[Twine][Text]Whisper - a management game concept inspired by a few others [Hiatus]

[Noli Timere]

I am slowly concepting and structuring a game skeleton, that takes ideas from games like No Haven, and Civilization, and would like to share my concepts, and thoughts with the community, in hopes to try and get a group of people together that can help create a robust and fun game (This game will take some time to finish, and I want to stress that this project isnt going to be rushed, but the more help i can get the faster it will become a reality)


Below is some information which may be subject to change, that will help people understand the path i want to currently take/what i have already thought out in some ammount

Spoiler: Universe/Game Introduction

Humanity fell during a dark time, supernatural occurrences and entities destroyed every sense of civilization, unleashing rifts, and centers of power, conjuring creatures from peoples imagination and nightmares, plunging the world into chaos, and bringing things into reality that wouldnt normally be able to exist.


Now society can only be survived by the help of a single man or woman, who has taken it upon themselves to bring the people back together, as well as other tame entities.


This story is about you, and how you attempt to bring the world back into a state of order (or a civilized enough chaos) that allows for society to reform and strive in a world that no longer wants humanity, or any semblance of it.


It is up to you, to decide and bring together people or creatures of intelligence, that can live together, and strive to create a fundamental and working social group, the job of a leader, emperor/empress, king/queen, cheiften/chieftess, is up to you.


This world will be filled with paranormal entities, and sites of great power, that will need to be destroyed or controlled, to make sure they don't come back and destroy what you have worked to create, and other groups and entities will also need to be delt with, you will have many problems to overcome, weither it's disasters, or haunting's, or even your own people turning against you and forcing you into servitude or exile, the path to a working social state will not be easy in the slightest.


The whispers call to you, the question is, do you have what it takes to strive and conquer this now desolate and chaotic world.

Spoiler: Starting Ideas

- The Game will be for the most part Text based, as i am not a artist, and currently have no artist willing to work on stuff for this project


- Game will be very LITE RPG, as in most likely no combat, but stats will exist in some sense(basicly trying to keep it as close to no haven style as i can, without just making a complete clone)


- Game world will not be in the no haven universe but will still be fantasy based, with the races to speak of it, however race specifics will be of there own creation


- The players will be running a Settlement of sorts, which they can research and construct various things that may help them, which will also include a researchable and buildable suite of slavery components, this wont be the only form of money making in there, and the player will also need to deal with resource gathering, as well as keeping there people happy, or risk mutiny, as well as natural disasters and the like.


- The players will also be able to find/recruit heros (in a kin to slavers in no haven) which will have there own stats in the same birth as the MC, meaning anything you can have they can have too, and races bonuses and negatives will affect both you and the heros in the same way


- There will be Bad ends, but most bad ends wont be hardlocked and the player can redeem themselves from whatever it is and regain control, it just may not be as easy as someone may think (this will also depend on if i find writer support)


- there will be traits like in no haven, however stats like strength and the like will have there own trait based scale, IE: strength scale would consist of Weak (worst trait on the scale), all the way up to Ironman(probly needs a rename, but this would technically be the strongest a character could get), all of these stat scales will have there own xp which will dictate when a stat will raise or lower to the next trait, dominance, and reputation will work somewhat the same but will be different in some ways towards how you gain up or down on the scale(s), each character will also be able to have 3 extra traits, as well as up to 3 racial traits on top of that, this includes both negative and positive traits.


- Aside from heros, there will also be your people, which you will be able to give orders to or use in helping heros, and the like (still unsure of how this will work, but in the long run, i want to include both dynamic (Heros) and static (Your followers/people) resource and mission completion.


- The game will revolve around turns, each day will have different segments (pretty standard) IE: early morning, late morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, early evening, late evening, early night, late night > to next day, with capability to sleep for the rest of the day, no matter the segment you currently are in, and only on the next day will most actions be accomplished (or in terms of longer going missions it may take more days to complete)


- Light Horror/Supernatural Backing

Spoiler: HELP WANTED! click the spoiler for more information

I am looking for help in a few areas.


- Writers+Ideas

- Editors (Fixing my bad grammar, and sloppy writing can be a job in its own, if im the one thats going to be writing most of the content)

- Artists (Not a big thing yet)


If you feel like you can help with writing in general this would be very welcome, as i will be heavily busy with working on the games backbone and inner workings.


This project is also low key, meaning it shouldnt take up much of your time, yet at least, as i go at my own pace, and i expect the same from others, so as to not burn out or harm anyones real life needs.

