VN HTML A Phone Affair [v0.4.0] [Allure Arts Studios]

[Allure Arts Studios]

Allure Arts Studios , I am kinda bummed to hear that your plans for developing this game are to update the game route by route (instead of an update containing content for all routes, yours will be route-specific), I just feel like that is kinda disrespectful to players in a certain way... waiting longer for their part of the content and whatnot.

On another note, is there an "easy" way to identify which option belongs to what path? If I want the girlfriend to cheat on me (Netorare route), are there certain important choices I will have to make, or is it like a corruption point-system?

Hi! We know it might sound like a bummer but we have fleshed out each of the three main routes, making each one pretty lengthy and for a good reason.

So if we focus on all three for a update, there might not be significant content in a single route at a time. Otherwise, we have to wait for 2 or 3 months to release an update with all 3 routes updated with enough content.

To combat this, we plan to do 2 week updates once we settle down soon. So no route will be left behind or feel too long to wait for.

As for the "easy" way to identify choices, you can turn on hints in the settings app!

 

[Urfin jus]

Hi! We know it might sound like a bummer but we have fleshed out each of the three main routes, making each one pretty lengthy and for a good reason.

So if we focus on all three for a update, there might not be significant content in a single route at a time. Otherwise, we have to wait for 2 or 3 months to release an update with all 3 routes updated with enough content.

To combat this, we plan to do 2 week updates once we settle down soon. So no route will be left behind or feel too long to wait for.

As for the "easy" way to identify choices, you can turn on hints in the settings app!

I agree 100 percent. Write all three routes at once. This is tectonic work. You need to completely devote all your time to developing the game. Many do not understand this. They need it right here and now and have it be. And who likes the game and the route they will take. Two or three weeks is not such a long time. Personally, I am ready to wait a month, maybe longer. If the game goes as you yourself conceived it and will promote it further.

 

[Filipis]

So if we focus on all three for a update, there might not be significant content in a single route at a time. Otherwise, we have to wait for 2 or 3 months to release an update with all 3 routes updated with enough content.

To combat this, we plan to do 2 week updates once we settle down soon. So no route will be left behind or feel too long to wait for.

Thing is, that strategy amounts to a player waiting for a month/1.5 months for their path to get a continuance. Bi-weekly updates sound great, but only for those that play all the routes at the same time, since they will get a constant drip of content. Especially since one of those 3 updates per cycle will be focused on the Loyalty route, which is certainly... beyond my ability to reason why anyone would want to play vanilla Phone game, but to each his own...

 

[GetOutOfMyLab]

Thing is, that strategy amounts to a player waiting for a month/1.5 months for their path to get a continuance. Bi-weekly updates sound great, but only for those that play all the routes at the same time, since they will get a constant drip of content. Especially since one of those 3 updates per cycle will be focused on the Loyalty route, which is certainly... beyond my ability to reason why anyone would want to play vanilla Phone game, but to each his own...

It can't be helped. Devs only have so much time to do work. So either they produce very small content for each route in 1 month, which will piss everyone off because "reeeeee! 1 month and this is all we get!? <insert_derp_emoji>". Or focus on 1 route and give plenty of content and here people complain about no content on their route. Or wait 3 months to flesh out all paths and still get the same response. "reeeeee! 3 months and this is all I get on my specific path!? <insert_derp_emoji>".

There's no winning for the dev.

 

[Allure Arts Studios]

We know the doubts regarding Loyalty route but believe us, we are going to give a hot spin to it and even ntr/nts players might try that route out even if they don't like vanilla

 

[Filipis]

It can't be helped. Devs only have so much time to do work. So either they produce very small content for each route in 1 month, which will piss everyone off because "reeeeee! 1 month and this is all we get!? <insert_derp_emoji>". Or focus on 1 route and give plenty of content and here people complain about no content on their route. Or wait 3 months to flesh out all paths and still get the same response. "reeeeee! 3 months and this is all I get on my specific path!? <insert_derp_emoji>".

There's no winning for the dev.

Indeed. It's a real "pick-your-poison" situation, so whatever works best for the developer is alright by me. Though, the devs should take care to properly & clearly announce which update is which (Cheating, Sharing, Loyalty), so that people's expectations aren't blown out of proportions and hearts are broken.

But now that I think about it... how exactly will this method of development work? If, say, 0.0.3.0 is an update focused around the sharing stuff, does that mean that there won't be any dialogue options belonging to the other two paths? Help me understand this, Allure Arts Studios

 

[Allure Arts Studios]

Indeed. It's a real "pick-your-poison" situation, so whatever works best for the developer is alright by me. Though, the devs should take care to properly & clearly announce which update is which (Cheating, Sharing, Loyalty), so that people's expectations aren't blown out of proportions and hearts are broken.

But now that I think about it... how exactly will this method of development work? If, say, 0.0.3.0 is an update focused around the sharing stuff, does that mean that there won't be any dialogue options belonging to the other two paths? Help me understand this, Allure Arts Studios

Yeah. If an update is focused on sharing then the other 2 routes would either have little or no content nor any dialogue options except for those related to sharing.

