Thanks to everyone who responded to the Big AIF survey. Based on some of the responses I've done a brief follow-up survey that you can answer here. This is the accompanying big analysis.
The purpose of this survey was to figure out what responses are redundant and which are important to players of AIF. For a lot of people, the quality of an interactive sex scene is not the most important part of a work of AIF, and judge a game based on what kink it caters to, quality of the writing, characters, things like that. I totally understand that. But, such ephemeral qualities are beyond the scope of this study. The question I want answered is a much more pragmatic one: should I, as an author, bother writing a lengthy description if the player tries X, when I could be writing one for when the player tries Y. That way, more keystrokes, hours, whatever are put into writing stuff that's more likely to be encountered by the average player, whereas fringe actions get more throwaway responses.
Surveys on what kinks people have would be interesting, but not very useful (to me, at least). Catering to people's kinks when the author themselves don't have it is a recipe for "not good". For example, it would be almost impossible for me to write a game with tentacle rape in it. I'm just not into it. Hence, it would suck even if there's a huge demand for it in the AIF community. I feel like authors should write what they like and then try to incorporate some feedback that enhances rather than detracts from that. So just to be clear this survey isn't designed to pidgeonhole authors into a specific way of doing things.
Demographics
Asking about gender and sexuality was not strictly necessary for my purposes, but I was curious so I asked for it. The responses told me basically what I didn't need a survey to figure out: that the AIF community is overwhelmingly made up of heterosexual men, with the audience split between totally straight and mostly straight. The next biggest demographic is bisexual men, which I'd say is about 6% of the AIF community. About 3% of the AIF audience is female, a depressingly low number, but ultimately not at all surprising. The smallest demographic is gay men, of which there are literally 0. That's not surprising because I can only think of one game at all with m/m in it (Bareback Mountain).
It would be nice to have a little more variety in this respect. It might happen as AIF starts growing, and there are more authors and games.
General Questions
The first two questions ("Quality and quantity" and "length and variety") were designed to pinpoint what level of interactivity the audience expects on average.
There was a strong preference for quality over quantity and a strong preference for varied responses over lengthy responses. I interpreted that as there being a general expectation of interactivity and depth in sex scenes, as opposed to just having a cut scene or a CYOA sequence.
However, when asked which sorts of features they like and dislike, results indicate they aren't very picky about the sort of interactivity. When the "other" responses are removed and only the major AIF features are counted, players are even more ambivalent.
Roughly, here's a breakdown of how people voted. I've converted each statement to a number, with -3 being "It ruins the scene for me" to +3 "I can't play a scene without it."
Arousal
-3: 1
-2: 4
-1: 16
1: 21
2: 12
3: 1
Layered Clothing
-3: 0
-2: 3
-1: 41
1: 14
2: 8
3: 0
Penetration
-3: 0
-2: 0
-1: 21
1: 12
2: 6
3: 1
Sex Positions
-3: 0
-2: 1
-1: 21
1: 19
2: 14
3: 2
Spontaneous Actions
-3: 0
-2: 3
-1: 18
1: 25
2: 6
3: 0
As you can see, strong opinions are pretty rare, with mostly no strong trends toward any feature. The most important appears to be arousal, which isn't surprising. The least important is layered clothing, which does surprise me, as I usually think of layered clothing as being one of the iconic features of AIF games. Interesting.
Layered Clothing Specific
The two most common activities appeared to be rubbing body parts through clothing and re-examining body parts after stripping a character. I'm not surprised by the first but I am surprised by the second, because I generally don't do that. Examining clothing itself and opening garments are also popular actions and come in close third and fourth. About 1/3 of players immediately take off all clothing during a scene, so that means layered clothing is generally well-used when it crops up.
I was hoping that players would tend towards either self-stripping or NPCs stripping each other (which would only require one description instead of two) but they didn't. Nevertheless, people slightly preferred to have characters undress each other, which is to be expected.
The third question was inserted to test a hypothesis of mine that people generally like a bit of clothing on the NPC even during sex. While watching porn I'm sometimes like "No, don't take her skirt off!" Stockings, boots, hats and those sorts of accessories are all hot. I'm glad I'm not alone on that.
