At the point of writing this post I'm currently procrastinating finishing up a text entry. I need to cap it off with a sentence. Or I might look at it, and decide it's done, I'm not sure yet. But, as I finished this text entry, I reflected on where my mind is in relation to Shield High. The past week has been a hard, painful slog of work. I'm doing cleaning mostly, adding in boring monotonous text entries that all need to be there, and that you, as players, will probably read once go "Neat" and then only skim the first line of to work out which one it is. I know cause I do this all the time. Thankfully, you'll also encounter these rarely enough that they won't feel dull and monotonous to you. I'm just writing them all back to back, which means they do, and it sucks.
I've been mixing up those text entries with entrance texts, which are equally painful to write, but much more likely to give you some positive feedback on the game. When I run around and test the game does feel a lot nicer to play because of them. However, in writing this one text entry, something sort of...clicked, in my head.
For the past little bit, while I've been getting back into the swing of things, I've been concerned my characters won't be interesting anymore. Karen and Samantha felt so...the same, in writing their texts for when you lose. They weren't, of course, they did different things, but I was still concerned I'd run out of ideas quickly. The monotonous text work has only made that worse.
But today something changed. I wrote a text entry for the gym, and mentioned some girls playing volleyball. I've mentioned groups of girls around the school before in these, but somehow being confronted with another one, similar, but distinct from the others, something settled in my head about how I always worked with Shield High. I think...I remembered that characters are meant to be a bit ridiculous. I'm meant to be exploring ideas that seem kind of silly but could maybe be sexy. Or ideas that fall into more fringe fetishes that maybe I don't even like. And for some reason, writing about these girls who aren't even in the game yet has made that sit better with me. I think maybe I'm picking up a bit more of my old passion for the writing that I lost. Up until now I've been running largely on the passion for the game-side of porn. (Which I have a lot of).
Now we just hope that said passion lasts, and this wasn't a momentary flash. I'll keep you all posted on that, and expect some stranger content in the coming weeks. Good strange, I hope.
Pudding Earl
Saturday, 3 December 2016
Sunday, 27 November 2016
Public Release of 0.681
Well it's (technically) been a week since I made my Patreon release, and so here it is, 0.681 for everybody to enjoy. You can download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/cq626zxb60ju01w/Shield_High_JS_0.681.7z
So what's in it? Not too much, largely because of the volume of behind the scenes work that had to go into it. First off, saving, it's in. It's in in a kinda shitty way however, I'll put in safeties for overwriting files in the next update, as well as probably provide some information on which file is which for you. I would've done that this patch but the content proved too time consuming.
So, what content is new? Only submitting to Karen stuff. First off, that actually does have an event tied to it now. It's a rather small scene, only two entries, but it's there, and it leads you on to a set of two(technically three, one will be removed eventually) new events. Which event you'll get is randomly selected, so after going home after submitting to Karen, but before going back to school, I encourage saving. It'll make finding both the events a bit easier. The first one is in the B-C Block, while the second is in A-Library. They've actually got a pretty broad amount of content to them, and I'm quite happy with them.
No, events like this will not make up the entirety of Shield High going forward. I've thought about it a bit, and I'll still make a number of set events, so you'll get your Stacy, and your Mistresses and all those big sorts of plots again, but instead of preset filler-ish plots like I had before between them, the goal will be to give you more freedom to chase the girls you want, or get into trouble with other girls wanting you.
And finally, what's next? As I've already said, next is a maintenance update. I've already half-prepared weekends, and I'm going to finish those up right after I get this new dialogue feature sorted. I've also added in a new feature of hover text on buttons, to let you know what they do/where they take you and things. It's only on maps, and in dialogue for now, but I might add it elsewhere later if needed.
Anyway, that's all I have for this week. Expect a musing on porn games next week when I update you on the progress.
Enjoy!
Pudding Earl
http://www.mediafire.com/file/cq626zxb60ju01w/Shield_High_JS_0.681.7z
So what's in it? Not too much, largely because of the volume of behind the scenes work that had to go into it. First off, saving, it's in. It's in in a kinda shitty way however, I'll put in safeties for overwriting files in the next update, as well as probably provide some information on which file is which for you. I would've done that this patch but the content proved too time consuming.
So, what content is new? Only submitting to Karen stuff. First off, that actually does have an event tied to it now. It's a rather small scene, only two entries, but it's there, and it leads you on to a set of two(technically three, one will be removed eventually) new events. Which event you'll get is randomly selected, so after going home after submitting to Karen, but before going back to school, I encourage saving. It'll make finding both the events a bit easier. The first one is in the B-C Block, while the second is in A-Library. They've actually got a pretty broad amount of content to them, and I'm quite happy with them.
