itch.io

First, you need to create Ink items via Alchemy crafting. If your mansion has the relevant upgrades then the recipes should already be visible. Note that these recipes involve rare resources acquired by adventuring (such as Troll's Blood) as well as a vendor item purchased with gold (Ink Base). If you just want to experiment then you can use the Cheat menu to add Ink items to your inventory.

Applying a tattoo consumes 1 unit of the associated Ink. Fully tattooing a single character will require 8 units, but you'll need to mix-and-match the different Inks (because each tattoo is applicable only to certain body parts).

To apply a tattoo, open the Gear menu. There's a special "needle" button in the lower-right corner. The button is always visible (even when you have 0 Ink) so you may have accidentally clicked it in the past. Click that button to switch between "gear" mode and "tattoo" mode.

When you're in tattoo mode, the normal item list (potions, swords, etc) will be replaced by a list of Ink items. You must select an Ink and then click on a body part to apply the tattoo (you'll be prompted to confirm Yes/No). After you've applied a tattoo you can hover the mouse pointer over that slot; the game will display a tooltip showing the tattoo's effects.

You don't need to fill all of the tattoo slots. It's often useful to apply several copies of the same tattoo in different slots (e.g. lots of Mana regen for dedicated spellcasters) but there isn't a "set bonus" so you don't need to worry much about min-maxing.

Although they use the equipment menu, Tattoos cannot be "unequipped". 1 unit of Ink will be consumed when applying a tattoo and there's no way to retrieve it - if you make a mistake then you'll need to Craft more Ink.

You CAN overwrite a tattoo in the future by applying a different Ink to an already-tattooed slot. You CANNOT remove a tattoo entirely (i.e. replace it with nothing) ... but there's little reason to remove tattoos because their in-game effects are entirely positive.

This suggestion sounds reasonable, but it might take a while for the developers to implement (due to additional complexity in menus, additional testing workload, etc).

In the meantime it may be possible for you to enjoy the current version of the game, if you're willing to do a bit of text editing:

1. Start a new game
2. Create a female character with the appropriate characteristics. If you encounter unwelcome options then just ignore them
3. Click through the introduction, tutorial, etc until you're in control of the game
4. Open the menu (ESC key) and save your game
5. Open the save file (you'll find it in the %APPDATA%\Strive for Power 2\saves folder)
6. Search for your character's name. The save file contains definitions for many different characters, so we need to jump to the correct section before we begin to make any changes.
7. Scroll up slightly; edit the has_pussy and has_womb variables to false (as shown in the screenshot below)
8. Scroll down slightly; edit the penis_type variable (human, canine, feline, equine) and penis_size variable (small, average, big)
9. You can also edit the balls_size variable (small, average, big). I neglected to include it in this example, but you'll find it by scrolling up slightly further (the variables are listed in alphabetical order)
10. Double-check the quotation marks around your edits. If you accidentally remove one of them (or add a superfluous one) then your savegame won't load correctly
11. Save the file
12. Load your edited savegame file in Strive. Your character description should now list the correct genitals
13. Apply in-game customization options (e.g. "master" vs "mistress" title, custom portrait, etc) and then play normally

Caveats:

• some scenes provide hardcoded paths for different genders. The game doesn't expect a female character to have a penis, so it won't bother to check. You'll probably miss out on a few quest-related sex scenes which involve penile penetration.
  • you can avoid this problem by starting the game as a Futa character; you can then remove the unwanted vagina via save-editing. In this case the game will still use she/her pronouns and it will allow your character to participate in penis-dependent scenes ... but the game also will label your character as intersex rather than female (which - I assume - isn't what you're asking for)
• there's an important late-game quest which can optionally be resolved by marrying your character to a female NPC ... but that option won't exist if the player character is female. You can still recruit that particular NPC (and you'll be able to use your character's penis during interactive sex scenes with recruited NPCs) but you might find this outcome to be a bit janky or discriminatory.
• the game assumes that any female character is a heterosexual cisgendered woman, which has some impact on interactive sex scenes
  
