VN Ren'Py A Shot in the Dark [Ch.4] [ViM Studios]

[Jericho85]

Having that said, i still dont see the point in having a fan requests, voting polls etc.

Literally not uncommon at all. A lot of devs do things like this for their patrons. So even if you think what you posted was valid criticism for this VN (which it wasn't) with your talk of "milking", lack of planning, and "shitty vns", it was actually just another completely baseless drive-by shitpost because you don't know this dev or the VN.

 

[flaviopaganini]

This is one of the few games that has a writer dedicated solely to the plot. You can find out more about her here:

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Asking for suggestions from users is just a way to give advantages to those who subscribe to Patreon.

 

[PickerLewd]

This is one of the few games that has a writer dedicated solely to the plot. You can find out more about her here:

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

The blog seems to have been abandoned since 2014 and his Amazon page says 0 books for sale .
Anyway, I like the plot of this game and the way it's handled, although reading some of the comments here I discovered some secrets that I didn't know myself.

 

[DevinHesi]

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A lot of work has been happening on Chapter 5 since the last dev log, but unfortunately a lot of it is not really well-captured by the progress percentages. Whereas we have "regular" development cycles basically down to a science now, we are doing many "new" things this update and that has made it hard to estimate how long things will take and what exactly is left to be done.

The novelty of working on something new and a little unpredictable has been really refreshing, which is exactly why we wanted to do the Murder Mystery Game this chapter. We've definitely learned after doing this for many years that keeping things fresh and fun is key to maintaining the longterm stamina required to finished a multi-year project, even if it isn't always the most efficient way to do things.

Most of the render work over the past few weeks has been making sprites, specifically for Ashley, Sara, Andre, Jazmin, and Kevon. Two sets of sprites (Sara and Kevon) had to be redone completely because of technical issues so some time was lost there. The good news is, of course, things continue to get faster as we learn from past mistakes and how to prevent them. Right now we have 1,380 new renders for the update, including all the sprite variations.

Josselyn also did quite a bit of work setting up environments for later scenes which doesn't really get captured in the progress percentages, but it will save time later when it's time to actually make the renders.

Another time suck these past few weeks has been fleshing out the second half of the Murder Mystery Game. As we mentioned in previous dev logs, the Murder Mystery Game is integral to the main plot of the game, and Chapter 5 is particularly important as far as story goes. It's important to us to get this right, since we know players have invested a lot of time and energy into the story so far and we don't want to let them down!

Multiple days have been spent moving boxes around in Figma to make sure we have a good grasp of how the Murder Mystery Game will conclude and how it ties into the main plot of the game. Here's an example of what we've been working on:



More of the Murder Mystery Game itself is taking shape in terms of code, as well. Keep in mind we are still mostly using placeholders for the GUI, so it will look a lot more polished as time goes on and we add in custom GUI.



Lastly, here are examples of the sprites that have been made since last dev log!

 

[matissewan11]

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View attachment 3790087

A lot of work has been happening on Chapter 5 since the last dev log, but unfortunately a lot of it is not really well-captured by the progress percentages. Whereas we have "regular" development cycles basically down to a science now, we are doing many "new" things this update and that has made it hard to estimate how long things will take and what exactly is left to be done.

The novelty of working on something new and a little unpredictable has been really refreshing, which is exactly why we wanted to do the Murder Mystery Game this chapter. We've definitely learned after doing this for many years that keeping things fresh and fun is key to maintaining the longterm stamina required to finished a multi-year project, even if it isn't always the most efficient way to do things.

Most of the render work over the past few weeks has been making sprites, specifically for Ashley, Sara, Andre, Jazmin, and Kevon. Two sets of sprites (Sara and Kevon) had to be redone completely because of technical issues so some time was lost there. The good news is, of course, things continue to get faster as we learn from past mistakes and how to prevent them. Right now we have 1,380 new renders for the update, including all the sprite variations.

Josselyn also did quite a bit of work setting up environments for later scenes which doesn't really get captured in the progress percentages, but it will save time later when it's time to actually make the renders.

Another time suck these past few weeks has been fleshing out the second half of the Murder Mystery Game. As we mentioned in previous dev logs, the Murder Mystery Game is integral to the main plot of the game, and Chapter 5 is particularly important as far as story goes. It's important to us to get this right, since we know players have invested a lot of time and energy into the story so far and we don't want to let them down!

