Sunday 23 February 2014

Study Date v0.9 by Karrek

Reposted from aifarchive on behalf of Karrek

"So I've just completed my first AIF game: Study Date.

"You play as a teenager whose parents have gone out of town, and you've managed to convince the girl you've had a crush on for forever to come over to study.

"The current version is 0.9. It should be content complete (though if you find any missing or placeholder descriptions please PM me to let me know) and mostly bug free, but it's possible there are still a few things I've missed. It can be downloaded from the files section under Inform.

"If you find any bugs or anything that looks incomplete please let me know by e-mailing me at this e-mail, which is also included in the Read Me.

"There are still a few things I'd like to add, specifically more alternate descriptions of the various actions and conversation topics, but I've gotten to the point where it feels complete, and if I hold it back until everything's perfect I'll never release it.

"Enjoy, everyone!"



Requires an Inform 7 compatible interpreter

The discussion thread at aifarchive: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/aifarchive/conversations/topics/21443

The discussion thread at Shark's Lagoon: http://www.the-new-lagoon.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3155 

37 comments:

  1. Well, I'm stumped. I can't pick up the lube, or figure out how to get Jenny to bring it up. Otherwise great game! Loved the setting and buildup. Reminds me of what it was like to be getting it on back in the teen years hehe

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    1. Jenny only brings it up if you've done everything right (ie gotten all points) up to the "grand finale". It's intended more as a bonus than as a proper part of the game, so I deliberately made it hard to get.

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  2. This is just the sort of game I've wanted to see more of. Congratulations and thanks to Karrek!

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  3. This is a VERY accomplished first effort. Well polished, no major technical snafus, only a few typos. I played through once and scored 11 out of 17. Not sure what I missed, but I'm definitely willing to play again to find out.

    I only had a few minor quibbles:

    1. There are no directions in the Living Room description. I didn't even know the kitchen or the study existed at first.

    2. The spiking the Coke thing. It could have been an homage, but we have seen this A LOT in the past.

    3. How does Jenny know I spiked the Coke? Did I miss something? As soon as she takes a drink she says, "Are you trying to get me drunk?" Is this working as designed?

    Like I said, totally minor stuff. All-in-all I take my hat off to you and I hope to see more in the future.

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    1. I can answer #3 - obviously she could taste the vodka.

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    2. Yeah, obviously, but that's not really the result I'm expecting when the game makes a puzzle out of secretly spiking the drink.

      I suppose it's possible that Karrek deliberately twisted the AIF convention.

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    3. If you don't secretly spike it she asks you to spike it. Secretly spiking it is just a little bonus, and her reaction if you do before she asks is supposed to be poking fun at the convention, like you said.

      I'm working on v0.9.1 right now to fix some other issues that people have found, and I've added the living room exits to my list of things to fix.

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    4. As a homage it's unobtrusive if you haven't played Meteor, but I found it somewhat distracting, especially as there are Jennys in both games. Subverting the trope ultimately saves it though.

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  4. Well other than a few bugs being pointed out here and other places (which I expected, hence the v0.9 version number), I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying it. I'm working on a v0.9.1 right now that fixes the issues people have found, and hope to upload it later today.

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  5. I've uploaded v0.9.1 at aifarchive, in the same section as the original.

    Changes made in v0.9.1:
    -Added option to adjust the characters' ages
    -Added "mix" verb for drinks. Due to an Inform limitation, the game won't accept "mix blank and blank", but will take mix with, mix into, and mix in
    -Fixed problem with Jenny's comments about the living room when she first arrives
    -Added "study" verb
    -Added exits to various room descriptions
    -Added bathroom description
    -Added description for licking Jenny's feet
    -Added various synonyms
    -Ran spellcheck!

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  6. This was a nice little game. The pacing was good and the puzzles were easy (just the way I like them!). Jenny was particularly well-illustrated in terms of her personality, I would've liked some more physical descriptions of her. It's kind of weird that Jenny asks me to spike the drink. I understand it's a homage, but it took me by surprise.

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    1. I really liked Jenny as a character as well. She makes a refreshing change from the passivity of most female NPCs in AIF. If anything, she's perhaps a little too good a character. She gets all the best lines and drives the second half of the game, while the PC plays second banana.

      One thing I did find odd is that the majority of the non-orgasm sex actions don't mention her reaction at all. As a result, it feels a little like the PC is playing with a sex doll.

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    2. I wanted to subvert the standard AIF convention of the PC seducing a girl, and have her be the more active one. The PC *wants* to seduce Jenny, but doesn't really have the nerve/confidence to do much toward accomplishing that (beyond inviting her over in the first place), so she's the one who has to take the reigns.

      I very much agree with you about the sex actions. Expanding those and adding more conversation topics are two things I'd like to do at some point. If you look carefully, you may actually be able to tell which sex actions I wrote first, because they tend to be more involved. By the later actions I was having a hard time coming up with new things to write so it didn't all just sound like the same description with body parts swapped out. I did try to include stuff like her grabbing your wrist when you're fingering her, etc, but I'm not sure how much coverage I actually got with that. In a perfect world I'd like to have at least 3 different descriptions for starting each action, continuing each action, and orgasming from each action, with all those descriptions mentioning both the player and Jenny's actions/reactions, but for obvious reasons I'm a little daunted by the thought of that.

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    3. "I wanted to subvert the standard AIF convention of the PC seducing a girl, and have her be the more active one. The PC *wants* to seduce Jenny, but doesn't really have the nerve/confidence to do much toward accomplishing that (beyond inviting her over in the first place), so she's the one who has to take the reigns."

