What are you looking for in a ryona game? (1 Viewer)

[Unrelated]

So I'm starting to do some sprite work for a platform/beat-em-up/something game, and I'm looking for some basic input before I really get started. Why? Because it's my 200th post, and it's time I got back to work.

Here is a rough preliminary version of the main character, at 200, 150, and 100px tall. Which size would you prefer in a 1024x768 window? Obviously the smaller ones are just lazy resizes, and I'd be drawing all the frames directly at the size that works best.
Myself, I like the 200px for the detail allowed, but I'm worried about how much can fit on the screen at that scale. The 100px would allow for smoother gameplay since a lot less scrolling would be required, but it doesn't allow much detail. The middle one obviously falls somewhere between. For comparison, Alucard's sprite in SotN was 50px tall on a 320x240 screen.

It'll be a generic fantasy theme, so are there particular 'scenes' you would like to see possible within the game? Perhaps a particular monster using a certain attack? I'd like it to be able to stand as a decent non-fetish game as well, so I'm going to try to stay away from rape elements.

 

[Someone92]

Maybe you could use one of the smaller ones for general gameplay, and one of the bigger ones for spectacular scenes, like a throw, death scene or something like that.
If it has to be one or the other I choose the biggest one as it allows the most details.

Wishes:
- In case it doesn't shifts the game too far away from being a decent non-fetish game a succubus with a kiss/drain attack would be cool.
- Some humanoid enemies who need to be finished off using a submission hold, like a Camel Clutch, Surfboard or plain choking from behind, otherwise the enemy regenerates after a while, stands up and attacks you again.
- Female opponents who can use some submission holds against the main character if she gets too close, maybe even more than one simultaneously.

 

[noice1]

I agree that 200 is a little large. 150 or slightly larger would be perfect.

As for scenes, and avoiding rape, I'd go with magic. Energy drains, bindings (vines, magic, dark matter, etc.), shock, poison (remember poison is from touching something, venom would be an injection). Also, try to do traps. Pitfalls, cages, entombment, and the like.

There is another suggestion, but I won't say it since I can feel it coming from a certain resident. :) --Edit: And I was ninja'd, and Someone got it. Succubi or any alluring demon is almost a must-have.

 

[bryanthunder]

It'll be a generic fantasy theme, so are there particular 'scenes' you would like to see possible within the game? Perhaps a particular monster using a certain attack? I'd like it to be able to stand as a decent non-fetish game as well, so I'm going to try to stay away from rape elements.

A "normal" game, but you'd like some ryona-ish input huh? That sounds like a better idea than just a fetish fuel game.

Personally; I'd say if you have monsters such as snakes, frogs, worms, dragons, or anything large and with a mouth; vore shouldn't be too terribly out of the question.
You could easily have an attack involve swallow the gal, have her struggle inside the beast before getting spit out... unless she runs out of health. (I think the Green Blobs in BlankBlood did something like that.) Worms and frogs seem to work well in that aspect.
Or if say you have a worm/snake with several sharp teeth, that could bite and chew on her as she struggles to kick away from it, and if she dies; she goes limp and it eats her, chewing on her as she goes down.

I'm not sure what else to suggest; I think I'd prefer to hear what you want to add in before I do much more brainstorming.

 

[Unrelated]

Great input so far.

As far as gameplay, what do you prefer for escaping a grab/trap/etc? Rapid button mashing, just holding a button, or even just the character escaping on their own? Or maybe something that I haven't thought of.
I know for me, I don't like spending a lot of time and key presses trying to get out of stuff if I'm trying to actually advance in the game, as it gets a bit repetitive and tedious.

 

[NNin]

As far as gameplay, what do you prefer for escaping a grab/trap/etc? Rapid button mashing, just holding a button, or even just the character escaping on their own? Or maybe something that I haven't thought of.

I prefer button mashing. And you could make escaping harder if the character's health is low, for more challenge.

 

[Gannes1414]

Great input so far.

As far as gameplay, what do you prefer for escaping a grab/trap/etc? Rapid button mashing, just holding a button, or even just the character escaping on their own? Or maybe something that I haven't thought of.
I know for me, I don't like spending a lot of time and key presses trying to get out of stuff if I'm trying to actually advance in the game, as it gets a bit repetitive and tedious.

I feel the same way. I was actually playing Nanocrisis recently and it got annoying having to press buttons all the time because whenever you got out of one hold, a monster would grab you in another, and you'd just have to keep pressing buttons rather than playing the game. Holding a button or having it be automatic would be nice ~_~

 

[noice1]

I like escape to be simple and prefer it not to be button mashing, but if you do the latter, make it arrow keys. Also please don't use space bar for any control.

