Devious Devices - Laura's Bondage Shop (11-dec-2023) V3.43

[worik]

12 minutes ago, Laura 'Lokomootje' said:

Merry Christmas. ?

Mmhmng Gmphm! ?

[Laura]

21 minutes ago, worik said:

Mmhmng Gmphm! ?

Merry Mmhhffmas to you too.

[malvic]

I think the topic of "escape room" content is pretty interesting, the questions of what gameplay isn't unreasonable to add to a mod, what is actually interesting to play and what is interesting to play more than once aren't simple ones.

 

The conventional idea of starting bound in every way that one can be bound and escaping only when you're free of all items doesn't work that well. There is virtue to it in some regards, it'd be a great tutorial to devious devices as it would communicate how every piece can mess with the player, but I think its potential ends there. If you go into the event/quest/area/whatever already wearing devices, that could mess with things if not accounted for. And it doesn't strike me as particularly replayable. And it doesn't really contribute to a player's narrative as it's just an event where one became bound and then quickly unbound, the only ongoing narrative possible is if other characters can refer to your character as somebody who successfully completed "bondage challenge event".

 

Honestly I think the best sorta "escape room" content Devious Devices can manage to implement is already present in how they mesh into existing gameplay, especially when one's game has multiple DD mods in use.

Being locked in a collar while being stuck in a room and searching for a key to unlock it to progress the room's quest is far less interesting then say, wearing a collar and organically having to avoid towns and villages out of fear of being seen as an escaped slave and recaptured.

And being gagged in an experience that primarily serves to have each item unlocked sequentially isn't nearly as interesting as the meaningful impact of maybe opening a cursed loot chest early into a dungeon, being gagged and realizing that you're going to have to fight through the rest of the dungeon without the ability to shout.

etc.

 

The need and drive to remove devices already exists in the game well enough, I think. So rather than a segment that makes little fanfare of dressing up the character and showcases the removal of items in uninteresting ways, I think there is greater potential with making the dressing up part more of the gameplay. Or at least provide some interplay between different devices.

 

Sticking close to the original premise, I think the best execution might be to change the end state of the quest.

Say after being bound, said escape room/dungeon can be escaped while still wearing every DD item that a character can fit on themselves. Which is a pretty bad outcome. Gameplay could then come in how that outcome is minimized.

Each successful escape attempt could leave the player in a different position.

Perhaps in one run, a character successfully unbinds everything but a chastity belt. In another, all the character managed to remove was their gag. Perhaps they had to make a choice to remove their arm and leg binds, or their collar.

The gameplay of what to remove could present itself with a bunch of feints and options. Maybe a character gets a certain resource, a special coin they can insert into a chest to open it.

In the first room they can spend their one coin to get a key for restraints. Or they can save the coin and go into the next room(while being blocked from going back.) Maybe that was a good decision and they instead find two restraint keys. Or maybe it was a bad decision and that one restraint key was the only "free" key available in the dungeon.

etc.

 

Other than that, in the realm of challenges where the player is forced to take on different DD items there are possibilities like maybe a ghostly figure restricts access to the room with the best loot in a dungeon, only allowing you past if you appear like a slave(as in its ghostly senility it assumes that the player is there to clean or some other subservient task. In order to meet that requirement, the player has to find and equip a certain number of devices, leaving the availability of said devices in the dungeon as random, and giving the player some choice in what they're forced to equip.

 

Or you could reverse that and set up some sort of comedic heist, looting an ancient tomb they find the collection of devices a particularly lewd noble of ages past wore.

Perhaps the plugs are pure gold and could be melded down for considerable profit.

But there is some form of lingering security that can identify the player as a thief if they simply walk out with their hands full of very expensive, very naughty objects.

But the player may be able to escape detection my masquerading as that long dead noble by wearing the items out of the dungeon.

Pushing the comedy further you could just have a straight up heist challenge. You've an extremely rich character known for their very expensive device, the player is searched before entrance, and unable to take anything in with them other than the devices they're wearing(which the guards assume are deliberately not allowed to be removed, and allowing the player to bluff their way in as they can also assume "oh boy another pervert, I have no doubt the lady of the house ordered them over, let her through.").

Then once inside, the player must escape their belt and pull and indiana-jones swap, taking the duchess' very rare and expensive Soulgem-5000-Deluxe and leaving the plugs the player was wearing. The player then replaces their belt in order to conceal the stolen item and escape.

etc.

 

I could probably come up with more ideas but the post is pretty damn long already, and I might devolve into sillier and sillier concepts.

