I've finally decided on a title: Soccer Story. I know I've changed the name several times during development, but I think I'm settling on this because a) it hasn't been used by a more notable project that I know of, b) it fits in well with visual novel naming conventions, c) it's pretty descriptive of what you'll get in the game. At this point, the other alternative is "Football Story" if I decide to use the British nomenclature. I know it rubs at least one person the wrong way but for right now it makes sense (ironically, while researching for the game I found out that the name "Soccer" originally came from the British, so technically both are British terms).
Secondly, I think I've come to an estimate to how long the final source code will be, and that the final game's source code will be between 130,000~160,000 words long, if I don't cut major planned features. That puts me between 1/3 and 1/2 of the way done with the raw draft, which is quite exciting to think about. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll be able to keep the same pace I have been at for the past few weeks. Much of the word count has been inflated because I've needed to copy-paste the same code with minor variations, so who knows when the game will actually be finished. Not any time soon, likely.
What will be done sooner, however, is the demo, which shall be entitled Soccer Story: Playoffs and encompass the first half of the game. I believe that will be approximately 80,000~90,000 words long and will be relatively raw when released. Like the tech demo I released earlier this year it might not have much in the way of AIF, but it will have plenty of teasing. Since it's extremely unlikely I'll have fully interactive scenes with all 12 characters, I'll be using the feedback from the demo to decide which players get those sex scenes. Right now, I know of only 3 characters that absolutely will get interactive scenes, and I think I'll add two more. But don't worry, in the final game every female character will get at least a partially interactive scene.
Another thing, I'm not crazy about one of my characters and I'm considering replacing her, but I am truly tapped out of ideas. If you submit to me a character idea and I use it, in thanks you will not only be added to the credits but also your avatar will be added during one of the game's very elaborate hidden Easter eggs. Don't worry, it won't be embarrassing. It's just a little cameo. In particular, I'm looking for a girl who might be a good comic-relief character, someone perhaps a little out of touch with reality, but in a charming kind of way. If you have a suggestion, email me at AnotherWannabe93 a t gmail d o t com.
Summary
No notable milestones this week. Last week, I put in equipment and sponsorships. This week, I fully implemented it into the game. The other thing I implemented is training. Training turned out to be extremely complicated, in fact, the second most complicated thing except the AI, and that really took up the remainder of the work time. I began fleshing out the paths for one of the characters.
I added a framework for random and triggered events. In a minor miracle there wasn't any obvious bugs and it worked exactly as intended. So far, the only events you'll get are players quitting.
Total Word Count: 51905 (up 10607 this week from 41298)
The Acts
Act 1Internal Polish 20%
External Playtesting 0%
Act 2
Design: 40%
Prose: 10%
Playtesting/Polish: 0%
Act 3
Design: 10%
Prose: 0%
Playtesting/Polish: 0%
Gameplay
Soccer Gameplay
Team Management
Design 70% Programming 25% Playtesting/Balance 0%
Characters
Recruitable Character 2: Prose 10%, Sex Scenes 0%,
Recruitable Character 3: Prose 10%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 4: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 5: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 6: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 7: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 8: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 9: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 10: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 11: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Recruitable Character 12: Prose 1%, Sex Scenes 0%
Note: all the percentages are estimates.
A little suggestion for your out of touch with reality character, you could have a look at the "manic pixie dream girl" trope for inspiration: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ManicPixieDreamGirl
ReplyDeleteThe basic idea being that in her quirkiness she's obsessed with the more button-down man and is there to open him up to a more wild, adventurous life. The focus of the character relationship is that she is trying to open up the male PC to a more fun, child-like view of the world by breaking down rules and inhibitions (maybe through harmless petty crime, for example). This could result in some fun scenes where she gets the player into trouble. This could also be interpreted in a more sexual way for an AIF game, with the girl perhaps being a keen voyeur, or exhibitionist.