For a non-button mashing idea, use bouncing bars that have you stop within a selection area, progressively getting smaller as your health drops below certain points.

[------------|====|---------] higher health

[----[=]----------------------] lower health

This is not only easier to live with but adds some challenge unlike mashing keys.

 

[Unrelated]

Ooh, that's a really cool idea. The character could take damage each time the bar bounces, or when stopped incorrectly. Or maybe an incorrect stop leads to another hold, or simply being struck for a large amount of damage and being knocked out of the hold, depending on what it is.

But no space bar for ANYTHING? Not even jumping? Oddly specific.

Also, don't get me wrong on the fetish vs non-fetish business- You guys are my target audience here, it's just very easy to make a BAD game when you focus too much on the fetish and not enough on gameplay.

 

[bryanthunder]

I prefer button mashing. And you could make escaping harder if the character's health is low, for more challenge.

Again, I believe Blank Blood did this, and when your health got below half it felt damn near impossible to escape from even minor enemies grapples.
I personally don't think button mashing is the right idea; at least not wild mashing.

I like escape to be simple and prefer it not to be button mashing, but if you do the latter, make it arrow keys. Also please don't use space bar for any control.

For a non-button mashing idea, use bouncing bars that have you stop within a selection area, progressively getting smaller as your health drops below certain points.

[------------|====|---------] higher health

[----[=]----------------------] lower health

This is not only easier to live with but adds some challenge unlike mashing keys.

At face value, I wouldn't say this idea is bad; but during game play the addition of a timing mini-game doesn't seem like a particularly good idea. Especially considering the normal reaction to being grabbed is to mash the buttons, or one might hit a key on accident just as they get grabbed resulting in a large amount of damage.

Personally I prefer a single button QTE; basically, when grabbed after a second or two, a button appears above the character; pressing this button the character escapes the hold. This button randomizes each time the player is grabbed, randomized amongst the buttons/keys used in the game save for a pause button.
Should the player hit the wrong key the character takes more damage (maybe 1.5, or more depending on the difficulty/monster) but still escapes, or is say; spit out... in some RARE cases (considering it's only one button) you could have failure result in instant death. Furthermore, the longer the player doesn't hit a key the more the character takes damage (they are still in the hold after all.)

I dunno, that just makes a bit more sense; it's like the character is searching for a weak point in something to get herself out of the hold.

 

[Unrelated]

Hmm, a good point on the bars.

Your idea would definitely be a good balance between some of these options.

 

[Someone92]

As far as gameplay, what do you prefer for escaping a grab/trap/etc? Rapid button mashing, just holding a button, or even just the character escaping on their own? Or maybe something that I haven't thought of.

I prefer one of the following options:
- The character escapes on her own. That makes it the most relaxing to watch, but has the disadvantage that it might be too short for people who like that move, or that it takes to long if you actually trying to play the game and get accidently into the hold.
- The similar approach to Fairy Fighting: You're endlessly trapped in the hold, and to get out you just need to hold down Left and Right. This has the advantage that the player has full control over the duration of the hold, but it takes no "skills" to get out of the hold.
- The approach Toffi took in FW2: You have to press a randomly chosen button, and after you correctly pressed a certain number of buttons you get out of the hold. But unlike Toffi's approach a wrong input leads to additional damage to discourage button smashing. Has also the advantage that the player has full control over the duration of the hold, but getting out of it takes more work.
- noice1's suggestion with the bars: Hitting the button at the right time would (nearly) completely negates the damage, don't hitting the button at all leads to full damage, and maybe hitting the button at the wrong time leads to critical damage. For an example already implemented into another game you can take a look at Alien Swarm: If you reload you get a bar like noice1 has described, if you don't hit the button for reload again you reload your weapon in normal time, if you hit the button at the right time you reload twice as fast, and if you hit the button at the wrong time you need twice as long to reload.

Also the input phase to get out of the hold should not be immediately after the character got in the hold but one or two seconds later; otherwise the first input is most certainly wrong, e.g. because the player tried to jump away.

I also hinted it in my first post, but I guess it wouldn't hurt if I word it out a little clearer. I love double-edged games, and by that I mean that not only the enemies can put the main character into painful situations, but the main character can reverse the fun and put her (appropriate, e.g. humanoid) enemies into painful situations. For me ryona is way hotter when I know that it could easily happen the other way around.

