Hey guys, hope you are all well.  I have been working non-stop on Female Agent 🤪

I finished my writing task, so I now know exactly what scenes are in the next release, how many more art assets are required, etc.  Here is a list of things that still need to be done:

Scene editing (Crush)
Some of the scenes need some punching up/dialogue tightening.

Unwritten small scene (Crush)
One scene isn’t written at all yet (it’s just “placeholdered” so I know we need avatar art for it).  It’s an option for a different way to resolve the possible quest outcome where Kate leaves nudes on Max’s phone – in the previous version she’s kind of railroaded into just ignoring it and hoping it goes away, but I want to add an option for her to reach out to the local station chief, Wheeler (who gave her the mission) and fess up/attempt to get on top of the narrative.

This is the kind of thing that’s basically been added to Malaysia, a little more player agency and a little less of Kate being led around by the nose.

Remaining art specifications (Crush)
Kate’s wardrobe tells more of the story now.  It’s subtle, but you’ll see a visual change between her “real” self as an intelligence officer (repressed female sexuality) and her “fake” identity as a backpacker/wannabe topless barmaid in Bangkok.  (But which is the real her, and which is the construction?  Are either of her identities truly “real”?  What happens when you put an overeducated, underfucked girl in a brothel? 🫢)

Anyway, I need to spec out some remaining outfits and send them to our illustrator, lovely Victoria.

Avatar artwork (Victoria)
Then, of course, lovely Victoria needs to hand draw them all (with 3-6 different body shape variations for each top 🤪).  She’s already done 12 different outfits just for this episode, but we need about 8 more.

Fix the hair and skin glitch (Crush)
We’ve got a display problem with the new hair and skin colour overlays (they don’t position correctly on some common devices).  All the testers have been ignoring it but it looks horrible, it needs to be fixed before we can release.

Implement some placeholder code (Crush)
A couple of tables and logic choices aren’t fully implemented in the test code.  (For example, there are a couple of dialogue sections where the player is supposed to be able to go through in any order and skip some parts if desired, but in the test code you have to click through everything in a certain order.)  This is part of an aim to make the game feel a little bit less like a slideshow.

Polish skill checks and add XP (Crush)
This episode has a few more skill checks than we’re used to.  They need to be polished slightly (they’re currently calling from a test character’s skills, not the heroine’s real skills on her character sheet) and XP awards need to be added in for each skill check.

Add quest log updates (Crush)
The character sheet has a new quest log to help you keep track of your mission objectives.  This needs to be populated so it updates correctly through the episode.  (For example: the heroine now has two options of how to infiltrate the Hard Cock Cafe: she can walk in, like before, or go a more complex “dangle” route to get there, involving getting “talent spotted” at a wet t-shirt contest.  The game remembers what you chose, but the quest log is how you’ll remember what the fuck she’s doing and why 😂)

As you can see, there’s a lot of work that goes into making Female Agent, especially now that we’re trying to make it more polished, with more choices and gameplay elements.

Which is why I can’t have any days off until it’s done, I just have to crunch, because I know everybody is already sick of waiting so long for it. 😭 But it’s fine, I love the game and I love you guys and anyway, no peace for the wicked.  I’m gonna get on the art specs next, because V needs those so she can work concurrently.  Okay, end of report, I have a lot to do so I’ve gotta get back to it.  🦀❤️‍🔥

Hey guys!  I’m really sorry but I need more time to finish my writing task 😭

I worked on it full time every day since the last report, no days off.  I desperately wanted to get it finished, but some things I was trying just didn’t work, so I need a few more days to cook.

I’m sorry 😭 I know I’m really slow.  I was struggling with some characterisation issues that slowed me down – specifically around Max (the optional love interest in Malaysia), the heroine’s attraction to him, and just the general way he behaves, talks and acts (and, ultimately, fucks).  This is related to two of my least favourite things about Female Agent:

Even though I was trying not to, I felt like I was slipping back into this with Max.  But on Saturday afternoon, after a lot of what felt like banging my stupid head against the same wall over and over, I had kind of a breakthrough in both these two areas, and the writing is now flowing much, much better.

It’s nearly 9PM, so I’m going to get an early night and get straight back on it tomorrow morning.  Apologies again for taking more time on this than intended, I am doing my best but sometimes I have to put in extra hours to make things work.  🦀❤️‍🔥

Bonjour guys! I was aiming to have locked down writing on the reworked Malaysia scene, but I didn't quite finish it. It's 80% done and I expect to finish it this week.

The quickstart version has fewer wardrobe requirements outstanding than the full Lifepath, so I'm planning to release that first. (I'll publish a more detailed estimate when the Malaysia writing is locked.) The quickstart version will include:

Because some scenes have changed, there are some art requirements (but fewer than for the full Lifepath). Our illustrator lovely Victoria finished all the new tattoos this week, and has already switched over to working on quickstart clothes. She already completed a whole bunch of them that are needed for the early scenes:

I've always thought the avatar is the best thing about Female Agent and we're just trying to add a little more interaction with it (and subtle characterisation through it).

