Hi guys! This week I’ve been working on the university section of the Lifepath, and also the general structure. The Lifepath currently has 77 planned “beats” (each one representing 1 or more passages in the game). 5 of them need the most work; another 8 need editing; 64 are done.
This has been so much work, but it’s nearly ready.
“Don’t get discouraged because there’s a lot of mechanical work to writing. There is, and you can’t get out of it. I rewrote the first part of A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times. You’ve got to work it over. The first draft of anything is shit.”–Hemingway
I am not trying to write something as good as A Farewell to Arms, it's mainly just A Farewell to Clothes for our plucky heroine. But there are just a few parts that still need to be worked over, because they're still shit. But it's nearly not shit.
I'm going as fast as I can and working on it every day. My plan for tomorrow is to fix the first pink box on the grid and turn it green. I'm gonna crash now and get back to work on it first thing tomorrow. 🦀❤️🔥
Hey guys! I’ve had a really great week of writing. It feels like I’m finally getting the pacing into the right shape (although the scene I’m currently working on feels a little overlong, but I suck at writing lean on a first draft).
I know that nobody plays the game for the pacing, but it’s a really big deal for me – the slow pacing of the Lifepath was my main problem with it in version 1.11. I’m much, much happier with the speed and feel of it now. I’m making good progress.
On the Discord, Bulb made some interesting comments about earlier versions:
Blunt and penetrating. Like a nightstick up the ass. (Which, uh, gives me an idea for a scene with those two Thai cops, thanks Bulb. 🥵)
This struck a chord with me, because I also kind of forgot how bad and hokey the old versions were in a lot of places. The scenes I’ve been repurposing for the Lifepath have all needed a lot of work to bring them up to a standard I’m happy with. I’m sorry this is taking so long but I do feel like this next version of the game is going to be a lot closer to the game I always wanted it to be.
I’ve been so fucking desperate for everybody to like it that the stress has been killing me. Which is obviously foolish, I can’t make something that everybody likes. But it is at least finally feeling like something that I like, and maybe that’s all I can do.
I want to thank everybody who’s sent me messages of encouragement and advice recently, your kind words have been so motivating. The writing’s nearly there. I’ll get straight back on it tomorrow morning. 🦀❤️🔥
I've been struggling a lot with the rewrites. In many ways I feel like I'm being pulled between the game I want to make and the game I think people want me to make.
Right now I'm trying to balance the amount of sex in the Lifepath (and also its length). There's kind of a pacing issue here, in that the heroine's background isn't supposed to be as sexy as it gets in Bangkok.
But it is supposed to be a sexy game – nobody is here just to read my Ian Fleming fanfic 😭 – so the Lifepath does have to be sexy. The feedback from the testers, that I'd sacrificed too much sexiness in order to achieve pace, and left it feeling empty and unengaging, was absolutelyright and I'm really grateful to all of them.
I've been working through the draft Lifepath with a couple of things in mind when I try to sex up the scenes. Firstly, would I want to play this? I feel like I just have to trust that the things I find hot and interesting will also be hot and interesting to you.
As an example: the heroine can optionally do a corporate internship at a certain point in the Lifepath. In another game, I'd find it hot to optionally put the avatar in a short skirt and high heels for this gameplay section (especially if there were a story justification for doing so).
My fear is always that things like this are too subtle, players won't even notice this was supposed to be sexy, they'll just be clicking through expecting the part where she gets gang-banged in the boardroom. Why is this part even here if the heroine isn't getting fucked?
I feel like I just need to push those doubts and second guesses aside and just keep balancing it the way that feels right to me as the player. That doesn't mean not listening to other people's ideas or feedback – some of the best things in the game (so far, and still to come) came from other brains. But I feel like I can only do a good job of making the game I want to play.
The other thing that's really helped me this week has been Questing Beast's T.U.N.I.C. principle.
It stands for Time Until Next Impactful Choice and is basically a reminder not to let the story go on for too long without requiring a player decision. One of the things I hate the most about Female Agent is when it turns into a fucking slideshow. I've been thinking T.U.N.I.C. while I've been playing through, and adding in extra little branches and decision points.
