Gameplay Element Poll Results

Like I mentioned in the update post, I decided to end the gameplay element post early.

No one had voted on it, and I finally figured out how to loop videos in RPG Maker, and decided to make the third idea it's own project again. It's called Alien. First off, Waifu Wonderland is still my primary adult project. I don't plan on restarting development on Alien until I'm both done with school and the initial build for Waifu Wonderland is out. No time will be taken from this project. I already have 116 animations I could possibly put into Alien, which is why I'm moving forward with the project. I spent months working on it already, and it's very close to an initial release already. The only thing that stopped me from moving forward with the project, was that I couldn't get the animations to loop.

I'll talk more about Alien once the initial build of Waifu Wonderland is out and it's officially announced. Now for the poll.

The "winner" -

Since no one had voted except me, I decided that the best thing to implement was collectables.

I like the idea of using different art styles for different dimensions, but with the lab storyline not even complete, and requiring people to do it in order to unlock the different dimensions, it just felt like too much setup. At least for where the game is at now. Collectables on the other hand, is kind of a staple in adult games. Seems like a lot of games have hidden collectables with special CG. It also would give players a way to make some money without having to just grind out jobs.

I also figured out a good way to implement them without breaking the game, which is what my primary concern was. Basically, you'll get more money depending on where you're at in the game. If you're still living at home, you'll get probably $10 for each one you find. If you've bought the apartment, that'll get bumped up to probably $15. And it'll increase for each upgrade. That way it'll scale with you. It should always be an okay amount of money for where you're at in the game, but shouldn't ever let you break it by giving enough to just easily buy the next upgrade.

How will they work? -

Basically, you find them in random places. Some will have a bright star sprite to show you where they are, and others will be entirely hidden.

Initially I was planning on having an NPC where you would turn in the collectables, and he would "appraise" them and pay you. Then you could see the CG by going to his gallery where he posts all of the artwork. This is still how you'll be able to view the actual artwork. Mainly because if the game gets enough support to finish and actually release, I'll need to remove the artwork. A lot of it is fanart and I don't want any legal trouble by including fanart in a commercial product. And the easiest way to do that will be to just remove the area where you view the artwork. Or if I'm able to partner with other games or artists, I can just delete the ones that are fanart, rather than having to go back and edit each individual event where you find them and the actual item. It's just way less work for me this way.

Instead of the NPC paying you, you'll instead find money on the ground with the collectable when you find it now. That makes it easier for me to implement the scaling, and also just gives you the money right away so you don't have to go and talk to the NPC every single time. I will probably implement a bonus for collecting or certain amount that you'll get from the NPC though. However, that entirely depends on how much work that is. I'm not sure how I would set that up yet, so I'll have to experiment and see if I can get it to work. These would give a flat amount, but since it's based on total number, it should give a good amount, but shouldn't ever break the game. I want it to feel rewarding, and be a more interesting alternative to grinding out working, but never want it to break the game. With any luck it'll be balanced in the initial version and wont need much tweaking, but there may end up being balancing issues. In which case, I'll have to tweak it in later versions.

Anyway, in order to get the collectables to appear, you'll need to talk to the NPC first. Basically to start the quest. He'll tell you that he accidentally left his window open and all of the art he's collected blew out of it and has been scattered throughout the city. He asks you to find it for him and hang it up in the gallery he bought to make sure he never loses it again.

When will it be implemented? -

In the initial version! It's a pretty simple system that I should be able to implement in just a few hours, so I'll be putting it into the initial version. There's already some spots where you can find money on the ground, so I'll just be replacing those with the collectables, and then adding more in.

How Many? -

As I mentioned in the poll, the initial collectables will be coloring I've done of LMSketch's sketches. So I went through my colorings and picked out the ones that I should be able to be put into the game without any issues. There's some that feature shorter characters, some that feature really big women, and some 18 year olds. Even if I put the disclaimer that they're all 18, I'm worried that they may not work here on patreon, so I cut all of the questionable sets out. Which was unfortunate, since I had to cut out some of my favorites, like the Urbosa and Asuka sets. I then went through the color variations and picked out my favorites. Even after cutting out 11 entire sets and only taking the variations I liked, there ended up being... 328.
I'm not implementing 328 though, at least not into the initial version. That's just absurd. The game only has 5 areas to start, and 1 unlockable area. A lot of the buildings will be inaccessible in the initial version too. Putting 328 in would just make for a cluttered mess.

So instead, I went to my hentai foundry account where i posted the regular versions of the colorings to see which ones had the most faves, and I'll be implementing the top 5. Which was still a total of 64. Which is still quite a bit, but should be manageable. That's still a good $640 if you get them before the apartment, plus I'll probably do bonuses at 8, 16, 32, and then 64. Probably $100 for 8, $200 for 16, $300 for 32, and then $400 for all 64. It'll definitely be a lot of money for the start of the game that way, but you'll have to work pretty hard to find them all, so it should still be pretty balanced. Even if someone makes a guide, it should still take a bit of time to get them all.

Which Sets? -

I don't want to give all of them away, but I'll share a couple. One is the Rosalina set that I shared in the poll. Another is the Annie Hughes set.

I think it'll be more fun if the others are a surprise, but if you're just really curious, you can always hunt down my hentai foundry account and look through them to see which were the most popular.

Polls On Pause -

That's everything for this month's poll results. I honestly don't have a good idea for another poll right now, and anything I did wouldn't be implemented until a later update anyway, so there isn't going to be one for April. I thought about doing a character design poll for the first update, but I don't want to spend the ~4 hours that would be needed to create the sketches when the last poll had no votes, I have to finish a casual game project for a class this weekend, and I'm also going to be starting final projects next week. I'd much rather spend that time making sure I stay on track with art updates. Polls will be back in May and I'll do the first real character design poll then! I hope you look forward to the initial build of the game release and the inclusion of collectables!