Update hih.md

hih.md

@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 Hot in handcuffs
 ================
+tags: fallout, FO4, mod, ideas, lewd
+
+Permissions
+-----------
+This work is public domain, you can do whatever you want with it, even claim authorship.
 
 Preface
 -------
@@ -17,16 +22,21 @@ Tired to death of merry looter-shooter power fantasies, I imagine a very differe
 game play: a limiting but fair sandbox, proper role-play content, a setting that
 makes sense, and a real sense of achievement, should one manages to achieve something.
 
+### Update
+I don't think I'll be able to work on this myself. I've been thinking about all this
+for so long it would be a shame just to let it dissipate into the ether, so I will
+tidy this whitepaper up and publish it in hopes it serves any useful purpose.
+
 Goals
 -----
 * A novel way to immerse yourself in a post-apocalyptic retro-futuristic fantasy world.
-* A lewd mod I myself want to play for extended periods of time.
+* A lewd mod I myself would want to play for extended periods of time.
 * A project that's actually doable.
 
 Non-goals
 ---------
 * A railroaded cinematographic "experience" for players.
-* Support for any platforms other than PC
+* Support for any platforms other than PC.
 
 Limitations
 -----------
@@ -34,6 +44,7 @@ Limitations
 * I refuse to touch C++ with a stick of any length.
 * I have no experience with 3D, animation or any art at all beyond writing.
 * I'm not a native speaker.
+* I did not find the TV show that great and dropped it after episode 2.
 
 Hard questions
 --------------
@@ -62,13 +73,13 @@ What do we lose?
 	* Map
 	* Radio
 	* Vault doors
-* Interaction with large amount of world objects
+* Interaction with large amount of world objects, in particular
-	* Terminals (requires separate discussion)
+	* Terminals
 	* Traps
 	* Workbenches
 * Picking up and moving objects
 * Workshop interface
-* Sitting down
+* Sitting down (because of the clipping with many a chair)
 
 ### Systems
 * Combat
@@ -77,6 +88,20 @@ What do we lose?
 * Crafting
 * Building
 
+### Integration
+So there are three existing mods that take your hands away.
+
+* Real handcuffs: mostly gets the job done, but is a bit rough around the edges
+* Devious devices: gets the same job done in different (less optimal) ways
+* Amputator: I don't think it bothers itself with such banalities
+
+We'd have to account for two different cases:
+
+* Arms bound behind back, but hands and free.
+* No arms OR arms bound behind back, hands in mittens (or similar).
+
+Some actions (like smoking) are possible in the former case, but not the latter.
+
 Core game play loop
 -------------------
 ### Open world
@@ -90,8 +115,8 @@ said that, let's explore said content.
 These go without saying. Repeatable activities tend to get old rather fast though.
 
 #### Exploration
-The intention is to have the world mostly empty of anything that moves, but there is
+The intention is to have the world mostly empty of lootable objects, but there is still
-still room for discovery. Maybe there's a magazine hidden under an odd bed somewhere,
+room for discovery. Maybe there's a magazine hidden under an odd bed somewhere,
 or a holo-tape with a new porn clip for the next time you spend a week behind bars.
 
 #### Building
@@ -108,63 +133,238 @@ We have to come to peace with the notion that all games end at some point becaus
 the player stops playing.
 
 ### Captivity
-* Listening to radio
+Another hard question is how to keep a player entertained for an extended period of time
+during which they can't change locations. Here's the list I was able to come up with:
+
+* Listening to radio (using stand-alone radios which can be tuned to stations)
 * Watching VotW
 * Reading smut
 * Smoking on a balcony
-* ?AI?
 * Chilling in a nice place, watching the world
+* It seems possible to integrate AI for dialogue and AAF scenes, but it's a complex task
 
-Idea dump
+Some ideas (developed to different degrees)
-=========
+-------------------------------------------
+In no particular order:
 
-Random
+### Corruption
-------
+Over time the character's actions, or indeed mere presence, may result in the world
-* Corruption over time
+becoming more lewd in some aspects. The PC themselves, select NPCs, settlements or whole
-	* Player
+factions may start acting differently depending on their "corruption". This is not such
-	* NPCs
+a radically new thought that I need to explain further.
-	* Settlements
-	* Factions
-* Magic
-	* Arms behind back -> Picking up and moving objects
-	* Blindness -> Magic vision
-	* ?Gag? -> Combat magic
-	* Bound legs -> Magic jet-pack
-	* ?Deafness? -> ?Magic hearing?
-* https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Pommel_horse -> use for lewd purposes
 
-Vanilla quests
+### Magic
---------------
+In order to replace lost abilities, we may grant the player new ones. Here's something
-### Kid in a Fridge
+that comes to mind:
-* Billy is a teenager looking ghoul girl.
 
