Card Game Poll Results!

 

Thanks to everyone who voted!

The card game got a really positive response, and that makes all of us really happy. While all the feedback we got on the idea before we started was positive and even enthusiastic, you can't tell how representative a small sample will be. I'm just glad that our idea didn't totally miss the mark.

Final Results:

Combining Patreon and SubscribeStar supporters and accounting for pledge tier vote counts.

Pro vs Con:

Just 1 & 2 vs 5, with unsure/don't care answers excluded.

I think the most interesting thing about this poll from a data standpoint is how exactly the raw votes line up with the results where higher pledge tiers get extra votes. Usually there's a little more discrepancy, but in this case it made only a minor difference, becoming slightly more positive.

The Plan

We're going to keep working on the Sex Card game. Even if we counted both "Unsure" and "Maybe Later" as full negatives, it'd still be 23 vs 69 or only 25% of the vote. I feel like a lot of the "Unsure" and "Maybe Later" answers were really more about not wanting to interfere with hucows, or perhaps hoping to get to the next expansion faster, rather than whether they cared about the card game (there's been a lot of interest in the transformatives expansion lately). I really don't want to interfere too much with hucows myself, and I'm also excited about what comes next. The sex system rework expansion has also been popular in the polls though, and I feel sex is one of the two areas where the game really needs some TLC. It also has the advantage of letting us plan things involving the card game into the expansions, such as adding hucow-specific cards, rather than going back and integrating after the fact.

As for how we go about it, there was a pretty even split between the "full steam" and "like it" group, but I think our plan is a pretty good compromise for either camp, and more importantly, is probably the best way to actually go about accomplishing things.

We've broken the process into two "phases". The first is making the foundation of the game. The initial design, coding everything, creating the mechanics, building the UI, establishing basic flow of the game. The second phase is taking that very basic game that comes from phase 1 and fleshing it out. adding more cards, adding planned mechanics and effects, and of course balancing and getting feedback.

The unique thing is that Phase 1 benefits most from being worked on intensively all at once, because until you finish you don't really have a game. When you finish, however, you have a game that while basic and simplistic, should be somewhat enjoyable to play as a sex minigame. Phase 2 on the other hand benefits much more from going slowly. Adding mechanics and cards can dramatically alter the game, and going too fast can result in an unfun mess. If you've ever played a card-based game and found that initially it seemed fine and maybe had some interesting features, but as you continue discover that there are a lot flaws in the way the game works as you reach the middle and late game, this is probably the reason.

So our idea is to spend a large percentage of our time over the next couple of releases on the card game completing phase 1. This is the more "full steam" period, until we have an actual fun little game to play. Not complete, by any means, but also not just a demo. There will be a game there to enjoy as we shift back to focusing primarily hucows. I would like to say this would be over with the 1.23 release at the beginning of January, but realistically given the holidays plus my fun with covid (info below) it'll probably spill over into January and the 1.24 release at least a little.

For phase 2, we'll continue adding a little each month, while most of our focus will be on hucows. We'll iteratively add cards, more level 2 mechanics, and then level 3 mechanics and cards. Improve the enemy AI and add more modes/objectives for different situations. The key is adding a little each month so that we can get feedback that is more focused on specific changes, and this will let us stay on top of the balance and fun of the game, and also let us watch the metagame. Phase 2 will take a long time, but in a way, it'll also be pretty cool, because every time you come back to a new release, you'll have new mechanics and things to explore. One thing we'll definitely do is have some sort of card guide in the game to both show what cards are in your current "deck", and also what cards exist that aren't in your deck (with a hint how to get them). 

The 'Rona

I'll be fine. Unfortunately due to my lung damage from my time in the military, this particular illness takes a lot out of me. I have to keep an eye on my O2 and generally take care of myself to make sure it doesn't cause anything too bad. Whether it's lower oxygen, fatigue, or just the cold itself, it results in a brain fog. As an example, it's taken many hours and way too much effort to put together this hopefully-coherent post. The good news is that this time it doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as the last time I caught it in 2021, and it seems I'll be recovered faster. The bad news is that between taking care of the kids and then having it myself, it knocked out a big chunk of my work time. There's not really anything else I could've done about it, but I'm sorry nonetheless.

