Beneath A Rocky Earth

[Carrot]

Here is a small thing I made.


http://beneatharockyearth.blogspot.com/


It's similar in function to Corruption of Champions, though not as pretty as Trials in Tainted Space nor as well coded as Fall of Eden. A link to the current first draft on GitHub is available in the top post. Feel free to check it out and give me critique.


For anyone wondering (since I often like to know myself), it was done with nothing more complicated than basic HTML/CSS, and (in my opinion) simple JavaScript. There's no JavaScript libraries, no j Query, and none of the code is particularly high in concept and difficult to understand. In fact, you could take what I've done already, delete the scenes, and begin making your own game if you wanted.


So what is it? Well, it's an Underdark inspired text/sex adventure with what is planned to be a darker and more dangerous setting/feel compared to the (admittedly very fun) sex-world of Corruption of Champions. Instead of having Minotaur's flinging cum at you and trying to rape you, losing to one of these beasts in a narrow tunnel would spell doom and game over for the player. Life outside of the safe zones (cities) is meant to be risky and adventurous. Portals (think D&D) bring in fresh water, air, light places up without choking everyone out with smoke, and connect places together that are otherwise miles apart with no bridging tunnel system between them. Rather than use stats like intelligence and strength, HP and Mana, what combat there is is much simpler.


The interesting part (in my opinion), is changing the world around you based on your actions. As an example, lets pretend you come across multiple Minotaurs in your adventure. Each time you encounter one, lets say you turn it into a girly, weak version of itself.. or perhaps maybe make it a female altogether. As time goes on, you'd have a greater chance of meeting "femboy" and female Minotaurs; perhaps stumbling upon one in particular with a unique fur coloration that you remember, getting a treat to something that really ought to be private between them and their beau. Changing the genders, or other qualities of NPCs; contributing to the survival/downfall of underground cities; and more.


Of course, there isn't THAT much written for it yet, but 'tis the plan anyways. =)


So give it a look, let me know what you think, and thanks for your time.


(There's no hosted version of it up anywhere except for on GitHub, because I don't yet understand how to do that.)

 

[TheDarkMaster]

So, what you have here sounds interesting.  However, having read through this and what you've posted in your short rundown about what the game is, I have no idea what sorts of fetishes and pairings will be in this game, if it will be possible to avoid content I wouldn't be interested in, and if there would be some way to actually find content that I'd be interested in through clear hints within the game itself.  Any chance you could shed some light on that?

 

[Carrot]

So, what you have here sounds interesting.

Thanks!


So to run through your concerns in order:


The kinds of kinks/fetishes/scenes that will be present in the game are just your standard average fair, as in I don't have anything 'out there' planned. I'm vanilla myself beyond basic bdsm stuff, and I mostly have experience with writing dickgirl on male porn. So my content will definitely lean in that direction. However I'd like to write stuff for all of the 'pairings'. Male on male, female on female, intersex on intersex, etc. That does bring up an interesting note though, in that I'd like to focus a bit more heavily on "traditional" genders, for example not having 80% of my content involve 'futa'.


I'm not the only one writing for BARE right now however; I have a friend writing scenes with me as well currently. I'd also take in content that other people have written, if they wanted to contribute and I deemed it appropriate. (In fact, I've thought about commissioning people, just to get more stuff written in a shorter amount of time.)


What about avoiding content you're not interested in?


That's actually a good idea. I'm glad you mentioned it. I can probably code some check to see what the user has elected to turn on/off each time a scene is called, or disable entire sections of scene that's labeled as one kind of kink or another. That'd be pretty simple to implement. If you didn't want to see any gay porn, for instance, then having the ability to toggle that off in a main menu would be handy!


Lastly, one thing I want to avoid in my game is rape. So the player should generally not find themselves getting intimate with a character, and then have that character whip out a gigantic strap on and put it to use before the player can protest, for example. It does mean more writing is necessary, in order to give the player more control in the middle of scenes, but c'est la vie.


As per your final concern; finding content that you're interested in based on in-game clues.


