VN Ren'Py Completed Acting Lessons [v1.0.2] [DrPinkCake]

[CrazyAng3l]

Spoiler: Ep6

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I mean sure you might not like all 22 endings but there's 22 endings. With the way it's going so far surely there'll be one ending that you'll enjoy?

22 endings damn! there must be at least one or 2 endings i will actually like

 

[Walter Victor]

The other reason save files exist is so you can bemoan the fact that the new update can't use them.

(Not in THIS game, of course...although, wouldn't THAT be a typically Pink thing to do)

I can handle losing my saves in VNs. I don't like it, but I can handle it. It's those grindy sandbox games where the developer drives me away by invalidating saves. I have abandoned and unfunded several of those games that I liked when the developer did that to me. Teacher's Pets comes immediately to mind. I went from $20/month to zero as quickly as I could bring up the membership screen.

I have actually had several problems with saves in this game, except the ones at the end of each episode, when the developer recommends saving.

 

[Vordertur]

Well congrats both to the author and the community in getting me to finally make my first post after more than a year of lurking.

I'm not sure if this was addressed between page 235 and now, but i felt strongly enough about what I wanted to say that I skipped to the end, so sorry if someone else made this point.

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[Deep Thought]

Really hoping that one of the twenty two endings involves MC and Rena happily ever after. Don't really care if it's marriage or just fucking like rabbits til the end of time. Every time I play a new episode it's always Rena first over everyone and everything else (even Liam). What can I say? I'm all about that smurf life. Have been since the first time I saw her. I'll be really disappointed if there isn't a Rena/MC ending that works out but will still love AL and rate it as one of the best VNs I've played.

Second play through is Melissa. Her character really hits me right in the feels and I want to take her away and make her life so much better. If there were an ending with Rena and Melissa now that would be pure heaven. The Melissa/Megan path is going to be rough depending on how things work out after the Ep 6 ending and the choice you made.

Love all the main characters but if I had to I'd walk away from all of them for that damn smurf. She might not be as damaged as Melissa but she does have problems that tug at my heartstrings.

 

[Burt Reynolds Mustache]

Ok I understand now what you mean by an inciting incident - that would mean that the robbery in ‘Acting Lessons’ was the inciting incident ( where the main protagonists met ).
Was Brads death in ‘Meet Joe Black’ an inciting incident too? Not sure as Claire Forlani’s character doesn’t witness his death - she’s oblivious to it at the time .
Would the fire scene in acting lessons be considered a climax too? It strikes me that a climax (steady lads ) would be the end result of foreshadowing,and as you say there is no foreshadowing of that event.
Thats why I brought up ‘Meet Joe Black’ - that was a twist ; in that the audience were full sure that their meeting in the cafe was going to develop into something more - then boom Brads noggin meets windscreen.You’re right though I don’t actually think we will be able to fully judge doc’s writing ( apologies if that wasn’t you ) until the next chapter or even the whole game comes to an end.But it’s interesting to discover how a screenplay or story is put together.

Ok, first off... yeah...Brad's death is clearly the inciting incident in Meet Joe Black, because without it Joe Black doesn't have a body. Without the death at the beginning, the rest of the movie doesn't happen. So yes, you're right, in AL it's the robbery that sets everything in motion.

Also yes, if that last scene is not the Climax then it's clearly the last big problem in the second act of the story. Generally speaking, the second act is where you move everything into place, usually piling things on to the main character until they hit rock bottom in the terms of the story, with the final act being about getting out of said situations, (or not)... for some people the escalating external drama worked well for them. For others, it comes off as excessive, and I clearly fall into that camp...

Ok, yes, but my response to that is that this is fiction and not real-life, and that because it's fiction, you have to make some concessions. Let me pose you a question. You have a long-running TV show. You've spent several seasons building up the main character, his relationships with the supporting characters. You've seen him overcome many challenges, seen him go through good stuff, bad stuff, and you know, as the writer, that the audience has really bonded with this character. And then, "because real life is sometimes like that," in the very next episode, he gets hit by a bus and killed. And not to set up dramatic storylines for the surviving cast, not to show how difficult it'll be for his family to get along without him, or how much his friends will miss him. No, you did it just because "well... random stuff in real life happens, doesn't it?"

Would this not alienate your audience? Would this not be a wholly unsatisfying experience for them?

That's the thing. Anything you can do in a work of fiction is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used well, or it can be used poorly. When used well, it can advance the storyline in ways that people might not expect, and it can be a boon to the story. It can make for amazing character development. Used poorly, it feels cheap, unsatisfying, and like a betrayal of everything that has gone before. It makes the audience stop caring about the characters, stop caring about how the story unfolds, and these are things that you do NOT want as a writer. It's a fine line to walk, and that's what a few of us have been saying - that the last episode felt like it was starting to drift over that line a bit, specifically because it sort of felt as if it was "drama" for the sake of drama. And not because it was setting up something bigger and better. Could we be wrong? Yes, we could. We hope we are. We'll see.

