Sounds awesome. Can't wait to see how this pans out.

Thanks.

The latest version has the full Pilot episode and the start of Episode One (first week of training).

I intend to work on weeks 2-4 and the initial case over the weekend.

Well, the pilot does indeed help me develop my character without it dragging on too long, I look forward to seeing the next episode.

Oh this is why you closed the Silver Cross thread? Because it's no longer called that?

I just tried the demo and it was great, I like the story so far and can't wait to see more though I am curious will we get to choose our guardian spirits? =D>

@Epicazeroth

yeah plus how the story plays out has changed ie not being a cop but a teenager.

@Kuro

glad you liked it. as for the guardians currently who you get is random but I am considering giving the player a choice.

How are people finding the stats are the progressing ok, too slow or too fast?

I also thinking of limiting certain cases based on gender. For example there may be a case that requires you to enter an all female prison and the warden refuses to let a man inside. (could also flip that to an all male one). Or a monster who prefers to kill a particular gender (ie a werewolf only kills women so the SRT don't want to send a woman, could even let the player go anyway) it could make it so a case is easier for some players as the monsters will want to go after them.

I don't intend to do a lot of these types of cases just enough to warrant more replays.

suggestions of other potential gender limited locations/situations would be helpful.

I do not think that's a good idea. While that's just my opinion, it is a very strongly held one.

I think it might be okay if you have it so that the event is always the opposite gender to the character (If the PC is female, it is a men's prison and vice versa; the werewolf only kills women if you're a man and vice versa; etc. etc.) but even then I wouldn't necessarily like the idea. It is my personal opinion that gender discrimination of all kinds should be left out of entertainment media, though I think that's more than clear at this stage.

That would be nice to include the choice of gender for an actual purpose. I can think of a couple of ideas, such as a monster gone wild in a boarding school (boy or girl only school), or maybe some sort of a gender limitation due to a religion in some locations. Dont know if these ideas help, but there you go anyway :D

The game so far looks quite impressive; the story works, the choices are good and also the stats seems to be working.

Keep up the good work!

@imf151 I disagree; I don't think it would be nice to include discriminatory content. Sorry for being blunt about it. I just think I ought to say something.

BTW, I personally think that Silver Cross Inc. was a much better name.

I quite like the idea of mission variations depending on gender, adds to the replayability.

@Canisa Sorry for being so blunt myself in my previous comment.

Now from this point on Canisa, do not take this the wrong way. I dont want to insult you or your views at all.

First of all I'm also against every type of discrimination possible. In todays world however, it doesnt matter what you do, discrimination by gender, race, religion or whatever does exist in the world we all live in. And as long as it exists in the real world it will exist in fiction.

And regarding my previous comment, I dont regard that as being discriminating. Or if you can send a woman to serve a sentence to an all men prison or vice versa, let me know, 'cause then I will change my opinion.

Dont take this the wrong way Canisa, I dont mean to disrespect you or your views of life in any way, but sometimes you cannot regard some rules that are meant to protect people, as discriminating. As I said discrimination is a bad thing most of the time, but when it is a law that is meant to protect for example women, it is not in anyway discriminating.

I dont want to argue about these things as these are opinions and everyone is entitled to have those. I just had to make myself clear, thats all.

@Canisa

I wasn't aiming for discriminatory content, I was just thinking there would be places a person couldn't go, for example would a warden in an all male prison be comfortable letting a woman enter?

I suppose with the S.R.T being an official organisation similar to the police they would have to comply.

If I did go that way, the cases wouldn't be all based on gender but one or two of the cases available would differ depending on whether you was male or female.

However I will not include them if they discrimate as that is far from the purpose of the game.

@imf151 Thank you for being cordial with me. I shall do my utmost to return the courtesy:

I am well aware that discrimination exists in the world, and I am well aware that discrimination exists in fiction. What I want is to stop it from existing in either of those things. So when someone suggests that a piece of fiction include discrimination, I suggest that it should not. I am also of the opinion that discrimination's existence in fiction contributes in a large way to its existence in reality, meaning that I am very eager to do my absolute best to see it abolished entirely from cultural material.

In addition there appears to have been a regrettable misunderstanding: I do not think that women should be sent to serve sentences in prisons alongside men; that'd pretty much be a guaranteed disaster. I was talking about the idea that a men's prison would not allow a female government agent to enter its grounds.

Hope this clears everything up!

Ok before the whole gender discrimination fiasco I've witnessed on several other threads takes off here, he said that he was kicking around the idea to increase the games replayability, which I think is a perfectly good use of a gender selection option

@Rob I don't think there's any such thing as good use of gender discrimination unless it is to make a point about gender discrimination. I would rather not see Unnatural go down the route of gratuitous sexism, and that's the point of view I will continue to espouse.

