Cyberpolice (Minor Update: 9th of November 2024) (WIP)

[Tiavals]

Didn’t get the fine-tuning done. My friend’s birthday was today and I intended to do it before that since there wasn’t really that much to be done, but things didn’t turn out like that(because I’m lazy), and I’m going to sleep now(though naturally I still have the time to make a long post! (writing all of this out like this is good for my mental process so it’s not a waste of time either. Helps me realize what I want, why, and how to achieve it. Might seem crazy from the outside, but it makes perfect sense to me )).

Theoretically there’s nothing to prevent me from doing it tomorrow, but you never know. Hopefully next week will be more productive, this one was quite disappointing end-result wise. But fear not, I’m just prone to pessimism. The good thing about realizing you’ve done something dumb(like spent too much time on expanding stuff that was already too bloated) is that you don’t have to do it in the future.

@Drakeye

the important part is you are comfortable with what you choose to present and that you are the one who holds yourself up to a standard. we are just the spectators who cheer on your epic battle of creativity with yourself. you are the judge jury and executioner we are just the fly in the room that you have to swat at from time to time to leave you alone during trial…im not sure where i was going with that last one entirely.
either way this fly is clapping buzzing and watching happy just to read good work
I really shouldn’t write really early in the morning on low sleep.

I suppose so. Thanks for the encouragement, your cheers mean a lot to me. However, it’s also a fact that I write with an audience in mind, and if that audience doesn’t enjoy it, then the work I do is pointless. After all, if I didn’t write for others, then there’s no point in writing it in the first place since the product is perfect as long as it doesn’t leave my mind. The important part is to share it with others.

It’s quite motivating to hear that people enjoy what I create, since it’s not a guarantee by any means. Few things are as depressing as making something you think is awesome that others just ignore. Which is exactly why I want to make something that people continue liking. It’s uniquely heart-breaking to follow the creative endeavors of something that you love, but that in time changes to something you no longer love.

This is why feedback is appreciated, even if it’s negative. If the only thing I ever hear is positive feedback, then I’ll never know that something might be a problem. And I’m not quite naive enough to think that what I make is perfect.

The perfect ratio of positive to negative feedback is something like 10:1. Ten praises for every criticism.

So, if it seems like I’m slipping toward a less interesting end result I’d much prefer it if all of you could tell me that and explain why it is so in your opinion, rather than just giving up on the work and forgetting it. So far I may not have corrected too many of the criticisms I’ve had, but they’re all logged in my notes and I’ll tackle them when it’s time. The important part is to be kind and encouraging in your criticism, rather than harsh and disappointed. It’s better to bend the truth a bit in my favor than the other way around, but don’t do it too much or the point you’re trying to make with your criticism might get lost

@AstinFamily

Remember it’s important that you enjoy what you are writing and update the story when you best think it is right to update it. Whether the update includes a few words or choices, or entire chapters doesn’t matter if you eventually start to feel like you’re being forced to update. Personally I will wait for whatever update you will make, and again, what is important is that you don’t feel pressured to write and continue with your own comfortable pace.

PS:I am waiting with great trepidation future interaction with the other member of the squad. Especially Mouse

I always enjoy what I’m writing, if I didn’t I wouldn’t write it.

The primary question is one of realism. The fact is that everything that’s in my mind is perfect, and the imperfections arise from transitioning it to digital paper. Do others interpret descriptions and dialogue as I do? Are the things I find interesting what others find interesting? Have I managed to turn imagination into reality, or was something lost in the process? The answer usually is that something is lost in the process, but that’s unavoidable. Fortunately each reader will find their own “truth” in whatever I make, and their mind will fill the gaps that are lost in the transition. My perfect version is not the same as their perfect version, and that’s the way it should be.

And I do feel like I’m forced to update, but that’s my own choice. If I don’t force it, then it means I’ll spend more time on planning and dreaming, which leads to a lesser result in the end, because the fact is that I have only a limited amount of time to make this. I can always make it better later on even if the original result is lacking, but if I only ever plan and dream, then there will be no original result to improve in the first place. I’d rather take the stress of a deadline to the disappointment I feel at not making anything concrete.

In general I’m the type of person that spends ten times the time planning for something before I do it. For every word I put on paper, there’s at least five where I ruminate about what I’m trying to do with a scene, why, what will happen from it, what would be interesting, etc. By forcing a deadline, I can cut the amount of planning to a 50-50 rate, which I think is pretty optimal. That means that I can make several more projects that are good or great, than one that is theoretically perfect but will never get done due to the bloat.

If I go at my own comfortable pace, I’ll never get anything done. I’m a super lazy person at heart with little intrinsic motivation, which is why I must have a concrete whip from the outside that forces me to continue doing things. I’m too comfortable and content with doing nothing, but I yearn to do something. It’s a rather annoying paradox. I’ve wasted too much of my life by being comfortable so it’s time to step out of my comfort zone. (I do realize that burnout exists, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take. It’s more of an issue of me squandering my time doing other stuff than burnout in any case anyway)

Compared to the few months that I spent in drafting and making the scenes, the last three weeks have been far more productive because of the deadlines that I’ve put for myself(especially because those deadlines force me to polish rather than do anything else). Sure, I’ve missed many of them(especially this week), but without those deadlines I probably would still be expanding and bloating the scenes and never finishing them while searching for that abstract perfection. If I took the mental state of “I’ll just post it when it’s ready”, then I might not even work at it every day. On the other hand I have worked on most days these past three weeks, which to me is a pretty big deal. I’m not saying it’s the best approach for everyone to take, but for the current me, I think it’s necessary.

