[Twine] [Patreon] Empire of Corruption

[Sitribella]

Hi! I'm the developer of Empire of Corruption, a free text-based adult RPG developed in Twine. After months of work, I feel like it finally has enough content and a stable enough foundation to offer it up for play. Here's the pitch:

Framed by a rival, you have been stripped of your noble title, your lands and your riches, and cast into exile. Harrowgate, a decadent city on an island teeming with eldritch horrors, awaits. Will you kneel and submit to the predators that surround you? Or will you rise up, forge a new path through the chaos, and take the power and vengeance that is rightfully yours?

The game's first three chapters (over 250,000 words) are complete and playable, and work on chapter four is underway. The intent is to meld an engaging story with brothel-management aspects, as the protagonist builds their seedy base of power and recruits a harem of loyal followers to their service. Player options, comfort and customization were key pillars of design: you can design your character, transform them as you like, and make your way with a host of options. (Hate "sex on defeat" situations? One click and they're gone. Or restored. Or gone again. Want NPCs to refer to your character with a different set of pronouns? Choose from male, female and non-binary and change them whenever you want.)

Fetish-wise, the game is heavily centered around BDSM and corruption. The player can find themselves in both dominant and submissive situations. (Again, largely tailored to your own desires: for instance, one NPC will take on a domme or sub role with you, depending on a quest choice you make.) There's anthro/furry content as well; human-animal hybrids are a regular sight in the streets of Harrowgate (and also you can have sex with a catgirl if you want to, because why the heck not?) There is a futa character but she's not romanceable yet; likewise, the groundwork for breeding/pregnancy content has been put in place but the content won't go live until we're further into chapter four, along with a bunch of transformation options.

As of version 0.4.6, a graphical overhaul is underway, banishing the old eye-searing color scheme and setting up a framework for character busts and location graphics (currently CG placeholders, until I can commission better art). Some samples from the most recent Patron-backed release, 0.4.7, are attached.

The game has been tested extensively with Chrome, and should work with Firefox (tested lightly) and Safari. The game will NOT work with Internet Explorer/Edge, due to how those browsers store data. If you enjoy it (and I hope you do!), please consider checking out my Patreon; I'll be reinvesting donations into commissioning art for the game, to spice up all the words. So many words. Reams of words.

Download links: https://mega.nz/#!WvRTFapL!cdDOJNrMn1-ugBH_foI0-jLIvaf9LU1ZSIjqCKgaosI or https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TwYJVhUAedvscXnwycPbDU-hcxCmiNNT

My patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sitribella

 

[karunama]

Based on your description, I assume there's a wide range of possible pairings?

 

[Sitribella]

Based on your description, I assume there's a wide range of possible pairings?

Your character can be male or female, and there are both male and female partners; basically, no matter who you are, everybody's horny for you because you're just that awesome. (Though I should say that most partners -- at least, named characters with actual involvement in the storyline up to this point in development -- are female, so people who want a lot of m/m content probably won't dig it.)

 

[DawnCry]

Overall it would be nice to have a full list of main fetishes and pairings, it could help you in attracting more people to your game, adding images in the presentation is nice too.

If you want people to take notice of your game it is necessary to work quite a bit the first post to show what you have to offer.

In this post of the forum you can see a nice game presentation, I recommend that you try to imitate it a bit: https://forum.fenoxo.com/threads/renpy-tales-of-terrara-0-0-3-13-dec-2019.19013/

Having said that to obtain the max support you can have visit multiple forums to make your game known.

That ends my recommendations related to first post, now, talking about the game while it's nice that you want to focus on giving the players a lot of options, many people forget that being the sub part sometimes mean being forced or losing control, but on this point I will first fully play the game to see how is it done.

Have a nice day.

P.D: It could be interesting to add a dominant/submissive stat that has an effect on how you react to certain situations or even sex scenes and things like that.

P.D2: If you are a sub it is recommended that the dom has quite a bit of control over you, especially when you are really submissive.

 

[runingman69]

Tried the game, it's pretty decent lots of potential. I look forward to more updates!

 

[Savin]

I put an hour, hour and a half into it last night. Really great start, especially the "whore yourself out" stuff. Looking forward to more!

