Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

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Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby maverickk » Wed Oct 11, 2017 1:27 am

Strive an adult, text based fantasy slave management game. You take a role of an aspiring young Mage, who takes a possession over a mansion and aims to achieve greatness.

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You can grab the latest public version at itch.io: https://strive4power.itch.io/strive-for-power
There's also patreon funding game's art and other assets featuring latest version: https://www.patreon.com/maverik

The game has been in development for about a year (with latest engine at least). It is still going through alpha stage, but there's a plenty of content and mechanics you can try out and have fun with.



Features:
Take control and direct procedurally generated NPCs with over 15 fantasy themed and monster races
Develop and upgrade your mansion to unlock new tools and possiblities
Brew potions and learn spells to affect and change your servants
Customize and train your main character
Fight and capture strangers and criminals to descipline them to your liking, or merely sell them away
Follow the lengthy main quest or discover minor side charcters with their original storylines which will be influenced by your actions

Some additional screenshots:
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby nad destroyer » Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:19 am

Fantastic game. Hard to believe that this is just the alpha stage. Just going to mention what bothered me the most. Most of the sex text is too small. The only scene that is okay is the virgin scene. For some reason the game assumes all girls are funatari at the beginning and switches to strapon lol. Thats pretty much it. I haven't even gotten very far into what your game has to offer and I'm already having fun. My only suggestion at the moment is too add a few requests for slaves that could be completed a bit earlier.

Oh yea... that gnome girl you can find wandering the forest... how to you catch her? I find her and it says no opportunity to catch her or something. Her picture is at the top.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Mashugana » Fri Oct 13, 2017 3:52 am

nad destroyer Wrote:Fantastic game. Hard to believe that this is just the alpha stage. Just going to mention what bothered me the most. Most of the sex text is too small. The only scene that is okay is the virgin scene. For some reason the game assumes all girls are funatari at the beginning and switches to strapon lol. Thats pretty much it. I haven't even gotten very far into what your game has to offer and I'm already having fun. My only suggestion at the moment is too add a few requests for slaves that could be completed a bit earlier.

Oh yea... that gnome girl you can find wandering the forest... how to you catch her? I find her and it says no opportunity to catch her or something. Her picture is at the top.


You gotta buy the sedation spell at the mage's guild to calm her down so you can talk to her. I think her quest line involves you gaining a new spell for helping her out.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Lucky777 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 12:48 pm

Wow, my reception of this game is VERY positive.

At first I thought "Well, this has just appeared in the forum so it's probably hella incomplete", but ... the amount of content is quite surprising.
The fact that it's been in development for about a year really shows.
: D

I always say - and still maintain - that Jack-o-Nine is the gold standard for these kinds of games, but this has some really cool features that even Jack lacked.
It's nice to be able to use spells in combat, for example.
Also nice to be able to have a party assist you.

I had a REAL rough start with making money, and I died to packs of wolves far more times than I care to admit, but I'm having great fun with this.

Will probably pop back in and say things when I've played some more of it, but right off the bat, killing wolves should probably get you some food as well as the exp.
I also very much think that the PLAYER should be able to do things to earn money besides capturing slaves, eg working at the Mages' guild or doing manual labour.
Same goes for foraging etc, seems like you could bone yourself pretty thoroughly if you sell your last assistant and you need money.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby MMMm » Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:38 pm

The secret to this game is getting a fox girl trained up in prostitution, then casting spells on her to keep her happy while she trains her escort skill and makes loads of money for you. Eventually you use her children to continue the business, or branch out and buy new fox girls.

You'll never have money problems again.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Lucky777 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:07 pm

Eh, I just "BARELY FUCKING LIVED AND ALSO DIED A FEW TIMES TO BANDITS" until I got 2 girls able to go into prostitution, things went perfectly from there.
My main fighting and adventuring squad just holds down side-jobs as common whores, and all goes well.
In my own mind, I deal with the fact that STDs are a non-issue by thinking " Surely the heal spell cures THAT too! : D "
As to the children, I don't know anything about the game's childbearing mechanic.
Without exception I always sterilise my chicks, and then go from there.

I like the IDEA of the special level-up requirement system for slaves, but the execution is a bit annoying when you get a requirement you CAN'T fulfill.

I'm ASSUMING an amnesia potion is the thing to reset that to something else random, but I can't make that potion either, as I'm lacking "tainted Essence" or something.
That should probably be a bit easier to find.
...if I'm even RIGHT about needing an amnesia potion.

I do like the idea, for sure, 'cause it make the event a little more special.

NOT a fan of getting unachievable requirements though, like "where the fuck do I even find a Kimono?"
I'm... also not hugely into the fact that you can only give the girl the requirement from the "talk" screen.
I spent a long time thinking something was broken because girls didn't level up after 3 days of inactivity, when the requirement was "3 days' vacation".
But eeeeh.
Once you notice that you have to do it from the specific talk screen, it kinda works.

Oh also, the DEFAULT setting for after you and your slaves learn new moves should be for those moves to be DISPLAYED in combat, not hidden.
Nearly died again vs Ivern or whoever he was, because I didn't recall the latest addition to my team ... had already learned all the relevant skills, like Heal.
Fortunately I made it even without her ever casting.