Pretty much this. Just wanted to quote it because... great post.

 

[PHANTOM44]

TWELVE DA.... NEVER MIND THAT S**T IT’S NEXT WEEK...

 

[dirtyrat]

I'm excited for the next update. I'm curious about whether or not Leah is 1 of the 19 endings. She's been totally ignored.

 

[Walg]

which trait do you think is better?? athletic,well-read trait or charismatic trait?

Well depends on what type of path that you want really. Considering that there's going to be 22 endings I mean it's tough to say for sure.

Have a look through the walkthrough in OP to see what characters react well to each trait.

 

[PHANTOM44]

Ok, first off... yeah...Brad's death is clearly the inciting incident in Meet Joe Black, because without it Joe Black doesn't have a body. Without the death at the beginning, the rest of the movie doesn't happen. So yes, you're right, in AL it's the robbery that sets everything in motion.

Also yes, if that last scene is not the Climax then it's clearly the last big problem in the second act of the story. Generally speaking, the second act is where you move everything into place, usually piling things on to the main character until they hit rock bottom in the terms of the story, with the final act being about getting out of said situations, (or not)... for some people the escalating external drama worked well for them. For others, it comes off as excessive, and I clearly fall into that camp...



Pretty much this. Just wanted to quote it because... great post.

Do the normal literary rules apply for instance in a soap opera say or an AVN that is being written on a weekly or by update basis - with no overall end in sight ..wouldn’t the raison d’être of soap operas and maybe some AVN’s be to attract viewers ( in the case of soaps to attract advertising revenue and and in the case of some AVN’s to attract subscriptions ) Thinking things like overall story arc,acts and inciting incidents etc.. ( to be clear I don’t think acting lessons is one of these AVN’s or that DrPinkcake is so mercenary) It would be great to hear from the writers who contribute to this thread... also ( back to Joe Black ) isn’t it the speech that’s the inciting incident the “lightning might strike”one...

 

[Walter Victor]

I don't give a damn about the non-foreshadowing of the endings. Literature, like real life, is replete with them. People die at the end, just like real life. In literature, you often get foreshadowing. But it's not a hard-fast rule. I am reminded of a movie [unfortunately I don't remember the name or who was in it] that focused on the rocky relationship between a father and son. Towards the end of the movie, they have grown to understand one another. The boy goes to visit the father in the father's high-rise office building. The father is late to work. While the boy waits and looks out the window, we are treated to a scene of a 747 flying towards the window. Yup, 9/11. End of boy. No foreshadowing. Just as there was none for the occupants in real life.

Nor am I bothered all that much by the cliffhanger endings of releases. People have been telling stories that way since speech was invented. Movie and radio serials, Dickens novels, Thousand and One Nights... back to cave men's tales by their fires.

I am bothered by this insertion of melodrama into a porn game. Perhaps the developer felt compelled to do this because this is a personal story to him. It's certainly not enough to keep me from abandoning the game. I have too much invested in the characters to even consider that. So, perhaps (at least in my case) that justifies what the developer has done here.

If you can't stop reading the book, even if you dislike what the author has presented or how he has presented it, maybe the author actually knew what he was doing.

 

[Hercule_Poirot]

I feel like the only way thay you could get a happy ending, or the "true ending" is if you max Liam's friendship, which would

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[PHANTOM44]

I don't give a damn about the non-foreshadowing of the endings. Literature, like real life, is replete with them. People die at the end, just like real life. In literature, you often get foreshadowing. But it's not a hard-fast rule. I am reminded of a movie [unfortunately I don't remember the name or who was in it] that focused on the rocky relationship between a father and son. Towards the end of the movie, they have grown to understand one another. The boy goes to visit the father in the father's high-rise office building. The father is late to work. While the boy waits and looks out the window, we are treated to a scene of a 747 flying towards the window. Yup, 9/11. End of boy. No foreshadowing. Just as there was none for the occupants in real life.

Nor am I bothered all that much by the cliffhanger endings of releases. People have been telling stories that way since speech was invented. Movie and radio serials, Dickens novels, Thousand and One Nights... back to cave men's tales by their fires.

I am bothered by this insertion of melodrama into a porn game. Perhaps the developer felt compelled to do this because this is a personal story to him. It's certainly not enough to keep me from abandoning the game. I have too much invested in the characters to even consider that. So, perhaps (at least in my case) that justifies what the developer has done here.

