The Cave of Ogres (short/complete, Twine) - engine questions

[Sierra Lee]

[I want to reserve the first post in this thread for updates, so look to the next for my first project. I'm here because I've lurked at LoK for a long time, plus this project was inspired by the popular but sadly defunct "Red" thread.]

My original project is still available in this post, but drop down to my long post to see my current question about game engines.

- Everything below this line I hope to leave unchanged, everything above is updates. -

Hi! I'm new here and I come bearing a completed game. I know everyone shows up at these forums with massive goals for games that will never be completed, so I decided to start with something simple and manageable - think of it as a proof of concept, but I hope it will be a little fun.

Link: https://www.mediafire.com/?67ajqzsdf7airuq
Engine: Twine
Words: ~5000
Content: M/F, ogres, nonconsensual, blowjob, titfuck, anal

Basically, this is a choose your own adventure. You're a woman who has been captured by a tribe of ogres and you need to think and fuck your way to freedom. I don't think it will take very long to complete, but you can collect items, your decisions have consequences, and there are three different sex scenes with variants.

I'm posting this here to see how interested people are. If no one cares or my writing isn't your thing, I will just fade away after this. But if people enjoy it, I'd like to advance to a small but full-sized game, then if I feel good about that, maybe I'll try one of my big ideas.

The content and style of this game are representative of what I'd write, but hardly exclusive. Content-wise, I'm interested in a lot of things (I'll get into that if people care). Engine-wise, I'm not sure I'll stick with Twine. Even something as simple as this quickly became an ugly mess. But hopefully this will work for a starter project!

[dndman997]

sounds interesting ill give it a look

[Sierra Lee]

Thanks! All feedback welcome, including criticism (unless the text-only format or genre aren't your thing, in which case sorry for not giving clear enough warnings).

[Sierra Lee]

Sorry to double post, but someone on another forum found a few bugs. A new version of the game has been uploaded that should fix them.

[N_Yah]

Short but pretty fun, kind'a difficult to figure out the good ending, but I got there in the end.

Definately looking forward to more from you if you're thinking to make more, something new or an expanded version of this for sure.

[Sierra Lee]

Thanks! I wanted it to be a little tricky, but people have complained about how I did it (especially that you can lose by pursuing all sex scenes) so I'm not sure how I'd do future games. But I'm definitely thinking about it!

[dndman997]

its very good and very easy to get a twist ending.

[Sierra Lee]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

I have a new question for anyone that cares to share their opinion. I'd like to focus on writing content, but before I can do that, I need to make some basic choices. Mainly, what game engine I'll be using.

So my question: What are potential engines? Opinions on the things I mention are also welcome.

I just tried out Twine, and it seems fine within limitations. I know about RAGS (seems messy/expensive), ADRIFT (clean, but old-school), and Ren'Py (set up for more graphics). I have used RPG Maker VX Ace, which has obvious strengths but lends itself to certain kinds of projects.

Some people might suggest I code my own, which I suppose isn't impossible. I've written RPG combat systems from scratch, but that was a long time ago and I'm not a professional coder. I'd probably look into something that has support for clean UI so I can get back to writing content sooner.

Those are the things that occur to me - what am I missing?

[N_Yah]

The advantage of Twine is we can just play it without needing installers, versions and all the other hassles. It's a nice selling point to me. There's another HTML version of that I've seen but I don't know what it's called off the top of my head.

[ArdenWolfwatcher]

Pretty good. I enjoyed it.

[Sierra Lee]

The advantage of Twine is we can just play it without needing installers, versions and all the other hassles. It's a nice selling point to me. There's another HTML version of that I've seen but I don't know what it's called off the top of my head.

Hmm, I'll look around for it. I definitely like how light Twine is, but I don't like some other things about it, so we'll see. Thanks for your feedback.

Pretty good. I enjoyed it.

Thanks!

[Sierra Lee]

Hello again! You may have already seen it, but I've announced my next project here.

I didn't use Twine this time, sorry to those who wanted it. I wanted a combat system for this game, and it would have taken a lot of effort just to make something that would be fairly primitive. But if you already have the appropriate RTP, the download is just 5mb

[Elerneron]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

I have a new question for anyone that cares to share their opinion. I'd like to focus on writing content, but before I can do that, I need to make some basic choices. Mainly, what game engine I'll be using.

So my question: What are potential engines? Opinions on the things I mention are also welcome.

I just tried out Twine, and it seems fine within limitations. I know about RAGS (seems messy/expensive), ADRIFT (clean, but old-school), and Ren'Py (set up for more graphics). I have used RPG Maker VX Ace, which has obvious strengths but lends itself to certain kinds of projects.

Some people might suggest I code my own, which I suppose isn't impossible. I've written RPG combat systems from scratch, but that was a long time ago and I'm not a professional coder. I'd probably look into something that has support for clean UI so I can get back to writing content sooner.

Those are the things that occur to me - what am I missing?

Have you tried the SugarCube header for Twine (not to be confused with the Sugarcane header that comes with Twine)? It greatly extends the versatility of Twine without the need to learn JavaScript. You can get it here: http://www.motoslave.net/sugarcube/

I'm actually making a very complex RPG with it and haven't had to learn the first line of JavaScript.

[Sierra Lee]

Have you tried the SugarCube header for Twine (not to be confused with the Sugarcane header that comes with Twine)? It greatly extends the versatility of Twine without the need to learn JavaScript. You can get it here: http://www.motoslave.net/sugarcube/

I'm actually making a very complex RPG with it and haven't had to learn the first line of JavaScript.

Hadn't tried it and wish I had, thanks! I'll definitely keep this in mind for future stuff.

[Eidolon]

Lots of fun! I'll look out for future material by you!

[Frurose]

I just wanted to say that I have enjoyed this game and would love to see it expanded sometime in the future. I also enjoy your current project TLFL and will happily wait for updates to either and/or both. Thank you for your work.

[Sierra Lee]

Thanks, guys! While I don't have plans to expand this project in the immediate future, I did have a bunch of fun making it and will seriously think about it.

[Nita]

This was a really neat little game. I still haven't figured out how to get to the "good ending" but the bad endings I've gotten so far doesn't seem too bad to me. I would love to see more of this kind of content, you're a pretty damn good writer and managed to hit many of my fetishes right on the mark.

As far as engines goes I have little to no experience developing with most of them but as a player I really enjoy games made in twine or a more involved text adventure in Inform, ADRIFT or another of the classically styled ones. RAGS is pretty crappy and is made for media heavy games and it runs pretty bad on older hardware. I suggest just using whatever you feel more comfortable using, if you want an bigger audience to play your game I'd go with twine since it's very accessible for players to get going.

Good luck with your future projects, I do hope to play an expanded version of this someday, it was most enjoyable.

[Sierra Lee]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Though I'm focused on TLF right now, that doesn't mean I won't work on new projects along the lines of this one in the future.

As for the good ending:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

You need to meet X conditions:
1) Find the knife.
2) Eat two sources of food.
3) NOT eat the tunnel guard's cum.
4) NOT take the herring.

Or at least that's what I remember. ^^

[Nita]

As for the good ending:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

You need to meet X conditions:
1) Find the knife.
2) Eat two sources of food.
3) NOT eat the tunnel guard's cum.
4) NOT take the herring.

Or at least that's what I remember. ^^

That did the trick, I must have kept taking the red herring when I didn't get a mouthful of the guard's dick sauce. Thanks.