I was hoping in the quest where you have to deliver an elf and a drow you could deliver them one at a time and spare yourself the food upkeep costs while you only
have one and not two. Seems you can't though.
Disappointing - and also I'm wondering if a Dark Elf counts as a Drow, since they're ACTUALLY THE SAME THING in all lore I know of.

Some jankiness aside, this continues to be really cool though.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Mashugana » Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:13 pm

Lucky777 Wrote:Eh, I just "BARELY FUCKING LIVED AND ALSO DIED A FEW TIMES TO BANDITS" until I got 2 girls able to go into prostitution, things went perfectly from there.
My main fighting and adventuring squad just holds down side-jobs as common whores, and all goes well.
In my own mind, I deal with the fact that STDs are a non-issue by thinking " Surely the heal spell cures THAT too! : D "
As to the children, I don't know anything about the game's childbearing mechanic.
Without exception I always sterilise my chicks, and then go from there.

I like the IDEA of the special level-up requirement system for slaves, but the execution is a bit annoying when you get a requirement you CAN'T fulfill.

I'm ASSUMING an amnesia potion is the thing to reset that to something else random, but I can't make that potion either, as I'm lacking "tainted Essence" or something.
That should probably be a bit easier to find.
...if I'm even RIGHT about needing an amnesia potion.

I do like the idea, for sure, 'cause it make the event a little more special.

NOT a fan of getting unachievable requirements though, like "where the fuck do I even find a Kimono?"
I'm... also not hugely into the fact that you can only give the girl the requirement from the "talk" screen.
I spent a long time thinking something was broken because girls didn't level up after 3 days of inactivity, when the requirement was "3 days' vacation".
But eeeeh.
Once you notice that you have to do it from the specific talk screen, it kinda works.

Oh also, the DEFAULT setting for after you and your slaves learn new moves should be for those moves to be DISPLAYED in combat, not hidden.
Nearly died again vs Ivern or whoever he was, because I didn't recall the latest addition to my team ... had already learned all the relevant skills, like Heal.
Fortunately I made it even without her ever casting.


I was hoping in the quest where you have to deliver an elf and a drow you could deliver them one at a time and spare yourself the food upkeep costs while you only
have one and not two. Seems you can't though.
Disappointing - and also I'm wondering if a Dark Elf counts as a Drow, since they're ACTUALLY THE SAME THING in all lore I know of.

Some jankiness aside, this continues to be really cool though.


Breeding slaves can work for rarer races at least, personally I've done it using Taurus or Angels and other rare races you can't normally catch in the wilds. It also causes them to lactate without using the potion for it. So if you're patient about your dairy farm you can do it that way and kill two birds with one stone.

You get the kimono at Shaliq village, you'll find it in the ancient forest. Drow and Dark elves are very similar but different races in Forgotten Elves at least, though the difference is more cultural than biological for the most part.
Last edited by Mashugana on Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Lucky777 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:17 pm

Ancient Forest, eh?
Cool.
Thanks!

Also I really think you should be able to sell the slaves in your "Jail"...

I say this after like the third time I forgot to take them out and put them to sleep in "common rooms" before going to sell 'em, much to my inconvenience.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Mashugana » Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:24 pm

No problem man, took a little bit for me to find it too. The new UI makes it a little hard to find things some times.

Oh, and you can get tainted essence from demons, kinda like how you get magic essence from fairies, beast essence from beastfolk, etc.

Yeah, it'd make more sense to be able to sell your slaves from your jail, especially if they're still rebellious and haven't been broken in yet.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Lucky777 » Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:46 pm

I only noticed that I got beast essence from beastfolk, not the others; oops on me.
Shouldn't all the essences be available somewhere in the stores though?
Well, maybe they ARE and I just haven't explored the areas enough to find all the stores.

I thought I had, but I was clearly wrong.

In retrospect I'm not sure why I thought I had, since I never even touched a lot of the areas in all the cities' "outskirts".
I guess I just figured the cities you BOUGHT portals to were the only ones that existed and/or had stores or something.
... I'd be fine with all the little towns etc. having their portalstones available to buy; it's a bit of an annoyance having to walk to things.
If you could both portalstone to and walk to all the towns that might be cool, because depending on mood it's also great FUN to adventure and walk to things.
Granted I could see Umbra only having portal access because nobody tells you where to find the various entrances, but ... eh, Sebastian could tell ya.

Eh.

Wanting the ability to buy portalstones to every little place isn't really so much a valid "game design criticism" at all, it's just me being lazy.
...I think.
... Sometimes it's a little hard to tell them apart, even when I'm the man MAKING the observations.

From a design perspective, maybe buying a map would be sufficient, so you KNOW if a walk into an area would result in finding a town, or would just be a dead end.
The valid concern is that I don't want to just spend time rubbing my head against all the areas in the outskirts without knowing if it'll get me anything.
Troublesome when a thing you need happens to BE in one of those places...

Eh, I dunno.
In this very specific case it's probably just a problem with me not bothering to explore the areas because I figured it'd be too much of a pain.
In other words in this case it's probably just me.