It’s always nice to hear that people are looking forward to my work. Fortunately for you, next week I’ll be focusing on the Mouse&Carrington branch. The first of the three parts in the branch shouldn’t have any problems in it, but the second is rather similar to the third in this Stillwater path(the current one that I’m now forced to cut to a minimal segment). However, now that I have the wisdom I gained from working on this, I don’t think I’ll run into the same problems, so it should go more smoothly. Less planning and expanding, more doing and polishing! The third part should be easier to complete than the second, though not as easy as the first part.

Anyway, tomorrow I should finally be able to post something again.

[AstinFamily]

And I must say, the time you spend carefully planning is showing on the great quality of the story, be it characters or world. People could say that this a “generic” cyberpunk story, but the little and big detail that you have wrote, make this cyberpunk story unique.

[Tiavals]

Updated with next file. (at long last)

Includes intro to Gargoyle’s Family and associated exciting chase scene. (I greyed out the stuff I cut out for now(or forever, depending on how things go). Meaning, you can’t take the other path choices but you’ll see them.).

Current average playthrough: 78,000 words.

Also, added new skip point to newest content.

What you should know before trying it out:

Lots of things matter under the surface that might not be obvious, but are logical.

The obvious things include the choice in cybernetics, and equipment.

The less obvious is how you use your cybernetics and equipment, as well as allies. Just because you have the option to do something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always the best idea to do so(it’s extremely contextual with plenty of variations depending on the state of the person being pursued, the distance you’re from them, and such. Choosing the exact same choice at the exact same moment might have two opposite end results if you happened to pepperspray someone in the face three choices earlier, for example).

For the most part all of the consequences are sensible, but there are a few that might not be super evident until you see the logic behind it. (if you happen to rage at the unfairness of a particular choice-consequence, be sure to tell me so I can see whether I agree or not)

The least obvious: Your body mass might matter. It’s a combination of the character’s Height, Weight and Muscles. (it doesn’t always matter, but does matter in a couple of instances. You might or might not run into them).

I’d really appreciate it if someone could play through the new stuff at least twice with radically different choices in cybernetics and the approach you take(use the skip point to retain your sanity). What I want to know is if it feels actually different enough that it’s awesome, or if it feels too same-y for some weird reason(it’s sort of linear in a geographical sense). Given that I specifically want it to feel unique for every player, it’s really important for me.

Also, be sure to use the “quick save” option to see how things would’ve turned out differently had you chosen different things. Might want to quick-save at the beginning of the scene so your primary choices(name, cybernetics, etc) stay, and you can load to that point and try it again with the same “loadout” but with different choices to see how they matter. Then, you can try the micro choices within each choice to see if it matters enough, and also of course with a different set of cybernetics etc.

There are three distinctly “big” end results for the scene, plus a couple of variations to them that are far less important. Essentially the scene can end at two different parts, and the length of the scene varies greatly based on what you’ve chosen, as much as 2,000 words I believe. As per my design philosophy, none of the end results are “bad”(in the sense that you’ll lose content. They are quite bad in a “real world sense” ), they’re just different. Just because something awful might happen doesn’t mean it’s the “end”, just that I’ll be handling the consequences differently from a dramatic-perspective. Failing horribly at your job might lead to interesting scenes later on.

I’d be pleased if you could post the stuff I mention at the end of the segment too(you’ll see what I mean if you play through it), so I can see whether the overall balance works out like I’ve envisioned. (there are numbers involved, and as such it might be that certain outcomes are way more common than I’d like, while others are so unlikely that they might as well not exist. I’ll probably have to fiddle with the numbers, but to do that I need you, the players, to provide me with some real results. )

Enjoy!

@AstinFamily

And I must say, the time you spend carefully planning is showing on the great quality of the story, be it characters or world. People could say that this a “generic” cyberpunk story, but the little and big detail that you have wrote, make this cyberpunk story unique.

Thanks. It means a lot to me to hear that.

[Just_browsing]

Yeah i agree, @Tiavals really spent his/her time to make this demo real fucking great and the book is really immersive and allmost feels like an RPG (i mean thats what interective fiction storys kinda are but you get the idea)

[AChubbyBlackCat]

Replayed the demo and the parts where height/weight/muscles mattered flowed pretty naturally for me. Granted I play as a short and lean MC if there’s an option to.

My Panic and Property damage were both mediocre and 3 is the number I got. I wielded a shotgun, pulled the fire alarm, was boosted up, had the backup deal with the overweight suspect, used the shotgun on the door, shot at the armed suspect with nonlethal rounds, and then chased her across the pipe.