 

[Sitribella]

Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone! I'm hard at work on the next update, which will be a mixed bag of new story/quests, some new events with the main cast, and some quality-of-life upgrades (and I'm tinkering with balance very, very minutely, to try to get player progression nice and smooth. That's an ongoing process but we'll get there.)

 

[TheDarkMaster]

Your character can be male or female, and there are both male and female partners; basically, no matter who you are, everybody's horny for you because you're just that awesome. (Though I should say that most partners -- at least, named characters with actual involvement in the storyline up to this point in development -- are female, so people who want a lot of m/m content probably won't dig it.)

It's important to both be able to find the content that you want to experience, and avoid the content you don't want to experience. The worst thing you can do to your players in an adult game is surprise them. Usually I recommend signposting everything, so players who're paying attention can always tell what they'll be getting themselves into before they click the button to start sexy times.

Side note, you are allowed to surprise your players in a game about forced content. However a game with forced content is a game that focuses *exclusively* on forced content and isn't suitable for anyone who isn't into that kink. It's either all about forced content or the game has none: there's no middle ground.

 

[Stemwinder]

A particularly nice thing you've nailed down is just how much opening text a game like this should have. There's no exact right amount, it's a vague thing, but there's definitely a line: when there's not enough it feels empty and when there's too much it feels as though it's assuming investment it hasn't fostered yet. You've hit the perfect target for your game and spaced out introduction material with the ability to wander around so it doesn't feel too on-rails. Your descriptions all fall into that range, too, you get enough for atmosphere without feeling like someone's describing cracks in the walls.

Knowing the balance for that sort of thing makes a good first impression; I'm very much enjoying what I've read so far and the UI is very clean and functional.

 

[Sitribella]

Has it been a month already? Where is this year going? I'm pleased to announce a new public release, version 0.2.4. Here's the changelog:

Version 0.2.4

• Revision to combat UI: attacks now show your (and your opponents') "to hit" target and actual die roll, so you can more accurately judge the challenge of a fight.
• If you pick up any rat carcasses while harvesting alchemical reagents in the sewers, Old Hermann will automatically buy them from you at the adventure's end.
• Bugfix: if you change a girl's status to "resting" while talking to her, the option to end conversation will no longer disappear.
• Slight tweak to XP rates. I'm trying to find the "sweet spot" for the early chapters, making sure you don't outlevel the existing content while also ensuring you never have to grind to keep up with rising difficulty.
• Automatic updater is in. This should allow me to patch in new mechanics and variables while keeping old saves valid, so you won't ever have to start a new character from scratch if you don't want to. Operative word: should.
• Notebook now displays your relationship levels with everyone you've met, and the current maximum level. Maxing this out doesn't necessarily mean you've seen every scene or event involving that character, but it will help hint if there's still something notable to discover.
• Added the first wave of post-recruitment story events (approx. 6.5k words of content). You can take Seni on a dinner date (with two optional sex scenes), help Juniper study alchemy and learn her secret scholarly aspirations (with optional sex scene), and drink gin and discuss dark-elven politics with Valoris (with optional sex scene).
• New Keltra scene: if she's dominant, she wants to take you on a hunting trip. And teach you your proper place, in the process.
• The Codex has been added (access it via the notebook), as a means of adding both game mechanics and setting-lore for players who want it (and avoiding mandatory info-dumps.) You can unlock entries as you explore the world, adding to your lore collection and getting a small XP bonus for each one you find. (Right now, only one of the "???" entries can be found and unlocked -- if you go through the new content involving your recruited girls, you'll find it there. I wanted to get the system in, stable, and tested for this update, and going forward I'll be adding one or two entries with each new patch.) Five entries, including a more detailed description of combat and currency, start out unlocked for you.