EDIT: Yeah upon realising that all or almost all the areas in the outskirts have legitimate reasons to go to the "end" of them that changes things a bit.
Hmm.
HMMM.
Maybe something to make it more obvious that that's the case.
I was pretty sure you'd just be wandering around and getting random encounters, as opposed to "making progress to a specific destination".
Apart from a map I don't know what could make that more obvious.
Probably just a mention in the tutorial and the old-style help-guide would be entirely enough.
(inb4 it's clearly stated somewhere in there and I just missed it.
WELP)

[Edit 2: I SAY that and then Gorn outskirts and Frostford outskirts turn out to be JUST the kinds of pointless dead ends I was fucking concerned about.
So yeah, definitely a map.
DEFINITELY.
At least it's good that you get to AVOID the encounters sometimes.
Reliant on a hidden "awareness" stat or something? Or maybe wits, somehow getting better at seeing bears from reading in an old library? What's up with all that?]

...Oh I didn't realise it looks like ALL of the spells can be used in battle too.
I assumed it'd just be useless to even try to use some of 'em.
: O
Man
This game keeps on being cooler and more finished than I thought.
[Edit 3: Nnnooo... Mind Reading appears to be useless in combat. Or perhaps it's only for humanoid enemies, not direwolves.]


OH!
And if the things required for levelling up TOLD you where and how to get them, that might solve the issue.
I mean if you know their names, you should probably know enough about them to know how to find the too, riiiiight?
Well.
Whether it makes sense from an immersion perspective AT ALL or not, it solves the problem of not knowing what the fuck is going on, so it's worth it.
...And I mean, while I like the IDEA, the truth is that sometimes from an immersion perspective it makes no fucking sense at all to begin with.
"I need a nice dress so I can get more muscles from my past workouts, plz."

Maybe if it was just a certain sum of money you had to pay to get them a specific kind of training, or ... certain specific items do make some sense, like beast
essence and shit, maybe they gotta take those in to actually realise some of their physical gains...
Eh. I maintain that I really like the idea.
It definitely doesn't seem to make sense from an immersion perspective in some cases though, especially with the dresses etc.
But yeah, an added tooltip showing how to get the requirement solves the problem from a purely practical perspective.


...I don't see any extra HP from the Bodyguard specialisation.
And I don't know where to check what the character's armour rating is in battle, or where to see if the armour from "Barrier" has expired.
Dunno what armour even does, but I assume it's a flat minus from the incoming damage or something like that, so...
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby nad destroyer » Sat Oct 14, 2017 4:54 am

Mashugana Wrote:
nad destroyer Wrote:Fantastic game. Hard to believe that this is just the alpha stage. Just going to mention what bothered me the most. Most of the sex text is too small. The only scene that is okay is the virgin scene. For some reason the game assumes all girls are funatari at the beginning and switches to strapon lol. Thats pretty much it. I haven't even gotten very far into what your game has to offer and I'm already having fun. My only suggestion at the moment is too add a few requests for slaves that could be completed a bit earlier.

Oh yea... that gnome girl you can find wandering the forest... how to you catch her? I find her and it says no opportunity to catch her or something. Her picture is at the top.


You gotta buy the sedation spell at the mage's guild to calm her down so you can talk to her. I think her quest line involves you gaining a new spell for helping her out.


Thanks for letting me know. Had no idea that you needed a spell.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Mashugana » Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:43 am

Yeah I'm with you on the leveling deal, seems kinda arbitrary, at some points actively detrimental with things like reduction potions and the like.

I like how the spells have both combat and out of combat applications, it often bothers me that you can't use a lot of your spells outside of combat in games like Final Fantasy.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby maverickk » Sat Oct 14, 2017 11:57 am

Also I really think you should be able to sell the slaves in your "Jail"...

You should be able to sell jailed slaves with no problems.

I was pretty sure you'd just be wandering around and getting random encounters, as opposed to "making progress to a specific destination".

Actually in next version exploration system has been reworked so its more linear instead of hub based. There's also lots new details like you have to capture slaves with rope and return with them, rest to restore energy and such.

Mind Reading appears to be useless in combat. Or perhaps it's only for humanoid enemies, not direwolves.

Mind reading shows exact enemy health in combat and few other stats when hovering.

...I don't see any extra HP from the Bodyguard specialisation.
Whoops, looks like my mistake. Armor reduces received damage by flat amount.. for some reason I haven't added clear way to see this stat to player group, but you can see enemy's armor with mind read.

Barrier and other effect durations can be seen when hovered over your party in combat.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Lucky777 » Sat Oct 14, 2017 1:59 pm

Rambling, refer to coherent post (or read through this if you're so inclined. Putting it in spoilers to avoid taking up screen space.)
Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Also seems like when people come back from being injured or whatever, they should automatically be reassigned to whatever they were doing before.
Like, I have persons in my adventuring party, one gets injured at work somehow, and after being sent off to heal, she doesn't automatically re-enlist.
That got me killed once when I didn't notice; I do think there should be a fix applied to that.

...I'll PROBABLY summarise all these points in one post; usually I have time to kinda make notes (even publicly on the forum) and then edit them into a coherent form,
but this game has so much content that I've been at it for a solid number of hours and haven't reached the end of the main quest yet. SOME of that time's been spent on grinding, and some was just floundering around in various forms of swiftly fatal confusion at the beginning, but still. Pretty legit.