[Tiavals]

@Just_browsing

Yeah i agree, @Tiavals really spent his/her time to make this demo real fucking great and the book is really immersive and allmost feels like an RPG (i mean thats what interective fiction storys kinda are but you get the idea)

Wow, thanks!

@AChubbyBlackCat

Replayed the demo and the parts where height/weight/muscles mattered flowed pretty naturally for me. Granted I play as a short and lean MC if there’s an option to.

My Panic and Property damage were both mediocre and 3 is the number I got. I wielded a shotgun, pulled the fire alarm, was boosted up, had the backup deal with the overweight suspect, used the shotgun on the door, shot at the armed suspect with nonlethal rounds, and then chased her across the pipe.

Thanks, it’s good to know the choices people make in this level of detail.

It seems you got the earlier ending(also the least nice one). Do you feel that the consequences of your choices were logical and arose from what you chose, or arbitrary and seemed to come out of nowhere? Were the potential repercussions signaled properly(in retrospect)? Or conversely, were they signaled too much?

Also, feel free to tell me if there was something you didn’t like in it too(or what you did like). Given the amount of work I put in it, I’d like it to be an enjoyable part of the game/story(in so far as it can be given the context).

And a third thing, did you think that it was “good enough” as the only viable path, or would you have preferred the other greyed out options a lot more? In the current context it’s a bit weird for some player’s to be forced through that, I feel. The context can always be changed relatively easily, of course.

[AChubbyBlackCat]

@Tiavals

Do you feel that the consequences of your choices were logical and arose from what you chose, or arbitrary and seemed to come out of nowhere? Were the potential repercussions signaled properly(in retrospect)? Or conversely, were they signaled too much?

I felt that the consequences made sense. I played around with it a bit more and switched from the shotgun to my pistol and baton and had to chase the two of them down. I ended up shooting them both in the leg and that caused a massive spike in panic. Another time when I was wielding the shotgun, I chose to shoot Piotra in the back to see what would happen, but my panic and property results remained the same compared to if I chased after her across the pipe.

When I used the power line to take a short cut, I felt as though the property damage should have been higher than Mediocre based on what the narrative told me at the time.

Comparing my first run through the new content to the second or third times, I actually felt like the first time was the best outcome of a handful of bad ones. I didn’t cause massive panic or massive property damage. I shot at the armed suspect to wound him and cuff him but it wasn’t the best outcome that Piotra lost her balance and fell off the pipe below.

Compared to her escaping, shooting her in front of a crowd, or shooting her and causing her to fall off the building that way, the chase her across the pipe is probably the one I most prefer.

One thing I was confused about is whether or not pulling the fire arm impacted anything. I pulled and did not pull it on two different play throughs of the new content and it didn’t seem to do anything? I haven’t looked at the code yet so I could be wrong.

@Tiavals

And a third thing, did you think that it was “good enough” as the only viable path, or would you have preferred the other greyed out options a lot more? In the current context it’s a bit weird for some player’s to be forced through that, I feel. The context can always be changed relatively easily, of course.

I don’t mind it at all. As an author, I need to grey out options since they’re either minimally fleshed out or lead to an early game over so I understand them not being available right now.

When they become available to play through, I’ll most likely prefer them over the call in backup route but I may not. In most scenarios, I prefer negotiating over going straight towards a fight, but if it can’t be avoided I’ll switch to a fight if it seems more beneficial to me.

[AstinFamily]

I have to say this. After playing a bit of Cyberpunk 2077 every time Stillwater talk I hear his voice to be like Delamain taxi company AI. Anyone having this bizarre thing?

[Tiavals]

@AChubbyBlackCat

I felt that the consequences made sense. I played around with it a bit more and switched from the shotgun to my pistol and baton and had to chase the two of them down. I ended up shooting them both in the leg and that caused a massive spike in panic. Another time when I was wielding the shotgun, I chose to shoot Piotra in the back to see what would happen, but my panic and property results remained the same compared to if I chased after her across the pipe.

That’s good to hear.

Each time you shoot someone the panic meter increases by either 1 or 2, I believe. 4 is as far as the meter goes, though.

It’s kind of strange if your panic stayed the same when you shot her. Property damage is increased by destroying the door, using the fire alarm, using the wire, or shooting the truck. Panic is mainly increased by shooting at anything, or by using the fire alarm/wire, plus a few other things.

Actually, now that I check the code, I don’t have the panic increase set in at all for shooting Potira on the roof. Thanks for mentioning it, it’s fixed once I upload the version after this post is made(Done).

Hmm. On the other hand, I seem to recall that I might’ve made the decision to only increase social damage when people are there to witness the act, but gunfire should increase it anyway, I feel. I really should learn to make better notes for myself for this kind of decision.

Currently I changed it so it increases by 1 if you shoot her on the roof, and by 1 if Potira falls.(thus 2 if it happens).

I’ll have to think if that’s too much or appropriate, though. The numbers are just preliminary, after all.

When I used the power line to take a short cut, I felt as though the property damage should have been higher than Mediocre based on what the narrative told me at the time.

Property damage increases by 2 from it, which I think is the only point it ever increases by more than one. If your property damage was only Mediocre, it means it was the only property damage you inflicted.(or my code doesn’t work).

