HardLife v0.26! (supporter build)
Added 2018-09-24 09:06:09 +0000 UTCHardLife engine v0.26 notes:
* At long last, we have descriptions!
* Description/Appearance system now integrated with NPCs in combat and slave interfaces.
* Weight and Stats system refactored.
* Far more accurate estimations of fat and muscle-tone.
* Super-stat powers, each girl starts with one power (except Lisa, who starts with all 3):
- - Cindy has Super-PHY (rank 2)
- - Tammi has Super-END (rank 2)
- - Sue has Super-STR (rank 2)
- - Lisa has Super-STR[5], Super-PHY[3], and Super-END[3]
* New Character: Susan Marien (high school athlete)
* Gaining stats now affects muscle and fat levels.
* New stat training system provides better balance and allows characters to have hidden potential.
* Global 'Girl Power' buff added, reflecting the current Amazon-Index of the world.
* Numerous other small improvements and things previous patch notes since engine v0.25 that I'm forgetting to include.
* A ton of rebalancing and debugging.
Note: due to considerable changes in the data structure, this version is not compatible with older saves. Save files created prior to engine v0.258 are no longer supported and may not function correctly. A warning has been added game for when older data formats are detected. Save versions older than engine v0.2 are guaranteed not to work, as the conversion code for pre-versioning save files has been removed.
Also, the guide is slightly out of date and will be updated once the character data-structure refactoring is completed.
Comments
We have 467 descriptive terms spread across 28 descriptive nodes, having some repetition is unavoidable, but I'll look for more ideas and try to mix it up better. I've tried interchanging some unquantifiable terms like monstrous, colossal, freakish, and gigantic... but after awhile, it doesn't matter what order the words are in, several are going to repeat on the page. Perhaps I could work in variations on the same size, using the terms for a range of levels, but it winds up with the same issue.
ShadowRx
2018-09-24 21:40:19 +0000 UTCIf you need more descriptions, feel free to borrow them from other games like Magnus Magneto's game. ;) It can be hard coming up with good descriptions, but they really make a difference.
RocketNowWow
2018-09-24 18:09:57 +0000 UTCI wish the descriptions weren't so repetitive, but I was running out of synonyms and ideas, and rushing to get this overdue build out. I'll try to find more creative variations for the different parts. The next major engine version (v0.27) will be updating the time, items, and encounter systems to make the game a lot more flexible, and I'll be adding reputation and faction arrays for the characters to build and others to react to. Each faction will have polar-preferences for each reputation attribute, what makes you popular with one faction may make another despise you. Characters will also react more favorably if you share factions in common, and less if your factions oppose. The factions themselves will be rather simple social groupings/identities, like being a 'jock', 'nerd', etc. Any group you might belong to, for whatever reason, is essentially a faction that will judge you by your reputation factors. Anyway, all these changes will let us make encounters far more interesting. And, in particular, the encounter-system refactor will allow us to include all NPCs, Objects, and Active Situations in the current room/immediate area, as part of the current encounter. This effectively means we can have multiple concurrent encounters to interact with, which might expire or evolve at different intervals, making you prioritize which to respond to first. Plus, some actions might damage objects, frighten NPCs, or otherwise change one or more of the situations. Its an ambitious expansion, but should make the game a lot more fun and let us get a lot more mileage out of each situation/encounter. Also, the new items and scene-objects system will allow us to have items that expand our available actions, such as: appliances; exercise equipment; gadgets, tools, and other electronics; better vehicles; weapons; and transformative items like potions, gene-therapies/retro-viruses, mutagenic substances, alien artifacts, etc. We don't have a full powers system, but all 4 characters silently possess super-stats powers, which you've likely noticed by which stat(s) wind up threefold or more higher than the others, not to mention they also affect other things like damage, lift-strength, reps, and throw distances. (the effect is squared since it raises the relevant stat AND adds a multiplier directly to certain effects)
ShadowRx
2018-09-24 16:36:05 +0000 UTCThat is very unusual, currently the simple exercises do not affect the muscle group tone. What I suspect you may be seeing is a combination of STR and END rising, which creates both muscle and fat mass, likely raising the percentage, and stat-level rising, raising the potential, without muscle-tone being filled in. Those 2 factors together would make you appear less toned, as an overall percentage, which is what the description system uses. I still need to add muscle-toning to the simple workouts like jogging. In terms of raw points, your tone didn't decrease, but you now have more potential to fill. Perhaps I need to find a hybrid for descriptions as potential raises. Once the new metabolic system is in place, you'll be able to burn off that fat again, and stay much firmer as stats increase. Since PHY converts fat to muscle, Cindy and Lisa should be able to stay pretty lean; STR creates 3/4 muscle and 1/4 fat, so Sue shouldn't get too soft; Tammi, on the other hand, with her super-END power will be gaining 3 pounds of fat and 1 pound of muscle for each point her END rises, which will make it much more difficult for her to get/stay lean.
ShadowRx
2018-09-24 16:21:15 +0000 UTCA little issue to note, once you get to absurd stats, even a short jog can absolutely destroy all the muscle groups in the lower half of your body, if you look at the descriptions screen after this happens, your entire lower half of your body becomes rather soft.
RocketNowWow
2018-09-24 16:05:05 +0000 UTCWOOT DESCRIPTIONS! I am loving these descriptions. One of the best updates you have given thus far. It's starting to feel like a real game! I really love this, can't wait to see stuff like power and more scenes fleshed out more. There is always room for improvements in descriptions but at least you can have some fun descriptors to earn.
RocketNowWow
2018-09-24 15:21:05 +0000 UTC
