Hero or Villain: Genesis (feedback thread)

Hosted Games Works In Progress
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1956

@LibtechMk @Zarkrai There have been many free updates to HoV:Genesis (as per the list a few posts above), and there will continue to be more in the future. DLC stands for Downloadable Content (I think), and is basically like “extra content” for the game… like an expansion (which should have a small price tag attached to it). It’s the first time I am doing something like this, but I am merely just following in the footsteps of other authors here. In my opinion, the interesting thing in having a DLC, rather than the extra incoming per se derived from it, is that it initiates a new “marketing and publicity” cycle, and that some readers might become attracted to it (“ah, so new content is still being made for this game!”). So, more people might be inclined to giving it a try, and it also justifies me spending a lot of extra time going back and expanding this game, rather than working on Armageddon.

My plan after this is to make a free update for Highway Wars, something I haven’t done for a while, which should be a free update, and maybe then I will make a DLC for Tokyo Wizard (“Life as a litch” might be the title… mmmmmm)

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1957

I wasn’t asking “what” a DLC is, I already knew what it is but thanks anyway for the explanation. Sorry I didn’t phrase my question in the right way.

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1958

well it is gud to know.

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1959

@Zarkrai Ohhh… I was just re-reading the steam reviews, and I can see why many would get a bad feeling about the game. Many of the older reviews were deemed “helpful” by people, so they are all at the top, while the more recent (and more positive) comments are all at the bottom. I guess this happens with many games on steam, in that initial bad reviews can then mask all the updates made to the game…

All comments for 2021 and 2022 were positive, with the last one reading (from October 2022):

“The reviews for this game confuse me as my experience was really good! I dont know what kind of miracle people are expecting from a 4 dollar book game there was a lot in there and yeah its not all perfect some things might end up not making sense and a lot of it is just flavor but…its a role playing book you need to use your imagination and not expect it to tell you every little thing in exactly the way you want it, as someone trying to write a book myself i cant even imagine how hard a game/book like this is to make. i see people complaining about having to do normal stuff like talk to co workers but its crazy to think the story would be nothing but nuts to butts action like have you never seen…any show? or read any book? its to be expected that there will be some small talk even in the most action heavy shows and movies and i think its done pretty well here but if you really dont care then just dont read that part you can get the gist of whats going on in those parts by just reading the options and picking one. anyway i digress really good book/game would recommend if your not expecting this to play like mortal combat.”

3 Likes
1960

@Zarkrai oh, sorry, apologies for that. If you mean what is in the DLC:

-Around 30+ new powers (sixth sense (in various guises), new more powerful rays (that need concentration for one round, or that are easier to evade), bersek, vampiric rays and touch, swimming, etc.)
-4 new side missions (maybe 5, I might add another one in the next week)
-More options when talking to some characters.
-One entirely new RO.

5 Likes
1961

How long should we expect this DLC to arrive? This year or next year? Still, 30+ new powers? Damn, that’s a lot.

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1962

Are you able to list all the ROs? And will Bertrand become a RO? Thanks!

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1963

Actually there are 16 of them, just went through and counted them.

So far Bertrand is one of the exceptions (cannot RO him, as not so many players requested this.

Here goes the list (hope I didn’t forget any…) so far (also indicating how well developed they are as a RO and some other info):

-Steel Aeronaut (antagonist, female, well developed with much “screen time”)
-Arthur (friend, male, not so well developed)
-Charlotte (friend, female, will be well developed from DLC, will be able to meet multiple times)
-Laszlo (male, newly introduced in DLC, well developed from DLC, will be able to meet multiple times)
-Catalina (female, fairly well developed, can meet multiple times)
-Captain Villardi (female, fairly well developed, can meet multiple times)
-Carol (colleague lawyer, female, not so well developed)
-Jenny (colleague journalist, female, not so well developed)
-John (colleague engineer, male, not so well developed)
-Vincent (colleague, male, not so well developed)
-Emily (boss, female, so-so developed)
-Fred (secretary, male, poorly developed)
-Richard (colleague/antagonist, male, poorly developed)
-Lyron (superpowered, male, fairly well developed
-Mya (gunseller, female, not so well developed)
-Travis (gunseller, male, not so well developed)

6 Likes
1964

@adrao What a good news. I have some suggestions. Please more expand Vampire path. Make Shiroi Yuki A RO. Please I realy want to see Shiroi Yuki as an RO.