I’ll keep it in mind. The description might need to be tuned down. I don’t think increasing the effect numerically is a good idea due to the scale being just 0-4.

Comparing my first run through the new content to the second or third times, I actually felt like the first time was the best outcome of a handful of bad ones. I didn’t cause massive panic or massive property damage. I shot at the armed suspect to wound him and cuff him but it wasn’t the best outcome that Piotra lost her balance and fell off the pipe below.

Compared to her escaping, shooting her in front of a crowd, or shooting her and causing her to fall off the building that way, the chase her across the pipe is probably the one I most prefer.

Hmm. If you tried it a few times and never arrested her, that implies that it’s too hard to arrest her. I might have to make it easier. I’d like to hear from one or two more people before I make that judgement, though. A 1/3 chance for each major outcome(arrest, accident, escape) is preferable. The other variables like arresting the minor suspects, dealing with the evidence(only really available if you have the medium level cybernetic eye enhancement), and the panic/property damage are less important in comparison, at least from a plot point of view. I guess they’re pretty important for the player’s experience, though.

Now that I made the change to the rooftop shooting, the panic is actually increased more if you shoot her there as opposed to down on the ground. Not sure if that’s a good idea(since in your case it’d skyrocket your panic rating in your preferred run, for instance). On the other hand, it’s a mysterious circumstance where a cop shot someone without any real witnesses and a girl almost died. On the other, you’d think shooting someone in front of a crowd would be worse. Hard to say which should increase panic/decrease police trust more. I’ll think about it.

One thing I was confused about is whether or not pulling the fire arm impacted anything. I pulled and did not pull it on two different play throughs of the new content and it didn’t seem to do anything? I haven’t looked at the code yet so I could be wrong.

It doesn’t do anything special at the moment. It was a quick fix I made because I had to cut a bunch of other stuff so I didn’t go crazy. It increases the “social”(panic) damage by 1, property damage by 1, closes the distance between you and Potira by 1, and makes her enter the panicked state. If she’s panicked on all your other playthroughs anyway, it probably doesn’t make a visible difference since the increments are only 1 per. I just wanted another way of making her panicked that doesn’t involve shooting, to add a bit of variability since my original more complex plan was too labor-intensive to do. Her being panicked changes the “likelihood” of her meeting a sour fate quite a bit. If it seems like she panicks too easily(currently from every gunshot regardless of whether it’s a door or a person), I might change it.

There’s also the 5 lines of text associated with the fire alarm(the ones you get from the choice immediately), but other than that it doesn’t do anything. If that isn’t enough, I suppose I could add something to it, but to be frank I didn’t really come up with anything that was easy/effortless to do(which was the main reason I used it instead of the way more complicated option I was thinking. We’ll see if I include the other way after this basic stuff is done. Probably not given the effort, but if people feel the scene is too limited/same-y, then I’ll do it. Or maybe I’ll come up with something easy, I do tend to overthink things by a factor of 10).

Feel free to check the code, but it’s a huge mess currently, and might only make sense to me. There are many unnecessary “goto” points and other stuff that might confuse you greatly.
(plus lots of commented away stuff or half finished stuff, and so on)

I don’t even know how you can check the code on the forum/dashingdon, though I’ve googled it a couple of times.

I don’t mind it at all. As an author, I need to grey out options since they’re either minimally fleshed out or lead to an early game over so I understand them not being available right now.

When they become available to play through, I’ll most likely prefer them over the call in backup route but I may not. In most scenarios, I prefer negotiating over going straight towards a fight, but if it can’t be avoided I’ll switch to a fight if it seems more beneficial to me.

Yeah, I get that completely. I try to avoid forced scenarios where the player doesn’t have a choice, but for now this was the only reasonable way to complete the segment without me going crazy.

The funny part is that originally I didn’t even have the fighting option for this set of scenes at all(something similar is also in the Carrington-Mouse route and that was meant to be it’s unique selling point), it was one of the expanded things I came up with since I thought there was too much talking and almost zero “police action” so far, so I wanted to give the player a choice(because I scrapped a super massive segment that was supposed to happen after the kebab-stand where you had some action stuff to do. The reason I didn’t include it was because it lead to a massive cascade of consequences that wouldn’t fit this “minimal” version I’m currently doing. At the moment I’m planning on including it as the finale of one of the sub-plots, since I much prefer recycling it to scrapping it completely since it’s huge. It doesn’t exactly fit there as is, unfortunately, so I’ll need to do some tinkering. That’s still far off in the future, though).

Anyway, as it turned out, this was the first version I finished and it was a bit overwhelming so for now it’s the only one.

I’ll most likely scrap the option of letting the player deal with Gargoyle for this part(the other option of the fight segment I mean), or recycle the chase scene with him as the target rather than Potira.

In the really first version I made(the concept, really), only a super simple chase existed as an alternative ending for the talking bit(which currently doesn’t exist but will probably need to exist before I consider Cyberpolice finished), which is why I came up with this one. If I’m going to make the talking version at some point, I’ll probably make it so that it can end up with a variant of this chase scene too, with some of the stuff changed. But that’s in the far off future for now.

