Esoteric Update #139 - Help Needed, And New Clothing

Well, today, the update will be a little bit different. Mainly by the end, if you could, I'd ask you to check what that's about and judge if you might be interested.

Now, for the lore:

Lore: A Modern Day Haunting
Lore: Libro Inferorum

Like I said during the last update, the passing week was rather hand for me. Still managed to get some good work done, though. So first off, the least interesting thing, I did continue to work on the dynamic paragraphs, just implementing useful things that I can have on hand for the future.

The rest of the update focuses on clothing. So I've almost finished implementing corsets. I just need to actually test the items. But the more important thing is that I've introduced a few more mechanics to clothing. There's really two of them. The first makes it possible to create transparent items that inherit some of their stats from the article underneath, making various combinations involving layering clothing more viable. The second is body modelling items, right now heels and corsets, that apply bonuses/maluses even when they are not visible. Both also received icons that show up on the item description:

(The heart with a downward pointing arrow indicates a transparent item)

(The chevron indicates that this item has body modelling qualities)

Dolly will be slowly working on some new items as well. I've already received texts for some transparent tops using the mechanics described above, and we'll probably be implementing fishnet gloves and stockings.

Now, to the final part of this post.

E♥E could always use some help. But what kind of people could help the game and in what ways? Some of the points you might find surprising. Also, keep in mind that we're likely looking for someone that can fill multiple roles, as there is a lot of overlap between them. It's not as helpful for us to have a new writer as it is to have a new writer-programmer, for example.

1) Programmer

While the game does not need any more full-time programmers (thank you, but I'm doing fine, it's generally not the programming works that slows me down), general knowledge of coding can come in handy in other places too.

2) HTML Designer

There's a lot of content in E♥E that relies on HTML for presentation. While the general framework for most things is done, there are specific other bits that could still use work from an HTML Designer. Books, websites and the laptop/phone, in general, are still in need of polish or expansion.

3) Writer

The bulk of E♥E's content is not written in a traditional way, more on that in a moment, but that doesn't mean we have no use for conventional writing. There's always something that needs a bit of work and often doesn't require technical knowledge to understand. There are also places for content that is specifically written that way. The true heart of how the game works is the grammar syntax. Somewhere between writing, programming and markup, it's what generates the text for the game. It offers an easy way to add little bits of variability to the text for someone more familiar with conventional writing. But the ceiling of what it can do is pretty high, and there's a whole spectrum of different applications for it, ranging in difficulty. It's not something we expect people to know how to do, but more so, we're asking for people interested in learning how to operate a system of this kind and how to do modular writing.

4) Editor

No text is perfect or can't be improved. Editing is an essential step in the writing process; someone else looking at the text for what it is and not for what the writer thinks it is. However, as a lot of the writing is unconventional, the role of the editor changes too. In many cases, it's not about improving sentences as much as spotting issue in the generation process and helping the writer resolve them.

5) Designer

Before content is implemented, it has to be fleshed out in its design phase. There are many aspects to the game that require planning and thought before they can be fully executed. People who can crunch some math, draw some diagrams, and play with the gameplay mechanics and see what can come from them are also welcome.

6) Researcher

A bizarre thing to find on a listing like this, but E♥E is a weird game like that. Sometimes things need to be researched, in-depth even, discussed, fact-checked, etc. It deals with the occult, mythology, religion, psychology, history and myriad other things. And we want to be at least as accurate as we can when representing them, even if it's through the lens of the setting.

Unfortunately, as it stands, the game barely pays for itself in terms of tool cost and taxes, and I cannot offer any monetary compensation. I'm not looking to hire anyone; I'm looking for collaborators. Just people who think this game is a worthwhile pursuit and would like to contribute and be part of it.

If you'd find yourself interested, you can contact me through Discord; the link is available in a few places, including the game.