Whore Master Online (working title!)

[Ray_]

About... 4 or 5 months ago I sent a PM to DocClox explaining that I was about to start a web-development course. To practice, I asked if I could work on an online version of whore master and make it in a similar style as other browser based games out there. He gave me his blessing, along with a few tips.


Now that we are some time ahead (and I noticed the 'Whore Master 2' thread) I feel compelled to provide at least a small status report. I'm planning making copy of this post on the otherworld forums as well.




Anyway, for the game itself, it is far from playable and even further away from being done. Most of my focus has been going towards my classes after all. So far I have a base to work on (I'll add some screenshots too the bottom of the post) and quite a few interesting ideas. In terms of gameplay, my primary goal however is to make a basic, dumbed down version of Whore Master before I expand on any of those ideas.


One of the tips the Doc gave me is that the reason WM has become so popular was thanks too its modding possibilities. Though modding an online game is going to be rather difficult, I do have some other plans for advanced customization that I wish to implement. One of these plans is to give the player the opportunity to design the interior of their own brothel. This would have more then simple aesthetic value, as buying and placing fancy stuff would increase the brothel's prestige, setting up one-armed-bandits can increase income, etc etc.


I've cobbled together a quick concept in javascript how layout system COULD work. It's very basic, a bit buggy but it will give you a general idea:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5759585/_js/DBdesigner/index.html


There will be more customization, though I'm not going to run ahead of myself by sharing ideas that haven't been properly thought out yet. Also, I can't stress enough that for me, this is primarily practice for web-development. If an actual playable game comes out of it, then that would be awesome.


Development Site:
-You can't register yet and it's not playable, but you can have a look at the general lay-out and the first draft of the manual.
http://japanesefuntime.twisted-crypts.com/


Screenshots (More to come):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5759585/auction.png

[Oulee]

Dont want to HiJack your threadd, but it seems we're all trying to redo SimBro in one form or another.
My try is in Flash and just wanting to improve the UI over the very original SimBro by Poolka. With the added Girl moding that WM implemented ( I'm done with the moding, as it's pretty easy to read xml in flash, so the game can read most of the pack out there right now)


But that's not the point. The point is, I spent the last two days struggling with , guess what: Implementing user built room in Brothel.
So I was rather delighted to see you had exactly the same idea. Plus you seems to go the same route as I did with arrows to place room on a grid.
You can check it here


http://www.archive-host.com/files/1450256/7288ff6da6bebceaa911e9d0c0a1e2ac76deda09/Bsim0_65.swf

(buy a Brothel in "Town", go in "Brothel" and by clicking it and then the room at the right you will be able to place those)


My advice on the topic, is to keep your room square. It was a real pain to allow no square room, and worse than that  saving the data was overly complicated (or I didnt find a smart way to do it). And Heck, even for square room I see no easy way to save the layout.

Anyway I really look forward to see your online implementation, and your slave market with auction is a great idea.


With at least 4 remake of the game on the run right now, I hope one of us will finish his.
(I wont bet on me, cause I'm a lazy bastard)

[Froggy]

On the issue of Flash vs Not-Flash:

Flash is excellent for doing the "paper doll" models seen in SimBrothel, which is why I suggested stealing that idea for WM2.  However, doing everything in Flash carries many other problems as well.

What I would like to see, assuming it is possible, is that Flash be integrated into the background but not used as the main interface.  Meaning that a Flash program running secondary/background to the main game files, which would be used to create and update the paper-dolls & then zap these images into small jpg/bmp images that would then be used by the main game & interface.  A temp directory would be needed, of course, to process them in.

So what you would have is your basic game, same interface as now, with a Flash program in another window or hidden completely.  When you get a new girl, or change her outfit, etc, the Flash program would run it's paper-doll routine, apply the new look, then snapshot that look into a jpg/bmp image that & stick it in the temp directory.  The main game would then access these jpg/bmps as needed.  The Flash program would, of course, update & replace them, again as needed, at the end of every turn (assuming anything had been changed).

[Kalebon]

Interesting concept and implementation, cannot wait until this one is live to play (as is the others )

[necno]

Sounds pretty cool