TL;DR: "Escape room" idea is nice, but I think the best execution is playing around with choosing between which and how few items the player escapes with, rather than just assuming "all of them". And that there is equal or more potential in reversing the concept and considering challenges that force the player to bind themselves to complete.

[cafziel]

On 12/25/2019 at 10:52 AM, Laura 'Lokomootje' said:

Merry Christmas. ?

Happy holidays and much fun with your new PC!

[Laura]

On 12/26/2019 at 2:29 AM, malvic said:

Spoiler

I think the topic of "escape room" content is pretty interesting, the questions of what gameplay isn't unreasonable to add to a mod, what is actually interesting to play and what is interesting to play more than once aren't simple ones.

 

The conventional idea of starting bound in every way that one can be bound and escaping only when you're free of all items doesn't work that well. There is virtue to it in some regards, it'd be a great tutorial to devious devices as it would communicate how every piece can mess with the player, but I think its potential ends there. If you go into the event/quest/area/whatever already wearing devices, that could mess with things if not accounted for. And it doesn't strike me as particularly replayable. And it doesn't really contribute to a player's narrative as it's just an event where one became bound and then quickly unbound, the only ongoing narrative possible is if other characters can refer to your character as somebody who successfully completed "bondage challenge event".

 

Honestly I think the best sorta "escape room" content Devious Devices can manage to implement is already present in how they mesh into existing gameplay, especially when one's game has multiple DD mods in use.

Being locked in a collar while being stuck in a room and searching for a key to unlock it to progress the room's quest is far less interesting then say, wearing a collar and organically having to avoid towns and villages out of fear of being seen as an escaped slave and recaptured.

And being gagged in an experience that primarily serves to have each item unlocked sequentially isn't nearly as interesting as the meaningful impact of maybe opening a cursed loot chest early into a dungeon, being gagged and realizing that you're going to have to fight through the rest of the dungeon without the ability to shout.

etc.

 

The need and drive to remove devices already exists in the game well enough, I think. So rather than a segment that makes little fanfare of dressing up the character and showcases the removal of items in uninteresting ways, I think there is greater potential with making the dressing up part more of the gameplay. Or at least provide some interplay between different devices.

 

Sticking close to the original premise, I think the best execution might be to change the end state of the quest.

Say after being bound, said escape room/dungeon can be escaped while still wearing every DD item that a character can fit on themselves. Which is a pretty bad outcome. Gameplay could then come in how that outcome is minimized.

Each successful escape attempt could leave the player in a different position.

Perhaps in one run, a character successfully unbinds everything but a chastity belt. In another, all the character managed to remove was their gag. Perhaps they had to make a choice to remove their arm and leg binds, or their collar.

The gameplay of what to remove could present itself with a bunch of feints and options. Maybe a character gets a certain resource, a special coin they can insert into a chest to open it.

In the first room they can spend their one coin to get a key for restraints. Or they can save the coin and go into the next room(while being blocked from going back.) Maybe that was a good decision and they instead find two restraint keys. Or maybe it was a bad decision and that one restraint key was the only "free" key available in the dungeon.

etc.

 

Other than that, in the realm of challenges where the player is forced to take on different DD items there are possibilities like maybe a ghostly figure restricts access to the room with the best loot in a dungeon, only allowing you past if you appear like a slave(as in its ghostly senility it assumes that the player is there to clean or some other subservient task. In order to meet that requirement, the player has to find and equip a certain number of devices, leaving the availability of said devices in the dungeon as random, and giving the player some choice in what they're forced to equip.

 

Or you could reverse that and set up some sort of comedic heist, looting an ancient tomb they find the collection of devices a particularly lewd noble of ages past wore.

Perhaps the plugs are pure gold and could be melded down for considerable profit.

But there is some form of lingering security that can identify the player as a thief if they simply walk out with their hands full of very expensive, very naughty objects.

But the player may be able to escape detection my masquerading as that long dead noble by wearing the items out of the dungeon.

Pushing the comedy further you could just have a straight up heist challenge. You've an extremely rich character known for their very expensive device, the player is searched before entrance, and unable to take anything in with them other than the devices they're wearing(which the guards assume are deliberately not allowed to be removed, and allowing the player to bluff their way in as they can also assume "oh boy another pervert, I have no doubt the lady of the house ordered them over, let her through.").

Then once inside, the player must escape their belt and pull and indiana-jones swap, taking the duchess' very rare and expensive Soulgem-5000-Deluxe and leaving the plugs the player was wearing. The player then replaces their belt in order to conceal the stolen item and escape.

etc.