Having said that, I think it might be nice to have a way to gain mana more quickly than the drips of 7 or 6 at a time that you get from fucking your slaves.
The bonus to loyalty when they cum is a very nice touch, but to get a nice 500 mana reserve for adventuring takes a LOT of clicking.
Maybe some way to automate it so you spend like 60 energy a day fucking a selected target for automatic mana-gain or something.
...Perhaps having one of them share your bed DOES that, I didn't think of that, gotta check on it.
Now that I'm rolling in cash, it's an opportune time to spend some on that bed upgrade and check it out.
[Edit: NOPE. Not only do I get NO mana from having them sleep in my bed, but a personal room is apparently better.
And SO much better that mere commoners complain about sleeping in my bed; what the fuck kind of room am I sleeping in, anyway?
You'd think it'd be the MOST luxurious, wouldn't you?
Eh, maybe there'll be a mansion upgrade that will make it a tier better than the Personal rooms, later on.]

Well, maybe orgies will give a lot more mana.

...But what is an "Aphrodite brew"?
I thought it was just a mistype for aphrodisiac, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
I don't really think orgies should require some extraneous potion.
Much more to the point, though, I can't create it at my alchemist station anyway.
What gives?

Oh, and maybe the farm provides mana as well as milk, I don't know - I recall reading it was very stressful for the person being the cow, so I never bothered with it.

Also an option to trade some gold and energy for mana in the brothel might be helpful, for when you're starting out and your slaves aren't sexually obedient.
(In my case, by CHANCE I happened to have an aphrodisiac when I got Emily, because "hey, this is always a good thing to buy", so that wasn't a problem - but still.)
...Although to be fair, when you're starting out you don't have any gold to spare on whores anyway.


...Ooh, I took the time to raise my rep with Frostford for that one quest, and the result was great.
I don't even have that positive rep in my OWN home town, but it was very well worth it!
I do think the end of the quest should take into account the fact that you and/or your slaves have the heal spell though, and the mana to use it.

Actual spoilers follow, not one of the "neatness" spoilertags I sometimes use:
Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Even if they're not good enough to outright CURE the poisoned girl, they should at least be able to make it a cinch for the cure to succeed.
I don't know what would have happened if I'd chosen one of them, even though they have 115 hp (and are supposed to have the bonus from bodyguard, but don't).
Maybe its more likely for death to occur if it's not the main character, I dunno - just knew that I'd rather reload from a game over than lose one of 'em.
But regardless, I'd suggest that having MULTIPLE heal mages on the spot should certainly reduce the risk of fatality for anybody to absolutely zero.

... Might like to see a loyalty gain from all party members when you opt not to sacrifice them, too.


... All right.
So I've finished the main questline that's currently available.
ACTUAL COHERENT POST time.

Now see, these kinds of games are right up my alley, in everything from the Slave-fetish to the Sword and Sorcery setting, so I'm pretty damned glad I stumbled across this one.
I always keep Jack-o-Nine in mind as the gold standard for the genre, but there were some things I'd have loved to see in that game which I didn't see, like a combat usage for magic, and a party system for adventuring and combat.
Since those things are clearly very present in this game, this game is a serious contender for becoming "the other half" of the gold standard.

Jack for the complex breaking and training mechanics, this for the adventuring.

The breaking mechanics in this basically amount to "Stick 'em in jail until they're obedient, then convince 'em and fuck 'em until they're loyal."
Badabing, badaboom.
You're done.
So in this I think it's not so much the actual taming and breaking that constitutes the gameplay, but more traditional questing and exploring.
That's fine; it's just a difference of emphasis between this and Jack-o-Nine.
I don't object to that, in fact, precisely as I stated, the combat and adventuring aspect is specifically something I had hoped for MORE of in J9.
And this game does it well.


One of the stand-out good things going on in this game is the main quest, I'd say - and I only VERY rarely ever say that.
Firstly it functions as a bit of a tutorial with its earlier requirements, which is a pretty good idea.
But then secondly it actually gets pretty interesting as well in its own right.
I'm REALLY not particularly interested in getting into the vast intrigue and high-stakes shit that RPG plots usually end up devolving into, but I am at least invested in keeping the economies of the 3 main cities prospering peacefully. In that sense, the Frostford quest is probably my favourite.

ACTUAL spoilers again
Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Hopefully there'll be an option to have Hade thumped by the authorities and I won't have to do any really stupid or badly-written shit like oh, say "beating up an army of his followers, which clearly outnumbers and outmatches me and my party in all ways except being favoured by fucking plot-armour, and somehow apprehending him myself".


But I can't stress enough, apart from its tutorial value, the story is actually somewhat interesting, and that in itself actually adds playtime value.
As a matter of fact, I'd have been done with the currently available things in the game far earlier if it weren't for the main quest; I arrived at my own personal "victory condition" for these sorts of games relatively early. (That is, "sustainable income and health, acceptable fighting strength, collection of slave whores".)



Now, while the combat and the plot are some of the good stuff, there's no doubt ALSO some jankiness that needs to be addressed in this game.
Considering the quality of what's there already, though, I'm confident that it will be addressed in time, and competently so as well.
I'll be looking forward to that.

