Topic: Pumsy's Seeds - A ~MAGICAL GIRL~ game inspired by PMMM (Read 148968 times)

syvarris · « **Reply #705 on:** December 04, 2018, 02:39:38 am »

Quote from: Nakéen on November 23, 2018, 09:42:06 pm

No second thought was given, only saving Tooru was on her mind.

Asha lept toward the clay woman to bodyslame it, hoping she could save Toory in time!

[Bravery]

You jump towards Tooru without hesitation, leaping more than running. You take only two steps in the space of a half second, and then your shoulder collides with the monster's back, her soft body giving way and molding around you. Despite her fragility, she's rather heavy, and only stumbles forward, but your blow interrupted her attack, and that gives you time. You dig your feet in and start to pull away from the familiar, trying to free yourself so you can attack again, but before you can make any progress, you're thrown away from the familiar with a loud bang, landing in the ash, flat on your back, dazed and confused at what happened. A wad of cold clay lands on your face, and you sit up while rubbing it off. In front of you, the legs of the clay woman--only the shins and feet remaining--are lying on their sides, where she'd been standing a second ago. Clay is splattered everywhere all around them, including some on your clothes you realize, still a bit stunned. More pressingly, Tooru is laying on her side, surprisingly even more covered with clay than you are, and she's clearly in agony, though you can't hear her voice anymore.

You rush over to her side, leaning over her and trying to figure out how she's been injured without actually touching her wound or risking any pain. Your mind is already back to panicking at full speed. You think you can see some of the clay on Tooru moving, still alive, and you're worried about it hurting her further, but then it's mostly around her damaged side, and you don't want to do something rash and cause her pain, and you're not sure if you should use your magic with her soulgem so dark, and--gah! You feel an intense need to do something, but you're momentarily paralyzed by indecision.

Mina's voice, far calmer than you'd think possible in this situation, enters your mind. <The clay is still alive. I don't think it knows how to hurt her like this, though.>

Quote from: KingMurdoc on November 23, 2018, 04:05:09 pm

Everything was going wrong. Her arm and her leg both felt like they'd been ripped clean off (or maybe worse; that might have actually hurt less than this), Alida was dead, Asha wouldn't help her get any magic back so she was gonna run out on her own, not that it mattered because she was about to get turned into paste by a stupid woman made of clay, and it was all that stupid Russian girl's fault. Tears leaked out of her eyes as she tried to sob and scream; even that just made the agony even worse. She could at least try to take one of these stupid things with her before she died or worse.

Try to use my free hand and remaining talismans to blow away the clay woman with more mana bolts. Cheap cost each, but as many shots as it takes.

[Mercy]

You stare up at the monster, your vision swimming, and try to focus your mind past the pain. You need to fight. You had talismans, they were in your hand, now they're not. You shift slightly, wincing as the minor motion causes pain to shoot through your right side, again. You grope around in the ash with your good hand, trying to find the talismans, and above you the clay woman stumbles closer, her attack apparently forgotten. Your hand brushes against some papers, and you grab them tightly, already pumping magic into them. You grit your teeth and roll sideways, throwing three talismans up at the monster just before the agony registers.

[Joy]

You grimace and squeeze your eyes shut, but you can still hear the impact of the talismans, see the flash of their explosion, and feel some of their force. You still don't open your eyes to confirm that the monster's dead, though. Instead you take several long, ragged breaths, trying to manage the pain in your side. It doesn't help; breathing hurts, and you don't have the self control to hold your breath, or stop yourself from moving in response to pain. It's a horrible sort of feedback loop, and it's consuming the entirety of your thoughts. Eventually you do manage to open your eyes, though it takes you a second to recognize the form above you as Asha, looking utterly worried and useless, and not the clay monster that put you here.

Quote from: Egan_BW on November 22, 2018, 09:12:59 pm

uhhhhh THROW THE HALBERD AT IT

Quote from: syvarris on November 22, 2018, 06:17:14 pm
((No bodymodding other people's characters permanently.))
((You're not my real dad!

Also, for some reason, reading this turn, some appropriately active music arrived in my head. It was Live and Learn.))

