Despair Labyrinth (RPG) Latest Release: Ver.0.09 (4/18/12)

[Ninpo]

wow, the party system seems very complicated and time consuming. just do what u can, great job btw

[KITAmaru]

Thanks. Yeah, I had started designing this game as a total RPGVX noob (and still am, due to my lack of Ruby scripting knowledge; this game is basically entirely made with variables, switches and the tools simply included in the program), so I have to admit I didn't expect that things might get this complicated.

Oh, just to give you guys an idea of some of the changes, I added a sample of one of the H-scenes coming up, as well as the new weapon icons.

[ExistentialGhost]

Completely unrelated note: Thyme is making a wonderful come-back in the poll, yay! A clear victory for boobs and awesomeness
But as of this writing Irine is sharing last place with Sairyn, I mean come on wtf people? O_o

[SquallLion]

thanks for the screenshot.

[Kuragari]

I want one as a pet...

Heh ^_^ Teh slime is fun

[KITAmaru]

Hahah, I'm sure even some guys'd want a slime pet... at least a slime-girl one, I hear they're kinda popular in the monster girl circles... o_o!
Just as a heads up, this upcoming patch has a LOT of freaking dialogue, cause even I'm sick of writing for it at this point and still have to 'personalize' uhm... 2 more H-scenes (there are technically 5 total, if you count a branching path) and done. The choices don't allow me to write large sentences, so many of them are going to have only part of the sentence and "...". So, have fun with it--try different choices and just make a save file before the possible scene! This upcoming patch will have up to... I think 20 save slots, so you'll be able to make tons of them if needbe.

[webought]

The clown scares me lol

You should totally make a sequel once you finish =p

[Killerpenguin64]

GAH I WANNA MURDER YOU!! There are SOO MANY good games being made that aren't complete and its bloody torturous to wait, I suggest this forum start putting up advertisements to raise money for those who are making good games like this one you are! Also I love the outfits, the large breasts, and just everything about the H-Scenes, Only one request, if you could for a few more of the characters give them sexy high heels or platform boots etc. Would kickass, Also I suggest using the soundboard that the people here have developed and adding it to your H-scenes. As well as maybe more pictures frames and or you could put in movies of them if you figure out how to do that with your game. Anyways, KICK MORE ASS, And you definitely deserve to be getting laid..... anyways, keep it up, if you want I could prolly try and help out with some of the writing or story, or even edit for correct english or what not. Just email me at [email protected], well thats all KICK MORE ASS,

[Lucky777]

The choices don't allow me to write large sentences, so many of them are going to have only part of the sentence and "...". So, have fun with it--try different choices and just make a save file before the possible scene!

Oh lawdy, technical limitations. Thanks for the heads up though, that's worth a lot.

Also, out of the WHOLE monstergirl encyclopedia, there are only like 4 or 5 things I'd prefer to a slime-girl pet.

[webought]

You gotta do some H scenes with like forced mind control or drugged type stuff


(Thats my kink sorry if it sounds rather odd lol)

[Ayra]

I occasionally poke my head around in forums like these to see if there's a game that catches my fancy... That rarely happens, not because the games aren't good (There's tons of good games around), but because a lot of them have either a lot of things I hate. Rape is something I very much dislike (especially if it goes unpunished) and I utterly DETEST the whole "raped until she becomes a willing sex slave" idea. In that case, why do I sometime visit hentai forums?

Well, you sometime see utterly incredible games like Nightmare Sphere: Extremely solid gameplay (I've played a lot of 2d platformers and it's frankly better than almost anything on the market, console games included), and if you play well enough, there won't be any rape of any kind. Finding something like that is worth peaking at a pile of games I want no part of.

There's also the occasional original interesting title like Sakyubasu no Tatakai here on this site: The story and main character is pretty original, and it's the main character that initiate the scenes... That's pretty swell! Then there's things like the Legend of Krystal, where it doesn't really feel that bad due to the graphic styles and Krystal herself not seeming that reluctant either.

And finally there's the games with a ton of content I hate and that I want to stay far away from... But there's a few extremely rare titles like Nanocrisis that I love to hate. There's stuff in there that nearly makes my stomach churn and there's some really horrible stuff like the bee stage, or dogs that can't pull out and keep going until nearly ever...

But it ends up making the game more exciting and memorable. One of my fondest videogame playing moment was in Nanocrisis when I was out HP in that horrible bee stage... But I didn't want to leave the main character to such an horrible fate, and I managed to eventually, painfully crawl to the exit point while being raped every step of the way. When I reached the exit, I literally let out a "YES!" before instantly feeling a bit silly at myself for doing that. But if it weren't for the nasty stuff I really wanted to avoid... Then the game would have been far less interesting.


