Newlife (TF Text Game)

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

ScottPilgrim said:

So this New Life guy just ripped them off

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The developer (splendidostrich) is notorious for being a prude about extreme sexuality, for being very careful about legal issues, for being technically inexperienced, and for scrupulously acknowledging every community contribution (suggestions, UI mockups, typos, bug reports, etc).

It's possible that this person sought out an obscure Russian game, played the game in spite of its many bugs and confusing machine-translation, continued to play it after encountering extreme/illegal sexual content, then created a ripoff game and refused to ever acknowledge Girl Life as a source.

Or maybe it's just a somewhat-derivative porn game, loosely inspired by a few older games (such as

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, which splendidostrich has acknowledged). Maybe it shares some game mechanics, themes, and narrative elements with contemporaneous games (such as Girl Life) because they all belong to the same genre. There's no reason to assume deliberate plagiarism.

using Java instead of QSP

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QSP is not a good language for game development. Using Java instead of QSP is definitely easier, but that's fine. I don't think that people ought to withhold support from a project simply because the developer is using a sane programming language.

I've stopped donating to Newlife because of the slow development pace. If the game had been announced as a QSP project then I never would have donated at all. Fuck QSP.

And gets paid over $5k a month?

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I agree with this sentiment. The development progress is underwhelming, given that this is ostensibly a fulltime project. We can argue about whether it's due to weak architecture, poor coding practices, difficulties in project management, pursuit of weird stretch goals, lack of motivation, etc...

Wow, only in America I guess...

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splendidostrich lives in the UK.

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

The more I hear about this developer, the less I like him.

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

TheLordofRopes said:

The more I hear about this developer, the less I like him.

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Entitlement has that effect on other people. It's also not exactly an original game idea, and really, the only thing going for it is that it's... stable I guess. I didn't run into any bugs whatsoever, so the programming behind this game is good especially for a crappy platform like Java.

This game really is lacking in content though. You only have 52 weeks (which isn't even a lot since the game runs at "1 week per turn") to make the most out of your life since there's no "endless mode" from what I can tell. During my playthrough, I spent the majority of the time having non-conversations because having the Shy trait apparently means you're impossible to have a conversation with unless you spend 35+ weeks improving your Charm skill, and the majority of the time was also spent trying to dump the boyfriend (and failing at it) because he turned out to be a jerkoff. Cheating on him did come to mind but I couldn't find anyone worth befriending/dating (probably bad character generation RNG).

It's also a huge pain trying to get rid of stress - I was at 100 nearly most of the time and I couldn't lower it even if the entire week was relaxing at home. Also, when it comes to buying things for your home, I don't know if getting a promotion is easy (because my Charm skill was ass for a job that worked off of Charm) but I simply did not have enough time to earn enough money to buy a lot of the expensive stuff at the "shop for your loft" event. There simply isn't enough time to play around with.

I'll try out the other game modes like chaos and secret chaos and explore from there, but something I would really like to see in this game is actually being able to control your conversations and, as someone said in this thread already, being able to control the outcome when someone is visiting your home (it's either have sex or have him get the fuck out).

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

iRoxor said:

something I would really like to see in this game is actually being able to control your conversations

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Don't choose a shy character. I made the same mistake on my first attempt; it sucks. It puts most of the scenes on rails. You'll usually just need to accept whatever is happening in front of you, or walk away from it. You can't initiate anything.

Shy mode is presumably intended for people who enjoy playing a more submissive or passive role. Or maybe it's intended as a super-duper challenge for hardcore gamers. If you're hoping to explore the various outcomes (or "win" the game) then you're going to be disappointed by the Shy experience.

being able to control the outcome when someone is visiting your home (it's either have sex or have him get the fuck out).

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Those options do exist; your character is just so timid that the options don't appear in your UI. splendidostrich is very willing to put characterization and immersion ahead of gameplay.

