Anime Future Fragments (action/platformer/RPG) Public Demo Inside!

[HentaiWriter]

And finally, Vie's character sheet!

 

[deama]

About a month ago I tried the public demo and it seemed fine in terms of quality (for pre-alpha), but I had some issues with it:
I didn't like how the sexual stuff was implemented, it broke the gameplay loop too much. For example, there was a point where I was just walking around and started interacting with some stuff, then the MC got stuck in some pipe and then was shagged by some guards. The act was fine I guess, but the problem I had was that it just took me out of the gameplay. So the sexual stuff isn't actually the problem, but the problem is that there's too many "things that take away control from me", in a word, "cutscenes".

Maybe you could implement some controls into these scenes? Like doing some crazy movement to snap off someones dick or something, or maybe some C&C during them.

Ideally though, reducing the quantity of these sexual scenes would be best, then add in more passive stuff like if the MC performs a jump, sometimes her brah gets snapped off, so she goes down to pick it up and put it back on (this animation can be canceled by the player via any button press, which would just snap her back to her normal animation).
If you played Castlevania protrait of ruin, the girl MC has an animation where if you fall down from too high of a distance, her skirt lifts and she gets red and knees downwards to hide it, but the player can snap her back into position at any time, so basically it's just eye candy.

Another idea would be to integrate some skills or combos, e.g MC flashes her titties and some (all?) enemies on screen (or line of sight) get stunned for like 1-2 seconds. So it can be used as some sort of enemy animation breaker type of ability (cooldown would be like 5 seconds but can be reduced via upgrades).

 

[HentaiWriter]

About a month ago I tried the public demo and it seemed fine in terms of quality (for pre-alpha), but I had some issues with it:
I didn't like how the sexual stuff was implemented, it broke the gameplay loop too much. For example, there was a point where I was just walking around and started interacting with some stuff, then the MC got stuck in some pipe and then was shagged by some guards. The act was fine I guess, but the problem I had was that it just took me out of the gameplay. So the sexual stuff isn't actually the problem, but the problem is that there's too many "things that take away control from me", in a word, "cutscenes".

This is something that we definitely are changing in later builds/the full game, primarily with the change to cutscenes in that you'll need to press Up on NPCs and other areas to activate cutscenes, instead of them happening without warning or blocking your path.

Maybe you could implement some controls into these scenes? Like doing some crazy movement to snap off someones dick or something, or maybe some C&C during them.

While in theory this would be good, the problem with things like this is that as far as designing an adult/erotica game, people heavily voted against something like this (we offered it before), because they want to watch the scene unfold without having to think too much while, to put it bluntly, they get off, and for those who aren't doing so, they generally want control like that in the non-sex cutscenes.

This will be something more for the sequel where you play as Faye though, as that game'll be a lot more action-based, and instead of "choice based" cutscenes, your choices will be more based on direct actions/QTE type stuff more often than not.

Ideally though, reducing the quantity of these sexual scenes would be best, then add in more passive stuff like if the MC performs a jump, sometimes her brah gets snapped off, so she goes down to pick it up and put it back on (this animation can be canceled by the player via any button press, which would just snap her back to her normal animation).

Something like this would be fairly flow-breaking, especially if you're say, making an important jump, or running through the level trying to speedrun it, or any number of other scenarios; we generally want to avoid tying sex directly into the platforming because it would create for a lot of really frustrating situations. (Not to mention, there's a few fairly big plot reasons things like that can't happen. )

The long cutscenes though are generally one of our biggest selling points, people often say they're the highlight of the sex content of the game, so we're unlikely to change their function much (besides the above change in how they're activated); however, there's only 2-3 of them per level, so out of 30+ cutscenes in a level, only 10% are that way as a result.

Another idea would be to integrate some skills or combos, e.g MC flashes her titties and some (all?) enemies on screen (or line of sight) get stunned for like 1-2 seconds. So it can be used as some sort of enemy animation breaker type of ability (cooldown would be like 5 seconds but can be reduced via upgrades).

