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(DEPRECATED)
 Monster Town
The destination is locked.  Search for the hidden key.
(use a missing object instead of a literal key)
(maybe a character requires something they lost?)
---
Sneak past the dragons without being seen or you'll lose one of your girls and need to go find them.
Push objects to block each dragon's line of sight.



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Place the fairy teleport INSIDE the towns to "funnel" the player back toward the nearby town after going to the dungeon.


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The entire reason for adding more gameplay is that
the dungeons need fun things to do on the way to their end-rooms.
	Finding relevent items is fun.

Don't have side-quests
	The towns don't need side-quests
	 because their NPC's already have plenty to say.
	Side-quests might make it unclear what "main" task or place the player should go next in order to progress the game,
	 so focus on the queen as being the clear and only source of tasks.
	 All current NPC hints should help you with the current task.

If you have multiple abilities,
	how should the queen handle multiple concurrent tasks?
	Use the other NPC's in her throne room.
		Each task comes from a different NPC in there.

How do I tell the player when someone has something new to say?
	Add a new NPC.
	Or re-position an existing one.
		After completing their task, they move back to their default position / leave.

If all tasks come from the queen area, is day-night still needed?
	Yes.  Because any NPC in any area can provide clues for your current task(s)
	So the day-night + reposition hint is still helpful to show the player which NPC's have something new to say.
If all clues come from either yipe town or the destination, is day-night still needed?
	No... probably not needed.  Because NPC's in Yipe town can noticeably change what they're doing, and the destination's situation can drastically change in a noticeable way where all the NPC's change what they're doing.


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Unlock Red's flashback using fortune crystals from Yipe Castle.


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Place hints as if the player has all the abilities and completed no quests.
This will avoid dependency collision and continuity conflict.

Then "lock" the hints when you don't have their ability.
 But how will the player know that NPC will say something different?
  Ihatovo used "chapters" to imply that everyone has something new to say.
  Abilities change your NPC's, so they should all be in different places doing different things.
  Maybe time-of-day can help imply this too?
   This would mean that what hint NPC's say isn't affected by time-of-day, but they DO change their locations.


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Make the Witch a fortune teller!
 She constructs a crystal ball out of magic rocks from that dungeon to reveal what happened there.  Play a cut-scene.  Show a list of unlocked cutscenes.  Allow a skip button to cancel the cutscene (in case you choose the wrong one)


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Add dungeon maps!  That also show where secret rooms are.  Nice hints to entice the player to search the walls of familiar rooms.  Hide these maps as one of the obvious secrets near the end of its own dungeon.


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Maybe add pieces of technology = A new ability.
 The game needs more collectables to find in secret dungeon rooms.
 Each town has a scientist who can figure out what the pieces will create, and what's needed to finish it.
 This info gets added to your menu.


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Do I need the Magic Key item?
 Magic Key = Back-track to every place that might have a door
 Dungeon key = Find the hidden key in the current dungeon  (like a Zelda Big Key)

But linear dungeons don't need keys.

Therefore, use the Magic Key


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Since money is found in dungeons, what are the side-quests for?
 Well, where are the shops?  Are they hidden?
 If so then you can re-use Yipe's hidden ability shop idea,
 but place them outside dungeons.

Side-quests aren't separate from the dungeons. Most would take you TO the dungeons.
So abilities unlock the side-quests that you're able to attempt.
If the reward is a new ability, then the hidden ability shops could sometimes be IN the dungeons like the original Yipe.
But hiding shops is annoying if you don't have enough money and forget where they are.

Side-quests can just reward you with sexy scenes. Abilities allow unlocking new quests by unlocking new places.  The quests are unofficial anyway so you don't need to talk to an NPC to "start" any side-quest. NPC's are just hints that they exist.
The main princess-search is just another side-quest. You can find them anytime, and the queen is just an NPC who tells you where to look.


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Dungeon gimmicks might be enough to add gameplay without ANY abilities!


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Find money to buy abilities
Abilties enable access to new places
New places contain new sexy scenes

 Puzzle / Gameplay reference
Zelda Oracle of Seasons  (seed shooter aiming puzzles)
Stardew Valley  (progression.  Money to buy things to make money faster.  Work toward unlocking new gameplay / scenes?)

Trying to add gameplay without combat is like making a zelda game without combat. It would be all puzzles that wear out their welcome.  Pacing becomes the issue.  Something else must replace the combat.

Other great non-combat games rely on story / character scenes to entertain.
 Point-and-click adventures
 Phoenix Wright
 Early arcade games / Atari games
 Pitfall?
 Most Nintendo games lack major combat, but do have HP.   Enemies are mostly hazards to avoid.
  Physics traversal, Obstacle courses,
  Mario 3 timed door search  (P Switch changes the level somehow)
 Traditional games:  Hide-n-seek, tag
 Hidden Object search  (look for something slightly off)

So exploring sexy scenes *might* work?

