Devlog: Thoughts on the "Conversation Mini-game" for Part 2

Alright, time to do some actual game mechanic programming! Been a fuckin' while!

So for the final portion of LLRR, I want to return to the way the first half of the game is played. Chapters are a random order of choices and events that happen to you.

However, two things need to change. First, I don't care about raising the academics or band stats anymore. Academics makes no sense because it's summer vacation, and the band is kinda taking a break (mostly). Also from a mechanics perspective, they existed to restrict possible sex scenes in the early game and I don't care to continue that. In their absence, I want something new, otherwise the pool of random choices becomes too shallow and consistent (boring).

Second, I do not wish to return to the conversation mini-game in its current form. There's no point. You've already wooed whoever you're going to woo, and the conversation mechanic is likely getting stale by that point in the game so it's good to shake it up.

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Sex Mini-game

It was always the plan for the conversation mini-game to evolve into a sex mini-game.

Did you know there's been a bunch of junk code in the game since launch for a sex mini-game? I haven't even acknowledged it or read it in years, until just now.
Man, I wrote this shit like 4 or 5 years ago. I have this whole state machine idea set up, where you choose between Finesse (slow things down, kiss), Sympathy (love making, going a little harder), Passion (FUCK YEAH, RIGHT THERE), pushing for a climax, or stopping because you're afraid you'll get caught.

The odds of getting caught randomly adjust each turn, based on your situation. More passionate actions would make more noise but generate more love and climax potential, finesse would slows things down...I'm kinda impressed with myself, I completely forgot about this.

But I dunno, fuck that. Here's the thing.

It's annoying to have to click choices during an erotic scene, especially constantly. Which this was going to require.
And honestly, I like the idea of the game picking up speed a bit because the mini-game choices reduce in number.

So...I think I'd rather just have it generate a random sex scene all on its own without your input. Simple.

But, hmm.

I want Finesse, Sympathy, and Passion to still matter.

The following is literally just gonna be me typing out my thoughts in real time. I'll edit it a little but it's mostly gonna be a stream of consciousness kinda thing. I'm typing this for my own benefit and notes, but figured it might be fun to share the thought process with you.

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The simplest solution is for Finesse to control whether or not you get caught (because fuck yeah, you can totally lose the game while playing these mini-games lol), and then the amount of love you generate is simply the product of sympathy and passion, divided by some arbitrary flat-rate number. Maybe it's increased a little if you got an asterisk event (asterisk events should also mean longer and/or safer sex scenes, ooh, I like both those, maybe you don't know which until you pick it).

The cool thing about a product between two variables is that the optimal way to increase that product is to increase both variables equally. And while the game gives sympathy a huge leg up early on*, it's always encouraged trying to raise like and lust in equal amounts (because the lust check takes the lower of the two values). So there's a sort of symmetry there that I like.

*I never loved that raising a girl's "like" stat a ton didn't help at all, so long ago I implemented a system that makes her more likely to initiate her own little "blush" interaction with you to increase lust if her like stat is high. So starting with higher sympathy does actually mean something.

Okay, so:

- Finesse% chance to avoid being caught (based on the current awareness value, which will be random).

- (Sympathy * Passion) / 2000 or some shit = the Love you gain.
So far, Love has been increased by a flat rate of 10 every time you have sex. Should I change that? Probably.

- You can choose not to engage in a sex scene if risk is involved, because it would be fucked up game design to force you into a sex scene that then loses you the game without any player control.

- The scene is just a brief set of images, nothing fancy. I have the ability to randomly generate sexy sentences like combinations of moans and kisses, so I'll rely on a combination of that and things like "We fuck like crazy for a while, hoping no one can hear-!!!" What's important is that the text be replayable and perhaps leans into abstract, like the conversation mini-game did ("We make love gently for a while"). I'll test it of course.

Now, that's fun for the sex games you initiate, but the first half of the game also has events where the girls will approach you and start conversation! So, fuck yeah, let's have scenes where the girls you're in an affair with will approach you and have sex with you! Flin will just consent automatically to these scenes and there will be no chance of being caught. I like these kinds of scenes because they can throw a little curveball your way, and it's hot when the lady initiates.