You can grab the files at:
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q9KohNri332vL185eEa5flESj6YgZtHG

Mega: https://mega.nz/#!Pj5XTY7I!g2UW5R084_-GuUHWAfUtO5WyCe78NWqcdnKqeCTyIi4

If you'd like to read the new "state of the game" update (about the current design focus), you can find it on my Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/posts/34297538

Empire of Corruption has been updated every week since launch; the current build for $5+ backers is 0.3.3. If you're curious about what's been added, here are the changelogs to date:

Spoiler: v0.3.0

• Bugfix: the Dominator Spores status effect now fires properly.
• Bugfix: if stress/hunger/fatigue are at 100%, a warning now shows on the status bar.
• The opening scene of chapter three's main quest is in. And with it, fast travel! Once you discover the Black Rose, and the network of alleys known as the Knot, a fast-travel button will be added to your UI for quick returns to your (eventual) home base.
• Magician combatants (like occultist bounties) now have a pair of standard magical attacks, which will test your character's Intelligence and Wisdom scores.
• New foes, Dryad Curse-Caller and Priestess, with three sex scenes (one victory, two defeat).
• To fix the biggest grind in early questing (forging specific essences for mandatory alchemy recipes), we bring you the Forge of Reagents! This precursor relic can convert essences to the flavor of your choice (at a 3:1 ratio), helping to make sure you always have what you need.
• Of course...it's not that simple. Once chapter three begins, talk to Chastern to begin the quest for the Forge. It's a complete multi-part questline that'll have you meeting up with -- and possibly making an alliance with -- a tribe of marsh dryads while battling their enemies. (Also, this quest will eventually play into a later storyline involving the Imperial Museum.)
• Two new codex entries are unlockable. One is found during Valoris's recruitment questline; if you've already finished that quest, just talking to her on the street afterward will unlock it.

Spoiler: v0.3.1

• Bugfix: traveling through the Knot in any direction was instantaneous, now it takes a few minutes.
• Finished the first wave of post-recruitment events (approx 2.3k words). Trixie has ambitions. This will probably end badly.
• Allison now sells Number Nine, an aphrodisiac that will enlarge (ahem) your Lust score on demand.
• The next stage of chapter three's storyline is in. Travel to Cannery Bay and meet a goblin banker in need. A new ally?

Spoiler: v0.3.2

• Reward tweak: XP for unlocking codex entries now scales based on your level, so they'll be rewarding to track down throughout the game.
• The pregnancy framework is in place! To be impregnated, you'll need to turn on the "involuntary transformations" option (which defaults to OFF); wording has been tweaked to let new players know this option includes being bred. (If this option is turned off but defeat-sex is on, victorious monsters may attempt to breed you but there will be no consequences after that.)
• Being defeated by the succubus boss, or consensual sex with a Felluri futa-demon, can now result in pregnancy. (Not a physical one, though -- she'll see you in your dreams.)
• Being impregnated by a Xith marauder's ovipositor can result in becoming an egg-incubator (for both female and male characters. Ouch.)
• Once you've met Sheltie, you can return to the bank to talk to her (two conversation topics added).
• Next two steps in chapter three's storyline has been added including a one-shot quest, the Sinister Secret of Smuggler's Run, setting the stage for a bigger, repeatable adventure to come.
• Two new foes, the Fathomer and Sea-Cult Zealot, with three sex scenes (one victory, two defeat).
• One new codex entry to find and unlock.

Spoiler: v0.3.3

• An empire-builder needs worthy gear, and in this update -- if you've started investigating Josiah Morden's problems and also begun the "Riddle of Precursor Steel" quest -- you can forge your own custom-crafted weapon!
• Your signature weapon can be renamed and reforged (changing its appearance) as many times as you like. Going forward, major quests and bosses will drop weapon adornments as trophies; a collectibles page has been added to the notebook (once you forge your weapon) to keep track of the ones you've found. (As with the codex pages, unlocks will be added bit by bit with each new game update.)
• Rune-word inscriptions, once found and learned, will power up your weapon even further. (The framework for a second kind of improvement, elemental attunements, is in place and they'll be fully added in a future update.)
• To help test the new framework, two quick one-shot adventures have been added. One will reward you with your first rune-word, and one with your first cosmetic adornment. To find them, check outside the city. (One involves an NPC you've probably already befriended by the time you reach chapter three; the other requires good relations with a certain dryad tribe...)

I hope you enjoy the game, and thank you so much for checking it out!

 

[futatiger]

where do you get the tunic for the gentlemen's club?

 

[Sitribella]

where do you get the tunic for the gentlemen's club?

Since you know what they look like, a tailor should be able to custom-sew one for you.

Spoiler: Full Solution

Talk to Brendan; his shop is over on Salt Street, and the option will appear as a conversation topic once you get to that point in the quest.

 

[futatiger]

Since you know what they look like, a tailor should be able to custom-sew one for you.