Some of the jank is littered above in random posts, and will be briefly touched upon in the Tl;DR suggestions and fixes sections below, but mainly it focuses on
Exploration, Slave levelling, and Player quality of life.

Exploration
Exploration's ACTUALLY pretty ideal most of the time, and only becomes a problem when some random level-up requirement doesn't tell you where to find it.
It'd be nice to know which areas lead in to little towns so you don't have to waste your time exploring every dead end, though.
A map would probably be the cure to this.

[Apparently a change is incoming. Don't know how the rework will be, but that's cool. As it IS, I think it's nearly ideal with the addition of a map, but let's see how the rework goes.]

Levelling of slaves
The idea of specific requirements is one I haven't seen a lot, and one I very much like, but it needs a bit of tweaking for player quality of life and for immersion.
For players' quality of life, the requirements should tell you how to obtain them.
For immersion, they should be things that make some sense, like (arguably) the Specialisation and Essence requirements, and very much UNLIKE the "clothing" and "detrimental potion" type requirements.

...(And the idea that specialising in Housekeeping could help make a person a better fighter is pretty silly, too. It's good that ANY specialisation (in fact actually just clicking on the specialisation button, even if you DO NOT specialise the slave) will suffice, but .... eh. Maybe that's intentional and not a bug, and the precise thing you're supposed to do is let the slave go with you and learn about the specialisation options, as opposed to actually putting her into any specific specialisation? If that's the case then... to look at it in immersion terms, maybe it gives the slave motivation, something to aim for, an idea of the things she can become if she tries?)

"Grade" requirements for levelling are a bit of a grey area.
From an immersion standpoint, since "grade" refers to the kind of treatment the slave expects and the kinds of things it's able to do, I could see raising it as a requirement for up to "commoner" grade, since that is the grade at which all things are open to the slave, and the treatment requirements are neither overbearing nor negligible.

The individual is accepted for most or all jobs, and his or her requirements are food and shelter with a minimum of luxuries.

In terms of how this makes any immersive sense, I figure that at "commoner" level, they get good enough food and living conditions to sustain bodily and mental growth.

Perhaps instead of requiring an advancement in grade, beyond commoner status, that could be replaced with the vacation requirement, which SORT OF makes immersive sense in that it gives the slave time to reflect and relax. I guess.
I don't know.

From a gameplay standpoint, it's a little weird that a slave would require grade advancement in order to gain a level, especially when you can then just bump them back down. Or probably, bump them DOWN and then bump them back UP to satisfy the advancement requirement.
A little janky... but making the requirement something like "raise grade TO RICH and keep it there" would be annoyingly inconvenient... and MAYBE un-immersive.

Player Quality of life
A lot of effort has CLEARLY been put into explaining things in the tutorials, and assisting players with tool-tips.
That shit's legit, and it makes it possible to play this game without referring to a wiki.
As a matter of fact that's something that this game has, I believe, done BETTER than Jack-o-Nine.

But there's more ground to cover in this area, even so.

Essentially, it helps to idiot-proof your videogame.


- I nearly died because I didn't notice someone had already learned the skills I taught them, and I didn't notice that because the skills don't default to showing up.
Definitely my own fault, but I think the default should be that the skills SHOW UP in combat when bought.

- I DID die because I didn't notice someone hadn't come back into the adventuring party when they returned from being injured (or maybe it was vacation), even though they Do stay in the party when they're undergoing modification or when they ...(whichever one it wasn't above, like ... when they're injured or when they go on leave).
My own fault for not gathering the party before venturing forth, but still. I put them there once. What the fuck are they doing not returning when they come back.

- I had to do an area over again because I didn't notice a slave had been delivered to my jail instead of the living quarters.
...I got careless in my exasperation and that was another death, too.
FIRST of all it should state where the slave has been placed when you get them from Sebastian, so that would be made clear.
SECOND of all I do think you should be able to sell slaves from your jail.
[Edit: Apparently you already can in an incoming update, or something.]

- Some of the stats could do with a bit more explanation, both in tutorials and otherwise.
I didn't figure out FOR A WHILE that if the slave has lower than max loyalty their obedience drops naturally.
Having figured it out it's no problem, and it does certainly make good sense that obedience cannot be lower than loyalty, but still.

- It doesn't seem to make immersive sense that Group Sex would require some random potion, and unfortunately that potion doesn't seem to be readily available.
Stating how to obtain the potion might be a quality of life fix.
Removing the necessity for it, though, is my preferred option, for immersion reasons.

A lot of it really is just idiot-proofing, as shown by all those deaths that were my own fault, but I feel it's a quality concern moreso than the deaths I suffered while just beginning and not knowing how much damage I'd take or how much armour I needed, because really ... I feel like some of that stuff just shouldn't have happened.

Suggestions
It'd be nice to see a way to raise a slave's magic affinity and endurance, and our own, just as there already is for hearing, strength, and agility.

It'd also be very nice for us to be able to forage and earn money etc on our own, ESPECIALLY in the early difficult parts of the game.
Properly built strong characters can do so by selling bandits, but if you specced into less combat-worthy options at the start, you're out of luck.
Working in the guild section, assisting in the mage's guild, hunting, trapping, foraging, basically ALL slave jobs would be cool for the MC to be able to do too.
...I did say BASICALLY all slave jobs.
I'm not sure submitting yourself for experimentation in Umbra is ever a good idea, and I certainly wouldn't send any prized slaves to do it, either.