      I think the subversion does a good job of making what is quite well-trodden territory seem fresh (without slipping into parody, which is a risk with that approach). The one cliche that seems to have made it through is the guy relying on the girl to handle birth control. I know it's consistent with Jenny being the leader, but would have been nice if the PC had thought to have some condoms on hand, even if ultimately he didn't need them.

      However, having Jenny take charge puts more focus on her motives. What I mean by that is that it's clear that Jenny has decided at a very early stage that the PC is someone she wants to be with, but nothing that we're told about the PC really explains why she would feel that way (and nothing that the player does plays a pivotal role either). I think this is an instance where the PC could have stood to be a little less anonymous. YMMV.

      "Expanding those and adding more conversation topics are two things I'd like to do at some point."

      I'd definitely like to see more conversation options for Jenny at some point, partly because I like her as a character and want to see more of her and partly because it gives the player more to do.

      The other question I had is why are the characters 15 years old by default? It's not as if their youth and inexperience is particularly emphasised (eg. neither is a stranger to alcohol, despite being well below the legal age to purchase it), so why bother mentioning their ages at all?

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    4. The reason for the birth control is simple: it's a game, a fantasy, and since IRL I don't like condoms I'm not going to fantasize about them. At the same time, I don't want the sex to be so risky that you're distracted by the stupidity of the characters. The pill provides a good middle ground. The idea of having the PC get condoms but then not need them is interesting though, it hadn't occurred to me before. I'll have to keep that in mind...

      As far as the anonymous PC, I have two reasons for that: the first is that I want the player to be able to imagine themselves as the PC, and the less information about the PC the easier that is, and the second is that when I was in high school I didn't always have a good understanding of when or why a girl liked me, so leaving that out felt "true" to me.

      The reason I chose that age is because of the interacting factors of the PC's inexperience, Jenny's experience, and the PC's surprise/disappointment at her experience. I wanted them to be young enough that it makes sense that the player would have basically no experience, but also possible that Jenny could have had a decent amount. They also had to be young enough that the PC would actually be *surprised* that Jenny had had more experience. With the alcohol, I actually meant to include a comment about how shocking it is the first time the player drinks it, but never got around to it.

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  7. I can't get Jenny to talk about us. Is there something really obvious I'm missing?

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    1. Once she's mentioned it it should be as easy as "ask Jenny about us".

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  8. hum ... where do you find the vodka? I've looked in every place I discovered, but can't find it :/
    Can't find it in the living room, in the kitchen, in the entryway or in the hallway. I can't go in the laundry to check :/
    I've checked in the bedrooms and bathrooms even if it is improbable to find it there.
    Where is the bar?
    I must be missing something to find it, English is not my main language. I've exhausted all my ideas.
    The solution is surely obvious, sorry about that.

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    1. If you want to chill vodka, you don't just put in in the fridge. After all vodka doesn't freeze!
      Just giving a hint.

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  9. I dont find the the calculator in "my room" can someone help me or give me a helpfull hint?

    ReplyDelete
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    1. In your room there is a closet where you can search.

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  10. Where's the lube? :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. You need to think about where someone might keep that. Maybe someone else who lives in the house who isn't the player.

      But I discovered a bug that prevents you from even needing the lube, because the scene won't unlock anyway. That bug has been fixed in v1.0 which has just been uploaded to aifarchive, so you should go download that version.

      Delete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Version 1.0 is up on aifarchive.

    Changes made in v1.0:
    -Added thermostat to living room description - this missing description prevented players from successfully getting the anal scene at the end
    -Corrected various typos

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  13. So you turn on the music and light some candles to set the mood is there anything else that i missed?

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  14. please give me another link to download game/ i cant download from yahoo groups(

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    Replies
    1. There is a mediafire link in the Shark's Lagoon thread (linked to above)

      Delete
  15. (Warning... possible spoilers)
    *
    *
    *
    Please tell me I read the Coleridge-part correctly – Jenny listens to Iron Maiden! Not only is she a beautiful girl, she has an excellent taste in music as well...
    (Grumpy old curmudgeon note: no beautiful girl at *my* highschool ever listened to Maiden -sighs-)

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    1. OK, for those of you who haven't played th this part yet... please look away *now*.

      Anyway, you have to show Jenny a sample of romantic literature; there happens to be a copy of Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" in your dad's study.
      Once you show it to Jenny, she quotes a part of the poem. The same part, in fact, that Iron Maiden uses in *their* interpretation of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". After she's done reading, she say: "Oh, so this is where that's from. Huh." Which made me think, being a Maiden fan and all, that Jenny must've at least heard Maiden's version.

      Of course, this could very well be a complete misinterpretation on my part...

      Delete
  16. This game was awesome. Playing the game made me feel like a 15-year-old version trying to "get some" for the first time. I absolutely loved the character of Jenny, what a friendly, bubbly, outgoing, forward person.

    I can only get 12 points though and would love some suggestions as to what the 5 points I'm missing might be.

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  17. btw Anonymous gets a gold star for realizing the Maiden reference! Don't know if that was intentional (karrek?), but it was there!

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  18. Just uploaded v1.1. I added another short scene, so the dryer is no longer a red herring. That's the only hint I'm giving though. ;)

    Changelog:

    Changes made in v1.0.1:
    -Fixed problem with searching certain containers
    -Added various synonyms
    -Added various descriptions
    -Added more conversation topics

    Changes made in v1.1:
    -added a new scene - dryer is no longer a red herring

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    1. Can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this one. A nice, well crafted game that wasn't at all frustrating with two believable, and more importantly, likable, characters was more than enough to catapult you into first place on my personal list of AIF games. Amazing that this was a first time effort.

      Between games like yours and Palmers it's really encouraging to start work on a game of my own.

      You knocked it out of the park, dude.

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  19. BTW, did you can publish your game - or any web playable game - to be played online here: http://textadventures.co.uk/create/aboutsubmissions

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