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Trying to make a vore game.
10 years ago
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."
-William Shakespeare Okay, so, building off of the previous journal, I've decided that I want to try giving the Quest Text Adventure Game Engine a go and work on a vore inclined text adventure game of my own, after having played through two such already. The reasons are twofold. First, there's the saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself", and second, it'll get me some practical experience in designing a game. Now, a vore game is not something I am going to show off to a potential employer, mind you, but if I can work my way through the first time with a personal project, the second time around with some experience under my belt is what I can show off.
Now, I've got two concepts going that have each hit snags for their own reasons (both stemming from that being a pred in a text game has some design issues I hadn't anticipated when vore is made a central focus). I would like to see about getting some thoughts on them to perhaps work through them, or even offer some thoughts of your own if you are inclined. Bear in mind, the game is purely text based, and is an adventure game, not RPG (there is a difference). So here are the concepts I had brewing:
Concept 1: You play a female dragon anthro, taking drastic means to keep her kind from going extinct. A curse was placed on dragonkind that keeps them from breeding naturally, so dragons have worked up a magical workaround until the curse can be broken: Unbirth transformation. Using a magical scrying device, you discover people who possess worthy souls, and then must isolate them so that you can discretely do your deed.
-Pros: As adventure games tend to be puzzle oriented, this setup has clear puzzle elements of getting alone with target, of which I've fiddled with a couple different scenarios.
-Cons: Nebulous end goal; you're obviously not repopulating the entire species yourself, and there's not really a story time crunch, so there's little sense of urgency or motivation beyond "that's what the game wants me to do" which I feel is not strong enough. This game is supposed to be more than "vore for the sake of vore".
Concept 2: You play a black Kitsune, who's birth marks them as demon hunters. Having passed your training, you are assigned to protect a region, which involves "dealing" with demon possessed anthros by devouring them and sealing the demon's spirit within you. Black Kitsune are able to channel demonic energy, and the influx is what leads to their acquisition of tails. You seek to prove yourself an elite guardian by achieving nine-tailed status.
-Pros: Strong motivator; clear end goal of becoming a nine-tailed Kitsune. Also, easy to justify gender shifting with Kitsune Shapeshifting abilities, allowing for most vore types at any time.
-Cons: Hazy puzzle/challenge setup. If the goal is to devour 8 demons of increasing strength, what are the obstacles/puzzles you need to overcome to do so? Combat is not a natural fit in most text games (doable, but would prefer to avoid), so it is unlikely that the vore in and of itself can be the challenge, as a text games makes it easier for that to be the end result.
So, can I get any thoughts on which concept you'd prefer to play out, and how I might work past the cons?
Now, I've got two concepts going that have each hit snags for their own reasons (both stemming from that being a pred in a text game has some design issues I hadn't anticipated when vore is made a central focus). I would like to see about getting some thoughts on them to perhaps work through them, or even offer some thoughts of your own if you are inclined. Bear in mind, the game is purely text based, and is an adventure game, not RPG (there is a difference). So here are the concepts I had brewing:
Concept 1: You play a female dragon anthro, taking drastic means to keep her kind from going extinct. A curse was placed on dragonkind that keeps them from breeding naturally, so dragons have worked up a magical workaround until the curse can be broken: Unbirth transformation. Using a magical scrying device, you discover people who possess worthy souls, and then must isolate them so that you can discretely do your deed.
-Pros: As adventure games tend to be puzzle oriented, this setup has clear puzzle elements of getting alone with target, of which I've fiddled with a couple different scenarios.
-Cons: Nebulous end goal; you're obviously not repopulating the entire species yourself, and there's not really a story time crunch, so there's little sense of urgency or motivation beyond "that's what the game wants me to do" which I feel is not strong enough. This game is supposed to be more than "vore for the sake of vore".
Concept 2: You play a black Kitsune, who's birth marks them as demon hunters. Having passed your training, you are assigned to protect a region, which involves "dealing" with demon possessed anthros by devouring them and sealing the demon's spirit within you. Black Kitsune are able to channel demonic energy, and the influx is what leads to their acquisition of tails. You seek to prove yourself an elite guardian by achieving nine-tailed status.
-Pros: Strong motivator; clear end goal of becoming a nine-tailed Kitsune. Also, easy to justify gender shifting with Kitsune Shapeshifting abilities, allowing for most vore types at any time.
-Cons: Hazy puzzle/challenge setup. If the goal is to devour 8 demons of increasing strength, what are the obstacles/puzzles you need to overcome to do so? Combat is not a natural fit in most text games (doable, but would prefer to avoid), so it is unlikely that the vore in and of itself can be the challenge, as a text games makes it easier for that to be the end result.
So, can I get any thoughts on which concept you'd prefer to play out, and how I might work past the cons?
The shop keeper tips his hat to you, inviting you to peruse his goods
1. Ask about wares.
2. Ask about any rumors he's heard about demons
3. Devour merchant.
just being silly.
Heh, that sounds amusing. Walk into the inn, devour innkeeper, sleep, find there's a new innkeeper, eat her, leave, realize you forgot to grab something out of your chest, walk back in to find another new innkeeper, inquire about new innkeepers, get a shrug and non-committal answer with implications it's normal, eat innkeeper, retrieve stuff from room, find another new innkeeper, wonder just how much more you can stuff yourself, realize that's not a stat in the game and eat innkeeper and continue on quest.
Ultimately you'll want to be thinking about "meaningful choice" as you make the game. The second concept has more potential for meaningful choices. The second one has a clear end goal where the player decides what happens while the first concept forces the player to use one particular method to reach a goal that is, as you said, nebulous.
But yes, I am greatly leaning towards the second idea now myself after some brainstorming at work, and actually came to that "identify" approach myself. The idea kinda morphed from "demon possessed" to "demon in anthro form" though to eliminate the moral quandary of having to kill "innocents" in order to deal with demons. Don't want any guilty feelings in vore with the context I'm working on. The puzzle setup I've got going follows an overview something like this:
-Identify what NPCs are really disguised demons
-Determine what type of demon they are
-Figure out their weakness
-Exploit weakness
-Devour
How much weight is assigned to each stage is still in design, though I'm leaning towards working out and exploiting the weakness to be the bulk as opposed to the identification. The idea being that, being a Kitsune, full frontal assaults are not your thing. One on one, most demons are likely to win in a "fair" fight, so you must employ some trickery to make them vulnerable to being nommed. After all, trickery is what Kitsune's are known for.
Though I do favor your current game plan and am eager to see where it goes!