Found an error in the "Zipper Arm Cannon Modding" passage. The third mod, Smartlink Integration, indicates in the text that it requires a Handiwork skill of 2, but you actually need to have a Handiwork skill of 3 to install it.
D'oh. Not sure if I'll fix it at this point, MERCANOID being as old as it is - it's a little difficult to go back to it now, as most of its systems have been reworked or replaced by now. Still, thank you for letting me know!
No. Apologies, but it was intentionally disabled for a number of reasons. For one, it was causing numerous problems, and for another, Twine's history feature causes a ton of state bloat (which had a hard limit before it causes game/save corruption). The larger a game is, the more History needs to be reigned in, or outright disabled, to allow for increased scope/size.
While MERCANOID doesn't hit this limit, that still leaves the issues it was causing to gameplay and scripting which were beyond my ken to fix.
The game was a bit too easy, even on hard difficulty I never struggled with any enemies
Some illustrations would be nice (just an image of the main character and potentially the enemies). I think that would make the game a little bit more immersive
I wish there was a way to have a map that kept track of places I've explored
1. Mm, I'm still working on striking a balance with difficulty. It's a learning process, especially as I keep refining my combat system.
2. If the game had art commissioned for it, it wouldn't have been free. What you suggest (potentially) for the inclusion of Enemies would bring us up to 15-16 pieces of unique artwork alone.
3. I've since improved how I handle maps in future games, in that they're now connected spaces rather than individually floating rooms. It helps!
Ahh I never even considered the cost of implementing artwork. Honestly if I were you, I'd start charging for the game with or without artwork - or perhaps make a patreon. I would certainly pay for a game like this.
A patreon is something I'm eternally considering on-and-off. Charging for MERCANOID now would leave a sour taste in my mouth, but not all future projects will be free, no. As my quality grows, I'll be more confident in charging for a game, allowing these older titles (and occasional free smaller projects) serve as my demos.
I don't know if this is realistic, but if someone were willing to create artwork and donate it to you (perhaps with the stipulation that the game said art is put into remains free, which by your indication is a reasonable expectation anyway for MERCANOID), would that make all the difference? I'm pretty sure I've seen a couple of primarily text-only games that included a small amount of fan-submitted art.
In this hypothetical, the best I can offer is 'maybe'. It would depend on the quality of the artwork, for one - this might sound harsh, but if the art doesn't sit right with me (or if it depicts the character(s) inaccurately), I'd have trouble including it.
For another, it'd require me to go back and update a game that I've moved on from fully by this point.
An official reference of Mio does exist, kindly drawn by a friend. It isn't fully finished yet, and I'm not sure on Itch.io's rules regarding the content of comments (even on a NSFW-marked project), so here's the clothed version.
Hey boss! Chanced across this on TFGames, expecting I'll have tons of fun, but I noticed the lack of the breast-expansion tag, which'd make it both more accurate AND more likely to be found by folks like me B)
Itch.io has a limit of 10 tags per game/project, so it behooves me to focus on the tags most relevant to the game. BE is a kink featured in the game in a couple of places, but it isn't a central kink. Whereas on TFGames, when submitting a title, there are preset tags that have to be checked (or left unchecked).
On that note; on the thread for my TFGames submission of the game, I've listed all of the TF content I could think of, so people who consider it their focus can decide for themselves whether this game is worth their time. TF is an interest of mine, but my games are going to give people the most bang for their buck (or time) if they're into a mix of things!
Had to make an account finally because just need to do a long comment about this game I loved it so much!!!
For context, I'm asexual and have joked with my friends about finding a horny game that I actually like and been searching on and off. Genuinely I think this is the first one I loved for both its horny parts and the game parts.
Loved loved loved the combat system, the flow/glow system felt really really good, items were situational but very fun (I stocked up on so much redline), the level up system reminded me of fallout new vegas which I adore, and the weapons were so unique that I was sad there wasn't a way to respec because I wanted to try them all. Plus it actually felt like a proper RPG with ramping power, at the end I could kill just about anything in a turn with B4B3 + security drones + special attacks. It also felt like an RPG with so many different ways to solve problems without being punished for not having a specific build. Forceful weapons are hidden behind things that strength helps with, Tricky weapons are hidden behind things that Wisdom helps with, etc. Its great!