 

I could probably come up with more ideas but the post is pretty damn long already, and I might devolve into sillier and sillier concepts.

TL;DR: "Escape room" idea is nice, but I think the best execution is playing around with choosing between which and how few items the player escapes with, rather than just assuming "all of them". And that there is equal or more potential in reversing the concept and considering challenges that force the player to bind themselves to complete.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. It would take a long time to plan, but they sound really interesting.

 

 

 

21 hours ago, cafziel said:

Happy holidays and much fun with your new PC!

Thank you.

[Chilen]

Thank you for this mod, it is great.

I enjoyed doing your quest line, just finished it today. Can't wait to see how it ends.

 

Happy Holidays and have a great new year!

 

 

[Laura]

14 hours ago, Chilen said:

Thank you for this mod, it is great.

I enjoyed doing your quest line, just finished it today. Can't wait to see how it ends.

 

Happy Holidays and have a great new year!

Thank you so much.

 

A great new year to you too.

[Clockwinding]

The quest "blending in" after "what she deserves" is the most fun i've had in quite some time doing quests. I wish it had some replay value, it was so enjoyable!

 

Can't wait for your next update.

[Laura]

5 hours ago, Clockwinding said:

The quest "blending in" after "what she deserves" is the most fun i've had in quite some time doing quests. I wish it had some replay value, it was so enjoyable!

 

Can't wait for your next update.

Thank so you much. That means a lot.

[Kirre1000]

Thank you for creating this mod. I love quest mods where is makes sense you get tied up and it's nicely incorporated with what tasks you have to complete. Not just "Kill this dragon... with an armbinder on" Keep up the great work!

[neosuduno]

Any news on how close the next release is? I am really looking forward to it.

 

[worik]

A technical question:

A few weeks ago, I reported that the dialogue with 27 was not blocking other non-quest dialogues anymore at a certain stage.

 

Now I try to find out how to do exactly that: block all other dialogues except the ones from my own mod. ?

I tried to find it by having a look into your BI quest and in the 27 NPC but failed to get any smarter 

[Laura]

21 hours ago, Kirre1000 said:

Thank you for creating this mod. I love quest mods where is makes sense you get tied up and it's nicely incorporated with what tasks you have to complete. Not just "Kill this dragon... with an armbinder on" Keep up the great work!

Thank you so much. I put a lot of time and thought in my quests, so hearing this makes me really happy.

 

 

 

19 hours ago, neosuduno said:

Any news on how close the next release is? I am really looking forward to it.

I can't tell you exactly when it will be ready because it's too early to tell. I'm currently working on it in the CK, so the planning phase is done. My PC crapping itself was a setback though.

I'm also using new features I haven't used before, which could mean that it takes a lot of trial-and-error to get it working.

This update did take a lot longer to plan because it's a repeatable quest update, but that also means that actually adding it in the CK doesn't take as long.

 

I post monthly progress updates on my Patreon by the way. They're not Patreon exclusive so you can keep an eye on it if you want.

 

 

 

5 hours ago, worik said:

A technical question:

A few weeks ago, I reported that the dialogue with 27 was not blocking other non-quest dialogues anymore at a certain stage.

 

Now I try to find out how to do exactly that: block all other dialogues except the ones from my own mod. ?

I tried to find it by having a look into your BI quest and in the 27 NPC but failed to get any smarter 

When there is no dialogue set for an actor in a certain stage, they use their default dialogue. They'll use the default lines with voice acting, which can be weird because we don't use voice actors in our mods. But it can get problematic when dialogue from other mods show up.

You'll want to add blocking dialogue for that actor for all stages of the quest. Even the ones where they don't have dialogue needed for the quest.

It looks something like this:

 

You'll have to makes sure that the branch is set as Blocking if you want it to have priority over other dialogue. Which you'll have to do to make it block other dialogue.

This means that the blocking dialogue needs it's own branch.

 

This tells the game when it to use this dialogue. 27 has dialogue for the quest at stage 230, so this dialogue makes sure that she says "You look fun" whenever the player talks with her before that.

 

Also, not shown on the screenshot but also very important. Make sure that your quest has a high priority. Some other mods also use blocking dialogue, so setting your quest priority to 100 makes sure your dialogue wins.

 

Note: Only do this when the other dialogue would break your quest. You don't want to block regular dialogue from a vanilla actor. My quests mostly use custom actors so I can do whatever I want, but it's usually not a good idea to block a vanilla actor's dialogue because you don't want to keep the player from trading or something.

 

I don't know if mine is the best solution, but it works.

