[VX ACE] Conquest (complete game, but no cg yet)

[seyfer110]

so...uhm...what's the state of the game? i mean are there some pics in it or is still all text?

[hoboy]

Yeah - got it (forgot you had to hit enter at the top there).

When I went through on overlord and got past the duelist things got fun - with the super sword Rough Edge and the ability Clean Sweep the zombies go down like flies...I have now gotten everything except the insane mode...and I don't think I'm insane enough for that. Had enough rage issues on the last lvl...

[STR]

Sorry to dissappoint, but next release isn’t ready yet (though it is getting closer, don’t worry).

I'm just dropping by because I've been doing some thinking, and I'd like to have some external thoughts on the matter, if that's at all possible. More about that on the next post, as there are first a few things I need to answer about the gamelplay of the overlord route.

- I started a run myself, and it's indeed quite a bit harder than I expected.

- I'm not all that sure about upping the TPs provided by Strategic Positionning, as the skill is accessible in all routes.

- What I'll do though, is make raping the elven priestess give you a special skill that should make things a bit easier (currently, she just gives you a nice defense boost against magical attack). If you don't mind the surprise being spoiled, here's what it'll be:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Huge stats boost for the overlord for 5 turns, but will use mana, and pretty much empty your mana bar at lower levels. Will also inflict some kind of self-degeneration to spice things up a little (but the boosts will be too good for that to discourage you from using it, don't worry). The spell's aim is to enforce the role of the overlord as the team's main damage dealer in this route.

- I'm also toying with the idea of boosting slightly the stats boost you get when raping mistresses. Will see once my tests are over.

- And, finally, I may or may not give the orcs on that route a special skill reflecting their canon-fodder status. Maybe some kind of self-"distract them" so the Overlord can use his turns to do something else.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

- The fact you have to press enter to get to the part of the forest Gluk wandered into is a mistake on my part. It will be replaced by a normal transfer in the next release.

- And congratulations on beating that stuff, by the way. The more I play, the more I realize how hard it can be. (Though there is a way to make Saint Astha much more easier that you didn't mention, I think... but then again, as I made the game and know everything there is inside, what's obvious to me may not be so to the player.)

Edit:
Seyfer110: No, no images yet, and almost nothing as far as trully erotic text goes. Actually, you could probably say this game is sfw. Whenever that changes, it will be displayed in the title as well as in the first post, so you won't be able to miss it (and I'll most likely have to change uploader too, but we are not there yet).

Command: I'm really not to the point I'm starting to look for artists to commission yet. But I'll keep your link archived somewhere in case the day comes I need it, thank you.

[STR]

So, I’ve been doing some thinking about my main problem: the H part of my H-game wannabe.
And I’d like to have some insights and feedbacks on that one, if you’ve got some to spare.

To make the situation clear before I start: I can’t draw, I can’t render, and as I didn’t receive any offer of help on that field since first uploading the game, I don’t plan on waiting for a miracle any longer.


Now, to the options I’m considering:

1: Raise funds, and pay someone to do it for me

Like I already said, I don’t like the idea of mixing money in this hobby of mine all that much. But then, I don’t like the idea of leaving my game unfinished either.

If I were to seriously start exploring that option, I’d probably do things as such:

- First put up an e-mail adress where people interested in participating could contact me to tell me how much they’d be ready to donate. These wouldn’t be pledges or anything like that, but rather a way for me to get an idea of the amount of support I can actually expect to receive.

- Meanwhile, I’d look around places like the hentaifoundry, candidly asking how much I’d realistically need to put on the table to get xx number of pictures with xx features, hopping some artists will be kind enough to inform me of their price range, so I can get a rough idea of the amount I’d need.

- Then, after some time, compare the two data to see if crowdfunding and commissionning is, or isn’t, a realistic option.

Obviously, this would be my first time doing that kind of stuff, so if anyone have some insight on the matter, I’m all ears.


