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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Suppose the following...

Need to ask a question of you all.

One of the biggest (and ongoing) complaints about the game is the sheer number of actions that need to be repeated, every day. I've been planning to streamline some of it, like the showering and makeup, in the next update. But I just plotted out a way to streamline clothing, so that you can set up to five different outfits (casual, work, exercise, extra 1 and extra 2) and switch between them with one click. The problem is that it'll take a while to implement, so if I want to do it for the next update, I'll need to drop something from the current update, which will likely be the import/export feature update.

So the question is, should I do that? Would you prefer that I work on import/export, or streamline the clothing system? Let me know in the comments.

Edit: In other news, there won't be a stream tonight for real life personal reasons. I'm still working on the game, though, rest assured.

Edit 2: Added a poll to better gauge response. It's on the right.

49 comments:

  1. I would prefer the Import/export redesign. It would make thing so much more easier for everyone, I think. Plus all the content will work then :D

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  2. Considering the move to more spread out updates, I think import/export is less vital than it used to be.

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  3. Seconded on the Import/export overhaul. It's the closest thing Cursed has to saving and getting all of the flaws/bugs corrected now will save you trouble in the future yes?

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  4. Yeap, import/export first. By the way, is it possible to make shedule for actions like in Slave maker?

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  5. Question/Alternative:
    Would it be possible to add a skill/stat modifier to the testing item (much the same way the body modification works now)? It seems it would almost eliminate the need for an import/export while allowing for more effective testing.

    I also agree that the new update system and pace reduce the importance of the import/export feature. With one update every 15-20 days, I'd rather see substantial improvements to the gameplay experience than a renovation of a system that is largely unnecessary. (Especially since the import/export issues seem to crop up after any major system overhaul.)

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  6. Please improve the import/export action first
    THANKS

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  7. Screw the import/export feature, I for one never use it anyway. More streamlinage!

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  8. I personally would prefer the streamlining of clothing I never use the import/export feature anyway.

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  9. The clicking doesn't bother me at all. It's not like I do anything else in the game. So more important features please.

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  10. Yeah, I'd prefer the streamlining.

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  11. I hadn't thought about it until now but it's a really good idea, and as long as you manage to sneak it in at some point I'm fine with whatever you can throw at us.

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  12. Definitely voting for streamlined clothes.

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  13. I vote for the streamlining. As others have said; the Import/Export function isn't nearly as important anymore (not that I ever, you know, actually used it anyway).

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  14. I'd personally say import/export, THEN the clothing. I DO like the sound of this 'outfits' idea, though. When you do code it up, remember to make the outfits remember which shoes go with them, too. :)

    Also, a personal request: stop the 'strip all' command from stripping jewelry, or else include a separate 'strip clothing' command.

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  15. I support the streamlined clothes and anything else that reduces the number of clicks for minor tasks like that.

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  16. Clothes! I was going to suggest that exact idea. Having to switch between work, exercise, bar, and church clothes is a pain.

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  17. Any thing that rudeces click is a great!

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  18. Clothes, with fewer updates I think is more usefull to save "time" in play then to start where someone was, and it's much more usefull for you if we start all the time over again, we are beta-testers now and so we can find more bugs.

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  19. Reducing clicks is a good idea. This game is already very heavy with clicking.

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  20. I have had no problems with the import/export function, so I say go with the streamline clothing system. Seems like a good idea that would at least speed up the mornings and in between times.

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  21. personally i would say that the import/export function is even more important since the update frequency has gone down do to the fact that you make more progress in between updates therefor it would be nice to have that progress carry over more effectively. of course the ideal solution would be to make the saves compatible between the different versions but since you can't (as far as i know) i'll be happy with importing.

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  22. I feel like streamlining the clothing system is the best choice here. The import/export function can get finished later.

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  23. with releases spread out, the export/import feature isn't really important, and when you finish the game, the feature won't be of any real use anymore. I'm all for features and things that would reduce the amount of clicking, this game has quite of bit of it.

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  24. Just knock back the release date and put it all in instead of rushing out the update?

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  25. I say clothing, as that will make restarting things less annoying, anyway!

    Beside that, clothing will help out in gameplay as a whole, while import/export is only a small part for only some people.

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  26. I think you should make this into a poll.

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  27. Streamlining Import/Export makes reducing clicking less of a priority.

    Streamlining clothing/clicks needed to play makes better Import/Export less of a priority.

    The game is fun to play, replaying to test changes, as expected from being a tester/player, makes both stand out as potential problems, depending on which you use the most.

