So I've been playing since Cruel Serenade 1 and finally got around to buying and playing this one, and I have a recommendation.
I got used to the game mechanics fast, they're very clever, and they require thinking through rather than just swinging blindly for optimal performance. The big hyena honcho I unfortunately already forgot the name of (not Khazeem, the other one you work for) didn't realize it'd be best to save all of my Hard Knocks for when he's winding up, but honestly I was able to beat him just fine with what I already had given I'd been playing my resources carefully and only using them when necessary for the big fights up til now. I learned pretty early on that keeping a close eye on which enemies Hard Knocks hits allows you to better take out the stragglers so you can slow down the damage build up on Mezz. And using certain skills for certain times makes it so you basically have to use no items whatsoever, so you can save them for the most crucical parts.
What I'm saying is, this game is very strategic, tactical, and pretty exceptional as far as basic Turn Based RPGs go. There's a lot of depth here just waiting to be unearthed and expanded on, and if you want I can throw some other ideas your way, but my primary suggestion is this.
So people can feel the struggle of resisting the trance, make it into a tiny puzzle minigame. Sort of like a block moving puzzle, or one of those light up panel puzzles where depending on a difficulty it may light up the blocks in an X pattern or + pattern, and if you click them again it closes off the lights in that area, etc. etc. But in this situation, not only make the concept harder for each time you go into trance, but also each time you fail the puzzles. You can have an option to turn those off for someone who isn't into puzzles or just wants a bit more ease, but I feel like this is a fantastic way to not only show Mezz's brain struggling to realign the pieces and get his footing back under him, but also a perfect way to eliminate the RNG so you can have the enemies be a bit more aggressive in trying to trance him, making combat overall far more of a strenuous dance. By eliminating RNG, you can go more balls out and you don't have to concern yourself as much with how difficult it may be for the player to get the purity ending due to odds just not being in their favor.
Part of why I recommend this is because I'm big into hypnosis irl, and I know what makes it tick in every way, and why it's so amazingly blissful, and it's why I enjoy this game because it touches on those elements here and there. And resistance is part of the fun, but so is being able to fight against it, you know?
Possible ideas for making these puzzles, whatever you choose, or maybe even multiple (if you want more puzzle ideas I recommend checking out Fatal Frame 3's Pinwheel, Sleeping Stone, and Pentagram puzzles, they may give you even more ideas), you can either blur the affects, minimize color saturation, cause things to occasionally jumble or get hazy, etc. Visual affects like that.
You can also, for less puzzle-oriented players, allow for options that increase the time frame in which you solve the puzzles. Rather than them being forced to turn them off entirely if they're not good at puzzles. Though that could be an option too.
Wow, this post puts some of mine to shame for thoroughness. Love it! Let me dig in here.
Glad you're enjoying the non-sex battle mechanics so far. IMHO they're still fairly simple, and that's largely an artifact of me not being an RPG nerd. And also, as I've said elsewhere, I feel difficulty and complexity in a game like this has a sweet spot: it needs to be a LITTLE challenging, so it doesn't become boring, and so you can bring elements of the narrative and characters into it (hyenas do small damage, but they do it fast, they go down quicker but there are more of them, etc). But not overly complex, because that distracts from just enjoying the game. I'm glad what I've got so far is jiving with you.
A few thoughts on the puzzle idea. I'm actually a big fan of "real hypnosis" too, and what's in the games definitely isn't that. But that's a deliberate decision: real trance guidance takes two to five minutes at least, and I don't even want to think about the nightmare that would be trying to squeeze that into RPGMaker's nightmarish text formatting.
Of course that's the extreme end. It's obviously a spectrum, and I do try to push what's in the games beyond just "and then mind control." The fun of this kink is the process, and I do spend a fair amount of time in the proper scenes dwelling on the experience rather than just the bare bones of what's happening.
Here's the thing with battle mechanics though: they've got to keep moving. My original plan for the new GT stuff was even more elaborate. The general idea is that GT is about learning SERVICE rather than SUBMISSION like CS1 was about, and to that end there was this whole elaborate element of turning the battles into whoring sessions. But it DRAAAAGED way too much in practice, and the initial draft was also too...voluntary, which sucked some of the fun out of it. There has to be that loss of control, that floor-dropping-out moment. I was actually concerned that even what ended up in the game might be a bit much for some people, but I think the game moves fast enough that the amount of time you spend with the mechanic isn't TOO bad, isn't enough to make it start to feel annoying or samey.
So that's one of the big reasons I avoided doing anything overly complex. I don't want it to drag, and I don't want the sex mechanics to be overly complicated, any more that I want the normal fight mechanics to be overly complicated. I want the whole thing to flow, for it all to be fairly intuitive for anyone with a reasonable amount of functioning neurons, without needing a tutorial. IMHO if your mechanics need a tutorial, you've failed (at least for the kind of game I'm trying to make). No one wants to read a manual for a sex game. I realize what you're suggesting isn't SUPER complex, but it is still another layer.
