The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.1 - First Update!

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The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.1 - First Update!

Postby Protium » Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:17 am

The Serpent's Paradox

The lands of Azentyme are inhabited by a plethora of species, from the common human to the majestic harpy - from the ravenous lamia to the mighty dragon! Together, these many creatures of civilization and savagery, mightiness and
meekness, arcane and mundane, and even, more often than not - predator and prey - share a world rich in history, abundant in treasures, and ready for exploration! In this world you will follow the journey of Olivia, a cunning lamia who's as eager to delve into the unknown as she is to devour the nearest cutie! Her grand adventure awaits!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Welcome! This is a story-driven vore game made in RPG Maker VX Ace. If I had to compare it to another game from the site, I'd say it's most similar to Nyan Adventures!, which I was heavily inspired by while making my game. Right now, the first chapter is complete (mostly~)!

The game currently includes:
Spoiler: show
  • F/F
  • OV
  • Unwilling
  • Fatal
  • Player as pred
  • Player as prey
  • Same size
  • Graphic (?) Digestion (only in the form of text)
  • Disposal (Optional)

You will probably-maybe/maybe-probably see some of these in the future:
Spoiler: show
  • F/M
  • F/?
  • ?/F
  • Willing
  • Size difference (Giantess and/or micro)
  • Sentient/conscious/aware digestion (as in the prey's conscious persists through the whole thing)

And you might (no promises) see some of the following eventually:
Spoiler: show
  • M/F
  • M/M
  • UB
  • Non-fatal
  • Regeneration
There's very little I would really hate to write, it's just these things aren't on my own list of preferences, hence why there probably won't be too much of them in the game.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

!Disclaimers and Preemptive Q&A!
Spoiler: show
I have playtested the game extensively, but that doesn't mean this release is bug free. If anything game-breaking got by me, I apologize in advance! Let me know about bugs, big or small, and I will squash them!

Q: Why is the file so big?
A: Even though the game isn't huge, it is still somewhat large compared to other, similar games. There are two reasons for this - 1) I have some currently unused graphical assets in the game, which altogether do add up despite being small individually. I also use more than just the default RPG Maker music files (because I really like having more music options available to me), and that adds up quickly. And 2) I included the RTP! You shouldn't need anything other than the files you download from the links in this post to play the game (hooray!).

Q: Why RPG Maker?
A: It's easy.

Q: Why VX Ace?
A: Some of my favorite games from the site were made in it, and I prefer the art style of the characters' portraits/faces to the one in MV and MZ.

Q: Can I turn off disposal scenes?
A: Yes! Whether you choose to have them on or off is one of the first things you decide in the game.

Q: When is the next update coming out?
A: Who knows? ^^; The first content update, V0.1.2, is my next goal. I would like to have it out in a reasonable amount of time, but that depends on how often I am able to work on the game.


Screenshots:
Spoiler: show
An example of my mapping!
1.png
A shot from one of the scenes!
2.png
Olivia hunting a bunny girl!
3.png
Potential friend or potential food?
4.png

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Download Links: V0.1.1
https://mega.nz/folder/Z9A3lAhY#D5GlkySG6SW8JXX9ukY0CQ
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/pfvdmqnimt4tv/The_Serpent's_Paradox_V0.1.1
(These links lead to the same version of the game, choose whichever site works better for you.)

Changelog:
Spoiler: show
  • V0.1.0 (7/24/21) - First release!
    • Game intro + Chapter 1
  • V0.1.1 (2/05/22) - The "Should have been there at launch" Update!
    • Optional disposal
    • Quality of life changes
    • File management - removed hundreds of megabytes of unused files (mainly music)


Game hints (small spoilers):
Spoiler: show
  • There are currently six pred scenes, one prey scene, and five disposal scenes (three based on the number of prey Olivia has eaten and two scripted as part of the story)
  • Save often if you want to easily replay scenes. There is no scene-viewing theater or anything like that yet.
  • At one point in the story you need 3000G for a quest. There's like 4500G in Olivia's cave, and other chests lying around in the woods and such with money in them. Keep at least 3000G on you, as I'm pretty sure I didn't add a good way to farm money yet (oops :/)
  • I'd recommend being at least level 6 for the chapter boss. Have at least 5-10 items on you that restore MP, and a decent amount of mid-potions. With this setup, you should be able to win pretty reliably.