@AstinFamily

I have to say this. After playing a bit of Cyberpunk 2077 every time Stillwater talk I hear his voice to be like Delamain taxi company AI. Anyone having this bizarre thing?

Heh. Haven’t played it myself yet, but I just listened to some samples on Youtube. There are multiple Delamain AIs, so I’m not sure which one you mean exactly, but if it’s the “normal” one then it’s not necessarily super far off, at least for the moments when Stillwater’s being ‘polite’. When he’s being sarcastic I envision his voice to be a bit different, though.

[AChubbyBlackCat]

@Tiavals

If you tried it a few times and never arrested her, that implies that it’s too hard to arrest her. I might have to make it easier. I’d like to hear from one or two more people before I make that judgement, though. A 1/3 chance for each major outcome(arrest, accident, escape) is preferable. The other variables like arresting the minor suspects, dealing with the evidence(only really available if you have the medium level cybernetic eye enhancement), and the panic/property damage are less important in comparison, at least from a plot point of view. I guess they’re pretty important for the player’s experience, though.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I only failed to arrest her once. The other times I either succeeded in arresting her or she had an accident.

@Tiavals

Now that I made the change to the roof top shooting, the panic is actually increased more if you shoot her there as opposed to down on the ground. Not sure if that’s a good idea(since in your case it’d skyrocket your panic rating in your preferred run, for instance). On the other hand, it’s a mysterious circumstance where a cop shot someone without any real witnesses and a girl almost died. On the other, you’d think shooting someone in front of a crowd would be worse. Hard to say which should increase panic/decrease police trust more. I’ll think about it.

I feel like shooting her on the ground and in front of the crowd, even the other suspect if he’s tagging along with her, would most likely increase panic more than shooting her on the roof top would. A way to possibly mitigate panic is how you handle media (black out, minimal, full press conference) possibly?

It’s up to you!

@Tiavals

I just wanted another way of making her panicked that doesn’t involve shooting, to add a bit of variability since my original more complex plan was too labor-intensive to do. Her being panicked changes the “likelihood” of her meeting a sour fate quite a bit. If it seems like she panicks too easily(currently from every gunshot regardless of whether it’s a door or a person), I might change it.

It could go either way. I’m not sure if someone would react with more panic if a fire alarm was pulled while they were being chased by police. Anything could happen though.

It’s easy to understand why shooting the door will increase her panic though. It helps that there’s a narrative cue given (you hear someone scream), so that’s why I was a bit confused why nothing seemed to happen when I pulled the alarm since the workers didn’t seem to be panicking IIRC.

@Tiavals

I don’t even know how you can check the code on the forum/dashingdon, though I’ve googled it a couple of times.

1. Go to your game’s demo link (https://dashingdon.com/play/tiavals/cyberpolice/mygame/).
2. After the /mygame/ type in scenes/startup.txt.
3. The URL will look like this https://dashingdon.com/play/tiavals/cyberpolice/mygame/scenes/startup.txt.
4. Hit ENTER and you’ll be in the startup.txt file
5. From the startup.txt file, you can type in any of your scene file names where startup is in the URL (https://dashingdon.com/play/tiavals/cyberpolice/mygame/scenes/chapterone.txt) to navigate from file to file.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

@Tiavals

it was one of the expanded things I came up with since I thought there was too much talking and almost zero “police action” so far

I disagree.

We’ve done a couple of investigations, talking to witnesses, and so on. While you could argue it isn’t ‘exciting’ as media portrays chasing down a suspect, it’s still interesting. Your story sets itself up to be a mystery and there’s not a lot of action scenes in mysteries IMO.

[FutbolDude21586]

Very nice!

Summary

In the end, the overall chase resulted in the following for the neighborhood:

Panic caused: Minor. You caused some alarm with your actions.

Property Damage: Heavy. You caused plenty of property damage during the chase.

That’s it for now on this path. Your feedback is appreciated, especially on this scene, so be sure to post on the forum about how you felt about it! I’d also like to know what panic and property damage levels you got, as well as how the chase went, etc.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): 0

[Drakeye]

First try

Panic caused: Great. You caused quite a bit of alarm with your actions.

Property Damage: Massive. You caused ludicrous amounts of property damage during the chase.

That’s it for now on this path. Your feedback is appreciated, especially on this scene, so be sure to post on the forum about how you felt about it! I’d also like to know what panic and property damage levels you got, as well as how the chase went, etc.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): 1

Number 2 try

Panic caused: Mediocre. You caused more than a little alarm with your actions.

Property Damage: Massive. You caused ludicrous amounts of property damage during the chase.

That’s it for now on this path. Your feedback is appreciated, especially on this scene, so be sure to post on the forum about how you felt about it! I’d also like to know what panic and property damage levels you got, as well as how the chase went, etc.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): -1

Good quality content. for some it might be considered graphic, but doubtful.

i failed my third time and she got away, the fourth she fell off the piping with a crunch

[Tiavals]

No update today. Probably on Wednesday, since I most likely won’t have time to do anything tomorrow.

@AChubbyBlackCat

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I only failed to arrest her once. The other times I either succeeded in arresting her or she had an accident.