2: Learn to draw/render myself

Simplest, yet hardest solution off all. Just putting the game on standby for an undetermined amount of time, and setting out on an epic quest to learn to draw or render stuff myself. From the outside, I’d say rendering looks easier to grasp, though I suppose there is a whole different world between using pre-made models and creating my owns from scratch. Either way, I’ve got absolutly no experience in both of these fields, so it would probably mean a long, long time spent learning before I’d be able to create anything satisfying. Still, living is learning, so I’m not rulling out that one option completly.


3: Animate stuff with flash CS5

I have some very basic understanding of flash, and did do some wonky animations with it years ago. I could improve on that base, make small animated movies by moving pre-made dolls, export them as .swf, and convert them to .ogg so they could be displayed in game.

Of course, this option still implies that I would need some flash artist out there to make the dolls after my characters so I could animate them, as I still couldn’t draw to save my life. But, when compared to having someone draw/render the entire 80ish pics in the game, making a bunch of dolls and leaving the rest to me should be a much lighter task.

Still, this solution would mean a totally different quality/experience, as the movies would basically be two dimentional puppet shows, which could end up being repetitive (and not all that good depending on my ability to improve my animating skills). Also, as those would be movies, the players would have no control over the flow of the scene, and I probably wouldn’t be able to put in text.


4 : Use sprites and in-game events.

You can find sprites like this one on the net, as well as clean templates to go with them :

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Figuring out how the hell I’m supposed to tell it to move to animate it properly, and frankensteining it to put in the heads of the characters I need for that particular scene, is all in the realm of my meagre capabilities. Then add some sounds, some text, and voilà: H-scene.

It means some work, but at least that’s work I could do entirely alone with my current skills. Reason I’m not all that hot about it being that, well... Hot it’s not. Like, at all. I doubt it would be all that easy for anyone to fap on those cute little bunches of pixels making out... right?

But, still, it’s an option. And I consider it my last resort if all else were to fail.



And there you have it: that’s where I stand for now. If you’ve got experience in any of the fields I’m considering, or even simple opinions/suggestions on the matter, I’d be glad to hear you out.

[mrttao]

How would flash animation be inserted into the game? I wasn't aware of RMVXA being able to play flash.

I wish I knew a solution to your problems. Good luck though whichever option you choose

[Lucky777]

- What I'll do though, is make raping the elven priestess give you a special skill that should make things a bit easier (currently, she just gives you a nice defense boost against magical attack). If you don't mind the surprise being spoiled, here's what it'll be:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Huge stats boost for the overlord for 5 turns, but will use mana, and pretty much empty your mana bar at lower levels. Will also inflict some kind of self-degeneration to spice things up a little (but the boosts will be too good for that to discourage you from using it, don't worry). The spell's aim is to enforce the role of the overlord as the team's main damage dealer in this route.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Cool, though I thought it would give you a full-party heal or something, myself, to mirror the priestess' ability to heal herself with the mana tree.
(Well, although the poor chick never got to DO that... heh.)
I guess giving us boosts might be all right too though.

- I'm also toying with the idea of boosting slightly the stats boost you get when raping mistresses. Will see once my tests are over.

Works for me.

1: Raise funds, and pay someone to do it for me

Seems the most likely to me. I don't know how much people will want to fork over for static pictures without progression or text, though. *shrugs*


Anyway, as to how the "All main chicks to Overlord, all side chicks to Orcs" path is going so far, I beat the Dwarven Mine without using any salvations, but there were a couple
times when I was sorely tempted.
DAMN those things are expensive compared to the gold you can get from grinding, though. Lawdy.

More grinding for gold, more Dwarven armour and weapons, rape the Hellhole chick, get some items and... goddamn.

Oh, and I've been meaning to say for a VERY long time but I kept forgetting: You ought to make the barbarian-quality weapons and shit capable of being sold.
It's mildly amusing to think "Oh, no, Barbarian weapons are crafted so badly that you can't sell them, ho ho," ... but that's wrong.
You can sell Orc-quality weapons and they're worse quality than Barbarian ones, so I assume it's just an oversight.

