Ren'Py Heavy Five [Ch.2RS] [Nottravis]

[Akamari]

Yeah that is the point you should not just add cause of requests, but you also should not take out parts of the story, since you might offend some people. Both are in a way equally as bad, the only thing we can ask of a writer is to tell the story they want to tell. Up to us then if we wish to follow that story or not.

I disagree a bit. I think having patrons participate in the development is not a bad thing. However, they shouldn't take over.

 

[frap]

You could try rendering the elements separately and then use an image editor (gimp, photoshop, paint.net) to merge the renders. For example: each character on a transparent layer, then the scenery. Only issue would be the lighting...

Yeah, scenery is where it craps out for me - tried to render a room, killed it after 9 hours and still having only a grainy mess. Whatevs - I can still set scenes up, including lights and cameras, do some small spot test renders for levels and tuck them away for when I build a render box.

But enough of that - what's the latest from Thea? Is she still terrorizing Patreon or has she moved on to another target?

Wait, am I Thea Lundgren and don't know it? I have derailed the thread a bit without meaning to, or did I mean to?

 

[frap]

Yeah that is the point you should not just add cause of requests, but you also should not take out parts of the story, since you might offend some people.
...

I disagree a bit. I think having patrons participate in the development is not a bad thing. However, they shouldn't take over.

I think Notty hit a good balance here - patrons can vote on side content - the story is already set.

Keeps the patrons engaged and involved and doesn't dilute her vision for the story.

 

[TheDevian]

I disagree a bit. I think having patrons participate in the development is not a bad thing. However, they shouldn't take over.

Yeah, you want them to be an active participant, but a good dev, with a vision, should have their plan, and the supporters only influence minor things, like someone's new outfit, or the name of a ship, or whatever.

Even if you are letting them vote on which character gets the next update, you need to limit it, if someone just got an update, then you can't put them on the next few polls. You have to spread the love around.

Yeah, scenery is where it craps out for me - tried to render a room, killed it after 9 hours and still having only a grainy mess. Whatevs - I can still set scenes up, including lights and cameras, do some small spot test renders for levels and tuck them away for when I build a render box.

But enough of that - what's the latest from Thea? Is she still terrorizing Patreon or has she moved on to another target?

Wait, am I Thea Lundgren and don't know it? I have derailed the thread a bit without meaning to, or did I mean to?

You might look into the denoiser under filters, it can take a bit longer, but you can turn down the quality to make up for that, and get a better result sometimes. Play with your settings, I am sure you can do better than that.

 

[Akamari]

Even if you are letting them vote on which character gets the next update, you need to limit it, if someone just got an update, then you can't put them on the next few polls. You have to spread the love around.

Oh, I hate that approach. I quit one game just because my favourite girl wasn't popular enough and lost several polls in a row. When she finally got an update, I didn't care anymore.

 

[Huitieme]

I disagree a bit. I think having patrons participate in the development is not a bad thing. However, they shouldn't take over.

I think Notty hit a good balance here - patrons can vote on side content - the story is already set.

Keeps the patrons engaged and involved and doesn't dilute her vision for the story.

Exactly, having patrons decide on side or optional content is all good, but if you let them takeover a good part of your story points or your pacing, you've kinda failed as a dev. I could mention quite a few games that lost their appeal because patrons insisted on content that even the dev hadn't plan. One of these dev even admitted that this system made him stop working on the game, which is sad.

Feedbacks on the story and polls are a good thing, but before starting your game, you should have at least a fairly advanced idea to where you wanna go. For example, when I write, I usually have the big picture in my head and quite a few key scenes that WILL be implemented. Then, if I have interesting new ideas during production, I try to work it into the scenario. If it blends, that's good, if it doesn't, I write it down for another project.