We will definitely announce what kind of content is there for each update.

 

[kikomascado]

I prefer to wait some more and have content for all routes, simce it's really disappointing seeing that the game was updated and figuring you don't have any new scene in your game.
But I also understand that if the dev take too much time on releasing things, patrons may be pissed and some could even stop the subscribtion, so I understand the decision.
But yeah, though situation either way. Hahaha

 

[Filipis]

I prefer to wait some more and have content for all routes, simce it's really disappointing seeing that the game was updated and figuring you don't have any new scene in your game.
But I also understand that if the dev take too much time on releasing things, patrons may be pissed and some could even stop the subscribtion, so I understand the decision.
But yeah, though situation either way. Hahaha

I'm in the same boat. My top priority is the cheating route, then maybe I'll check out the sharing route, but vanilla does not interest me at all (dunno how to spice up the vanilla stuff unless you add NTS elements into it, which might sour the whole vanilla experience in the first place).

So, for me, this game will only get updated once a month, if I am lucky.

 

[Return_To_Monke]

I am a bit surprised to see some feeling bad about 2 week or 1 month update when most games take 2 to 3 months. Or the other way to make things faster for all 3 routes is to just make a pseudo-non linear vn and make people think their choices matter with just small variations. But that's boring and overdone. We need proper routes and this game has the potential to do that.

 

[Filipis]

I am a bit surprised to see some feeling bad about 2 week or 1 month update when most games take 2 to 3 months. Or the other way to make things faster for all 3 routes is to just make a pseudo-non linear vn and make people think their choices matter with just small variations. But that's boring and overdone. We need proper routes and this game has the potential to do that.

Context is important here.
A game like Phone Affair is not nearly as demanding as most other RenPy games, especially since there are a significantly fewer renders "required" for a game of this type (very few complicated scenes and lower quantity) because of the format (text chats). I'd even say that the coding is the biggest hurdle in these types of games compared to rendering for them.

 

[Return_To_Monke]

Context is important here.
A game like Phone Affair is not nearly as demanding as most other RenPy games, especially since there are a significantly fewer renders "required" for a game of this type (very few complicated scenes and lower quantity) because of the format (text chats). I'd even say that the coding is the biggest hurdle in these types of games compared to rendering for them.

True that the renders are few compared to normal renpy games. But the lower quantity is compensated for by the quality and the renders of this game are very high quality and have no doubt it takes a lot of time to make them look that good.

If we compare with normal games, its obvious that most renders are just quick ones, same angles but with different expressions that bump up the total renders count without much attention to details. Most of those renders are for dialogues while in phone games, those renders are just replaced by pure text but include renders for scenes that matter like any hot scenes.

Its easier to create 100 quick renders compared to 10 that is in a different league. But like the dev said, its the different routes that takes up time the most. Its no different than writing 3 stories at the same time. So I would say it is even more demanding than usual renpy games at least in writing.

Considering all this, we will get 2 weeks to 1 month update. So it's pretty fair which is why I said I was surprised.

 

[Fish_lip]

Just as an fyi, the game is distorted on Android 15. This carries over into any images sent in chat.

 

[Allure Arts Studios]

Just as an fyi, the game is distorted on Android 15. This carries over into any images sent in chat.

View attachment 4299640

Oh yeah, the ui is kinda wonky in some mobile browsers/versions. We will only be able to focus on Android once we stabilize the base story and the engine.

 

[Fish_lip]

Going to hazard a guess, but it looks like some images might be set at a set value, rather than using flexible units. Been a while since I was messing around in html/CSS though, so I'll shut up

 

[Allure Arts Studios]

Going to hazard a guess, but it looks like some images might be set at a set value, rather than using flexible units. Been a while since I was messing around in html/CSS though, so I'll shut up

Maybe for the small icons but it could also be the dimensions of the device you are using. We will try to see if we can make it better for next update if time permits

 

[atrebor68]

Maybe for the small icons but it could also be the dimensions of the device you are using. We will try to see if we can make it better for next update if time permits

Had the same problem on 13’ laptop

 

[Fish_lip]

Yeah- not sure if the big black void on either side of the phone UI are contributing to the display issue. It's a shame because (imo of course) the most immersive way to play a phone messaging game is on a phone . Everything else is *chef's kiss so far!

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

Going to hazard a guess, but it looks like some images might be set at a set value, rather than using flexible units. Been a while since I was messing around in html/CSS though, so I'll shut up

It's exactly this - only a portion of the displayables are set in flex classes - you'll note this when shifting zoom levels, some of the html elements resize, others don't.

This extends to stuff like the galleryPicZoom class - with fixed height means resize browser window can stretch image, as opposed to keep aspect ratio intact.

 

[What's Up Doc?]

Good start guys! Keep up the good work and I'm sure you'll be successful.

I hope we will have some nice pure ntr routes