No, events like this will not make up the entirety of Shield High going forward. I've thought about it a bit, and I'll still make a number of set events, so you'll get your Stacy, and your Mistresses and all those big sorts of plots again, but instead of preset filler-ish plots like I had before between them, the goal will be to give you more freedom to chase the girls you want, or get into trouble with other girls wanting you.
And finally, what's next? As I've already said, next is a maintenance update. I've already half-prepared weekends, and I'm going to finish those up right after I get this new dialogue feature sorted. I've also added in a new feature of hover text on buttons, to let you know what they do/where they take you and things. It's only on maps, and in dialogue for now, but I might add it elsewhere later if needed.
Anyway, that's all I have for this week. Expect a musing on porn games next week when I update you on the progress.
Enjoy!
Pudding Earl
Monday, 21 November 2016
Patreon release/question regarding some other content.
As the title suggests, 0.681 is now live for my Patrons. I'm mentioning this here in part to demonstrate that I am making it on time, but also to show that the blog release will be happening in a semi-timely manner too. I anticipate I'll be putting it up in probably a week's time. Don't expect that to be a consistent thing however, the wait will usually be longer to coincide with book releases when I'm making them. There's just no book next month, and since the Patreon is still young, I figure I should be putting out content a little more freely.
And now on to a slightly more pressing matter. Some of you from a very long time ago might remember I had an Earl's Musings sort of thing going on, where I made posts about the making of porn games. When I started it, I had a much more basic understanding of the matter. Now I've grown and my judgement on the matter has shaped a lot more, and so I'm curious if people would be interested in seeing that return. If so, I'd be making a weekly post on the matter every week I don't release an update, with the short weekly update on Shield High put at the end. Let me know in the comments if you're curious to read that.
Until next week.
Pudding Earl.
And now on to a slightly more pressing matter. Some of you from a very long time ago might remember I had an Earl's Musings sort of thing going on, where I made posts about the making of porn games. When I started it, I had a much more basic understanding of the matter. Now I've grown and my judgement on the matter has shaped a lot more, and so I'm curious if people would be interested in seeing that return. If so, I'd be making a weekly post on the matter every week I don't release an update, with the short weekly update on Shield High put at the end. Let me know in the comments if you're curious to read that.
Until next week.
Pudding Earl.
Saturday, 12 November 2016
The Final Update!
Yes, this is the last update before I actually post the update to Patreon. So, how is it going, I'm sure you're wondering. The answer is, not as well as I'd like, but well enough. I'm still stuck on the first plot of the four I wanted to make, but it's basically done. I'm literally down to trimming the final text entries of the plot to fit the screen, and then that's it, it's done, ready to go. The second plot line is a derivative of this one, so it should only take a few more days to program, since I can scab a lot of code and writing from the first one.
The big reason I haven't done as much as I'd like is a few bugs that ended up taking a couple of hours to find and kill. Most of them were dumb mistakes on my part, but each test takes 2-3 minutes and when you have to do ten tests with a few minor tweaks to code between each it adds up and the fatigue sets in. But it's done now, random plots select randomly, Samantha has all her dialogue and stats and AI and she's probably a bit too easy in my opinion but we'll see if I decide to change that or not later.
Regarding weekends, those are almost certainly not making it in this week, which is a shame because that means some of the possible content I want to end up making will require you to reload an old save instead of powering on through. However, I do have a quality of life improvement planned regarding buttons that should only be a day's work, so you can count on that. Next update will probably be designated as a maintenance update, to add proper combat text, more feats, more characters, weekend functionality and actual slave events(if only one per Mistress for now). I suspect I'll dedicate every 3rd release to maintenance, just to avoid falling behind in my bid to add content, as well as front load some of the more finicky parts of content-making into the release before I actually put out the content proper.
As a final point of news, my third book is out, it can be found here in case anyone is actually interested: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0A5F9S
Worry not, no book next month as I've slowed down my writing pace on that to keep up with Shield High.
Anyway, that's all the news for now. Hope it's informative and not too depressing.
Pudding Earl
The big reason I haven't done as much as I'd like is a few bugs that ended up taking a couple of hours to find and kill. Most of them were dumb mistakes on my part, but each test takes 2-3 minutes and when you have to do ten tests with a few minor tweaks to code between each it adds up and the fatigue sets in. But it's done now, random plots select randomly, Samantha has all her dialogue and stats and AI and she's probably a bit too easy in my opinion but we'll see if I decide to change that or not later.
Regarding weekends, those are almost certainly not making it in this week, which is a shame because that means some of the possible content I want to end up making will require you to reload an old save instead of powering on through. However, I do have a quality of life improvement planned regarding buttons that should only be a day's work, so you can count on that. Next update will probably be designated as a maintenance update, to add proper combat text, more feats, more characters, weekend functionality and actual slave events(if only one per Mistress for now). I suspect I'll dedicate every 3rd release to maintenance, just to avoid falling behind in my bid to add content, as well as front load some of the more finicky parts of content-making into the release before I actually put out the content proper.