I'm working really hard on making the game better than it ever was (I hope 😬). The work is feeling good right now, like it's finally coming together into something that I'm happy to release. I'm sorry it's taken so long, it's because I have Writer's Suck. 😭
I'm gonna get straight back on it first thing tomorrow. 🦀❤️🔥
Hey guys! I’m exhausted (again), I’ve been creating content in the game engine pretty much non-stop for the last seven days (I took yesterday morning off).
playsafe, WoodE and PrettyBoi requested a report on where we’re at and what’s left to do.
Why are the rewrites and edits needed? When I decided the next release should include the complete Lifepath – not just part I – I needed to add a lot more content, which I drew from previous versions.
The problem was, I didn’t want to just restore the old Lifepath. I think the Lifepath was too long, too detailed; fun the first time, but an absolute chore to click through on subsequent replays. So I cut a lot, and tried to turn it into a pacier experience.
Tester feedback was 100% in agreement that I’d cut too much – it was now faster, but not sexy enough to hold the player’s attention. So I’ve been working really hard on “sexing up” each segment, that’s currently what’s occupying all my time and stressing me the fuck out. 😫
I estimate the rewrites and edits are about 70% done. Lifepath parts I and IV are done, Lifepath part II is very nearly done. I need to sex up uni (Lifepath part III) a little bit, but all that needs is a couple of short scenes (like the Kink Vignettes from version 1.6). It’s nearly in a shape where I’m happy with it.
Nobody on the planet wants this finished and released more than me. I am working so so hard on it every single day. I will rest this evening and get straight back on it tomorrow morning. Thank you guys so much for your continued support. ❤️🔥🦀
Hey guys. It’s been another long week of writing, this week mainly focused on the ‘GTA BJ’ scene from version 1.11. Revisiting it, I didn’t like what we had (and some of it didn’t make sense based on some other changes) so I’ve tweaked and rewritten parts of it, incorporating it back into the new Lifepath.
I pushed it out for testing tonight and, in the interests of transparency, the two pieces of early feedback I got were mixed –feedback did include “sexy and well written”, but both testers felt like I’m pulling back from a certain possible outcome they’d like to see in the scene.
It’s 2040hrs and I’m just totally exhausted, so I’m going to sleep on the feedback (and probably mull it over while I work on the next thing). Ultimately, I can only write the story I wanna write, if I try to please everyone I’ll end up pleasing no one. But the feedback on previous tests has helped improve my drafts a fucking lot so maybe they’re right about this, too.
Next task One of the things I have always hated the most about Female Agent – especially the Lifepath – is how many passages you have to click through before you get to a choice. It makes replays fucking tedious and daunting. There’s always going to be some of that, but I’m trying to add new decision points where possible, and streamline where they’re not.
I’ve already done this with two of the ‘foreign adventures’ from the Lifepath – Switzerland (for elite heroines) and Corfu – which means the African adventure feels flabby and tedious by comparison. I’m going to tighten it up to match the others, and also sex it up in a certain place. The aim is to make the Lifepath more fun and engaging.
I’ll get onto this first thing tomorrow. Guys I’m sorry everything is taking so long. I’d get started on the Africa thing tonight if I could, but it’s nearly 9PM and I’m just too frazzled to keep going. I’ll get an early night (I’m exhausted!) and resume tomorrow. 🦀❤️🔥
Hey guys! It’s 8.26PM and my brain is mush. 🤪 I wanted to finish the thing I was working on then report, but I am sticking to Monday transparency.
Last week I said I was waiting for feedback on that week’s “Test 3”, which had just dropped – this was more of a hit and everybody seemed to like it. (ENF is popular with more than just Javier R and Ashani it seems 😂)
I ended last week’s report by saying I was going to try to streamline the design, which I felt wasn’t working in my test playthroughs (and was getting mixed feedback from testers). I did that, and have been working this week on:
Adding decision points that didn’t previously exist. These are crucial for making the game feel less like a slideshow and more like a game.
Based on tester feedback I rewrote an important NPC relationship, (basically to make him less of a dick, which was actually undermining the heroine’s likeability for being into such a douchebag).
Took out a sex scene that wasn’t really working, and replaced it with a totally new one.
Got partway through reintegrating a popular Lifepath scene I wanted to cut, but testers wanted me to keep; we’ll see. 🧐
Pushed this all out for testing and feedback.
I’m working flat out 😩 I need to crash now. Thanks everybody for the patience and support, I’ll get straight back on it in the morning. ❤️🔥🦀
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