The problem with this is that it goes against the character's personality; it would be like say, Samus doing something like this. Talia doesn't mind sex and she does get pleasure from it, but her focus is first and foremost on her mission, and she's fairly stoic/serious minded about it. Something like that would be more along the lines of what Faye or Vie might do, so you might see that in Faye's game, but yeah. (There's also multiple enemies this wouldn't logically work on; the Celodst aren't sexually attracted to her, only wanting to fuck her to study human physiology, and the Earth Level enemies (melius mutabilis) also have no actual desire to fuck Talia, instead wanting to get a certain type of energy from her.

In fact, the only enemies this would actually work on would be the very first level and last level enemies; every other enemy in the game has some alternate reason they want to have sex with her besides blunt sexual desire.

There's still definitely a lot of things we need to fix, for sure, but I hope that clarifies some of the things we're going to do or why we can't do certain things based on the already established story/characters/gameplay (or results from polls, etc.)

 

[deama]

Ideally though, reducing the quantity of these sexual scenes would be best, then add in more passive stuff like if the MC performs a jump, sometimes her brah gets snapped off, so she goes down to pick it up and put it back on (this animation can be canceled by the player via any button press, which would just snap her back to her normal animation).

Something like this would be fairly flow-breaking, especially if you're say, making an important jump, or running through the level trying to speedrun it, or any number of other scenarios; we generally want to avoid tying sex directly into the platforming because it would create for a lot of really frustrating situations. (Not to mention, there's a few fairly big plot reasons things like that can't happen. )

The long cutscenes though are generally one of our biggest selling points, people often say they're the highlight of the sex content of the game, so we're unlikely to change their function much (besides the above change in how they're activated); however, there's only 2-3 of them per level, so out of 30+ cutscenes in a level, only 10% are that way as a result.

The long cutscenes are a selling point? Interesting I guess, I really didn't like them.
I could see myself liking them if I was watching someone else play through it, or maybe just casually browsing some sort of library of them.

Something I forgot to mention, a while ago I played a similiar game (it was a JRPG though) that had erotic stuff in it, especially cutscenes, I thought it worked a lot better in that than here; I can't exactly put my finger on why though, it just flowed better and mashed with the gameplay better. The game is "virgin island".
Now that I think about it, it might have been because it was a slower game by nature (JRPG), so the cutscenes felt much less obtrusive, whereas this game is a platformer, a fairly action based genre, so these cutscenes hit it that much harder.

Also, is this game going to be free when it is done?

 

[HentaiWriter]

The long cutscenes are a selling point? Interesting I guess, I really didn't like them.
I could see myself liking them if I was watching someone else play through it, or maybe just casually browsing some sort of library of them.

Well, keep in mind that the game won't appeal to everyone; there are definitely people who get into it, etc. but it's fine if you don't, of course

Now that I think about it, it might have been because it was a slower game by nature (JRPG), so the cutscenes felt much less obtrusive, whereas this game is a platformer, a fairly action based genre, so these cutscenes hit it that much harder.

Yeah, this is why we're going to have the adjusted cutscene system in; that way if you don't want to engage with cutscenes, for the most part, you won't have to, because they'll only activate if you press the Up key on NPCs, besides very important storyline sequences.
That said, there are platformer games with cutscenes that break up gameplay, and they have worked well; Blackthorne, Contra Hard Corps, and a few recent Steam games whose names I can't remember right now.

Also, is this game going to be free when it is done?

If you pledge on the Patreon it'll cost $10 effectively, since if you pledge that much you'll get the game at launch, and if not we'll be selling it for $15-20.
Gotta be able to make money on sales to pay the remainder to the lead voice actress if we haven't paid her in full by then (given that she's getting probably $20,000 off of her roles alone), not to mention to recoup all money we paid out to the musician, SFX guy, the other 20+ voice actors, etc.

If we just broke even on the project once it was done and gave it away for free, then we wouldn't be able to afford to start up new games after this (since right now the Patreon is making just enough for us to about break even when you factor in cost of living, paying for assets, etc.) and we want to come out of the gate immediately after this game's done with a new game, without having to wait for the patreon to build up steam for us to be able to afford assets and paying up front for things, etc.