Thanks again for voting, and for all your support. Please be sure to keep the feedback coming! Your feedback is going to be really important for us to make the best game we can!

Which Way Alleyway [Card Game Poll]

 

So, most of you have probably had a chance to play the card game by now. It was really only a demo, and there were a couple bugs with some actions possible in the wrong pose. Overall though, I think it worked pretty well. Next time, we'll definitely force the tutorial to open the first time it's played though, rather than depending on a button, lol.

We answered some questions and got several really good suggestions in the card-game-discussion channel on our Discord server. I thought it'd be a good idea to share some answers to some common questions and feedback for you all here.

Will the card game totally replace the current sex system?
The plan would be to leave the existing sex system in place while the card game is in progress, and like the demo, give the player the choice of which setup to use (card game, sex skip, sex scene). Eventually we'd probably set up a toggle option to choose your system. The old system wouldn't be gone, but we also wouldn't be improving it, either.

Just seeing cards and imagining them isn't the same as reading text about it.
We've been planning to have text that goes along with the cards. The key is to figure out the best way to display and present it. One option would be to show the text as each card is played like in this example image:

Text with each card played, scrollable but designed/sized to describe a single card.

While another would be to show it as a collected into a mini-scene at the end of the round describing everything that happened. Here's an example of what that could look like:

The created mini-scene for each round could be displayed at once. Works better with larger content.

One thing we want to consider is the vast library of action descriptions we already have written. We could make use of that content and fill in the gaps as needed, or we could go for new text that is shorter and more to the point. That's a whole different topic though, the point is that text is planned.

What is the AI doing, it seems to just play as many random cards as it can.
Pretty much. The demo doesn't have a real AI, it's mostly just making sure that the card it plays is valid. The AI will take some work to build properly, particularly because of the different desires for different NPCs, and the actual goal/scene type of the NPC.

The card game feels limiting because I can only do what the cards say. I (the player) want to do X but I can't unless I get the card.
Well, it wouldn't really be a card game otherwise. Right now the number of cards are extremely limited, and of course we don't have the kink and other special cards that you'd steer your character toward earning in the main game. With a deck shifted more toward your tastes, it should be a little better. In terms of what actions you can and can't do... I think it helps to imagine that the available cards are what your character currently has floating around in their imagination. 

The NPC does whatever they want, what about situations where you don't want that such as non-consent or condoms or whatever?
We've got to work on a system for contesting NPC (and player!) card plays. That's something that we'll have to get just right though, and something we'd want to work on later on in the development of the card game when the game is more fleshed out. We have to make sure any mechanic we add to the game is fun, and how it will synergize with other effects such as kink cards. And speaking of which, there are several mechanics we've already got dreamed up for bringing your character (and the NPC's) more into the game.

Have some WIP previews

Poll Options:

1. Full Steam: You really like the card game concept and want us to keep working on it alongside the hucow expansion.
2. Like It: You like the card game, but don't want it to take too much time away from Hucows, keep it as a side project.
3. Don't Care: You really don't care either way.
4. Unsure: What you've seen so far doesn't give you a good enough idea to make a decision. Look again after v1.22
5. Hate It: You don't like the card game/idea of a card game, and don't think we should spend any time on it.
6. Maybe Later: Whether you like it or not, now isn't a good time to work on it. Bring it up later as an optional expansion after the current hucow expansion.

Note: Voting is for patrons/subscribers only.

Farmgirl 1.21 Incremental Change Log

 

As it turns out, farmgirls make mistakes too.

Version 1.21.1

• Sleep Freeze: Fixed the issue where a certain combo of weak sperm in a low-fertility womb could result in an infinite loop and crash the game during sleep.
• Fixed a bug in masturbation where the "fapper" kink wasn't being applied properly to the text.
• Added function to delete sperm objects with zero sperm so they wouldn't stick around in the cheat fertility menu for a day.
• Fixed an issue where the card game AI could play an orgasm card despite not having their meter full.
• Fixed an issue where Besty used too many "S"s (or not enough), resulting in the Tincow clothes shop not working.
• Fixed a typo or two.

