Working on the foundations
I think a lot of patrons would like a reflection on how the things you're designing right now will impact the content of tomorrow. Just my 2c, keep up the nice work ;)
–Enrico
Okay, this is a great idea! Let me start by saying that I believe that the sex scenes are the least sexy part of Female Agent. Let us count the ways they suck:
All partners are totally interchangeable – there's no difference between the agent fucking the man of her dreams or the ugliest guy from Cathouse
All sex moves always "work" – kissing the agent always turns her on, even if she's kissing Jabba the Hutt
Total focus on the physical specifics in the scene – He puts his left hand on your right breast. You put your right hand on his left shoulder...
Zero focus on the emotional/psychological/character specifics of the scene – the sexiest stuff is left out
The result is that sex scenes are anti-climactic, just something you click through to get back to the story. I think they could be better.
What is the point of Bangkok?
Bangkok exists for you to take your lovingly crafted agent and throw her into new and exciting sexual scenarios every time you play.
The main quest – in precise opposition to the main quests of most CRPG stories – is indefinite and open ended. Although there will be "spy stuff" for your agent to do from time to time, her mission is basically: get a job as a stripper/whore and just live her life until the target happens to show up.
What kinds of sex scenes do I want to write in Bangkok? Here are some examples:
Audition sex. Who does your agent have to suck or fuck to get the job in the first place?
Shift sex. Seducing tourists at the Hard Cock Cafe, and servicing them in the back rooms.
Bar BJs. A few hundred baht gets the agent on her knees right there at his barstool.
Floorshows. The entertainment in the Hard Cock Cafe isn't limited to stripping and pole dancing. Your agent's going to find her name on the rota for dildo shows, girl/girl shows, BDSM shows, ladyboy shows, oil wrestling shows, etc...
VIP suite. Here's where your agent performs for visiting high rollers.
49ers. The real VIPs. Access to Hard Cock Cafe girls, in and out of the club, is a perk of being a member of the Red Wa.
Corrupt cops. And of the Civil Police.
Outcalls. Your agent can earn extra baht by making herself available for escort work. She'll visit businessmen in hotel rooms, entertain stag groups, party with playboys on yachts out in the Gulf of Thailand, service the labour force at a Red Wa meth lab hidden in the jungle...
Etc, etc, etc. And this is just the stuff that her work will throw at her; I've got dozens of ideas for sexy side quests (from passionate holiday flings, to "seduce the target" spy missions, to decadent half moon beach parties, to quest chains like helping an NPC set up a porn studio).
Bangkok should be a porno playground, with new surprises for your agent every time a new version gets released. (Note that there'll also be non-sexy scenes for pacing, avatar maintenance, and character/story development. Some of these scenes will unlock opportunities for further sex scenes, e.g. training at the Muay Thai camp can lead to your agent getting gigs as a ring girl, with opportunities to party with fighters, promoters and VIPs.)
What's holding this up?
The existing sex engine just can't cope with shit like this. Imagine just getting your agent to her audition scene for the Hard Cock Cafe. Picture the build-up to that crucial scene. And then imagine You put your right hand on his left hip. He touches your left buttock. You look at him with your blue eyes. He touches your right buttock.
What improvements are needed?
I wrote the existing Sex Engine myself, when I was way worse at coding. And I am shit at coding now. These are the features needed by a Bangkok-Ready Sex Engine:
A way to mechanically simulate each character's mental and physical capabilities, and produce weighted, randomised outcomes of their actions. Status:Delivered by the SURPS ruleset
A way to know your agent's backstory – is she slutty? Tough? Intellectual? A jaded field agent? A rookie desk analyst? – so the sex scenes can deliver individualised character moments (e.g. being fucked over a desk is hotter when it reminds your agent of her desk back in Langley). Status:Delivered by the Lifepath
A way to mechanically simulate blow jobs, anal sex, vaginal sex, arousal, attraction, etc. Status:Delivered by the SURPS Sex Rules
Finally: a way to combine all this into sex scenes that are actually sexy, interactive and fun to play. Status: Working on it
So, the point of the scene we're focused on now isn't just the sex scene itself. The bigger picture is that we're working on the formula for writing sex scenes in Bangkok.
No more clicking through generic descriptions of body parts meeting body parts – instead imagine a series of sexy scenarios, individualised for your unique character. That's what I want Bangkok to be, and we can do it – but we need to finish laying the foundations first.
If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
–Henry David Thoreau
Comments (10)
I liked high interactivity, low sexiness
You know girls in Bangkok are also rated as per reputation and the cost goes up as you are more popular? I’d love to see the notoriety system somehow based on your daily performance there.
Maybe you should consider delivering some of those scenes outside the engine. So you can focus on the engine of being the main set-up for "standard" scenes, and you can put your effort into making standard scenes as exciting and diverse as possible. But what you describe there seem to be quite a few scenes and situations outside any kind of normal procedure, and maybe it might be better to just write them in a few chapters like the kink vignettes are written. As a user, I don't think I want 100 percent control of my agent every single time during a scene. Maybe I am just happy from time to time to read through a sexy three-chapter-scene with just one single point where I can choose, and the rest is pre-written. I mean, people enjoy erotic literature where they can't choose at all. It's all just one text, one path, and still it's enjoyable. Plus, you can make the decisions the agent (the player) took BEFORE make count, so the player knows that a particular scene only develops now because his agent has certain stats or took certain decisions. I am writing all this because I am wondering if you put too much pressure on yourself and on the engine, so it mounts up to this huge blob of things it needs to accomplish and maybe never really can do.
Yeah...honestly, it might be the case that I'm over-reaching, here. I guess the vibe I'm going for is somewhere between erotic literature (zero interactivity, high sexiness) and the existing Sex Engine (high interactivity, low sexiness). Let's see what everybody thinks of the scene when it's released.
Is there any chance that we will get an agent who is able to be active in the sex scene? After a point it is simply clicking "Let Mr. X fuck you." Which seems like our agent is just lying there catatonic. Also what's the point of having the agent experience anal in her personal life but not use it? There are no sex scenes (that I can tell) where that is a choice, but it is a box you check.
Yeah, exactly! Giving the agent more...agency within the scene is exactly what I want to do. And yeah, anal is definitely going in. :-)
Well done :)
Thank you for suggesting this!
Thanks I really enjoyed reading this looking forward to the future of this game
Awesome thanks man