will take the far and away most time is going to be artwork and deciding how much is actually needed. I mean i could CHOKE the book with a detailed bestiary and equipment guide. I'm really good at that stuff. But coming up with hero characters and setting pieces is where i gears start to creak.
I like to think that all the rally hard and exhaustive "oh what about this" work is all done. I'm not likely to add anything else, just refine what i have down into an easier to use and easier to comprehend format. I am positive that a one year project schedule is feasible to get everything including artwork done to satisfaction. If it were just down to number crunching. I could binge on that and have it done in a week or two.
Playtesting, fan Q&A and interaction with experienced folks like you and Nai are a huge part of the polishing process, and i really want to make this shine, so I am very very grateful for your comments. And if you want to throw in more, go right ahead. I'd rather have too much than too little ya know? As far as advice and insight goes anyway XD
If you want to get skype messages through, the best way is to add me cause Nai is like, never online ever. Corillion.xian.xin on skype, though people always tell me it doesn't show up when they search that so I dunno, I could add you or whatever.
Yeah, I know what you mean about the art resources for a game book - it's a daunting prospect. What Nai and I did was make a table of contents with guestimate figures for page counts in each section, then make a thumbnail version of the book to better visualize it, which helped to get a feel for the number of major illustrations (chapter headers and so forth). I threw together some sketches for the 'beta manual' which is where the Galleon RPG is at right now, but they even started off as blue rectangles with "Cool sword pic" and such colorful descriptions written on them. As a WIP for playtesting it gets the point across.
It's hard to know how much to include with things like armories and bestiaries, but I think core books having the minimum of what you'd expect to see there allows expansions to be full of cool extraneous stuff. The language tool Nai and I have been using lately is 1st Order Design Space, which is all of the stuff which MUST be there, things that would leave expectant holes if they were left out. I'm trying to keep my core books to just the 1st Order stuff, leaving out the "could happen"s for if there's time. I guess that's where 'minimally acceptable feature set' comes up again. It's a phase our business mentor brought to us, and it's just what it sounds like, what's the least you could do and still have your target customer be happy with the result? It's important to know what that is, even if you plan to overshoot it.
Identify the meat and potatoes of your project, then apply the sauce!
My own language tools have been a mix of DnD and BESM with some spot shooting from stuff Like Warhammer. There are too too many could happens, but the ones that I think are noteworthy are going to have their own section at the back of the book as example games.
A lot of stuff like the equipment and armory stuff is almost best left unillustrated, as pretty much everything that is there has a well established analog that needs to illustration.
There's also accounting for your target demographic, which means that you can skip a certain amount of detail, illustration or explanation because you can assume that whoever is reading your content in the first place, is already familiarized with it.
And since this is an adults only game geared towards creative people, I don't really need to dumb anything down and should not need to beat the reader over the head with reference images. That's my expectation at the moment anyway.
In my mind the meat is the system itself, made solid. The potatoes is the text itself, making it player friendly, which as yet it very much is not. The sauce is the artwork, which all needs to be of consistent quality and theme.
BESM suffered a lot from having a bunch of slipshod artwork of mostly sub par quality.
Now something else you might be able to help me with, tell me what software you would recommend for assembling this thing. I continue to assume pdf is the most appropriate format, but i don't think i have any program that will write in that format. So far i've been assembling everything in Word and Excel. And word likes to pitch so very many fits at me when i try to insert images.