Arousal Specific
The community is remarkably evenly split on erections, with about 50/50 to each side. I find it kind of annoying, honestly, but it's nice to know both approaches are equally valid.
Overwhelming, the community prefers unlimited orgasms. I am actually quite fond of limited orgasms, but I'm in the minority on that.
Body Parts and Actions
The mouth came well ahead as the most popular optional body part in AIF, so I can't help but wonder: is it because lots of people are typing commands like "fuck mouth", "rub mouth", "x mouth", or is it because they tell an NPC to "lick cock" or kiss them and they count that as interacting with the mouth?
Following behind are nipples, clits and legs. Personally, I rarely interact with nipples and clits specifically, but I do go for the legs sometimes.
It should be noted that most "other" responses were for an asshole, as differentiated from the asscheeks. The only reason it didn't appear on there was because I forgot to add it, but if I ever redo this survey it will definitely show up again.
As for actions, there's a relatively even split between most except footjobbing, which was a distant last (surprisingly). One of the things I forgot to include was peeing/pooing, because while I will never release a game with either of those two things, if enough people try it, it might be worth whipping up some interesting rejections.
Other
I don't really have the time nor inclination to summarize all the different sentiments expressed here, but I did read them all. Wow, what a lot of feedback! The responses are available for reading on the summary page and are definitely worth looking through.
Conclusion
Thanks a lot for participating, there was a lot of really interesting insight here and it's going to save me a lot of time writing responses. I've come up with some vague ideas of how to organize a sex scene differently to save myself some time without compromising quality.
Now, if you excuse me, I've got a dark room to labor within. A demo might be coming out soon....
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Big AIF Survey on Interactivity
I have made what I am dubbing the Big AIF Survey on Interactivity. It asks questions like: what are your favorite features in an interactive sex scene? What are your least favorite? What level of interactivity to you typically expect?
The survey is not very long. It should take less than 5 minutes. Go ahead and access it here.
By answering it, you help me (and possibly other AIF authors) know where they should invest their time and effort. It's definitely worth your time, too.
The survey is not very long. It should take less than 5 minutes. Go ahead and access it here.
By answering it, you help me (and possibly other AIF authors) know where they should invest their time and effort. It's definitely worth your time, too.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
AIF Toolkit v0.6.1
Version 0.6.1 is out. Download it here.
The changes are mostly minor, but there is one worth noting. Orgasms and Arousal can now optionally make use of the Fixed Point Numbers extension so that arousal states are based on a percentage rather than a fixed range. This should make it so orgasm thresholds are much more useful and powerful now.
There are other minor changes. A bug was fixed in Adult CYOA, a rare bug was fixed in Simpler AIF, there is a new "sex partner" variable. Check it out.
The changes are mostly minor, but there is one worth noting. Orgasms and Arousal can now optionally make use of the Fixed Point Numbers extension so that arousal states are based on a percentage rather than a fixed range. This should make it so orgasm thresholds are much more useful and powerful now.
There are other minor changes. A bug was fixed in Adult CYOA, a rare bug was fixed in Simpler AIF, there is a new "sex partner" variable. Check it out.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Loren the Amazon Princess, a review
(I'm going to try and start reviewing some commercial games on this blog that have some kind of romantic element to them, so if you have any suggestions I'd like to hear them)
Loren the Amazon Princess came out on Steam a couple of months ago, a game I'd always wanted to play but hadn't had a chance to. It's made by independent developer Winter Wolves, an Italian developer I believe. Since we all like independents who release software DRM-free, I suggest purchasing the game in the legitimate way, should you choose to. There is a demo with about half of Act 1, featuring some of the game's branching gameplay. There is also an expansion, which adds some quests and the recruitable characters Chandara and Sauzer. Oh and Mesphit.
So what is Loren? It is, in short, a campy fantasy VN/RPG with a great rack and a soul. You play the slave of the Amazon princess Loren, a sheltered but proud warrior armed with two swords and no sense of humor. Soon, you gather your party of up to 12(!) characters in a quest to save the world via turn-based RPG combat, in a world that is very well illustrated indeed. It is more VN than RPG though, and as such it must rely on either story, writing or tits to interest the player. While it doesn't excel in one in particular, it does a decent job in all three and I always wanted to get to that "next part", like I would in a reasonably good book.