3 Likes
1965

Do you consider that Lyron is not well developed? I thought it was just as developed as Captain Villardi or Catalina. (And all three are my favorite ROs)

If there was a chance to develop Lyron further, what could you develop for him?

(Because I know that he has escape problems because of his powers but also that his traumatic childhood with his father and the bullying at his school)

1 Like
1966

@adrao Which female ROs can you romance in each route? Because I feel like that most of the ROs mostly caters to Superhero/Vigilante routes than the Villain route. It feels like the only RO for the villain route is Steel Aeronaut.

2 Likes
1967

I’m intrested in developing Emily (side from work, we have nearly no option to know her, and at work she’s not romancable at all. I couldn’t see her as option until I checked game files. Thats how I discovered she can be RO. Because her lines don’t give us that impression), Lyron (could be interesting to know him better and sooner), Bernard (guy from gym I believe. He was quite interesting to interact with, and cute), Maya/Travis/girl from dart bar (possible bad romance here. punk/hard rock/metal/motorbike vibes and general badassness could make them ones of best romances in game), Black Cockroach (possible funny, original and unorthodox RO for both villains, heroes, and vigilantes, since he can be sidekick to both. He’s also smart chess player, and hobo Robin Hood, so it could be quite of a RO, especially if we help him become less ugly). Also Vampire and Tibetan arc could provide great, but short ROs. Alongside Mongol guide (I have bad memory to names and faces, sorry) those three guides can be passionate flings, or full fledged ROs. You travel all over the world to find your second half. What’s more romantic? Also they were clearly written with the purpose to be expanded as ROs. With Tibetan guide you learn more about their culture, take part in local spiritual festival (possible kiss/makeout scene) and learn more about clearly romantic. With Mongol guide you learn culture of nomadic tribes, and travel across the steppes and learn more about him. And tropical guide from vampire arc (forgot the country) is saved by you from vampires clutches (it could be nice to give us the option to suck her dry, or transform her too if we became vamp ourselves). Damsel in distress is quite the classic material for RO. And only two superpowered ROs? From which only one can be transferred to Armageddon (as far as I know only SAeronaut is there directly involved)? That can’t be. If you don’t want to write new characters, make some of existing ones develop powers. Will it be Fred, captured by EGH and transformed into superpowered? Will Travis and Maya will be beaten by true werewolf? Or maybe Villardi could gain tech to compose for her lack of power (experimental gov gear)? Who knows.

Anyways here were my ideas for expanding ROs. Hope you liked it, and at least consider them.

2 Likes
1968

Agreed. She’s good, but she’s the only one. Perhaps also Emily (evil abusive boss type), but no more. Also villain route lacks male and nonbinary ROs.

@LeannaMandragoran : Ah. I forgot about Yuki. And Lunar Ninja (the things crushing guy that proclaims himself our rival)

3 Likes
1969

@LeannaMandragoran about the vampire path… what more expansion would be needed? As in, currently you can continue being a vampire in Battle Royale, convert your minions there… later in Armageddon the idea is that you would be able to even conquer your own planet. But, you mean in Genesis… but what else could you do in Genesis as a vampire that would continue the story there? (I mean, you can become a vampire half way through the game, and there is still much game after that)

@Frankex_2272 sorry no, my apologies (I just used different terminology, but I would say it is about the same). I am also not so sure at this point how to further develop Lyron (it doesn’t mean he can’t be, just not too sure exactly what a reader would like to do). Currently Lyron re-appears until the end of Genesis, so I think he gets “enough” screen time?