It will help to keep this game short and compact to reduce the chance of repeated puzzles growing tiresome and boring.

Variety is key!

Use different KINDS of puzzles.  (position, situational, logic)
Break up puzzle gameplay with non-puzzle gameplay.
 chasing,  escaping,  aiming,  searching,  mystery solving.

HP might still be useful in a non-combat game for dodging challenges.



High concept themes can also add variety and entertain by the discovery of what's happening.
 An abandoned mining cave overgrown with tentacles and intelligent plants.
 A living cave that supposedly tries to prevent people from leaving.  Changes its tunnels to confuse you.  Are you lost?  (then see the landscape change)  Then see what's actually causing this.  Then learn why.
 A cave that tries to swallow you.  Intelligent holes.  What's causing them?  Mischevious moles.
 A dragon palace.  Dragon castle.  Dining room?  Sleeping quarters?  Maids?  Throne?
  A castle with three queens.  How does that work?  Who do they rule?  Are they all married to each other?
 Is Maynard's king competing with the dragons for rulership of the kingdom?  How did he gain control?  What was it like when the dragons were in charge?
 What is making Zephyr cave cold in the middle of a desert?  A magic artifact?  Are the creatures inside defending it to keep their climate?  Or is something else making the surrounding area hot?
 "Monster Breeding Grounds" implies that somebody is creating monsters on purpose / monsters are artificial creations.  Who is behind it?  And why?  (the hell guardian?)  (An interesting reason for HP and "dying")
 
Interesting story situations.  An unexpected twist on something famailiar.
 A newly summoned bunnygirl missed the queen's orders, and is instead following the guidance of wolves?
 A girl in town is learning how to cast magic from bunnygirls.  But the spells do unusual things.  (Mysterious events occurring in town)
 A violent mercenary is searching for the missing princess of Maynard.  An interesting fight.  He might unexpectedly intervene in other places.
 A heroic glory-hound mercenary is searching for the missing princess of Maynard.  He cluelessly intervenes in situations, making them worse, turning them into unexpected challenges for you.
 A "hero" was defeated and ran away, leaving behind the key you need... somewhere.  Then something picked it up.  Follow the correct footprints?  Ignore the wrong footprints.



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The game doesn't necessarily need more mechanics.
I think it needs more gameplay in its explorable areas.
Gameplay is not mechanics, it is simply the game that you're asking the player to play at that moment. Interesting tasks. These can be created out of simple mechanics and interesting situations.

Guess the correct door.
Find the hidden switch.
Look for something.
Avoid being seen.

Challenge the player to accomplish something interesting.
Then add a twist or throw fun monkey-wrenches in their way.



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*** Simple system ***

They're not battles, they're hazard encounters.
The challenge is simply navigating past hazardous creatures and traps.
The level layout creates the puzzles and variety.


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Every battle can potentially be avoided.
But HOW they're avoided varies often, based on enemy movement and formation.
Maybe the goal is not to defeat the enemy but to avoid/entrap/disable them.
All enemies are invincible, so you have to avoid or disable them instead.
You can show this by making them dizzy / asleep.
Different creatures might be vulnerable to only one type of affliction.
The environment might provide clever ways of applying affliction / removal.



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Zelda Link's Awakening made secret seashells collectiable via
- an explicit promise of a mysterious reward
- variety of ways to discover them  (while searching for other collectables in the same way)
- periodic rewards for collecting just 10  (so you don't have to wait THAT long to any reward)
- a very clear place to go to get the reward(s)


Zelda Link's Awakening made the trade-quest engaging via
- curiosity about what the next key item would be
- curiosity about how the next key item would get used
- rewarding each part of the trade with an amusing scene
- rewarding the entire ordeal with a VERY useful item


Final Fantasy Adventure had a consumable item used for exploring (mattok / Pick-axe)
 It's similar to Zelda's bombs.
 But... spamming a limited resource is aggrevating, because most attempts don't reward you
Zelda Link to the Past fixed this by having cracked walls, so you don't have to attempt a bomb on every... single... wall tile... in... the... entire... game.  (no need to "burn every bush")
 Zelda also had a hidden trick where you can tap your sward against the cracked walls to skip needlessly using up ANY bombs until you're certain.


Idea:
"Tiered levels of bombs"
What if upgrading your bomb ability can open stronger cracked objects?
Those upgrades can also BE reward items themselves!