First the story arc overall, which is a very cliched "dark lord raises armies of demons" sort of stuff we've seen a thousand times. The choices presented to you, while sometimes dramatic and far reaching, are kind of predictable with a conventional morality reminiscent of Star Trek. The overall theme appears to be about acceptance of others, while I can appreciate that, it didn't really bring a lot of profound insight and sometimes came off as a bit moralizing.
But that is just fine, because the meat of the game is in your companions, who, for the most part, are pretty well realized. They range from incredibly badass (Chandara) to very likable (Draco) to just fucking intolerable (Mesphit). There are 12 different romantic paths, from straight to gay male and female. Some people will inevitably complain about the guy/guy stuff, but it's pretty easy to avoid if you don't want it. The point is, no matter what your preferences are, it's here, and if you happen to be bisexual, you will be very happy. The romantic sequences, while racy by PC gaming standards, are tamer than the tamest AIF game. They are well-written enough to be hot, though, and that's the important part.
Of all the NPCs, Chandara is a clear favorite for me. Chandara is a witch, surly and sultry in equal measure, who only wants to be left alone to practice dark magic and BDSM. I found Chandara to be ridiculously awesome, her wanton, brazen sexuality so incredibly refreshing to see in a commercial PC game. If I knew Chandara in real life, I might possibly want to marry her. She is also the only character with easy access to dark magic, an element a lot of enemies are weak to, so she pulls her weight in battle. Her romantic finale also happens to be the raciest, which just compounds how much awesome is contained in that tight black bodice of hers. Can you tell I really like her? In my first playthrough, I went for the f/f romance with Chandara. I highly recommend it.
On the direct opposite scale is Mesphit, who I hated almost as much as I loved Chandara. Mesphit is a dark elf character written for the segment of the female player base that likes unpredictable, dangerous men who have emotional problems and only need a tender female hand to nurse them. I'm not shitting on what gets people off, but it results in a character who is absolutely pathetic. I'll tell you in the spoilers inside.
There are many other characters who range between these two extremes. Draco is a very likable pyromancer, and flaming in both senses of the word. Amukiki the barbarian nomad is a bit of a miss, having a personality like tanned, muscular cardboard. Karen is a reluctant Amazon Queen with some interesting potential, though she is so different from her daughter it is difficult to believe one raised the other. Myrth, a redheaded elf druid that makes an olive leaf seem like too much clothing, is another romanceable character, though I didn't find her intriguing to pursue. Dora the dwarf and her admirer Ramas were two of my favorite characters, though I kinda wished Dora was romanceable.
As for Loren herself, she begins the game naive, bratty and sheltered but opens up and softens in a way that doesn't compromise her prideful nature. She was well-realized, I think, and when I replay the game I'll definitely go down her path.
There is little to say about the PC. Soren, or Elenor, depending on which gender you pick at the start of the game, is a choice between enviable pecs or eye-popping underboob. They have slightly different backstories, too, Elenor being an elf and Soren a human, so that's worth keeping in mind.
The combat system really provides the bulk of the gameplay, while the romances are the main draw, so I wish Winter Wolves would have provided more choice, or at least more chances to fail, at the romances. You see, occasionally when interacting with a character you are given the options to react in three ways: friendly, forceful and joking. However, sometimes, there is a fourth option: "romance", which improves the NPC's affection for you. That's all. This new style of dialogue, seen in some of the newer Bioware titles, really take you outside of the PC. It also takes a lot of risk out of interaction, since you're never given choices like whether to be diplomatic or bold or whether to be discreet or direct. The absolute best dialogue trees have actually made me stand out of my chair and walk around to think about what I want to say. That's not what I'm asking for, but even a few more options would have been nice.
