The Pink Lodge (0.1)

[Carlosfonteira]

I believe you started the game from the beginning? You can copy your old saves in the new folder and load them, and you should be fine! If not, please send me the save you're using and I'll try to see.

 

[Chikoman]

Yeah, it was me just being an idiot. Thought the character's stats reset as you start a new adventure. I used the save you upload and works just fine. Thanks.

 

[Shmocki84]

Heya guys, Teh Shmock here with my two cents.

Ever since I first downloaded The Cackling Cave from this site, ToG not long after and moved on to guess-working my way through non-translated Japanese titles I've been enjoying the wonderful world of TRPGs. It's no secret that I've been pretty vocal about my enjoyment about this project because... well, the sprite work is pretty amazing and not to mention I have a soft spot for the KoF franchise on the whole.

That being said, I wanted to take a moment and talk about an element about this game that sets it apart from most any other game that I've ever played: the difficulty. I truly feel like the challenge this game provides is actually PART of the charm, especially in a world where we aren't really finding a great many amazing translated projects available to play these days.

I mean, consider the amount of time and effort it takes to create a game with the software using the built in assets in the first place. Then, take the time out and be that artist creating the software. Draft, script and write out the story. Plug everything in, test it, test it again and boom. Then you have a demo someone can just stomp through in ten minutes just to get instant gratification for your scenes... I mean, YESSSSSSS... that is TECHNICALLY true... but the fact that I was entertained while I played this was a surprise that I enjoyed.

I can say a few things about play testing, we did discuss the difficulty and everything that's in there we felt was pretty manageable if you know when to fight and know when to run. Also, if you guys want I can throw up a guide, too. 🙂

And in the end, this post isn't trying to call anyone out or anything like that. It's more of asking to give it another shot or try it from a different angle. Because trust me, when I tested this thing, one of the biggest things that weighed heavily on me were the amount of folks on here saying the game was too hard and me asking myself, "Okay, I know 'I' made it through here, but I was never one of the folks on the forums asking for it to be toned back."

So yeah guys, if y'all want tips or something lemme know. Otherwise, happy hunting.

 

[Carlosfonteira]

Thank you, Shmocki, oh powerful playtester!

Heh, again, I know the game's not for everyone. No problem! Maybe, once I finish it (if ever) I'll add a super easy mode or something, but for now I'm just basically doing a thing that I would enjoy first, and sharing it for those who like it, without bitterness (or remorse)!

On an unrelated note, I'm still struggling with the choice of adding or not the classic game over scenes, BTW, but one of the thing that irritates me the most is losing purposely (you could retort that in this game is very easy to lose NOT purposely, but that's another topic). Most games gives the characters a suicide skill! Talk about ruining the immersion...

 

[Featherfall]

That statue is fucking murder, dude. It either needs to only have ONE ATTACK A TURN or its HP massively reduced. The multiple shocks AND SP drain AND healing the little douche friend AND status effects AND being a walking resistance to physical attacks is just too much.

EDIT: And just as I bitch about it I finally beat the thing. Man that was hard. The trick I guess was to not worry so much about health, keep you SP up, and spam this shit out of the girls' most powerful attacks. Least, that's how I did it.

 

[Shmocki84]

I was gonna say, Feather. Yeah, the statue gave me some flak until I stopped my normal preservation strats and just tried to beat it to death.

 

[Featherfall]

Honestly, now that I've beaten it and got out of 'frustrated gamer mode' I actually like what was done. As you said Shmock, it forced us to change up our game play style and made us think about how to defeat something that appeared insurmountable. Still absolutely frustrating, though. 😛

 

[Carlosfonteira]

Congratulations, Featherfall! Another strategy (at least I think... I've actually never tried that: given I could beat the statue without it, I stopped testing and leaved the rest to Shmocky 😛) could be giving a sun mask or necklage (blindess prevention) to Athena so she can use her Phoenix Arrow, which is very effective against every ground enemy. Also, I usually try to kill the alien in a single turn as soon there's the occasion before doing anything else.

