A High Stakes Game v1.993 **Updated 12-10-2021**

[Erecant]

Hmm, that's the second time I've heard of the stack too deep error. I'll have to research more about that one, haven't been able to reproduce.

--Erecant

[SnakeFan]

I tried it a few times after to get it again but no luck (or maybe luck how you want to call it ) so i can tell you how it happen. But for me its an rng chance to get it so not so big problem in my opinion dont want to put to much time into that prob :3

[6163]

Ehhh~ But I like Gwen and Zoey!

Somebody else . . . hmm, maybe. The idea has been brought up.

--Erecant

With Eva's character development, I just don't see her digesting someone without creating some split in the storyline, her desire to not eat anyone is just too important to her character for it to be a side thing with no impact. In the heat of the moment I could see Eva getting some revenge vore on Gwen or Zoey, but something like that could easily lead to a bad end where Eva feels too uncomfortable around potential food (Alex) now that she's crossed that line and the whole thing leads to a break up. I can also understand why the two would be too important to the overall story to have disappearing be an optional event. But I still like the idea of the tables turning on them, Zoey's reaction to Eva implied that predators have a food chain of their own inside their kind, with Eva's family being near the top. I like predatory food chains, it makes a predator much more likable to know they consider themselves potential food rather than just feeling entitled to meals.

Another idea: watching someone else getting eaten might be a part of Gwen's take on training. Visiting Gwen could have her try and condition Alex to seeing others getting eaten. It's a fact of life among predators and Alex pretending like Eva's friends and family aren't going to do it is going to lead to a lot of uncomfortable moments and place an unfair burden on Eva, forcing her to walk the double life she's chosen alone. Alex needs the perspective of someone of someone on the other side or he'll never be able to truly relate to Eva and the lifestyle she had in the past. It will also make it easier for him to be around her friends and family, instead of being that awkward vegan who passive aggressively suggests everyone take up a more "moral" diet. Eva's already made Gwen feel guilty by proxy when introducing her to Alex (At least that looked like one of the things that set Gwen off to me. There's being protective and then there is being offended, and Gwen came off like she was offended, as if not eating Alex and Eva's reasons for it was a personal insult to her life choices.) This kind of scene also allows for repeat viewings, as acclimation is the entire point. I suggest Gwen because she is the more intellectual character who seems to have some grasp on vore ethics and their social implications.

Side note, I just downloaded this game a few days ago. So first, great job on the game. It's an incredible take on the engine and really well written. Everything I had to say above was only possible due to the writing and subtle worldbuilding in this game. I'm curious to learn more about this setting as the game develops. Second, I might not have the best perspective on things, I haven't been around since the start or joined in any previous discussions. I also might be missing some content, I've only just finished the aphrodisiac scene for the first time and haven't revisited Gwen yet.

[Erecant]

@6163,

Wow! Thanks for the very thorough, well thought out impression!

Many of your points coincide with my hesitation toward having Eva eat anyone aside from Alex. I have a very specific scenario in mind wherein, as you touched on above, Eva may force Alex to watch, but it will must certainly be a bad end.

I really like your idea to use Gwen as a vehicle for conditioning Alex to more acceptance of vore as a big picture idea, rather than merely a slightly repressed part of Eva. It may take some time before I can implement that, I've been away from Eva for a while, and she deserves a new scene.

Your overall impressions and interpretations of the world at large, and Eva in particular are quite insightful, and rather thought provoking. Honestly, I'd given some consideration to the setting, but in all reality it has sort of evolved over time. I think I will definitely use this setting for additional projects in the future, maybe codify some of the worldbuilding structures.

Thanks again for your analysis, and thanks for playing! There are a couple scenes yet for you to go through, I hope you enjoy them.

--Erecant

[Deleteduser532]

This is probably the best vore game that I have ever played. It feels like an actual game versus a simplistic RPG/VN creation and the dialogue and options in the game are amazing. However, there are some things that I cannot help but over look. It looks weird that Eva is the only one with a realistically large belly when Alex is inside. However, all the alternate outfits for Eva as well as Gwen and Zoey look like they are more pregnant than actually having swallowed Alex whole. It looks out of place to me considering how big the difference is in the belly sizes from Eva's default one to Eva's alternate outfits and Gwen and Zoey. I still like them but it still bugs me. In addition, perhaps there can be different images for Eva when Alex is inside for different outcomes of using Maneuver that would be awesome.
Anyways, keep it up! I am anxious for the next part since I hit almost a dead end in terms of the story's progression.