Ah, okay then, thanks for correcting it.

I feel like shooting her on the ground and in front of the crowd, even the other suspect if he’s tagging along with her, would most likely increase panic more than shooting her on the roof top would. A way to possibly mitigate panic is how you handle media (black out, minimal, full press conference) possibly?

It’s up to you!

That’s more or less why the media options exist, to give some color to the various outcomes you get from different scenes.

It could go either way. I’m not sure if someone would react with more panic if a fire alarm was pulled while they were being chased by police. Anything could happen though.

It’s easy to understand why shooting the door will increase her panic though. It helps that there’s a narrative cue given (you hear someone scream), so that’s why I was a bit confused why nothing seemed to happen when I pulled the alarm since the workers didn’t seem to be panicking IIRC.

The idea behind it is sort of that the people on the higher floors would come out and try to get down thus slowing her progress, or something like that. I guess it’s pretty pointless since I didn’t write anything more detailed in the descriptions, though.

The workers are on the roof of another building(technically two buildings down I believe). I suppose the description isn’t the best there.

1. Go to your game’s demo link (https://dashingdon.com/play/tiavals/cyberpolice/mygame/).
2. After the /mygame/ type in scenes/startup.txt.
3. The URL will look like this https://dashingdon.com/play/tiavals/cyberpolice/mygame/scenes/startup.txt.
4. Hit ENTER and you’ll be in the startup.txt file
5. From the startup.txt file, you can type in any of your scene file names where startup is in the URL (https://dashingdon.com/play/tiavals/cyberpolice/mygame/scenes/chapterone.txt) to navigate from file to file.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Ah, that works perfectly! Now I’ll have to learn to fear people reading my unfinished code and text and be embarrassed about it.

I never put the “scenes” part in the link so it never worked. Kinda dumb of me, really.

@Tiavals

it was one of the expanded things I came up with since I thought there was too much talking and almost zero “police action” so far

I disagree.

We’ve done a couple of investigations, talking to witnesses, and so on. While you could argue it isn’t ‘exciting’ as media portrays chasing down a suspect, it’s still interesting. Your story sets itself up to be a mystery and there’s not a lot of action scenes in mysteries IMO.

Heh, I suppose that’s true. Besides, anyone who has read this far probably doesn’t mind the stuff that’s happened until now and prefers it to more “exciting” stuff.

It’s a bit hard to see things from the reader’s perspective, so it’s good to hear your opinions on stuff like this.

My own perspective on the matter probably comes from the fact that my original plan was to have the game to be either investigative or more actiony depending on the player’s choices. Then I had to pare it down to the “minimal” version to actually make it, which meant cutting out a lot of the variance, and essentially it left me with the bare bones. And the story itself is about the investigation, so naturally what remains is talking and investigating and so on. Still, I’d like to have some branch or path choices the player can make that alter the type of experience quite a bit but still keep the “point” essentially the same, since the different branches and sub-plots and so on that I’m planning and having trouble with are the type that expand the investigation to another direction, rather than having things play out differently in an “instant” kind of way. It’s a bit hard to explain.

I guess the idea was that it’s “cheaper” workload wise to make a variant of the same premise(action scene vs talking) with roughly the same type of results(arrest/cooperation or refusal/escape), than it is to make a completely new branch altogether with it’s own variable outcomes(new evidence that you can find only here, etc. Though the Stillwater branch itself is exactly that at the same time)).

Ironically it’s been way easier to make the investigation scenes so far as opposed to the action stuff, since writing variable dialogue is simple as I don’t have to take a zillion things into account, just a few. The only problem is that I’m not sure if the talking feels like you’re making choices as you do it. It’s far more concrete to choose to shoot someone with a shotgun as opposed to saying one specific line vs another. On the other hand, so far the dialogue scenes haven’t really been of the same type as this was, that is to say, they haven’t had drastically different outcomes yet(aside from an exception or maybe two?).

Hmmh. Maybe I should make the talking variant of this scene sooner rather than later to test how hard it is to do. Anyway, that’ll have to wait until I finish the Carrington-Mouse branch.

@FutbolDude21586

Very nice!

Summary

In the end, the overall chase resulted in the following for the neighborhood:

Panic caused: Minor. You caused some alarm with your actions.

Property Damage: Heavy. You caused plenty of property damage during the chase.

That’s it for now on this path. Your feedback is appreciated, especially on this scene, so be sure to post on the forum about how you felt about it! I’d also like to know what panic and property damage levels you got, as well as how the chase went, etc.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): 0

@Drakeye

First try

Panic caused: Great. You caused quite a bit of alarm with your actions.

Property Damage: Massive. You caused ludicrous amounts of property damage during the chase.

That’s it for now on this path. Your feedback is appreciated, especially on this scene, so be sure to post on the forum about how you felt about it! I’d also like to know what panic and property damage levels you got, as well as how the chase went, etc.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): 1

Number 2 try

Panic caused: Mediocre. You caused more than a little alarm with your actions.

Property Damage: Massive. You caused ludicrous amounts of property damage during the chase.