On a very closely related note, it'd be cool if killing wolves etc gave you some food.
Not bandits or sentients, if you're not minded to include cannibalism.
Not slimes, mutants or troglodytes, if they're ... fucking poisonous.
And I mean, you definitely can't eat metal golems.
: D
But yeah.
Killing wolves is ALREADY like "hunting", it's just hunting for much more dangerous game.

Bugs
- It looks like you can only open the "unlock moves" menu for your own character once per level up or something like that.
That can't be right, even if it's intentional.
The level and stat requirements for moves are restriction enough, and hell, the LEVEL restriction might be unnecessary.
I don't think there's actually a level restriction for the main character, so that might be what this is intended to replace.
... I'd just remove it even if it is intentional though.

TL;DR Fixes
- A map, so you know where is not necessary to explore, and where you have to explore in order to find towns.
[Maybe rendered otiose in a coming version? We'll have to see.]

- A tooltip telling you how to obtain the various slave level-up requirements
- Immersive and sensible slave level-up requirements

- Being able to sell slaves from your jail
[Apparently this has already been corrected for a coming version or something of the sort.]

- Specification of where to get the oblivion and aphrodite potions in the tutorial and group sex tab respectively, if the need for those potions continues to exist.

- When you learn skills, the default should be that they DO show up on your skill bar in battle, not that they DON'T.
- Members of the travelling party automatically go back into the travelling party when they come back from vacation or being injured etc.
--- Understandably, if someone else is already there, you won't be able to exceed your maximum, but hopefully you can account for this and just put a message that X has returned and is fit for duty in the travelling party but cannot join as it is full, or something like that. Don't go coding yourself into extra bugs, but still.

TL;DR Suggestions
- Being able to visit the brothel for mana
- Not needing some random potion for group sex
- Loyalty bonus if you choose yourself for the Frostford quest
- ACTUAL SPOILERS
Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Zero percent chance of fatality for Zoe or you[rs] in that quest if there are mages with heal present; possibly a mana cost to show your magic aided with that.

- Would be nice to be able to raise the caps to slaves' magic affinity and endurance, and our own.
- Would be nice to be able to forage and earn money ETC on our own, for the difficult early portions of the game.
- Related: killing animals should net you some food.

Conclusion
Absolutely outstanding for a product not locked behind paywalls, and worthy in my own opinion to be the second half of J9's Gold Standard in this genre.


...Oops.
Seems the "newly registered post approval delay" has made me miss a few things.
I'll just go back through and try to fix the post to take account of 'em.
Last edited by Lucky777 on Sun Oct 15, 2017 9:26 pm, edited 12 times in total.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby maverickk » Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:51 pm

The point of personal rooms is that they are personal, sharing bedroom is not quite same, but their loyalty growths there. They can also generate a bit mana if they are horny when going sleep with you.
Aphrodite's brew can be made after second alchemy room unlock.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Lucky777 » Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:59 pm

Oho, I forgot you could unlock additions to your alchemy and other rooms; figured the upgrade "to get them" was the last one.
Perhaps something that lets you always see how many levels of upgrades remain to the alchemy room and laboratory would help.
Idiot-proofing helps! : D
Edit: Ooooh, you have to upgrade your alchemy lab to level 2 before you can reset the level-up requirements.
The level 1-available potion I had been GOING to try to make doesn't even do that, I guess!
Edit2: Group sex doesn't provide 3 times the mana AT ALL D :
I mean, it never SAID it was going to do that, but since you've got three times the partners, I thought the result would be obvious.

I guess it makes sense for their horniness level to matter when they sleep in your bed too, I gotta get them going with some aphrodisiacs and see what happens.

I'll go edit the definitive post above to take account of some things that showed up late due to the post-approval delay (until 10 posts) for newly registered folks.

My mistake on the mind-reading.
I GUESS that means literally every spell has a use in combat.
Excellent!
Maybe an in-game description of what exactly the spell does and how you use it in combat would help; more idiot-proofing quality-of-life stuff again.
Like the saying goes, when you think you've got things idiot-proof enough, the world's just going to build a better idiot.
I'm totally not an idiot though.
: D
Edit: Oh, right, not literally every spell has a combat use, I discovered after getting all of them, and one from a gnome girl. Still, MANY do. That's pretty cool.
Fear and/or entrance might be useful in that they COULD potentially decrease enemy attack power, I guess, but eh, WAY more are useful than I thought.

Edit 2: Maybe have "Shackled" status show up in mind-read (or better, even without mind-read), and have it note that its duration is battle-long, or permanent.

Edit 3: And Maybe invigorate in battle could raise our SPEED as well as stress? Alternatively, there could be a "haste" spell for it. I likes magic : D
Dunno what Haste would do outside of battle, though.
Raise earnings because of increased efficiency?

Pretty great that you can raise your reputation by selling bandits to the guild, but I think you have to sell them AS bandits, ie sell them from the victory screen.
I tend to grab 'em and make 'em subservient so I can get upgrade points for them.
But I don't think that results in the sale causing any reputation gains.
...I think the act of jailing them might produce rep gains though.
I had always thought that reducing the number of bandits in the surrounding areas should bolster your reputation, but until today I didn't realise that it actually DID.