Which brings me to your game... It's an RPG, so I had to give it a try. I got nearly instantly pissed at seeing the broken maid and nearly quit the game right there but I kept playing further until I eventually lost against the last boss... And then I got put into that horrible situation in the chambers, cursing every step of the way, managing to fight my way out, and talking to various NPCs and feeling the rising urge to utterly destroy the syndicate and everyone in it.

... And it's when I realized that I'll probably adore your game mainly due to detesting what's in it. It gives me a villain organization that's far more "hateable" than all those mostly generic ones you see in Final Fantasy games and such. It gives me a game where I really fear what will happen if I do a mistake. It makes the game much more thrilling. I felt that my aim was somewhat contrary to the design since I am actively trying to AVOID the scenes and stop the bad guys, and that I knew I was going to miss a whole lot of the 'content' of the game, but... I bookmarked this thread to check again some time in the future.

And now I read that you are actually planning to have events for high purity, and having the opportunity to make a meaningfull, loving F/F relationship in the game... I love the idea so much that I just had to create an account to comment about it. A game that has good loving F/F relationships, while having a 'villain' that I utterly detest, really threatening situations that I want to avoid with all my heart and that are actually avoidable if you play really well, or play cleverly, or are at least lucky... or that it's not 100% forced on you to get raped (if there's some unfortunately some 100% unavoidable scenes, well... That'll definitively piss me off a lot, and I'll hope that you can at least make the bastards pay heavily!)... If the whole RPG part also ends up being solid (and it's shaping up well so far), then you just might currently be building what may become one of my favorite, most memorable game ever.

[AbysmalTears]

Ayra i dunno whether you're complementing him or insulting him o.o

[KITAmaru]

Hahaha... well, at the moment, all I could really ask for is a new computer, which I already have the money saved up for--just gotta shop around for the right one, which I will probably do after I'm done with this patch. ;D Spent the past two days off tryin' to polish everything up and make sure there are as few bugs as possible, though I'm not promising a perfect product!

I could probably use just one or two more beta testers; I know how beta testing can ruin a game for people though, so if it's not something you want to do, I totally understand. But debuggers are pretty important for making sure that the game comes out relatively polished and bug-free for the general public (and all the lurkers here! ;D), so it's probably the best way to help me for now.

I'm a huge high heel fan too, let's see...
-Asella has heels on her greaves, me rikey!
-Thyme has thigh-high leather boots with some heels to them.
-Rhiannon has em... a little, I think.
The last character I was going to have with high-heeled boots with Cesca, but the ones I have just don't seem to fit the body model she's using (her feet point through the top and re-posing them won't do anything, so I must be missing an appropriate body mod for them).
Can't say I've found any HUGE platform boots, but yeah. If I find any mods in 3DCG that do so, I can always add them onto a new NPC. I like Irine's little maryjanes, Lanie's is still supposed to look at least kind of like a schoolgirl outfit, Emilia's armor is just the way I like it for the most part, and Sairyn's little kung-fu flats are just too cute.

Sounds are something I've thought about, but the process of adding them to the H-scenes is a LOT of work, possibly even moreso than animations. I honestly prolly won't be putting movies in anytime in the near future, due to the massive variety of scenes; the best I'd do is probably put a 'bouncing breasts' type of animation such as in VH, which in itself is a pain due to the number of frames used and differences in skin tone (for tan chicks like Rhiannon or pale ones like Asella and so on... not to mention that pretty much every girl in the game has a different breast size!).

As for mind control / drugged stuff, even if it's not something I'm familiar with, I believe it does go with the territory of the storyline, as well as part of the Syndicate's operations, so worry not--you will definitely see it in one form or another. Mind control also makes for some really tragic plot twists, I think!
I've never written a slime scene, but figured it'd be an inevitable part of the game so I decided to expand my horizons, find some references and give it a try. I hope people enjoy what I did try to write.

Although I'm quite aware that this game is basically a huge sex-romp if you want it to be, storyline is important to me too, so that's what I'm focusing on for now. All the rest can come in time, but I would likely need help from experienced RPG VX programmers and the like to fully implement the more complicated stuff. For now, the best I can do is introduce some cool new characters, add more to the plot that I have planned, and attempt to cater to various fetishes--but not all of them, of course, due to some limitations.