  • a female NPC will treat any interaction with your PC as lesbianism and will randomly complain about it. She'll require more persuasion (or compulsion, or foreplay) than she would if your character was a man with the exact same anatomy. Even if she's blindfolded in the middle of an, she'll recognize that your character's penis is female and she'll be more reluctant to touch it.
  • if you have satisfying sex with a female NPC then she'll eventually gain the Bisexual trait, which (if activated) will stop her from complaining about your PC being female. A female NPC can treat an encounter with your character as deviant lesbian sex (with minor in-game penalties) or she can treat it as normal sex (because she doesn't care about her partner's gender), but she'll never express a preference for lesbian sex with your character.
  • a male NPC will consider sex with your character to be totally normal. He won't make any remarks about your special anatomy, he won't complain about homosexuality, and he'll happily fellate your character or receive anal sex. YMMV as to whether that's a good thing or bad thing, in terms of role-play and immersion.
  • your character will initially be reluctant to have sex with female NPCs. Your arousal will increase more slowly than it would during a similar encounter with a male NPC. You can simply ignore this effect, or you can bypass it with the Bisexual trait (either choose it during character creation, or have sex with female NPCs until it develops spontaneously).
• I used a modded version of the game for testing, so I can't guarantee that your experience will exactly match what I've written here. But the save-editing trick should take only a few minutes, so if you're interested in the game then it's probably worth a try.

>more races

Problem: the new races will be shallow.  The game's mechanics are developed, but the game currently has a one-size-fits-all approach to its races and characters.

Example: a small flying creature (such as a fairy) ought to have a special role in combat.  They can't wield heavy weapons or deal much physical damage, but they are very difficult to hit, they can flank past enemy tanks, they can harass/interrupt enemy spellcasters, or they could sneak past the whole battle to steal important loot or free a hostage.  Most of that cannot yet be achieved via modding.  Fairies can be agile and good at magic, but that's about it.

Elves are also supposed to be agile and magically talented.  This ought to manifest itself in different ways.  Instead of being too small to hit, they should be graceful and evasive.  Instead of flying across the battlefield to distract the enemy healer, they could pin down the enemy healer with arrows.  A fairy might use magic to confuse and disrupt her foes, while an elf typically uses it to enhance her own abilities.  An elf and a fairy ought to behave very differently in terms of the jobs that they can perform, their interactions within the mansion, the sexual actions which they prefer, their tolerance of various drugs or foods, etc.  But at the moment they're somewhat interchangeable.  Even fairy wings are essentially just a cosmetic variable (similar to skin color); the ability to fly is almost never relevant for gameplay purposes.  It's possible for modders to create bizarre cosmetic combinations (e.g. blue-skinned quadrupedal winged gnomes), but it would be difficult for modders to make a new race feel unique and special.

Imagine that we create an ogre race.  Now try to imagine how they would differ from the existing orcs.

"Gruzbar the Orc strikes the foe with her warhammer for 14 damage!"

"Bazgrub the Ogre strikes the foe with her warhammer for 15 damage!"

"You insert your dick into Gruzbar's green orcish butthole!  Gruzbar has an orgasm!  You gain 2 mana!"

"You insert your dick into Bazgrub's grey ogrid butthole!  Bazgrub has an orgasm!  You gain 2 mana!"

Now imagine that horns become mechanically relevant during gameplay.  Perhaps they can be used to strike in combat, or a horned character is unable to wear armored helms, or horns can be used for leverage during oral sex.  The fact that ogres have horns (while orcs do not) creates an interesting dictinction between two races.  Imagine that body size becomes mechanically relevant, so that large creatures are much stronger but also more resource-intensive (they need larger rooms, more food, etc).   The fact that ogres are larger than orcs is now meaningful.  It might now be worthwhile for modders to create an ogre race.

And - as you've pointed out - the artwork collection is probably large enough that there are already a few ogre portraits available :)

>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.