The Farmgirl Release - Version 1.21

 

Proud member of the Farm Cooperative

We've got a really exciting release for you this time. It was hard to pull it all together, but we've got a fully playable and functional sex card game in this release. You can play it as a demo from the new game page, but you can also play it instead of a normal sex scene!

There's also new hucow content as well, so don't worry if you were hoping to see more there. The card game is really the star of this release though. We put a lot of work into the design, coding everything in a sustainable and expandable way that most-importantly should be very bug-resistant. We've got animation and an asynchronous game loop. Over 4,000 lines of carefully-considered code (and some more lines of temporary code so we have a working game for you).

The game itself is obviously not complete--check out the Halloween post for details on what we're aiming for--but it looks good and plays well. We don't have usable items yet, and only a basic set of cards, but most of the foundation for everything we'd like to do code-wise is in. It's a sad reality that effort spent on code isn't apparent right away, though I wish it was. We could have slapped together more, with more cards and functions and everything, but it would be laden with technical debt we'd have to pay back at one point or another.

Overall though, I'm really proud of it, even if it isn't finished. It's fairly fun to play even at this stage, and you can practically feel the potential. There are already some hints of the unique and asymmetrical play we're planning, too. To explain: the current objective for both the player and NPC is to orgasm. However, if you manage to orgasm while the NPC's orgasm bar is full, it results in both of you orgasming. So if you don't want to send your boyfriend home with blue balls, it takes a little balance between taking the optimal actions to win, and taking actions that will increase his pleasure enough to cum, even though it increases the risk that the NPC will win and you won't cum yourself. In the future we'll have a lot more of this, with more strategy to try and achieve different things, and whole different win objectives and play styles for the NPC based on them and the situation. Combined with character-based cards that change with each game, It should be a fun and definitely replayable experience as the play changes and affects your character in return.

But that's only if you like the game so far.

It isn't easy to do something so new and different for this kind of game, one that already has fans and support and represents a major change to how the game plays. Personally, I believe it's a big improvement, but I want to hear what you all think.

To that end, we're going to have a poll after a week or two to get your feedback. Depending on what you guys say, we'll either keep working on the game alongside hucows (possibly with more polls for what aspects to focus on), keep working on the game to give you a better feeling for it next release and do another poll, or drop it altogether. Of course, you're always welcome to come join us on discord and chime in on what you think! (We've even got a special channel where you can leave your thoughts without having to join a discussion or waste time, just to make it easier.)

Thanks for all your support, it means more than ever with all the crazy things 2023 has thrown at us so far. I really hope you enjoy the release. Be sure to check it out, even if only to play the demo from the new game page!

Change Log:

Words: 3,376,580 (23,009,044 characters)

