Spoiler alert: Unless you have a specialized team with a botanist worth their mettle, it may not end well! However, a team with good knowledge and instincts plus a veteran botanist could have some success in tracking down the relative of that rich benefactor who knocked on your doors!**
Original Post: It's fun to venture forth and risk life and limb with giant preds that would make a snack out of you whenever they can, but what about playing a background role to some of those adventures?
If you're not familiar with Felarya, it is Karbo's brainchild, a world absolutely full of vore and epic stories. If you want to learn more about it: http://www.felarya.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
If you somehow haven't stumbled across Karbo's works, he is unbelievably talented. In my opinion, the #1 vore artist around: https://aryion.com/g4/user/Karbo
Because it was mentioned, I mentioned this idea to Karbo before I made any kind of post here, and he gave me the green light to give it my best shot.
Anyways, my idea is for you to run an establishment in Negav, the city you could consider to be the capital city in Felarya for anyone who isn't a giant pred. Despite the numerous extreme dangers in the wild, some still dare to venture and explore the Felaryan wilderness in search of riches, artifacts, or pure thrill. You could consider them to have a deathwish, but it's what they enjoy.
Your establishment operates in multiple ways. Early on, you would hire teams to explore nearby zones like the Great Diamond Mines in search of valuable like diamonds or pyralite (a mineral with magical properties). You make a down payment on their contract with you, and when (if) they return with their loot, you pay them for the rest of what they collected. You can then sell your treasures for profit.
There are many ways to expand your business. Greater profits and an increased reputation unlock the potential to hire teams with greater capabilities and even mercenaries to attach to those teams to give them boosts and cover their weaknesses, like sending a mercenary with high knowledge with a team that has low knowledge but high stats in other areas. You can also purchase equipment or have it created with your loot, like improved weapons or mining kits to help your teams survive more and collect even more loot.
There will eventually be more options than merely sending teams in search of treasure. For example, the city of Negav could hear of your success and contract you to send a team with a group of their miners to harvest eidoron rocks that the city needs. Someone could also approach with an offer to pay you to locate some sign of their loved one who went into the Grove of Carnivorous Plants in search of thrills but hasn't returned, for one example. In that case, bringing back their loved one or proof of their fate to help their loved one find closure would net you a reward, plus any loot they may stumble across over there (that is, loot from other digested adventurers).
I have more ideas to expand upon, but wanted to test the waters here and see what people think of this game concept. I've already created a simple java program that sends a group into the Great Diamond Mines where they could potentially be attacked by harpies or a shadow fish. The group size and attributes can be adjusted, as well as the probability that they encounter dangers. Some exhibitions, high in mining skill and who have lucky RNG, return with minerals worth well over 10,000 SK (Skevols, the currency in Negav), but a small percentage of groups don't ever return, being devoured instead, leaving you at a loss.
I will admit that a shortcoming of this game is the visuals. Even with a full interface, you wouldn't venture into the wilds to see the vore for yourself. The most I can imagine is having a short animation that you can view, depicting how your team lost some adventurers on their trip.
I'm a complete novice in java and coding, however, so don't know where I could even share that program as proof of concept. If someone knows how I could do that, has questions about my idea, or possibly is interested in helping make this game a reality, you are more than welcome to comment on the thread or send me a DM.
** EDIT **
I finished a crude setup where you can view a team with random attributes and the cost to hire them, send them forth on a mining exhibition, and see how they did after they return (IF they return
). Screenshots are attached.I would like to add a LOT to this including hiring individual mercenaries to supplement a team, buy equipment to aid your team (boost their attributes), and unlock other areas for you to send teams, but this is at least a beginning.
The screenshots are purely text-based, but you can see the results of the exhibition. I will summarize them if it helps:
I hired a team of 11 adventurers for 1,538 Skevols up front and 326 Skevols due for each returning member after the trip.
Nine of them were devoured. Three by a harpy, and six by a shadow fish inside the cave.
Of course, because nine of them didn't make it back, they didn't need to get paid, which means low costs for my guild. That, coupled with my luck of the survivors finding diamonds and pyralite which they agreed to return to me, means I had a big payday!
Sadly, I still don't know how to export this program in a way where it can be easily shared. If anyone has experience sharing java code like that, please help, because I can't figure it out.
