Cute Knight Kingdom (sim/RPG, Win/Mac/Linux, commercial)

[Watersgirl]

Will there ever be a version of this game for Macintosh?

[papillon]

Probably someday. There are two different attempts going on to port it. But I don't know how long it will take to get either working well enough to sell, so I can't give any time estimate at all.

[squark]

I loved the original CKD (Still playing it...). And seeing as I only recently checked Hanako, I was interested to see a another CK game's been made.
Piqued my interest, so it did. Just as soon as I get my other affairs in order, this will have it's place on my compy as well, there's quite a bit more to it.
I mean, good god, I've still to get what may be considered the "True" end in the original - and yes, I realise there are any amount of true ends, but the one you probably started with in mind. That said, I'm left with quite a lot of ends to get. How did you find the time to pour such work into it?

Keep it up, loving it so far ^^

[papillon]

*grin* well, this IS my day job!

Coming up with possible endings is easy, trying to get a good balanced range of them is tougher. CKK I think may have leaned a little too far towards making all the endings require success, which can mean a lot of frustration for people just learning how to play. There's an expansion intended to come out in a while with a few new picture endings and several more variations for characters who weren't quite so successful in their careers. (The expansion will be free for people who bought the original at fullprice.)

Also hoping to have linux and mac versions out very shortly...

[dizzcity]

Really? I had the opposite problem, actually... It was relatively easy for me to get most of the endings which required successes, but after my... 10th playthrough or something, I just found it boring to slog through it again and again to get the lower-requirement endings. Nevertheless, it's a great game. I can't believe I haven't really commented on it before. I bought it within a week of its' release, and played it for nearly a month non-stop. Graphically, you've definitely improved (though I still prefer the pink-haired protagonist of the first Cute Knight to the green-haired one of the sequel). The new mechanic for expending physical or mental energy to succeed at work was brilliant, I thought. Very simple, yet captures the nature of each job brilliantly, and keeps the player occupied during the low-interactivity sections of the game. Very elegant game design, that. I sort of missed the variety of skills that the first CK offered, but I can see why it might be more appealing to the casual game crowd when you streamlined the jobs and skills for CK2. Would have loved more story segments and mini-events, but that's just speaking as a hardcore player who's definitely not your primary audience. Great job nonetheless, and can't wait for the expansion to come out.

-Dizzy-

[Esphirisa]

Hmm, well one thing I love about the game is that there's a whole range of endings to pursue, and plenty of (in-game) time to do so. I like finding out the cooking & crafting recipes, and hunting for the symbols. It's one of the best game I've ever played.

[rioka]

@ dizzycity

Yeah, it can get pretty repetitive and boring at times. I'm surprised no one as allowed the player to choose their ending yet. If you filled requirements to get x,y, or z job/ending - why not let the player choose their path? I would do it.

[papillon]

Well, balance is part of the challenge - managing to get X without getting more of Y instead. On a good runthrough you'll probably meet the minimum requirements for a whole bunch of endings (the minimums are often set very low!) but you'll have clearly spent most of your time on activities that lead towards one or two particular results.

One thing I am thinking about for the next one, though, is the ability to cut short a game without using a cheat code - so that you can say "Okay, I have built up these stats, what ending do I get now?" without having to wait until you run out of time/dream.

The flipside, allowing you to keep playing past the age limit because you haven't quite reached the end you're after, I'm more unsure of. It's supposedly one of the most popular things people do with cheats, to give themselves infinite time to build up. Perfectly reasonable thing to do. But since the amount of content and the balance is designed for a particular timeframe, I'm worried that if I give official sanction to extended time, people will complain that they can't have more stuff happen in that extra time.

[rioka]

One thing I am thinking about for the next one, though, is the ability to cut short a game without using a cheat code - so that you can say "Okay, I have built up these stats, what ending do I get now?" without having to wait until you run out of time/dream.

The flipside, allowing you to keep playing past the age limit because you haven't quite reached the end you're after, I'm more unsure of. It's supposedly one of the most popular things people do with cheats, to give themselves infinite time to build up. Perfectly reasonable thing to do. But since the amount of content and the balance is designed for a particular timeframe, I'm worried that if I give official sanction to extended time, people will complain that they can't have more stuff happen in that extra time.

The first one sounds like a good idea and I agree with you on the second. Most of the AAA games that have this feature, I find that it's great for a little bit but then I just can't stand it anymore :cough: Harvest Moon :cough: and just stop playing because I've done everything there is to do already.

[papillon]

We've finally put up Macintosh and Linux versions. Hopefully they work.

If you use Mac or Linux have a go at the demos and such at http://www.hanakogames.com/ckk.shtml and let me know if you find any problems.

[dizzcity]

One thing I am thinking about for the next one, though, is the ability to cut short a game without using a cheat code - so that you can say "Okay, I have built up these stats, what ending do I get now?" without having to wait until you run out of time/dream.

The flipside, allowing you to keep playing past the age limit because you haven't quite reached the end you're after, I'm more unsure of. It's supposedly one of the most popular things people do with cheats, to give themselves infinite time to build up. Perfectly reasonable thing to do. But since the amount of content and the balance is designed for a particular timeframe, I'm worried that if I give official sanction to extended time, people will complain that they can't have more stuff happen in that extra time.

The first one sounds like a good idea and I agree with you on the second. Most of the AAA games that have this feature, I find that it's great for a little bit but then I just can't stand it anymore :cough: Harvest Moon :cough: and just stop playing because I've done everything there is to do already.

I agree too about the first idea. Letting the player cut the game short ("deciding to settle") earlier is a good idea. For the second one... well, I personally prefer a fixed time period, because that forces me to focus and play efficiently. But what you could do is have a series of staggered "end points"... say, after the planned period is over, you still allow them to play, but prompt them every six months or so whether they want to end their game now. And if you wish, you could even impose a penalty (on Dream, let's say) for each time they choose to extend. I've seen Sid Meier's Pirates! do it that way... theoretically the player can retire any time after their first voyage, or choose to go on to another voyage. But since the player ages with time, it becomes harder and harder for him to use his skills effectively once he goes past 40, 50, 60 years of age. But that sort of system is predicated on having a final set of "victory points" that you can use to compare high scores against, not the endings system that you have currently. You're right about people complaining that there's nothing to do past the end, though... but then again, if there was, you've just shifted the planned end point of the game to later on.

-Dizzy-