    I don't import/export. I play the game. I'm in favor of streamlining.

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  28. I do get annoyed by the constant clicking but if there is an easy way to use the keyboard then I would use it and not care about the proposed streamlining.

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  29. given the amount of content changes I would say go with streamlining clothing that benefits everyone.

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  30. I think I'm going against the majority here to say, I approve of the additional clicking. I feel it's redundant to remove clicks when the entirety of how RAGS works is through 'point and clicking'. But on top of that, I feel there's a certain level of immersion doing things manually. In the end I favor not the player character falling into a routine, but THE PLAYER HIM/HERSELF that falls into it. The heavy point and clicking is just a minor annoyance that goes away, given time.

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  31. I've read all the comments up to this point and have looked at the current votes... I'm in favor of streamlining.

    Personally, I think removing clicks especially those that you constantly do is a good idea and doesn't impact immersion whatsoever. If possible, a set routine that the players can create (and abandoned--if you want to break routine) would be bloody awesome. It would remove tons of clicking and it would be something a person would generally do (ie, get up, get dressed, use the bloody throne, eat something, get ready for work, etc, etc).

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  32. I'd rather wait a little bit, and have both options, than have to wait another whole build for one or the other.

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    1. I would second that, because both would be very welcome. I would rather wait one more week to a new release then to choose between them.

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  33. Clothing please! I may be biased though, I didn't even know about the import/export til I saw the comments. ^^;

    BTW Awesome game, keep it up!

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  34. Streamlining Clothing:
    Pros: The choice of setting up 4 outfits to choose from from day to day does make it much easier on the player, and will eliminate a ton of clicks that would otherwise hamper actual gameplay. Also, Four outfits seem to be more then necassary, so players can make the fourth outfit change it's role occasionally (Think switching from a second work outfit to a second casual outfit). Also, it would actually lead to a variance in outfits, other than just clicking of "get dressed" when the character wakes up in the morning. Yes, my characters seem to have a closet consisting of only one outfit, as I can't be bothered with all the clicks. This will allow her to have more than one outfit. Yay, choice!
    Cons: The get dressed function already reduces the process of getting dressed to one click in the morning. If someone really is bothered by the outfit and wants a change, they can change it by making the outfit once, wearing it, then hitting get dressed every day.

    PS: To make certain that there's room, I'm separating my analysis on the two features.

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    1. Streamlining Import/Export
      Pros: The most time consuming thing to get, Skills, can be easily passed from one character to the next, as well as stats, and looks/body-shape.
      Cons:Importing stats and body shape is unneeded with the stats/body-shape cheat modifier you just added. The difficult thing is skills, as they take so long to get. However, I find that loading old saves with those skills into the game does work for the most part, even if they occasionally break, So it's more of a moot point.

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    2. Overall: The streamlining clothing option seems to be the better of the two in my opinion. It will allow the player to have more options without increasing overall clicks. Also, I know that I tend to have certain outfits I have planned for myself, and specific purposes for each, so I would expect the same would hold true for the character. Meanwhile, the import/export feature is now largely useless. The only thing that the testing item doesn't already cover is traits. Cum addiction is a pain to get, as the dumb milk carries the risk of making the character a futa if drunk too much, but the trait has such a high level of the addiction stat, that it's nearly impossible to get. Least for me. However, in the final product, the import/export feature shouldn't be needed, so working on the actual core of that is more useful. Also, there could be a way to implement a trait cheat.

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  35. Oh, had this thought, and I think it might be practical, though I'm not certain as I never worked with rags before, only C++ and Matlab. Would it be possible to as a modifier to the things that determine if you get a trait? Like, in my mind the code would work like this

    n=1; (Trait Modifier)
    DomStat=0; (Dominant Trait Points)
    if action X, then
    DomStat=Domstat+(1*n)
    end

    with n being a variable the player can increase if they want to make the initial garnering of traits faster through the cheat function. Also, this setup could be used to make the player get a natural bonus to the trait points pool if they got a good nights rest, or some other special stat deserving of the increased receptiveness to learning said traits. For testing purposes, it could be set to some high number, like 4, and that would make getting points into a traits point pool would be easy. Also, Since it should be toggable, that would mean that only the skills the players wanted should show up. Of course, they could just leave it on through the playthrough to make it more realistic still, as one could then get all traits easier, not just those they want. Of course, this modifier should only be applied to those traits that actually have a trait points pool. That way, the importing feature will be all but pointless. o.o

    Just a thought. Hope it got through the fuzzy haze of tiredness I have right now. o.o

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    1. Add, not as a modifier. See what I mean by sleepy haze?

