>I'm Kura, the new coder signed on to re-factor some of the game's original code.
Congratulations! I look forward to seeing what you can do :)
Do you have any particular strategy, priorities, or coding style? Is there anything which prospective modders ought to know about, so that we can avoid conflicts?
>One thought so far:
Main suggestion: would it be possible to setup a semi-public code repository? It's fine if you restrict access so that it's visible only to high-tier Patreon donors (or prolific modders, or whatever).
Right now we have people exchanging code snippets on various forums (for bugfixes, new features, etc). The version information and time-stamping on this stuff is weak; it's tricky for users to determine whether they have the latest version of anything (and if something goes wrong, then it's difficult to figure out whom to blame). It would be cleaner if all of this collaboration could be mediated via difftools, branch merges, and pull requests. If we have bug reports and feature suggestions in the same place as the code (using a service such as Github) then that's even better: all of the relevant information can be linked together.
Even if the repo contains no code, then filing our suggestions and bug reports into a database still gives us a few advantages. It's much easier to identify duplicate ideas and merge them. It's easier to tell whether a particular issue has been addressed, or whether it's still outstanding. It's easier for users to build on each others' suggestions (by appending to an existing ticket). Tickets can also be assigned relationships and priorities, which helps users (and modders) to understand the critical path for development. Silly example: code refactoring → moddable quests → CaliQuest alternate endings → hand-holding scene → 2-handed weapons → dual-wielding → anatomy rework → 4-armed lamia subspecies → 4-handed weapons → quadruple handjob sex action.
I understand that the devteam may be reluctant to expose source code, because it risks splitting the fanbase. I understand that code leaks undermine the "early build" incentive for Patreon donors (which is why Fenoxo removed public visibility for his repo). Nonetheless, I believe that a semi-public repository could provide significant benefits for modders - and the availability of cool mods will help to attract (or retain) more players. Even if you choose to keep the source code private, it might be worthwhile to setup a public Github page as the preferred location for bug reports and suggestions.
Fuzzy-matching for colors is a great idea, but it shouldn't be a line of text in the middle of a forum post. It ought to be a trackable task (or milestone, or whatever) within some kind of project management tool.
>Next up is re-factoring persons and races.
I've been mulling over a mod idea which involves many racial changes. It's currently impractical because it impinges too heavily on unmoddable code (such as the core sex-scene stuff, anatomy, mental traits and preferences, etc).
A few parts of this idea could be implemented today, but the complete implementation would require many weeks of development and testing. Hence, it's the kind of thing which ought to be submitted in the form of several inter-related tickets. I'd be happy to send it in via a Github form, but I'd feel very silly copy-pasting thousands of words into an itch.io forum post. Oops; I did that anyways.
My core concern is that training interactions and sex interactions become familiar and same-y by midgame. The system is initially a bit overwhelming (which is good; the player's confusion mirrors the inexperience and low status of the player character). Ideally, the game would gradually introduce new mechnical challenges as the player's skill increases. Magic and potions do add some extra resource-management workload to the player, but they also simplify/bypass some of the core challenge. Once the player has found an effective midgame strategy, they'll probably be able to ride that strategy to endgame. That's not ideal; it means that the player is performing repetitive actions and losing engagement. Sex ought to be about exploring a partner's body and quirks, deepening a relationship (or changing its nature), wielding power, experimenting with control and submission, providing punishment or reward (or both). But unfortunately many players will find an optimal way (within the game's ruleset) to have sex, and beyond that point it's just a "click buttons → get mana" minigame.
New species of monstergirls are encountered gradually as the player progresses through the game, so they give us an obvious insertion-point for spikes in novelty and challenge. The player performs a familiar action, but they receive an unexpected response. Example: "I saw this weird thing walking on the road, so I knocked her unconscious and brought her to my dungeon. Then I stuck my dick in, but the creature didn't react at all. Am I penetrating the correct orifice? Are we absolutely sure that this creature is female? Does she truly feel nothing, or is she just stubbornly refusing to show pleasure because she hates me? Is she perhaps giving out a contented moan at an ultrasonic frequency? Do I need to provide some kind of pheremone incense so that she'll become interested in sex? Do I need to mutate my dick to match a male of her species? Maybe I should try whipping her to see whether she reacts to pain. Or I could try to read her mind magically." A player with limited resources might refuse the opportunity to capture an unfamiliar species because "I don't know how to deal with harpies; she'll probably just eat my food for a month while learning nothing; if I try to make her work then she'll fly away; if I try to sell an unruly harpy then the reward will be pitiful. I'll just release her into the wild." Named NPCs would become much more important for new players, because their hardcoded traits and stats (devoted, grateful, trusting, hardworking, slutty, etc) would make them predictable and easy to deal with (unlike their randomized kin). The goal isn't to frustrate the player; racial traits shouldn't be purely negative. Let's say that a human with moderate arousal becomes distracted and suffers a malus to combat skills, but maybe an aroused Taurus exhibits territorial aggression (str++ agi--), while an aroused Lamia will randomly use a constriction attack instead of striking with her equipped weapon. The point is that the game could provide small surprises and challenges via exotic species - but if the player feels overwhelmed then they'll always be able to focus on more familiar species (or accumulate more resources and try again).
Currently this doesn't happen, because characters and races are basically just attribute blocks. Orcs are humans with green skin and +4 STR. If the player has successfully trained a human then they'll have no trouble training an orc. The "Uncivilized" trait is especially relevant here, because it tells the player something about the character and the game world but then it reinforces that message via gameplay. An Uncivilized character can't be handled with the familiar midgame strategy. The player is forced to pay attention and consider all of the tools available to them. We need more mechanics like Uncivilized.
Ambitious modders could extend the game's difficulty curve (and deepen the MGE immersion factor) by implementing weird racial quirks relating to obedience, arousal, fertility, sexual preferences, combat effectiveness, job performance, social behavior, racist fear/antagonism between monstergirls, etc. Novice modders could make cosmetic adjustments and minor-variant racial mods (e.g. Halfkin Bear, ). But if we begin implementing these ideas right now then it will quickly become an incompatible mess. We need a development roadmap so that we can avoid duplicating core-game features when writing mods, and so that we can avoid interfering with your own refactoring work. We need effective code-sharing tools so that modders can build on each others' work, correct each others' mistakes, and ensure cross-compatibility among published mods. We also need failsafe mechanisms (in the core code) or coding practices (among modders) so that players will reliably be able to deactivate a mod without corrupting their savegame files.
tl;dr - the itch.io forum isn't ideal for modding. Please setup git repo. Git repo will accommodate this particular conversation better than forum. Monstergirls need to be weirder. Modders can't deliver truly weird monstergirls yet. Git repo allows weird-monstergirl suggestions and ideas to be linked with weird-monstergirl mod code and (where necessary) specific revisions to the core game and also with future bug reports which involve weird-monstergirl gameplay. Please consider doing that.