Hope you enjoyed the relaxing scene afterwards. You deserved it, huh!

 

[samuelpel]

hey bro how i put the diary?

 

[Carlosfonteira]

Do you mean how you use it? Open the menu, select Items, and from there go in the Key Items tab. The diary is there!

 

[Kunzite]

Hi! I just wanted to say how impressed I was with this game! The pixel art was much more than I was expecting and really added a beautiful visual element to the game. I love some of the mechanics too, like losing shoes. I'm afraid I must echo the sentiment that this game is very, very hard though. Maybe the ability to sleep for free at the inn might have allowed me to grind for levels and get further? As it is, it seems like there are only a limited number of ways to get healing, so once you've used up the crystals and most of your potions, you're kind of at a dead end.

But I know personally how hard it is to balance combat in a game like this, and I want to say this was great! I'll have to keep trying to push forwards, hopefully things ease up after a while, because I'd love to play more!

 

[Carlosfonteira]

Thank you, Kunzite! Forgive me for my English, that is worst than usual because I'm a little drunk and it's late night.

There will be an easier mode when (and IF) the game will ever completed 100%. For now, if you still want try to see the other scenes despite the frustration, the strategy for surviving the first levels is healing using Athena's Healing Tune, saving the "potions". Charge her SP when you kill all the enemies in a fight but one, then cure the party OUTSIDE the battle. The healing crystals are more like a bonus to save some time (yes, I mean that).
The grinding is actually more useful for farming money and items, but you can still beat the game escaping a pretty good chunk of the battles. I recommend to at least clean up the city, though.
Once you get the hang of it (that is, using the right skill at the right time) is not SO difficult.

You'll still occasionally die, though. Just save every time you can (you're playing in (relatively) Easy Mode and you have the diary?).

If you need some specific advice for a particular section or boss, just ask. Me or Shmocky (who is a sadist like me (or maybe a masochist) and he beated the game without my help!) will answer.

Now, I'm going to sober up!

 

[megatickle]

I beat it quite fast, maybe im a good planner? haha
btw, for the game over scenes, what about After beating the game, you made some 2nd round of the entire game, including the gameovers? that would definetly make that nobody want to be beated until game ends haha
btw sorry for my bad english

 

[Carlosfonteira]

You're definitely a good planner! Even me, the creator, would have some problems beating the game quickly.
Your idea... is actually good, you know? Maybe I'll do something like that! Thank you!

 

[Mandrake]

Hi Carlos!

I know I posted a lot of this on your blog already, but I just wanted to say that your game is awesome, and is the type of tickling rpg I always wanted to design with all the great shoe removal mechanics you incorporated, although mine would focus more on nylon foot tickling. As someone who is not a big fan of barefoot tickling I thought I would lose interest. But I have to say your game stands really well on its own even without the tickling fan service and the challenge is addicting.

That being said I have found myself in a fail state in the pink lodge area with the statues that attack with electrical damage. I am out of pink, healing items and shoes and the Admedes have me trapped in the statues and don't let me run away from battles. I'm afraid I will have to load an old save but I am loathe to do it because it would take a very long time to get back where I was. I like that the game is difficult, but rpgs shouldn't have un-winnable states. So here's a few ideas i have:

1) Give the player the ability to farm consumables when they're in a tough spot so they can recover their strength. Farming doesn't have to involve fighting battles (in fact I like the fact that enemies stay dead after you kill them), but perhaps a tickling mini-game that gives you rewards.

2) It seems as if the energy drinks only work in battle, so when I try to drink one before a battle so I'm better prepared with more ki, it has no effect. Would you consider making ki something that can be managed outside of battles? This would make fighting your way out of a tough spot less impossible when you run out of healing items.