Okay, I am going to make supper then tomorrow get straight back to the work. Detailed release estimate as soon as the writing's locked down, sorry it took longer than the week to finish. For now...au revoir, mes amis. 🦀❤️‍🔥🇫🇷

Hey guys!  This week, (among other taskings) our illustrator lovely Victoria has been working on the updated tattoo options for the heroine.

The tattoos in the current version look nice, but we always felt there was something a bit too generic about them.  Tattoos normally have a kind of schema or meaning that we were lacking. 🤔

The addition of the Lifepath gave us the opportunity to match tattoo options to player decisions.  So we went through the draft lifepath and picked out a few key moments to memorialise in ink.  Here’s the design spec we went with (new tats can be added in future):

They're basically achievements, but displayed on the avatar. Inkchievements!  Certain tattoos will trigger unique dialogue later, and it’s just a cool way to individualise your personal heroine.

Malaysia isn’t cancelled
On Discord, several players asked if the addition of a tanning bed to mission prep in Scotland meant that Malaysia was being cut?

The answer is 🇳 🇴, although a few things are being changed about the Malaysia mini-mission before it’s re-released.  I think the main one is the introduction of a new mechanic, where male NPCs no longer just automatically hit on the heroine because it’s in the script: she now needs to pass an Allure check to get hit on by Max.  (She can still choose to encourage him or brush him off if he makes a move.)

The roll can be buffed by various player choices (some going right back to character creation, and some made in the scene, like what she wears and how she behaves when Max is checking her out).  The point of this is basically to make ‘romances’ feel a bit less scripted, and also to try to simulate a more female model of seduction, where the heroine is (consciously or inadvertently) presenting and tempting and male NPCs will decide whether or not to pursue her.

I also added a couple of new beats to Malaysia which I think are big improvements.  I think my writing is better now, I’m doing a lot more with symbolism and subtext than I was before.  I don’t know if people care about stuff like that, but I think it makes the story a lot better so I’m doing it anyway, I can only try to make the game I want to make.  

I’m no artist, I’m just trying to make entertainment, but this thing van Gogh said is just ringing in my ears all the time at the moment.

Not that I’m trying to make something as beautiful or important as Starry Fucking Night or whatever.  But I do yearn so much to make Female Agent kind of…if not a thing of beauty then at least better, more polished I guess.  I mean it’s still a tiny text-based indie project, don’t expect Skyrim 2 or anything.  But I think you guys will see that it’s getting better, when the next fucking release finally comes out.

I’m working on the changes to the Malaysia mini-mission right now, and we might be able to roll it straight into the quick start version that will drop either before or after the Lifepath.  I’ll be able to give you a release date estimate for that after I’ve finished tweaking Malaysia (which I’m aiming to do this week) and done some pre-production planning of stuff that will still be outstanding (like fixing art glitches etc).

Okay that’s it for this report!  Release date info for whichever’s coming first should be in the next 1-2 reports.  🤞🏻🦀🤞🏻

As promised, your Tease-Me Thursday Double-Feature.

As a Female Agent fan, I'm sure there's two things you're here for. Hot smut and cool spy stuff. You've seen the first, so here's some of the second.

First off, hot off the presses, from the condensed lifepath.

We're making progress! For one, redheads have red heads!

Erm... most of the time. (Don't worry, there will be a real second feature.)

For the second feature, here's a reprise of one of my favorite scenes from the old-engine lifepath. Kate being so good at spy stuff she actively pisses off the Red Team in her graduation project for $INTELLIGENCE_AGENCY training.

I don't know why, but this scene tickles me so, so much. It's not the only great scene from the older builds that's coming back, either.

Obviously, I don't want to hype up expectations too much with a specific release timeline, but between the Faslane bit in the condensed lifepath and the other test build... if anything remains to be drafted in Lifepath 3.0, I can't think what it is. Naturally, plenty remains to be polished, but you can now, at least in theory, play Kate's story from birth to the latest Bangkok release without any obvious gaps.

–DESpear

Hey guys!  Sorry for the lack of transparency yesterday, I was trying to finish a certain thing so I could tell you about it in the report.

Full lifepath
Our illustrator lovely Victoria is still working very hard on lifepath assets.  (She was working and messaging me right up to 2135 yesterday.)  Please be patient because art takes time and, like I said last week, I dropped an unholy amount of wardrobe requirements on her without fully appreciating how much I was fucking her over.

Quick start version
Meanwhile, I’ve been building a test version of the quick start version of the game, allowing players to skip the full Lifepath but still set up a unique background for their heroine (this is what I couldn’t finish yesterday).

I finished it around 1930 and pushed it out to some Alpha testers.  Only a couple had time to play it straight away, here’s the immediate feedback.

It’s basically a revamp of the game’s intro section, with some new things added that I always wanted to squeeze in. 

I think we’ll probably get this version released before the full Lifepath (because there are fewer art requirements).  But it’s 2117, I think I started work at 0700 or 0800, my brain is fucking mush, let me work it out after I’ve got some sleep. I just wanted to get this report out before I rest because it was already delayed.  I love you guyzzz  🌃🛏️🦀