Current Scene List (V0.1.1):
Spoiler: show
Pred Scenes:
  • Two elves in the game intro. (This is counted as a single scene because of how closely related the two prey are).
  • Fire Fairy. Found by walking through the dark grass in the Serenity Forest meadow.
  • Chicken. When interacted with, one of the three chickens in the farm by the Kald jail can be eaten.
  • Adventurer. Found upstairs in the Kald Tavern. Interact with her room's door several times to trigger scene.
  • Bunny girl. Found in the Vast Plains to the west of Lake Serenity. Random battle encounter, found by walking near/through the trees.
  • Chapter 1 boss. Defeat the chapter boss.
Prey Scene(s):
  • Chapter 1 boss. Lose the boss battle.
Last edited by Protium on Wed Mar 09, 2022 3:52 am, edited 12 times in total.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby Olivine » Sat Jul 24, 2021 6:02 pm

Well done on this first release!
It seems like you've put a good amount of thought, time, and effort into this project. :)

I've got very little to nit-pick about on the writing side of things; it's true to your inspiration in the best of ways.
Your characters are well conveyed, and you're not shying away from writing "out of the comfort zone"; I appreciate that.
Probably some of the more engaging scene writing among similar projects, I'm being honest. Refreshing.

As a game built on RMVX, things are a bit less rosy, but still competent:
- Combat in particular stands out as needing attention in the balance department. It's a bit flip-floppy and very time intensive as of this writing.
Early encounters with no resources are brutal, later encounters with an overabundance of resources are trivial but drawn out and thus grindy; the chapter boss took about the same time to clear as a generic 3 mob encounter.
All of this to say, Olivia doesn't quite feel like a powerful Lamia when she cannot in fact defeat a giant hornet with one swipe of her tail. :wink:
- Good use of script calls and common events in eventing, though there is always room to make things easier to tweak down the line.
- Creative use of events in level design (I haven't seen a functional bridge in a while), and it's mostly good looking level design at that (if a bit maze-like due to the nature of VX's screen-space).

Some sort of map escape skill (or shortcuts) would be appreciated with maps this large and labyrinthian?

You've piqued my attention, so I'll be keeping an eye on this project.
Best of luck! :D
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby VVVx » Sat Jul 24, 2021 11:14 pm

This seems very good for a first release, but I agree that the combat encounters are very frustrating. Using a potion + the five mid-potions wasn't enough to beat the boss battle, and the second round I had no items to heal with after dying. I also may have missed it, but there doesn't seem to be a way to buy healing items you can actually use in battle, nor is there a way to restore MP.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby DroolingPred » Sun Jul 25, 2021 6:31 am

This has quite a lot of polish for an initial release. Looking forward to more.

Echoing a point that has already been raised, only having items and inns to fall back on is a bit frustrating for a game with random encounters. Hornets drained quite a lot of health when trying to grind, even when trying to run. I think the escape chance is a function of AGI, so dodgy enemies also become difficult to avoid?

You use very large maps. I'd like to have default run active, I was holding shift for almost the entirety of the game.
Digestion takes quite a long time. Which is fine except that digesting is a means of getting all-important exp. Could we move digestion forward a few states by resting? On the other hand, I really appreciate that we can stomach multiple prey.

I was only able to find 4 pred scenes, two in the story and two via combat. I assume there is some way of eating the adventurer in the inn, or the girl in the prison, but I couldn't find a way to interact with either scene.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby princedrake » Sun Jul 25, 2021 7:46 am

DroolingPred wrote:This has quite a lot of polish for an initial release. Looking forward to more.

Echoing a point that has already been raised, only having items and inns to fall back on is a bit frustrating for a game with random encounters. Hornets drained quite a lot of health when trying to grind, even when trying to run. I think the escape chance is a function of AGI, so dodgy enemies also become difficult to avoid?

You use very large maps. I'd like to have default run active, I was holding shift for almost the entirety of the game.
Digestion takes quite a long time. Which is fine except that digesting is a means of getting all-important exp. Could we move digestion forward a few states by resting? On the other hand, I really appreciate that we can stomach multiple prey.

I was only able to find 4 pred scenes, two in the story and two via combat. I assume there is some way of eating the adventurer in the inn, or the girl in the prison, but I couldn't find a way to interact with either scene.

so its not 5 ?
oh yeah i need to find prey scene, so did any of you guys find it ?
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby TheBlindSalmon » Sun Jul 25, 2021 12:19 pm

DroolingPred wrote:I assume there is some way of eating the adventurer in the inn, or the girl in the prison, but I couldn't find a way to interact with either scene.


I haven't found the way to get to the prisoner yet, but for the inn
Spoiler: show
you just need to interact with the door multiple times


Madmaxman wrote:This seems very good for a first release, but I agree that the combat encounters are very frustrating. Using a potion + the five mid-potions wasn't enough to beat the boss battle, and the second round I had no items to heal with after dying. I also may have missed it, but there doesn't seem to be a way to buy healing items you can actually use in battle, nor is there a way to restore MP.


There is a shop more or less in the centre of the town, as well as the apothecary in south-western corner of the plains to the west, they both sell potions for hp and mana.

It looks good so far. The main character already shows personality, the humour is pretty good (I liked the Pokemon references for example), the scenes are well written from what I've seen. I quite liked the apothecary and the idea of being paid for 'fertilizer' too.

