House Party Beta

[mistacorn]

Hey guys,

I’ve been getting a lot of great feedback from all of you and I just wanted to talk a little bit about my train of thought as to the direction I’m taking House Party. As a lot of you know, when I started the project, I was much more focused on the engine than anything, and the story-line direction was kind of up in the air. Since then, I’ve been working in suggestions by you guys and just kind of making the story work somehow. A lot of people have been commenting on the replay value and how all of the story-lines kind of mesh together, and the game has felt very linear. All of this is about to change.

Now that the engine is working rather well, I’ve given a lot of thought to the story-lines. What I’ve decided, is to change House Party in a way where you will be able to get to “Endings”. You will essentially, on each game-play be able to focus on doing things in a particular way that enable a particular ending. It won’t be possible to unlock multiple endings in one play-through. At the end of the main game-play, you will be forced into a particular ending based on how you played the game.

The first ending will be actually being able to play the strip game with Rachael, Ashley, and Brittney. This is the first ending I am working on. Once you unlock an ending, you will be able to immediately go into it and play it again via the game menu. Some of you have already have played through and understand how to unlock the card game (though this may change as I start writing other endings), so from this point, you would initiate the game by getting to the point in the main game where Brittney gives you the option to start the strip game, and it will take you out of the main game, and into your strip game “Ending”. I think this is a pretty cool way to do it, and from that point on, you will be able to select the Card Game directly from the House Party Main Menu, and bypass all of the other stuff. It will also be possible to chain endings together, meaning you have to solve one ending to get to the next one. So the card game could evolve into more after all of the girls are naked. Let me know what you guys think.

The other endings I have in mind are:

– Blackmail Katherine Ending
– Make Up With Madison Ending

These two endings listed above are where I’ll be getting into sex scenes (which I know, I know, I haven’t approached yet), but I am saving that stuff for last mostly because I want the payoff to be big when I get to a final version of this game.

I am also open to suggestions on other possible endings.

[nezumi69]

I'd suggest not ruling out some kind of sex scene to cap off the strip poker game. It might also be worth making some kind of like/dislike numerical counter with all the girls, and make the strip poker game the highest 3 in the 'like' list and you, or 4 girls if all of them are below a certain 'like' threshold (Naturally, you'd have to spy on them...)

[xviii]

I like the sound of the change in direction. Right now you have to satisfy one condition with one character to progress with another. This makes everything have to play out in an order somewhat which gets tedious. I like the idea of being able to pursue different options/girls.

It is probably obvious but my suggestions would be:
- Stephanie ending that doesn't involve her passing out. Maybe more freedom in what alcohol you can collect and having to give her the right drink so that she doesn't over do it would work?

Something less obvious and different:
- Get Stephanie drunk enough to have sex with Patrick, maybe in the garage or study.

This could be used as a way to get something valuable from Patrick and could be easily overlooked if you focus on events in another order (Madison or Katherine ending). It might also be an easier way to implement the first sex scene since it rules out the player having control over it. Although I'm sure with NPC on NPC it could be even trickier to get it looking right.

My other suggestion would involve implementing lesser paths with the characters, like in most date games where you get the best ending or another, lesser ending or simple side distraction. This is very important for making the best endings have much more weight when they are achieved.

Good luck! I can't wait for the next beta.

[ltpika]

- Get Stephanie drunk enough to have sex with Patrick, maybe in the garage or study.

No way, I'm not letting another dude touch Stephanie! Especially Mr. Whisky Dick.

In all seriousness, the player should have access to all the girls presented. Maybe you could do that in an alternate path/solution, but it seems over complicated.

[master110]

This is coming along nice. great work.

[mistacorn]

- Get Stephanie drunk enough to have sex with Patrick, maybe in the garage or study.

No way, I'm not letting another dude touch Stephanie! Especially Mr. Whisky Dick.

In all seriousness, the player should have access to all the girls presented. Maybe you could do that in an alternate path/solution, but it seems over complicated.

The new upcoming build untangles a lot of the storylines and allows you serveral ways to solve the same storyline. I plan to have an "ending" with all of the available girls.

[mistacorn]

Hey guys,

I’ve got a massive update to House Party today! I’ve been taking a lot of feedback from you all and trying to implement a little bit of something for everyone. This new build includes the first official “Ending”, where it’s possible to go out of the main game and into an ending scenario with some of the characters. I plan to write endings that include all of the female characters going forward, but this build will give you a taste of completing the game (in one of several ways that will be possible).

Another big change is that things are not so linear. It’s going to still feel linear in some ways, but you will see how I’ve been untangling the storyline. For instance, it’s possible to talk Patrick out of the alcohol, but it’s also possible now to have him beaten and still be able to take it from him. Additionally, if you happen to beat him up in the same room as Madison, you are no longer stuck, as you can now drag his limp body out of the room! Pretty cool!
Other than that, there are lots of interface updates, content both with story lines, and humorous quips if you can find creative ways to try to use objects together. I also changed the game mechanics a bit so everything’s not so dialogue-based. Overall, the engine is getting very solid, and I am really happy with this build. Once I add in a few more endings and modify the story-lines a little more, I think I might just have something!

