S.C.A.R. (Supernatural Combat and Advancement Research)(WIP)[Update 11/10][NEW POLL 3/17]

My only criticism is the fact that I have to choose my MC’s ethnicity and then I have to go through a series of choices choosing hair color and eye color that could contrast against the ethnicity that I’ve chosen. I would say pick one or the other, but don’t use both because it drags us out of the action, forces us to pause, and drains the tension from the scene.

I found this to be true when I engaged in the fight. It wasn’t that satisfying to see when my opponent’s health drained so I quickly became bored as I played through it and wanted to get through it as fast as I could because I wanted to get back to the more narrative gameplay.

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I’m glad you liked it. About the witch, I see what you mean. I have other abilities and magic they can do, but with some they may end up being classified as a mage instead of a witch. A mage can do lots of amazing stuff with magic, but I’m not sure if a witch would be able to do them as well. I could change the class from witch to a mage. Which would definitely increase their potential and utility. And mages can form contracts with spirits, devils and more, so it would work out in the end. I may do just that, on the next update.

Thanks, glad you liked it. Speaking of Unnatural, I really need to finish playing it lol. I bought it months ago, but then I ended up buying more CoG/HG, so it got moved down my play list.

Technically, Caucasian, etc aren’t races either. All of those would fall under ethnicity. Because our race/species is Human. But I used race, because that’s what most other games here use and what people are used to.

As for Hispanic being biracial of Caucasian/Native Amercian, I’m sorry but that completely false. Hispanic refers to those of Spanish speaking origin. While Latino covers those of Latin American origin. It’s an age old debate that no one will ever agree on. But if you call some of Latin origin Hispanic, you could have a fight on your hands. Hence why it’s separate.

I put all of that there because you are looking into a mirror, so it makes sense to get all of the appearance details out of the way then and there. Instead of just popping up in a random spot of the story and have an option like “Oh I forgot I have so and so hair.” As for the varying hair/eye colors, you don’t have to choose them if you don’t want to. They are there for those that want something different for their character. Just because you don’t like them, doesn’t mean everyone else doesn’t as well. You want to stick with natural colors for your ethnicity, the options are there for you. All you have to do is choose them. Plus you have supernatural blood running through your veins. Don’t you think even if you are of a certain ethnicity, it can affect your looks in certain ways? Its also why all those color options are there.

As for the fight scene, I did it that way so you can basically get a taste for what each type can do. As for lacking visual elements, that’s pretty much true for every CoG/HG. You use your imagination in place of pictures. Its their staple.

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Sounds good can we be a werewolf or no

I originally intended for all the types of supernaturals I listed in the first post as options for the MC. But then I realized how colossal a task the coding would be so I decided against it. I was tempted to make the MC a certain type of supernatural to make it easier to code, but I knew it would then not really be a choose your own type of game. Plus it would be kinda dull being stonewalled into a specific type. So I settled on the current 5 options.

The werewolf was an option, because I like them too. Except they would have been classified as a shifter instead in this game. The shifters include wolf, lion, tiger, bear, panther and dragon. Even though the MC can’t be a shifter, I do intend to add shifters to the characters we get to befriend/romance. Which kind of shifter is yet to be decided though.

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Oooooo I like the start of this and I’m happy that nephilim is an option, it’s my go to when I can’t be a vampire :grin: One of the things I’m glad you did with this was allow a variety in combat, I’m very interested in seeing how that unfolds since I doubt that was the last fight I’ll be in :wink: Also love that the orientation to be set as a child, I always find it strange when games will say you’re just starting to notice feelings when you hit adolescence, I knew I liked girls when I was 5 :stuck_out_tongue:

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I glad that the Nephilim is being well received. For the combat variety, I’m glad you liked it. I wanted to give the players a taste of what each type was capable of. Though the coding for all that was immensely time consuming. So while I’ll still leave the variety of choices on which way to approach the fights, once the choice is chosen, I’m leaning towards towards the prose approach instead of the looping back and forth. Meaning if you choose lets say magically, I will write out a battle in which you attack with various spells and magical techniques, while the enemy fights in their own style. I’ll need to figure out a way to incorporate the stats of the chosen method into each fight, as well as how the damage dealt by the enemy is received by you. So I definitely have my work cut out for me lol.

As for orientation, I was the same, except I was 6 when I noticed I liked girls. While other boys my age were running around worrying about cooties and crap, I had my first crush in 1st grade lol. And in 2nd grade I had my first “girlfriend” granted I had no idea what it entailed, neither did she. She asked me if I wanted to be her boyfriend, I accepted. We became a “couple” and we thought that was the end of it lol. Ah, to be that innocent.

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It’s more of an individual matter more than anything. I do understand most authors using adolescence as the orientation deciding point however, trying to reach the middle ground with the general populace. It would be redundant to have to add in a choice regarding when the MC discovered their orientation.