[Joy]

Slowing down for a moment, you pull your halberd up and quickly launch it like a javelin, aiming for the center of the clay woman's body. Immediately upon release, you know you messed up the throw, sensing that its trajectory is too low, and too far off to the side. You frown, but keep running forward, taking comfort in the fact that Asha is moving far faster than you. Your halberd embeds flies past the familiar and embeds itself in the ruined mansion's wall a moment before Asha collides with the woman, her bodyslam causing the clay creature to stumble forward a bit, leaning over Tooru. You're not close enough to sense exactly what happens next, but something causes the monster to explode in a bright flash, scattering clay everywhere, and launching Asha back. You blink a few times to clear your vision, while continuing towards Tooru. After a moment, you're close enough to tell that Asha's mostly unharmed, and a few steps later, you come to a stop as you're within range of Tooru. Her right shoulder is broken, the bones broken in several places, but her ribcage is in surprisingly good shape. There's a lot of big cracks and damage, but nothing seems to have broken apart entirely, and all her organs look whole... you think. You haven't actually paid that much attention to how all her organs looked before, and they're all too close together, and there's so much blood flowing through everything, you're honestly not sure what's supposed to look like what. Everyone's organs are all subtly different too, so comparing Tooru's insides to yours or Asha's doesn't help...

Speaking of, you suddenly notice that Asha has gotten up and moved over to inspect Tooru, except she's not doing that at all, more just kinda shivering and kneeling over Tooru with her hands held up in the air for some reason. You note that she's staring at the clay on Tooru's surface, and tell her that it's still alive, but probably can't hurt anyone. You don't think these monsters actually die, but when they're that damaged, they don't seem to do much either... speaking of damage, you turn around to look at the two clay men that were damaged before.

Oh. That's worrying. The farther one, whose legs you chopped off, is still determinedly crawling forwards at a slow speed, same as you left it. The closer one, who lost its legs to Asha, and an arm to Tooru, has completely changed shape; it's turned into a simple sphere of clay, standing atop two long birdlike legs, with the glass tie the only piece of clothing it's still 'wearing', though it's embedded into the center of its spherical body. It's standing still, apparently having only just completed its transformation, but it looks like it could run quite fast.

Quote from: randomgenericusername on November 22, 2018, 11:00:27 pm

ohgodohgodohgodohgodOHGODOHGODOHGOD! Alida... I'm sorry... YOU JUST KILLED HER! I s-said I'm sorry... Okay, you need to calm down. This isn't time to- PANIC! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! It's all your fault, Aleksandra! I... I didn't meant to... SHE'S DEAD! There's no time for this. You need to focus on the enemy. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! The are all looking at you! THEY KNOW YOU DID IT! B-but it was an accident..! You didn't aim correctly and now one of your allies is dead. WHY DID YOU THINK SHOOTING LIKE THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?! I mean, Asha c-can still heal her... Right? Everything w-will be fine... NO, IT WONT BE FINE! I can't believe this is happening... I... I...

I just killed Alida.

Aleksandra immediately faints from the shock, and drops to the ground with a thud...

You are now unconscious. Uhm. Good job, I guess?

((Alida's perspective tomorrow, again. Next full update when I feel like it, probably some additional thing tomorrow. Current labyrinth track is The Beatles - A Day in the Life (Instrumental).))

Spoiler: Alida Larsen (Devastator) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Asha Tia (Nakéen) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Mina Ross (TwinWolf) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Tamazaki Tooru (KingMurdoc) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Aleksandra "Sasha" Chernov (RandomGenericUsername) (click to show/hide)

Egan_BW · « **Reply #706 on:** December 04, 2018, 07:55:36 pm »

Hmm. That probably means that the glass tie is the core of the creature. Should try aiming for that.

Devastator · « **Reply #707 on:** December 05, 2018, 03:00:53 am »

Could be. Didn't the 'unicorn' things have wings tied from crystal ribbon as well? That might be the important bit.

syvarris · « **Reply #708 on:** December 07, 2018, 01:04:23 am »

Quote from: Devastator on November 23, 2018, 03:16:33 am

What.. happened? I gotta get back. That felt bad.