Another reason is that any of these mechanics implemented have to fit with the flow of the story and character. Minigames as I'm envisioning them would be a little too abstract, though there might be possibilities if done in a really clever way.
And third, I'm not a super fancy programmer. Most of the stuff in the game is just clicking plugins together like lego bricks (though I DID make something I'm pretty proud of that will hopefully be in the first content pack). So doing anything in battle mechanics beyond the basics gets to be tricky fast.
That said, it is in the back of my mind. I saw an explicit fan-made Undertale fight recently that was...wild. And while I doubt I'll be doing anything that elaborate, it does give some good inspiration. We'll see what develops in the future. To be clear though, fight system for GT is probably in its final form (at least the main one).
I AM an RPG nerd so if you ever want advice feel free. I come for the lewd for these types of games, but I stay for the gameplay. The gameplay is definitely a bit more polished than the previous installment, and it's impressive that you were able to create such a fairly balanced game with little RPG knowledge under your belt.
And I agree entirely on the fact it needs to strike a tight wire balance. :) Anything outside of that is what difficulty sliders are for, but against common believe, making enemies damage sponges and hard hitters doesn't make an RPG more difficult, it's just the illusion of difficulty. An RPG at its core is about tactics, strategy, and having options that you need to use for the most optimal solution to situations you're involved in, compared to action games that require you to know the fundamentals of your dodging and hitting and various skills. Someone familiar with both game designs can easily make genres crossing these, similar to something like Parasite Eve 2.
You have a pretty good idea of what makes an RPG tick already, having enemies with different methods of operation, but that's true of many games. Where it gets really difficult for RPGs is the balancing act as you add more elements, elaborate on pre-existing elements, etc. Keeping it simple, but allowing for depth is where the cool factor comes in. Such as an ability that makes an attack guaranteed hit next time - this may not seem like much, but given there's sometimes an opportunity to miss there are circumstances where planning ahead can come in clutch, it's all just a matter of knowing exactly what situations it'd be used in. After all, it's easy to have moments where you're about to die and RNG just isn't on your side and you lose in traditional RPGs - in harder challenges with Pokemon for instance especially you need to play around crits and misses and have back up plans and prepared for each situation, very rarely letting RNG have its way with you like an unscrupulous dom. :^)
I agree. Though to be fair I also have the ability to fall into trance just from sheer energy space alone, even if I don't go fully deep. But I'm also prone to wanting to relax, even if I try to resist. There are a lot of elements to hypnosis, and it impacts everyone differently. Which, while this is clearly fictional hypnosis in the regard that you can't really just throw someone under who's not wanting to (not without putting them through a whole load of stuff in forcibly relaxing them - drugs, binaural beats, occasionally visuals, certain comforting touches (given there's a type of hypnosis that relies on pressure points) - and even then it sometimes has to be consistent to really ingrain. So don't even worry about trying to squeeze it into text, there are other ways.
Personally, I feel like you do a good job as is with the extrapolation on the process. The gradual brainwashing and trigger-inputting process you get in the darkened room cutscene is pretty peak, and I feel like the nature of the art and various stimulus that cases the art to change is good enough to make the triggers feel real, palpable, etc.
I love doing hypno in roleplay and irl, I may be a bit of a Hypnospace Cadet. :^)
If it helps, while I tried to avoid it as long as possible (the game's pretty easy currently as far as mechanics go for someone like me, so long as I don't act like an idiot) once I finally couldn't stand it anymore and really just wanted Mezz to go under and forced the issue I really enjoyed the choices you had. Even if it doesn't really make a difference mechanically I do genuinely believe you should keep those. We play NSFW games for NSFW, and ultimately this is a consensual experience. We are roleplaying a noncon experience because horny brain is horny brain. So never worry about it too much. I know you gotta strike the balance, but that's also what tags are for, so people know what they're getting into. I felt it was just voluntary/involuntary enough as it was to be hot. And it didn't need to be fully fleshed out. I feel like the sheer breadth of the fact Mezz is clearly a heroboy who is being put under against his will, at least initially, especially due to the dialogues he has with other characters, makes it pretty clear what this game's main fetish is - resistance play + being a cute herosub. Or as some might put it, a Gyro. :^)
Besides, you got time to potentially do so, no need to rush it all. This is only the second chapter, you got time to futz with the mechanics and extrapolate on the basics over time. Especially since programming will get easier the more you practice, to the point you can start implementing those more complicated things. And the more code you have, the more you can start copy/pasting and reusing coding assets but changing bits and pieces.