As for Notty, she told us several times already that the story was planned well in advance, and you can't not believe her when she mention that X event will blow our mind in chapter 5. This gets us to trust her because we know that she won't be pulling some event out of her ass at the last minute that will negate all she layed out until then. The way she does polls is great because of that: polls for the additional content (bored pilot, scarlet pirate) or poll for some of the side events (which sexual acts would be the most interesting with this character, should I make Mike a gay love interest, etc.). Results to these polls won't change the overall plot. That's the best thing with a dev who loves her story and her characters, you've got a sense of direction.

 

[I'm Not Thea Lundgren!]

The good news is, you don't really need a beast of a render machine (like some try to make you believe at the DAZ forums). Notty's been rendering on a 4 or 5 year old videocard. A few months ago, I was actually rendering on my CPU, which is REALLY slow. Don't bother with SLI, everything points to NVidia phasing it out anyway. A new RTX2080Ti is better than an RTX2070, yes. But that 2070 which costs less than half as much is sufficiently fast for most people (including professionals!) already.

So are you telling me the quad GV100 system I have picked out is a bit of overkill?

 

[Akamari]

poll for some of the side events (which sexual acts would be the most interesting with this character, should I make Mike a gay love interest, etc.). Results to these polls won't change the overall plot. That's the best thing with a dev who loves her story and her characters, you've got a sense of direction.

Yep, the most important thing about her patron-chosen content is that all the options are options Notty wants to make. So, the result can't be wrong.

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

I think Notty hit a good balance here - patrons can vote on side content - the story is already set.

Keeps the patrons engaged and involved and doesn't dilute her vision for the story.

Yes. I also believe this is the best approach for a game like this, instead of letting the patrons deciding how the story progress (cough,cough... Icstor ). This way it ensures the main plot doesn't drag.

 

[Dripping]

So are you telling me the quad GV100 system I have picked out is a bit of overkill?

Well, unless you plan to do 3+ minute animations at 4k resolutions: probably.
But if you can afford it, then, hell why not?
For the avarage adult games it's still overkill though, but I guess it's convenient when even a large and complex render takes less than 10 minutes.

 

[I'm Not Thea Lundgren!]

Well, unless you plan to do 3+ minute animations at 4k resolutions: probably.
But if you can afford it, then, hell why not?
For the avarage adult games it's still overkill though, but I guess it's convenient when even a large and complex render takes less than 10 minutes.

Okay, I'll tone it down a bit; what about this one?

You must be registered to see the links

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

So are you telling me the quad GV100 system I have picked out is a bit of overkill?

You probably won't need a new computer for the next ~4 years.

 

[TheDevian]

Oh, I hate that approach. I quit one game just because my favourite girl wasn't popular enough and lost several polls in a row. When she finally got an update, I didn't care anymore.

Well, I don't really approve of it, but I was saying IF they do that, then they need to make sure that the same people do not keep winning, one way to do that, is to remove anyone who wins for several polls. That said, as the dev, it is your responsibility to make sure that none of your characters fall through the cracks like that. I am sitting in the same boat on a game I have already dropped, and a friend of mine is still waiting, his girl has not been picked, and likely won't for at least another year.

Okay, I'll tone it down a bit; what about this one?

You must be registered to see the links

Well, to be honest, I am not a fan of Samsung or Corsair. Also you will also need to keep in mind that if you get an ATI video card, you will not be able to use iRay on the card, so the card will be useless to you for that. Need to get an Nvidea for iRay.

If price is no object, then intel is better, but if funds are limited, you can get a more powerful CPU with AMD for the same price.

64 gig of ram, you will definitely want for daz if you can afford it, I have 32, and trying to render more than 3 people in a scene uses all my ram to prepare to render. Make sure your board is rated to take the ram you are ordering, and also make sure you get the fastest ram your MB can take. If you can, I would suggest Kingston ram, they are the best...

That looks like it will be a nice cooling system, which is critical for this stuff now days.

Asus is a good brand...

The monitor is less important, but the faster the refresh rate, the easier it will be on your eyes for long sittings.

