Breeding Season: Alpha Version 5.3 [Update 11/3/14]

[zolpidem]

I would strongly suggest that you finish the work you have been commissioned for, at the very least. I would love to see this game completed, but if you want to work on something that you see more feasibly funded then so be it. I just hope it has some of the same mechanics and themes from Breeding Season. However, just ditching the project when you've been commissioned is generally considered a bad thing to do and it won't help you with future projects to get that kind of reputation.

Keep in mind that you have a lot of people here who would love to see the game completed, or see the project continue - myself included.

[Duplicity]

He wasn't commissioned by anyone. At least not so far as I know. I imagine the cost of commissioning a full flash game would be considerable.
The debate has been around donation voting. Apparently his little act of kindness, by allowing those who support him a say in the process has caused a lot of confusion and anger. I view it as a favour on his part, while others view it as purchasing those features in the game. Though with a voting system like that I can't really see how that would work out.
But this is a contentious issue and hopefully one at rest for now.

I think as long as he completed all the promised/mentioned features and gave the game a definite end, then he could go to another project while updating Breeding season occasionally. But if he no longer wants to do this project then it is his choice to what happens next. We want the full game, but if he is not enjoying the process then we won't get the best this game could be.

[Calpico]

The issue I have with him starting another game, especially on Offbeatr, is that he's done poorly in regularly updating the game.
I agree with what Lucky777 stated earlier in that he should wait and establish trust.

[Mechaphantom]

I've bought games off of beater that promised to be clean and were loaded with banned content, you could promise to clean up Breeding Season then release it with the extra content just saying I seen people do it before. While I'd normally be pissed at the idea of making a new game I only out about 50 bucks the rest of the things I've paid for are already in the game. But as for trust I have also lost it and probably won't be donating anymore funds to this project, even more so now with hints of a new game being in the works.

That being said I like your work and would probably buy a copy of the games lowest tier from off beater just to have it.

[SapphicKatherine]

I actually liked the idea of the Sim Brothel with different races and original artwork. If he is able to even work 70/30 between that game and this one, but do both full time, that would be a huge improvement. Working 10 hrs a day and doing a split like that is still several hours a week dedicated to this game that weren't before. As long as he updates/communicates regularly, I'd contribute to both.

[monbvol]

I have to agree that there is just too much lost trust with the community. Rebuild that then we'll see about supporting a second game.

Some tips that should help:

1: Stop going weeks at a time between communicating with your fans/the community.

2: Show us you can actually meet a few dead lines.

[GoRepeat]

Perhaps the merits of donated work should be discussed in its own thread instead of this one. Keep this thread constructive and on topic, please.

[deathreaper711]

Perhaps the merits of donated work should be discussed in its own thread instead of this one. Keep this thread constructive and on topic, please.

Actually Hartista asked for everyone's opinion regarding the second game, and their opinions in general, so he/they were on topic. It's also constructive-

Constructive:

adjective
1.
constructing or tending to construct; helping to improve; promoting further development or advancement (opposed to destructive ): constructive criticism.

Saying that he should probably communicate better is something that also everyone else has said, and it IS constructive, as it does help with....everything and doesn't pertain to JUST donations. Plus, you know, everyone else already suggested it as well. So you could make a separate thread, but that probably wouldn't help much, as a majority of the debates and arguments aren't even from donations (To my knowledge). Though you're the mod Gore, up to you to do whatever at your own discretion. Just pointing out that everything is actually completely and utterly fine in regards to not only the two things you stated, but that separate thread wouldn't do much, especially if you're referring to responses that Hartista specifically asked for-

This is, of course, just one of the things I'm considering, though I'd be interested to see opinions on it.