Alternative: the extra conversation options could have been included in the listboxes, but in greyed-out form. Each one could be accompanied by a tooltip explaining why this particular option is not available. Fallout does this when locking out some conversation options (to encourage the player to replay with a different character build); TiTS does it to get players messing around with anatomical transformations (e.g. "come back with a bigger dick if you want to see this sex scene"). Newlife hides the extra shit because it wants to put the player inside the head of the protagonist.

Try it again without the Shy trait. An assertive character will have much more control over the situation. But even then ... some guys will get fairly demanding. At some point you're probably going to need to decide between "have sex with this guy even though I don't really want to" or "send him home with blue balls."

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

"easy" mode in Newlife:
* Female Start (and say that you are an "in their early 20s" and "good physical shape") — these get you better starting clothing, approximately equivalent to having an extra $100 at game start.
* Character with the "Outgoing" and "Perceptive" traits.

Stress changes as a function of how much your character likes her friends, and having sex (especially cumming from) with people she likes. (So all the traits that make it easier for the protagonist to cum before her partner, like "sensitive breasts/vagina", are helpful)

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

iRoxor said:

Entitlement has that effect on other people. It's also not exactly an original game idea, and really, the only thing going for it is that it's... stable I guess. I didn't run into any bugs whatsoever, so the programming behind this game is good especially for a crappy platform like Java.

This game really is lacking in content though. You only have 52 weeks (which isn't even a lot since the game runs at "1 week per turn") to make the most out of your life since there's no "endless mode" from what I can tell. During my playthrough, I spent the majority of the time having non-conversations because having the Shy trait apparently means you're impossible to have a conversation with unless you spend 35+ weeks improving your Charm skill, and the majority of the time was also spent trying to dump the boyfriend (and failing at it) because he turned out to be a jerkoff. Cheating on him did come to mind but I couldn't find anyone worth befriending/dating (probably bad character generation RNG).

It's also a huge pain trying to get rid of stress - I was at 100 nearly most of the time and I couldn't lower it even if the entire week was relaxing at home. Also, when it comes to buying things for your home, I don't know if getting a promotion is easy (because my Charm skill was ass for a job that worked off of Charm) but I simply did not have enough time to earn enough money to buy a lot of the expensive stuff at the "shop for your loft" event. There simply isn't enough time to play around with.

I'll try out the other game modes like chaos and secret chaos and explore from there, but something I would really like to see in this game is actually being able to control your conversations and, as someone said in this thread already, being able to control the outcome when someone is visiting your home (it's either have sex or have him get the fuck out).

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You can make custom NPCs quite easily and someone made a program that does it automatically.

Stress isn't difficult if you go to the spa. But you pretty much need a promotion or two to be able to afford that. Unless you can get lucky with the treasure hunt event but I think I've only gotten $100 from that.

Those modes just affect starts and things you know about people and that kinda thing, they don't really add anything.

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

iRoxor said:

This game really is lacking in content though. You only have 52 weeks (which isn't even a lot since the game runs at "1 week per turn") to make the most out of your life since there's no "endless mode" from what I can tell.

It's also a huge pain trying to get rid of stress - I was at 100 nearly most of the time and I couldn't lower it even if the entire week was relaxing at home.

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The 52-week limit is in the non-Patreon version only. Patreons get an unlimited version. I was going to complain about that too but i guess that's fair. Really annoying, but fair.

Regarding the annoying stress mechanic, make sure you pick the relaxed trait, but here's a quote from his thread on legendofkrystal: "Stress is supposed to be tricky though. In particular, it's intentional that a character without the relaxed trait will generally see her stress increase even if she uses all three actions to relax.
That's because the most effective way of losing stress is to go out, get drunk, and let things happen with a bloke. My main motivation for adding stress was to serve as a justification for shy, innocent, good-girl types to end up in sexy situations."

I can understand his motivation but it makes no logical sense. If anything, a shy personality would get MORE stress from going out. To me the game seems to be designed for one style of play; assertive. If you're a passive player like me, you're just going to be frustrated with it. There really is no content for passive play especially with the dev's stance on sexual "encounters."

stuntcock42 said:

Try it again without the Shy trait. An assertive character will have much more control over the situation. But even then ... some guys will get fairly demanding. At some point you're probably going to need to decide between "have sex with this guy even though I don't really want to" or "send him home with blue balls."