The combat system works fine. It can be easy at points, but there is enough enemy variety to keep things interesting. Some enemies require radically different strategies, which is nice, though wizards are a bit overpowered compared to warrior and ranged characters. I played on "hard" difficulty and found myself rotating in different characters for different fights. Loren does its best to encourage you to make use of all of your characters, and it does a good job of that. Later fights are pretty heavily reliant on the PC's "ward" ability, which provide elemental resistances to all characters, which are important to defend yourself against some big walloping AOE attacks thrown about.
Loot is a pretty important part of any RPG and Loren puts a large emphasis on purchasing stuff rather than finding it. I rarely go to stores in RPGs, so this is a bit of an annoyance, and considering the huge number of recruitable NPCs it just feels like grocery shopping. I much prefer the thrill of finding an cool item as a random drop, as opposed to buying it.
Loren's character creation is weak. Every character has a "base class", which include wizard, warrior and thief, but also a character-specific class. Your character starts with lots of healing powers, which is an artificial way of making the PC always useful throughout the game. My big issue is that the most obvious class combination with the PC is the wizard, but that isn't made available for them.
On the basis of the Chandara path alone, I think Loren is worth playing, though of course there's lots of other good content. Judging it as if it were an AIF title, I would have preferred it to be more explicit, but it's not a porn game, so what can you do? I understand that they don't want to be labeled an adult developer, but they kind of already have just by making titles that are a little sexy. Still, I don't think there would be much opposition if there happened to be adult DLC for Loren...
Loren the Amazon Princess came out on Steam a couple of months ago, a game I'd always wanted to play but hadn't had a chance to. It's made by independent developer Winter Wolves, an Italian developer I believe. Since we all like independents who release software DRM-free, I suggest purchasing the game in the legitimate way, should you choose to. There is a demo with about half of Act 1, featuring some of the game's branching gameplay. There is also an expansion, which adds some quests and the recruitable characters Chandara and Sauzer. Oh and Mesphit.
So what is Loren? It is, in short, a campy fantasy VN/RPG with a great rack and a soul. You play the slave of the Amazon princess Loren, a sheltered but proud warrior armed with two swords and no sense of humor. Soon, you gather your party of up to 12(!) characters in a quest to save the world via turn-based RPG combat, in a world that is very well illustrated indeed. It is more VN than RPG though, and as such it must rely on either story, writing or tits to interest the player. While it doesn't excel in one in particular, it does a decent job in all three and I always wanted to get to that "next part", like I would in a reasonably good book.
First the story arc overall, which is a very cliched "dark lord raises armies of demons" sort of stuff we've seen a thousand times. The choices presented to you, while sometimes dramatic and far reaching, are kind of predictable with a conventional morality reminiscent of Star Trek. The overall theme appears to be about acceptance of others, while I can appreciate that, it didn't really bring a lot of profound insight and sometimes came off as a bit moralizing.
But that is just fine, because the meat of the game is in your companions, who, for the most part, are pretty well realized. They range from incredibly badass (Chandara) to very likable (Draco) to just fucking intolerable (Mesphit). There are 12 different romantic paths, from straight to gay male and female. Some people will inevitably complain about the guy/guy stuff, but it's pretty easy to avoid if you don't want it. The point is, no matter what your preferences are, it's here, and if you happen to be bisexual, you will be very happy. The romantic sequences, while racy by PC gaming standards, are tamer than the tamest AIF game. They are well-written enough to be hot, though, and that's the important part.
Of all the NPCs, Chandara is a clear favorite for me. Chandara is a witch, surly and sultry in equal measure, who only wants to be left alone to practice dark magic and BDSM. I found Chandara to be ridiculously awesome, her wanton, brazen sexuality so incredibly refreshing to see in a commercial PC game. If I knew Chandara in real life, I might possibly want to marry her. She is also the only character with easy access to dark magic, an element a lot of enemies are weak to, so she pulls her weight in battle. Her romantic finale also happens to be the raciest, which just compounds how much awesome is contained in that tight black bodice of hers. Can you tell I really like her? In my first playthrough, I went for the f/f romance with Chandara. I highly recommend it.
On the direct opposite scale is Mesphit, who I hated almost as much as I loved Chandara. Mesphit is a dark elf character written for the segment of the female player base that likes unpredictable, dangerous men who have emotional problems and only need a tender female hand to nurse them. I'm not shitting on what gets people off, but it results in a character who is absolutely pathetic. I'll tell you in the spoilers inside.