Everything stated is NOT about just the donation system, but it is very prevalent as it is an issue and everything stated by everyone HAS been opinions that were ASKED for, and it HAS been constructive as they're logical suggestions. Also when a debate arose earlier when it wasn't explicitly asked for, and it was about the donation system, MiscChaos another mod actually welcomed debate as long as it was respectful and encouraged it and that again actually had to do with the donations, when Hartista specifically didn't ask for a debate/opinions at that time, so this is actually much more "on topic" than it was then-

Hi! I'm not here to shut this down, I'd actually encourage it since it allows for what the users see wrong with the system to come to light, but since money is involved, I can see this debate getting ugly fast. I just want to preemptively say please keep it respectful, folks. Ya'll done a good job of that so far and I merely ask it stays that way.

But again, up to you, just pointing out that your post is kind of nonsensical in regards to everything that's been posted, by the creator of the thread, everyone else and another mod. As to my knowledge it has been respectful, no one is being mean or attacking anyone nor throwing the thread "off topic", especially when the creator is asking about opinions regarding a second game and him trying to get funding through offbeatr, that is very "on topic".

[GoRepeat]

The actual definition of constructive is "Whatever Gorepete feels is constructive". My post was merely a reminder, if I actually thought it was a problem I would have just spliced off the posts and actually created a new thread instead of just suggesting so. Of course, continued discussion on the nature of constructivity as opposed to actually being constructive will just result in me deleting posts because I am a very lazy moderator with very little care for your personal feelings.

[deathreaper711]

The actual definition of constructive is "Whatever Gorepete feels is constructive". My post was merely a reminder, if I actually thought it was a problem I would have just spliced off the posts and actually created a new thread instead of just suggesting so. Of course, continued discussion on the nature of constructivity as opposed to actually being constructive will just result in me deleting posts because I am a very lazy moderator with very little care for your personal feelings.

I just found your post nonsensical, and half of it didn't even have to do with the definition of "constructive", most of it had to do with it being "on topic" and just saying that we're doing everything stated, as you didn't explicitly say "This is just a reminder" until now. Kudos for clarifying though, it just didn't make much sense to me when i saw it. Just trying to point out something in a respectful manner that I found odd. (And no this isn't continued discussion about the nature of "constructivity", nor should my "personal feelings" matter to you anyways.)



On an "on topic" note, I was wondering Hartista, if you'll actually make a comment regarding the opinions that have been stated and if it's affected your future plans at all, and what the general future is of "Breeding Season", and if anything's changed.

[HartistaPipebomb]

Right now I'm working on the update for tomorrow. It will be relatively small.

A donor pulled out for the male/male animations so it got dropped a bit lower on the list, Neoteny creatures will be coming first.

My plan right now is to finish the rest of the donation features and then get the revamped donation system up. This will all be done by the end of the month.

Once that's handled I'll worry about everything else and where I'll go from there.

[eroticgrapefruit]

I have to say, while I'm sorry someone pulled a donation, it's nice to know the first new content in a while will be something I'd actually be interested in. I'm all for male/male if there are some cute bottoms, but... not so big on the animal on animal (or animal on burly demon) fucking.

[Duplicity]

Once the updates come at a regular interval I reckon the donations will come again.
I have seen many projects where even with regular updates they couldn't buy a donation. Just shows lots of people are interested in the project. The ace animations help a lot.
I've only got to wait until the 5th around midday until the update comes out. Damn you time zones!
Very much looking forward to the update, even if small.

[uma2rman]

what we will see in the new update?
I can not wait.

[Justapuppet]

I have to say, while I'm sorry someone pulled a donation, it's nice to know the first new content in a while will be something I'd actually be interested in. I'm all for male/male if there are some cute bottoms, but... not so big on the animal on animal (or animal on burly demon) fucking.

Just the opposite here, I haven't played this game in a while just because I've been waiting for a while for the M/M update, and it's the update that keeps finding new ways to run away at the last second. So it'll still be a while yet for me.

Curses, Dinkleburg....

[HartistaPipebomb]

what we will see in the new update?
I can not wait.

