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

[KITAmaru]

Not necessarily an 'eww' reaction, as that would be kind of lame; you simply won't see certain choices or romantic scenes pop up if your Purity is lower than the requirement, that's all. I think it'd be kind of weird to have some characters just 'turned off' by you being impure, so simply making it so that the opportunity is there (high Purity) as opposed to not being there (for low Purity) will be a lot simpler and clash less with characters' personalities.

[alooulla]

What i like about what you are saying is how customisable the characters personalities are. It seems the players have a choice with the responses they give, about how characters feel about things. And from the sound if it, that will apply to the consentual encounters too. Being able to have my character either totally indifferent to a person OR hot for them is very important to me, because nothing annoys me more in an RPG game than when the game decides how your character feels about someone or something. In fact the conversational choices remind me personally of my all time favourite RPG game, Baldur's gate 2. (Only this has more sex..) So, keep up the great work with this aspect!

[KITAmaru]

Indeed--you will still have a 'relationship' with a given important character in the game, be it friendly or otherwise, but you are always given a choice how to react; to simply to not give a shit or never make a move instead of falling for them. I mainly intend to give people a choice between two male characters and two female characters (with more for some planned), but in the end you'll be able to choose none, of course, because sometimes having a relationship simply shoved down your throat actually makes it MORE unbearable than it otherwise would be... at least for me.

If you don't like a character, then alright... move on. Lose in the battle where you're supposed to save them, have them get sent away or whatever, and never see them again and it's all done and over with. I feel that it's better to be able to simply opt out and make the game feel slightly more 'empty' rather than have them pre-packaged for you to be stuck with, like fuckin'... Jar Jar Binks or whatever.

[ZeroEXE.ZX17]

ZeroEXE-
There will be a 'gallery mode', yes, but as of right now, no estimated time of arrival just yet. Right now I'm actually transferring a good amount of the H-events to common events, so they can at least be accessed on demand, but there are still a few to go.

hmm i notice nothing was said about the new game + thing, nah i'll just leave it at that and wait for the surprise who knows maybe i gave you a idea you now want to keep secret XD well i hope i gave you a idea XD (that would be cool) well i shall shut up now (maybe lol) and wait for 0.07 and hopefull me idea about the vamp will make it in 0.08 or 0.09 or something lol

[KITAmaru]

Heh heh... WELL. To be honest, it's definitely crossed my mind, along with the Syndicate-path ending thing, for which I was thinking of providing it as an ending, and being a Syndicate member out in the 'real' world of the game, to raid towns and shit instead of just trying to come across random adventurers, though that's likely how it'll start anyway.

In other news... damn, this is a lotta writing. I can get done with this patch sooner IF you guys don't mind as much bandit rape, 'cause honestly, I think I'm reaching a burnout point on writing about fuckin' bandits fucking your character. I kind of can't wait 'till we get outta the bandit area and onto the Arcane Division or the other divisions. Seriously. LOL... I can fill the rest of the stuff in later, or you can wait until the 27th. Up to yooooooou.

[Milten]

I personally don't care about bandits. Not a single bandit was fucked in my playthrough. Writing is the only thing which should be done before update?

[Slayer of Ghosts]

just gotta say mate, best h-game ive ever played and i really want to thank you for all of this

[Sellsword2587]

First of all KITAmaru, love the game thus far. Keep up the great work. Second, what are your views about displaying dialogue options in relation to a character's purity? Hiding the "sluttier" dialogue option for characters with higher purity, for example. What about tagging dialogue options as a purity increase/decrease. From a design standpoint, it would help the player better choose which path they want to take in the game.

Exmaple:

Option A (Raises Purity)
Option B (No change, so no tag)
Option C (Lowers Purity)
Option D [Slutty/Mindbreak](Hidden if Purity too high; Lowers Purity)

I am not familiar with RPG Maker VX, so I'm not sure of the implications of this suggestion, but I can certainly tinker around with a trial version if you are interested in this idea, but don't know how to implement it.

Another suggestion... What are your thoughts on adding an accessible Purity counter? Either in the character stats page, or as an non-sell-able item or ability? This way you wouldn't need a mirror to check your purity (although I do love that flavor/idea; the idea of looking into the mirror to see your whorish/purist reflection)

Let me know what you think. I went to school for game design, do it as a hobby (currently), and have a real flare for it, so feel free to use me as a resource if needed (goes for everyone else as well). I'm always glad to toss ideas around. I also have some coding experience, and I'm also pretty good at writing (editing/story writing).