Spoiler: Full Solution

Talk to Brendan; his shop is over on Salt Street, and the option will appear as a conversation topic once you get to that point in the quest.

thanks for the tip. keep up the good work i'm looking forward to more of this game. also might i suggest adding sex toys to this? for both player and NPCs? something like an enchanted {or regular} chastity cage and or other bondage gear?

 

[Sitribella]

thanks for the tip. keep up the good work i'm looking forward to more of this game. also might i suggest adding sex toys to this? for both player and NPCs? something like an enchanted {or regular} chastity cage and or other bondage gear?

Absolutely. It's not on the short-term list since I'm still working out how to make them interesting and mechanically functional (beyond including them in one-off scenes), but it's something I want to add.

 

[Lucky-38]

Hi, I found a typo in the character creation. Right after you choose your name:

"Soldiers stormed your estate, slauthered your servants"
Slauthered -> slaughtered.

Gonna keep playing, I'll post any others I find. It seems good so far!

 

[Sitribella]

Ugh, what an embarrassing place for a typo. Fixed! And thank you!

 

[Lucky-38]

A couple of things that are probably just personal preference. First, in your inventory, you need to scroll back up to the top to check what equipment you currently are using. I think it would be nice to be able to tell what you have equipped at a glance. Second, while you're hunting for alchemical ingredients in the sewers, every time you kill a rat it mentions that you collect the body to turn in for a reward, even though you don't get the reward when you leave. I'm not sure if you can change the post-battle description for rats in just that one circumstance, but if you can it might be a good idea to change it to say something about how "you can't collect the rat corpse because you're filling your bag with plants", or something.


*Edit: Also, I think there's a bug with making your own rash salve. Instead of telling me the difficulty normally, it says the difficulty is "_difficulty", it always fails, and then I earn "_xpReward" for failing it.

 

[Sitribella]

Let me take a look at the flow on the alchemy gathering -- it should have you stop by Hermann's place and get paid automatically at the end of the quest, and if it's not doing that, I'll make it happen. Agreed on seeing your inventory at a glance. Right now I'm playing with a few different UI alterations, trying to find a balance between "all the info" and "minimal clutter." With the addition of custom weapons in the latest update, now should be a good time to at least get a prototype in so I can see if players like the UI change or not.

 

[futatiger]

as a suggestion for a alternate game route: how about having Jellica at the begining hire the PC to use the Tamer in the hopes of trying to draw more customers, causing the PC to become a submissive sex addict. feeling guilty Jellica then vows to help A- undo this and B- help you on your quest. also she hires you as a slutty maid and or bartender slowly delighting in your submission until she goes the full pimp route and starts putting you with your own whores and taking useing you as a whore/enforcer.

 

[Gotajarofdirt]

Will there be bad Ends?

 

[Diarmait]

This one definitely has potential. Character creation doesn't seem too drawn out, and has decent customization. Really looking forward to where this one goes.

 

[Sitribella]

as a suggestion for a alternate game route: how about having Jellica at the begining hire the PC to use the Tamer in the hopes of trying to draw more customers, causing the PC to become a submissive sex addict. feeling guilty Jellica then vows to help A- undo this and B- help you on your quest. also she hires you as a slutty maid and or bartender slowly delighting in your submission until she goes the full pimp route and starts putting you with your own whores and taking useing you as a whore/enforcer.

I definitely have some long-term plans for Jellica (and for the Tamer). One never knows...

Will there be bad Ends?

I originally wasn't planning to include them, but since I've gotten a number of requests, bad ends are definitely on the to-do list and the first one isn't far off. (People checking out the chapter three content thus far can probably guess what it involves, it's heavily telegraphed.)

This one definitely has potential. Character creation doesn't seem too drawn out, and has decent customization. Really looking forward to where this one goes.

Thank you so much, I appreciate it!

 

[futatiger]

two questions first: where do you find the brothel to buy? and second: what do i do with Keltra after i find her in the bar? also i would have hidden this behind the spoiler thing if i knew how

 

[Sitribella]

two questions first: where do you find the brothel to buy? and second: what do i do with Keltra after i find her in the bar? also i would have hidden this behind the spoiler thing if i knew how

You can't get the brothel yet -- that's the main questline in chapter three, currently under development. Regarding Keltra, a walk outside the city walls (and talking to Hamzis at the Guild of Hunters) could point to some ideas there...