Multiple days have been spent moving boxes around in Figma to make sure we have a good grasp of how the Murder Mystery Game will conclude and how it ties into the main plot of the game. Here's an example of what we've been working on:

View attachment 3790088

More of the Murder Mystery Game itself is taking shape in terms of code, as well. Keep in mind we are still mostly using placeholders for the GUI, so it will look a lot more polished as time goes on and we add in custom GUI.

View attachment 3790090 View attachment 3790091 View attachment 3790092 View attachment 3790093

Lastly, here are examples of the sprites that have been made since last dev log!

View attachment 3790094 View attachment 3790095 View attachment 3790096 View attachment 3790097 View attachment 3790098

A game in a game, combining two of my favorite game genre, murder mystery games are not easy to pull off but from the sprites and preview, we are in for a great time

 

[Abhai]

one update per year...see ya in 2025, q2

 

[flaviopaganini]

one update per year...see ya in 2025, q2

And to make it more challenging, the focus is divided between the main plot and this side game.

 

[DevinHesi]

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Same as last dev log, we've been plugging along on both the Murder Mystery Game and Chapter 5 content. And once again, our progress percentages are still rough estimates, since it's hard to say exactly how much work is left, especially in regards to the MMG. But it's all coming together even better than we expected, thanks to the hard work of m. (GUI) and CosmicMirage (coding)! Here are some previews of what they've been working on:

Josselyn has been doing a lot of writing for the Murder Mystery Game and it's getting close to done at this point. The writing for the MMG is about 80% done, while the writing for the regular Chapter 5 content is probably more like 30% done. The MMG writing has taken longer since it's a new type of writing that we haven't done before, so once it's finished the remaining (more routine) writing will go more quickly. The current word count for Chapter 5 is ~28,000 words.

Josselyn has also taken a break from making sprites for the MMG and has been working on renders for the regular Chapter 5 content. Unlike previous chapters where we typically go scene by scene to make renders, this time Josselyn has been working through them by character, so that also makes it a little harder to estimate how much work is finished vs. remaining.

The focus of the past few weeks has been the Ashley content, so we'll include some SFW previews of those below. The current render count is ~1,500, not including a few Ashley renders still in the render queue and a few renders that will need to be made after the animations are posed.



Speaking of animations, TheOmega is currently working on two Ashley animations for Chapter 5. We know that players have been waiting very patiently for more Ashley content, and we're excited for you to see what we've been working on! We'll include some more NSFW Ashley previews in a future dev log.

 

[Scyths]

Downloaded this game yesterday and now I'm up to date. Tired 2 playthroughs because the beginning choice between Sophie & Natalie threw me off guard lol. The character guide says to first make the choices with the character you don't care then choose the last few choices with the one you actually care about. Well I cared more about Sophie so she's the one that got kidnapped. Thing is I didn't know she'd end up still kidnapped after 4 whole chapters lmao. So she was MIA the whole game thus I started another playthrough and this time I got all the Sophie scenes too.

So far though my favourite character is by far Sara, with Sophie in second, Ashley & Elly a close 3rd & 4th. I like the other characters too but I have my clear favourites.

On a side not though I'm like 99% convinced that we actually are the kidnapper lmao. Unless I somehow missed some clues by mistakenly clicking twice too fast and skipping some lines of dialogues. The only reason I'm still 1% doubtful is that while I don't believe the bullshit of somebody breaking in, it's still very hard to believe that you somehow unconsciouly took pictures yet decided to delete them afterwards, and be completely unaware of this fact. MC clearly has some mental illness and he probably did some fucked up shit as a child that's why the father, Danielle & Ashley don't want to talk about it. And I guess the time is back for some more fucked up shit.

Having written all of this though, I'd find it really hilarious if somebody came and said that I was 100% wrong because I missed some critical evidence pointing out to the culpit or if the author specifically said that the main character wasn't the culpit, directly or indirectly, in both cases.

tl;dr though : Really enjoyed the game.

 

[Antera]

Game is good. its just some LI look bad and MC is not charmer either. Still it was worth getting on steam

 

[DevinHesi]

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Alexis was the winner of our latest special "fan request" render set for 2024! The results of that poll have been added to the original post:

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Now we want to hear your suggestions for what that render will be. Let us know your suggestions for themes, costumes, or cosplay characters you'd like to see for Sophie!

Leave your suggestions in the comments, send us a DM, or

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!