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I don't think SpendedOstrich cares about the shy trait players. As you said, that gameplay is just going to be a matter of doing things you DON'T want to do or getting nothing. I guess it's a good game for assertive players but i can't RP as that. Guess it's too bad for me.

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

Seis said:

To me the game seems to be designed for one style of play; assertive.

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That's pretty much a "nature of videogames" thing. It's very difficult to design a game which can deliver engagement for a passive playstyle. For example: stealth games push the player into long intervals of concealment and observation, but meanwhile they're building up the player's anticipation for the next burst of action.

If you're a passive player like me, you're just going to be frustrated with it. There really is no content for passive play especially with the dev's stance on sexual "encounters."

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I mostly agree with you. It's a transformation game; the player character might feel violated and horrified, but the game mechanics are going to encourage the player to explore and interact with their new circumstances. The most in-character choice might be to hide in your apartment for 52 weeks, but if you actually tried to do that then you'd quickly get bored and quit the game entirely.

The game is built on the assumption that people will be curious about the body-transformation scenario. In Greek myth, Zeus himself was so curious about the nature of sexual pleasure that he demanded an answer from Tiresias. You could argue that such curiosity is inapplicable to the female-start option, but female-start wasn't included in the original game design.

I don't think SpendedOstrich cares about the shy trait players.

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I'd say instead that SplendidOstrich is an inexperienced game developer who doesn't understand how best to deliver a particular experience. It's not that SO doesn't care about shy-trait players; it's just that the the Stress is a half-assed game mechanic (in lieu of specific needs for relaxation, socialization, comfort, exercise, emotional support, solitude, excitement, sexual release, etc) and that the game is still incomplete. Most of the fans are going to demand additional "action" scenes, and they'd be annoyed if SO spent a month crafting a scene specifically tailored to deliver interesting choices for shy characters.

For example: your character has been pressured into going out for drinks with a few female coworkers. They meet some men at the bar and get chatted up, and suddenly there's a guy closing in on you ... and none of your friends can rescue you. Do you try to sneak out (What will I say to my friends if they get upset with me for flaking out? And anyways - I can't walk home by myself! It's dark out and I might get mugged!), or hide in the bathroom (What if he misunderstands and tries to follow me in!?!), or just mumble awkwardly until he goes away? (what if he doesn't go away?)

Is this the sort of thing which you'd look for in a shy-friendly version of Newlife? Or would you want more of a game-mechanics overhaul (i.e. "stay at home" would be a valid stress-reducing decision for shy characters)?

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

stuntcock42 said:

It's very difficult to design a game which can deliver engagement for a passive playstyle.

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I don't know if i agree with you. I admit i've never made a game but this is a text RPG. All he needs to do is add more random events/encounters that don't rely on the player taking initiative. It's not like he has to worry about graphics or additional game mechanics. There are a great number of possible encounters to add. For example, maybe an NPC who finds the PC to be his type strikes up a conversation with the PC on the way to work. Maybe some random trouble-making kid flips your skirt (if you're wearing one) in public. Maybe a turned-on coworker gropes your ass because you didn't dress conservatively that day. There are so many many ideas for more passive content. But for now, most of it relies on the player to initiate. I think that's my real problem with it.

stuntcock42 said:

It's a transformation game; the player character might feel violated and horrified, but the game mechanics are going to encourage the player to explore and interact with their new circumstances.

The game is built on the assumption that people will be curious about the body-transformation scenario.