 

[Black Lion]

Please, please, PLEASE don't use button mashing. I feel putting it in any game is kinda lazy, and it's just really annoying in erotic games. I would say whatever system makes it fairly easy to escape (so we can enjoy it as much as we want), but not something too easy (because it's a game too, right?).

Since I haven't posted yet, the one thing that I would love for you to do is to make the main character have some animations of weakness. So, if she was low on health, she would stand differently, in a way that would make her seem tired and weak. This could also happen if she was poisoned. The way it's done in Unholy Sanctuary would be just fine. Maybe you could even have it so that she walks differently too, but that might be asking for too much...

 

[NNin]

Personally I prefer a single button QTE...

After reading this, I think this is better than button mashing.
Maybe you need to success more than 1 QTE to escape from strong enemy's hold or when you're weakening.

 

[Ryooo123456]

hold a certain button to escape

when on the ground and being grabbed or put in a move - hold up/ left / right
when grabbed while standing press away from the opponent. or attack.
for other grabs hold (a/b/c) or what ever the buttons are

i like holding to get out. it gives you the chance to freely get hurt or escape. and it works the same way as mashing but without the mashing.
use the life bar method explained above . when life is low the bar takes longer to escape. or damn near impossible.

as for game overs. i would much like impalement or even a little vore. lol that maybe too far for what you are doing but it's just a suggestion.

as for sprite size, i don't know if you chose already, but 150 is ideal. 200 is too big and 100 is too small.

ALSO when you are done with your character sprites, i would like to see them, i think it would be cool to have maybe an alternate character.
a clone of yours with moves and stuff but looks different.

i CAN draw sprites. i drew a bunch for MUGEN a while back. i have been wanting to draw recently too :)

 

[Unrelated]

Well, I am incredibly lazy- particularly without a tablet, I've been "tracing" over other sprites for poses and proportions. When it comes to monsters where I don't have to worry about it as much then I'll start freehand drawing with the mouse.

 

[noice1]

At face value, I wouldn't say this idea is bad; but during game play the addition of a timing mini-game doesn't seem like a particularly good idea. Especially considering the normal reaction to being grabbed is to mash the buttons, or one might hit a key on accident just as they get grabbed resulting in a large amount of damage.

Personally I prefer a single button QTE;

My first idea was a QTE, but I don't know the capabilities of GameMaker. I'm not opposed to any of the other ideas mentioned, if it means no key-bashing. QTE, bar/meter or just health alone determining escape are all fine with me.

As far as Space Bar, Unrelated, it's just a very noisy key. I don't mind it so much if it's used for jumping, I guess, but some games make it the action key.

 

[Unrelated]

It is not a question of GameMaker's capabilities, but how long it takes for me to figure out how to do it, and using appropriate variables to make sure everything works the way it's supposed to-- No moving through walls, being grabbed through walls, moving while grabbed, falling through floors, etc...
I'm sure I'll run into all kinds of hilarious bugs as I put this together. Right now I'm just working on basic movement, so it's just "oops, the character didn't stop moving when I let go of the button" kinds of stuff.

 

[bryanthunder]

My first idea was a QTE, but I don't know the capabilities of GameMaker. I'm not opposed to any of the other ideas mentioned, if it means no key-bashing. QTE, bar/meter or just health alone determining escape are all fine with me.

As far as Space Bar, Unrelated, it's just a very noisy key. I don't mind it so much if it's used for jumping, I guess, but some games make it the action key.

When I read this I felt as if my previous posts were taken as attacks on you or your idea... which is certainly not what I wanted to do. I just wanted to point out that it might not work.
The bar idea isn't bad, it's just side-scrollers tend to be more action focused, pausing to account for the slider bar just seems like it'd slow up the action a bit.

Now that I think about it; a sliding bar might work for some scenes... I'm thinking of two characters who lock swords here, the bar appears and when you hit the right spot you parry the enemy and cut into him. Fail and the reverse happens.

I am one who likes to see several ideas, and try to get the best of everything. I look for the middle ground, ya know? I feel it's important for a game designer to take suggestions to heart, and try to please as many as they can.
...
Of course this isn't "my" game, but I do enjoy at least listening to ideas, critiquing them, and trying to see what works before attempting to reconvey them to whoever's in charge.
And if you can't tell I have a tendency to ramble.

 

[onlinehero]

my idea: make it as simple/easy for yourself as possible if you're beginner with gamemaker and "trace" as many sprites/animations as possible if you're lazy in drawing sprites. if you can't figure out how to use gamemaker, ask someone else to make the game and just draw the sprites. if you get something finished and you still feel like you want to continue, read what others have written above this post. cheers :)