-### Confidence Man
+* Arms bound behind back grants ability to limited telekinesis: pick up and move things
+* Wearing a blindfold develops "magic" vision over time
+* Similarly, being unable to hear may develop "magic" hearing
+* Bound legs may grant a magic jet-pack
+* Wearing a gag may lead to "combat magic" awakening. Now, this is a touchy subject.
+
+#### Combat magic
+It's easy to make the player an unstoppable deity. While fun, it kinda works against
+the goals. Maybe "combat magic" means only support effects, maybe it should be balanced
+in some interesting ways. One such way may be using an "arousal" stat to moderate power
+and use it as "mana" for different "spells".
+
+### Indirect combat
+While it's not very easy to reintroduce turn-based combat into Fallout 4, we may find it
+worthwhile to untether combat results from skills of the player, instead making them
+dependent on the skills of the character. As a trivial example, a pop up may appear when
+the combat begins, detailing what happened, which is then scripted into the game world.
+
+### Take control away more often
+In the similar vein, it can be useful to enforce the character's personality onto
+the game-play, for example:
+
+* PC may run away from the combat unless brave enough (and can run)
+* PC may surrender if the danger is imminent (there are several mods that do this)
+* PC may faint under too much stress
+
+### NPC reuse
+I would avoid adding any new entities to the game without good reasons. When it comes
+to NPCs, one idea would be to resurrect and reuse NPCs that are dead from the start.
+
+### Prospect dominants
+* Science! Center (playful and mischievous)
+* Mysterious stranger (silent and service)
+* 81 overseer (strict and chastity)
+* Kellogg (PC as a pet, maybe a redemption arc)
+* Maybe one of the many doctors has a medical kink
+
+### World alive
+* make NPCs actually go out and do something, not just spawn generic patrols
+* slave trade independent of the player
+* make workshops populated
+* make NPCs run away from losing battles
+* hunting parties
+
+### Pony girls
+It's a rich idea in and out of itself, but I haven't developed it too much.
+It's possible to replace NPCs with other NPCs, there's already a mod that does that
+to select brahmin in the world.
+
+### RPG: rationalize character actions
+Just because the player wants to achieve something in-game doesn't mean the character
+does the same. There needs to be an intermediate step that explains WHY the PC does
+what she does. As an example, consider using internal dialogue to reflect on things
+and arrive at conclusions. "What do I want to do in the wasteland?" can have several
+options available depending on how the game went so far. This idea has parallels to
+Disco Elysium's thoughts internalization mechanic.
+
+### RPG: playing as a lawyer
+Being mostly useless in things that require hands leave us useful for things that
+require running your mouth. SS2 pokes at the law already, this idea does the same
+from a different perspective.
+
+### Game goal: opening a successful business
+Once again, you don't need hands to be a shrewd entrepreneur. There is a clear market
+niche for lewd enterprises, especially once corruption kicks in. Maybe some raiders
+need corrective labor, maybe a new pony express can generate profit? Running a kinky
+office can be entertaining on its own.
+
+### Helplessness as unique qualification
+The PC being visibly helpless can be exploited in-game by a cunning party to different
+ends. Infiltrating hostile environments? Straight up bait? In any case it's another
+possible answer to a question "so you're in restraints, now what?"
+
+### Pre-war DNA
+Another unique property of the PC is actually touched upon in the base game with USS
+Constitution crew recognizing the citizenship. This can be extended to all robots,
+making them non-hostile to the player. Feral ghouls can be given the same treatment,
+hand-waved away as detecting the PC as non-mutated pre-war specimen or something.
+Having less initially hostile factions opens the game up from just killing most of what
+moves into a more thoughtful sandbox, given some additional effort to fill it with
+meaningful content of course.
+
+### Just survival
+If nothing else, survival can be a convincing motivator. This needs to be developed
+way, way beyond the vanilla meters, but it can be done in an interesting way, having
+the player involved with basic mechanics and feeling small achievements for fulfilling
+immediate needs. Care should be taken, as it's extremely easy to balance poorly, making
+it a source of annoying busywork instead.
+
+### Party adventuring
+It could be fun to assemble a party to go on an adventure as a squad, the PC having
+some support role as well, a packing mule if nothing else. This of course raises the
+question as to why the party needs the player in the first place. Maybe as a guide?
+
+### Rogue-lite
+Starting the whole game over each time you die is not what most people would do. Still,
+it could be made to work to some extent, here's one example:
+
+* Upon death the PC wakes up somewhere with a semi-random explanation
+* Depending on some previous run metrics she gets buffs or de-buffs, this is
+  the hard part to rationalize and balance
+
+The main benefit would be to make the game seamless, without ever loading a save.
+Unlike the vanilla survival the game state isn't rolled back, the player doesn't lose
+any progress and any decisions they made will persist.
+
+### Mini-metro
+There's a whole genre of games that are about connecting dots on a map. It would be
+fun to make use of this trope, especially given we already have the supply lines
+mechanic we can hook into.
+
+### Clicker game
+If all else fails, it's still fun to make numbers go up. This is a rich idea, but I
+didn't explore it too deep, because ideally I would strive for something more
+meaningful than that. It can work on the side of anything else though.
+
+### Sub-personalities
+I like how they are done in Defenestration. There are many ways in which the PC's
+mind may start hosting some guests that can take over from time to time. Need
+to clear a location from enemies? Become the death incarnate, watch the screen go
+black and observe the results of a battle you didn't fight on your own. Something
+like that.
+
+### DREAMS
+Maybe the base game is boring, but a girl can dream. This gives an ability to make
+the game play a sharp contrast between phases where you don't necessarily control
+your environment and have to adjust, also giving room to role playing, as you get
+a license to not making much sense and not even caring about the lore consistency.
+Wanna play Skyrim inside your Fallout? Go nuts.
+
+### REVERSE DREAMS
+The same idea, but the base game is a persistent dream you have. You wake up in
+a completely different world you may craft however you please, completely
+independent of the established lore.
+
+### Miscellaneous
+* Given that the weather is hot, maybe PC can get a tan. Bonus points for tan lines.
+* Use https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Pommel_horse for lewd purposes.
+
+Modules
+-------
+I realize it's not that easy to cut clean across the mod lines, but I would try anyway.
+
+### Clothes gone
+Even if you can hand-wave away no industrial capacity of the wasteland, where does
+the cloth come from? I would eliminate most of the clothing from the game, only leaving
+it for factions that can be explained to have some, and items that can be made from
+the animal leather.
+
+### No loot
+Remove most of containers and loose items from uninhabited locations.
+
+### No ammo
+Remove most of the ammo and fusion cores from the game, guns from NPCs. Removing guns
+themselves would also be immersive, but is less obvious than ammo.
+
+### Main mod
+Clear inventory and handcuff PC after leaving 111, set up global variables. ESP may
+provide necessary overrides and new forms should some be required universally.
+
+### Vanilla quests made kinky
+There are so many ways in which vanilla quests suck... It would stand to reason to try
+and salvage something. Here are some ideas:
+
+#### Kid in a Fridge
+Billy is a teenager looking ghoul girl.
+
+#### Confidence Man
 * Scarlet turns into a dom and runs the bar, having V.B. sweep instead.
-	* ?Gunners boot camp?
+* Maybe she gets her confidence boost from a gunners boot camp or something.
-* Moves in with Travis, who gets to enjoy being her pet from now on.
+* She moves in with Travis, who gets to enjoy being her pet from now on.
 * Travis never gets the confidence boost.
 * Maybe some new radio bits.
 * Maybe adds to DC corruption levels.
 