 

[Sitribella]

With a new week, a new public update. Version 0.3.0 is now available for everyone to download! Here's the changelog, and this one was meaty:

• Bugfix: the Dominator Spores status effect now fires properly.
• Bugfix: if stress/hunger/fatigue are at 100%, a warning now shows on the status bar.
• The opening scene of chapter three's main quest is in. And with it, fast travel! Once you discover the Black Rose, and the network of alleys known as the Knot, a fast-travel button will be added to your UI for quick returns to your (eventual) home base.
• Magician combatants (like occultist bounties) now have a pair of standard magical attacks, which will test your character's Intelligence and Wisdom scores.
• New foes, Dryad Curse-Caller and Priestess, with three sex scenes (one victory, two defeat).
• To fix the biggest grind in early questing (forging specific essences for mandatory alchemy recipes), we bring you the Forge of Reagents! This precursor relic can convert essences to the flavor of your choice (at a 3:1 ratio), helping to make sure you always have what you need.
• Of course...it's not that simple. Once chapter three begins, talk to Chastern to begin the quest for the Forge. It's a complete multi-part questline that'll have you meeting up with -- and possibly making an alliance with -- a tribe of marsh dryads while battling their enemies. (Also, this quest will eventually play into a later storyline involving the Imperial Museum.)
• Two new codex entries are unlockable. One is found during Valoris's recruitment questline; if you've already finished that quest, just talking to her on the street afterward will unlock it.

You can grab the files at:
Mega: https://mega.nz/#!23BlgQqB!209g6svysi8PHlPeF8FTUVN9IvceNfXwauouXEC2URI

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eiqkQtjjUUF8q0hcy6aNEXaX19NBXdeX

Also, today marked the release of version 0.3.4 for backers at the $5+ tier (on my patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/sitribella).

Spoiler: v0.3.4 Changelog

• Once you attain level four and have your signature weapon, a new side-quest can result in your weapon growing permanently stronger plus unlocking an adornment (plus optional sex).
• Chapter Three's storyline now splits into two tracks, which can be tackled in any order. While you're trying to secure the land that the Black Rose sits upon, Sheltie is angling to secure the building itself...and she's run into a little problem. (4.5k-word multi-part scene.)
• You can go deeper below the smuggler's run to face more encounters with the sinister sea-cult -- and uncover a deeper mystery in the process?
• New encounter, the Sea-Cult Skirmisher, with defeat sex.

 

[TheDarkMaster]

Ha, after trying the game now I can say my 'suggestions' either were followed very well or were holey unnecessary. Content warnings are seriously on point in this game, even to the point of maybe being a little overboard when it comes to reminding the player after every single appearance choice during the intro they can change this stuff later. I've played up to the end of chapter 1.

Thoughts/report after my first session:

• The alchemist / rogue scholar class is listed in character creation as having 14 strength, but actually starts with 12.
• What does stuff do in the clothing and weaponsmith shops? There doesn't seem to be a way to know before you buy it. I'd really like to know whether or not it's worth buying something without having to reload afterwards or if I should remember to come back later to pick something up if I can't afford it at the moment.
• I opted to start as an alchemist / rogue scholar with the withering curse, which seems to have been a serious mistake as most of the skill checks have been physical and I have no choice but to rely on my very limited special abilities to win fights without taking huge amounts of damage. I've had to rest after each adventure with single digit health remaining and just one of the militia or rats could take off half my health.
• Similarly, it would be good to list the player's current funds while they're in shops. It could also be included on the sidebar as a quick reference.
• What's the conversion rate between the different coins? I don't think I saw it anywhere in the game.
• More than once I accidentally talked to the dark elf in the bar when I meant to talk to Jellica. I wish menu options you return to frequently were cleaner, a bit of a flaw with the otherwise well chosen hyperlinks weaved into the narration.

EDIT: Fridge logic moment, when I was first offered a freebie from Seni I assumed that declining was the 'correct' choice if you wanted a deeper relationship with her and picked that, but now I'm thinking that was actually just an opt out of the sex scene option? Arrg....