Hmm... you already have a way to interact with the world (besides talking)
The "claw swipe"
You should probably use that interaction for more things.

















Probably avoid adding combat with monsters, because...
- That would completely negate the possibility that monsters were just friendly horny beasts all along.
 If they're supposed to secretly be friendly, then they would never want to fight you.
- Combat is an over-used "go to" game mechanic.  I want to understand my game's mechanics in order to use them well.  Combat is too easy to use successfully without actually understanding WHY it works... leading to mediocre gameplay instead of actual Fun.


Money would be handy to have.
What should you be able to buy?
Ability upgrades?  (after finding the ability itself)
 OR
Abilities  (and find upgrades of the abilities)
...
If each ability can be upgraded ONE time, then there would be an equal number of abilities and upgrades, so it wouldn't matter which way you do this.
But if each ability can be upgraded TWICE, then there would be MORE upgrades than abilities.  Which means you would want to Find the upgrades and Buy the abilities, in order to provide more stuff to collect.
...
But I think this game is too small to justify that many upgrades.


Most places should be mostly explorable the first time, except for maybe ONE type of later-unlockable obstacle, encouraging exactly ONE return trip later.


Remember, don't force the player to collect things too much.
 Let them sprint straight to the "good parts" of the game if they...  Want to  /  Know how to.
 "know how to"   Hmm... repeat playthroughs should be faster to enable players to more easily experiment with alternate choices and outcomes.
 Therefore, add an item that reveals secret shortcuts.  Allow the player to use that item in all their next playthroughs.


Abilities could all be optional ways to unlock inconsequential sexy "bonus scenes" / sexy pictures.
 Maybe add a gallery for all the pictures you can find in the game?
 Scenes would be better for demonstrating the current situations more. (Also more immersive and cohesive)
 Saving up to acquire an ability to unlock scenes in a previous place = backtracking.  To reduce backtracking to only ONE more time, require only ONE ability per location.
  Or time it so that you'll likely have enough to acquire the ability by the time you reach the end of that location.  (The same ability shop would need to be IN each location)
  At that point, it's the same as buying a "secret key" for each place.
  The end-game's Magic Key might enable all possible bonus scenes.
   But it would make all the previous purchases feel like a total waste.
   So... just save up the entire game to buy that ONE key?
   This would need milestone rewards.


Collecting all the "things" in the current area unlocks a Bonus scene / Picture for that area.
   

Ideally, the player would not need to replay the ENTIRE game from the beginning to look for alternate endings.
 The only ending that currently requires this is the "all monsters" ending.
  Therefore at the end of the game, tell the player EXACTLY how to achieve the "all monsters" ending with no guesswork.
  _Maybe a fortune teller can dowse for fates?
  They should also TELL the player that they need to START OVER to attempt this.  (unlike all the other endings which do NOT require that)
  Should the fortune teller require money?  They need to ONLY be accessible at the end of the game.
   "at the end"  Could be achieved if the player needs to find enough "tokens / mcguffins"  (one per monster lair)  To somehow enable the fortune teller to tell you.
   "enable telling you"  because that allows the fortune teller itself to exist beforehand to inform you about WHAT to look for, and WHY, and WHERE to go after getting "tokens"
  Or... instead of "at the end", since this ending has multiple requirements maybe each token reveals the NEXT requirement  (right before you're able to attempt it?)
   Hmm... that leaves room for irreversable errors, so maybe no?  Besides, accomplishing each of these requirements doesn't reward the player with unique scenes along the way... yet.
   Currently, each "leave with monster" requirement involves simply finding the girl but DOING nothing.  Whereas triggering a unique scene would require DOING something to trigger it.
   _Maybe leaving the room?
    To avoid guilt-tripping the player for choosing this "bad" choice, always make each girl start enjoying the situation MORE when you leave.
    Julia is less shy when you're not looking.
    Marle resigns herself?  Changes her mind?
     "Mmm... I guess this *pant* isn't so bad."  "Ooh... I guess I don't mind *pant* playing with for awhile."  "Ooh! T-That actually feels... kind of... nice."  "Mmm... Ah whatever, I'm used to this anyway."  "Guh... Ah whatever, I'm already full of jizz anyway. Might as well enjoy it."
   Maybe the "token" itself should reveal the requirement instead of REPEATEDLY backtracking all the way to the fortune teller over and over and over and over?
   Maybe you find the fortune teller itself in each lair to learn what to do for the monster ending.
    If this is easily acessible during the first playthrough, then the monster ending will likely be the first ending the player sees, and kind of spoil the twist of being able to choose endings.
    Maybe hide the fortune teller behind a visible but subtle secret.  (false wall, cracked wall, etc...)
Should the player know that there is a monster ending when they first start the game?
 NO   =  Very easy to accidentally lock yourself out of that ending very early in the game.
 YES  =  Spoil the realization that the player doesn't have to do what they're told.
 Therefore... NO!  Do NOT tell the player right away.  Let them discover this possibility.
Therefore, maybe make each choice REVERSABLE, like all the other girl "drop off" points?
 You can "un-rescue" each girl by returning them to each lair.
 The reveal about exactly how to achieve the monster ending can be saved until the end... or at least until later in the game.  (Maybe after/while meeting Marle)
 The monster ending would no longer require starting over!
 Which lairs change in ways that prevent this?
 - Yipe monster gets killed
 - Red joins you at stone cave
 - Marle joins you at the Hot Cave
 - Lilly joins you after the Zephyr Cave to seek eggs in Yipe
 Possible changes to enable this?
 - Yipe monster gets scared away, but is still present.
 - Red chases a "cute doggy" back to her original location.  (toggle)  Maybe make this the state when you first see her there?  (player leave = Lick. "Ooh! That feels good, doggie!")
 - Marle's Bunnygirl captures Marle if you talk to her.  Can free Marle if you talk again.  (toggle)
 - Lilly rejoins the Bunnygirls in Zephyr Cave, to play with the bunnygirls again.  She can't decide between seeking eggs or staying with Bunnygirls.  (toggle)
 This would actually be pretty easy!
 It would be helpful if the player can immediately discover this option early in the game.  Yipe cave monster runs away to the other side of the room.  Talk => It re-captures Julia.  (toggle)
 Change most of the "monster kill" scenes in lairs to "monster scared away"
 - Yipe cave monster
 - Cult squirrel "goddess"
 - Hot cave dragonesses fly away