Code: 169,227 lines of TypeScript

Cards: 26

• Shooed npcs away from the hucow player's dorm room.
• Added hucow panties, swimsuit, and a home-made sweater image for the paper doll.
• Added the full complement of bull NPCs to the farm coop.
• Improved the estrus breeding event.
• Made some improvements to the kink and mutation player/NPC classes.
• Improved the player character description in the character menu.
• Now includes better information about lactation.
• Now has images that can show below the text description for certain key items, with potential for more.
• Fixes to an event and the animal shelter where you might encounter a canine.
• The character menu will now properly display all kinks and mutations.
• Kinks in particular were missing some items, including liberated as well as kinks not available at the start.
• Not really visible, but created a new setup to compile the builds of AW more reliably with more flexibility for various installations/environments, so newer team members can compile for testing more easily.
• It even checks our AWR resource files to make sure we've got everything packaged up right.
• Improved the description of Amenorrhea mutation in the character creation menu. Now more clearly describes the effect and purpose of the mutation.
• Also emphasizes that periods are hassle-free in AW.
• In "I don't know why I didn't add this years ago": added a new popup to the loading screen that will appear if resource files aren't loaded after 10 seconds.
• Tells new players what to do to fix it.
• May also trigger for players with particularly slow PCs. Let us know, we can adjust the timing.
• A whole new sex system - the AW Sex Card Game
• A ton of work went into this, from game design to just animating things.
• You can play by clicking the "CG DEMO" button on the new game screen.
• When a normal sex scene is launched in-game, you can choose between the normal sex scene, the scene skipper, or playing the card game.
• The card game isn't fully integrated with AW, but most of the basic items are covered:
• Relationship and general sex numbers tracking.
• Cheating and vows
• Can be creampied or creampie others (basic but functional)
• Mental status changes from orgasming/sex.
• Health and energy
• Sex addiction
• The game has a basic tutorial that can be opened by clicking the tutorial button.
• The game has an emergency exit button you can click if somehow the game goes awry despite all our testing.
• Has 26 cards to start. 
• Much of the UI is nearly there, but the cards themselves have some (nice and sexy) placeholder images.
• We're going for a unified style of AI images with colors coordinated to the type of action/pose for both poses and actions.
• While the code is there to start sorting available cards by character (body, genitals, kinks, goals, mutations, etc), for this demo version we assume a standard female player and male NPC, just to stick with the limited card library.
• The best way to explain it is for you to go play it yourself.
• Sixteen hucow social images to go with planned hucow social work events.
• You'll cycle through the images each time a social event plays, the social event system is set up to cycle through a long list of minor events to bring you different content each time until the loop repeats.
• Starting with 16 generic events, other social events are story/character driven.
• Five new hucow social work scenes where you hear gossip or ...interact... with hucows in other ways.
• New hucow job event where you get milked for the first time, introducing you to the milking room, milking bench, and general setup/environment.
• Abigail is now a defined NPC, and will appear for hucow characters.
• Abigail will now come round you up if you don't show up for your daily time at the Dairy.
• There is a 15 minute forgiveness window where you are late before Abigail gets you, she has to come find you, after all.
• There are two versions of the punishment event.
• The first time you don't actually receive a punishment, and instead are given more of a warning. 
• You notice Abigail is dressed differently that day.
• You may discover something about her.
• The second and subsequent times she's far more upset at having to stop what she's doing and round you up.
• The second discipline event has been added for when you break a hucow rule and are punished.
• You get an injection of Eta, but this time Abigail makes sure it applies completely and activates it. Pretty sexy way of doing that, too.
• Learn a little more about Eta from Abigail's dialog.
• Fixed a bug where the second shallow creampie ad wasn't showing when wasting time on phone.
• Second ad is more detailed about this "pregnancy prevention method".
• New "Farm Fresh" milk ad when wasting time on phone.
• adjusted the semen half life age function so that semen does not persist in the reproductive tract nearly as long, still heavily affected by both character's traits and mutations.
• Fixed multiple other random bugs.
• There were probably other things, but I can't think of them. My brain is worn out.
• Oh, created/edited some images for use in the character description thing and with hucows, but didn't get to add them in yet. 

Halloween Treat

 

Happy Halloween!

I figured I'd give you all a surprise and reveal the secret thing we've been working on this month:

AW’s sex system is getting a radical change. Totally different, not just a redesign of the current system. But before I go into details, let’s back up a bit for some context.

When I first conceptualized AW, there were really only two ways for sex to be handled. Either you had a predefined sex scene, possibly with a choice or two (think Corruption of Champions), or you had a sex minigame where you made choices about the kinds of actions you did, and built the sex scene yourself. To be honest, I wasn’t really happy with either. (The no-content with a gif playing approach didn't even get considered.)

The scene-based games had the advantage of being able to present erotica in an enjoyable way, and could be really sexy. As an erotica author and contributor to multiple other adult games out there, this route appealed to me. The main problem is that it seriously lacks replayability. Like a book or movie, you usually have to give any particular piece months or longer before you can really enjoy it again. The other problem is that these scenes tend to limit player choice, and the more choice you offer the more work it is to write… and you have to write a lot. That’s why the most successful games in this area depend heavily on fan submission for content, like the Fenoxo games. Not a bad thing at all, just something that isn’t going to work for every project.