As for the horny parts I loved that they were locked behind losing all your hp, but if you had enough focus you could still get out. A lot of horny games do the hp vs mental hp thing and maybe I'm forgetting one but this is the first one I've seen where the mental hp actually feels impactful outside of just being a countdown to sex.
As for the sex, I can't really speak on it- Sorry, the bit of the smut I did read was really good! As the previous two comments mention I love how you describe "slam fucking" and the tone of the smut over all.
The characters are lovely. Each of them is one note and an existing archetype, but they never felt like jokes or stereotypes. I especially loved Ruzi, special thank you for making her feel so relatable. <3
The story is simple and a thinly veiled excuse for tentacle porn, which I respect. But what I find so much more amazing is the care that went into everything surrounding the plot. The little epithets for each monster, the in universe logs explaining how they were a product. The descriptions of items and rooms! New Text For Every Single Tile!!! The Codex!!!!!! Augh, its perfect. I may not be willing to click through the sex scenes that are the main draw of the game, but fictional company lore?? Sign me the fuck up. Plus the universe is just so wild yet takes itself so seriously! I love it!
Also! Technically related to the last point but, I was surprised the themes of identity with the buildborn and the tentacle non-con were all wrapped up in a lovely bow thematically. "Be who you want to be, don't let people take that from you" and "Too much of a good thing is bad" are very simple messages, but they were delivered very sweetly and were wholly unexpected.
Mio was an amazing character to play as. Her deadpan reactions, bouts of emotion, and internal dislodge was very fun. I was partially role playing her as asexual because she seemed so disgusted or put off by everything, the endings proved that interpretation wrong of course, but it was still fun!
Small thing but loved all the maps and icons, they look amazing!
Gosh what left can I say, um, loved the weapon upgrade system, the quests were fun and never felt tedious, the good ending was adorable,
Iziria's quest was really fun needing to manipulate the systems to lose but not fully lose and then make it back in one piece was a great puzzle, I can't help but wonder if I missed the connection between Nova and Mio but I really want to know what's going on between them!
The only minor nitpicks I have is there were a few bugs: items becoming other items, selling one weapon but it sells the equipped one, things like that. But, it never dulled the experience and was never a huge set back.
I really want to play this again on hard with a strict level cap and 0.75 exp and money! Sounds like a fun challenge! Maybe a strength build?
Anyways, this is probably going on for way too long, sorry!! Amazing game, 10/10, will be recommending it, 100% playing anything you make in the future. I wish I had money to give you, I hope you have a wonderful day!! <3
Thank you very much for the kind words! They were enjoyable to read. :>
As for Nova and Mio, no resolution to that question exists in MERCANOID. Perhaps it'll be revealed some time in the future. :3c
As for the two bugs you encountered, I!... have not had those reported! But the framework I built MERCANOID on has since gone through major overhauls, including an almost total replacement and functionality upgrade of the inventory system, so hopefully they'll be fixed for the next project.
Honestly better than t.i.t.s. The writing is amazing, every character is super cute, the combat is more fun than i ever expected even making me think of combos to help deal with certain baddies. Can't wait to see what else you make <3 (also the way you describe fertilization and "slam fucking" is the hottest thing in the game)
Glad you enjoyed it!~ Thank you for taking the time to comment as such, it puts a smile on my face. I'm currently hard at work overhauling some aspects of the framework the game is built on for future projects... 👀
For some reason, I cannot interact with the terminal located in Product Testing B. I also have checked everything I could find but haven't found the data that Meh needs.
Did you guess the last digit for Blankenship's room? That breaks the terminal interaction, but all 3 scene snippets should be unlocked in the Fantasize menu.
As for Meh, there's more you can check, then. Consider what other colourful slime-and-or-gel people you know, and what colours combine to make purple, then exhaust their options - they might have gained more to say after speaking with them initially!
I did guess the last digit. Good to know that's all that is there.
As for Meh, I have talked to every NPC I've rescued, done all of their side quests, and exhausted the dialogue available to me. Is it an existing piece of dialogue that I already went through but need to go through again?