@Zarkrai most of the female ROs can be done in each route, as the hero/villain identity mostly remains hidden from characters. The notable exceptions are Captain Villardi (for the hero path) and the Steel Aeronaut (for the villain path). I think all others can be done by either heroes or villains, unless I forgot something.

@Darthsoup oh, I did forget about many other characters in the game! thanks for pointing this out! :slight_smile: I guess I could indeed make some of them ROs… just not sure whether it is better to focus on those already there, rather than create more “shallow” ROs? But, I guess you are the second to call for Bernard to be a RO in a short time, and there is no reason why he shouldn’t be… and… very intriguing last comments from you! I’m going to play with that in my head for a while, who knows what will come out!! :slight_smile:

@Darthsoup @LeannaMandragoran Shiroi Yuki has been requested for some time now, but I have no immediate plans to make her a RO… maybe in Armageddon? Currently I am playing in my mind with the sequence on how you return to Earth and the next thread that you will be facing… which of course is going to be in Japan (obviously, given that I live here, and in the past I did some research on the consequences that a certain event would have on Tokyo… but a different type of natural disaster than what I did for Kamakura in Tokyo Wizard)

5 Likes
1970

Thx. I will be waiting :slight_smile:

As for expanding vampire route, I don’t know what @LeannaMandragoran meant, but I interpret it, like I written in big comment above (making girl RO, giving her some screen time, and giving use some options what to do with her if we are vampire ie. turn, or suck dry, instead of following with little forcefull in that case “burn the mansion” ending. After all, why would we burn a mansion full of potential minions, and let new minion escape, if we can keep it, blend into out crime empire, and made girl or other vamp minion our lieutenant? If we get could get roach as sidekick before leaving after SA, we could take him with us, and make him vampiric 'roach). At least that how I interpret it, but we have to wait for @LeannaMandragoran for their answer.

Japan is great, but not everyone can live in a country so focused on speed, norms, and rules.
For me its great holiday destination (was there 6 times already. Each time in different parts), I know, that, I’m to uniqe/free thinking/crazy/not normal and rule abiding, to live there.
But I cannot feel some pang of jealousy for you. Great views, great food, great tech, medicine, and Unis. Despite not being a country for me, Japan is beautiful, majestic, and never boring place.
Have a nice writing session with a cup of genmaicha :slight_smile:

Good Night

5 Likes
1971

I agree with you, I only asked why you had that point of view for this RO, although I really don’t think it’s necessary at this point. Leave it as it is, you gave my favorite wolverine shark a nice development.

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1972

Can you explain what some of these powers are or at least what kind of powers we can expect from this dlc? Like for example, are any of them pet based? Cause it would be nice to have a pet based powerset or if any of them introduce completely new powers like lightning, necromancy, magics and dark magics, new official animal options for shapeshifting like dragons, griffons, manticores, etc? Edit: And also, can someone also tell me how you get the Vampire race and abilities without spoiling too much and what the benefits and downsides of it are?

2 Likes
1973

@adrao I hope among those new power options that there will be new and more choices for upgrading your power armor/suit if you’re an inventor along with a defense against psychic attacks since it doesn’t make sense for if your MC have high enough Intelligence and Engineering to not be able to make defenses against that when Aeronaut can make one. And can we also be able to add some techs similar to the Predator? Like the wristblades, bio masks or helmet that work similarly, cloaking devices, the ability to add a shoulder weapon while also wielding a ranged or melee weapon with it (like 1 shoulder/1 ranged or 1 shoulder/1 melee), a net gun, and maybe a few drones or something if we could?

2 Likes
1974

Vampire path contend is very lowe. @Darthsoup @adrao

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1975

For me if you make Shiroi Yuki RO in first game story become more solit in armagetdon. But this is your game I only give suggestions. @adrao

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