Definitely. For an example, I've written stuff for, and have more plans for, a 'city area' that's entirely dominated by dickgirls. Do you know how in D&D, females are the rulers and leading class of drow in their underground city-states? There's something I can (and want to) translate into BARE. I'll think some more about hints and clues that I can add in that won't just be rumors and gossip gleaned from overhearing conversations. And I'll take suggestions if you have them!


( "Hey!, Listen!~" Might be neat to have a Na'Vi kind of fairy accompany the player in their travels, and give more context to locations/characters that way. Hmm. )


I hope that answers your questions!

 

[Kei]

Having played what is available so far I can say I dig the angle you're going for but the "fight" system feels a bit meh. Not having stats and equips and builds make me feel like there is no character progression and for me that is a major selling point for rpg games. There isn't enough content yet to really gauge how it will turn out to be but that's the only thing that bothered me. I love the setting and your writing is pretty good. I'm really looking forward to more of your game. Good Luck!

 

[TheDarkMaster]

It does sound like you're on the right track as far as pairings go and giving good hints.  I'm not too much of a fan of content on/off toggles since I think clear warnings and choices before every scene is enough on its own.  The toggles can be somewhat problematic from a gameplay standpoint if you never run into certain characters, or if say you have a fetish for TGing enemies (as you suggested in your OP) but have m/m content disabled, you might never run into enemies to TG.


On the other hand, I do personally have an interest in m+futa/shemale (as my personal projects will attest), though I'm curious if your work won't fall into the groups of that porn that rub me the wrong way.  It's actually not to uncommon to be surprised about what some people find to be turn offs, especially when it's a facet of another fetish.  Someone who might be into one thing but not another might be very frustrated because all of the content for the first thing also includes the second.  EX: Femdom + humiliation.  Engulfment + digestion.  Tied up + whipping.


I will have to actually read your content to know for sure, but I thought it would be worth throwing out the common pitfalls at least when it comes to adult games.  Especially ones going for broad appeal.

 

[Carrot]

@Kei Thanks for the input! I'm glad you've enjoyed what little there is thus far.


About player progression: I've given it some thought and I believe you're right. It's important that the player feel like they're making progress, perhaps beyond just simply opening up new areas and new content. However, I'm not entirely sure what to do about it yet. I feel like I'd rather focus on the writing than add in HP/Stat/Money/Equip systems. It's not decided yet, and I'm still so early in development that it could go either way. The current first draft of how it works was mostly intended to allow me to make everything more about your interactions with people while being able to rush and even skip through combat/conflict. I'll give it some more thought, for sure.


If you (or anyone) has ideas for dealing with the feeling of progression then I'd be happy to hear them out!


@TheDarkMaster I don't know what to do about your concerns aside from continuing to write and hoping you'll enjoy the content. =) I can say that I don't intend for the player to get pushed into things they don't personally enjoy, but nothing can ever be perfect.


To everyone else reading this! No major update this weekend. Most of what I wrote doesn't belong in the beginning area. There should be smaller updates through this coming week, with another version update this coming Sunday (possibly along with everything I wrote this past week).

 

[TheDarkMaster]

Poked around a bit.  There isn't much to say so far, there isn't enough in the game yet.  As I've never been one for cum drinking, I opted to not go through the only adult content in there so far.


The one thing I'm worried about is the combat system.  I'm not really sure what it adds to the game, as opposed to a more standard system or not including a combat system at all.  Is there something you have in mind that would make it something players would look forward to or want to experience multiple times?

 

[asmariamoon]

I like what you have so far in the game, and the combat system seems interesting, even without equipment and stats and such.  Perhaps adding a simple sort of XP system (maybe just one that keeps track of how many battles you've been in and gives you an appropriate level) and some skills for counterstriking or staggering enemies would allow you to keep the same combat system with a few upgrades that look for skills and such.   I could definitely see the character waiting for the perfect time to counterstrike in an encounter, then staggering and taking down their opponent before the enemy can react.  Either way, I look forward to your next build.