Working on Gameplay Systems

Rra-rra! I mean, greetings!I apologize for the lack of updates lately, and that this post will have to be in text.

Since the last post, I spent every day working on the game without almost any breaks, yet I have very little graphical things to show to you. Not everything is artistic, I suppose, sometimes I just need to delve deep into writing and code, trying to finally find answers to my gameplay problems.

The Climb

When I was starting out, I thought, since I was already a decent artist, I would only need to learn programming to make games. After so much struggle and sacrifice, I finally ascended the mountain of programming, but this is where the landscape of game-dev was revealed to me: it has so much more bigger badder mountains to climb, forever and ever...

Now, on my path to BioDraconica, the vast canyons of Game Design block the way. It's an entirely different skill-set, not related to art of programming - some people can make great games even without computers involved. But I thought it will be quick enough to figure out, since I had such "a good idea" for the game! I was, again, mistaken...

The Unknown Temple

In the last post, I said that the game takes place in a sensual Dragon Temple - I have had lots of sketches for architecture and lore for various factions for it. But what I didn't know is what exactly does the player do in there? I built the "world", not the "verbs" for player actions. And this is one of the core elements of Game Design still missing.

Sure, I thought of to creating temple-related tasks, it could play like a life-sim game, like "Stardew Valley": player would be a dragon-kin creature, they would tend to the temple grounds, make sculptures of Dragons to celebrate them, grow crops and prepare food, exercise daily with their winged kin - perhaps have some flying competitions between each other! I also started brainstorming crafting recipes, resources, potential tech-tree progression in my weird organic Dragon world. I spent a lot of time on writing it all down too!

And don't get me wrong - it all sounds like a lovely fantasy jump into... However, I later realized the "verbs" I was defining did not actually involve performing anything NSFW! And, I'm sure, you are all waiting for the game to be somewhat spicy! I certainly want that!

I firmly believe that this crucial part of the game should not just be a "press a button watch a looping animation" kind of deal (e.g. how Skyrim NSFW mods do it). It should be integrated and engaging, not tucked to the side in hard-scripted cutscenes or narrative beats.

You see a Dragon - you should be able to lick them under the tail if you so desire, you should be able to jump in their maw if you want. It's similar to the philosophy open-world games have: "if you can see it you can go there", except here it's more related to exploration of creature body. You don't just go to a forest and bash some mobs - there are other games for that. You want to go there to meet a creature that will make your night unforgettable.

I don't know how to describe it without writing essays, but there is a particular feeling that just needs to be the core pillar of BioDraconica. The expression of profound, all-consuming love to these creatures. Sadly, no amount of temple activities, crafting avenues, trade routes or even engaging flight mechanics was going to capture this feeling - it would be a nice bonus, but it can't be this game's core.

Then what kind of player actions could create this feeling?

a Tiny Bit of Worldbuilding to Set the Stage

When I say "Dragon Love", I don't mean it's just licks, snuggles and mating. While this already happens all the time, the "Dragon Love" also includes far more visceral feelings involving maws, paws, teeth and talons. I'm sure you can imagine how exactly it goes, but keep in mind that this is done willingly, with great desire from both sides: "I am your Prey, and you are my Predator"...

This "process" is "relatively harmless", because in the worst case, no one actually dies in this world. Should something irrecoverable happen to their resilient body, any creature can freely transfer their consciousness to a new, empty body - a fully grown adult Dragonkin vessel, ready to hatch from a special egg. There is an an entire faction is dedicated to breeding, laying and nurturing such eggs. But this process also requires a liberal amount of Essence - a mutagenic biofluid that carries genetic blueprints for various Dragonkin subspecies, produced when any Dragonkin experiences the peak of their most desired pleasures, which creates a perpetual cycle of supply and demand.

With this, suddenly, so much kinks beloved in the furry fandom start making logical sense in the lore of this world.

Naturally, the gameplay needs to reflect these interactions, it would be a shame if it just stayed in-lore.

The Search for Dragon Love

I spent too much time searching for clues within other games (I found none) and trying to simplify things, to make it suitable for a solo-dev project (I'm definitely still overscoping)...

But no matter how I tried to resist it, the only genre fit to show such a world is an RPG. Not survival (too isolated/lonely), not shooter (what would you shoot?), not sandbox (that doesn't even tell about anything anymore). I even evaluated focusing on a Dragon-racing theme, but it had the same problem - lewds would have to be tacked to the side.

Even though it's an RPG, I don't have any plans for writing an epic story or making an expansive open-world (that's too much for a single dev). I try to keep it to a minimum, focusing only on making the creature-on-creature interactions playable and satisfying for now.