As a final point of news, my third book is out, it can be found here in case anyone is actually interested: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0A5F9S
Worry not, no book next month as I've slowed down my writing pace on that to keep up with Shield High.
Anyway, that's all the news for now. Hope it's informative and not too depressing.
Pudding Earl
Friday, 4 November 2016
Further updates!
So, after the consulting, save files were still a bit broken. They're now fixed and working and all fancy like in my opinion. With that done, I've been working on the events again. The first plot I want to make is programmed. I haven't tested it yet, because I need to do the writing, and set up the game to search for a new plot, which is only half done, and there's just a lot of things not right yet. But they will be right in the near future, and once the first one is done, the others will roll out a lot quicker. So, I'm pretty confident we could be looking at four plots for when you submit to Karen.
Will there be anything else? Not sure, maybe. I might find time to do up weekends like I want to. I'll also be populating out the school with more NPCs (current count is 13) and giving them all descriptions and things. The descriptions are the old ones, I didn't really see any point in re-doing them. I've come to the conclusion in the process of adding all these NPCs, that it'll only get easier going forward. A big hurdle to my development right now is in addition to making the plots, I have to add the NPCs and add new features as needed to make plots work, and so on. Once these features are all in place, and the school is full of varied characters who all automatically fill whatever niche is needed for whatever plot I'm making, it'll all go a lot faster.
As a final point of addition we have Charm Checks! Dialogue options that test against your charisma. At present you gain EXP for passing them, since I want to make the socialite angle a viable way to try and play out Shield High. We'll see how it all works out, and I might change it if it proves too gameable.
Anyway, that's all for this week, more news next week!
Will there be anything else? Not sure, maybe. I might find time to do up weekends like I want to. I'll also be populating out the school with more NPCs (current count is 13) and giving them all descriptions and things. The descriptions are the old ones, I didn't really see any point in re-doing them. I've come to the conclusion in the process of adding all these NPCs, that it'll only get easier going forward. A big hurdle to my development right now is in addition to making the plots, I have to add the NPCs and add new features as needed to make plots work, and so on. Once these features are all in place, and the school is full of varied characters who all automatically fill whatever niche is needed for whatever plot I'm making, it'll all go a lot faster.
As a final point of addition we have Charm Checks! Dialogue options that test against your charisma. At present you gain EXP for passing them, since I want to make the socialite angle a viable way to try and play out Shield High. We'll see how it all works out, and I might change it if it proves too gameable.
Anyway, that's all for this week, more news next week!
Sunday, 30 October 2016
An update in which I beg your forgiveness.
I have committed a terrible sin. In developing Shield High I...consulted with a friend on how to make save files worked, and referred to some guides online. What would've been a two-to-three day job has turned into an hour job. I'd say if I'd known this sooner it would've made it into the current version, but that is a lie. The current version barely got finished on time due to a day of sickness right near the end.
Otherwise development has been a tad on the slow side, which is to be expected for the first week since a release. I tend to be a bit aimless for the first few days before finding my footing on what to make. What I'm making right now is a set of storylines for if you submit to Karen. Ideally, I want to make it highly re-playable, so much like being enslaved, it will pick a random storyline from the available set, and run that, instead of being a completely set in stone set of events. The dream is to make about half of Shield High function like that. No clue if I'll reach that lofty goal, but for the moment I'm working on having four stories work. In practice, expect something more akin to two, maybe three, since writing ideas for this is rough.
Anyway, that's all for my weekly update this week, thank you for all the feedback so far, it's been helpful!
Pudding Earl
Otherwise development has been a tad on the slow side, which is to be expected for the first week since a release. I tend to be a bit aimless for the first few days before finding my footing on what to make. What I'm making right now is a set of storylines for if you submit to Karen. Ideally, I want to make it highly re-playable, so much like being enslaved, it will pick a random storyline from the available set, and run that, instead of being a completely set in stone set of events. The dream is to make about half of Shield High function like that. No clue if I'll reach that lofty goal, but for the moment I'm working on having four stories work. In practice, expect something more akin to two, maybe three, since writing ideas for this is rough.
Anyway, that's all for my weekly update this week, thank you for all the feedback so far, it's been helpful!
Pudding Earl
Friday, 21 October 2016
Shield High 0.68 is out!
Yup, that's right, I'm finally back with another release. For those of you hoping for new content there's...some good news and some bad news. It's just the first week, again. However, it's a completely newly written first week. Some old bits were copied because I simply couldn't improve on my old writing. (Which was, of course, perfection), but all the sex scenes are new.