 

[HentaiWriter]

Also, v0.31 of Future Fragments is out now; here's a few new in-game abilities (this isn't all of them) between v0.30-v0.31, as well as the changelogs for those builds too!

------------------------------------------

V030 CHANGELOG

V031 CHANGELOG

V0.32 (releasing at the end of July/early August) should have a LOT more content; we're aiming for part of the boss battle, attacks for all the enemies in, and the basic full level map structure to be complete as well, with v0.33 or v0.34 likely finishing off the Earth Level as we move forward onto The End, the final level!

 

[A horse of course]

Is this still coming out Fall this year? In the time between you starting this project and now, I've managed to overcome crippling suicidal depression, turned my life around and secured a comfy job, gotten doggos and become the most respected poster on RPGCodex. Seems like you're dragging your feet tbh.

 

[deama]

Is this still coming out Fall this year? In the time between you starting this project and now, I've managed to overcome crippling suicidal depression, turned my life around and secured a comfy job, gotten doggos and become the most respected poster on RPGCodex. Seems like you're dragging your feet tbh.

They're getting paid on a monthly bases via patreon, they can as long as they want to lol.

 

[Egosphere]

 

[HentaiWriter]

Is this still coming out Fall this year? In the time between you starting this project and now, I've managed to overcome crippling suicidal depression, turned my life around and secured a comfy job, gotten doggos and become the most respected poster on RPGCodex. Seems like you're dragging your feet tbh.

We're aiming for April 2019, but definitely not dragging our feet; we want the game to be complete and be high quality, not to rush it out a few months early and throw the previous years worth of work in the garbage as a result

They're getting paid on a monthly bases via patreon, they can as long as they want to lol.

We can't, actually; if we did, people would leave. We also want to get the game done as fast as possible while still preserving quality because we already have a sequel planned, as well as actual game sales for a game being easily 10x what a full year of Patreon payments would be (on top of the patreon payments as we'd be working on the sequel), and of course because we actually want to make good games and have pride in our work, hence why we don't want to milk things indefinitely.

 

[HentaiWriter]

http://www.picarto.tv/hentaiwriter doing a stream of custom maps made by users! (Jason Bill, specifically)

 

[HentaiWriter]

Posting the demo release's changelog from a few days ago;

 

[HentaiWriter]

If any of you have been wondering where we've been at, we're still really active over at F95 - https://f95zone.to/threads/future-fragments-v0-42-hentaiwriter.1550/

I'll try to keep updating this topic more from here on out, though!

Progress-wise, we're still putting out monthly demos, and we're just about finished with the FINAL LEVEL of the game, "The End".
Speaking of that level, here's two WIP gifs from it (both heavily compressed);

Here's what we've got left to add before the game's complete - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w8XN-VQ4REdfkT9DR-ybfpm5iV5KJPpFQ9jElKkrKNw/edit#gid=0
And here's our plan/timeline through the end of development by May 2020 - https://pastebin.com/MaJRtQ3E

Also, for anyone who doesn't know, we have a Public Discord channel up for Future Fragments (18+ only of course!)
https://discord.gg/puXrfSm

Finally, we're still active on Twitter too, over at http://www.twitter.com/hentaiwriter

It's been a long, long road but we're finally within reach of the finish line; the final game should be a good 60+ hours of content at this point with all the different endings (40+ of them), hundreds of cutscenes, 20+ hours of voicework, 50+ powerups, 120+ sex scenes, and lots of extras like speedrun mode, boss rush mode, the level editor (likely) being built in so you can trade maps with other players and make your own, the new arousal system, and so on.

 

[GarfunkeL]

The art does look really nice, I'm just terrible at platformers. I tried your demo some time ago and everything seemed to work smoothly.

 

[deama]

If any of you have been wondering where we've been at, we're still really active over at F95 - https://f95zone.to/threads/future-fragments-v0-42-hentaiwriter.1550/

I'll try to keep updating this topic more from here on out, though!