3) The extended tickling scenes, though delightful the first time, really slow the game down every time you have to replay them, and it's one of the reasons I'm loathe to load an old save. I think you should make these extended dialogue sequences (or cutscenes) skippable. But prompt the player with an "are you sure?" message before they can skip it so that they don't push the wrong button and skip accidentally.

Also here's a mechanic that would make the game a lot more enjoyable to people like me. Since I'm a fan of nylons/sheer socks I often wonder which girl has the thinnest socks and how it affects her ticklishness and shoe removability. I think this would be a cool metric to add. For example, you could add a stat like denier (sock sheerness).

For example:

Cotton socks (as worn by Yuri) - denier 80. These are normal opaque cotton socks. They reduce ticklishness but add no other bonus.

Nylon socks (as worn by Athena/Malin/Kula) - denier 50. These thin socks are semi-sheer. They don't reduce ticklishness by much and are more slippery so they make shoes come off more easily, especially for Malin who wears shoes that are too big. But they do add slightly to max ki.

Nylon Kneesocks (as worn by Leona) - denier 20. Sheer knee socks that make her MORE ticklish and make her shoes come off a lot more easily. But they add a bonus to max ki/sp.

Pantyhose (as worn by Vanessa) - denier 10, these are the most sheer socks in the game and are so thin and slippery that they make her a lot more ticklish and make her shoes come off very easily. But wearing them adds significantly to her max ki and sp.


Anyway, these are just suggestions. Feel free to take them or leave them. And great job with this game. I'm really looking to the finished version!

 

[Carlosfonteira]

Hi Mandrake! First of all, thank you for all your suggestions. I'll start saying that every enemy turns "ethereal" when you escape (that was a precious suggestion from another player, BTW), so you should be able to run away from the tight spot. Just walk over the wrestler. The wrestler has a high agility so it can be difficult to run away, but the chances grows 10% with every try.

HOWEVER! If you really are out of resources like that, you're still in trouble, because just after that part will be a boss battle that is really difficult without healing items!
Right now I'm trying to figure out how you came in that situation. I'm not unbiased because I obviously know the game well, but I usually end up with actually more resources than needed, and that by killing like just the 70% of the enemies. I really would have liked to see your run, to fix the resource management.

All said:

1) Yep. Thought something like that before, actually, but I've gave up because I can't see HOW to implement that, neither how to stopping the player for abusing it, and I tought that the resources should be enough anyway... But if you say that you're in that situation, something must be done, I suppose. I still don't know what and how, though.

2) Me too would have liked energy drink usable outside the fights. Sadly, it's in the source code of the system. Ki (originally, TP) is resetted every battle with a random value that I setted between 0 and 10 (the game every then and now gives an 11 or 12 without explanation, though). You can't influence that value outside battles without messing with the source code, thing which I'm incapable to do 😀.

3) That's another really good idea, you're terribly right, I don't know why I haven't tought about it before and I'll implement that with the next version. Thank you!


As for the socks mechanics, I guess that my bias towards the bare feet (just to be clear, I just LOVE nylons but my personal tastes states that they should come off eventually) is maybe reflected in the game too much.
Your mechanics are really cool and I would really like to add them (also, they allow for choices, so everyone would be happy) BUT! Would mean a significant change in how attacks and attack scenes works... Mh. I'm surely not against it, but I simply don't know if I'll have time to do that!

Thank you for your precious suggestions, for now!

 

[Mandrake]

Hi Mandrake! First of all, thank you for all your suggestions. I'll start saying that every enemy turns "ethereal" when you escape (that was a precious suggestion from another player, BTW), so you should be able to run away from the tight spot. Just walk over the wrestler. The wrestler has a high agility so it can be difficult to run away, but the chances grows 10% with every try.

The problem is I'm stuck in a really tight spot in the maze of statues. I saved after I pulled the lever and two of the wrestlers cornered me. I can sometimes evade one of them but the other one inevitably catches me right after I run. On top of that I have to carefully navigate the statues while constantly running away (which fails most of time).

