Brainstorming for Cow Girl Flash Game

[malee]

please

[TickTock]

Originally Posted by Muhznit

Ah, but now you run into the problem of aethetics vs. stats. What if someone wants a cowgirl with the whole furry package and she does nothing but administrative tasks while lying on her two pairs of beach-ball sized tits?

In this sort of case the potential solution I see is stat altering equipables, essentially outfits that give bonuses. So while this worker cow may have lower intelligence, somehow fitting into a business suit will give her some bonuses to make up for that gap. We could also imagine that having a non-anthro admin wearing the suit would be less useful since they would already be near the max capacity to begin with.

My current concern is scheduling activities for the cow girls. There are many ways that this can be done and I want to try and pick out the best sort of system for what we need. I like how Otherworld has the multiple rooms and drag and drop systems for placing characters into a role. It also uses a quarterly time frame system where days are split up into 4 shifts.
I'm imagining a being able to queue up cows in a room and select which specific action they are to do and choosing whether you are personally aiding them or not by placing yourself in that same room.

A list of possible actions/interactions with the cow girls might be good to come up with.

I'm also thinking of using the 6 day weeks, 5 week months system that harvest moon games use. I doubt seasons would need to be included.

And I'm thinking a no on the bulls idea unfortunately.

[SoylentOrange]

I'm fully agreed on the "no bulls" thing. I think the player should be the only male in the game, if it's even acknowledged as such.

And yeah, the "equippable" stat-boosters sound like a good idea, but also have one-time-use boosters like buxomizer pills or a strength-boosting injection or whatever.

[Muhznit]

Buuuuuut why NOT split aesthetics and stats? If it's a game where customization plays an important role, why not go for it? Otherwise it kinda seems like you're being forced to play more in someone else's fantasies rather than your own. Really, this is starting to seem like more of a TF game than BE. :l

[TickTock]

Originally Posted by Muhznit

Buuuuuut why NOT split aesthetics and stats? If it's a game where customization plays an important role, why not go for it? Otherwise it kinda seems like you're being forced to play more in someone else's fantasies rather than your own. Really, this is starting to seem like more of a TF game than BE. :l

One way to do the aesthetics over stats is to throw out the limitations by level of anthro transformation and stick to domains of specialization. Basically you would choose two domains such as milking and farm work and you will be able to fully maximize your cow's abilities in those areas only. Clothing and anthro effects can provide stat boosts in those domains, but can otherwise be made up by practicing actions in the domain.

This is very much like how it is done in Other World which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Either way would work, and there are pros and cons to each. I'm curious if anyone else has any other ideas because such a choice would fundamentally steer the development.

[pokerus]

lol I figured only girls would get subjugated here

[SoylentOrange]

I think that separating cowgirls by types is good because otherwise everyone will just make their favorite type of cowgirl and "force" them into every job, and that's not much of a game...

[Muhznit]

Originally Posted by SoylentOrange

I think that separating cowgirls by types is good because otherwise everyone will just make their favorite type of cowgirl and "force" them into every job, and that's not much of a game...

I'm pretty certain that given the opportunity IRL, I'd have a harem of girls I'd like rather than 50% girls I like and 50% girls I don't care for as much. :l

I think I just want a really good sandbox-version of these kind of games.

[SoylentOrange]

I guess I'm getting hung up on the "game" aspect of it. If you just wanted to read about big-busted cowgirls there are plenty of places for that. >.>;

[Tinn]

Originally Posted by SoylentOrange

I guess I'm getting hung up on the "game" aspect of it. If you just wanted to read about big-busted cowgirls there are plenty of places for that. >.>;

I think there's a few possible solutions to this debate.

First up, there's room for some middle ground. As has been mentioned, there's a lot of variety when it comes to cowgirls. If each given cowgirl type has partial overlap with one or two other kinds, it should be possible for any given player to avoid at least a couple of varieties they don't like.
Of course, famous sayings being what they are, not all fetishists can be happy all of the time. There'd be at least some of us who'd have to accept some kind of girl we don't like the look of.

Or we could go with something based on of Shinigamis Past's idea, and have cowgirl type indicate the area a cowgirl is best in, without limiting them in other fields. Perhaps body type could just indicate starting abilities, and not affect the maximum values stats could reach - or perhaps they could affect the rate at which 'appropriate' stats could be gained, or how tired cowgirls get when performing taks they're not suited to. This would allow us to have our cake and eat it, too - One could achieve (for example) the accountant-with-built-in-waterbeds scenario without sacrificing the strategy of juggling different cowgirl types. On the other hand, it would be very possible for this kind of solution to make it too easy (or too hard) to build a farm using a user's preferred fetishes - and then we'd be back to the same problem we started with.

Another possibility would be for each cowgirl to combine her fixed bodytype-based advantages with one or two other advantages that're more to do with her talents as an individual than the features of her subspecies. Sure, a four-breasts-and-udder-type cowgirl will definitely be a good milker - but she might also be good with numbers, a whiz in the kitchen, or an excellent psychologist, depending on her personal interests. Similarly, any fully human girl could balance the accounts, but a given individual might just happen to have the genetics for high-flow milk production, the endurance for field work, or the professional knowledge of a midwife.
My idea with this option is to give players the option of building their farm around the different learned skillsets of their cowgirls, rather than around their breeds, or of combining the two as the player sees fit. Since the game is supposed to focus around juggling the strengths and weaknesses of a small number of girls, this change theoretically shouldn't have a substantial impact on gameplay, aside from changing which skills have redundancy.
Oh, and to work properly, this option would require that all or almost all advantages be available both from subspecies and to individuals. I don't reckon that's likely to become a problem, though.