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Val-hues of Restraint?
Is this a new technique for interrogation I was not taught? Why have I not been kept up to date with the latest techniques! How am I supposed to be effective if I’m not used the latest skill set?

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I played the demo and it was great but there was a choice to kill the bully at the end of chapter. I mean isn’t it too soon for the MC to kill someone. Yea sure bullies are crapheads and they deserve the punishment for picking on the weaker ones… But… come on… MC is still a kid isn’t he? That’s all but once again the demo was nice. Good work!

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They may be a kid, but were raised as essentially a tool of death. Taught to give in to their anger and use it to destroy their enemies. So once they start, it’s hard for them to stop. But you can make them stop, that’s why the choice is there. They weren’t raised with restraint, but now in a matter of speaking you can. Which is why if you choose to spare them, their hands will remain clean of blood, having never killed anyone before and chose to keep it that way,

However, if you choose to give in to your darker urges and make use of the deadly skill and abilities you were taught and end the bullies life, then your hands will finally be stained with blood. Since that will be your first kill. As you haven’t been sent on any assassination jobs, etc yet.

Which is why both choices are there, to give you the option of having a brutal MC or a more controlled MC. You will essentially shape the MC, so how they end up is entirely up to you. Don’t want to be a cold-blooded murderer? That’s fine, follow the path of restraint. Want to give in to your darker urges and make your enemies pay? Go for it, take the bath of brutality. But just because you can be a killer, doesn’t mean you’re evil. Hence why I gave various options when you chose to help her and the choices that are under construction if you don’t. What the brutality/restraint meter is for is to show if you take threats and fights to the extreme or not. The other stats determine your actual morality.

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just finished reading the demo pretty short but otherwise loved it, especially when i finally get to play as a nephilim and got to beat a bullys ass (i spared him of course). Cant wait for this to be fully released. Awesome work mate :slight_smile:

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I’m not saying you have the MC randomly note their hair color half way into the story. What I’m saying is that by having to pick my MC’s ethnicity and then choose their hair color, eye color, etc., you draw us out of the narrative of the story, breaking immersion.

Promising story! I look forward to each update. However I have a few comments, take them as you will:
Age: 10 years old
At 10, were you really looking at the opposite sex? I also feel that you’re setting this up as a romance/action mix versus setting a tone for a dangerous, violent game. The use of adjectives to describe your appearance, “hypnotizing hazel”, did nothing for me except to ruin the immersion and wonder when I was going to have to choose between partners. Maybe introduce physical characteristics a bit more slowly as they become relevant to the story? Maybe don’t have the sexual orientation so early in the game as well.
The name thing:
I don’t mind coming up with my own name but it would be nice to be provided options. Am I going to be called by a last name the entire game? Should I be providing a whole name?
Relationships:
I get that romantic relationships will happen, and I’m certainly not adverse to them in choice games. But again you’re 10, and this facility you’re in is supposed to be all about discipline and I can only see having a romantic entanglement will be frowned upon, to put it mildly. It would take away from the focus of the training, unless that is a story line that you’re writing for, which falls under rebellious.
Bellows:
So, my character was a nephilim. Why was I supposed to be afraid of Bellows who threatened to beat me for getting out of bed slowly? What can he/she do to me that would actually cause me to fall in line?
These are just a few things that stood out to me when I played through your demo. Thank you for putting it out there! I’m always looking for new games to play and I eagerly look forward to an update. Have a great day and happy writing

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No, I was looking at the same sex. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

The ancient Spartans were highly disciplined fighters, pretty much trained since birth, and they were encouraged to form (gay) romantic relationships with one another, in order to help them fight harder to protect their boyfriends. (Admittedly, when you bring in straight relationships, pregnancy is a possibility, so I could understand if the people in charge discouraged those sorts of relationships… :innocent:)

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Shoooooot… at 8 I was looking and enjoying the ladies (who were older, 12 or older).

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I don’t get what is so shocking about this. People usualy start their puberty around 10-13. My body hair grew when I was 9, when I was 10 my face was made of acne and I was completely sure that I liked boys, I even had a boyfriend at that age. And I’m talking about hormones here, because I liked to look at other kids when I was even younger.

Yeah, I agree with you in those things. I didn’t dislike all of them, but yah. And I don’t really like to write down a name, I only do this if I really don’t like any of the options given.

I also found strange that nephilim is a human… uh, class? Because if we’re half angels… I don’t know.

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This is a really promising game but I have a question shouldn’t the mystic type be called a ghost instead because of the form and possession type powers because it seems more fitting

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I understood what you meant. Though this is my first time writing a choicescript story, so I didn’t want to waste time thinking up creative ways to have people pick physical characteristics. So I opted to get them all done in one go. Possibly as the demo progresses farther and I have more space to add in those creative ways, I’ll change what you can choose early on. While other features can be chosen as the story goes on. Though another reason I opted for it all at once, is so players can have a fully identifiable MC early on. I for one prefer to get a feel for my MC as soon as possible, others may feel the same way as well.