<Dammit, I'm coming right back!>

Abort. Lets get away by grabbing one of the middle wings and tearing it off the chariot, and flying, deku-leaf style back down to the others. If it doesn't tear off, use CC and just smash the side off with my club.

I don't like this chariot much, though, so if it comes off nicely, take my launch from the rear wing on the same side. Give it a nice kick on launch and hope I break part of it.

Your eyes shut, late, and the burning sensation disappears instantly. You feel cold, in fact. You shake your head, trying to clear your mind, and roll over onto all fours. When your eyes open back up, you're staring down at glowing yellow papers, all covered with chaotic arrangements of words, your name and others, that your mind refuses to recognize. Your shadow is stark, a black outline surrounded by painfully bright yellow. Without looking up, you quickly crawl towards the edge of the taxi, nearly tumbling over the edge when you reach it earlier than you expected--distances and sizes keep changing whenever you look away. You steady yourself on one of the giant wings sprouting from the edge of the roof, holding onto its base as you carefully stand up. You don't trust your own sense of balance, not with how your senses are warped and delayed.

[Bravery]

Once you're on both feet, you grab the bottom of the wing in both hands, and yank backwards. It comes away surprisingly easily, ripping free of the fragile vehicle the moment you begin to pull, and you fall over onto your back, immediately regretting your actions when the painful glare of the sun returns to your gaze. Luckily, the wing falls on top of you a moment later, hiding your face, and saving your eyes. You hear something shrieking in pain, something entirely inhuman, and oddly quiet, but pay it no mind; you have the wing, and it seems dead.

[Joy]

This time, when you get up, you roll all the way up onto your feet. You have to wait a few seconds for your body to comply, and then once you've figured out exactly where you're standing, and where the remaining wings are, you have to wait even longer for your body start running towards one of the rear ones. Blessedly, for once you estimated the distance mostly correctly, and you manage to jump into the middle of the wing, feeling a satisfying crunch as you collide with the fragile limb. Then you start to tumble through the air, clinging to the wing you ripped off.

You can't react quickly enough to truly control your fall, so you just grip two edges of the wing, and hope for the best. Surprisingly, you're somewhat successful, in that you manage to stop your tumble and stay relatively level, but you still fall through the air, rather than glide, and you have no control over your direction--all you can do is watch the ground as you descend, a gray circle of ash directly below you, and a rainbow of colored vegetation all around it, as far as you can see. The colors seem to shift and swirl as you watch, radiating away from the gray at their center, forming some image that you can't understand. Your arms start to scream from the exertion of holding onto the wing, and time seems to slow, the distance below you seeming infinitesimal. You can see everything from above, the innumerable flowers, the many destroyed buildings in the gray circle, the lake at the center of it, and it all feels like it's just inches below your feet. A part of you wants to just let go of the wing and drop down, relax, but you know you can't. You focus on the blue water below you, trying to figure out how to steer towards it despite being unable to even perceive how high you are--but your thoughts are interrupted when you hit the surface.

You're instantly plunged into pitch blackness, losing your hold on the feather and flailing around blindly, heavy water surrounding you. You look around reflexively, trying to find the surface, but there's no light down here at all. Your body obeyed quickly, though; not completely without delay, but little enough that you think you can swim.

((As I implied before, by not giving an actual date for the next bit, I'm gonna be taking another break. Just, it's intentional this time. I've been stressing over this game too much, and I want to figure out some way to handle it better. I've been consistently unhappy with it for a long time now, and I need to figure out how to fix that. If I keep just forcing myself to write as I have been doing, I don't think I'll have the will to even finish off this labyrinth.

On that topic, does anyone have any advice that might be helpful? This is the first fiction project I've tried to maintain for over a year ^{_{^{_{Holy schist it's been a whole year?!}}}} so I don't have any prior experience to draw on. Alternatively, I'd greatly appreciate it if those of you who've enjoyed the game could try and tell me what about it has been enjoyable, and what has been unpleasant/boring/bad in general. I want to change how I'm going about running the game, but I honestly have no idea what people like about it, so I don't even know where to start on what should be changed, and what should be left alone. ANY opinions would be super helpful here, really.))