[Katana70065]

Finally beat the progression game for Gwen. I enjoyed her change of heart with regard to Eva and Alex's relationship. I also like the fact that if your "affection" score gets high enough, you can go through "aphrodisiac belly" without earning VP, because you get Eva climaxing to the point where she'll let you out of her stomach to cuddle. May I suggest adding "Sexual Skill" to the list of skill levels. I am looking forward to the next progression game, because it's meeting Eva's mother, and that may prove to be a tough game. I agree with the idea of Gwen conditioning Alex. Maybe Gwen could teach Alex some unique skills that he wouldn't get from Ava or Zoey, such as being able to ignore a pred trying to distract him, or acupressure to briefly calm the stomach (sort of an amplified "massage"), or even an acupressure skill to make the pred throw Alex up (of course this would have to be a costly skill, or one that does not always work as the predator might be able to hold back the urge to vomit). Keep up the good work Erecant.

[Erecant]

Thanks for your kind words guys, it always gives me a rush to hear that people enjoy my little labor of love.

@XNovus,

I realize the discrepancy can be jarring, and for that I'm quite apologetic. The original images of Eva with her much larger belly were edits made by a kind helper. Unfortunately, their computer suffered a rather catastrophic failure, preventing them from continuing to edit. I've been meaning to improve my own skills with Gimp for some time, perhaps it would behoove me to stop procrastinating. Your second suggestion, regarding image adjustments commensurate with maneuver results, is something I've wanted to do for a little while now, and wouldn't be terribly difficult to implement. The rub, however, lies in my aforementioned lack of image edit skills. If I can manage to do my own edits for belly size before long, I imagine I can also make some images with dynamic bulges to correspond to Alex's struggles. For now my focus is on writing the next scene, so ambiance and aesthetics will have to wait their turn for a time.

@Katana70065,

Glad to see you've finished that one, it turned out to be a great deal more difficult than I'd anticipated, but looking back, I feel the difficulty is well justified. That scene is a bit of a turning point, a realization that the world is bigger than Alex and Eva, and their decision to be together will have repercussions.

As to the Aphrodisiac Belly scene, I'm happy to hear you've found the alternate ending to that one. I thought it was cute, myself, but I'm biased. For the nonce, Sexual Skill can be seen in the intermission menu. When you are presented with a choice of sexcapades outside of the confines of a date, the window should show Sexual Skill and Affection. I could pretty easily put it on the main screen of the intermission interface, but I've begun to run out of landscape with my rather unchecked feature creep. Oops!

Giving Gwen the capability to train Alex in more creative ways is appealing, however I hesitate at the amount of reworking old content that would require to implement. I may be able to tie it into a final encounter sort of deal. A la, Last progress game is absurdly crazy difficult, but by utilizing a niche skill taught by Gwen, it will be sufficiently tamed to not be almost impossible. Hmm. Hmm, I say. I'll have to shelve that thought for now, but it may be an interesting bit, so long as it doesn't feel like too much of a Deus Ex Machina situation. Plot is hard!


Moving on to a bit of a progress update, I've not gotten terribly much done this past week, as the semester marches on, waiting for no man. In any case, the plan for this weekend is to write up the initial version of the next scene. It is completely built, with a logically functional engine, so all that remains is for me to write up the sexy bits. Being that this is the fun part of the development process, I expect progress to advance at a respectable pace. That said, I should be storycrafting, rather than posting, so I'll cut this short(?) for now.

--Erecant

**Edit**

The Poll! Totally forgot about the poll! For some reason I had it in my head that it would go the other way around, not sure why, really, I guess I just was stuck in that thought as it was the first that popped into my head. Seeing as the poll was a legitimate mandate for more images in various stages of undress (I really should've expected that, duh) that is the direction I'll go, both with future clothing releases, as well as a bit of a retcon for existing outfits. Lore wise things won't change, the clothes are magic, resize, etc, but Eva just feels more comfortable with fewer barriers between her prey filled belly and the cool night air.