[tadpole92]

I say take as much time as you need to make the game the best that you want to make it, however, if the portion that you're on is annoying I would also say fill it in later so that it doesn't seem rushed or bulldozed through. You have to want to do it and a change of pace and coming back to it later may be the best option for creative purposes. Again, it's what you want and I'm sure none of us will be disappointed either way!

[ZeroEXE.ZX17]

Heh heh... WELL. To be honest, it's definitely crossed my mind, along with the Syndicate-path ending thing, for which I was thinking of providing it as an ending, and being a Syndicate member out in the 'real' world of the game, to raid towns and shit instead of just trying to come across random adventurers, though that's likely how it'll start anyway.

In other news... damn, this is a lotta writing. I can get done with this patch sooner IF you guys don't mind as much bandit rape, 'cause honestly, I think I'm reaching a burnout point on writing about fuckin' bandits fucking your character. I kind of can't wait 'till we get outta the bandit area and onto the Arcane Division or the other divisions. Seriously. LOL... I can fill the rest of the stuff in later, or you can wait until the 27th. Up to yooooooou.

this site annoys me (it won't put up my post XD) well is that a hint to the next game after DL? if not then it would be a good idea

[keys1]

Would be nice if you Release 0.06 this Weekend like you Announced it I think everyone waited for this Weekend.

[pyro32]

I'm currently play Cesca story.. However, I killed all the sillent Assasins and nothing else happened so Im just curious is that the end atm?

[KITAmaru]

Slayer-
Thanks! I'm starting fall semester next week, so updates will be less frequent, but I'll continue to plug away at the game in my spare time.

sellsword-
Hmm, now that's a thought. RPGVX mainly works with conditional branches; so there's a part for 'if Purity is > 70', for example, and then a line for 'Otherwise' or 'If not'. I don't believe there's a built-in way to 'hide' dialogue options, at least not without some serious scripting, but I can always check some VX forums for existing answers. I normally don't post on those since for some reason, people don't seem to take too kindly to H-game designers. Those freaks must love consensual, heterosexual intercourse in the missionary position... j/k.

Anyhoo, one thing I CAN do is simply make it a branch, with one option showing the pure lines and the other showing all of the lines (provided your Purity is at the right level to unlock whatever options might be available). I'll continue to toy with this idea.

On adding an accessible Purity counter, what I plan to do is eventually include it in the Status screen. I know games like Violated Heroine have it, but that particular one is made in 2000 instead of VX so I might be less successful in dissecting it and just ripping the script. For 0.06 I might put it in an item, so you don't actually have to get raep'd and go to the Chambers just to see your Purity.

Excellent, I'll probably drop you a PM, though I believe you'll need at least 10 posts in this forum in order to respond. ^^; Rules and all.

ZeroEXE-
Well, you're officially at 10 posts now, so you don't have to wait for moderator approval for whatever you write to show up at this point!

keys1-
Heh, I see people have actually been paying attention? Good to see that players still anticipate upcoming releases ;D
Well, I'm mostly done with all the stuff I wanted to do for the patch; important storyline stuff 90% done and... 4 H-scenes completed. However, I'm probably going to add just one more short scene, so 0.06 will likely be out by Monday night.

All-
Here's the dilemma. Most of this 0.06 patch is storyline-related stuff, and of course the obligatory H-scenes. There's only about 3 new rooms, two of those being pretty small and one of those actually being relatively large; not 'Chambers large', but maybe about 60% of that size. So needless to say, there is a lot of potential for H-scenes but I only have one in there so far... so, to make it less 'empty', I'm likely going to add just one more small scene.

Just so you know...
My definition of a 'small' scene is... well, think of the maid, gargoyle, or chaser in the Chambers; they tend to average about 5-10 lines, 1-2 CG's. That's about the smallest I'll ever make an H-scene in this game at this rate.

My definition of a 'medium' scene is something like this; 10-25 lines and 2-3 CG's.

My definition of a 'large' scene is... Probably the sailors in the Syndicate Bar or the intro in the Chambers. Those tend to be 25-40 lines and have 3-4+ CG's, although I would say the amount of text and branching choices tend to be more of an indicator of an H-scene's relative 'size' than the amount of pictures.

So far I have 3 medium H-scenes and one small H-scene, as well as a medium-large storyline-related scene and a small storyline-related cutscene. As I said before, I'll likely add another small one (and am halfway through another small one already) before the release, so bear with me here; I just want to make it seem at least bearable before I release a given patch!

Again, if anyone is interested in beta testing, either send me a PM or just tell me here, and you'll get biweekly (as in, every 2 weeks) access to a 'test' version that is more or less complete before the final release. Having additional people 'on staff' should help the release speed as well.