Egan_BW · « **Reply #709 on:** December 07, 2018, 02:57:42 am »

Quote from: syvarris on December 07, 2018, 01:04:23 am

what has been unpleasant/boring/bad

Very little, if anything. Which is probably bad news if you're looking to cut back, but ah. <.<

I don't always excitedly read each new update immediately, but I'm not in the game and I sometimes do, and reading is never unpleasant. Sometimes I read and can't comprehend a single word, but that's just on my end and would happen if I tried to read anything substantial.

Sometimes your descriptions of spaces are confusing, I guess. But they're, ah, confusing spaces anyway.

As for things I like, well. I like the parts where anyone is looking at anything or doing anything to anything and also the fights and the explosions and the foolishness. So much amusing foolishness. And the multiple different perspectives! And Asha's soul-vision! And the trance memories! And Isabella's soul-vision inside the trance memories! And that cat! And the not-cat tiger kitten. And any time that someone's body dies. And some of the boring mundane life stuff, which grounds everything else.

The worst emotion that you've made me feel with this game has been fear. I give you permission to keep making me feel that though. I'll be disappointed if you don't.

Devastator · « **Reply #710 on:** December 07, 2018, 04:16:46 am »

This is a great game. I might limit the size of dungeons a bit. This one is too big. Spending too long in the same area gets a bit tied down and dull. Also, if gems were all one-use and came more often it'd be probably a little more fun. I'd then give out maybe only two skill ranks per labrynth.

In general, I think you might get less burned out if the areas were smaller. That way you'd get to change things up a little more often.

wipeout1024 · « **Reply #711 on:** December 07, 2018, 09:13:07 am »

(Hi! So sorry to ask, as it's been quite some time since I've been in the forums, but is it possible to still make a Ward?)

syvarris · « **Reply #712 on:** December 07, 2018, 04:41:27 pm »

Quote from: wipeout1024 on December 07, 2018, 09:13:07 am

(Hi! So sorry to ask, as it's been quite some time since I've been in the forums, but is it possible to still make a Ward?)

Strictly speaking, no, but it'd very possibly be a waste of time. Wards fill a specific player slot, and that slot is currently occupied by Aleksandra, randomgenericusername's character. If she dies, the spot will open, and I'll probably just give it to whoever asks for it at the time. Said individual would then have plenty of time to write their char.

And to he who would suggest not filling the slot, so there's fewer characters to write for: I'd be more likely to cut the primary group down to three characters. Wards will stay, even if the player count is reduced.

Quote from: Devastator on December 07, 2018, 04:16:46 am

I might limit the size of dungeons a bit. This one is too big. Spending too long in the same area gets a bit tied down and dull.

Agreed. The next labyrinth has already been designed, and is substantially smaller.

This one's size is... well, it's expansive because of the witch's nature, but I chose to use this labyrinth in particular because the last one felt very tight and simple. I wanted to try out a more complex, nonlinear environment, which gave players more freedom to explore and choose engagements. In hindsight, most of its space is too spread out and empty; there's a lot of meaningless terrain, and many functionless rooms.

There's a good question. What have people thought of the current labyrinth so far, versus the first? In what ways have the labyrinths made for good levels? In what ways have the labyrinths failed?

Quote from: Devastator on December 07, 2018, 04:16:46 am

Also, if gems were all one-use and came more often it'd be probably a little more fun. I'd then give out maybe only two skill ranks per labrynth.

It would be troublesome to make grief seeds single use and more common. Due to each being a witch's soul gem, increasing the frequency of grief seeds means more witches need to be killed over a shorter period, or the (unstated, yes) cosmology of the world needs to be rewritten to justify alternate sources. If they're single use, as well, a magical girl team should be able to fight and win against four consecutive witches with one of the members not getting a soul restore until after the fourth. That means witches must be very weak, magical girls need to be significantly stronger, or soul costs have to be reduced. I don't like any of these options, though it's possible they'd improve the game.

...And before you ask, yes, it would be totally possible for an optimized team to cut through witches with enough efficiency to survive on single use seeds. But when I balanced the game based on perfect play, I found out that it becomes the thunderdome on crack; three girls enter, nobody leaves.