Any feedback is welcome, as long as it pretains to the game, and isnt something like "Oh, no art? i dont care about this game, give me art or i wont play" <---- Im not a artist, and i dont care for feedback that doesnt help the game progress forward.


Not intrested in writing, or joining the dev team, but still want to give some input from time to time, or be able to ask in real time the various questions you are wondering, or even to just talk in general about the game?

Please feel free to join the discord: https://discord.gg/hF58rfM

 

[Noli Timere]

-Reserved-

Some basic Race template concept

Spoiler

---
Human
-----------------

Description: The former "owners" of the world, now streched out across the land in small groups, they are known for there ability to adapt.

---
Racial Traits
-------------

- Jack of All: Gains more xp from all activities

- Humanity: Evil Spirits are angered and fearful of humans (Spirits are more aggressive during missions involving them, but also weakened)

---
Stat Starting Traits
-------------

Strength: Average
Dexterity: Average
Intelligence: Average
Constitution: Average
Charisma: Average


---
Goblin
-----------------

Description: Some demented creature born from a childs mind, a single goblin is nothing to be worried about as there small stature and weak muscles make them hardly a threat, but a group or a horde, can easily overwhelm there prey, they are known for there group mentality, and there addictive fluids

---
Racial Traits
-------------

- Addictive Semen (Male/futa only): the males of the species have addictive semen, and can cause people who are addicted to do anything to get there hands on more of it to consume.

- Group Mentality: Goblins in a group gain a bonus to mission success, but when solo gain a negative to mission success

---
Stat Starting Traits
-------------

Strength: Weak
Dexterity: Fast
Intelligence: Average
Constitution: Frail
Charisma: Ugly


---
Orc
-----------------

Description: A large dominating being that holds similarities from those in fantasy games from before the collapse, coining there name Orc, these beings are known for there ability to dominate there prey, and can easily become a problem if not put in its place.

---
Racial Traits
-------------

- Dominating Presence: Orcs have a dominating presence which can make others around them feel less dominant when in contact with the orc in question (a orc character who talks or does stuff with another character may cause that character to gain negative dominance xp)

---
Stat Starting Traits
-------------

Strength: Strong
Dexterity: Average
Intelligence: Slow
Constitution: Sturdy
Charisma: Average

Updated the basic race concepts with some basic descriptions

 

[HeroicSpirit]

Would it be okay if I provided some ideas? I'm no programmer, but I am willing to do a little writing.

Also, I have an art thread, if you want to see my drawings: while I doubt they're what you're looking for, if you are interested let me know.

 

[Noli Timere]

Yep, any help is appreciated, as this project, is still ambitious even if the premise seems rather small currently, and art is always welcome, I shall send you a discord invite in PM, it is just a private discord, ill set up a text channel for this project in a few, voice isnt necessary, but i have no issues using it either.

 

[Noli Timere]

alright so just so people have some idea of how the game will look (still text no images) but i want to stress this it is super, SUPER early, and this is just the basics of the look, as ive been working on getting a prototype working and ready

Spoiler

 

[Noli Timere]

Alright, so some development on art has occured and I might have gotten a old friend onboard with this project, as such I am going to be moving the project over to Twine given im still on the skeleton this may take some time but not that much, still havent touched twine in a long time, so will have to relearn some stuff, but if my artist friend is fully on board, it should give some character to the game, as well as increase the ambiance in general, depending on how we detail the skeleton and content there after

So not saying there will be any visuals for a bit as he's going to be running through some graphical ideas, and we will also be working through the games pieces very linearly, IE: first we will be working through art that will be used on the Introduction of the game, then we will be working on the character creator, then the basic turn systems art, and so on and so on.

But it will hopfully work out, if not, well its same old, but ill keep continuing on Twine and as a side to this situation i will also be setting it up in a way that i can add art if another artist or he decides to return to it, anyways just a quick update.

 

[Noli Timere]

A update, the basic graphical stuff has been setup for the beginning of the game IE Intro, and some incorporation for a basic Hud (I threw away most of the Twine Sugarcube hud).

Examples of the basic placeholder stuff

Spoiler

Just a few notes to make about the above screenshots, we have not decided on a colour scheme yet, nor have we decided on a art direction yet, so everything above should just be seen as development shots of the skeleton, and not of a finished or direction we are taking in terms of the art or colour scheme involved, this is just so we can see how it might look with everything working together, also this is my test bed for learning CSS and javascript and the like.

