Epoch Point (Side-scrolling Shooter Survival Concept)

[x3Darkie]

Yes, another one of these. Getting the itch to play some survival games so I thought, "why not make one with porn?" And there we go. Another fucking concept. I'd be lying if I said this isn't inspired by Parasite in City. In fact, the character art I just drew uses its protagonist as reference. And I might have followed the source a tad bit too closely. But it's looking good, so whatever I guess? There's also various other games I'm taking inspiration from, but Parasite in City is the largest one.

And once again, Project Rhenium is a working title. Project Rhenium is now known as Epoch Point as I've decided to carry on with this project.


Engine: Unity
Genre: Sci-fi, Survival, Side-scrolling shooter, Platforming (?)

Premise:
Set in the future, the player character is rudely awaken from cryosleep. She has no recollection of how she ended up in a cryopod, or even the events leading up to it. Surrounded by unfamiliar technology, she could only assume she's been asleep for hundreds of years. In this new world and time, she need to find food, weapons, ammo and a way to escape this labyrinth of a facility.

Gameplay:
Once you've completed the starting area (which is essentially a tutorial), you'd get thrown into a safehouse which allows you to recuperate in between runs. When you leave the safehouse, you can choose to go to any tilesets (levels/sections) of the facility you've unlocked to scavenge for stuff to survive. The maps are randomly generated each time you enter a level. The closest example I could think of would be Warframe, but in 2D. Tiles/map sections are linked together and create a randomly generated map each instances. And like Project Iodine, enemies will attempt to rape you if you expose enough skin because I'm obviously a very creative person and because hentai logic. Outfits have various stats. One of which is allure, which affects how quick it takes for an enemy to be aroused. If enemies have no arousal, they'll try and kill you instead. And death is permanent (if Ironman Mode?). Your ultimate goal is to get to the final level and escape the facility, and along the way you scavenge for stuff, craft shits, find new gear and upgrades and probably have lots of non-consensual sex.

H-Content:
Don't have any art yet, but think Parasite in City or the fuckton of other similar games. In Project Rhenium however, enemies don't immediately try to rape you. As long as you're in sight and have high allure, their arousal meter will raise and will eventually rape you. Masturbating in front of them will likely increase their arousal gain rate as well. And if enemies cum inside you, you'll have a chance to get pregnant. So find them contraceptive pills if you don't wanna give birth to monsters. Literally.

Anyway, here's some pics I guess.

Flat colors because I'm a lazy piece of shit

ProjectRhenium_CharConcept.jpg (156.55 KiB) Viewed 2582 times

Not painted because I'm a lazy piece of shit

The face and right foot is still looking kinda weird, but that'll be fixed if I actually get around to get started on this project.

[Gidshiri]

Interesting. You seen my theme about action games already. So... it's obvious how I would react to your idea. Go for it!
Honestly, i will be really glad if you can do it. And I really want to believe that you can defeat the fucking "action games" curse.
If i can suggest - some of my thought about your consept:
1. I like Parasite in City a lot too. References is good, but do not overdo it. Maybe you even can experiment with the protagonist more? I mean give her another hair color or hair style or clothes or give her any other details that you might find interesting. But if you want to leave her like that, this is not a big problem. She doesn't look bad or ugly.
2. I will be glad if i can see some RPG features in future. Like stats maybe or even skills. Maybe even sex skills or something like that.
3. How about protagonist can be not only raped by monsters... but can reverse rape them in some way? Games with this possibility are quite rare. Even rarer - finished games.
Motives of the heroine can be different. She could gradually succumb to corruption in some way. This can be a vital necessity for her. For some reasons. Maybe it will be because of some kind of virus, snatching or any other negative effect. Who knows?
And for the end. It can be real reverse rape or/and just some sort of teasing or\and foreplay and etc. A lot of opportunities. Of course, only if you decide that it will be intresting and reasonable for your game in some ways.

In any way, i really wish you good luck with this.

[x3Darkie]

I'm not familiar with this "action games" curse you're talking about. So I'm not sure what you meant exactly by that.

In any case, response to your suggestions:
1. Once again, not sure what you meant by overdoing references, but I am still experimenting with her design. Clothing/outfits can be crafted or found or whatever, and as far as hair style goes, I can make multiple hairstyles since everything is pretty much on separate layers for animations. But since h-animations are drawn separately, I'll only start with a single hairstyle before implementing more.