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I'm sorry but i disagree that this is a transformation game. It's not really a transformation game even if it claims to be. Sure, the starting sequence has transformation but the game does nothing later on to remind you of it. The rest of the game is presented as if you were never a male to begin with. He could just remove the male start and there would be nothing strange about the game until you got to the 52-week end. Unless i just haven't found them, i didn't see any description of first new experiences in the game at all. As you said, there should be a feeling of violatation and horrification, but it's just not there. You could just as easily play the Sims with adult mods, pretending that somehow you got turned into a female, or Corruption of Champions, or modded Skyrim, or you name it. The only thing this game gives you is the backstory but anyone with an imagination can do that themselves.

stuntcock42 said:

I'd say instead that SplendidOstrich is an inexperienced game developer who doesn't understand how best to deliver a particular experience. It's not that SO doesn't care about shy-trait players; it's just that the the Stress is a half-assed game mechanic (in lieu of specific needs for relaxation, socialization, comfort, exercise, emotional support, solitude, excitement, sexual release, etc) and that the game is still incomplete. Most of the fans are going to demand additional "action" scenes, and they'd be annoyed if SO spent a month crafting a scene specifically tailored to deliver interesting choices for shy characters.

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You are definitely right. It makes me wonder why the shy trait is even in there. The only thing i can think of is perhaps there are NPC's who are attracted to the shy trait, but from the player perspective, it's just a huge handicap to enjoying the game. So, i do agree with you, and especially on the stress point.

stuntcock42 said:

For example: your character has been pressured into going out for drinks with a few female coworkers. They meet some men at the bar and get chatted up, and suddenly there's a guy closing in on you ... and none of your friends can rescue you. Do you try to sneak out (What will I say to my friends if they get upset with me for flaking out? And anyways - I can't walk home by myself! It's dark out and I might get mugged!), or hide in the bathroom (What if he misunderstands and tries to follow me in!?!), or just mumble awkwardly until he goes away? (what if he doesn't go away?)

Is this the sort of thing which you'd look for in a shy-friendly version of Newlife? Or would you want more of a game-mechanics overhaul (i.e. "stay at home" would be a valid stress-reducing decision for shy characters)?

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For an easy answer, yes to all of that. It's probably pointless to discuss what i'd like because SO is not on this forum as far as i know, but i would like more situations where the PC is forced into awkward situations that exploit the weaknesses of being shy. Refer to my response about the passive playstyle above for more because i think these things are very much related. And for the love of god yes, staying at home should be stress-reducing, if at least only for the shy trait. That wouldn't actually be a problem if there wasn't a 52-week limit or if there were more random events.

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

ScottPilgrim said:

So this New Life guy just ripped them off but is using Java instead of QSP and without any images? And gets paid over $5k a month? Wow, only in America I guess...

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I don't agree here. A rip-off would mean he's copying the setting, gameplay and events from the game. The only thing which is similar is the concept, with a choice of either being man who transforms to a woman or be one from the start.

Since this is just a text game, gameplay is identical to 90% other text games and having pictures(depends on the level of details) is usually to make up for poor writing, as it distracts from the users imagination. Just because it borrows the concept of ETO(Girl Life) doesn't mean it's a rip-off. It's quite a different albeit a very vanilla experience.

I do strongly feel based on the money he's receiving from his patreon, that his update rate is Far too scarce compared to the content ratio.
Doesn't help that everything is tied to user consent/interaction making every content update feeling insignificant, way to few random events that actually uses the character traits.

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

It is well-written, has slightly different text for many of the character choices (meaning many scenes have to be written more than one way), and it's enjoyable. Everyone's better off for it being around.

I don't like the slow content either, which is why I've decided to cancel my donation for a few months. If he's not adding significant content per month, we should not pay him every month. We're in control of our donations. Whether everyone ELSE who's donating every month is getting ripped off is none of my concern, except insofar as if they followed this example he might work faster.

And folks, if you can deliver more content at this quality level each month, you too could be sitting on a pile of cash, if it really is that easy to do what he's doing.

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

Sue Nami said:

And folks, if you can deliver more content at this quality level each month, you too could be sitting on a pile of cash, if it really is that easy to do what he's doing.

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Honestly if i knew how to program i would.

And i don't pay him any money but i will still complain and criticize because i do want this game to succeed. There are good aspects to the game and it does have a lot of potential. I only complain because i care.

Re: Newlife (TF Text Game)

I don't suppose anyone has the newest version.