EDIT: I went back through and redid everyone's dialogue and found the required information. Thanks for the hint!
That's unusual, I've never had anyone report that before. Can you please provide more information, if possible? Do you get an error? Does it appear to save, but nothing happens? And what browser do you use? Privacy-focused browsers may need to make cookie exemptions for HTML/Twine games like this.
There is no Android version, and it's unlikely that I'll make one. The game works alright on higher-resolution phones and in general all tablets when played landscape.
You did an absolutely fantastic job with this, I've gotta say I was expecting tentacles, but not much in the way of writing I'd take a genuine interest in, those expectations being proven wrong, I'm looking forwards to whatever you do next, and hopefully some potential expansion on this setting in the future.
Thank you for the kind words, and I'm thrilled you enjoyed MERCANOID. ♥ This is my primary setting, albeit its far-flung future; I have ambitions to create more games in it, past, 'present' and future!
The game isn't set up for Mobile, apologies. That would require more knowledge of CSS than I possess to rework the UI down to a suitable format for smaller screens like that. I've been told it works decently well on tablets.
This is situational, actually! Some enemies can't be spared, and it's up to you to figure that out. This mechanic is somewhat diminished in MERCANOID, as it's largely a prototype for my framework.
There are two bosses you can spare, IIRC; the Slammia, and the first phase of the final boss, with the latter having a specific mechanic to drop Morale.
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Found an error in the "Zipper Arm Cannon Modding" passage. The third mod, Smartlink Integration, indicates in the text that it requires a Handiwork skill of 2, but you actually need to have a Handiwork skill of 3 to install it.
D'oh. Not sure if I'll fix it at this point, MERCANOID being as old as it is - it's a little difficult to go back to it now, as most of its systems have been reworked or replaced by now. Still, thank you for letting me know!
is there a way to turn on rollback/history controls? frustrating not being able to quickly go back a page to re-read something
No. Apologies, but it was intentionally disabled for a number of reasons. For one, it was causing numerous problems, and for another, Twine's history feature causes a ton of state bloat (which had a hard limit before it causes game/save corruption). The larger a game is, the more History needs to be reigned in, or outright disabled, to allow for increased scope/size.
While MERCANOID doesn't hit this limit, that still leaves the issues it was causing to gameplay and scripting which were beyond my ken to fix.
Great game! I just have a few notes:
Glad you enjoyed!
1. Mm, I'm still working on striking a balance with difficulty. It's a learning process, especially as I keep refining my combat system.
2. If the game had art commissioned for it, it wouldn't have been free. What you suggest (potentially) for the inclusion of Enemies would bring us up to 15-16 pieces of unique artwork alone.
3. I've since improved how I handle maps in future games, in that they're now connected spaces rather than individually floating rooms. It helps!
Ahh I never even considered the cost of implementing artwork. Honestly if I were you, I'd start charging for the game with or without artwork - or perhaps make a patreon. I would certainly pay for a game like this.
A patreon is something I'm eternally considering on-and-off. Charging for MERCANOID now would leave a sour taste in my mouth, but not all future projects will be free, no. As my quality grows, I'll be more confident in charging for a game, allowing these older titles (and occasional free smaller projects) serve as my demos.
I don't know if this is realistic, but if someone were willing to create artwork and donate it to you (perhaps with the stipulation that the game said art is put into remains free, which by your indication is a reasonable expectation anyway for MERCANOID), would that make all the difference? I'm pretty sure I've seen a couple of primarily text-only games that included a small amount of fan-submitted art.
In this hypothetical, the best I can offer is 'maybe'. It would depend on the quality of the artwork, for one - this might sound harsh, but if the art doesn't sit right with me (or if it depicts the character(s) inaccurately), I'd have trouble including it.
For another, it'd require me to go back and update a game that I've moved on from fully by this point.
An official reference of Mio does exist, kindly drawn by a friend. It isn't fully finished yet, and I'm not sure on Itch.io's rules regarding the content of comments (even on a NSFW-marked project), so here's the clothed version.
Love the ATWT content, and definitely enjoying the game itself.