[worik]

1 hour ago, Laura 'Lokomootje' said:

I don't know if mine is the best solution, but it works.

Very good explanation Thank you!

So, e.g. the bug that I reported could be easily fixed by shifting the logic in the condition from the first line to be also true after the 230 stage with the dirty distraction scene. Right?

[Laura]

17 hours ago, worik said:

Very good explanation Thank you!

So, e.g. the bug that I reported could be easily fixed by shifting the logic in the condition from the first line to be also true after the 230 stage with the dirty distraction scene. Right?

I haven't looked at it yet because I fix things like that at the end. But it probably has something to do with the player not being gagged.

Removing the gagged condition could fix it if it's not needed. Adding another blocking dia for when the player isn't gagged could also fix it.

[magnet7]

Love this mod also have an idea for a quest line where you run into the theif from the earlier quest and using the potion shed stolen before she forces you to assist in her robberies in a series of bound quests maybe sticking a special soul gem encrusted device onto you to ensure you don't reveal her involvement or try to escape without some form of consequence.

 

one could be where she sneaks you in as a servant for a party (locked in a few restraints) where while she goes about acting normal your forced to break into a vault within the mannor, having to undergo various minor tasks to help get either yourself or her into the vault. 

 

Another mini thing could be for you to actually have to take something from Laura's shop having to butter her up to get into the back room through different means (such as maybe modeling new restraints for her.

 

 

[CovertDemon]

Would there be plans on letting the player pick which gag will Laura use on the Dragonborn when we're doing the "Get tied up for free" special offer?

[neosuduno]

Happy New Year!

[PubliusNV]

I've had this mod in my load order for quite a while, but this latest playthrough is the first one where I've done the What She Deserves and the Blending In quests.  I can't believe how well done and bug free they were! Congratulations on a job very well done!

[Chilen]

4 hours ago, PubliusNV said:

I've had this mod in my load order for quite a while, but this latest playthrough is the first one where I've done the What She Deserves and the Blending In quests.  I can't believe how well done and bug free they were! Congratulations on a job very well done!

I agree, this mod is the smoothest mod I have used. Most mod miss up for me, this hasn't

[Laura]

On 12/31/2019 at 10:47 PM, magnet7 said:

Love this mod also have an idea for a quest line where you run into the theif from the earlier quest and using the potion shed stolen before she forces you to assist in her robberies in a series of bound quests maybe sticking a special soul gem encrusted device onto you to ensure you don't reveal her involvement or try to escape without some form of consequence.

 

one could be where she sneaks you in as a servant for a party (locked in a few restraints) where while she goes about acting normal your forced to break into a vault within the mannor, having to undergo various minor tasks to help get either yourself or her into the vault. 

 

Another mini thing could be for you to actually have to take something from Laura's shop having to butter her up to get into the back room through different means (such as maybe modeling new restraints for her.

That could be really fun. Thanks.

 

 

 

On 1/1/2020 at 4:34 AM, CovertDemon said:

Would there be plans on letting the player pick which gag will Laura use on the Dragonborn when we're doing the "Get tied up for free" special offer?

No, but this shouldn't be too hard.

 

 

 

21 hours ago, neosuduno said:

Happy New Year!

Happy new year. ?

 

 

 

11 hours ago, PubliusNV said:

I've had this mod in my load order for quite a while, but this latest playthrough is the first one where I've done the What She Deserves and the Blending In quests.  I can't believe how well done and bug free they were! Congratulations on a job very well done!

Thank you so much. That means a lot.

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Chilen said:

I agree, this mod is the smoothest mod I have used. Most mod miss up for me, this hasn't

That's great to hear.

[Rylalei]

May I make a suggestion for when your quests are fully done?

 

During the Locked Away, you can reply to Laura with "yes master" and that made me think a bit of an extra "secret" ending to your quests.

 

- If you completed Locked Away at least once and refused to take money from Laura during before you complete the final quest, along using the "No problem, I liked it" during What She Deserves, after the final quest, you can ask Laura if she'd like to accept you as her slave, after a bit of thinking, she asks if you're sure, accept, and Laura then says you can stop whenever you want.

 

While being Laura's slave, you're permanently belted by Locked Away, while obviously not receiving money. Before belting you, Laura would say something like "since you liked it so much, I will put this belt back on you". And well, all that would happen is that she would keep sending you after cursed devices, when you complete one run, another starts right away, and as a last thing, if the game timer is between 8 PM and 7 AM when you finish talking to Laura or generally in the shop when the timer hits 8 PM, Laura will lock you in the cage for the night until 8 AM.