I think seeing the contrast between Ayra's comment and webought's aptly illustrates the difference in tastes and opinions you will see all across the spectrum. I am quite aware of the irony of me saying this, but with this game I DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT condone rape in any way, shape or form with respects to real life. I hope that people are responsible enough to separate fantasy from reality, which obviously isn't always the case, but in regards to the game and my personal standpoint, please use proper judgment! Just a disclaimer. ^_^ Now that that's outta the way...

Ayra - Glad you see that in my game. I definitely wasn't necessarily going for a 'rape is fun!' kinda game, but more of a gritty, hyper-H take on a dungeon crawler. If a girl gets captured IRL by bandits, chances are they aren't going to just sit there and play cards with her, which is a sad reality. Hopefully for some players it does provide an incentive to avoid losing. I personally enjoy F/F relationships because I feel that they are the most 'pure' in their own way (as I myself am an avid fan of series like Noir, Octave, and Maria-sama ga Miteru), but am also putting in consensual M/F because I think it's kind of endearing to know that there are still 'good' and noble guys out there.

Also just curious, what character were you using when you lost to Kalen?

But for others just looking for the porn, I won't neglect them either--if they wanna break their characters, then that's their prerogative, and an option I will provide! I originally designed the game with 8 characters so that you can 'play it as you want', starting with the personality of your main star. It's been a lot of work for me thus far but really fun--if I didn't find it fun to some extent, then I wouldn't have bothered making this game!

There's a monster in this upcoming patch that, if it gets you, will NOT take your virginity as of right now because I didn't want to punish people that badly for losing (not to mention it can be mildly debatable whether or not it'd break you, semantics...); but I assure you that any man who does penetrate your character will hit that virginity switch to OFF instantly. Two (well, three...) new monsters in 0.05 overall, which prompts me to call it the 'monster' patch; next one is the 'girls' patch, woo! MORE GIRL NPCs! Now I didn't guarantee sex with them just yet, but you'll see 'em.
I've already talked about this with one of my consultants, but you can and will be able to beat the game while keeping your virginity. ;D I also have a 'happy end' planned for all of the characters, which I only find fair since there are already a couple of 'bad ends'.

In other news, every scene is FINISHED as of this moment! WOO! Now, gotta do some combat tweaks and fix up the very last NPC intro, and 0.05 should be up sometime tomorrow night!

[Lucky777]

Ayra i dunno whether you're complementing him or insulting him o.o

In a sense, it takes good work to inspire such strong emotion.

Imagine Ayra getting so worked up about a game featuring blow-up dolls without any personality traits. Unlikely, eh?

Imagine me getting so enthusiastic about a game featuring raping the prudishness out of robots who don't appear to feel anything at all, physically or otherwise, to end up loving it or forced to physically enjoy it, or to BE prudish or reluctant from the very beginning to start with. Unlikely, eh?

I'd call it a compliment for sure.

Also, to Kitamaru: Fine work on finishing the scenes : D.

To Ayra, maybe look into Unholy Sanctuary, it's pretty demo status so far, but again, you're well and thoroughly raped only if you lose.

[SquallLion]

I appreciate the critic of Ayra : it was constructive! plus, he said he like Despair Laby

[webought]

and 0.05 should be up sometime tomorrow night!

Its like waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean At Worlds End to hit theaters again LOL

[SpectralTime]

...I wish I liked F/F. Like, at all. Because I do like consensual stuff... That said, could you explain f/f's appeal to men? I just don't see it...

[Lucky777]

It's the simplest thing in the world, and while I don't want to derail the thread at all, I don't think ONE post will be too much.

You know how we like chicks, tits and pussies?

We also like it when there are many of those things at once, USUALLY when they are arranged in the way that nature intended for the human form. That explains our fondness of F/F and F/F/F/F etc.

And then there are those of us who don't particularly care if they're arranged in the normal human way, which explains fondness for fem tentacle monsters, various monstergirls, and stuff like 6tits on some furries, etc.

Lesson for free.

[Ayra]

Oh, it most definitively is a compliment, don't worry! A game that can make the player feel emotions while playing it (beside annoyance/anger at seeing Game Over too often) is a great game in my opinion.

No worries about the disclaimer either: There's obviously a huge difference between throwing your videogame character in a gangbang than there is about actually attacking another real person!

"If a girl gets captured IRL by bandits, chances are they aren't going to just sit there and play cards with her, which is a sad reality. Hopefully for some players it does provide an incentive to avoid losing."

You are unfortunately perfectly correct with the first part. But yes, it most certainly does provide a huge incentive for me to avoid losing in the game! It's much more efficient than a "Gameover" screen for me, especially since I'm not going to simply reload the game if I end up in a bad situation: if I were to do that it'd cheapen the game considerably! For the consentual F/M relations, I personally won't be pursuing them but I agree that it's definitively nice to have that in the game too for the reason you stated.