I am also still transfering/remaking what i had previously in QSP, as a good chunk of my time was put into learning what i needed to create my own GUI, and externalize it so i can easily edit everything at once for each location later on down the road once we decide on a scheme and direction to take the art.

On a side note involving Updates, as this project is something we are doing as a side project, updates may happen alot or not at all for certain portions of time, I just want to make sure people realize this before they get there hopes up, or start expecting updates, I have already stated this above, but again this is just a reminder.

Also another shout out to any writers, having your assistance now, will speed up alot of the start up time it will take for me to write up starting content by myself, more the merrier.

 

[Noli Timere]

Quick update, pretty much back to where i was in QSP so ill be able to continue on newer parts of the skeleton.

 

[DawnCry]

Let's see... I was reading around the game idea and everything else to see what is it about, overall it seems interesting albeit I would add a few recommendations:

Overall I would recommend that while you don't have trait perse, perhaps having something like "experiences" may be useful to generate interesting interactions with other characters.

For example if a character has been captured by a band of goblins and raped, the character would have a special experience such as "goblin slave", which will make the character more obedient with goblin and fearful of them, making it easier to surrender without a fight, even more there would be more general experiences such as "gangbang", "pregnancy", "cum addiction", "slave".

The experiences system could serve for characters to have special interactions, for example a girl that was raped long enough by a goblin band may gain a title such as "goblin broodmother" and she will want to always have sex with goblins and be impregnated by them, if there aren't enough goblins to have her satisfied she will surrender herself to a goblin band to be raped as much as possible.

Another thing that could be added are interactions between our character and others and how the relationship evolves, for example if we are developing a relationship with a futanari orc (or perhaps she is trying to develop it with you), you will have to be careful about not being too submissive, because if not she may end up using you as her cumdump and perhaps even make a harem for herself.

Lastly... I would recommend unique heroes that have special interactions, objectives and story, it isn't bad to have all characters as generic but... for more complex things it's better to have unique characters.

 

[Noli Timere]

Q & A

Traits exist, there just not as numerous in amount gain-able like in No Haven, instead having a total of 5 Stat Traits, 2 Presence Traits, 3 Free Traits, 3 Racial Traits and possibility of 3 more unlockable (this would be a later on thing as i only have added 2 free traits and 6 or so racial traits spread out between the only 3 current races).

Experience is in there, each stat and presence trait has xp to gain or lose titles in those areas.

As for a actual titles system, that could exist eventually, as sort of a achievements setup for various stuff that happens alot or rare events that you win/lose.

Character to Character interactions are planned, and relationships willl eventually be worked on once the game skeleton is in a good place that content can be added.

Unique characters are already set in place, having a total of 10 heroes max that are unique to your playthrough and if any are lost or gotten rid of you will be able to recruit more from your population, or finding them during missions.

Only characters that cant directly be interacted with is your population, as they are looked at as groupings of people of different races and you interact with them as a whole, or possibly later on as different racial groups.
---------------------------------------


Hope that helps

 

[Noli Timere]

Slowly we are getting the art placeholders and so on going for the character viewer, again the below images in the screenshot are placeholders atm, and may end up being redone later on.

Spoiler

Edit: redid the font stylizing so it fits the screen better...

 

[karunama]

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm a freelance editor, and I am for hire if you're still looking for one. If that works out and we both agree, I could also see myself doing some writing on the side as well.

 

[Noli Timere]

Sent a Private Message.

 

[Noli Timere]

Finishing up the starting stuffs basic art assets as we speak with the lead artist, and once thats out of the way we should be progressing into concepting the starting area and its various bits and pieces needed for some semblance of game play

 

[Noli Timere]

Mini Update:

Alright essentially all the beginning sections of the game are finished up with art, and im moving onto more gameplay concepting/programming, more art is being worked on as well for more dynamic introduction.

Art style has been settled on for Anime oriented, it works best for the lead artist.

Colour scheme is still in question but as i want to continue on with the actual game programming that will have to wait for a bit.

This next bit may take quite some time before any really major updates will happen, but having finished beautifying the beginning content the current art needs are out of the way and my time can be spent on programming the meatier parts of the skeleton.

 

[Preacher]

Dig anime art and I'm pretty sure most of the community do too.

If you have to settle on a UI color scheme(I dig the monotone dark personally, easier on the eyes) then perhaps a parchment or a stone tablet look would be nice.

Was kinda bummed to hear there might not be any combat to be honest. Since it's a management type game then person to person combat wasn't expected but group combat like guards being sent out on a patrol and finding burglers or rescueing someone in the wild from beasts I had a bit of hope for. Even if there will not be any combat I and probably many others would still play.