HOWEVER! If you really are out of resources like that, you're still in trouble, because just after that part will be a boss battle that is really difficult without healing items!
Right now I'm trying to figure out how you came in that situation. I'm not unbiased because I obviously know the game well, but I usually end up with actually more resources than needed, and that by killing like just the 70% of the enemies. I really would have liked to see your run, to fix the resource management.

Here's how it happened. I went into the dungeons with a lot of healing items and extra shoes (spent all my pink on that stuff before i went in) but that dungeon is HARSH. I usually clear an area of enemies before i move on, but I just couldn't do it in this dungeon. First you have to fight the spiders one on one with Momoko and Malin, and I kept using up all my resources fighting them, and replacing shoes so many times when i stepped in the webbing. I was rarely able to kill any of them in a one on one fight and died a lot so I gave up fighting the spiders and just ran through the dungeon as carefully as I could. But by that point I had lost a lot of shoes and healing items. I was planning on going back to kill the spiders after I rescued Athena, but that area became closed off after I got her back in my party.

I did manage to kill all of the thugs and foot fetishists in the first section of the Pink Lodge before I moved onto the statue area, so thankfully I did recover a lot of lost healing items. They didn't drop any shoes though so those eventually ran out. I couldn't kill the wrestler guarding the treasure chest no matter how hard I tried so I skipped him. In the statue area, I lost A LOT of HP to the statues and waisted so much healing items there. And I was really struggling against the aliens. I was using more items than I was winning from them. At one point I had to go back and spend all of my pink in the vending machine but that all got used up too.

I haven't been able to beat any of the wrestlers yet. I tried many strategies. The one that seemed to work best was to try and hit them with Momoko's esper spell while healing with Athena, and stunning them with Malin's spider attack. But the stun doesn't always work, the esper takes too long to build up, and by that point I was out of shoes so they just one hit kill us every time we were driven into the ground. And since I'm trapped in there with no pink I can't go back to the vending machine to buy more stuff. If I could go back to the area with the spiders I might be able to farm off of them since they're not as hard to beat with a full party but that area is closed off now.

All said:

1) Yep. Thought something like that before, actually, but I've gave up because I can't see HOW to implement that, neither how to stopping the player for abusing it, and I tought that the resources should be enough anyway... But if you say that you're in that situation, something must be done, I suppose. I still don't know what and how, though.

I was thinking of a game that you can access from the menu that involves the girls tickling each other for pink (sort of like the training that Yuri's party went through). It could be a simple menu based game where you have to choose the right options in between tickling scenes. The denier/shoe removal mechanic can really come into play here. Maybe the challenge is to have the girls tickle fight each other without KOing. But no matter how badly you play, you can still win pink. With enough pink you should be able to run back to the vending machine (provided you're not trapped like me).

2) Me too would have liked energy drink usable outside the fights. Sadly, it's in the source code of the system. Ki (originally, TP) is resetted every battle with a random value that I setted between 0 and 10 (the game every then and now gives an 11 or 12 without explanation, though). You can't influence that value outside battles without messing with the source code, thing which I'm incapable to do 😀.

If there's no way to make the energy drinks work when used outside of battle then, at the very least, make it so that you CAN'T use them outside of battle. I wasted a lot of energy drinks before a battle thinking it would work.

3) That's another really good idea, you're terribly right, I don't know why I haven't tought about it before and I'll implement that with the next version. Thank you!

You're welcome 🙂

As for the socks mechanics, I guess that my bias towards the bare feet (just to be clear, I just LOVE nylons but my personal tastes states that they should come off eventually) is maybe reflected in the game too much.
Your mechanics are really cool and I would really like to add them (also, they allow for choices, so everyone would be happy) BUT! Would mean a significant change in how attacks and attack scenes works... Mh. I'm surely not against it, but I simply don't know if I'll have time to do that!

