Alright, so, I finished up writing a overall concept for the game and how it would work overall, 'cause I think some people were getting the wrong idea about exactly what I had in mind. That makes sense, given that I wasn’t too specific in the first place. So, hopefully this will clear some things up.
Though, before that, I’d like to note that this wouldn’t necessarily be a dungeon crawler. Based on what some people here are saying, I think that could also be an interesting concept, and if what I have in mind doesn’t pan out, I might to that. However, it’s just not what I’m thinking about right now. I want to try making something more simple.
Also, I’ll be attaching this to the OP just to make it more visible in the future without making the OP gigantic.
So, without further ado, here’s a more detailed idea of the concept:
Concept
Player controls a magical amulet that has laid dormant for decades. Its power has been drained; however, it may be regained by making women fatter. The player then moves from one host to another, fattening each one as much as possible.
Setting
The game’s world is a near-modern fantasy world. This makes magic items fairly well known, but somewhat uncommon. This is what makes it possible for the host to realize what the amulet does. I’ll be building out the world and the story more once the game’s basic mechanics are built, but this should be enough to get the basic idea for now.
Primary Gameplay Loop
Each “run” of the game starts with a randomly generated girl who purchases the amulet. After this, the game cycles through a day’s events for that girl. The cycle goes like this:
Early Morning → Breakfast → Late Afternoon → Lunch → Early Afternoon → Late Afternoon → Dinner → Evening → Nighttime
During each time point, certain events can occur depending on various attributes that the host can have, such as their job, residential area, and more. Most of these events will allow for some sort of player input, wherein resources can be expended to nudge the host towards gaining more weight.
Event Specifications
All events in the game will work in much the same way. The game will check all events to see which event should be picked based on the conditions for that event. Then, the description of the event will display, the player will choose an option if given one, then a result will display, and effects will be distributed. These events draw conditions from the amulet’s traits, the host’s traits, the host’s statistics and the town’s traits.
The conditions for events include:
- Time. The time the event can take place.
- Boolean conditions. Basically, any condition that must be true for the event to occur. For example, in order for a buffet event to occur, the host must live near a buffet.
- Chance conditions. These conditions make the event even more likely to occur. Each one of these conditions that the host meets adds a weight of 1 onto the event. All events start at a weight of 1, up to some maximum (to make sure events don’t get stale)
- Anti-redunancy. To make absolutely sure things don’t get too stale, events will have a condition that reduces the weight of the condition by 1 every time that stat is picked. When it is not picked, 1 weight is restored. Note: for certain events that should be incredibly common (like meals), this can be disabled.
Host Statistics
Primary:
Stomach – Stomach’s capacity. Eating beyond this limit to some amount will cause the host’s stomach to burst. This may seem easy to avoid, but a host can accidently go beyond their limits depending on what you do to them, particularly if their gluttony is too high.
Suspicion – The Host’s suspicion of you. If this reaches 100, the host will get rid of the amulet, forcing you to move to a new host and ending the run.
Weight – The host’s weight. Simple enough. The fatter they get, the higher this goes.
Wealth – The host’s current wealth. This is essentially a currency that is lost upon ending a run. Will this, a host can buy more food and other such helpful things.
Secondary:
Appetite – The host’s appetite. This is different from gluttony in that it determines how much the host has to eat before they’re satisfied. For example, a host with high appetite may feel like they’re starving even though they’ve eaten enough for a normal person.
Digestion – Effect’s a host’s rate of digestion, which makes them able to eat more food sooner.
Energy – Host’s available energy to perform actions. As this goes down, they become lazier and lazier
Fitness – How fit the host is. This can determine factors like how much weight a host loses when going to the gym, and when they hit immobility.
Gluttony – A host’s willingness to eat more food.
Happiness – How happy the host is. Low values tend to cause hosts to be more suspicious of the amulet.
Hygiene – How clean the host keeps themselves. This is mostly for flavor to create slop scenarios. Will make this a togglable thing.
Metabolism – How easily the host gains or loses weight.
It should be noted that later on I want to make a more detailed account of the host’s size, like calculating size of individual body parts, as well as weight distribution. However, that’s something I’m going to focus on later.
Host Traits
Traits that determine who the host is and what events are going to appear. Each trait is rated depending on how beneficial it is to make the host fat. I might make sure that the host’s traits total 0, but I’m not 100% sure. That’s a question for game balancing. Examples of these traits include:
Aristocrat – Host starts with increased wealth.
Natural Slob – Host starts with lower hygiene
Baker – Host works at a bakery.
Hobbit-minded – Host has a high chance to eat meals outside of the normal mealtimes
Second stomach for sweets – Host’s stomach will fill less from eating sweets.
Cat nap – Host’s feline race makes them more likely to take naps, thus digesting food faster.
You may have noticed that the last example mentions races. Since this is a type of fantasy world, there are races besides humans. A host’s race is determined as their first trait, which sets their base statistics. After that, further traits modify them more. I’m not sure what races I’m going to have yet, but it should be noted that they won’t be “furry.” I don’t mind furry, but I don’t have any intention to write descriptions of it either.
Another thing worth noting is that traits can be added or removed after the host’s generation. This is through performing certain actions that causes major changes in the host’s life. This could include the host losing their job or it could be the host being nudged towards a very different lifestyle. In many cases, these changes are quite hard to make, but they can lead to discarding traits that prevent weight gain in favor of traits that aid it.
Towns
In addition to the host’s traits, the town they live in is a vital part of the game. I might make a set number of towns and randomize which one you get instead of randomly generating them in order to build a more coherent world. However, regardless of what I do with that, each town will have it’s own set of traits that solely determine different events that can occur. Most of these traits simply detail what places exist in the town, like gyms, buffets, cake shops, ect. Though, some traits detail the town’s overall mindset towards certain things that create unique events.
The Amulet
And of course, finally, there’s the player character. The amulet is the only part of the game that the player has direct effect on, and through it, they can make changes to the host’s life. This is done through passive and active skills that the amulet has. At the start of the game, the player character only has a few skills available, such as the ability to nudge the host into eating a bit more. As the amulet makes it’s host fatter, it will accumulate power, and that power can be spent on more skills. I still need to hammer out the details of exactly what skills will be available, but this is a pretty important part of the game, since it’s the main source of player interaction.