A huge "Thank You!" for actually putting good endings in! I love adore endings, especially after it comes after a nightmarish treak like this is shapping up to be...

I know how hard it is when everyone is pulling hard in different directions so I'll do my best not to try to add yet another direction. So while I will do my best to give good suggestions that will be fun for everyone, I'll avoid things that would most likely be only be fun for me (No flash of genius for the moment, but I'm sure they'll come eventually!). Beside, with "Consentual loving F/F relationship", "good endings", "not forcing the player to be raped with no alternatives" (I assume that's the case if it's possible to finish the game virgin) combined with your great writting skills all wrapped around an RPG... I can say I'm already extremely happy with where it is going!

I mean, I'm not going to delude myself: I know what type of game it is, what most players will be looking for, and what a good amount of the updates will consist off... But for me avoiding those new hazards as best as I can is a large part of the fun as long as there's hope at the end of the tunnel. So even the 'new monsters' and 'new H-scenes' is a source of enjoyment for people like me, even if they probably weren't meant to be enjoyed this way

Regarding having a party, I think that's definitively a great idea from a player's point of view. From a gameplay perspective, turn-based RPG battles with only 1 character eventually gets dull since there's just so much strategy you can use. With more than 1 character, you can have much more interesting battles in my opinion... I can only imagine how much work it is from a story/writing perspective though, especially if you allow to sort of 'pick' your party members (Is that the case here?). Regarding the party, I think I personally prefer the "One scene after the other" idea instead of "One character always has priority and the other has absolutely no scenes" (If I understood right what you are proposing): If it's the second option and you play as the character that has the lowest priority, then your character is kinda "immune" which takes a bit away in my opinion. I mean, I'd still do my very best to avoid anything wrong happening to other characters beside the one I picked, but it makes more sense if all the character share the risks (Only fair since in an rpg they always share the money and equipment reward anyway)!


"To Ayra, maybe look into Unholy Sanctuary"

I did play that already, but thank you either way for the recommendation! I find it not quite as amazing as Nightmare Sphere, but it is still very good and it's one of the very few games I'm keeping track of it's progress: I was a bit turned away by all the blood in the scenery of the third stage (?) so I haven't played the latest one yet, but I'm definitively planning to play it soon. I didn't want to mention Unholy Sanctuary in my post since I was already 3 paragraphs in and I still hadn't even mentionned Despair Labyrinth yet

"That said, could you explain f/f's appeal to men? "

Can't really help you there, sorry!

[KITAmaru]

Oh, no--one character always having priority is actually how the game works right now when I try to test it with multiple girls, which is a pain in the ass--I'd rather just have one girl's scene play, then another's, but getting that to work is unfortunately a lot more complicated than I expected it to be.

Ahahaha, Nightmare Sphere was indeed awesome and I was pleasantly surprised by its extremely solid Castlevania-esque gameplay, of which NSphere has some very unique characteristics of its own. The rape is pretty brutal too but it fits for the most part and almost feels like an afterthought.

And don't worry about the direction that you're pulling in, as in one of the other forums I posted this game on when I first started it, consensual / lovey F/F and M/F relationships were something I had planned very early on as the 'light' in all of the darkness, as this game can be pretty gritty, I'd say!

As for F/F's appeal to men, maybe I'm seriously alone in this, but I think F/F is the most 'pure' because to me, it seems like it could be about the love first instead of dick ~> some bodily orifice. Obviously, from my lesbian friends, of which I have a few (and don't know about this game, obv. x_x!), this isn't ALWAYS the case, but in an ideal, romantic anime sort of way, more about the relationship than simply the physical aspect. For future patches, relationships with other female characters will be more 'dating simulator' (a bunch of choices) than just a flat out sexfest. But then again, so will the idealized M/F consensual relationships, so. Worry not though; the sex will definitely be there. I mean, just LOOK at this game! By the final product, sex will hardly ever NOT be an option.

Running a bit ahead of schedule, I just played through with every character (yeesh!) and didn't see any fatal bugs, unless there's just a wrong character portrait in one of the more obscure choices--which I didn't see when I combed over the coding, so everything should be fine. If there is anything absolutely game-stopping, just let me know and of course I can always release an updated version ASAP. One might say this has a little something for 'monster' fans, whereas the next patch will have some stuff for 'yuri' fans.

Version 0.05 released on 9/6/11, 10PM PST.