Yeah, that sounds good, let's go with that, I guess. Totally not contrived at all. Girl's got the right to a preference.

[SnakeFan]

Almost at 200 Affection
Did much zoey training i think my soul and body is ready for whatever Eva will give me kehehe

[Erecant]

Hey everybody!

I'm sorry for the long delay between status updates, it is coming up on the end of my last semester for this degree, so things are getting rather chaotic.

I've made a fair bit of headway on the next scene, I'd say it is about 60% written. The last bits to write are the scene endings, escape and three different . . . ahem, less successful(?) outcomes. I haven't been able to work on this for a few days, but I think that's all that remains to be written. Once that's set, I'll transfer the lot over to the second instance of the scene for adjustments as well as write additional lines for the subsequently added mechanics. The new scene is going to be repeatable, with the first version being rather the surprise to both you and Eva. Subsequent runs will feature Eva being better informed regarding the special circumstances surrounding this sort of scenario.

Additionally, I plan to release at least one additional outfit in the next version, while addressing the results of the poll by crafting a few new images for each of the existing sets. This will likely add some time to the overall dev schedule, but I feel it should add some additional replayability to the game, which will be important, as the next release will likely take me some time to prepare.

'Till next time,

--Erecant

[UBFanDrake]

brb going forward in time so I can play the new release before everyone as if i take one more torturous progress update it might kill me

but seriously cannot wait to see what ya have been hiding from us Erecant, seeing as their appears to be 5 possible outcomes? i will need to make 5 saves so i can experience all of them....ALL of them...also cant wait for the new costume, i like currently most the costume with the 'keep out' tape on Eva's belly

also being well informed of the particular circumstance? does this suggest a certain someone we may meet has practiced this a lot? ah well maybe we will get told maybe not

[Erecant]

Alright, I got some writing in tonight, so I can make a safe assumption for the amount of work remaining on this update.

All that is left to write for the first iteration of the new scene is: Safe Exit, Game over 1, 2, and 3. All the other bits and lead-ins to these scene endings have been written, so all that's left is to make these appropriately exciting. After I've got this first version finished, I will be able to port over all of the written parts, making several minor modifications for narrative flow, and write for the few additional mechanics available from the second visit onward. That shouldn't take too long.

Outside of writing, I still need to make up some images for the new scene, and apply them as needed across the event. Additionally I want to have at least 1 new outfit for the next release, so that will be some additional time spent on art resources. I figure while I'll be in K-Kisekae, I'll be able to create at least 2-3 additional images for use with the other outfits, as per the results of the earlier poll.

That's about all the work that is left for the next update. I can't realistically give a time frame for completion, as I'm neck deep in projects for work and school for now, but I typically find working on this to be rather cathartic, so who knows, as my stress levels rise, I may get more done here than I'd anticipated. With that however, I'd best call it an early night. Eva won't let me sleep at all if I keep writing much longer.

--Erecant

[masterrrrr]

Alright, I got some writing in tonight, so I can make a safe assumption for the amount of work remaining on this update.

All that is left to write for the first iteration of the new scene is: Safe Exit, Game over 1, 2, and 3. All the other bits and lead-ins to these scene endings have been written, so all that's left is to make these appropriately exciting. After I've got this first version finished, I will be able to port over all of the written parts, making several minor modifications for narrative flow, and write for the few additional mechanics available from the second visit onward. That shouldn't take too long.

Outside of writing, I still need to make up some images for the new scene, and apply them as needed across the event. Additionally I want to have at least 1 new outfit for the next release, so that will be some additional time spent on art resources. I figure while I'll be in K-Kisekae, I'll be able to create at least 2-3 additional images for use with the other outfits, as per the results of the earlier poll.

That's about all the work that is left for the next update. I can't realistically give a time frame for completion, as I'm neck deep in projects for work and school for now, but I typically find working on this to be rather cathartic, so who knows, as my stress levels rise, I may get more done here than I'd anticipated. With that however, I'd best call it an early night. Eva won't let me sleep at all if I keep writing much longer.

--Erecant

Take your time. You might get sick if take too much on.

[Erecant]

Now now, don't get too excited, I'm working slowly again.