Aside from the scenes that involve Leona and Amanda, I actually don't think the attack scenes need to be changed. You may have to add some new dialogue text, but even then, I based those stats on what was already described. I got the sense that Yuri's socks protected her the most because they looked the most opaque and she became way more ticklish after they came off. Malin and Kula were already described as wearing thin socks that barely protected them. Athena's socks weren't really described in detail, but they just look thin (especially when she's in the stocks ... they almost look like sheer nylons).

Remember that both of the above types of socks (for all the player characters) still protect against tickling so the monsters will still be trying to take the socks off. The thin socks just protect to a lesser degree. But the pantyhose and kneesocks actually make girls more ticklish so you may have to add more scenes that show Leona and Amanda getting tickled through them. But I suppose you can still have the pantyhose and kneesocks coming off eventually (sheers do tear easily). In any event, it would be nice to see more sock tickling" for Malin/Kula/Athena, but the only scenes that really need to be updated are the ones involving Leona/Amanda.

Thank you for your precious suggestions, for now!

You're welcome 🙂 and thank you for putting in the time to make such a great tickling game.

 

[Mandrake]

I just finished the game after loading an old save. I had a much easier time of it the second time through, and didn't use up as many consumables, mostly because i avoided the traps, but also had a better strategy going into the battles. I still did run out of shoes though well before i got up to the boss. It's too bad you can't buy shoes in the vending machine because none of the enemies were dropping any. But anyway, great game! I'm really looking forward to the next update!

 

[Carlosfonteira]

Great! Beaten the wrestlers too?

 

[Mandrake]

Yes! I figured out the trick was to keep stunning them with Malin's abilities while Esper was building up. They were long fights but I eventually got it done.

 

[Carlosfonteira]

Hi guys! How you're doing?

I basically finished the next chapter (from like two months now), but I have a lot of unedited text in broken English and I can't contact my usual editor, neither my usual playtester. Corona issues? I don't know. I hope not.
There's someone who wants to take those tasks? If not, I'll upload the game as is it, but it would be a little sad (or hilarious, given the copious amount of Engrish).

I'll wait for an answer for a week, then I'll begin to finish the new version (the problem is, in this chapter there's some player choices which forced me to do lots of copy-paste, so I would liked to edit the texts before doing the copy paste, otherwise the work must be done 3 times).

 

[tonet10]

Hi guys! How you're doing?

I basically finished the next chapter (from like two months now), but I have a lot of unedited text in broken English and I can't contact my usual editor, neither my usual playtester. Corona issues? I don't know. I hope not.
There's someone who wants to take those tasks? If not, I'll upload the game as is it, but it would be a little sad (or hilarious, given the copious amount of Engrish).

I'll wait for an answer for a week, then I'll begin to finish the new version (the problem is, in this chapter there's some player choices which forced me to do lots of copy-paste, so I would liked to edit the texts before doing the copy paste, otherwise the work must be done 3 times).

Maybe you should ask to subreddit of tickling or 8kun-TKR (is the new 8chan) there is a lot of developer games and translators. good luck with the game! Saludos desde españa 😉

 

[Carlosfonteira]

Oooh, I finally did it! I had more problems than usual (some are actually unresolved, for example much of the text is not edited for now) but the new version is up. It's here http://www.mediafire.com/file/7p3pi8v1zgu0d6b/PinkLodge0.9.5.rar/file (maybe I'll eventually learn how to do links properly, but not today).

I'll copy-paste what I wrote on my blog.

Just know that the hotness level is even higher this time, and the scenes other than tickling are more copious than ever, so keep this in mind.

Thanks to Jimmypee (where are you?!), and Shmocki84 and DDDindustry for the playtesting!

And now, some very professional FAQS!

Q: Can I use my old saves?
A: Sincerely, I don't know. I won't advise to do so, but, as always, I placed a custom, easy-mode save...

Q: EASY MODE?! Are you kidding me?! It was still so stupidly difficult! Why you hate humanity so much? The game it's still so impossible?
A: I... actually toned it down a little. A LITTLE. The PGs attacks will miss less often, some enemies have less HP, you'll be stunned less, and...

