I thought about doing a part 1 and 2 for this one.
Basically part 1 is the discussion about the monsters, and part 2 will include some actual pixel art.
But before I get to that, I thought it would be a good idea to talk a bit about the "perma-death" aspect of the game, that occours when the heroine goes game-over.
By this I mean, if the heroines HP drop to zero, it's game-over.
You get a big animated CG with voice acting, and after that you need to start from the beginning.
While this might sound frustrating to some people, please read the rest of this post!
To be honest, I've never been a fan of perma-death games up until a few months ago.
I kinda dislike the feeling of having to start all over, losing all progress etc.
And I really don't like it, if I can't progress in the game because of this.
But when I played games like FTL or Binding of Isaac, I actually didn't feel frustrated at all.
Why's that some people might ask?
Well, I think it's because of the random generation aspect, as well as the fast progress you actually make.
You quickly find new skills, new weapons etc. just to lose at some point because you made some stupid mistake or actually underestimated an enemy.
The more often you encounter enemies, the better you learn to deal with them.
And each skill/weapon you find helps you to deal with different threats.
Since you also encounter different enemy types and bosses at random, you actually get to see a lot of different things the game has to offer, even if you always fail during the first 2 stages or so.
And I think this is the reason, why it doesn't feel frustrating.
You get new stuff all the time, you can actually encounter (nearly) everything the game has to offer during the first few stages.
So losing doesn't feel that bad.
And yeah... of course you kinda want to beat the last boss, so you have a reason to fight til the end, instead of losing on purpose all the time.
At least that's the way I feel about those games now.
And while the game we're working on is entirely different in comparison with FTL and BoI, I hope we succeed in making a game that feels similar fresh and challenging each playthrough, while not being (too?) frustrating.
About the enemies:
The game will actually be about our modern world being thrown into an apocalyptic scenario.
So there will be lots of mutated or possessed humans, demons, shadow creatures etc.
What I mainly wanted to talk about was:
Do you guys prefer disgusting enemies?
Or rather not so disgusting monsters?
Are there some monsters you'd like to see in the game?
Or maybe are there some monsters you'd rather not see in the game?
I know that this is totally something that everyone has a different viewpoint on.
So this topic is actually quite hard to discuss.
But lets talk about it anyway.
While I like disgusting monsters, there's also some kind of line that shouldn't be crossed.
But having an apocalyptic scenario with... I don't know... handsome zombies (lol) would simply be weird.
(I know, Geisterhands zombies were a bit "weird" too... this time the zombies/mutants will really look like zombies/mutants and thus at least a bit disgusting)
To give you guys some example, I actually liked the disgusting enemies in the game Bullet Witch.
And I think that's something that isn't too disgusting?
(but then again, that's personal preference/taste)
Next time when I'll do a blogpost about the enemies, I'll show some pixel art.
I think you hit it right on the money with the enemies in Paperheads. Just big, sleazy brutes who would overpower you. Maybe in this game they could be looters or bandits of sorts instead? But the idea of zombies and mutated animals doesn't sound to bad either, the disgustingness(?) of the enemies in bullet witch don't look very bad at all.
ReplyDeleteThen again, my personal preference (Is the discussion supposed to be in the comments?).
Yup, the discussion is meant to be in the comments ^^
DeleteIt's your game, so whatever you do, stick to what you envision the game to be. However, in my humble opinion I enjoyed Paperheads due to the bondage aspect of it, and peril I felt for the heroine when she would get trapped between a good amount of guys, waking up in the bathroom. I hope somehow you can incorporate that in this new game in some of the CGs, which I really am excited for. In complete honesty I would like to see human looters/bandits, and different monsters.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason most H-games feature "perma-death", is because typically the rape of the heroine is either something she cannot escape (and thus the game is over), or her virginity or such is a key plot point.
ReplyDeleteOr that, generally, its because trying to create a game that accounts for everytime you could've been raped is a lot more difficult. And then the question of how you always get away comes up... or some such.
As for enemies, I think Paperheads was a pretty good example. The big brutes are 'disgusting' in a sense, and it fits since they're well, bad guys. In H-games with rape, it does seem odd if all the enemies are fairly handsome/attractive people, since I think the idea is to have 'disgusting' people as the rapists, since uhm... I guess they seem like the type who would do it!
Boy, I sure ramble when I try to talk a point after waking up...
The more I hear about this game, the more it feels like Parasite in City. Don't take that as an insult, Parasite in City was a great game. I'd probably take inspiration from that game since each enemy had a unique look. Paperheads was a great game, but all the basic enemies kind of looked the same.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna assume this game will have far less CGs then Paperheads, so I hope enough enemies cater to enough "interests" (tentacles, lesbian, etc). I'm looking forward to this game, and love the frequent updates.
Keep it up :D
I agree with Brad completely, catering to a good amount of interests will make the game more interesting. I'm stoked for this.
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