Mazes can be fun
Breakable blocks that are subtly cracked can make mazes more interesting
Invisible barriers that you find your way through.  (floow changes color to show ehere you've been)
Floor switches.  Switches that toggle doors.  All switches open the way forward.
False walls.  Show this by having something move through a wall.  (something that normally bounces?)
A laser that can activate switches.  Movable reflectors?  Moveable barriers?  Laser breaks barriers?
Can turn the laser?

Breakable objects can reveal puzzle objects / hazards.
Breakable bushes / rocks / walls.

enemies / creatures that only move when you do. (same, mirror, their own looping pattern)
Can activate switches.
Attack when you attack.

Make most of these traversal puzzles skippable via a secret passage.
Earn money to buy an item that reveals all these secret passages, so the player can skip any future challences if they prefer to.  But have all puzzles include an optional bonus reward if the player chooses to do them.

Don't make any of these puzzles too hard or elaborate.  Imitate Zelda Breath of the Wild's shrines.  2 things to figure out.  1 simple hurdle to introduce this puzzle's theme, and 1 trickier hurdle to make you think for just a moment.  But no more.  No gimmick overstays its welcome.

Wind fans blow objects around.

Get the orb to the orb-hole.

Find the hidden key somewhere in the lair to unlock THE door to the end of it.
Maybe a hint for which room it's in?  See it or hear it?  Read a slightly cryptic clue to point you in the right direction?

Having HP can give you a reason to avoid hazards.

Zelda has holes that re-spawn you right next to them.  The only risk of repetition is after ALL your HP run out. A very generous grace period before being punished by repetition.  The game should auto-save at the enterance of the lair.
Zelda link's awakening has a fun area where bushes reveal either paths or holes.

Stealth line-of-sight challenges.  Be stealthy to avoiding being seen  (line-of-sight detection)

Objects that push you around.

Switches that toggle bridges over holes.  Temporary time challenges.  Two-color toggle puzzle.  (keep it contained to the same room)

Lair themes based on their locations?
Yipe cave has stalag tights that fall if you pass under their shadows.  Plant monsters run when attacked.  Floor switches / stop blocking your path.  You damage a flower = plant monster moves to flower to fix it.
 Plants
Stone cave has enchanted statues that push you, can see you, or something.  Wolves move if they see you, triggering floor switches.
 Statues, Water, moving golem statues
Hot cave:  Fire traps!  Holes and stairs.  Figure out how to traverse betwen two stacked rooms. (a 2-part maze)
 Fires, Holes, Stairs, Doors
Breeding Cave:  Eggs?  Dragon line-of-sight?  Flap wings = wind,  dragon magic = false walls?  Traps to protect their eggs.
 Eggs
Zephyr cave has objects hidden in snow.  Break ice walls.  Dig through snow walls.  Loud noises = snowed-in.
 Snow / Ice

Ancient ruins = convenient magic stuff.
Any lair or cave could have some ruins.