That’s it for now on this path. Your feedback is appreciated, especially on this scene, so be sure to post on the forum about how you felt about it! I’d also like to know what panic and property damage levels you got, as well as how the chase went, etc.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): -1

Good quality content. for some it might be considered graphic, but doubtful.

i failed my third time and she got away, the fourth she fell off the piping with a crunch

Thank you both. This is very good information to have.

I wonder if it’s too easy to close the distance or if it’s just the small sample size so far. Getting 1, 0 and even -1 was meant to be relatively rare ultimately(then again it’s only half the samples or so, I think?), but that depends heavily on the Cybernetics you have and so on.

Quick progress is tied to high property damage, as is expected. I’ll have to check if it’s ever possible to get that close without doing a lot of damage.

As for it being graphic, well, I can see it in some parts(where it’s purposefully so for dramatic reasons), but for the most part it’s meant to be relatively mild. Maybe I’m just too used to graphic stuff so what I consider to be mild isn’t actually mild.

Theoretically I could implement some sort of censorship option at the start, where the reader can choose to prevent the more graphics parts from being described in a graphic way and instead be replaced with a tamer version. It shouldn’t even be particularly work-heavy to do since there aren’t all that many graphic parts planned for the entire work, as such. Just a few words changed here and there. I’ll make a note of it for later.

[Tiavals]

Updated with next file.

Includes intro to Carrington-Mouse branch of the slums.

Added a new skip point to it.

Current average playthrough:

• Carrington Mouse Path: 70,000
• Stilwater path: 78,000
• Total average: 74,000

The new scene has a fair amount of variability depending on what your relationship with Mouse and Carrington is, but length wise it isn’t terrible long per path. Meaning, broad but short.

[AlexHaydenX]

I guess you really need to go ham in order to arrest her, both property damage and panic in mine was minor, and her distance is at 4

[Just_browsing]

First Playthrough ;
Panic caused: Mediocre. You caused more than a little alarm with your actions.

Property Damage: Mediocre. You caused more than a little property damage during the chase.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): 5 (Managed to Catch her)

Second Playthrough : In the end, the overall chase resulted in the following for the neighborhood:

Panic caused: None. Your operation was quite unnoticeable by the innocent bystanders.

Property Damage: Minor. You caused some property damage during the chase.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): 5 (Managed to catch her)

Nothing really to complain, everything seemed fine to me and the increasing of the panic/ property damage made sense to me and the scene pacing and everything was good in my opinion.

[Tiavals]

No update today, probably one tomorrow and on Saturday, but not on Sunday.

Thanks for the feedback on the chase scene, I’m starting to have a much clearer picture of the spread of the stuff in it.

Based on your feedback, at the moment it actually looks pretty good I think, I’m not sure there’s a need to tweak the numbers too much(if you disagree, please mention it). Still, I’ll likely take another look later on, and probably add a few things you can do during the chase, but that won’t happen for a while(I’ll add it at the same time I do the talking variant of the scene, so who knows when).

It’s also good if the pacing and so on feel right for the scene, it means I might not have to tamper with it too much. Depending on how I end up implementing the talking variant, I might add some dialogue to it between the player and Potira before, and maybe during the chase, if the pacing allows it(since otherwise the contrast between the chase and the other option is a bit too great).

[LiliArch]

@Tiavals

Now I’ll have to learn to fear people reading my unfinished code and text and be embarrassed about it.

I’m sorry — I loved the unfinished code. The sheer amount of comments! (Although now I kiiinda want to ask if you’re using Finnish there so that most of the code-divers wouldn’t understand them, or just so that it’s easier for you.)

Anyway! Do you still want chase stats? (And does pulling the fire alarm cause property damage? I don’t understand where my runs’ property damage came from…)

…I want to go and play Deus Ex now.

[Just_browsing]

Yes pulling the fire alarm causes property damage and increases panic (its probrably due to either an person breaking stuff in the middle of the chaos caused by the fire alarm or the property gets an fine that you could count as property damage)

Also speaking of Deus Ex i just realised that one of the names you can choose for yourself is “JC Denton” lol

And this is my third and last attempt of The “Poitiria Chase” and i managed to go unnoticeable with no property damage and also catch Poitiria,

In the end, the overall chase resulted in the following for the neighborhood:

Panic caused: None. Your operation was quite unnoticeable by the innocent bystanders.

Property Damage: None. You didn’t cause any property damage whatsoever.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): 6 (Managed to catch her)

I noticed that height and weight mattered in this sequence, in the first playthrough i went with an tall heavy set bulging person and that caused problems for me to reach Poitiria withouth destroying property, while in the last one i went with an average height with light weight and i had much less problems with property damage,

But in contrast that caused problems when trying to arrest her to custody in which if i didn’t choose bulging muscles she would have totaly ran away, anyway i would just like to say to @Tiavals that i loved on how Height, Muscles, Weight matters and it feels like you allready made an somewhat very important decision at the start withouth realising. (PS : sorry for Wall text)

[Tiavals]

@LiliArch

@Tiavals

Now I’ll have to learn to fear people reading my unfinished code and text and be embarrassed about it.

