Thursday 26 February 2015

Dance and talking

Hello everyone!

The dance scene in 0.2.8 has some actions where either you or your partner say things to each other. With actions like these I like to have a list of possibilities, each with their own conditions.

For example, there might be a line for when he's your boyfriend, a line for when you find him incredibly handsome, and if both of those hold true then either could get chosen.

At the moment these actions have a handful of possible lines each. I think that's okay for a first release, but it's much lower than some other scenes - the porn movie scene has something like 50 possible lines for sexual comments.

The actions I want to add more options to are:
- Romantic comment from your partner e.g. "he wishes the two of you could dance together forever."
- Sexual comment from your partner (requires sleazy trait). e.g. "getting his hands on you for a dance reminds him of when you opened your legs for him. "
- Flirtatious compliment from the player e.g. "it's such fun to dance with a handsome man like him. "
- Directly sexual comment from the player e.g. "you hope he's as skilled in bed as he is on the dancefloor. "

If you have an idea for a new line that you want to see added to one of these, then let me know either by posting in the comments or on one of the forums I visit. Obviously comments that at least vaguely reference the fact that you're dancing together are best.

13 comments:

  1. Would it be possible to get a list of possible personality core traits an NPC can have? The ones you unlock when you get to know the person really well? "At heart he's..."

    For instance,
    -Romantic
    -Asshole
    -Selfish
    etc.

    I've noticed that these correspond with the description of the eyes of the NPCs when you choose to pleasure them with your mouth early in your relationship. Selfish = cold, asshole = cruel, etc.

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    1. There's just five core personalities: jerk, selfish, average, romantic, caring. Traits have a big effect on how the npcs act though.

      Also, rather than directly checking personality quite a lot of code uses an npc version of the behaviour system, and that includes picking an adjective for the eyes. There are 5 npc behaviours very loosely matching the personalities - mean,cold,neutral/polite,nice,romantic. Personality has a big effect on how a man behaves but relationship levels, traits and a few other things are all taken into account too. Most personalities are capable of exhibiting most behaviours under various circumstances.
      I also have some plans for further changes there in the future - for example jerks hiding their true nature until they've got what they want from you.

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    2. Perhaps eye descriptions or other subtle hints that could indicate an npcs true nature could be made more readily available to perceptive PCs?

      Anyway, thanks for posting this. I will try to think up some dialogue. ^^

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    3. The next scene to come out has a few extra bits based on perceptive, but I want to keep at least some information for characters without the trait. I'll keep it in mind for future additions though.

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  2. It seems like an innocent request until you realize what the endgame is. Splendid Ostrich, Inc. has realized that it can shop out hard work to unpaid volunteers while growing fat on our patreon dollars. I for one will not be fooled.

    Couple questions about the dialogue:

    Do the lines have to be scene neutral? Can you have lines for dance class and different lines for competition or future scenes that might include dancing?

    What's the limit on how traits/body types can inform which lines are used, on both the player and the guy side?

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    1. The dance scene knows if you're in public or not so you can have special lines for when you're dancing in your flat on a date - that'll be possible with the next release. It doesn't separate competition vs dance class though - they both count as public.

      There's not really any limit on how conditions are handled. I just write them in as if statements, so they can make pretty much any check that the scene has access to. It's definitely possible to check any aspect of the player/npc's traits or their relationship, and these can be combined in any way. The player's behaviour towards her partner isn't tracked in the dance scene though, so no checks on that.
      For example, you could have a line for when the player has the posh trait, is wearing elegant clothing, is the guy's girlfriend and he has the likes_elegant trait.

      I don't want to include conditions based on race/skin/hair or eye colour though. These are just Strings and the ability to add custom values mean they could be pretty much anything, so it doesn't make sense to have checks on them. It's okay to include them in the line though e.g. "he tells you that he loves your beautiful neon-green hair"

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    2. Possibly of relevance to the sexual lines - although in public both parties will always be dressed, that isn't the case for dancing in private. Not only could either of you be in any state of undress, but there are a few actions where the guy can partially undress you while dancing if you wear certain types of top.