You can download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/jbzxzld8jgj9xfa/Shield_High_JS_0.68.7z
A few things to note, 1. This only works on the challenge Karen route. Submitting to her doesn't even have a scene yet. It really should, but I spent a few days faffing about with a feature that didn't make it into this version. It'll be in the next version maybe. So long as you challenge her, the game will run smoothly forward.
2. Interface elements are, at times, a bit fucky. Dialogue buttons are positioned poorly in some cases, and combat bars don't work entirley right/aren't placed right. I'm gonna get to this, if I'd had another day I would've done it, but I felt disgusting last night, so I had to finish up writing tonight instead, and so the time that would've been spent fixing interface was spent realizing half my events didn't work and patching them up.
3. Combat balance is almost none. I actually want feedback on this, let me know if it's too frustrating, let me know what you think can be done to make it run smoother. I'm expecting to alter my numbers every update for the next five or six months until it settles into something that's fun.
And now some things about the future. First off, I intend to be releasing to a monthly schedule. So that means I will be putting out 0.681 in exactly a months time. However, that will only be out in a month's time to any patrons I pick up on my patreon. Which presently doesn't exist, but will tomorrow, and I'll edit in a link there. For everyone else, you'll have a one to two week delay before I kick things into gear.
[UPDATE: THE PATREON IS NOW UP. YOU CAN FIND IT HERE: https://www.patreon.com/PuddingGames]
And speaking of my Patreon, I wanted to make some quick points about that. I understand that trusting in me after all this time away is a massive ask. So if you have any doubts about my staying power this time around, I strongly encourage you to hold off on becoming a patron for a few months. I'll be posting here on a weekly basis to keep everyone updated with how things are going forward and what I'm working on, so you can hopefully see that things are indeed happening. That having been said, if you are one of those people who intends to start donating after a few months, please do leave a comment saying so. I'm far too easily demoralized, and so having a vague idea of how many people are holding off but do intend to sign up will help a lot.
Finally, and once again this is me asking for feedback, I need opinions on what I should focus on content-wise going forward. Should I rush out the main plot? Or should I try and build up the content around it? Would you like more character development and just generally hanging out with people? Or do you just want as much sex and fighting as possible. Let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
Anyway, sorry for the long-ass post and the longer-ass disappearance. I hope you all enjoy the limited amount of content I've added.
Pudding Earl.
You can download it here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/jbzxzld8jgj9xfa/Shield_High_JS_0.68.7z
A few things to note, 1. This only works on the challenge Karen route. Submitting to her doesn't even have a scene yet. It really should, but I spent a few days faffing about with a feature that didn't make it into this version. It'll be in the next version maybe. So long as you challenge her, the game will run smoothly forward.
2. Interface elements are, at times, a bit fucky. Dialogue buttons are positioned poorly in some cases, and combat bars don't work entirley right/aren't placed right. I'm gonna get to this, if I'd had another day I would've done it, but I felt disgusting last night, so I had to finish up writing tonight instead, and so the time that would've been spent fixing interface was spent realizing half my events didn't work and patching them up.
3. Combat balance is almost none. I actually want feedback on this, let me know if it's too frustrating, let me know what you think can be done to make it run smoother. I'm expecting to alter my numbers every update for the next five or six months until it settles into something that's fun.
And now some things about the future. First off, I intend to be releasing to a monthly schedule. So that means I will be putting out 0.681 in exactly a months time. However, that will only be out in a month's time to any patrons I pick up on my patreon. Which presently doesn't exist, but will tomorrow, and I'll edit in a link there. For everyone else, you'll have a one to two week delay before I kick things into gear.
[UPDATE: THE PATREON IS NOW UP. YOU CAN FIND IT HERE: https://www.patreon.com/PuddingGames]
And speaking of my Patreon, I wanted to make some quick points about that. I understand that trusting in me after all this time away is a massive ask. So if you have any doubts about my staying power this time around, I strongly encourage you to hold off on becoming a patron for a few months. I'll be posting here on a weekly basis to keep everyone updated with how things are going forward and what I'm working on, so you can hopefully see that things are indeed happening. That having been said, if you are one of those people who intends to start donating after a few months, please do leave a comment saying so. I'm far too easily demoralized, and so having a vague idea of how many people are holding off but do intend to sign up will help a lot.
Finally, and once again this is me asking for feedback, I need opinions on what I should focus on content-wise going forward. Should I rush out the main plot? Or should I try and build up the content around it? Would you like more character development and just generally hanging out with people? Or do you just want as much sex and fighting as possible. Let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
Anyway, sorry for the long-ass post and the longer-ass disappearance. I hope you all enjoy the limited amount of content I've added.
Pudding Earl.
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