For the primary scene I have, oh, three dialogue bits left to write, all of which are branches at the tail end of a chain, so I don't expect them to be long. From there I'll translate the scene into it's repeatable form, change a few lines, and add in dialogue for the additional mechanics and that'll be good. Those shouldn't be too hard to add either, as they are largely minor expositionary banter.

Beyond that, I need to do the tie ins for this scene, (I think they are actually done, but I'm drawing a blank on what I've actually done outside of writing) and I have a slew of new art resources to make. I may do a half release when the writing is all done, and another partial with extra art resources -- additional outfits, etc.

Ah well, we'll see. Semester is almost done, and while job search will be strenuous, I expect to have a lot more free time while I wait for interviews, so I may get a lot of work done in early May. I hope to have this release done before then, but I've been slowing down recently. Only time will tell, I suppose.

--Erecant

[bledthorn]

think i'm seeing a possible bug. was going to bring my vp up to 4 since atm its at 0 and anytime i do massages i get 0 bonus to the next escape attempt

[Erecant]

Not actually a bug. Massage bonus is equal to your VP, so at 0 VP, there isn't a bonus.

--Erecant

[SaintxTail]

Wow pretty neat game! good job

[Erecant]

Hey everybody, it's been a little bit, and I'm sorry!

@SaintxTail,

Thanks! I love getting feedback from names I recognize from around the portal. I hope you found the time to play through a few of the scenes in between all your art'ing (how you find time for anything at all with all you draw still astounds me)

Okay, update time~~!

My final semester of this degree is reaching it's climax, and my team is getting unruly, requiring a lot more of my time to manage appropriately than I'd thought. I swear, network engineers can be harder to herd than cats, sometimes. Anyway! Enough complaining out of me. I actually found some time to write tonight, and have completed the scene I've been working on. This scene has an alternate version which will play on all repetitions of the encounter, as I wanted fairly significant intro and outro sequence differences between the first and subsequent viewings. The Game Over scenes will be the same or very nearly so for each, so there will be no need to maintain a save before triggering the event for the first time.

The second version of the scene is going to be a lot of copy and paste on my part. It will have some rewrites to reflect Eva and Alex's becoming accustomed to the specific scenario's nuances, however the bulk will be more or less the same aside from flavor. That said, the additional comfort level the pair feels, will result in additional mechanics being added in the repetitions that are not available in the initial playthrough, but the required dialogue for these should be relatively short and minor to write up.

Once I've got that writing out of the way, I need to develop specific art resources for this scene, and apply them throughout as appropriate (I kind of half-assed it this time around, and wrote the scene without having the art ready to insert as needed) The art may take a bit longer this time around, as this scene doesn't quite fit the same template I've been using. That said, I'll add a few more pseudo-animations this time around, as this scene will not be making use of the costume system. (I mean, it might, but Eva's naked for the whole thing sooo . . . ) After that, I intend to make a few more images for each of the new costumes, as per the previous poll results, and if I have time on my hands, I'd like to add one to two additional costumes.

That's really all I've got tonight. With this scene completely written things should accelerate nicely. I don't really anticipate a release for another couple weeks, however. Life first, as we all know. That said; the end is in sight. Eva and I are all sorts of satisfied with how this scene has turned out. I think you guys will really like it. 'Till next time.

--Erecant and Eva

[CrazedCultist]

Keep it up Erecant. The Only problem with new updates is I have to go re-add my little cheat menu to the new version.
ohoh.

[Erecant]

**Psst**

If you're editing the project file, I have a tip. I use a script to extend choice branches. You can append additional choices onto any choice menu if you know your way around. No need to edit too deeply. Just a quick copy/paste job and you can put your cheat menu anywhere, even mid-scene.

**cough**

Nobody tell Eva I was condoning cheating on her. It might end poorly. k? Mmmkay, good talk.

--Erecant

[CrazedCultist]

**Psst**

If you're editing the project file, I have a tip. I use a script to extend choice branches. You can append additional choices onto any choice menu if you know your way around. No need to edit too deeply. Just a quick copy/paste job and you can put your cheat menu anywhere, even mid-scene.

**cough**

Nobody tell Eva I was condoning cheating on her. It might end poorly. k? Mmmkay, good talk.

--Erecant

lol thats what I was doing, But well.
I'm just lazy.

Blame Rayen.