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  3. -Currently PC with Romantic trait can make even the meanest NPCs fall in love with her. Would be nice if there was a possibility for being chastised for being too clingy/needy.

    -Dancing in competition with jerk or selfish men and not getting first place will make them blame you for the loss and get angry at you. (Relationship points will be deducted)
    *PC can either apologize, (get some points back)
    *Or tell them to screw themselves (lose even more points, gain stress)

    -Caring men can console upset ambitious PC if they don’t win competition
    *PC can either be consoled (Relationship boost + Stress relief)
    *Tell them not to worry about it/Forget it (Ambitious PC gains stress)

    -A very aroused selfish/jerk NPC could have a small chance of ripping your clothes while undressing you in private, causing PC to either be aroused or upset and removing the item permanently.

    -----------------------------------

    Romantic comment from partner:
    -I have never danced with someone as graceful as you.
    -Your movements are like poetry, your touch like ambrosia.
    -Dancing is meaningless if I can’t dance with you.
    -Without you in my arms I feel like half a person.
    -Watching you dance makes me realise what perfection looks like.

    Sexual comment from partner:
    -I wish I could tear your clothes off and take you right now on the dancefloor.
    -In case you were wondering, that’s not a banana in my pocket.
    -I wonder if your cunt is as tight as your dance moves.
    -I wonder if you’re good at giving lap dances too.
    -(Some pun related to balls and ballerina. No? Okay. ._.)

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    1. I like your suggestions, except that while it could be interesting, I would HATE to lose clothes to random chance like that. Maybe have the clothes be damaged, and you have a choice of paying to repair/replace them or throwing them out? The broad range of clothes and small choice selection when you shop would make it really difficult to replace a particular item of clothing just by standard shopping, and limited cash means I generally wind up with a very small wardrobe I of clothes I really like.

      -I have never danced with someone as graceful as you.
      Awww.
      -Your movements are like poetry, your touch like ambrosia.
      Liitle cheesy, but awww.
      -Watching you dance makes me realise what perfection looks like.
      Really cheesy, but still awww.

      -I wish I could tear your clothes off and take you right now on the dancefloor.
      As someone who enjoys exhibitionism, this line is great.
      -In case you were wondering, that’s not a banana in my pocket.
      I giggled, and I can't imagine any PC not giggling.
      -I wonder if your cunt is as tight as your dance moves.
      As someone who also enjoys degradation, this line is also great.
      -I wonder if you’re good at giving lap dances too.
      Little tame.
      -(Some pun related to balls and ballerina. No? Okay. ._.)
      You'd make a good ballerina; you just have to suck my balls? :P8

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    2. "Your movements are like poetry, your touch like ambrosia."

      That line makes me think of Xzar from Baldur's Gate:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZrfyOESMFMY#t=70

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    3. Thanks for your ideas :) I'll definitely put some of them in the game. By the way, I have one almost exactly the same as "I have never danced with someone as graceful as you.", except I use "delightful" instead of "graceful" - great minds and all that :D

      You can get relationship hits for being romantic when the guy isn't ready in a few places, although I'm not sure what actually gets checked there without poking around in the code. There isn't really a standard "being clingy" check so it'll probably be based on whatever I was thinking when I wrote each individual scene.

      Getting in a fight you did badly in the competition is in the game, but I think it's limited to when you finish last. I think that being comforted by nice guys is in there too. By the way, don't forget to try the solo competition, especially if you're evil - there's a whole lot of unethical things you can do when you don't have a dance partner to prepare with.

      I've got some thoughts on the line of adding difficulty to undressing the player, so that some clothes won't be easy to remove unless you're actively helping him. Clothing destruction definitely won't go in though - there's too many potential gameplay issues. In particular, putting the player in a situation where they can't make a casual or work outfit would just straight-up break the game.

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  4. I wrote a bunch of dance dialogue and posted it as a text file in the hongfire Newlife thread. I also wrote a bunch of unsolicited foreplay scene dialogue if that's of any use.

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    1. Thanks :) I've got the text files, and I'm just going over the additions to the scene now.

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