I'm sorry I don't see how having different story paths depending on your gender selection is discrimination, as long as you have the option of selecting your sex.

@Rob

Canisa did make a valid point a government agent would be given access to places.

I am still trying to think of ways to add replay value .

Ideally I will learn to use *if commands properly then can tailor scenes for both sexes. So each has a varied and interesting story whatever sex you are/choose

Sure but I still don't understand how a game is discriminatory if the option for gender selection is included and the story allows a player playing as either a male or female to excel

@Rob

I think Canisa is referring to the fact that if I went down this route it might seem like that I am limiting what a character can do depending on their sex. Which is certainly not my intention.

At the moment I plan to write 10 different cases, with the player doing five of them over the course of the game (1 case per episode so 5 episodes planned). So the replayability is currently limited in itself, I thought by using the gender exclusive 'case' I could add an additonal two cases that reward a player choosing to play through as both sexes.

I hope my words aren't coming out bluntly, as I appreciate all comments both positive and negative as both are vital in writing.

@Canisa That is absolutely nice to see someone that tries so hard to stop discrimination (take this as an compliment). I'm not going to argue any more with you about discrimination as I see that you have made a valid point.

About the game, it seems that there was a misunderstanding on my part. Canisa made a valid point about female being banned from going to men's prison. It could be seen as discrimination and thus its a bit questionable.

Other than that, my point stands :D

@imf151

Thanks for replying. I agree about that valid point. I am still trying to make the game varied enough to warrant playthroughs as both sexes i think both male and female deserve good and varied games. however I don't want it to be sexist which is making it harder so may have to drop the idea.

@Nocturnal_Stillness

The idea in its own is great but yeah as you said it might be hard to make the idea without discrimination. You can always make for example the prison scene in a way that by arguing you can get in but without arguing your left outside.

Maybe the warden says you cannot enter but you flash your badge.

I think ill shelve the idea too much on slippery ground. I will worry about the cases when I start writing them.

Thanks for the comments all of you and I hope my words haven't offended any of you.

Would people prefer for the skill stat to be changed to another one I've had a few comments about it being the only stat that doesn't work.

The 'skill' stat is rather non-indicutive. I'd recommend changing it.

Okay I have been giving it some thought how do these sound for revised stats.

Physical, Mental and Spirit remain the same (although am considering changing 'spirit' to 'Aura' as that is what it is commonly referred to in game).

Instead of Skill there will now be Experience which will dictate what your character has lived through determining how you deal with situations. (not 100% sure about it, but the best I could come up atm)

Have you considered doing the same thing CoV did, where there are a handful of skills rated 0~4. They could be determined by your background or something. It could also be a set of booleans. You either have skill with a pistol/whatever else 'skill' covers, or you don't, and your Physical/Mental stat controls how well you shoot. (Assuming you don't want a generic 'everything skill' stat, but don't want a bunch of stats either.)

@Reaperoa

That might be worth considering

Physical, mental and spirit in %

then have

firearms 0-4
melee 0-4
unarmed 0-4
stealth 0-4
awareness 0-4

That could work.

Should I have a health stat as well to show how close someone is to dying?

Instead of just numbers like "0-4", maybe something like "Novice-Master" or "You can barely hit the target-Bull's eye!!"?

Also will Physical and Mental affect the learning of combat skills?

And about health, sudden death works for me as long as it's reasonable.

Like,try to beat down a werewolf with 0 unarmed skill (even a random street thug can take you down), end up getting ripped apart isn't really a big surprise.

I am going to try out a 1-4 scale for health but have one 'sudden death' moment per episode. Episodes can end in one of four ways death, retreat (bad ending) victory (good ending) also considering a perfect ending (which will have a hidden requirement)

1 = I better be able to dodge the next blow

2 = I'm wounded, it may be wise to retreat or at least avoid a fight

3 = Pfft it is just a scratch

4 = I am ready for anything

Physical will have an effect on the unarmed and melee skills as well as your general strength and stamina.

Mental will have an effect on awareness and will have an effect on firearms as it affects how you deal with stress so how you can react to a fully grown werewolf charging at you etc

I am not thinking of having combat skills at this moment but am thinking of having skills learnt from the guardian spirits.

Hopefully will update the game tonight. but have an irritated eyelid atm so if it isn't updated thats why.

Update: 29-01-2012

A small update to what I had wanted to do, but the issue with my eye has made concentrating on my writing hard.

