5/22/17 and system primer.

Hey everyone, I've been working hard on trying to meet the deadline I set for myself to get the demo out. One of the issues I ran into recently was how to format the randomized dialogues I would be using. After experimenting a bit, I realized having one big list of expressions for a reaction of an npc doesn't allow a low of emoting for them. Which is why I decided to break the big list I had into several smaller lists that would only be used when the npc is at various stages of emotion. This presented a further problem which I hadn't realized until now, which is that I had not had a definitive target the players would aim for. From the opinions I've heard of a lot of people, I knew I didn't want to make the target a point where the npc would cry, since not everyone would enjoy that as a requirement. However, I also didn't want to make it so that causing them to cry would necessarily be overdoing it. After some deliberation, I came up with a system I think will work for everyone. I figured that I would just give all of the details here rather than leave the player to figure out the system through trial and error.

First off, for both fun and punishment spankings the npc's emotion can vary from 50 and -50 points, with high numbers being "happy" or emotionally in tact. 

For a punishment, if the emo level is above 10 points, the npc becomes arrogant and angry at the punishment. This lets some scenes start out at a higher value if you are spanking someone who's acting bratty. When the emo drops below 10 points, they become unapologetic and apathetic, some punishments will start here if the npc is indifferent to getting spanked, or spankings don't affect them much, like adults or mature teenagers. If the emo drops below -10, then the npc takes the standard spankee tone of being apologetic and trying to barter their way out. When the emo drops below -25, the npc becomes genuinely sorry and perhaps teary eyed. At -35, the npc will start to cry if they are a teenager or younger, but will have the same mindset as at -25. From -45 to the min of -50, they are sobbing and very remorseful, where adults will only begin to cry at this level. 

What these all mean for you, the player is that your goal for a typical punishment ranges from the -25 to -45 mark, a wide target which shouldn't be hard to reach. If the emo is above that, the punishment won't count for them, and if it is below that, it will be counted as too severe. Both will have their own consequences in specific scenes, but for general cases where the punishment is voluntary for an npc, you will have stat penalties like familiarity loss. But, there are some cases where you will want to punish someone beyond the norm, which is when you DO target the -45 and below mark, but those will be clearly outlined to the player(ie, "Make sure you give them a HARD punishment."). Also, these targets are not meant to be difficult for you to reach. As long as you pay attention to all of the indicators and know what your actions will change in the stats, getting to the point you want should be easy. I'll be doing a lot of testing myself to keep that the case, but I'll also be looking for your feedback on this after the demo comes out. I'll be presenting these details in some fashion in the game itself early on to help players too. I'll be giving more information on tomorrows post.