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  36. I think by "repetitive actions" people are most likely complain about how well this game reflects the tedium of having a daily job. Most days, you're just following a set routine, and it quickly becomes more annoying than entertaining.

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    1. I wouldn't mind having a daily routine if each day didn't take 500 clicks to get through.

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  37. I'm rather have less clicks. I haven't used the import/export feature.

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    1. A big reason you probably haven't used it is because it's broken and doesn't work very well.

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  38. Can't get into cursed because it's so tedious. Game should either have very strong cheat tools or be far less grindy.

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  39. Am I right in thinking of the new clothing system like something close to "The Sims", where you can choose different sets of clothes and then put them on/off by simply choosing one of them (no need to remove, if you want to change, just pick the "style", so to speak)? I was going to suggest something similar, but I didn't know if you wanted to keep it the way it is now because it was a gameplay mechanic. Will the new clothing system also keep track of the shoes?

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  40. To me, clothing isn't the problem so much as really mundane things that could be assumed.

    How about if you take a vitamin every day (or some other mundane "everyday" action) for two weeks or so, you just start doing it automatically.

    Or if you go to work, for example, at the strip club or the office, why do those jobs even have an area, as opposed to being like taking a walk or going to the gym, where you would just "Go to Work" and get prompted if something eventful happens. The only purpose of going to the area as opposed to the one-click event type of deal seems to be so that you can speak to your boss (in the case of the strip club, which you can't even DO, by the way, since she never has anything to say) or to check your job performance.

    In the case of the strip club, the only OTHER purpose is however many needless clicks to strip, get dressed, move into the room, start the job, move out of the room, strip again, get dressed again, realize that getting dressed didn't put your shoes back on, put your shoes on, and then FINALLY leave.

    Why not just "Go to Work," event happens or does not happen, and bam, you're back from work. Your boss could either call you or you could call them, if there were some event that required you speaking to them, or even better, you could leave the area in the game as it is, and simply open it for navigation when the event needs.

    Instead of having a job performance board, you could have the player check online via their computer, call the office, or even better, make it an event that can happen in addition to regular work events where you can use your skills to fanagle a coworker into giving you feedback on your performance.

    In my opinion, the problem with "too many clicks" isn't "Oh these features suck take them out" so much as it is... like, have you ever roleplayed with someone or read someone's prose who includes every single tiny little detail, regardless of whether or not it adds anything?

    It's like that. Personally, I think the whole "health" thing is a needless complication, and this upcoming "cleaning" update just seems like a further nuisance. Why do you need to work it into the player's daily life? If you're adding it for the maid job, don't even make it a skill, just make the maid sidejob have a skill level of its own that increases the more often you do it and depending on the choices you make whilst performing said job. Not needless grinding, not schedule clutter, choice-based progression in a chosen field. Events, AM, make events, not more mundane tasks to clutter the player's already-lengthy daily schedule.

    /rant

    Sorry about that.

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  41. You know what you could focus on besides adding more clutter in the form of more mundane crap to do everyday?

    Long-term events that lead to changes in your character as opposed to changes as a result of mindless daily grinding, character interaction and development that result in meaningful relationships, story progression, interaction with (and perhaps relationships with) the many many store owners of the mall (who may or may not exist as NPCs, now that I think about it) that could result in new clothing or items, or perhaps your interactions with them could lead to the introduction of new stock, or a change in stock, which could result in even greater changes. e.g. slowly persuading stores into dirtier modes of thought and products and your karma beginning to plummet as a result, with the end result being the mall as a whole carrying much naughtier things.

    Just some food for thought. Personally, I think it's most important that you flesh out and streamline what's already there before you further complicate things by adding more, but that's just the editor in me talking.

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    1. I agree with both your posts. I stopped playing this game while waiting for streamlining months ago. My life is already tedious enough, I don't need a game to simulate the tedium of each individual task. Oh, and the way jobs are implemented, it's basically the same thing as you said but with 10 more clicks with nothing new or changing each time you do the job. I'm unsure where this game is going at this point. It's getting too cluttered to me, and I play Space Station 13 and Dwarf Fortress regularly.

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    2. I don't think, unlike my previous rants, that these are generally counterproductive suggestions either, right?

      I mean, these are things that can be reasonably accomplished without gutting the existing systems in the game; as a matter of fact they may be faster to implement given that the aforementioned systems are already in place, right?

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