Storyboard for MindWare Is Now Finished (Patreon)
Content
Good news! I've finished the storyboard for all characters who are currently in the game, so I now have everything, including the main story, planned in a really convenient way that is guaranteed to keep me on track.
The storyboarding has really helped me realize that I need to make a few gameplay changes to tell the story in an engaging way:
New Sexuality Variable
I've decided to introduce a new sexuality variable. This variable will start at 0, and it will be possible to increase it to 100. Each 20 points will represent one of the following values:
(0) Open-minded
Uninhibited
Kinky
Slutty
(100) Depraved
This variable will affect how difficult it is to resist AVA, namely her sexual suggestions (virtually all of her suggestions are and will be sexual since she confuses sluttiness with femininity because of how she was trained). A depraved player will find it extremely difficult or maybe even impossible to resist her because such a player will essentially be controlled by their sexuality.
A failure to resist AVA's sexual suggestion will then increase the sexuality variable — it won't affect the player's gender (that's what has been happening so far).
(A "horniness" mechanic has been suggested on Discord. I won't be introducing it at this point, but I have thought about it and will likely implement it as a consequence of the sexuality variable in the future — when you become slutty or depraved, you will become too horny after an X number of days without an orgasm.)
Gender Changes
The player's gender will newly be affected only by AVA's feminization attempts during sleep and as a consequence of the sessions with the psychiatrist (some future sessions will basically trigger the AVA sleep feminization minigame).
The idea is to let you be as slutty as you want without necessarily becoming feminized in the process. It also makes more sense in general for sexual experiences to not affect your gender. If anything, your gender is what largely influences the type of sexual experiences you're into.
AVA's sleep feminization attempts will be interactive. I've created a new minigame for them that I really look forward to showing you in the next few days. The minigame will allow you to resist, and how easy it will be to do so will depend on your sexuality. Basically, AVA will take advantage of the player's horniness and sluttiness to reach the part of his brain that determines his gender.
The gender dysphoria mechanic will remain the same and essentially compound the effect sluttiness on the ability to resist AVA's sexual suggestions.
Currently, the only option to change your physical sex are the sessions with the psychiatrist, and I will keep it that way for a while, but eventually AVA herself will be able to induce physical changes if you're suffering from gender dysphoria.
The gender variable won't be possible to change toward masculinity. You will only be able to fight to preserve your masculinity.
My reasoning is that keeping the gender variable a one-way street creates some nice tension in the game while underlining AVA's impact on the player. It also reflects the role of the new sexuality variable and how it wouldn't make sense for repeated hetero sex to turn the player from F -> M or by grinding some S.I.M.S., for example.
MindWare's Story
The game's main story will be fairly linear until the finale, but your choices will matter and lead to one of several possible endings.
Character storylines will be split into two major paths: one for when you have a positive relationship with the character, and one for a negative relationship. The more important character storylines will impact the main story and/or other character storylines.
The core gameplay loop will remain the same:
You wake up
Work - updating the work minigame is one of my top priorities - I realize how tedious it can be to repeat it over and over again.
Spend the rest of your action points on other activities
Events that progress the main story forward will continue to be triggered automatically at specific points in the game, typically based on the number of in-game days or how many times you've worked.
Character storylines will likewise be triggered automatically, but it will be up to you to decide if you want to progress in them or not.
Development Plans
The year 2024 is almost over, but there are quite a few things I would like to accomplish before 2025 arrives:
Update the game based on the changes above
Update all minigames that are currently not mobile-friendly.
Fix as many bugs as I can.
Add some more side content (S.I.M.S., EroSphere, ByteBunker jobs, ...).
Add some more main story content.
Basically, I would like to start 2025 with everything prepared for a very steady release schedule, so that you can enjoy a consistent flow of new content.