Q: And?
A: I added scrolls! Scrolls teach super useful permanent, passive abilities. If you use the right scroll on the right character, she'll become an adorable, unstoppable monster (well, almost). Try to give Concentration to Hotaru , for example, and let her reach 9th level... They're well hidden, though. And inside locked chests. You must find the secret rooms AND the keys for the chests. There's 3 scrolls.

Q: Well, it was about f***ng time.
A: Maybe. Well, there's a little problem, actually...

Q: What?
A: Mh, I retroactively placed scrolls in the previous chapter. You know, the last you guys played. If you're using your own saves, you'll probably want to ***gasp*** play that chapter again, so that Athena, Malin and Momoko will have their cool new abilities.

Q: ...
A: Well, or you can just ignore the matter... The next chapter will have another save done by me... Ohhh, listen, just play, Ok?!

Q: Ok, but... Why the English is so broken this time?! The characters seems like drunk.
A: My usual editor had some problems. Waiting for someone other to take that job would have taken maybe other, oh, two, three, four months? So, I decided to release the game with just a little part of the chapter edited. Sorry if this ruins the immersion.

Q: When the next chapter?
A: Well, I already did a part (maybe a third?) when I was waiting for the editor/s... but, as always, don't expect nothing quickly.

Enjoy~♥

 

[multit2]

Ooooh, can't wait to check it out! ;-D

 

[Mandrake]

Oooh, I finally did it! I had more problems than usual (some are actually unresolved, for example much of the text is not edited for now) but the new version is up. It's here http://www.mediafire.com/file/7p3pi8v1zgu0d6b/PinkLodge0.9.5.rar/file (maybe I'll eventually learn how to do links properly, but not today).

I'll copy-paste what I wrote on my blog.

Just know that the hotness level is even higher this time, and the scenes other than tickling are more copious than ever, so keep this in mind.

Thanks to Jimmypee (where are you?!), and Shmocki84 and DDDindustry for the playtesting!

And now, some very professional FAQS!

Q: Can I use my old saves?
A: Sincerely, I don't know. I won't advise to do so, but, as always, I placed a custom, easy-mode save...

Q: EASY MODE?! Are you kidding me?! It was still so stupidly difficult! Why you hate humanity so much? The game it's still so impossible?
A: I... actually toned it down a little. A LITTLE. The PGs attacks will miss less often, some enemies have less HP, you'll be stunned less, and...

Q: And?
A: I added scrolls! Scrolls teach super useful permanent, passive abilities. If you use the right scroll on the right character, she'll become an adorable, unstoppable monster (well, almost). Try to give Concentration to Hotaru , for example, and let her reach 9th level... They're well hidden, though. And inside locked chests. You must find the secret rooms AND the keys for the chests. There's 3 scrolls.

Q: Well, it was about f***ng time.
A: Maybe. Well, there's a little problem, actually...

Q: What?
A: Mh, I retroactively placed scrolls in the previous chapter. You know, the last you guys played. If you're using your own saves, you'll probably want to ***gasp*** play that chapter again, so that Athena, Malin and Momoko will have their cool new abilities.

Q: ...
A: Well, or you can just ignore the matter... The next chapter will have another save done by me... Ohhh, listen, just play, Ok?!

Q: Ok, but... Why the English is so broken this time?! The characters seems like drunk.
A: My usual editor had some problems. Waiting for someone other to take that job would have taken maybe other, oh, two, three, four months? So, I decided to release the game with just a little part of the chapter edited. Sorry if this ruins the immersion.

Q: When the next chapter?
A: Well, I already did a part (maybe a third?) when I was waiting for the editor/s... but, as always, don't expect nothing quickly.

Enjoy~♥

Sounds great Carlos! Can't wait to check it out. Was anything else from the earlier chapters changed other than the scroll?