[Seyser Koze]

I assume using something like 3D Custom Girl is out.

[Lucky777]

So I got through St Astha, and yeah, I'd say that starting battles with no TP, on overlord mode, is A FUCKING DISASTER.

One way to deal with it is to have one of the raped mistresses give you a move that restores more than 10 TP.

After all, Lightning Strikes is pretty damned nice, not gonna lie, and it's good and TP-cheap too... but you DO need 10 TP for it, so starting with 0 or 9 is still pretty bad.

The move that restored more than 10 TP would be available on the other modes too, but hey, if someone wants to use an unnecessary move and thus do himself out of the All Orc ending or the All Mistress ending, that's entirely his business. It could make the game rather easier on those modes, sure, but it wouldn't be at all required.
*shrugs*

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

(It could be worth mentioning somewhere in the game or in some readme file DISTRIBUTED WITH the game that there ARE "all-X" endings, though.
My first impulse if I didn't know that from the THREAD would have been to capture the Elf mistress for raping later, so I could get to her comrades.
That'd have screwed me out of the "all Orc" or "all Overlord" endings, and if I hadn't been informed by the thread that they existed, I might never have known.

Maybe at some point, other people will get the game from a place that ain't the thread, and then THEY might never know.

Well, another reason it'd have screwed me out of the "All X" endings is because I'm assuming you can't change your mind after you decide to capture one of the mistresses. Like I said, I'd like to capture the elf purely in the interests of saving TIME so I can get to the others who are swallowed, but then I'd like to capture her undigested comrades (who I assume to be female, and to be the missing slaves in the lineup), then rape both the elf and the comrades. It's a shame I can't do that, if my assumptions are true.)

But yeah, returning to the issue of game balance, I had to use like 6 to 7 fucking salvations in the St Astha fight in general.

Interestingly enough, most were in the city, actually, not in the St General battle outside.

Apart from starting with 0 TP, it's also pretty disastrous to miss the King's Archers in those 5-man fights on the walls and in the city.
Because the Archers stayed up despite everything I could do, one of those salvations had to be popped in like ... the 3rd or 4th 5-man fight.
Granted, I had to pop one in the FIRST 5-man fight too, but that was just because I'd forgotten how imperative it was to take out the archers, and I was dicking around with
Strategic Positioning because I had started with 0 TP again.
Never repeated that mistake: it's better to put off all the buffs for a couple turns and take out the guys who are going to kill your entire fucking party. A God Dayamn.

[mrttao]

Anyway, as to how the "All main chicks to Overlord, all side chicks to Orcs" path is going so far, I beat the Dwarven Mine without using any salvations, but there were a couple

So, are you using mistresses or orcs to fight? Because this path is the one that leaves you the weakest with either choice.

[hoboy]

I believe the same as I did - Overlord rapes mistresses, orcs rape others. Very tough path. However, the hardest would be to keep all to the Overlord - NO upgrades to orcs at all. This is one I don't want to even think about trying...

[Lucky777]

I cannae use the mistresses to fight, because when I say "All main chicks to Overlord" I mean at once, with or without their consent.

And to Hoboy, yeah.

I'm legitimately not even trying a playthrough where I don't give the orcs any levels.

Fuck.

THAT.

[DarkTemplarSeer]

Kay need abit of help here I'm trapped in the dam forest ive figured it out up to the section with the bridges but after that it keeps sending me back no matter which path i choose

[Lucky777]

FOR THE FOREST

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Follow the path with the red flower in it.
The last trick is to go BACK the way you came, because the red flower is IN that path.
Stupid as fuck, but hey, it's elf confusion-magic.

Well, there's something else after that, but I'll put it in ANOTHER spoiler tag because it's another spoiler.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

You have to click on the trees, which don't have a sparkle or anything, after running from the most fearsome of fluffy and invincible beasts.
Go between the standing pillar and the collapsed one, and click on the perfectly unremarkable trees you run into.
They'll turn out to be illusory when you click, even though they weren't illusory when you rubbed your motherfucking face into them with the up arrow.