Here's the link:
http://games.eekllc.com

Change Log:

Revamped LookAt Scripts. Characters now more aware of surroundings
Added autonomous (and smart) looking around. Characters now look at each other and interact
Added relationship status bars
Added a cool new frame to the dialogue avatars to go with the bar
Adjusted dialogues so after you choose an option it goes away (unless it is needed again)
Adjusted breast physics (Fixed some bugs)
Added to Brittney’s storyline
Added to Ashley’s storyline
Added to Katherine’s storyline
Added to Rachael’s storyline
Added the “Strip Highcard” ending
Added more interactive items.
Gave Patrick a wine bottle. This can now be removed from him in multiple ways.
Adjusted sound so it is in 3D. (If you walk away from objects, their sound volume will change)
Added real-time shadows
Added a new “Give” command for Non Player Characters
Added a new “Use With…” command for interactive item and inventory items.
Added a bunch of humorous quips when you try to use things or give things away
Adjusted UI to scale with different resolutions
You can now click and drag passed out/dead characters by their limbs
Updated Brittney’s model
Updated Rachael’s model

[Taylor Strutt]

I came across three different issues. Two of which made parts of the game unpassable.

1. I believe if you sick Frank on Patrick too early it prevents Madison's menu from coming up when her dialog about eliminating Patrick should appear. This makes the game the unfinishable. I got it to do it twice, am not sure, but think that is what caused the issue.

2. I stood on the wrong side of the shelves, collapsed them on Frank, they shifted and blocked the door trapping me in the garage. Maybe I did something wrong but you might add a drag option on the shelves once collapsed just in case.

3. When Stephanie passes out her breasts kept giggling and shifting till they became really awkward looking. This one didn't break the game but looked weird.

It is a fun game and a good little puzzle to figure out how to get everything completed.

[mistacorn]

I came across three different issues. Two of which made parts of the game unpassable.

1. I believe if you sick Frank on Patrick too early it prevents Madison's menu from coming up when her dialog about eliminating Patrick should appear. This makes the game the unfinishable. I got it to do it twice, am not sure, but think that is what caused the issue.

2. I stood on the wrong side of the shelves, collapsed them on Frank, they shifted and blocked the door trapping me in the garage. Maybe I did something wrong but you might add a drag option on the shelves once collapsed just in case.

3. When Stephanie passes out her breasts kept giggling and shifting till they became really awkward looking. This one didn't break the game but looked weird.

It is a fun game and a good little puzzle to figure out how to get everything completed.

Thanks for the feedback!

1. Hmm. I don't believe this is an issue, but I will check on it. If Patrick is beaten too early, Madison should just agree to take off her pants when you ask her to. If Patrick is beaten in the same room as Madison, you should simply be able to drag Patrick out of the room.

2. Somebody else brought this up. I am aware of this. Being able to drag the shelves seems like a good solution to this.

3. This only happens sometimes and I have yet to figure out why, but I have been keeping an eye out for possible causes.

[ltpika]

Can you increase the text size in the next update?

Also, items disappear sometimes if you accidentally give them the wrong person. Particularly the alcohol.

[mistacorn]

Can you increase the text size in the next update?

Also, items disappear sometimes if you accidentally give them the wrong person. Particularly the alcohol.

What resolution are you running? Can you send me a screen shot of what your text looks like? I will take a look at the alcohol going missing.

[ltpika]

Can you increase the text size in the next update?

Also, items disappear sometimes if you accidentally give them the wrong person. Particularly the alcohol.

What resolution are you running? Can you send me a screen shot of what your text looks like? I will take a look at the alcohol going missing.

1600x1024. Also hoping for a no sound option. The fight noises aren't to my liking and turning off the music blocks progress with Stephanie.

[mistacorn]

1600x1024. Also hoping for a no sound option. The fight noises aren't to my liking and turning off the music blocks progress with Stephanie.

I'll be adding a setting screen very soon.

[mistacorn]

Hey guys,

Here’s the latest update of House Party. As usual, this is a quick update following a big one addressing some of the bugs and immediate feedback I’ve gotten since the release of Beta .2. Though mostly minor changes and bug fixes, there has actually been a good deal of new content added to the game. I got a really good suggestion from a supporter to include high-res photos of the girls in various states of undress during the strip game, and I’ve done exactly that. I also feel like the strip game ending yields a bit more of a reward this way as well, so enjoy!

http://games.eekllc.com

Change Log:

Increased the mass of the rickety shelf so Frank will always be crushed by it.
Fixed an issue where interactive objects could be clicked through user interface interaction.
Fixed an issue where sometimes the interaction menu wouldn’t come up when clicking on a character.
Increased font sizes on dialogues and game messages.
Fixed an issue where some UI elements were cropped off the screen on some resolutions.
Added several reward photos to the strip game.
Adjusted the maximum angle characters can turn their heads to avoid some unnatural looking scenarios.

[ltpika]

Disappearing items is still a huge issue. Playing this is infuriating, I constantly have to start over because items disappear or the characters glitch out. So going through all the steps again just to have yet another thing go wrong...