 

[I'm Not Thea Lundgren!]

Well, to be honest, I am not a fan of Samsung or Corsair. Also you will also need to keep in mind that if you get an ATI video card, you will not be able to use iRay on the card, so the card will be useless to you for that. Need to get an Nvidea for iRay.
That looks like it will be a nice cooling system, which is critical for this stuff now days.

The only thing Corsair is the case, I like that case, plenty of room for cooling!
I've never had a problem with Samsung SSDs, that's why I chose them.
The cards in that system are nVidia, almost top of the range, only GV100 are higher spec, but don't appear on the partpicker website.

64 gig of ram, you will definitely want for daz if you can afford it, I have 32, and trying to render more than 3 people in a scene uses all my ram to prepare to render. Make sure your board is rated to take the ram you are ordering, and also make sure you get the fastest ram your MB can take. If you can, I would suggest Kingston ram, they are the best...

That system has 1TB of ECC RAM, so I don't think that'll be the bottleneck

Asus is a good brand...

Yeppers, the motherboard is Asus.

The monitor is less important, but the faster the refresh rate, the easier it will be on your eyes for long sittings.

I wasn't sure about 3x 27" Monitors side by side or 2x 49" Ultrawide Monitors stacked on top of each other.

BTW, I've worked in IT for 30 years, I've built a system or two.

 

[Decent Guy]

You turn up for the promise of a square jawed gall with a face speaking to inadequacy and a plot at least marginally better than the average... then you get 'Yes, Prime Ministered'.

Humans desire eroticism, but we need narrative. Our brains are built to structure and sequence events such that we can understand them. Our perception is rarely veridical but instead is built to form a cogent world for us to situate ourselves in. So when one finds themselves looking for the erotic on an online site whose colour scheme alone gurantees you wouldn't dare share it with your mother, finding a piece of work of this quality is surprising.

When one then goes further to visit the thread to which the games authour attends and finds an articulate defense of strict adherance to a writer's contract with it's audience in order not to compromise the story for a baffled face preceeding a euphoric face and an 'x' button, then surprsing becomes perspective altering.

This game may well be the first I recomend to someone, regardless of source. I have great respect for those whose self -assuredness allows them to be candid about their intrests here but I, before this game, couldn't imagine sharing my experiences with anyone. Now, I would in a heartbeat, because now I have a game that if you play sincerely, (and I do try my best to) is of suffcient quallity that I can easily situate myself in the narrative. Some characters are strange, and some dialogue surreal, but the core cast could all pass the Turing test so far. I feel more could be done (subtly) with dead time so one's relationships with the cast feels less accelerated but none of this matters, because I am in the story. Once I am here, the game becomes about me (if you can't tell by my verbosity, ofc I am egocentric :3). I am not asking 'how do I see a screen', I am asking, 'what would I do?' Let no one ignore the desire to see underwear; but it appears to be through simple, tangible decisions that we get there; and who hasn't used a poor excuse to spend time with the one you desire on a foreign planet so you can learn more about them?

Shadowrun: Dragonfall was a game made for me, in the moment I had to decide if a simulated reality addict should continue to fuel her addiction or abandon it and face the reality of an awful world... I spent 2 hours doing so. When chapter 2 told me I didn't discover something about Chris, and I had to go back through it (in spite of my carnal self feeling satisfied ¬_¬) to learn something about her this game convinced me again, that it may yet be as good. When a game gets you to ask the same question as the protagonist actually would, it has already surpassed a huge volume of others in quality.

This is my first post on this site, and honestly, it is never one I would have anticipated making. However, as I find myself without the ability to financially suppport my own taste for Cranberry juice at the moment, I thought the best I could do is offer sincere gratitude. Gratitude for making me laugh, making me think, and from this site particularly, guranteeing I don't press the x button untill the green writing is on the wall.

Heavy five is, definitively the Visual Novel Harrods would sell you .

Thanks for the experience.