Also, for the overlord path:
STR, Is there any way you can avoid having the new skills DISPLACE the old skills in the menu after every conquest skill-gain?
The previously acquired ones gained from other rapes or from levelling tend to get shuffled around, and relying on muscle-memory is made more difficult thereby.

Anyway, after about 6 hours of game and about 3 hours of GRINDING (9 hours in all) I beat just about everything that there was to beat, on the overlord path.
For how useful they are, salvations are appropriately expensive, but it'd be nice if they actually healed living duders for something too.
It never happened to me, but I can imagine a situation where you end up with everyone at low hp, with a full-party attack that strikes first next turn... : o
But yeah.
All in all, I don't regret any of the time I burned on this game, and I may do one more playthrough to proof-read scenes one day - but for now I'm too lazy.

[MMjolnir]

Sorry but how can i obtain hilde???

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

whats khajimel???

[DarkTemplarSeer]

Realized the derp moment with the forest now im just grinding to deal with the dwarves.

As for the picture situation option one may be the best course of action provided that the game has a large enough fan base to provide donations and if you can find some one to do the scenes. In my experience sometimes offering some type of incentive would help get people to do a donation for example if someone donates a certain amount of money you could give a nod to them in the final game or include a character they made themselves in the final game as a npc or something. Mind thats just my two cents on the idea.

[DemonAtShort]

Enjoyed the game and wanted to PM and ask about helping with some stuff, but as I was not a member before seeing your game and don't really come here for anything else, can't. Any other way I can get in private contact with you? (If not I suppose I could post all I was going to ask about here spoiler-tagged, though the volume of things I asked about would be a bit mortifying to post, even tagged to shrink it.)

Aside from that, since I'm already posting. Enjoyed the game. As others and you have mentioned, some difficulty issues.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Played through full Mistress/Overlord, and the main issues were late game bosses and the lack of benefits to Orcs and Overlord until you manage to kill the Lich King and gain the 10k to recruit the first two girls. Granted, I don't think this could really be changed aside from lowering money and the difficulty of the Skeletons in the Lich King's tower, and meh, can just be considered an early understood difficulty due to path. The bosses in question being Hilde and Zorya. First could probably be solved somewhat by not having Guarded Strike cause her to act first, so that her one-hit kills on most of the party don't result in two deaths before you can have a chance to revive the person hit by the first one. Or just lowering her attack power somewhat. For Zorya, might be nice if her Starless Night usage was spread out one turn further, so that she's not quite so bad stun and blind locking the party out of the various attack buffs needed to actually damage her. That and some balance issues among the Mistresses with Cemiel being seemingly useless outside of healing and Mu being completely useless outside of Blind/Stunning, if it's not just me preferring people who stab things. Assuming these things haven't already come up specifically.

Also if nobody's reported it and you weren't aware, the skill Lightning Thrusts for Erika, despite the description text, can definitely miss. And the aforementioned Guarded Strike, if attacking first is kept, could probably mention that aspect in the description.

[imercenary]

Wow, this is a great game. But man its grindy!

I bought weapons from the orc shop and then went straight for the barbarian camp. I didn't have healing items though, so I nearly wiped, eep!

[Zaiaku666]

Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog killed me.

[Ayeka]

There is a bug blocking game. I go and beat all barbarians in market, also get all loot but I can't leeave this place!! No exit at all, I checked all edges and no way out

[mrttao]

There is a bug blocking game. I go and beat all barbarians in market, also get all loot but I can't leeave this place!! No exit at all, I checked all edges and no way out

You didn't beat them all, go inside the tent. Now at the left side of the tent, near the bottom, there is a nook. when you go there you will see a map transition to the next area.
Took me a very long time to find out. Make note of that nook's shape, usually when you see such a nook (sometimes a bit wider) it is a map transition area.