westane

Transforming Transformation

Added 2018-04-18 07:00:01 +0000 UTC

Greetings everyone!

In the week following a patch release, leading up to the public release, I make it a point to stop development and focus on fixing bugs and taking in feedback from community. This is so that once the public release does go live, there's no glaring issues that I can't fix because I'm already waist-deep in the next development cycle.

...Also I sleep sometimes...

Anyway, what's really been on my mind lately is how player transformation works in The Company. With every update, the transformation system becomes more and more complex, and more and more a focal point of discussion. With that, I decided to take a hard look at the system as it is now, versus how I envisioned it, and talk about where I'm likely going to take it in the near future.

Transformation: The Dream

From the outset, I wanted to create a system that allowed for fluid gender transformation from Male to Female and everything in between. Based on the player's actions, their character would experience gradual physical changes as a result of their choices. Acting feminine as a Male would gravitate you towards being a Female and vica-versa, with Transsexual being the middle ground. With this system, your character would be in a constant state of "gender flux" throughout the game!

Transformation: The Reality

Ultimately, my vision for the game outgrew a 3-stage gender system. Where did Sissies, Bimbos and "transsexuals with large breasts" fit into this system? Three gender stages became six gender stages, with two of them (Trans and Shemale) being extremely similar, and another two of them (Sissy and Bimbo) not actually being genders at all! What's more, people generally preferred aiming for a specific gender state and keeping it there to suit their playstyle. This resulted in players gaming the system to reach their destination, then walking on eggshells to avoid moving into another gender state.

The system became one that didn't make a ton of sense as it was broken down, and yielded gameplay tendencies that were neither fun nor interesting.

It's Not All Bad

While the transformation system doesn't necessarily hit its mark, I'd hardly call it a total failure. I wanted a system that the player would have to think about whenever they made choices, one that would (sometimes completely unintentionally) move them into another gender state they'd need to manage. The "flow" worked, just not in a way that worked well.

Transformation: The Future

So, how can I fix the mechanics of the system while still maintaining the overall spirit? Well, let me introduce...

Transformation System 2.0 - Work in Progress

Transformations still occur at night, as they always have
The Company now only has 3 genders:
- Male
- Transsexual
- Female
The player's gender now moves linearly along a gender slider, from Male to Female
The Gender slider is a 100 point scale, from -50 (M) to 50 (F)
- Male:
  - At 0 Gender, move from Male to Trans
  - At -10 Gender, move from Trans to Male
- Transsexual
  - At -10 Gender, move from Trans to Male
  - At 10 Gender, move from Trans to Female
- Female
  - At 0 Gender, move from Female to Trans
  - At 10 Gender, move from Trans to Female
  - Cannot move from Female to Trans if pregnant
Feminine actions move you up the scale and Masculine actions move you down it
Gender Identity will remain to let people settle more easily into their desired gender
Dominant and Submissive actions have no impact on the scale
Each gender now has different variations depending on Dominance
- Male
  - At 40 Dominance, move from Male to Sissy
  - At 60 Dominance, move from Sissy to Male
- Transsexual
  - At 40 Dominance, move from Trans to Sissy (Small Penis)
  - At 60 Dominance, move from Sissy to Trans
- Female
  - At 40 Dominance, move from Female to Bimbo
  - At 60 Dominance, move from Bimbo to Female
Breast augmentation can now be handled via TFM serum
- Chest sizes are
  - None/Fleshy - Male/Sissy Default
  - Very Small - Trans Default
  - Medium - Female Default
  - Very Large - Bimbo Default
- The size of your chest will have an impact of TF depending on your gender
  - Males/Sissies with a Medium/Large chest will move rapidly (if not instantly) into Trans TF
  - Females/Bimbos with no chest will move slowly into Trans TF. Identifying as Female may further slow (if not negate) this effect
  - Trans will be affected less by chest size, but a Very Large chest will push them into Female and no chest will push them into Male
- Serum can be used to increase and decrease chest size
- Events may result with you have your chest modified against your will
Penis augmentation is on the table, allowing for control over penis size as well as Herm/Futa gender state for the player. This will require a more extensive update to the current content, however, and likely won't make it into the first revision

So there it is. In many ways this is a complete overhaul of the current system, while still leaving the core intact. You still have access to the same gender states you did in the past, however the path to moving in and out of them should now be much more clear than it was before. Rather than a looping, twisting, rollercoaster of a TF system we have now, you can simply think of Gender as an X axis and Dominance as a Y axis.

My goal is to have this new system in place in the 5.3 update, coming out after the Interactive Event updates (5.2) and before Sophie's update (5.4)

Let me know what you think about these changes. The system is still in development, and I'm still working out some kinks, so feedback would be helpful at this stage. I believe that, once in place, we'll not only have a much more elegant TF system but one that allows much more flexibility in the future!