 

[Nighteyes11]

Hi all, just a quick question and apologies if it's already been answered but is there very little content on the villain route so far? Pretty new to the game but loving it so far

 

[Nottravis]

You turn up for the promise of a square jawed gall with a face speaking to inadequacy and a plot at least marginally better than the average... then you get 'Yes, Prime Ministered'.

Humans desire eroticism, but we need narrative. Our brains are built to structure and sequence events such that we can understand them. Our perception is rarely veridical but instead is built to form a cogent world for us to situate ourselves in. So when one finds themselves looking for the erotic on an online site whose colour scheme alone gurantees you wouldn't dare share it with your mother, finding a piece of work of this quality is surprising.

When one then goes further to visit the thread to which the games authour attends and finds an articulate defense of strict adherance to a writer's contract with it's audience in order not to compromise the story for a baffled face preceeding a euphoric face and an 'x' button, then surprsing becomes perspective altering.

This game may well be the first I recomend to someone, regardless of source. I have great respect for those whose self -assuredness allows them to be candid about their intrests here but I, before this game, couldn't imagine sharing my experiences with anyone. Now, I would in a heartbeat, because now I have a game that if you play sincerely, (and I do try my best to) is of suffcient quallity that I can easily situate myself in the narrative. Some characters are strange, and some dialogue surreal, but the core cast could all pass the Turing test so far. I feel more could be done (subtly) with dead time so one's relationships with the cast feels less accelerated but none of this matters, because I am in the story. Once I am here, the game becomes about me (if you can't tell by my verbosity, ofc I am egocentric :3). I am not asking 'how do I see a screen', I am asking, 'what would I do?' Let no one ignore the desire to see underwear; but it appears to be through simple, tangible decisions that we get there; and who hasn't used a poor excuse to spend time with the one you desire on a foreign planet so you can learn more about them?

Shadowrun: Dragonfall was a game made for me, in the moment I had to decide if a simulated reality addict should continue to fuel her addiction or abandon it and face the reality of an awful world... I spent 2 hours doing so. When chapter 2 told me I didn't discover something about Chris, and I had to go back through it (in spite of my carnal self feeling satisfied ¬_¬) to learn something about her this game convinced me again, that it may yet be as good. When a game gets you to ask the same question as the protagonist actually would, it has already surpassed a huge volume of others in quality.

This is my first post on this site, and honestly, it is never one I would have anticipated making. However, as I find myself without the ability to financially suppport my own taste for Cranberry juice at the moment, I thought the best I could do is offer sincere gratitude. Gratitude for making me laugh, making me think, and from this site particularly, guranteeing I don't press the x button untill the green writing is on the wall.

Heavy five is, definitively the Visual Novel Harrods would sell you .

Thanks for the experience.

It's a hot night and I can't sleep and so I flick quickly on to see what the guys are up to - and I see this.

I am humbled. Truly.

I am at somewhat of a loss for words. I am hugely grateful for you taking the time to write a piece such as this. Not only is it hugely motivating but to know that I am having the effect I want to achieve on a complete stranger. On someone who isn't privy to the larking around and background chat we have on here; on someone who has indeed just picked the game up cold and found themselves immersed in my world...The sense of satisfaction, of pleasure indeed this has brought me is immense.

My little game isn't terribly popular, and I suspect it never will be, but seeing words and thoughts like these mean, frankly, I don't give a damn about the popularity right now.

Thank you.

 

[Nottravis]

Hi all, just a quick question and apologies if it's already been answered but is there very little content on the villain route so far? Pretty new to the game but loving it so far

Thanks and glad you're enjoying it. The villain route is fairly quite in Chapters 1 and 2 but gets its running shoes on and goes for it in Chapter Three. It even has bonus content post scene of a full forty page comic

 

[Nighteyes11]

Thanks very much. Appreciate the quick reply

 

[Nottravis]

Thanks very much. Appreciate the quick reply

No probs