Not too much, so don't get too excited. I'm going to be adding the new breeding menu and there's some back-end stuff that has been cleaned up and changed around (and that will need to be bug tested). Depending on how much time I have tonight there might also be a couple additional holstaurus animations.

[Keksgesicht]

and when is the holy moment, you start uploading the new version?

[HartistaPipebomb]

Update will be up around 11:00 PM PST

[HartistaPipebomb]

Update is up
http://breedingseasongame.blogspot.com/2013/08/alpha-build-37.html

[Ironvein]

Long time no see H-Bomb, sorry about the unemployment thing (I feel ya, 5+ years for me). Anyway, since this might turn into a rant, I'll try to group things into spoilers.

New Breeding interface:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

A big improvement over the previous version. The 1st/2nd thing is a little counterintuitive but adaptable. I would have just cleared out the both spots if someone started changing one of them so you didn't have to insure which box is getting changed, but that's me. I would like to see the 'search by breed' ability to carry over into the consumable menus as well (since I tend to be looking for a specific type when I use them). A bug in the new menu is if a new monster is 'born' is does not show up on the new menu immediately; you have to exit the menu and return for it to show up.

Game Bugs:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Given what I've read in the blog, most of the bugs being mentioned existed in the previous build, so I'm not going to mention those again. The one I noticed is that a monster with a 'maxed' stat will sometimes become 'unmaxed' though the value visibly has not changed. Assume that it's because the true values are being rounded in the calculation still. I haven't download the game yet, so I don't know anything about the saves as of yet.

Game Logic:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

No noticeable change in actual growth method (ie. large start, puny end). I personally think that your idea with the logarithmic algorithm or whatever it was (it's been a while), overcomplicates the growth method period. The biggest issue is that it is redundant, you wanted it to take work to reach the max of 1000 and that is already accomplished with the stat caps (you need to breed something bigger and badder to make more progress). The MOD stat does this too (being redundant), but we are pretty much used to that, so it is no big deal.

Now we have had this discussion before, and the majority of the board was talking about how 'simple' the calculation was for that. It may be a simple calculation, but all regular players are going to see is that stats will be harder to raise as time goes on for no apparent reason. You will most certainly piss off those players that LIKE to max stats. Nevermind what will happen with the clients when they want stats > 999.

So once again, I am of the opinion that you are overthinking the growth thing and should just make a simple addition to the stat, one that will not lower as time goes on without a reason (stat loss of the mate). Something like STR/100 * MOD or the like.

If you want to make things more difficult you can add other rules like a monster with a lower stat cannot modify a monster with a higher value of the same stat. (ex. A monster with an STA of 100 cannot raise/lower a monster with a STA over 100 regardless of the STR level). It may complicate things some, but I don't think you're making any kind of real progress with the stat raise formula as is.

Conversely, the breed modifiers are too easy to transfer now to the offspring (to the point that the trait to help that is not needed at all). The original way it worked was just fine with me, that was the REAL challenge of the game. So my vote is to change that back and leave it alone afterwords.

Game Balance:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Need another monster (don't care what other than male with a +FER native trait; for the sake of balance)

The traits that let consumables of one breed to also act as another breed is too powerful if they get all of them together. It makes a consumable that costs nothing to eat, makes another breed, no negative modes, and ups fertility (so far); the first two are too powerful together (steriod doping anyone? infinite powerup subject only to time). Personally think that those traits are unnecessary and possibly game breaking.

So ya, my basic impressions of the new build. Not enough of an update to want to playtest for very long. Need to work on your core game and make sure stuff that was working before doesn't break in between builds (that seems to happen alot with no apparent reason). My advice, finish the 'basic' game (a real ending <with a repay early option>; basic monsters and growth system complete, stable saves/loads) then add other stuff as addons. Otherwise, this game will continue to suffer from feature creep and buggy code to the point that it will be unplayable. The last couple of updates haven't really changed much and seem to break more than it fixes.