There are many other characters who range between these two extremes. Draco is a very likable pyromancer, and flaming in both senses of the word. Amukiki the barbarian nomad is a bit of a miss, having a personality like tanned, muscular cardboard. Karen is a reluctant Amazon Queen with some interesting potential, though she is so different from her daughter it is difficult to believe one raised the other. Myrth, a redheaded elf druid that makes an olive leaf seem like too much clothing, is another romanceable character, though I didn't find her intriguing to pursue. Dora the dwarf and her admirer Ramas were two of my favorite characters, though I kinda wished Dora was romanceable.
As for Loren herself, she begins the game naive, bratty and sheltered but opens up and softens in a way that doesn't compromise her prideful nature. She was well-realized, I think, and when I replay the game I'll definitely go down her path.
There is little to say about the PC. Soren, or Elenor, depending on which gender you pick at the start of the game, is a choice between enviable pecs or eye-popping underboob. They have slightly different backstories, too, Elenor being an elf and Soren a human, so that's worth keeping in mind.
The combat system really provides the bulk of the gameplay, while the romances are the main draw, so I wish Winter Wolves would have provided more choice, or at least more chances to fail, at the romances. You see, occasionally when interacting with a character you are given the options to react in three ways: friendly, forceful and joking. However, sometimes, there is a fourth option: "romance", which improves the NPC's affection for you. That's all. This new style of dialogue, seen in some of the newer Bioware titles, really take you outside of the PC. It also takes a lot of risk out of interaction, since you're never given choices like whether to be diplomatic or bold or whether to be discreet or direct. The absolute best dialogue trees have actually made me stand out of my chair and walk around to think about what I want to say. That's not what I'm asking for, but even a few more options would have been nice.
The combat system works fine. It can be easy at points, but there is enough enemy variety to keep things interesting. Some enemies require radically different strategies, which is nice, though wizards are a bit overpowered compared to warrior and ranged characters. I played on "hard" difficulty and found myself rotating in different characters for different fights. Loren does its best to encourage you to make use of all of your characters, and it does a good job of that. Later fights are pretty heavily reliant on the PC's "ward" ability, which provide elemental resistances to all characters, which are important to defend yourself against some big walloping AOE attacks thrown about.
Loot is a pretty important part of any RPG and Loren puts a large emphasis on purchasing stuff rather than finding it. I rarely go to stores in RPGs, so this is a bit of an annoyance, and considering the huge number of recruitable NPCs it just feels like grocery shopping. I much prefer the thrill of finding an cool item as a random drop, as opposed to buying it.
Loren's character creation is weak. Every character has a "base class", which include wizard, warrior and thief, but also a character-specific class. Your character starts with lots of healing powers, which is an artificial way of making the PC always useful throughout the game. My big issue is that the most obvious class combination with the PC is the wizard, but that isn't made available for them.
On the basis of the Chandara path alone, I think Loren is worth playing, though of course there's lots of other good content. Judging it as if it were an AIF title, I would have preferred it to be more explicit, but it's not a porn game, so what can you do? I understand that they don't want to be labeled an adult developer, but they kind of already have just by making titles that are a little sexy. Still, I don't think there would be much opposition if there happened to be adult DLC for Loren...
Monday, March 10, 2014
AIF Toolkit v0.6.0
Version 0.6.0 is ready. The biggest change is mostly the inclusion of two new extensions to the toolkit, although there were some very minor updates to Simpler AIF. Everything should be backwards compatible.
The two new extensions are:
Orgasms and Arousal
Adds an arousal system to Simpler AIF, built to be very customizable. Allows for some common AIF features such as erection mechanics, simultaneous orgasms and "arousal states", which were an attempt to adapt TAD's actor states to AIF but turned out a little different but very useful in its own way.
Improved Sex Action Tracking
A very small extension, only marginally larger than a plug-in, that optimizes Simpler AIF's relational tracking system, hopefully improving some memory problems. They require hands and faces to be default body parts (and are added in the extension itself) so if you currently are using those you might want to delete the code you pasted from Simpler AIF's documentation to put them in.