ProjectRhenium_CharHairstyleConcept.jpg (100.17 KiB) Viewed 2563 times

2. Simple RPG elements are certainly planned. Stat like strength, dexterity and such, but sex skills? Probably not. I don't see a reason for sex skills.
3. Reverse rape is definitely unlikely to be implemented. The closest thing would only be masturbating in their line of sight and get them aroused. Corruption is definitely a no. It just doesn't fit with the premise of the game. As for motives, I mean, the only motive I'm giving the player is to escape the facility. Aside from that, I'm leaving it blank.

Apologies for shooting the majority of your suggestions. I don't feel like they'll work well with the game. Negative space (things not to implement/include) is just as important as filling the spaces (things to implement/include). One of the reasons I think Chrono Trigger is so good is because it doesn't include unnecessary stuff like skill customization, stat allocation and 100 floor dungeons. Sure, you can argue that including those gives a game more depth, customization and replayability in modern gaming which is just as valid. But Chrono Trigger knows exactly what it wants to be and doesn't try to do more than it should.

Tl;dr, trying to contain the scope and vision to a reasonable scale.

[Gidshiri]

Oh, it's not your problem that you can't understand some of my sentences. My english really sucks. Especially with complex words and concepts. I only hope you understand at least more than 50% from my sentences. Sorry for that

I'm not familiar with this "action games" curse you're talking about. So I'm not sure what you meant exactly by that.

I'm not sure how call it in other way. It's just a tendency which I noticed recently. Most of developers who started work on action games lately have not been able to complete their work. Their reasons is different and not related to each other... but i call it a "curse" anyway. In the end, it's just my stupid imagination.

When I talked about references, i mean that it is totally okay to love some game and want to use some of the ideas from there in some way. I just tried to warn you about not overdoing with it. I do not mean anything certain (it's still just a concept, in any case). But i think you may know about it already. So, i'm sorry if i insulted you in some way.
About hair styles. Looks good. (the third one looks really like Samus for me )

Hmm... stats. I just remembered one game where there could be a similar system of stats. It called FIGHTING GIRL SAKURA. You planning something similiar for your game? (you may try demo from DLsite, if you want)
About skills. Okay, no sex skills (i'm so sad :C). I understand your reasons. But how about other skills? Perks maybe? Like "fast reloading" or "gun specialist" (guns deals more damage), for example? I understand your position about "negative space", so, if it is too much for your game plan or you just don't want to implement something like this - it's okay.

About reverse rape, corruption and etc. Again, i understand your reasons (but still very sad :C). It's just something that i really like in H-games. I really love when the protagonist not just another sex victim for the enemies, but can also give them some payback. It's like show them "who the boss here" in sex way too. Anyway, I think, you got my idea already. In any case, at least i tried. Sorry for my little selfish suggestion

It's okay that you rejected some of my ideas. You should not blindly take them. I just give some of my thoughts. You can do with them all that you want (even reject all of them ). It's totally normal.

[x3Darkie]

I'm not sure how call it in other way. It's just a tendency which I noticed recently. Most of developers who started work on action games lately have not been able to complete their work. Their reasons is different and not related to each other... but i call it a "curse" anyway. In the end, it's just my stupid imagination.

When I talked about references, i mean that it is totally okay to love some game and want to use some of the ideas from there in some way. I just tried to warn you about not overdoing with it. I do not mean anything certain (it's still just a concept, in any case). But i think you may know about it already. So, i'm sorry if i insulted you in some way.

To be fair, game dev is hard work. And I could literally find just as much non-h games that are abandoned as h ones. And don't worry about it. I don't feel insulted or offended in anyway.

In any case, I've never played FIGHTING GIRL SAKURA, so I can't say. Other examples I can pull from though would be the fuckton of other survival games out there. They've got stats like Strength, Vitality, Endurance, Dexterity and such. So in that sense, yes. Not sure about skills or perks though. When I have something concrete, I'll write about it, but for now, not sure yet.

I wasn't thinking of Samus when I drew that ponytail, but Samus' hot, so yay I guess? Also redrew the long hairstyle and made some adjustments to the security outfit. This hairstyle will probably be the default hairstyle.

ProjectRhenium_CharLongHairstyleConcept.jpg (70.7 KiB) Viewed 2553 times

[Gidshiri]

Hmmm, hairstyle looks good for me.
What about clothes? It will be default outfit? Or you not decide yet?

EDIT
Also, screenshot from the demo, that i downloaded from DLsite right now.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

[x3Darkie]

There's no default outfit per se, but the player'll start with a medical gown. As for the image you linked, probably something like that, yes. But nothing on paper yet.

And now, enemies! I don't know how many types/factions of enemies I want yet, but the two I've have plans for are robots and monsters. Robots generally ignores you unless you attack them. When killed, they can drop stuffs like metal or electronic thingies. Monsters attack on sight and most will attempt to mate you when fully aroused. Drops fur, pelts, meats or other biological materials.