 

[Sitribella]

Ha, after trying the game now I can say my 'suggestions' either were followed very well or were holey unnecessary. Content warnings are seriously on point in this game, even to the point of maybe being a little overboard when it comes to reminding the player after every single appearance choice during the intro they can change this stuff later. I've played up to the end of chapter 1.

Thank you so much for the feedback! I appreciate it!

The alchemist / rogue scholar class is listed in character creation as having 14 strength, but actually starts with 12.

Yikes, that is a LONG standing bug. I've fixed it for the next release.

What does stuff do in the clothing and weaponsmith shops? There doesn't seem to be a way to know before you buy it. I'd really like to know whether or not it's worth buying something without having to reload afterwards or if I should remember to come back later to pick something up if I can't afford it at the moment..

Right now, clothing is purely aesthetic (except for one quest in chapter two where you need a specific piece of special clothing). Eventually there'll be game effects, but I wanted to get the basic wardrobe system in place and functional first.

I opted to start as an alchemist / rogue scholar with the withering curse, which seems to have been a serious mistake as most of the skill checks have been physical and I have no choice but to rely on my very limited special abilities to win fights without taking huge amounts of damage. I've had to rest after each adventure with single digit health remaining and just one of the militia or rats could take off half my health.

This, and the economy, are the two biggest early-game issues I need to smooth out now that there's more content in place. Starting with a magical character is going to get slightly easier over time as I add more encounters (for instance, at launch ALL foes only relied on your Str to hit and Dex to dodge, but now there are a couple with attacks that target Int and Wis and are easier to defend against if you're magically-leaning), but it'll still be easier, at first, to go the "bash them over the head" route.

I suspect I'm going to overhaul the character creation menus to add starting-difficulty ratings for each option, so new players know what they're getting into, as well as pump up starting HP a little bit to make those first adventures less brutal.

Similarly, it would be good to list the player's current funds while they're in shops. It could also be included on the sidebar as a quick reference.

I can definitely put that in.

What's the conversion rate between the different coins? I don't think I saw it anywhere in the game.

It's base ten (ten copper is one silver, ten silver is one gold, ten gold is one platinum). There's a codex entry for currency -- I may have to do a better job alerting new players to that.

More than once I accidentally talked to the dark elf in the bar when I meant to talk to Jellica. I wish menu options you return to frequently were cleaner, a bit of a flaw with the otherwise well chosen hyperlinks weaved into the narration.

I'm contemplating a few ways to rearrange the UI and avoid misclicks; I haven't settled on a solution that I really like, yet, but it's on the list. I've been gradually smoothing things out as I go -- for instance, travel was very clicky but once you start chapter three you open up a return-home button on the UI and can instantly reach most surface streets with one click from there.

EDIT: Fridge logic moment, when I was first offered a freebie from Seni I assumed that declining was the 'correct' choice if you wanted a deeper relationship with her and picked that, but now I'm thinking that was actually just an opt out of the sex scene option? Arrg...

Yeah, that's purely an opt-out moment, she likes you either way (considering how you help her later in the chapter.)

 

[TheDarkMaster]

Right now, clothing is purely aesthetic (except for one quest in chapter two where you need a specific piece of special clothing). Eventually there'll be game effects, but I wanted to get the basic wardrobe system in place and functional first.

It might be a good idea then to just say somewhere in the clothing store that at the moment clothes are cosmetic and do not affect stats.

This, and the economy, are the two biggest early-game issues I need to smooth out now that there's more content in place. Starting with a magical character is going to get slightly easier over time as I add more encounters (for instance, at launch ALL foes only relied on your Str to hit and Dex to dodge, but now there are a couple with attacks that target Int and Wis and are easier to defend against if you're magically-leaning), but it'll still be easier, at first, to go the "bash them over the head" route.

I suspect I'm going to overhaul the character creation menus to add starting-difficulty ratings for each option, so new players know what they're getting into, as well as pump up starting HP a little bit to make those first adventures less brutal.

Since this is a game with one-on-one single action combat (unless you get companions or regular summons later?), there is only so much you can do with the combat system. It'll never be that interesting or tactical. A party or multi-action system are generally necessary for that. Whether or not you think that's worth including or if it will ultimately detract from other parts of the game like the story is ultimately your call to make.