Download here.
The two new extensions are:
Orgasms and Arousal
Adds an arousal system to Simpler AIF, built to be very customizable. Allows for some common AIF features such as erection mechanics, simultaneous orgasms and "arousal states", which were an attempt to adapt TAD's actor states to AIF but turned out a little different but very useful in its own way.
Improved Sex Action Tracking
A very small extension, only marginally larger than a plug-in, that optimizes Simpler AIF's relational tracking system, hopefully improving some memory problems. They require hands and faces to be default body parts (and are added in the extension itself) so if you currently are using those you might want to delete the code you pasted from Simpler AIF's documentation to put them in.
Download here.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
What's Up?
So it's been awhile since I've posted any real updates here, but that isn't for a lack of work on my AIF projects. In fact, I've been really quite busy when it comes to AIF matters. I have two quick updates about some projects.
Simpler AIF
Right now I'm working on an extension for the AIF Toolkit that will introduce arousal mechanics. It is essentially an expansion on the Orgasm Control plug-in and can handle things like erections and simultaneous orgasms. I expect it to be out next week and, while this particular featureisn't backwards compatible requires some work to update to existing Simpler AIF projects, it is entirely optional.
This release will be 0.6.0. The next major release after that will be 1.0.0. The only other major feature I want to add to the AIF Toolkit is some sort of penetration and joining system that can be seen in School Dreams 2. I have an idea for a positions system similar to the one in that game but, since that's something I'd never consider using personally, I might save it for later.
Another thing I'd like to see in Simpler AIF is a bunch of templates that basically can be copy-pasted into a project, so that all you really need to do is fill out the descriptions and *poof* a fully featured AIF scene. That's going to be pretty labor intensive but, because I'm likely to use it myself, it might get done sooner rather than later.
If you have any requests, I'd like to hear them.
Soccer Story
I haven't written about this in a while. I became extremely dissatisfied with the gameplay and I basically discarded it and have restarted from scratch. Disappointing, since I sunk a lot of time into it, but I am a perfectionist so, for me, it's sometimes better to delete everything than put out something mediocre. What I'm going for now is gameplay that feel less "simulationist" and more "arcade-like" with special moves and simplified, RPG-like mechanics.
I am also thinking about reworking the interface to make it easier on myself. I'm looking at the menu-based interface of Corruption of Champions (but without any of the rather odd fetishes) as a model. I7 can actually handle these sorts of interfaces, but I'll need to delve into Glimmr which is something I find quite difficult to understand right now.
Simpler AIF
Right now I'm working on an extension for the AIF Toolkit that will introduce arousal mechanics. It is essentially an expansion on the Orgasm Control plug-in and can handle things like erections and simultaneous orgasms. I expect it to be out next week and, while this particular feature
This release will be 0.6.0. The next major release after that will be 1.0.0. The only other major feature I want to add to the AIF Toolkit is some sort of penetration and joining system that can be seen in School Dreams 2. I have an idea for a positions system similar to the one in that game but, since that's something I'd never consider using personally, I might save it for later.
Another thing I'd like to see in Simpler AIF is a bunch of templates that basically can be copy-pasted into a project, so that all you really need to do is fill out the descriptions and *poof* a fully featured AIF scene. That's going to be pretty labor intensive but, because I'm likely to use it myself, it might get done sooner rather than later.
If you have any requests, I'd like to hear them.
Soccer Story
I haven't written about this in a while. I became extremely dissatisfied with the gameplay and I basically discarded it and have restarted from scratch. Disappointing, since I sunk a lot of time into it, but I am a perfectionist so, for me, it's sometimes better to delete everything than put out something mediocre. What I'm going for now is gameplay that feel less "simulationist" and more "arcade-like" with special moves and simplified, RPG-like mechanics.
I am also thinking about reworking the interface to make it easier on myself. I'm looking at the menu-based interface of Corruption of Champions (but without any of the rather odd fetishes) as a model. I7 can actually handle these sorts of interfaces, but I'll need to delve into Glimmr which is something I find quite difficult to understand right now.
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