SoVR Post-Game Diary #7

Hello everyone,

I'm slowly realizing that there will probably come a moment where I'll have no more content to show before the release of the next update. I still have things in stock, but you have to understand that all the new game mechanics need to be done for that update. That means it's bound to take more time than future updates because new elements have to be done from scratch (while they'll already be around for the next updates.) I hope you'll understand why this particular update will take longer (and it's not a bad thing considering the artists' speed XD)

So, in an effort to provide regular updates and try to hold until the release of the v0.3, I'm going to talk about a delicious subject : Mini-Games.

If you've discovered me recently (and by recently I mean something like 4 years ago or less, basically after I've finished working on SoV2), you might not know it, but one of the reasons people hated Vitamin Plus was because of its mini-games. What they hated was the fact that you needed to complete them to progress in the story. There was notably a sliding puzzle game and a tetris game. The tetris game needed you to clear 25 lines to progress. To me, it's like the easiest thing in the world. I had a tetris cartridge together with my first Game Boy at 4 and I discovered the joy of clearing the game at Level 9 Height 5 like at 6 years old. Those who ever played Tetris know that doing that and clearing 25 lines on a normal game is a bit like comparing facing Malenia with a Lvl 1 naked character vs playing with a Lvl 150 Full Stuff character with the Mimic Tear to help you. I NEVER thought a single second people would find that hard. And oh boy... I got insulted often during my beginnings (I'm probably still being insulted at F95) but the Tetris mini-game was something else.

Tons of people abandonned the game or cheated their way out because they couldn't complete the challenge and it really hurt the image of the game. If you ever wondered why there's an easy mode for VP, now you know it. Sliding puzzle is 2x2 and Tetris needs to do 1 line (yeah if I could insult them back a bit, might as well do it :x)

Why am I talking about all that? Well, I want you to understand where I come from when it comes to Mini-games. You probably saw that there's nothing of the sort in SoVO. You could say it was a bit out of trauma. In SoV2, I added a couple of mini-games but they were really side stuff where I just borrowed a script on the internet. They had 0 impact on the game.

Except one: The Weed Removing mini-game. You couldn't make a dumber mini-game. You just need to click on your mouse as many time as you can during a limited time. Even if you need to reach a certain amount to unlock something, it's doable by everyone, because the amount set for the reward is low. But you can replay it just for the sake of high score. And I was pleasantly surprised that even if it lasted a couple of days only, I saw some patrons on Discord exchanging their best score and sometimes even techniques to increase the value.

As someone who grew up with arcade machines, it was pretty heartwarming. My games had a space for mini-games, I just had to find the proper mechanic (something that looks like you're playing, but something much less demanding than a normal game because it's an H game.)

And aaaaaaaaaaaaall this introduction is here to reveal that YES, Slice of Venture Remake will feature mini-games (I don't count Soul Mate because it's a bit of a special case in my eyes.)

RPG Maker can be somewhat frustrating as a software. You have way more possibilities than with a VN, but at the same time, if you're not using the whole RPG part of the soft, you get quickly locked in. I know some people are perfectly fine with the way things are and if SoVR looks like SoVO in terms of gameplay (which is just story progression and side content), it's perfect for them. But on a personal view, I always want the next game to be more interesting than the previous one. That's why I want to put mini-games in SoVR. And it will also be a good way for me to see if I've properly learned from my past mistakes.

I don't know yet what I'm going to do on the game's scale, I don't want to force myself doing something like "1 mini-game per girl" (can be more, can be less), it's probably one of the very few elements I can decide during the development. That's why I can't tell how many mini-games SoVR will feature, I can't tell if they'll be mandatory at some point or just side stuff for the sake of entertaining the player. But I know I want to add them. The reason is simple. It's the same reason I'm making those games: I add what I'd like to see in an H game.

The first mini game has been decided. It's not designed at all but it will have to be available for the next release because it's linked to one of the two scenarios. And for the first time, it will be a fully custom mini-game. It will use PeakJump's art and we'll try not to fuck up his beautiful pic with our UI :x

I won't be able to provide pictures even when it'll be ready due to the mini-game featuring Yuki, so I'll just explain you the content. It's basic as fuck.

Yuki will be lying on a table or something like that and you'll have a clear view on her butt (actually, her butt/crotch and legs are the only things you'll see.) Under her will be a bar with colors. Red on the sides going to green in the middle through gradient. A cursor with move from left to right. You need to click when the cursor is on the green to slap her ass. Depending on your timing her excitation bar will grow, if it reaches 100%, she'll climax, meaning you've won.

See ? it's nothing complicated. The scenario difficulty will be easy but you'll have the possibility to increase the difficulty later on and replay as much as you can (Cursor going faster, green area reduced etc...) The good thing is that the way I've built SoVR, it's possible to offer rewards for those playing the game on higher difficulties that others won't feel deprived off. You remember when I told you the PP gatherable should be higher than the max value? Well it's one of the case where I can offer PP for those playing. Those who don't want will have other ways to get PPs.

I even intend to add a chronometer in case the strongest ones want to share their best times.

That's how SoVR should handle mini-games in the future. Of course, that means more time given to non-H stuff (well, that's arguable in that case :p), but at some point, I've seen way too many H games on DLsite relying solely on their H content to be lazy on the rest (hello 95% of Live2D H games.) So I want SoVR to be more than that.

I hope you'll like the idea and if you don't, I hope you'll pardon that selfish desire of mine :p

See ya o/