 

[Darkenning]

On a side not though I'm like 99% convinced that we actually are the kidnapper lmao.

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[Jaga Telesin]

Yeah, the game really gave you a lot of opportunities to shoot her down. If you have the walkthrough hints enabled, it straight up tells you when a choice will lock her sexual content out. If you don't pursue a relationship with her, she stays strictly professional, and still helps you out as a cop. She doesn't even really seem very disappointed, as she mentions she's domming plenty of other guys already. I was actually okay with doing some mild femdom with her(safeword allows you to end it if it gets too heavy for you), but I was completely turned off when she revealed MC was just one of her many subs.

So... currently the official guide is the only way to know if/when any Femdom is coming via particular LIs? And to know, you basically have to read ahead for each?

I was hoping to play the game organically the first time through, but "surprise femdom" is a deal breaker for me, without an immediate in-game choice to opt-out.

 

[newdawn75]

who is kidnapping these girls?

 

[1800 Mr. Tourture]

who is kidnapping these girls?

havnt played since update 2, but i remember a leading theory then was

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also does anyone know if there will ever be content with both twins together, i cant remember if the dev said anything about it (after rescuing one of course)

 

[ImTrYin2BeHiDDen]

just found this game lets see how it goes.

 

[flaviopaganini]

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This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on August 16, 2024.




The past month has been a bit slower for us work-wise, which is pretty typical for us toward the end of the summer as we usually take our annual family vacation in late July or early August. This year we also welcomed a new baby nephew into our family, and had family staying with us for a while as a result. So, while that made it harder to get work done, it was wonderful and refreshing to spend time reconnecting and getting to know the newest member of our family!

Since the last dev log, Josselyn has been doing a lot of writing for the second half of the Murder Mystery Game which has ended up taking far longer to write than anticipated. The good news is that it's definitely nearing the end! The current word count for Chapter 5 is 37K words, and we are likely more than ~50% complete with the writing as far as word count goes. But since we aren't 100% sure on that, we are going with the more conservative estimate of 48% of scenes written.

As soon as parts are written, our coder Cosmic Mirage has been implementing them, and it's beginning to feel like a real game! He also has plans to implement some (optional) minigames that will fit with the theme of the game, and we are excited to see how they turn out.



Josselyn also finished the renders for the Ashley scenes for Chapter 5 and has started working on the Sara renders. The current render count is now 1,684, not including the current set of Mai sprites in the render queue that will render today and over the weekend.

TheOmega has been diligently working on the Ashley animations, taking his time to make them as good as possible. We know that players have been very patiently waiting for this scene and we want to make sure it was worth the wait! As promised in our last dev log, here are some previews of the NSFW Ashley scene in Chapter 5

 

[Abhai]

isnt the first game of these devs coompleted/finished?
are they working on another project, and this one is still just a side piece?
even with that assumption, progress is tediously slow.
after 4 months of "developing" we stand at approx. 20% done.
if such tempo continues it will be nearly 2 years per update....
those are some new standards, 1/1...even dpc is aiming for 14-18 months per update

 

[Jericho85]

The funny part of this is... you are talking 100% truth and these people who are doubting you dont have a clue about it, lol.

But in my opinion you will not have the 7 or 8th chapter in 5 years or so... This game will eventually be abandoned in the process, with the dev beginning a new project...

You necro'd a post just to bitch about development time?

 

[SonsOfLiberty]

This dev log was originally posted on Patreon and SubscribeStar on September 13, 2024.

Since the last dev log, Josselyn has been focused on renders and creating the remaining assets for Chapter 5 and the Murder Mystery Game. Sprites for all of the characters are now complete, and Josselyn is now working on the renders needed for the cut scenes. We'll include previews of all the sprites in this post!

Renders are also now complete for the Sara lewd scene, which means that her animations will be done next. TheOmega is currently putting the finishing touches on the Ashley animations, and then will get started on the animations for Sara. We'll include some NSFW previews in the next dev log!

Josselyn also got a bit of writing done while renders were rendering, and is almost done with the writing for the Murder Mystery Game. All that is left now is the last scene where the actual murderer is revealed (or are they?? ). There are still plenty of lewd scenes left to write for Chapter 5, but those are more routine than the Murder Mystery Game has been so they should go faster.

The current render count is 2,509 and the current word count is around 44K, so Chapter 5 is definitely going to be a meaty update!

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