The ones I have below are a Carrier Drone. They have a chance of carrying some sort of item when you see them, which gives you some incentive of attacking them (like when you're low on food and see them carrying some). When attacked, they'll warn you first and if you continue attacking, they will and I quote, "initiating disciplinary protocol," because hentai logic. God, I love that term. It explains everything. They have long retractable grabby arms that can shock enemies and retract the fingers to act as a mechanical dildo or something. The second one is the Beastman, which is basically a werewolf and I do not want a werewolf in this sci-fi setting so I'm calling it a Beastman. Drops fur and maybe meat?

I can't draw

[Gidshiri]

So, robots will be drones only? Looks interesting.
Beastmen, looks... not like werewolf for me. More like... hmm... some kind of humanoid reptile with fur? Not sure, anyway.
How about some infestation group? Like infested human or monsters, mutants maybe. Some biological abominations (tentacle beast?).
Oh, and I strongly vote for some girl to girl action. It will be fun to see some lesbian scenes, i think

[x3Darkie]

Robots and monsters are the enemy type/faction. Meaning there's more than 1 kind of enemy per type. The Carrier Drone is just one of the Robots, so there'll be more. What kind of robots though, I'm not sure yet. I'm starting small before actually implementing more enemies. Same goes for the Beastman. Infestation is probably a no as the monsters are technically humans (that's why they can impregnate humans). As for lesbian, I'm gonna say maybe, maybe not? I'm starting with two enemies for now. Don't wanna inflate the scope of the game. Gameplay is still my number one priority. So the first thing I'll actually get started on would be stuff like UI, combat mechanics, items as such before the h-scenes (or whatever you call them for side-scrollers).

Since this isn't an RPG, I'm not gonna delve too deep into lore. I'm going the Soulsborne route for narrative this time. Dialogue would probably be non-existent and lore exists in item descriptions.

Redrew the Beastman and a quick sketch of a headfuck. And I can't fucking draw monsters. Any artists (or non-artists, I'm not discriminating) around wanna chime in feel free to verbally abuse me with your constructive criticisms.

[x3Darkie]

Some combat details! Combat will be fairly simple. With a melee weapon, right click blocks, left click when not blocking to do light attacks and left click when blocking to do a heavy attack. With a ranged weapon, right click to aim, left click during aiming to shoot and left click when not aiming to quick melee. To balance this out, melee-ing with a ranged weapon will deal less damage than any melee weapons and degrade its condition faster than shooting normal. You can still move during aiming or blocking albeit at a slower pace, so tank controls are definitely not planned. Other than that, you can hold shift to run and tap shift to dodge roll.

And I'll be leaving you with a rough concept of how the player will look when aiming.

[Gidshiri]

I just thought. Are you animated something earlier? I mean, if i remember correctly - CG in Captivity was not animated. Maybe you can try to animate something simple to see how it will looks? How it will looks for you, i mean. I asking it just because i'm don't know much about your skills and experience. Sorry, if i insulting you.

[x3Darkie]

Experience in animation? Zero. Knowledge in animation? Some. And yeah, CGs in Captivity isn't animated. That is a intended design choice as most of the scene is delivered through text and the CG is just a rough representation (an accurate one, mind you, but still a rough one). BUT, learning from my mistakes with Captivity, I'm not going to be animating anything anytime soon. I want to draw out the main poses like standing, crouching, knocked down, holding a melee weapon, a gun and such to set a consistent standard and proportions first before actually moving on to animating just so I won't have placeholders everywhere that will require me to inevitably go back and replace them. And high chances are what you see here will be tweaked and/or replaced in the coming days anyway.

[Gidshiri]

Oh, okay. Then, i just wish you good luck again. Do your best!

[x3Darkie]

Oh, okay. Then, i just wish you good luck again. Do your best!

Thanks! :3

And now, concept of holding a knife & redrawn the medical gown.

[x3Darkie]

Sorta tried my hands at animating. Bear in mind I have literally zero experience with animation prior to this, so tell me how it looks. And yes, I know there's a huge gap between 7 and 8. I'll add that in some other time. EDIT: And I've just noticed in frame 5 and 6 the red leg is kinda sliding on the ground instead of being lifted.

(Had to upload to imgur because LoK broke the gif.)

Update: Project Rhenium is now known as Epoch Point and have a new dev blog to go with it!

[x3Darkie]

Finalized the protagonist's body shape.

[Gidshiri]

So, developing still goes? How are you doing?

[x3Darkie]

Apologies for the late reply. Only gotten my internet back recently. Unfortunately I haven't been working on this for awhile. Mostly because of work and I've been focusing on Captivity instead.