Suspicion

Hmm, now, if Stella approaches you, maybe she gets a random mix of sex scenes and cute little date scenes. You know, I like that actually. But what do you get out of it? You lower suspicion, which is still a factor.

But how do you raise suspicion? The only way to do it was through the conversation mini-game, so with that gone, there needs to be a new way. Should a sex scene just...raise suspicion?
...Yeah, that does actually make sense, right? Flin didn't answer his phone, came out of Amy's room with messy hair, or maybe generally has seemed less attentive...I think it can be reasonably assumed that fucking around has subtle consequences on your girlfriend's suspicion of you.

So should the suspicion you gain from a sex scene just be a flat amount? Maybe it can be tempered by Finesse. And you know, let's make it a random value. Something like, "After having sex, you gain 10 - 200 suspicion minus your Finesse."
Well, hmm, in ascension mode, I like that the exponential stats lead to exponentially higher suspicion if you're careless, so it's still totally possible to get caught.

How about instead, "You gain an amount of suspicion equal to your sympathy and passion stats, randomly divided by 2, 3, 4, or 5, minus Finesse." I'll fuck with these values.
The rationale there would be that more passionate sex made more noise and/or had a bigger impact on you both afterwards, leading to more suspicion. In this way, Sympathy and Passion work a little to your detriment, but you can still completely offset that with high Finesse. Which I like, because I still rarely pick the "+3 Finesse" option in the early game, and I think this change might just be enough to finally make that choice matter, which is a good thing.

Now that I've decided that, I also like if the random sex scenes that happen to you also increase suspicion in the same way. You still can't get caught during them, but they can kinda cause an "Oh shit, I gotta go take Stella on some more dates!" kinda moment. Which is good, because encouraging variance in the choices makes the hot moments hotter.

Increasing Stats

I've said I'm getting rid of Academics and Band. I've also changed the conversation mini-game, so you can't increase your conversation stats anymore. I don't like that, since they still matter, and I want them to matter.
So how about the choices that increase Academics and Band are replaced with choices that let you increase Finesse, Sympathy, and Passion?

Hmm, by how much? And what's the flavor for it, what are you literally doing?

It needs to be by a notable amount. Not +1, not even +3. More like, +5%. This makes the choice matter in Ascension mode too, though 5% may be too high (testing required).

But what's the flavor for these choices? Self-help books feels a little random and lame after all this time. Hmmmmmmmmm, what if you go on a date! Finesse is a sneaky date out in public, Sympathy is a lovey-dovey date, and Passion is...not a sex scene, because we have those....hmm, how about just a nice makeout session on the couch or in the car, that kind of thing. Yeah, hell yeah!

That makes training the stats actually fun, while breaking up the monotony of sex scenes.

In addition to those events, there will be scripted little mini scenes, such as the Amy-wearing-Stella's-shirt-thing. Maybe those can give a little bump to stats, I dunno. Not sure, will decide later. I like them to have a mechanical impact because it makes their order matter. The scene itself should be influenced by your stats, too.

Samantha

Hrm, now, what if calling Samantha is just...one of the options? Nothing crazy, you just, you know, call her and talk to her on the phone. This option should only be available if you actually fucked her and got her number, but yeah...not a conversation minigame, but rather, a chance to increase her stats in anticipation of some Samantha event....? Not sure, don't need to figure it out right now.

Cards

Hmm, there's also the matter of your "cards" that you have saved up as you enter the second half of the game. The way things are going, those cards won't matter at all anymore, but I hate to punish players who saved them up and failed to use them...hmm....
I can just convert them to something useful. I dunno, does it matter that much? Fuck, I won't worry about it, and if it feels like a problem after playing a bunch of runs, I'll come back to it.

Endings

Love is gonna matter by determining which endings you can choose. A happily-ever-after ending with Stella will always be available as an option, though I'll at least make some reference to whether or not you cheated. Probably just Flin resolving not to anymore.
The other options will require a very high love stat, to be determined based on how the entire pacing of a regular run ends up feeling. If I do the harem ending, I like to think there'd be some sort of achievement for getting a full harem + Stella on a regular run, so I'd push those numbers as far as makes sense within that context.

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Alright, exiting stream-of-consciousness mode. Just wanted to jot all those thoughts down. I've got something to work with now, and I like it more than I was expecting to!

Cool.