And yeah, personal rooms being the best because they provide some private space... does make perfect sense.
Maybe some command to have them LIVE in their personal rooms but SLEEP in your bed, for auto mana-generation without living-space penalties?
I don't know.


OH, and I should have specified.
You can sell your jailed slaves at the SLAVERS' GUILD no problem.
I was talking about giving them in for quests, eg in the main questline: the specific problem I had was that a drow was in the jail and I couldn't offer it, I think.

Hell, that's arguably more "trading" than selling, but yeah, it was quests that were giving me the problem.
That and carrying them for "services" I guess, like sterilisation.
Miscarriage potions cost ingredients, maaan, gotta sterilise dem bandit sex-slaves.

Oh, also, I don't think anything mentions what a slave's selling price will be based on.
Thus far I've figured out that it seems to take into account level, maybe appearance, and grade.
Probably something additional for the tutorial.

And the master's bed upgrade doesn't say how many upgrade points it'll cost.

Additionally, it might be nice for the combat log to show how many points "Heal" and "Leeching Strike" have healed.
I'm ASSUMING magic affinity impacts how many points Heal heals, and both the healing and the damage of Leeching Strike.
I'll probably have to do a little testing though.

... And can we maybe get a prompt asking us whether we want to sell slaves with particular gear on them or not?
I uh...
I MIGHT have sold a slave wearing a Maid Uniform and Plate Armour to the Mage's guild as an assistant and it's POSSIBLE I might want that armour back...
I mean, I actually don't mind, because I use elven chain for the added agility, but still.
XD

The underlined "race" of slaves on sale doesn't let you read the race's lore in the slavers' guild; you can only read it after you've bought them, in the inspect tab.

Also, the racial trait of Drow seems inaccurate, as I don't believe I get 20% more mana from sexual actions with them.

The laboratory is required in the main questline (and that's part of the great "tutorial" function of that questline) ... but it's also USELESS for creating what's desired.
The request can be fulfilled with a fully stocked ALCHEMY section, and the laboratory has no option for increasing breast size or inducing lactation.
(I just had Sebastian bring me multiple cows until one had giant tits, since I didn't KNOW that about the alchemy section, but still.)

ALSO you TOTALLY CAN actually upgrade the furnishings in the mansion and your own room to the point that commoners are happy with your bed.
I have once again owned myself.
Welp.
I'm not an idiot.
: D


Oh, and between Gorn's alchemist and all the others, it seems like all the essences are indeed on sale in stores.
Just like I was saying should be the case to improve matters, when I didn't know enough to know it was that way already... welp.
I'm not owned, I'm not owned!
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby maverickk » Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:28 pm

I didn't figure out FOR A WHILE that if the slave has lower than max loyalty their obedience drops naturally.

Obedience is a lot more complex than that. It is influenced by mental stats, stress, grade, some traits and effects. It's probably not interactive enough as is right now (as you mentioned breaking and training in strive is worse than in JoNT). Loyalty actually makes obedience grow hence why high loyalty generally is a panacea to any disobedient slave.

It doesn't seem to make immersive sense that Group Sex would require some random potion
Group sex does not require potion, orgy does. And it supposed to be whole different unique action aimed to give tons of mana and essence.

It'd also be very nice for us to be able to forage and earn money etc on our own, ESPECIALLY in the early difficult parts of the game.
It might be nice to have some small alternative for player character to make money/food early on, but I believe the idea is that respectable slave owner wouldn't ever bother working themself even given no other options, hence why I never really considered making player occupations. You are kinda supposed to exploit others.

On a very closely related note, it'd be cool if killing wolves etc gave you some food.
I've never really considered this to be a good idea for 2 reasons. 1. Carnivores are not frequently used for meat, 2. This would make wolves bit too well-rounded in terms of early rewards. I have some ideas to make them drop sellable loot like pelts, but for now its just bestial essence. And as you said, it is already like hunting, but much more effective.

Oh you can raise magic affinity with tattoos. I'm a bit hesitant to add laboratory operation for magic affinity (since what exactly would make sense to increase magic? Adding "magic"?)
And the master's bed upgrade doesn't say how many upgrade points it'll cost.
It does if you scroll down the window. I guess I need to correct it.


I'm glad you mentioned main plot since there's been too few reports regarding it (and general feedback) and I don't feel like its good enough until recently. I'll be aiming to finish it in few weeks, and hopefully it will be at least somewhat interesting.
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby Lucky777 » Mon Oct 16, 2017 10:59 pm

Eeeeh... in the very specific context of the game, I don't think the training is "worse" than Jack-o-Nine, just MUCH SIMPLER.
If it had been the sole or main focus of the game I'd call it worse.
But I find that it's not the main focus, and as far as I'm concerned adventuring (with a little slave trading on the side) is a perfectly legitimate focus.
It's like ... my honest feeling is that if you took Jack's complex training system and put it in here, it could very easily get too tedious, really.
I'm personally fine with the different games focusing on different things and doing those different things very well.
EDIT: One thing you COULD do, though, is have somewhere in-game (inspect? Talk? probably mind-read) give more info as to exactly what is influencing slaves' mood.
That might be part of what you mean about the system not being sufficiently interactive, and to that extent I'd agree that there is room for objective improvement.