Devastator · « **Reply #713 on:** December 09, 2018, 07:40:50 pm »

Make my way back to my other body as best I can. If I do, see if I can wake up Sasha to make sure she's alive, and reassure her that I didn't die.

<..I'm still here. Is everyone okay? Did you take care of the familiars? I saw the witch... sort of.>

Chevaleresse · « **Reply #714 on:** December 10, 2018, 02:39:14 am »

((Popping in to note that I'm not sure what to do this turn, and that responses will be slow due to finals happening next week. Tooru is really low on soul, so I'm not sure if trying to regen on her own is a good idea.))

Devastator · « **Reply #715 on:** December 10, 2018, 02:59:56 am »

((A major might witch you, and that's probably what it would take to not bleed out... although body death is not true death. You can survive without a body, or with a dead body if your soulgem is intact. If we win out, we'll get you a refresh from the grief seed, and then either Asha could produce you a fresh body, or you could regen from death. If the latter, I'd recommend taking at least one more rank in Regen to cheapen the price.))

((Also, some successful mercy might cheapen things enough to not bleed out, but I don't think you're going to be functional that way, either. I'd ask Mina to examine it, or OOC, syv for more details. If your body is intact-but-dead, it probably would still be cheaper to have that healed or regenerate from that, than from no body at all.))

((If we don't win, well, it'll be bad.))

((Here's my thoughts: I'd recommend Mina finishing off the crippled familiar, and then using that to cheapen the next soothe use. That will probably still cost quite a lot, but with it being discounted one step, (from heal and steel) and with the reduced cost increases for level 3 soothe, it shouldn't cost a fatal amount. It could easily cost more than a full soulgem for someone almost completely dark at level 1 soul, but with all the discounts it shouldn't be fatal.

I would also recommend someone aid Mina with the kill. I'll do so myself if I get ashore.

Ideally, she might want to use Flagellation before and after healing you up, or before she kills the familiar, which would be painful, but it would give Tooru a bit of soul and probably make the soothe use less critically expensive. Or after the soothe use, to give your fresh body a surviveable wound and provide Tooru a little more breathing room from the abyss. Or both.))

((I don't really have any advice for you, Twin, but maybe you can assist one of the others, or help us get to the witch? It's possible that Tooru might be patched up mundanely, but then not be able to move unaided. Depending how much soul you want to spend, you could shapeshift into, say, a winged centaur and carry us up, while whacking things with your halberd? That'd probably be pretty expensive, though.

Oh, actually, the moving flesh-clay might be useful for additional mass if you do choose to shapeshift. I can't say if it would be a good idea, but that might make large changes cheaper, particularly if you choose to shift into a larger creature. It might also be easier to shed when you're finished, if possible.))

Nakéen · « **Reply #716 on:** December 10, 2018, 03:28:43 am »

Posting from a friend's phone. I have been unable to access to internet recently, and won't be able to until the end of the week.

MCreeper · « **Reply #717 on:** December 10, 2018, 08:33:13 pm »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

As per writing - all is fine, except maybe some forest wandering parts felt a bit stale, but i can't remember off the top of my head which ones exactly, so whatever.

Twinwolf · « **Reply #718 on:** December 10, 2018, 10:11:46 pm »

((I'm kinda in the same post-boat as murdoc: Finals is soon, and my normal classes end this week so it's a scramble to finish. I will probably have an action for Mina after.))

Devastator · « **Reply #719 on:** December 11, 2018, 06:43:25 am »

((I'm thinking it'd probably be best to not use witch-familiar flesh now, because I've apparently just remembered how bad the cake was. It might also be easier and cheaper to just grow wings if you need to carry someone upwards.))

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Author Topic: Pumsy's Seeds - A ~MAGICAL GIRL~ game inspired by PMMM (Read 148968 times)

syvarris

Re: Pumsy's Seeds - A ~MAGICAL GIRL~ game inspired by PMMM

Egan_BW

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Devastator

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syvarris

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Egan_BW

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Devastator

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wipeout1024

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syvarris

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Devastator

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Chevaleresse

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Devastator

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Nakéen

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MCreeper

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Twinwolf

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Devastator

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