-Prospect dominants
+#### Initial BoS quest line
-------------------
+P.D. died earlier and is replaced by a synth, covertly working on making BoS stay out
-* Duff+1 -> playful and mischievous
+of Boston. The whole quest line can be made into painful puns, as well as providing
-* Mysterious stranger -> silent and service
+a reason to leave PC armless.
-* 81 overseer -> strict and chastity
-* ?Kellogg? -> 
-* ?Curie? -> ?medical?
 
-Modules
+* Fire Support can be made about letting the other two go.
--------
+* Call to Arms can be made into chopping off PC's arms to make them be able to wear
-* Clothes gone: replace vanilla clothing with skimpy multi-slot items
+  power armor again.
-* No loot: remove most of containers and loose items
+* And so on.
-* No ammo: remove most of the ammo and fusion cores from the game, guns from NPCs
-* ?: remove items and handcuff PC on startup, set up global variables
-* ?: overhaul vanilla quests
-* ?: commonwealth ethics committee?
-* additional quests
 
+### Commonwealth Ethics Committee
+The wasteland doesn't make sense. Maybe there exists a shadow committee that aims
+to reconcile the factions in order to make it a place people can actually live in.
+The PC would be a useful asset in this project.
 
+This idea is quite far-fetching and deserves its own detailed investigation.
+For example I would make most raider groups non-hostile and give them believable
+backstories and individual agendas. The gunners deserve the same. The institute is
+written so poorly it needs a complete overhaul, but maybe 80% of work can be done
+with 20% of effort.
 
+### Additional quests
+The sky's the limit. Here are some ideas:
 
+* Actually go out and find mysterious stranger with Nick.
+* Vault 81 has a reproduction crisis. Overseer is ready for desperate measures.
+* Science! Center might be able to help with RH collars.
 
+Conclusion
+----------
+I realize that people who can mod are already busy with their own ideas. My only hope
+is to some day see a game I enjoy playing, and as much as I appreciate the modding
+scene and the wide variety of existing games, adult or otherwise, I always want more.
+In this document I have outlined some of my mind map, having thought about things
+for quite a while now, and I hope someone would be -- if nothing else -- entertained
+by its content.