Back to working on the game

[ShadowFax]

I thought of this as a sort of beta forum anyways xD. I did always intend on reporting whatever issues I found in the game so's you wouldn't have to try and hunt them all down on your own

[Zodiark69]

This game is awesome. I've played the latest version so far, and I've got no complaints about it. I will happily await the next update.

@KITAmaru I'd do it, but I don';t have ten posts yet, so no PM for me. xD I could give you my email through sending you an email.

[pyro32]

loving the game KITAmaru, keep up the good work!

I'm just curious is there a walkthrough anywhere for this? see I get to the room thats full of the sillent assasins and when I slay them I have no where togo but from the sound of it theres more to the game then this.

[Lucky777]

There's another room to the southeast. Head all the way east, then south.

Losing to the boss there (Or to the silent assassins) nets you a pretty awesome character-specific scene, and entrance into a pretty awesome place called the Chambers.

Beating the boss in the south-eastern room allows you to continue on with the game.

So far, the game's pretty much been designed in such a way that you shouldn't strictly NEED a walkthrough to find out what to do next.

Poke around a bit : D

(Even so, a walkthrough doesn't sound like a bad idea. Someone will probably make one when the final release comes out, or something. Also the thread generally discusses whatever happened in the game, so ... if you're ever stuck, you can have a look through. XD

I wouldn't read the thread thoroughly before playing each new update, though, because spoiler tags don't appear to be enabled on this forum, and if you do that, you gon' get so spoiled. SO SPOILED.)

[KITAmaru]

I noticed a few people got stuck at the assassin part. Again, like Lucky said, it's to the southeast corner; go all the way down the hallway. What I'll probably do in the future is put a door there instead of a hallway transfer, so that the exit looks more apparent given the size of that map. I'll likely do this for most hallways outside of horizontal ones, as doors placed there just look silly to me.

I'll gradually look to make the game more user friendly with each patch! I know the plant part was simply awful in terms of direction when it first came out, so hopefully by the time the product is finished, it should be fairly straightforward. Not 'hold your hand through the entire game so there's no exploration' straightforward, but all exits and what not will be clearly marked in some form.

Thanks for the support, all! It's good to know people like the game, even in its current state! Yeah, just shoot me an email or something; I'll PM those who posted requests here soon.

[Zodiark69]

I noticed a few people got stuck at the assassin part. Again, like Lucky said, it's to the southeast corner; go all the way down the hallway. What I'll probably do in the future is put a door there instead of a hallway transfer, so that the exit looks more apparent given the size of that map. I'll likely do this for most hallways outside of horizontal ones, as doors placed there just look silly to me.

I'll gradually look to make the game more user friendly with each patch! I know the plant part was simply awful in terms of direction when it first came out, so hopefully by the time the product is finished, it should be fairly straightforward. Not 'hold your hand through the entire game so there's no exploration' straightforward, but all exits and what not will be clearly marked in some form.

Thanks for the support, all! It's good to know people like the game, even in its current state! Yeah, just shoot me an email or something; I'll PM those who posted requests here soon.

I'd contact you, if there was anything there! xD But so far, when you leave the chambers, I'm surprised at where it sends you. I won't say anything, cause it'll ruin for some people, I bet.

[ZeroEXE.ZX17]

I noticed a few people got stuck at the assassin part. Again, like Lucky said, it's to the southeast corner; go all the way down the hallway. What I'll probably do in the future is put a door there instead of a hallway transfer, so that the exit looks more apparent given the size of that map. I'll likely do this for most hallways outside of horizontal ones, as doors placed there just look silly to me.

I'll gradually look to make the game more user friendly with each patch! I know the plant part was simply awful in terms of direction when it first came out, so hopefully by the time the product is finished, it should be fairly straightforward. Not 'hold your hand through the entire game so there's no exploration' straightforward, but all exits and what not will be clearly marked in some form.

Thanks for the support, all! It's good to know people like the game, even in its current state! Yeah, just shoot me an email or something; I'll PM those who posted requests here soon.

i didn't get stuck XD but i will say that the assassins seem a bit too hard (unless you do like me and pound everyone of them to the ground XD) for someone that does't kno their way, maybe add a sign to help someone (like "this way to the bar" or something) out and i wasn't stuck at the plant part as well oh andif you need help beta testing i am willing to help, idk about designing games (if i do i would help with that as well) but i would help with beta testing i am good at finding gliches XD (mostly accdently of course) and maybe i could help with char stuff and scrips stuff as well^,..,^