Final Thoughts on #SexDungeon23

About two months later than planned, I finally finished the #SexDungeon23 exercise last week.  It was an interesting little brainstorming exercise.  My inspiration for it came from the #Dungeon23 hashtag.  That was primarily for the tabletop people, with the goal of designing a 365 room megadungeon to put players through.  I thought it could also be applied to creating a videogame RPG and thus the idea of Ur-Carnosa, City of 10,000 Whores came to me.

As an exercise to promote creative self-discipline, I thought it was pretty useful.

First up, I did indeed create the full 365 rooms, even if I overran by a couple of months.  That's always the first challenge with these sort of exercises – not giving up.

I was also pleased I prioritised it correctly as a side brainstorming project.

About a month or so in, I was so excited about the project I was considering mocking up some of the rooms in Godot as a prelude to actual development.  I resisted that temptation.  No distractions from House of Hellish Harlots!

The other was knowing when it needed to be put on the backburner while more important things were sorted out.  Yes, it overran by a couple of months, but the times I put it on hold were because I needed to get more important work sorted out, and I was pleased with myself for recognising that and prioritising correctly.

On the creative side, it was mixed.  Sometimes the pressures of a daily schedule would suddenly spark some nice inspiration.  Other times I just got blocked or fell back on over-used gaming tropes.  Doing the exercise also gave me some understanding of why some games turn out why they do.  Some levels fall into place.  Others... end up being usual tired stereotypes because you're stuck and need to get something out.

As for Ur-Carnosa itself, I think I've got a great idea for a setting there.  But I also think I lost sight of the 'City of 10,000 Whores' aspect and some areas were a bit too 'stock videogame level'.  As a setting I think it needs to lean more into 'the whole city is a giant brothel' part and have the lethality tuned down a little.  Some people are swallowed up by the gaudy streets, but if the lust daemons were eating everyone that came, pretty soon no-one would visit at all!

It probably would have been better to make more areas function more like regular whorehouses, with the dangers only coming when visitors poke their noses into backstage areas they shouldn't.  (Which the player has to do as part of his mission).

I think the overall plot gives the player a good reason to be there.  It's a twist on the standard Rescue the Princess plot, but in this case for political rather than romantic reasons.  I like that the Prince is never stated to be anything other than an asshole, but the consequence of not rescuing him is a massive war.  It should make the alternative ends more tempting...

I was less certain on the Succubus Companion's motivations.  I think the game probably needs an NPC like that to explain things to the player.  I couldn't decide whether she was doing it for political reasons to advance her own personal standing within Ur-Carnosa, or already occupied a high office concerned with defence and was using the player to test Ur-Carnosa's defences vs marauding heroes.

While I never went too deep into their arcs, having 5-6 recurring NPCs with paths that intersect with the player's at various points in the game seems a really good idea.  That's something to plot out more thoroughly at a later date.

I think the choice to limit each area to two monster girl types and one boss is correct (with the exception being the last area).  If I start it as a project, it needs to be doable.

I will need to straighten out and – ironically – simplify some areas.  I was pretty tight with the layouts for the earlier sections.  A few 'insert randomised corridor section' rooms crept in later, which is probably padding out things unnecessarily.  Ideally each region wants to be Monster Girl A, Monster Girl B, a puzzle or two, and then Boss.

I didn't think about stats or mechanics.  I still need to come up with that.  The main focus would be how the fightfucks work.  I think games like Monster Girl Dreams and Shrift do this best, so I'd probably be aiming for a 'combat' system that involves lots of sexy grapples and status effects where the monster girl(s) is pulling the player deeper and deeper into 'pleasure hell'.

Overall, the exercise has given me a nice start on a potential future project.  It won't be for a while.  Currently I have to finish House of Hellish Harlots and then write the long-awaited Succubus Summoning 301.  So, yeah, I'm going to be busy for a while!

I think it was pretty good as a brainstorming exercise and I recommend it for people looking to create their own games.  I want to try and use these exercises in other ways.  Ideally, with writing.  The main problem is trying to break the day's task down into something that's small enough to not take over, but also is a useful amount.  In the past when I've tried these it's been way too ambitious.  I think the H-space Bestiary stories originally came about from a challenge to write a 500-word story a day, which was insanity.  Currently, I'm doing #MonsterGirl24, which is a new monster girl every day, as described in a short paragraph, which is much more manageable.  That will give me plenty of ideas to populate for short stories, HoHH expansions and even encounters for future RPG game ideas.  What I'd really like to do is apply the same process to writing a novel.  The trick is working out what the correct daily unit should be.  Something to consider for a 2025 activity.

As for Ur-Carnosa.  I'll leave that bubbling away at the back of my mind.  I don't think we've seen the last of it...