The random fights could be a little less challenging though. It's the starting areas, and for example if Olivia does hunt bunny girls as often as she implies, the fight should probably be a bit easier - can't imagine their kicks being more powerful than a lamia's tail bash. For the hornets, like someone else mentioned here - how about maybe upping their evasion, but lowering hp so that they will die in 1 hit even on level 1? You can always lower the exp gain and drops from them to balance it out. I haven't tried the boss fight yet, so can't comment on that one.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby picadelio » Sun Jul 25, 2021 1:09 pm

Will have to echo what most everyone else said: writing was very charming, Olivia is fun to read, and the game feels very polished. Although, combat is a bit tough starting out, and the chapter boss necessitates buying items in advance (can't just rely on the potions given to you prior to the fight). Especially since you need to reload save to retain your items if you lose. Default run also would be nice. Altogether, looking forward to future updates!


princedrake wrote:so its not 5 ?
oh yeah i need to find prey scene, so did any of you guys find it ?


I think it's if you lose to the chapter boss.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby VVVx » Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:30 pm

TheBlindSalmon wrote:
Madmaxman wrote:This seems very good for a first release, but I agree that the combat encounters are very frustrating. Using a potion + the five mid-potions wasn't enough to beat the boss battle, and the second round I had no items to heal with after dying. I also may have missed it, but there doesn't seem to be a way to buy healing items you can actually use in battle, nor is there a way to restore MP.


There is a shop more or less in the centre of the town, as well as the apothecary in south-western corner of the plains to the west, they both sell potions for hp and mana.


For the town I must have missed it, as that shop only seemed to sell items that couldn't be used in battle (food). I didn't notice potions, but I might have a bad eye.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby TheBlindSalmon » Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:37 pm

Not the food stall, there's a building with a coin pouch sign above the door, that's the shop.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby princedrake » Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:39 pm

Where is the boss?
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby ripleysonic » Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:47 pm

That was really enjoyable. I play around on it for 3 hours definitely enjoyed it. Can't wait to see more.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby smallfan » Sun Jul 25, 2021 10:24 pm

So where is this prison thats being mentioned. still trying to complete the quest to find the guy who trades with ya and have no idea where to go.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby picadelio » Sun Jul 25, 2021 11:41 pm

smallfan wrote:So where is this prison thats being mentioned. still trying to complete the quest to find the guy who trades with ya and have no idea where to go.


It's the red roof building in the east side of Kald, with a sword sign in front.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby vgove » Mon Jul 26, 2021 12:01 am

can you put it on mediafire for thoes that can not use mega
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby VigorousJazzHands » Mon Jul 26, 2021 2:26 am

I was quite surprised and impressed by this! I agree with a lot of what other people have said regarding the combat. It's just a bit too punishing especially in the starting areas.

The writing was really all around fantastic. I love Olivia as a character, and a lot of the pred scenes were exceptionally well written.

I also really appreciate the time & effort put into the digestion & disposal system. As someone who also loved this feature from Nyan Adventures, what you've done with it here is just adding to and building something excelent on top of an already great system, adding variations & a system for multiple prey being digested at once.

As far as constructive critisism, I feel like while the focus of the game is and should be on Olivia as a pred considering she is a Lamia, I think the potential for a couple more player-as-prey scenes would have been nice. As well as including optional disposal for these too. Perhaps future player characters could be more prey focused to mix it up a bit in future updates.

All in all though, what you've got here is a very solid, polished foundation and start of something that with a lot more time & effort could end up being fantastic, on the level of Nyan Adventures, Forest Monster or God Complex. Can't wait to see where this goes!
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby Aickavon12 » Mon Jul 26, 2021 8:51 am

Too many bagpipes. Too much SCOOOOOOOOOTLAAAAAAAAAAAND
This song is dedicated to Eka.

Never gonna give you up! Never Gonna let you down! Never gonna run around, desert you!
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby princedrake » Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:16 am

well does any way to get out that green hair girl from that prison
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby Ryuu27 » Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:42 am

Ooooh, a game where we play a Lamia ? I approve ^^; . We need more games where we play monster-girls no humanoids :gulp:
I think just digestion is good, but the same text is repeated too much, resulting in a scene that is too long.
Last edited by Ryuu27 on Mon Jul 26, 2021 12:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby princedrake » Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:58 am

well i finish the story, now im just have to wait for another update :)
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Re: The Serpent's Paradox V0.1.0 - First Release!

Postby Beaney » Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:42 am

Hey, just finished what you've produced so far. Not bad at all, great stuff!

Personally, I didn't have any issues with the content or combat, my only loss was to the boss, which feels as it should be really. It feels like you've put a lot of effort into everything there in terms of the maps, mechanics, the dialogue/scenes and the story.

Basically, just keep doing what you're doing, will be interested to see what you add next!
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