The minigame style has the advantage of letting players craft the kind of actions they want, and gives them more roleplay control over their character. This avenue comes with a lot of downsides. The familiar issue of repeated content, complexity, and generally a dependence on player roleplay for the system to really work at all. NewLife’s sex system really only shines when you’re trying to achieve some personal objective. I’ve heard it be described as “the ultimate NTR simulator”. Which can be great, but is also very dependent on the player. In that case, the fun isn’t in the actual sex, it’s in achieving whatever roleplay goal you’re going for. The sex system is something you tend to rush through after you’ve read the same text enough times. 

With AW I tried to go with a mix of possibilities. Situational and event-based scenes all over the place, but a sex system for more routine interactions that would let you try and roleplay your objectives in relationships. To make the scenes better, I tried to make an extensive library of content for every action, and I made the system mod-compatible so that players could add their own actions and content. But ultimately, the sex system just doesn't work the way I had hoped. There’s a ton of content: about 150,000 words just for actions and orgasms. Despite this most players only see the content for the kinks they enjoy, and regardless it still gets old. And because AW is so open, roleplay goals don’t really work to carry things through because you aren't forced into a limited set of circumstances and outcomes.

So what do we do from here?

My thought is that no amount of reworking is going to fix the fundamental flaws inherent with having a sex system. Even assuming we nail everything and make an awesome system, it’s still going to be something that quickly becomes a chore, or at least is no longer fun. Lilith's Throne has an amazing sex system, but even it gets old. A scene system really wouldn’t work either, you’d be back to repeating a limited number of scenes.

My initial thought was perhaps making a hybrid, where you make some choices at the start, throw in some RNG and NPC traits, and then create a text scene out of a bunch of parts. But in addition to being difficult to do well, you end up with the same disadvantages of limited content along with more limited player choice on top.

So we’re going to try something totally different, and fairly new. It’ll be up to you to decide whether it works or not, there really aren’t any other examples I can think of to compare it to in adult gaming. Basically, a card game. Instead of a battle game that could result in a sex scene, sex as the actual card game. There are a few obscure games out there where sex IS a card game (which I discovered later on), but none that use it as part of a larger overall game. Most adult card games are a battle system that can lead to sex scenes. (you lost, now get raped!)

We're going for a the game as sex. You try to win the game, and the NPC tries to win by meeting different potential objectives depending on the situation and their personality. On a secondary level, you’re also potentially trying to meet more story-based objectives such as not getting a creampie, or avoiding full sex with your attacker, or making sure they like your performance and will want a repeat on a future date.

Rather than standard deck building, you get a deck based on your character. Each time you play, your (and the NPC's) deck is built based on your character as they are at that moment. In addition to connecting your character to what you can do in the card game, it also expands the motivation to collect all sorts of things (or avoid them). Things like your body shape/sizes, kinks, mutations, status, drug use, inventory, skills… lots of things to spice up the game when you're playing a new character, along with some extra potential consequences and reasons to avoid certain things.

Character-Based Concept:

• Have a high oral skill? get a more effective BJ action card.
• Have big enough tits? Get a titty-fuck card.
• Have a cock? get a suite of cock-based cards.
• Have a condom in your inventory? Get a condom card to put on someone.
• There are a million possibilities.

Obviously it’s not going to suddenly be complete, it’ll take work. I’m pretty excited about it, but it will take time to get there. We’ve spent a good deal of time this month working on the design, even doing play testing with printed out paper cards. Basically trying to get something that is fun and reasonably balanced. We hope to have a playable game ready for you in the 1.21 release.

Our plan is to start small with a basic game, and then if the response is favorable, keep going by adding more cards and play, adjusting balance, making animations look nicer, and generally making the game more complex and character-responsive as we go along. We’ll be doing this alongside the hucow expansion, we’re not abandoning it or anything like that!

This first release it did take up a lot of our focus, particularly because our new guy ended up being unable to start working until the 1.22 cycle. Once this initial construction is done though, it'll take a lot less work to expand on it and tweak it. I designed the framework to be extremely flexible and expandable with minimal effort, so most of our focus when expanding it can be on quality and balance.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for your support. I can't wait to show the result of all our work this month to you!

Some extra Halloween images for your enjoyment