It was definitely not too much for me. :P
If it helps, I wasn't referring to the sex mechanics themselves, just the entranced part. Because there's the bit where first they flash signs at you or click a clicker, and it's not only RNG whether or not they proc it, but after your Submission is up it's complete RNG whether or not you are able to get up out of trance after dropping. And that's where my suggestion comes in, so you can make the chances of them trying such a thing a bit less rare (I had it happen maybe twice in three times as many battles, and the second I just reeeeeally wanted to... you know), and also makes it so you don't have to rely on RNG alone to get out of trance while in it. But with the difficulty increasing with just small visual affects, you can ultimately make it less likely for someone to get out of it if they keep putting themselves in situations where they get to 100% Submission. Or, you know, don't wear the charm. :^) And if you do this you can also include items like the charm that make it easier to do those puzzles, even outside of the options allowing you to turn that off to return back to the basic coding the way it was originally.
You are right though, no one wants to read a manual for a sex game. It's why all of my dice games, especially my Brain Tamers one, is rather simple all things considered. All dice games and NSFW games should be simple enough to read half a page or two pages (or pick up on what is going on fairly fast, like how elements in a Mega Man game start isolated and separate, but eventually combine in later parts), but complex enough to have depth, with occasionally some extra stuff to use for people who want more of a thing to their thing. :^)
I remember when this game first came out - the first chapter. It was how I found you as an artist originally, through some fanart of Cruel Serenade. I looked into it and you a bit after that, how you'd never programmed before and this was your first real foray into it. All things start somewhere, the fact you have enough passion to have fun with it and feel proud of your accomplishments and milestones (which you absolutely should, no fucking doubt about that, coding and programming is really hard mate), is what really matters at the end of the day. And I'm happy to follow this game no matter where you take it or how you take it.
Always let your inspiration run wild. Even if it ends up not going the direction you wanted it to go, you may still be able to use pieces of what you came up with for something else. :)
Excellent then, glad the mechanics were clicking for you overall.
"but after your Submission is up it's complete RNG whether or not you are able to get up out of trance after dropping...that's where my suggestion comes in"
I should clarify, CS1 and GT have very different mechanics here. CS1 allows for a lot of struggle up front, as it's supposed to be more slow and plodding. I wanted the fights in GT to be fast and snappy, so there's deliberately no way to escape once you go under: you're going along for the ride at that point. Some degree of struggle will probably pop up again at some point though, so we'll see.
What do you mean by dice games? Software, or something more IRL like a D&D session?
And aw, thanks, appreciate it. I have my weird little space where I make my weird little games. They're still pretty humble, and I work to gradually improve as I can, but I'm glad people are enjoying what I've got so far.
Huh really? I thought I was able to break out of trance by chance after like two times trying with the elipses function. Was that weird or am I misremembering?
Actual TTRPG dice systems, but meant more for text than face to face, as writing is more effective for lewds than just saying what you're doing unless you're excellent at phone sex. :^)
Np at all. And humility should always be kept. It's about the passion, not the glory. About the fun and the arousal and the enjoyment of the process, not the ego. At least imo. I am enjoying it alo. :) <3
Np. Hmm... odd. Did you by chance change the old Struggle to ...?
It's neat. Dice are suggestions, not rules in circumstances like those, since it's an organic, constantly growing thing with people rather than something that needs concrete rules.
Np.
Okay! So. Figured out it was the dazed status effect, not the trance itself, I was confusing the two. :P
But also I found something really funny!
Also it was interesting. The scene here and everything after it that I'm showing was both... familiar and also uncomfortable. But also arousing. It was like a very tender scar that hadn't fully healed yet but felt incredibly sensitive to the touch and nice. But it also actively made me more desperate to not play anymore games and actually beat them all up. The recording of Mezz's trance and getting to watch it back is also hot 20 ways from Sunday and something I've wanted to play before. It's just, you know, quite darker here. :^)
The game's incredible in every way, and I too as a fellow heroboy cannot determine whether or not I wanna give in or keep fighting. Because both extremes are tantalizing. There's a lot of realness in it. And that's what makes it arousing. Yet at the same time it's not too real to be unpalatable, just real enough to be uncomfortable and still arousing, and arousing because of that discomfort, while also still being uncomfortable, if that makes sense.
Ahh, that makes sense then.
Ha! For what it's worth, I did wall off a bunch of stuff for that brief moment you have the hyena in your "party," but it's hard to think of everything. Easy enough to fix though.
And thanks! Connection with Mezz was definitely a priority while making the game: that's why there aren't any dumb jokes at awkward moments (plenty of dumb jokes at appropriate moments though :D) or other stuff that takes the player out of it. He's definitely intended as something players can self-insert into, potentially without even realizing it at first, rather than just a character to control.