[Research] Of gameplay and punishment!
Hey friends
I hope you are having a wonderful day.
Today I come with a bunch of questions and things that I would like your input on.
There is something that I have been circling around for a while, and thanks to some players, over the last weeks I have been giving it a new go. This is basically the concept of gameplay freedom vs punishment.
As much as I like bondage, and I want to have my character running around, with their arms bound kicking ass (literally kicking), if the character can act totally free even while bound it kinda loses the whole purpose/danger of being tied up.
So for this I found some possible solutions:
I plan to add some talents that may allow characters to do certain actions in some cases, but I have some questions, which of these would you prefer:
1 - Leave everything as is, no bondage casting or similar. (maximum punishment)
2 - Add talents that allow casting while your arms are tied but your legs are not. So you can cast as long as you are not fully bound, or in heavy bondage.
3 - Add talents that allow casting while your arms are tied or bound, as long as you are not weakened. (maximum gameplay)
In this particular case I’m talking about bondage casting, but could also be used for kicking as well. (not using weapons tho)
I want to preserve the level of punishment for having these restraints, and even more for cases where you are weakened and/or defeated, so finding a solution for this is not easy.
This is something that, after being decided, I will also apply to future projects.
Another thing that has been going around my head is the whole thing about lewd crests.
I didn’t knew much about it, but I been reading a bit, and got some interesting feedback from players that made me want to go deeper. I don’t know how much I would be able to add in this game without breaking the balance of things, and to be honest the game already has a lot of different features and things going on, but stuff not used for this project will be used for future ones.
Would you be interested in having lewd crests like:
1 - I like it as it is currently, no more complexity is needed
2 - I would be okay with lewd crests being added as a side-quest or a curse, requiring completing some objective to be removed (and having a bigger effect)
3 - I would be okay with lewd crests being part of deals that we can take willingly, but that last very long and cannot be removed early.
Another question I have is about costumes.
Would you like it if there were some small events, quests or scenarios where the characters are required to wear a specific outfit. An example of this is working as a maid and having to wear a maid outfit, or working on a bar and having to use a bunny outfit, or even having an infiltration mission requiring you to wear a stealth black catsuit.
These are all hypothetical questions, I do not have plans to add this for now, but it may open some possibilities for the future, only if players are okay with this.
Of course these outfits are temporary, similar to how the current humiliating outfits work.
1- I would rather not have my outfit replaced by something else, even if for a minute.
2 - I would love to have to wear outfits for special jobs or scenarios.
And lastly, on a general note, when in a captured or punished scenario, would you rather
1 - Focus on the punishment, even if it removes gameplay agency for a bit
2 - Focus on gameplay, even at the cost of making the punishment less severe (or easier to escape)
I got 90% of the things needed to do the unity upgrade, so I’m just preparing for the big task. Have a great week friends!
And if you have ideas around these things, feel free to tell me!
Cheers!
Comments (15)
can I leave a few voting options blank indicating I'd be cool with either decision? (Specifically referring to the outfits.)
With the special jobs, may I suggest a possibility where the mobs can grapple the player as they try to do their job similar to Karryn Prison by chance?
Re: Bondage Casting: I'd rather that be limited to specific spells with unique somatic components, like some spells can be cast with legs, others with hands, others with arms, others with mouth only. Would make the system more interesting, less arbitrary, I think. Another approach, unique skills specifically for bondage casting, would be interesting. Otherwise I think bondage casting would detract from current mechanics
id prefer a middle ground between the 2 lewd crest changes. i like both the options but ultimately i feel using them as build options as well as curses could be fun. some having large benefits with large drawback (i.e. always being in the denied state but you lose willpower when at any lust gained above max) . some having just drawbacks, and some only being minor stat changes. although i understand that's a "have cake and eat it too" kinda ask.
introduce some talents (and make them accessible early) for - Combat Casting: makes it harder for casting to be spoiled interrupted - Silent Casting: character can cast when silenced or gagged. Increases Focus cost slightly. - Bound Casting: character can cast when bound / restrained. Increase in focus cost depending on restraints. - Aroused Casting: Character can cast when Aroused, Enflamed, etc. Focus cost increased or DECREASED depending on situation and spell attempted. Example of focus Decrease: attempting to cast an arousing ability/spell while aroused would decrease focus cost. then add where being Aroused, etc. can spontaneously interrupt casting (without the skill) due to distraction. Another interesting option would be to tie spellcasting to Willpower, so as the character's Willpower is reduced, chances for spell failure and focus cost increase and casting time is increased. Then have skill(s) that would offset this to allow for normal (or more normal) casting.
Hey. I have some additions to my answers. 1. I like how spellcraft is implemented in kinky dungeon - spells are divided by 3 categories - mouth spells, hand spells and leg spells. That gives opportunity to block some of spells, leaving others available. I love that piece of mechanic. Some talents may allow to cast while part of the body is bound, but some devices block casting regardless to the talents. 2. It'd be cool to have quests that require to wear some bondage gear, rewarding the completion of the quest and punishing for giving it up. It present in game Secret Flasher Manaka, but there it has very limited amount of devices.
For scenario specific outfits I wouldn't mind having events that force them, so long as we get to keep them for free afterwards upon escape / mission completion. Basically add them to our wardrobe so we can use them freely later. I also think they should be extra unique, i.e. it shouldn't just look the same as an outfit you can by at the clothing store, it should have a unique look and perhaps (if possible) buffs or debuffs depending on what it's for (e.g. the stealth catsuit you suggested should have a buff that decreases enemy aggro range, especially when you are behind them) For the lewd crests I think you could do both the curse and the deal forms. Make it so only one crest can be active at a time and you can't swap them out while one is already active. For the curse crests make the associated curse more of an inconvenience but add a not easy goal to remove it, that way you can mostly ignore it but you have to put effort in to remove it. Then for the deal crests (perhaps "boon crests") you could add a hex witch npc (either a friendly or a questionably neutral character) you can speak with like a shopkeeper of sorts to apply a boon crest. Boon crests should provide a good passive buff to you at the cost of being on a time limit, with an added bonus of blocking curse crests from appearing on you. Just ideas
For the bondage questions, I don't really have a strong opinion. But I do have a suggestion for those who do: why not tie (hehe) the talents to the difficulty settings? You could add talents that allow casting in bondage to the lower difficulty settings, and make them unavailable on max difficulty. I don't know if that's possible or if it's a lot of work to implement tho
Imo the outfit swapping should be a toggle in the options. It'd be fairly simple to check for. It'd be nice for those who want it, but players who don't want it should be able to disable it.
I'm currently specced into magic with a fetish focus on bondage Since certain traits in that area boost damage for if bound it would only be a logical conclusion to allow bondage casting, I'd greatly appreciate such an option.
please add more restraint props,more talents that reduce attributes or impose negative status effects ,or Adding negative effects to clothing.
As someone not terribly interested in bondage, lewd crests presenting an alternative of sorts (even a less complex one) seems promising.
Would love to have an option that only allowed the MC or their companion have sex if they have been fully bound or at least had their hand tied up, would add some realism to the game, maybe add them in setting so people can choose if they wanted to instant sex or sex after being bounded.
That is why we have intrusive thoughts.
As much as I like total bondage, I would recommend adding a setting that gives the player the ability to shed all bondage or curse with the press of a button to make it more appealing for both hardcore bondage lovers and more casual bondage lovers. It would then be a choice instead of a dilemma as creator