Oh, and one last possibility might allow us to avoid the issue altogether: Background extras. The game could include nameless cowgirls whose stats are only important as a group. In play, you'd spend most of your time focused on improving and interacting with your 'family' of fleshed-out main characters, while a significant portion of the farm's activities could be handled by herds of girls only mentioned in passing and on the farm's account sheets. For example, you might have two generic 'human-types,' fifteen 'milkers' and three cowgirls of other varieties assigned to various jobs around the farm, producing milk, balancing accounts, organising shipments, tending the fields, and so on - which your 'main' girls would do too, but wouldn't have to. You could just assign your main girls to the tasks suited to your preferred body type, and have the things they're not good at handled by your faceless extras.
I'm not a fan of this option, personally - while having larger herds might be more realistic, it detracts from the idea of having you and your girls running the farm together.

Of the above options, I personally prefer the third. Or I guess we could combine some of them. What're your opinions?

[Muhznit]

Originally Posted by Tinn

I think there's a few possible solutions to this debate.

First up, there's room for some middle ground. As has been mentioned, there's a lot of variety when it comes to cowgirls. If each given cowgirl type has partial overlap with one or two other kinds, it should be possible for any given player to avoid at least a couple of varieties they don't like.
Of course, famous sayings being what they are, not all fetishists can be happy all of the time. There'd be at least some of us who'd have to accept some kind of girl we don't like the look of.

Or we could go with something based on of Shinigamis Past's idea, and have cowgirl type indicate the area a cowgirl is best in, without limiting them in other fields. Perhaps body type could just indicate starting abilities, and not affect the maximum values stats could reach - or perhaps they could affect the rate at which 'appropriate' stats could be gained, or how tired cowgirls get when performing taks they're not suited to. This would allow us to have our cake and eat it, too - One could achieve (for example) the accountant-with-built-in-waterbeds scenario without sacrificing the strategy of juggling different cowgirl types. On the other hand, it would be very possible for this kind of solution to make it too easy (or too hard) to build a farm using a user's preferred fetishes - and then we'd be back to the same problem we started with.

Another possibility would be for each cowgirl to combine her fixed bodytype-based advantages with one or two other advantages that're more to do with her talents as an individual than the features of her subspecies. Sure, a four-breasts-and-udder-type cowgirl will definitely be a good milker - but she might also be good with numbers, a whiz in the kitchen, or an excellent psychologist, depending on her personal interests. Similarly, any fully human girl could balance the accounts, but a given individual might just happen to have the genetics for high-flow milk production, the endurance for field work, or the professional knowledge of a midwife.
My idea with this option is to give players the option of building their farm around the different learned skillsets of their cowgirls, rather than around their breeds, or of combining the two as the player sees fit. Since the game is supposed to focus around juggling the strengths and weaknesses of a small number of girls, this change theoretically shouldn't have a substantial impact on gameplay, aside from changing which skills have redundancy.
Oh, and to work properly, this option would require that all or almost all advantages be available both from subspecies and to individuals. I don't reckon that's likely to become a problem, though.

Oh, and one last possibility might allow us to avoid the issue altogether: Background extras. The game could include nameless cowgirls whose stats are only important as a group. In play, you'd spend most of your time focused on improving and interacting with your 'family' of fleshed-out main characters, while a significant portion of the farm's activities could be handled by herds of girls only mentioned in passing and on the farm's account sheets. For example, you might have two generic 'human-types,' fifteen 'milkers' and three cowgirls of other varieties assigned to various jobs around the farm, producing milk, balancing accounts, organising shipments, tending the fields, and so on - which your 'main' girls would do too, but wouldn't have to. You could just assign your main girls to the tasks suited to your preferred body type, and have the things they're not good at handled by your faceless extras.
I'm not a fan of this option, personally - while having larger herds might be more realistic, it detracts from the idea of having you and your girls running the farm together.

Of the above options, I personally prefer the third. Or I guess we could combine some of them. What're your opinions?

I like that first idea of body types determining base stats without influence on maximums or limits to what they are capable of. As long as cowgirl A is as good as cowgirl B at maximum level, it shouldn't really matter how much effort it takes to raise either to that ultimate potential.

Second one sounds OK, as long as there's a balanced duality to it. For every A-grade Milker with B-grade Secretary skills, there should be an A-grade Secretary with B-grade Milker skills.

The third idea sounds very easy to program and indeed slightly realistic, but it seems to detract from lots of potential interaction and additional customizability.

[SoylentOrange]

Originally Posted by Tinn

Brilliance

I like the idea of having body-type determine starting stats and maximum stats. Maybe have all the cowgirls start just as humans with the ability to get a B- in every skill, but changing body type to something else boosts some skill or other to be able to get an A or S rank.

The one thing I want to absolutely avoid is "One size fits all", such that you could have an entire farm staffed with only one kind of cowgirl. It just ruins the game's balance to me if you do that.