I know, I know... the drawbacks of developing an RPG as a solo-dev are massive! But I could not find any other type of game that would work for this wonderful world. I wrote down (and discarded) about 15 different core gameplay/genre ideas, but perhaps I'm just not seeing something? Idk, I've exhausted myself on it. I have to move forward with what I have.But still, let me know if you have any ideas, I'd really need to talk about it with more people!

However, across all my researched games (both video and table-top ones), all RPGs are all about "dealing damage" to each other and "killing monsters". None of this would work for my case at all, but I still felt there is something to it, if only the context was shifted...

So for the past several weeks I've been sketching out my unique system (not to be confused with my past TTRPG prototype attempts - very different): character stats, probabilities, status effects and other modifiers, skills, damage and non-damage types, devising calculation formulas - the list goes on.

I've felt all sort of feelings: from bouncy joy to crest-ripping desperation. I left several claw-marks on my floor in agony and filled page after page with my mad ideas in ink and drool. I've been through some stuff, folks...

But I think I have found something...

Sensual RPG

Skill: Salacious LicksStance: InvocationKink: MawsElement: CaressCreature eagerly leaps forward, with their maw widely open, landing at the first valid target, and unleashes their tongue for 45 base caress force to the hit spot. Then, with each correct input-prompt, they can repeatedly lick up to 3 times in the same spot, each dealing 10 additional base caress force.

Where in other games skills deal "Burn" and "Slash", what if my system was focused on dealing "Caress" and "Tease" instead? What if each interaction also carried a "Kink" with it to provide more context?

Let's imagine that an NPC just received the action of Salacious Lick skill right under their tail. It deals physical stimulus of Caress, done with a Maw, coming from the player's dragonkin, who is Medium(size) Orthograde Biped(anthro) Saurian(reptile/dinosaur).

Such a tag-list could be interpreted by the computer, checked against a database (unique to each NPCs) to calculate how much the NPC liked (or disliked) what the player has just done to them. The locational data is used to calculate sensitivity to the stimulus element, so licking armor plates on the back would not produce the same effect as licking the sensitive folds under the tail.

From there, the physical part of this interaction increases NPC's "Charge". Reaching maximum "Charge" triggers a "Surge", which is a carefully chosen name for the climactic release of Essences.

However, if the NPC liked the interaction, it also increases their emotional state - the "Ardor" meter. The more "Ardor" they have when each "Surge" occurs, the more high-quality Essence will be released. Weak NPCs will have enough "Vigor" to only last for a single "Surge" before they fall blissfully unconscious, while stronger (champions & bosses) Dragonkin can definitely go for a few more rounds.

Player's reward for performing well is all about acquiring more varied types of Essences, which is used to upgrade/mutate their character, unlocking access to new areas and creatures to Bond with, rinse and repeat (thus forming a gameplay + progression loop).

As another "tactical" decision element when choosing skills, I have also drafted an elemental-match-up system called "Stances", similar to creature-collecting RPGs. The idea is simple: each creature and every skill can be in a specific "Stance", that may be more (or less) effective against another "Stance", according to a match-up table. Each Stance represents a different "style" of Draconic bonding: Adaptation, Domination, Temptation, Submission, Invocation and Corruption.

I, of course, had to plan for much more eventualities... What happens if the NPC does not like the player actions? How to make it so NPC can get upset or annoyed at the player, or calmed down and relaxed?

There should be angry NPCs who will be inclined to deal damage, unless they are seduced enough. There can be NPCs inclined on swallowing the player, or asking to be swallowed. It would be hot if there was a corruption influence that slowly can turn your character into something "else".

Each of those topics can be wide enough for some people to make a separate game out of, however here, I will have to simplify and "compress" them into the same system if I am to have any chance of succeeding with this project. But when all these moving parts come together, I hope it will create an in-depth RPG system where the player's goal is to truly explore their creature partners, both physically and mentally. Player can also be collecting journal entries for every individual creature in game, uncovering info about them and their desires.

Final Thoughts

It's a really long read, I apologize for so much text! But there is just no other way I could have conveyed so much info at this moment. I'm in the middle of packing baggage - I have to move to another country (again) in less than a week, so I hope I can rent a decent place and set up my pc again quickly and smoothly there.

There will be a lot much more to discuss and show, but we will get there. The formulas and designs I have so far are giving me a solid direction of what to program, design, model and animate. I don't have a laptop, but I will try to work on my Steam Deck as I travel (by using its linux desktop mode, and plugging an external portable monitor, keyboard and mouse to it).

In the future posts, I will aim to break down this RPG system in further detail as I continue to develop it, striving to have it running in-game ASAP!

Aside from struggling with game-design, I have also worked on programming tools to speed up my level-design process, transferred my unique talon-drawn art-style (the one I shown in the previous) into the engine, and re-done animation rig to give me an ability to use universal humanoid animations for more characters.

Thank you so much for reading!With lots of Dragon Love, - Salireths.