In my case, I was 6 when I started looking at the opposite sex. Some kids mature mentally far faster then others and know what they like and are attracted too. Like for example, you can be 5 and know whether you hate or like vegetables. Its not too far fetched for some kids to realize what gender they are attracted to, or at the very least notice more than the other.

As for the adjectives concerning eye color. It was to help players picture the image better. To get a clearer picture of what their character looks like. Plus its kinda boring to just put the basic color. Also because in reality certain eye colors do draw a certain thought to those that see them. Like in 5th grade, I had a male friend who had beautiful blue eyes that the girls went crazy for. I’m straight and even I noticed how beautiful they were, especially since I rarely see eye color beyond the usual suspects. Another example a male cousin of mine has hazel eyes that seem to change color depending on how the light hits them. If you happen to see that, it kinda draws you out of what you were doing and think how that’s kind of cool.

Regarding sexual orientation/romance so early on. Who says you can’t have romance in a violent game? You don’t have to romance, that’s why there is now an asexual option. If you feel your character is too young to like any gender, or just don’t want to romance anyone, etc choose it and you won’t be able to flirt with any character ever throughout the story based on how I wrote the code for orientations. That’s why I put so many different options for practically everything. If you don’t want to take part in certain things or react certain ways, etc I try to put in a option for various outcomes. That way everyone can play how they want to, without some being shafted because some don’t like or want certain things.

Also is it strange for the MC to want someone by their side? They haven’t received any love or care at all throughout their life. Maybe they finally want someone to care for and be cared for by, whether its just as friends or possible romance. If not, there is the lone wolf option for just that.

I was just trying to get the name part out of the way as quick as possible and didn’t feel like thinking up names for each gender lol. Also the name you choose is your first name. You never received a last name, since you were basically abducted since birth. I may put an option for a last name later on, but for now its just the first name. I’ll see about adding name options later on during future updates, but that’s kind of a low priority for me at the moment.

I get what you’re saying. I haven’t thought up any romance paths yet, I’m still trying to think up characters to form a basic bond with. You can be attracted to them, but so far that’s probably it. But if anything having a friendship/relationship can only help better the MC’s morality. If they think of someone as their friend, they may want to protect them, etc which will drive them to take certain actions. But also, some may want their friends to be able to hold their own, so they can be useful and not a hindrance, so there will be an option that’s basically like tough love, leaving them to fend for themselves. However, they may choose to step in, if things get bad, if not, well there’s always next time, hopefully.

Its not necessarily the guards you have to be afraid of. It’s the punishments you can receive for disobeying/disrespecting those in authority. If you’ve ever read the manga or watched the anime for “Deadman Wonderland”, they have this punishment wheel full of various punishments for losing a fight. Ranging from eyeball, tongue, organ, vocal cord, etc removals, and more. I’m thinking of implementing something like that. What kind of punishments I’ll put in it remains to be seen. But as far as the MC knows, its already a thing and that’s why they fall in line (for now).

It’s more like a human type. While you may be part angel, you’re still part human and they want someone with that kind of lineage on their side, hence why they don’t discriminate and put you into a non-human type . While those in power don’t consider the others human, because shifters can turn into beasts, half-demons while part human, are classified as separate for their dark lineage. Fae, well that’s self explanatory, as for Ayakashi/Yokai, they are type of creature and or spirit depending on what they are.

Its not your human spirit that does the attacking/possession, its the spirit that bound to you. If you’ve ever played Beyond: Two souls on the PS3/4 the spirit is like Aiden, with you since birth, but separate. While Jodie could somewhat control/influence what Aiden can do, he was essentially in control of himself and does what he wanted. The mystic in this game however has complete control over their bonded spirit and can make it do what they want.

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About that, I understand it’s not your priority, but what kind of name are you thinking, not just for the options, but for the NPCs in general? I mean, will they have normal names like Denis and Angeline or will it be something more crude since they’re in a facility, like “B-38” or “Caveman”?

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Hey, i just finished the linked demo, well i played it a few times to test diffrent combat things, which works quite well to be honest, only improvement i can think of would be to add a mana, combat wise at least. Anywise in the story, so far its very promising and i will definitely be keeping track of it. And the thing i can really think of would be to for the PC being a bit kinder when you spare that guy(fitting in better as a new option, as to define your character however you want, but i suppose that a kinder/more timmid PC might avoid the fight) but i do understand why the PC’s character is as it is (raised as a weapon, ect), but it would still be nice to see it as an option, i wont push this point as I’ve seen it before. On a diffrent point i like the character creations current depth compared to quite a few games i could name, and im a sucker for character creation, so obviously would like to see it expanded and built upon, but honestly i would say that about any character creation menu.

So theres my thoughts, hope at least to a small fraction helpful.

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