As to wolves giving meat, I wasn't aware that carnivores weren't usually used for meat.
If there's some nutritional reason behind it, I guess that's good enough - although I hear they DO eat dogs in China : o
As to "balance" though, I don't mind at all if wolves get more rewarding, because, as my first few deaths can attest to, they can also rip out your throat D :

As to tattoos, if they raise stats, could I suggest you put them somewhere other than in the "beauty parlor"?
Maybe some kind of intense arcane ritual-room or something.
As it stands, I don't have any kind of instinctive reason to believe that tattoos would raise stats at all - and a beauty parlor is a place purely for looks and frivolity! : o
I mean, not gonna lie, my own preference would be for it to just be lab operations, or ritual infusions or something, and nothing to do with tattoos at all, but eh.
On the OTHER hand, a "brand" is kinda like a magical tattoo, so you could look at it from that perspective, and well... then all you need is to specify it's not "just ink".

And in answer with respect to the lab operation... yeah, I'd just have put the operations as literally "enhance magic capacity" and "enhance vitality" or something.

As to the "No slaver would work" thing...
Eh... not even to avoid starving?
I start from "Farmer", and some of the other starting jobs are things like "mercenary", so they surely know the individual experience of hard work ... I dunno.

It's not how I roleplay the characters, and certainly you CAN basically work as a guard by patrolling the outskirts and catching bandits.
...Though even then, you're making direct profits for yourself, so in that sense you're not "working for others" but "working for yourself and helping others".
So that's kinda like the difference between an independent contractor/independent professional, on the one hand, and an employee, on the other.
Well... look, it's up to you at the end of the day.
It's your call, it's your game, and I do like it, but I DO have some reservations about little things like that.

As to the orgies giving tons of mana ... I mean I got like 7.
I could do it a few more times, but that ONE time, after spending the resources on a potion, I was underwhelmed enough to never touch it again.
*Shrugs*
I did only have 3 persons though.
Since there are 10 possible personal rooms and also beds in the common rooms, I GUESS you could get a whole ton more.

... The upkeep cost in food alone for that would break my spirit though, and I can't imagine HOW fast the mansion would get dirty D :
Sure you could set them all as whores and make MUCH more than you spend...
AND you could make any one of them a housekeeper or whatever you need to do to automate the food-buying and cleaning processes....
Eeeeeeeh.... I dunno.
So far I tend to prefer having my main adventuring and whoring squad at the max party of 3 + me, and then having one or 2 side rooms for training other slaves.

Getting essences from sex with special races is really cool, all the same.
I roll with just straight humans most of the time, so the first time a fairy gave me essence as well as mana from sex, I was both surprised and happy.
I had thought the only way to get essence from these creatures was beating them up.
So upon seeing that essence drop during my usual loyalty grinding sessions, I was all:
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat????? : O : D : D"
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby maverickk » Fri Oct 20, 2017 3:35 pm

0.5.1.4 is out to public: links at first post.
Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Changelog:
0.5.1.4
Fixed guild slave issues
Fixed Deep Area not being turned off properly
Fixed some multiple input errors causing weird results in certain cases
Fixed Yris sprite not appearing in generic sex scenes
0.5.1.3
Trapper capture chance is 50% now
Sedation can now only be used on each slave once per day
Fixed slaves not being rebellious after capturing and not receiving 'uncivilized' trait
Fixed combat bug related to escapes
Fixed couple of area related bugs
Fixed some wimborn bugs
0.5.1.2
Fixed bunch of quest related issues tied to the old areas
0.5.1.1
Fixed group select and animation change errors
Fixed main menu error
0.5.1.0
New exploration mechanic: Deeper Areas.
While in Deeper Area ecountered NPCs have 70% chance to have higher grade
Deeper Area enemies have 25% boost to awareness, 25% boost to power and 50% boost to health
Deeper Area enemies have 25% increased loot drop and 20% increased XP reward
Deeper Area will have 20-60% more enemies per group
Exhausted or stressed slaves wont automatically return to mansion
Exhausted slaves deal only 2/3 of their damage
Energy cost of Escape reduced to 10
Escape attempts by enemies no longer mandatory and now depend on their grade (higher grade - higher chance)
New sprite and naked version for Alise
New NPC sprites
Teleport stones can now only be purchased in their respective towns (except for Umbra)
Added new usable items and option to rest while exploring
Fixed levelup item request ignoring item presence
Fixed inability to repeat slaver guild audience
Fixed relatives panel
Fixed oblivion potion effect
Minor improvements to mansion upgrade system
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Re: Strive for Power - Fantasy Slave Management game

Postby musical74 » Sat Oct 21, 2017 4:40 am

Outside of being a bit slow on things (it took me 5 in-game days before I saw the thing to the left and could visit the city...) I'm liking it. It's challenging to find out what is effective and what isn't (caught a beastkin cat female, freed her immediately and she bolted! oops...) but also have found that there are some things are worthwhile to learn, and how to proceed! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see about getting things organized...
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