Glad you like it! ♥
Hey boss! Chanced across this on TFGames, expecting I'll have tons of fun, but I noticed the lack of the breast-expansion tag, which'd make it both more accurate AND more likely to be found by folks like me B)
Itch.io has a limit of 10 tags per game/project, so it behooves me to focus on the tags most relevant to the game. BE is a kink featured in the game in a couple of places, but it isn't a central kink. Whereas on TFGames, when submitting a title, there are preset tags that have to be checked (or left unchecked).
On that note; on the thread for my TFGames submission of the game, I've listed all of the TF content I could think of, so people who consider it their focus can decide for themselves whether this game is worth their time. TF is an interest of mine, but my games are going to give people the most bang for their buck (or time) if they're into a mix of things!
Just played through again on hard with a strength build and had a blast!
Heck yeah! Glad you enjoyed enough to replay. ♥
Had to make an account finally because just need to do a long comment about this game I loved it so much!!!
For context, I'm asexual and have joked with my friends about finding a horny game that I actually like and been searching on and off. Genuinely I think this is the first one I loved for both its horny parts and the game parts.
Loved loved loved the combat system, the flow/glow system felt really really good, items were situational but very fun (I stocked up on so much redline), the level up system reminded me of fallout new vegas which I adore, and the weapons were so unique that I was sad there wasn't a way to respec because I wanted to try them all. Plus it actually felt like a proper RPG with ramping power, at the end I could kill just about anything in a turn with B4B3 + security drones + special attacks. It also felt like an RPG with so many different ways to solve problems without being punished for not having a specific build. Forceful weapons are hidden behind things that strength helps with, Tricky weapons are hidden behind things that Wisdom helps with, etc. Its great!
As for the horny parts I loved that they were locked behind losing all your hp, but if you had enough focus you could still get out. A lot of horny games do the hp vs mental hp thing and maybe I'm forgetting one but this is the first one I've seen where the mental hp actually feels impactful outside of just being a countdown to sex.
As for the sex, I can't really speak on it- Sorry, the bit of the smut I did read was really good! As the previous two comments mention I love how you describe "slam fucking" and the tone of the smut over all.
The characters are lovely. Each of them is one note and an existing archetype, but they never felt like jokes or stereotypes. I especially loved Ruzi, special thank you for making her feel so relatable. <3
The story is simple and a thinly veiled excuse for tentacle porn, which I respect. But what I find so much more amazing is the care that went into everything surrounding the plot. The little epithets for each monster, the in universe logs explaining how they were a product. The descriptions of items and rooms! New Text For Every Single Tile!!! The Codex!!!!!! Augh, its perfect. I may not be willing to click through the sex scenes that are the main draw of the game, but fictional company lore?? Sign me the fuck up. Plus the universe is just so wild yet takes itself so seriously! I love it!
Also! Technically related to the last point but, I was surprised the themes of identity with the buildborn and the tentacle non-con were all wrapped up in a lovely bow thematically. "Be who you want to be, don't let people take that from you" and "Too much of a good thing is bad" are very simple messages, but they were delivered very sweetly and were wholly unexpected.
Mio was an amazing character to play as. Her deadpan reactions, bouts of emotion, and internal dislodge was very fun. I was partially role playing her as asexual because she seemed so disgusted or put off by everything, the endings proved that interpretation wrong of course, but it was still fun!
Small thing but loved all the maps and icons, they look amazing!
Gosh what left can I say, um, loved the weapon upgrade system, the quests were fun and never felt tedious, the good ending was adorable,
Iziria's quest was really fun needing to manipulate the systems to lose but not fully lose and then make it back in one piece was a great puzzle, I can't help but wonder if I missed the connection between Nova and Mio but I really want to know what's going on between them!
The only minor nitpicks I have is there were a few bugs: items becoming other items, selling one weapon but it sells the equipped one, things like that. But, it never dulled the experience and was never a huge set back.
I really want to play this again on hard with a strict level cap and 0.75 exp and money! Sounds like a fun challenge! Maybe a strength build?