The update addsa bit more study up until the choice of first case [which is really simple at the moment but is just to get opinions on the level of information available]

A lot of the added stuff would be rewritten or added. The guardians will also have different abilities to teach you if you go that route but at the moment it is the same three skills no matter who you pick.

link: http://nocturnalstillnesscog.webs.com/Unnatural/my%20game/index.html

Opinions on whats there would be appreciated. Any suggestions would be most grateful.

Great so far.

One thing that keeps bugging me is Craig. That's because the transition from bullier to best friend is so fast and without explanation why. I'd imagine it would take quite a bit of time and also a reason. I think it wont happen just by asking "hey, wanna be my best friend and put the past behind us?". Some parts also needs expanding, but this being only a short demo it doesnt matter at this point.

Other than that I love the story and what you have done so far.

Keep up the good work!

well there is a certain way that you can go that helps to make it more sure like I had high academics and ended up helping Alice/Craig out with her/his studies and then they teach your character to defend yourself a bit which segues a bit to that friendship.

I quite liked the revision to the combat skills, felt more efficient. The guardian spirits seem like they'll add a unique element to the combat and add to the replayability, I look forward to when they, and the cases, are fully written.

@Kuro
I dont know for sure, but it seems like there is a way to skip helping Craig and also skip him helping you. 'Cause I've played this now through a couple of times and always ended up not helping him and yet he becomes the best friend. I know that there is a way to help Craig and him returning the favour which of course helps to boost the friendship. What I meant was that if you do choose to play it without helping Craig, the ´becoming friends´-part should be explained a bit better in my opinion.

Glad your liking the update was worried it was gonna be slated as my eye issue has made it hard to write.

About Craig/Alice I agree that needs to be improved I have something planned that should make the transitions easier.

What parts work and what needs improving?

If you chose to train with your spirit which 'ability' most interested you?

I chose spirit weapons and of those, a shadesword. I have a question: will we be able to work with monsters (ie: they're on our team).

For me it was the shadow manipulation as I didn't see any other option to improve the stealth skill and I have a penchant for stealth in videogames.

I chose the shadow manipulation as well. That just because it intrigued me the most of those abilities.

I think that all of the parts work well. I'll probably play it through a couple of times more to go through all of the options but for now, everything seems to work well.

@Epicazeroth

At the moment I wasn't planning on having players teaming up with monsters, however I am going to be portraying vampires as proud creatures who absolutely hate ghouls and leaving a ghoul alive is deemed as disrespectful to a vampire, So a case where a vampire requests help from the player to kill some ghouls who have escaped from the them could work well into that.

@13ventrm

I will try and add some more ways to increase 'stealth'

Battle-form is basically using your guardian's power to hit harder, move faster and be harder to hurt, this is currently the simplist of the three abilities as there is no evolution beyond the effect increasing. (however there will be a 'form' for each spirit.

Shadow Manipulation is as it suggests the ability to manipulate shadows, this ability will evolve during the game and is currently the most complex of them.

Spirit Weapons is the ability to create weapons out of your spirit energy. Currently there is just the Shadesword and Soul Bullets (which can be used in any gun) any spirit weapon can hurt/kill a monster, so it eliminates the need for using different types of ammo (may seem overpowered but will be balanced with a new feature)

The new feature will be introduced hopefully in the next update, it is basically there will be a soul/stamina/endurance meter. (starts at 100% and reduces each time you use an ability)

Two new abilities that will be introduced into the game at some point will be the 'recover' which resets your health to 4 and 'Telepathy' will be a passive ability that adds additional information when talking to people (will be balanced as it halves your soul/stamina/ endurance meter)

Actually, I forgot to put a hint for therianthropes. That means they can turn into an animal. Werewolves (lycanthropes) are a type of therianthropes. Vampires are also cool. And golem-types. Forgive me if I'm being pushy.

I have never heard the phrase 'therianthropy' before thanks for that.

I will see what I can do.

Add Slenderman. That multi-armed, spaghetti limbed, faceless thing is awesome.

Here is a question: do you think the choices of your first case gives you enough information?

Looking good can't wait to see the next update

I think it's fine, it gives locations and which kind of monster and the problem without dragging on for too long. Short but informative.

Update 31-01-2012

Another minor update making a few tweaks.

Noticable changes are the addition of the 'soul meter' which you won't need and an extra chance to improve 'stealth' and adds an extra bit of info to the guardian spirits.

Also until I figure out how to fix it, here is a little 'cheat'

When you click the "I want power" button after stepping into the sigil the game randomnly picks a result if you keep on the screen that tells you the reaction and go into the stats screen when you come out you'll get a new result so for the time being you can pick the one you most like!

link: http://nocturnalstillnesscog.webs.com/Unnatural/my%20game/index.html