I’m sorry — I loved the unfinished code. The sheer amount of comments! (Although now I kiiinda want to ask if you’re using Finnish there so that most of the code-divers wouldn’t understand them, or just so that it’s easier for you.)

It’s fine, read the code as much as you want to. It’s just that because I write the comments for myself they might be riddled with spoilers or terms that might be offensive to some(I don’t hold back when writing to myself ), and that’s kinda awkward. Point is, if you find something strange, annoying or awful there, it’s not my fault since you chose to read it despite the warning!

The reason why the text is sometimes in Finnish, sometimes in English, and sometimes a monstrous mishmash of both is just because it’s easier for me(frankly I didn’t really consider that anyone might even peek at the code in the first place at this point). Depending on the mental state I’m in when I write the comments, I use the language that’s appropriate. Sometimes it’s easier for me to think in Finnish and at other times in English, since different languages are suited for different types of thoughts, if that makes sense. Plus, when I write a cool idea that I need to implement(like a line of dialogue or such), it’s better to do it in English, then I might forget to switch off when I continue writing the comments.

Also, funnily enough I don’t even write most of the comments in the proper place in the code. I’m a bit bad at organizing things, so sometimes I have lots of comments about something in the completely wrong file and forget to put it elsewhere, then when I need to find it I have trouble searching for where it is. And lots of my ideas and comments are in text documents from before I began working on the thing in the first place. Then, whenever I decide to change something it’s really tough to remember what my decision was when half the time my comments are written from a completely other perspective since I made them before the decision.

As you may have noticed, occasionally the comments aren’t even commented away, but are in plain sight under Labels that aren’t accessible during the game. This is because it’s easier to see them using Notepad++, the program I use to make the code, as it colors them differently. When I use huge walls of text in my comments it on occasion becomes super unreadable even for me.

Point is: If any of you ever start working on your own stuff, be sure to have a really well organized way of making comments to yourself or you’ll go crazy.

Anyway! Do you still want chase stats? (And does pulling the fire alarm cause property damage? I don’t understand where my runs’ property damage came from…)

…I want to go and play Deus Ex now.

Sure, more chase stats sounds good. Post them if you feel like it, but don’t feel obligated to do so. I love statistically analyzing stuff so numbers and opinions are the best.

As @Just_browsing mentioned, pulling the fire alarm does cause property damage. The idea is actually that they sprinkle a lot of water around, potentially inside the apartments too, which causes damage to any semi-open electronics, papers, books, and anything else that’s susceptible to water damage. I guess I should make it a bit more obvious in the description.

I probably should play Deus Ex again too at some point. It’s been too long since I did, and I haven’t even tried the newest one at all.

@Just_browsing

Also speaking of Deus Ex i just realised that one of the names you can choose for yourself is “JC Denton” lol

Heh, it sure is.

If I remember correctly, all of the names are taken from cyberpunkish stuff(character names, author names, etc) and chopped in two, then mixed a bit so it isn’t super blatant.

Some are pretty obvious, while the others are quite obscure.

And this is my third and last attempt of The “Poitiria Chase” and i managed to go unnoticeable with no property damage and also catch Poitiria,

In the end, the overall chase resulted in the following for the neighborhood:

Panic caused: None. Your operation was quite unnoticeable by the innocent bystanders.

Property Damage: None. You didn’t cause any property damage whatsoever.

Also, post this number there as well if you would. It represents the distance you were closest to Potira during the chase before it ended(important for balance): 6 (Managed to catch her)

Cool, I was wondering if it was even possible to catch her without causing any damage.

Glad to hear you can.

I noticed that height and weight mattered in this sequence, in the first playthrough i went with an tall heavy set bulging person and that caused problems for me to reach Poitiria withouth destroying property, while in the last one i went with an average height with light weight and i had much less problems with property damage,

But in contrast that caused problems when trying to arrest her to custody in which if i didn’t choose bulging muscles she would have totaly ran away, anyway i would just like to say to @Tiavals that i loved on how Height, Muscles, Weight matters and it feels like you allready made an somewhat very important decision at the start withouth realising. (PS : sorry for Wall text)

Yup, height, weight and musculature all matter(in this scene at least). Sometimes they matter in and of themselves(like if you’re obese but have poor muscles, then use the stairs or the elevator(it’s also a call-back to an earlier scene if you do), or if you have super muscles and need to wrestle with someone), but most of the time I add them up to a variable called Body Mass, which essentially takes all of them into account so I can do it way more easy. The end results are kinda weird at times(since muscles affect it the most), but should be decent for the most part. (Not sure if I implemented it yet or not, but I think the choice of whether you’re a “bulky” cyborg or a sleek one affects Body Mass too(only available for the Heavy cybernetics choices)).

Glad to hear you like it, since that’s exactly what I wanted the reader to feel. I think stuff like that adds to the immersion a lot, especially since it’s the natural outcome of your character’s traits. It’s simplistic at times, but I think it’s better to have it than not(even if on occasion the player might be annoyed by it).

As for being sorry for a wall of text, well, given that all of my posts are walls of text, shouldn’t I be the one to be be sorry about it?

I’d much rather read a wall of text from a reader/player than nothing at all.

PS Today’s update will be up in 8-12 hours.