For combat and stats, it might be a good idea to move away from the D&D/Pathfinder attributes. Those games are designed with parties in mind and with skill systems and saving throws supporting the attributes. Currently in game the physical attributes are direct combat stats and skills, while the mental attributes only skills. Unless the mental stats are used for almost all non-combat things, they're never going to compete with the physical stats with this setup. There's lots of ways to change things to address the problem, but I think a full rework of the player's attributes is probably the best place to start. Figure out what things the player is going to do, categorize those into attributes/skills/whatever, and try to balance them so they're roughly used for the same number of things. Then figure out how to differentiate them after that, so you don't just have intellect effectively be physique under a different name.

For differentiating physical and magical characters, limited use abilities generally fit better on physical characters since they can just fall back on bashing things on the head. While magic users usually either have a much larger number of uses for their special abilities, their abilities are more flexible, or produce much more dramatic results. I don't recommend going with super dramatic results for one-on-one combat. We end up with the same result of magic users being terrible in combat, but with a few automatic win powers. The mana system is a tried and true method for making magic users more flexible, either by having them spend more fatigue/hunger for their abilities or adding a new meter. Magic users could even need to gather or buy a resource to power their abilities. Adding more charges or longer lasting effects to magic is fairly self-explanatory.

 

[Sitribella]

Yeah, I wanted to capture an old-school RPG feel (that Red Box nostalgia, yay) with the stats, but...well, good intentions and all that. I'm currently exploring a few potential reworks that 1) won't require me to utterly gut the existing code and introduce a thousand unforeseen bugs and 2) is scaled for long-term play. I'm aiming to solidify that right around the time chapter three's story content is complete, since that introduces the brothel management parts (and is where I have to have the economy math locked down).

While my auto-updater has done a good job so far of letting people keep their saves intact across updates, I figure it's inevitable that a big mechanics overhaul is going to require a restart, and I only want to do that to my players once if at all possible. So I've got to make sure the final mechanics are just right. Preferably sooner rather than later.

 

[Sitribella]

Another week brings us another public release: version 0.3.1 is free! Here's the change log:

• Bugfix: traveling through the Knot in any direction was instantaneous, now it takes a few minutes.
• Finished the first wave of post-recruitment events (approx 2.3k words). Trixie has ambitions. This will probably end badly.
• Allison now sells Number Nine, an aphrodisiac that will enlarge (ahem) your Lust score on demand.
• The next stage of chapter three's storyline is in. Travel to Cannery Bay and meet a goblin banker in need. A new ally?

You can grab it at:
https://mega.nz/#!v7wHlTIY!fo8TNj0v_jczk9AGX7iocxfetjhA1HebMbiHAZVrlvg
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qpDHbmlvQIzAWaYWFxgCofF7aYlrYn8f/view

I've begun heavy work on a revamp to the basic mechanics, which while technically adequate, don't really spark joy or present interesting tactics. The good news is that I think I've got a solution, and I'm currently running pen-and-paper tests to make sure I have the math right before I start getting elbows-deep in the code. The better news is that I think I've figured out a way to convert/update existing save files, so you won't have to start the game all over once the changes are in. Meanwhile, version 0.3.5 just went live for backers at the $5+ tier, and if you're curious the change log is below.

Spoiler: v0.3.5 Update

• Bugfix: An issue with alchemy crafting could mess up the experience tracker. This should be fixed now.
• Bugfix: Alchemy was sometimes awarding items even on a failed roll. Was.
• Bugfix: Character creation said the rogue scholar started with 14 Str, but actually gave 12. Bookworms now hit harder.
• Updated character creation to give each origin option an easy/medium/hard difficulty rating. (Temporary measure until we overhaul the stat system)
• New Keltra scene; if she's submissive, you can publicly humiliate her. (Keltra's personality now swings between +2/dominant and -2/submissive, with some under-the-hood tinkering to make adding content easier.)
• -The player-whore path promises that bad things will happen to you. We're starting to make good on that, with three new scenes. These trigger over time based on how many times you've whored yourself out (same way the slutweed dealer is unlocked), so they'll be spaced out properly for a new character but might fire in quick succession for an existing one. (You will also have to have a relationship of at least 2 with Tarja for the chain of events to begin.)
• The Northern Grace Salon has opened in Governor's Court. Change your hair style, length and color anytime you want, with a host of options not available during character creation.