Anyways, this is probably going on for way too long, sorry!! Amazing game, 10/10, will be recommending it, 100% playing anything you make in the future. I wish I had money to give you, I hope you have a wonderful day!! <3
Thank you very much for the kind words! They were enjoyable to read. :>
As for Nova and Mio, no resolution to that question exists in MERCANOID. Perhaps it'll be revealed some time in the future. :3c
As for the two bugs you encountered, I!... have not had those reported! But the framework I built MERCANOID on has since gone through major overhauls, including an almost total replacement and functionality upgrade of the inventory system, so hopefully they'll be fixed for the next project.
Whenever that might be. 🎃
Honestly better than t.i.t.s. The writing is amazing, every character is super cute, the combat is more fun than i ever expected even making me think of combos to help deal with certain baddies. Can't wait to see what else you make <3 (also the way you describe fertilization and "slam fucking" is the hottest thing in the game)
Glad you enjoyed it!~ Thank you for taking the time to comment as such, it puts a smile on my face. I'm currently hard at work overhauling some aspects of the framework the game is built on for future projects... 👀
Ecstatic to hear that! You've got talent!!!
Got the good ending, really really enjoyed the game. I loved the tone of it all. It's a lot, hm, kinder than most games in this genre.
I'd say that's one of my goals in writing, even if I'm dealing with on-paper darker material. I'm glad you enjoyed it! ♥
For some reason, I cannot interact with the terminal located in Product Testing B. I also have checked everything I could find but haven't found the data that Meh needs.
Did you guess the last digit for Blankenship's room? That breaks the terminal interaction, but all 3 scene snippets should be unlocked in the Fantasize menu.
As for Meh, there's more you can check, then. Consider what other colourful slime-and-or-gel people you know, and what colours combine to make purple, then exhaust their options - they might have gained more to say after speaking with them initially!
I did guess the last digit. Good to know that's all that is there.
As for Meh, I have talked to every NPC I've rescued, done all of their side quests, and exhausted the dialogue available to me. Is it an existing piece of dialogue that I already went through but need to go through again?
EDIT: I went back through and redid everyone's dialogue and found the required information. Thanks for the hint!
I can't save😑
That's unusual, I've never had anyone report that before. Can you please provide more information, if possible? Do you get an error? Does it appear to save, but nothing happens? And what browser do you use? Privacy-focused browsers may need to make cookie exemptions for HTML/Twine games like this.
I don't use private browser idk why😓
Ok, I'm willing to help, but I need more information than that. Do you get an error? Does it appear to save, but nothing happens?
I do get errors and it kicks me out of the game
Can you tell me what those errors are?
Android version?
There is no Android version, and it's unlikely that I'll make one. The game works alright on higher-resolution phones and in general all tablets when played landscape.
I've only played a little of this so far but from what I've seen i love it! Great work
Thank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying MERCANOID! ♥
You did an absolutely fantastic job with this, I've gotta say I was expecting tentacles, but not much in the way of writing I'd take a genuine interest in, those expectations being proven wrong, I'm looking forwards to whatever you do next, and hopefully some potential expansion on this setting in the future.
Have a good one, you did great!
Thank you for the kind words, and I'm thrilled you enjoyed MERCANOID. ♥ This is my primary setting, albeit its far-flung future; I have ambitions to create more games in it, past, 'present' and future!
I'm guessing this game is broken on mobile since I can't get out of the pod.
Edit: nvm. I got it to work. Just had to flip my phone to see the control.
The game isn't set up for Mobile, apologies. That would require more knowledge of CSS than I possess to rework the UI down to a suitable format for smaller screens like that. I've been told it works decently well on tablets.
I said it works fine on my phone. I just had to go vertical instead of horizontal. In the horizontal, the controls are out of view.
And as a sidenote, you've done well on this game. Looking forward to seeing what else you do.
I'm trying to spare every boss, is there a way to lower enemy morale besides attacking?
This is situational, actually! Some enemies can't be spared, and it's up to you to figure that out. This mechanic is somewhat diminished in MERCANOID, as it's largely a prototype for my framework.
There are two bosses you can spare, IIRC; the Slammia, and the first phase of the final boss, with the latter having a specific mechanic to drop Morale.
hell of a game, great work all round!
Glad you enjoyed! ♥