 

[Noli Timere]

Q & A

Combat isnt off the table, it just wont be in the game at the start.

The hero system will more then likely have auto complete combat, but im limited by the engine i use, a combat system can be made and heroes could participate, but the coding for it would be extremly messy, so i would rather deal with this at a MUCH later date, im trying to keep the skeleton clean atm.

 

[Noli Timere]

Race Preview

Spoiler

Images may still be upgraded or replaced, and the character viewer will have dynamic image properties (it will pick a random lore image each time the page is visited)

anyways that is the current list of races, more will be added over time.

 

[Noli Timere]

mini update

Been working on getting the players work desk built, which is basicly the heart of the players control over there settlement, basicly where they set what should be built or researched as well as plan every days work schedule, saddly as it sits right now work schedules for the start will need to be planned per day, there wont be a save settings option for a bit, more so cause i want to get all the basic stuff done in the skeleton, but later on i will see about getting something setup for a more automated approach.

This bit is quite large, but once its done will allow for basic simulation of the front end of the settlement, there will still need to be quite a bit of extra parts added on various other modules, but it will be the first big step towards a playable update (although this will be one of the first, meaning there is still quite alot of work to be done before a alpha version of the game is available)

Will post a final update when i get around to finishing this part.

 

[Noli Timere]

mini update

Players work desk is nearing completion with the basics, Research, Construction, Work Planner are finished for the most part minus having limited content atm, but there is still Laws and Racial Control, which im undecided of how i will proceed with, either i will be combining both into laws, or have racial control still on the side.

 

[Noli Timere]

Automation has been added into the work planner, but it comes at a cost of having a loading screen when theres alot of workers to be moved around, sorry.

 

[Jash]

Please learn the difference between "there" ("in that place"), "their" ("belonging to them") and "they're" ("they are"). If you're making a text-based game, a solid grasp of English is pretty important.

 

[Noli Timere]

The problem with this kind of reply on a text based games thread is that editing of said content can happen easily, and not everyone is going to have a masters degree in english, or even have it as there main language, please refrain from spelling nazi behavior, if theres spelling/grammar issues they will be adressed eventually.

 

[karunama]

An editor (namely myself) has been added to the team, so don't expect those sorts of errors to be commonplace in the final product.

 

[Noli Timere]

Mini update

Desk is nearing completion, i ended up having to redo a large backend code base to allow for gender within the population, as gender laws would have been completly flavour only, and more so useless.

But now the populace gains will now calculate how many of said genders join as well as what race they are, this algorythm is super lite weight so it doesnt affect the loading screen at end of day much, however the worker calc's still do take quite a bit of time, its roughly around 10 seconds if theres a decent chunk, and gets larger as more are added, as it sits right now with current constructables you can get a max of 500 (this is current ammount and may be increased for each structure, later) which is a rather long wait, so ill attempt to streamline the math and method involved if i can, however the current method works and i rather refactor it later on after ive finished the desk milestone unless it becomes extremly necessary.

This being said the game is still miles away from being playable, however this is one of the bigger steps.

A somewhat major and unsure addition to the work load for after the desk is the character paper doll, as our artist seems intent on drawing up tons of art involved with it, so that is probly going to be the next step, and may take quite some time as i am very novice with CSS, but will try my best to get it finished as quickly as able, however i wouldnt hold your breath any time soon, once the Desk is finished ill upload some screens of the basic look and what to expect, will be rather boring as it has no art assets yet, and wont be in our major work till after the game is playable, but it will give a general idea to people intrested in the gameplay aspect and what will be currently available for controlling within your settlement.

 

[Noli Timere]

Desk should be done in the next day or 2 as i am finishing up on the final basic laws.


Next step will be paper doll as our artist has finished some template stuff for me to play around with and get something working, this next step could be quick or excruiatingly long depending on how easy i find it, we will see.

 

[Noli Timere]

Alright the default setup for the desk and its functionality (For the most part) is finished, below will be a explanation so unless your really intrested in the gameplay aspects of this mile stone, you can ignore this post, other then the fact that i will be moving onto the paper doll programming

Spoiler

Alright, the desk begins with the main panel (the art is not done and i still have to take another pass through it to organize and fix certain spacing issues with the template).

Each day depending on the size of your population, you will get a certain ammount of workers that you can assign.

Depending on what buildings you have constructed you will be able to add and remove workers at your leisure.