 

What I mean with the cage is that if you're in the shop and the clock turns 8, Laura will tell you it's time to go to sleep and sends you to the cage, can have a script do it, or if you're not in the shop when 8 PM comes, but you enter and talk to Laura, her end reply would be "ok, all done, but now it's time for you to sleep, so go in the cage" or something like that.

 

Also, as an extra ending, it could be a "fail" type ending system where you have just an opportunity to do something in the final quest, and if you fail that thing, Laura doesn't get that perfect girl to send to Sloan, and Laura gets upset that now she doesn't have who to send so she has to go herself, then you get the reply prompt to say a few dialogue options (of course, all being the only option), something like, after Laura claims that she'll go close the shop, you get the prompt "I can't let you do that, I'll go instead", she says that she can't let an innocent girl go there after all you've did to help her, and your next prompt is "You tried your best to save those girls, the world needs you more as there's more people to save", her reply would be something related how she couldn't do it without you, so the final prompt would be "You still have Katarina to help you, so let me go".

 

But I'm not sure how that could be implemented, as you'd need either something akin to Maria Eden or something like https://www.loverslab.com/topic/112383-more-xdff-rules-for-deviously-cursed-loot-version/?tab=comments#comment-2449758

 

 

I think it would be nice to have, but that would be your choice.

 

Anyway, all the best with the mod, as it's quite a cute one.

[Laura]

19 hours ago, Rylalei said:

May I make a suggestion for when your quests are fully done?

 

During the Locked Away, you can reply to Laura with "yes master" and that made me think a bit of an extra "secret" ending to your quests.

 

- If you completed Locked Away at least once and refused to take money from Laura during before you complete the final quest, along using the "No problem, I liked it" during What She Deserves, after the final quest, you can ask Laura if she'd like to accept you as her slave, after a bit of thinking, she asks if you're sure, accept, and Laura then says you can stop whenever you want.

 

While being Laura's slave, you're permanently belted by Locked Away, while obviously not receiving money. Before belting you, Laura would say something like "since you liked it so much, I will put this belt back on you". And well, all that would happen is that she would keep sending you after cursed devices, when you complete one run, another starts right away, and as a last thing, if the game timer is between 8 PM and 7 AM when you finish talking to Laura or generally in the shop when the timer hits 8 PM, Laura will lock you in the cage for the night until 8 AM.

 

What I mean with the cage is that if you're in the shop and the clock turns 8, Laura will tell you it's time to go to sleep and sends you to the cage, can have a script do it, or if you're not in the shop when 8 PM comes, but you enter and talk to Laura, her end reply would be "ok, all done, but now it's time for you to sleep, so go in the cage" or something like that.

Something like this wouldn't really fit in my mod. I want to keep mine playfull and friendly.

If I do this, I'll want it to be like a roleplay or something. I don't like to force the player.

 

19 hours ago, Rylalei said:

Also, as an extra ending, it could be a "fail" type ending system where you have just an opportunity to do something in the final quest, and if you fail that thing, Laura doesn't get that perfect girl to send to Sloan, and Laura gets upset that now she doesn't have who to send so she has to go herself, then you get the reply prompt to say a few dialogue options (of course, all being the only option), something like, after Laura claims that she'll go close the shop, you get the prompt "I can't let you do that, I'll go instead", she says that she can't let an innocent girl go there after all you've did to help her, and your next prompt is "You tried your best to save those girls, the world needs you more as there's more people to save", her reply would be something related how she couldn't do it without you, so the final prompt would be "You still have Katarina to help you, so let me go".

 

But I'm not sure how that could be implemented, as you'd need either something akin to Maria Eden or something like https://www.loverslab.com/topic/112383-more-xdff-rules-for-deviously-cursed-loot-version/?tab=comments#comment-2449758

 

 

I think it would be nice to have, but that would be your choice.

 

Anyway, all the best with the mod, as it's quite a cute one.

Thanks for the suggestion. Sorry for the short reply, but I don't want to spoil it.

[MadWhitWolf]

Laura, have an idea. What if after a player finds that “Ideal Girl” and after an offer she goes to Sloan, she will say that she wants to stay with the player? 

Maybe she likes the company of the player and she wants to stay with him? 

[Laura]

4 minutes ago, MadWhitWolf said:

Laura, have an idea. What if after a player finds that “Ideal Girl” and after an offer she goes to Sloan, she will say that she wants to stay with the player? 

Maybe she likes the company of the player and she wants to stay with him? 

A submissive follower? That could be fun to make, but there's no shortage of other follower mods. I do have something like that planned. It could take a while though.