Progress-wise, we're still putting out monthly demos, and we're just about finished with the FINAL LEVEL of the game, "The End".
Speaking of that level, here's two WIP gifs from it (both heavily compressed);

Here's what we've got left to add before the game's complete - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w8XN-VQ4REdfkT9DR-ybfpm5iV5KJPpFQ9jElKkrKNw/edit#gid=0
And here's our plan/timeline through the end of development by May 2020 - https://pastebin.com/MaJRtQ3E

Also, for anyone who doesn't know, we have a Public Discord channel up for Future Fragments (18+ only of course!)
https://discord.gg/puXrfSm

Finally, we're still active on Twitter too, over at http://www.twitter.com/hentaiwriter

It's been a long, long road but we're finally within reach of the finish line; the final game should be a good 60+ hours of content at this point with all the different endings (40+ of them), hundreds of cutscenes, 20+ hours of voicework, 50+ powerups, 120+ sex scenes, and lots of extras like speedrun mode, boss rush mode, the level editor (likely) being built in so you can trade maps with other players and make your own, the new arousal system, and so on.

How many of the sex scenes will be forced do you know? Or can you avoid all of them if you play your cards right? Also, do you get a powerboost if you're a virgin?

 

[RoBoBOBR]

do you get a powerboost if you're a virgin

Yes, after 30th birthday though.

 

[deama]

do you get a powerboost if you're a virgin

Yes, after 30th birthday though.

So there's birthdays in the game? How does that work?

 

[HentaiWriter]

The art does look really nice, I'm just terrible at platformers. I tried your demo some time ago and everything seemed to work smoothly.

There is an easy mode setup in the game, and there's no "pixel perfect jumps" or insane difficulty platforming in the game, so I'd say you should give the full game a shot (or if the demo you tried was of a "fire level", you should try https://gamejolt.com/games/FutureFragments/332701 this demo instead, as it's a lot, lot better); you can use a controller and remap the controls, too. Glad to see you enjoyed it regardless though!

How many of the sex scenes will be forced do you know? Or can you avoid all of them if you play your cards right? Also, do you get a powerboost if you're a virgin?

If you mean how many sex scenes are you forced to see, that's none; we'll also have a "safe for work" mode enabled that just outright strips all the sex scenes out of the game as well.
You don't get a powerboost if you're a virgin though, since the player character wasn't a virgin before this game started, haha.

So there's birthdays in the game? How does that work?

He's kidding, of course.

 

[deama]

If you mean how many sex scenes are you forced to see, that's none; we'll also have a "safe for work" mode enabled that just outright strips all the sex scenes out of the game as well.
You don't get a powerboost if you're a virgin though, since the player character wasn't a virgin before this game started, haha.

I was thinking more in the lines of just saying no and the guy getting angry so you have to kill/fight him.
Also, too bad it doesn't support virgin superpowers.

 

[HentaiWriter]

I was thinking more in the lines of just saying no and the guy getting angry so you have to kill/fight him.
Also, too bad it doesn't support virgin superpowers.

There's no real scenes like that specifically where the guy gets angry because you said no to sex, because all the enemies are already pissed at you to begin with, and/or any times where you would say no to sex in a cutscene, it's to either neutral or pacifistic "enemies" so you just say no and you're on your way (or you can kill them even though they don't pose a threat).
We're putting in an arousal system too where every time you accept sex, you go up in arousal which affects other cutscenes down the line too, along side of course the values system, whether or not you kill enemies in general, what choices you make in cutscenes and what databanks you've read prior, and a lot of other factors that alter cutscenes in general.

 

[lightbane]

Sounds like you will have more C&C in a hentai game than in a "proper" RPG... Oh wait, Sengoku Rance was like that too.

 

[HentaiWriter]

Sounds like you will have more C&C in a hentai game than in a "proper" RPG... Oh wait, Sengoku Rance was like that too.

Command and Conquer?

 

[A horse of course]

Is this out yet? How long does it take to draw a bunch of mushrooms with dicks?

 

[Ismaul]

How long does it take to draw a bunch of mushrooms with dicks?

Depends on how long the dicks are, innit?

 

[HentaiWriter]

Is this out yet? How long does it take to draw a bunch of mushrooms with dicks?

https://rentry.co/FFFebruaryNotice

Takes a while when we've got around 40-50 hours of content, 200+ NPCs and all that, and made by just a 3 person main team and a small sound team
It'll be out later this year, though