These workers will auto evaluate at the end of each day to determine who has stayed on to work depending on if some workers no longer want to work, so there will be some hands on work from time to time, however if you dont care about it on that day, any worker unassigned will try to find scraps around the settlement or in the nearby areas.

As you start the game however you wont start with any buildings, to help you or your settlement, so you will need to research,

And Construct,

By default i added some QoL bits and pieces, IE: being able to mouse over and see what is missing on things that are not available or that are ready to be done.

As you can see above the stuff to research and build is very limited atm, but this will increase after the game skeleton has been finished, or if needed to work out certain aspects added to the skeleton through development.

Last but not least, you will be able to control your various races and aspects of your settlement through the Laws section of your desk as you can see below.

The list of laws is not complete, and will grow just like the research and construction lists, and the look of the desk will more then likely also change, and this should be viewed as the look of what was needed to make sure all the components were working.

For anyone who was intrested enough in looking through this, feel free to ask questions, but please make sure the questions revolve around the game/gameplay, hope this helps clear up most of the questions however.

 

[Noli Timere]

Alright well the paper doll bit took me alot less time then i thought it would, and here is the result

Spoiler

Theres still some work to be done, but the basics are finished, cant say there wont be any issues later on with it depending on if our artist does the additional art another way, and im unsure of how we will be adding clothing into the game, and how extensive that will get later on, but for the time being the start is there.

The character creator will need some sprucing up and more assets will be needed to be made, as well as probly some refactoring, however i have made the paperdoll template somewhat dynamic so adding content is as easy as adding the art assets to the image database which is loaded on first viewing the page and changing a integer, adding new races however later on will be long term additions, as there are MANY things to add per race, which is why i started off with 3 starting races only (granted adding many would have been easier at the start, however adding content for all those races would make the alpha version which people will be able to play a MUCH longer process, and with 3 we can at least be sure that a decent chunk of content can be produced for the current 3 before leaving the alpha)

As for the alpha, im not going to say that it will come soon, as theres so much work left to do, that a deadline would be impossible to set, but once there is actual gameplay a alpha will be released (and when i say gameplay, i mean gameplay, not adult content, however there probly will be some as once i get around to adding in the sex systems and other bits and pieces that would have it, there will need to be testing content for these), however the alpha will be a look for the people watching the game, at the gameplay in majority, and content to fill the game world will begin, as once this alpha is out im hoping that majority of the skeleton work will be done, and actual flavour and meat can begin to be added to the bones.

Towards whats next on the list of things to do, ill be working on building the settlements locations, which will include player actions for things like harvesting resources for those points when you have no population, as well as adding in various bits and pieces still needing to be added (IE: XP systems for things like strength, dexterity, charisma(and Appearance) and so on), will probly be other things, but either way its more so the boring stuff.

Again for any writers that end up browsing around to see this, we are still looking for more, with interest in a side project, currently we have no-one to write lesbian content, and would prefer a actual gay-oriented woman for this specific, to keep it somewhat authentic, but we can do with any really, there are only 2 of us atm, and more is always better.

 

[Noli Timere]

Welp sorta spoke too soon for switching what im working on, the paper doll bit will be seeing more work, as i realized ethnicity will eventually become something people will want in the game IE; Black, Asian, etc, this refers mostly to humans but other races can use this setup to have there own ethnicities as well.


Either way im working on adding a simple color changing setup for all the needed parts, which should cut down on the artists time in making repeats of art and able to work on more variety.

Ill probly put up some screens of the paper doll in different states once i get done most of the stuff, ill probly not make it too realistic in terms of what people can have for color, IE black skin can have more then just brown-black, so people can go as crazy as they may want foregoing genetic lockouts, as well as adding some crazier colorations for hair and so on to suit the neon loving community.

 

[Noli Timere]

Alright, well the coloring method is now working as intended, and i have setup some basic color sets for the paper doll.

Spoiler

Skin Colors (probly need to redo some of the middle ones)

Spoiler

Hair Colors:

Spoiler

The skins will be based on race, the above is just human and i probly wont bother with orc and goblin for a bit, i also have to probly fix the middle variants as i was just doing a quick run through all the starting human colors.

Hair will be available to any race or skin/ethnic color, and i will probly add more later on.

Eyes may get colored later on but may just keep it out of the coloring system as eyes will have various shapes as well but we will see.

Given how much stuff that can be added to the paper doll and dynamicly coloured to fit the ethnicity and look of the character the paper doll will be a ongoing part of the development, but for the time being i will turn my attention finally to other things that need doing.