If you can't stop reading the book, even if you dislike what the author has presented or how he has presented it, maybe the author actually knew what he was doing.

Would the standard literary rules even apply? after all isn’t the VN/game a relatively new dramatic medium unlike any other - in that the audience is directly involved.
I would imagine that the literary rules regarding VN’s haven’t been worked out yet and probably won’t for some time as technology influences the way we as players interact with the game.I don’t think DrPinkcake has done anything wrong quite the contrary - everyone wants to find out what happens next , Acting Lessons is generally accepted as being one of the best games on the site - despite or maybe because of the melodrama.Could it be that AVN’s or porn games are evolving into a more popular and widespread dramatic medium? “What a F**king tragedy”

 

[RomanHume]

Would the standard literary rules even apply? after all isn’t the VN/game a relatively new dramatic medium unlike any other - in that the audience is directly involved.
I would imagine that the literary rules regarding VN’s haven’t been worked out yet and probably won’t for some time as technology influences the way we as players interact with the game.I don’t think DrPinkcake has done anything wrong quite the contrary - everyone wants to find out what happens next , Acting Lessons is generally accepted as being one of the best games on the site - despite or maybe because of the melodrama.Could it be that AVN’s or porn games are evolving into a more popular and widespread dramatic medium? “What a F**king tragedy”

To that I would only say that story telling is story telling and the conventions that people have come to accept have been developed and repeated ad infinitum.

Any deviation from that, whether it is in a movie, a VN or a novel will cause some jarring. It's completely a subconscious expectation. There are conventions that you expect in story telling even if you don't know you don't expect them.

Changing them would be like going out to your car and the steering wheel has been reduced in size by about a half inch. You might not immediately realize what's wrong, but you'll notice that something just "feels" different or "off" about it.

It's the same when you read a story that goes against convention.

 

[Ignatz]

"Goes against convention" seems like a definition of adult games, writ large.

 

[Enyos]

To that I would only say that story telling is story telling and the conventions that people have come to accept have been developed and repeated ad infinitum.

Any deviation from that, whether it is in a movie, a VN or a novel will cause some jarring. It's completely a subconscious expectation. There are conventions that you expect in story telling even if you don't know you don't expect them.

Changing them would be like going out to your car and the steering wheel has been reduced in size by about a half inch. You might not immediately realize what's wrong, but you'll notice that something just "feels" different or "off" about it.

It's the same when you read a story that goes against convention.

That might be part of what's so magical here. Sure there are themes within this story that have been run dozens (if not hundreds) of times, but here it's presented with unique flair. That 'deviation' from what's expected adds to it, rather than taking away. Good writing is good writing, and the unexpected twists really hook me deeper.

 

[PHANTOM44]

To that I would only say that story telling is story telling and the conventions that people have come to accept have been developed and repeated ad infinitum.

Any deviation from that, whether it is in a movie, a VN or a novel will cause some jarring. It's completely a subconscious expectation. There are conventions that you expect in story telling even if you don't know you don't expect them.

Changing them would be like going out to your car and the steering wheel has been reduced in size by about a half inch. You might not immediately realize what's wrong, but you'll notice that something just "feels" different or "off" about it.

It's the same when you read a story that goes against convention.

Yeah that’s why I mentioned ‘Meet Joe Black’ above - I don’t think that Joe’s early demise in that movie ( which wasn’t foreshadowed ) could have been any more jarring - and yet it was a popular film

 

[RomanHume]

Yeah that’s why I mentioned ‘Meet Joe Black’ above - I don’t think that Joe’s early demise in that movie ( which wasn’t foreshadowed ) could have been any more jarring - and yet it was a popular film

Yes and no. I believe someone else made the point though that his death was the catalyst that set the story in motion.

Typically in good fiction you start your story at the point when things change. His jarring death was a point of change that set 'death' down his curious path to mortal discovery. Now if they had spent half the movie fostering his relationship with the young girl, and then at the one hour and thirty minute mark hit him with a bus, then yeah, that's disorienting.

Big twists need to either come at the beginning and be a force for change or have the clues to their inevitability hidden so well within the story that the viewer says, "Shit, if I had just been paying closer attention, I would have seen that coming. I just didn't connect the pieces."

Naturally these aren't laws of nature. But stories that abide by these principles typically sell better and earn higher marks than ones that don't.

 

[Deleted member 795684]

I can't believe there will be 22 different endings. I don't think more than 5-6 will be big though, probably minor changes with other 14-15 ones.

 

[Ignatz]

Hmm, let me think, 22 endings, 230 renders each, that's 5,060 renders, not counting animations. I'm guessing about 9 hours of playtime.

 

[Deleted member 308859]

I don't give a damn about the non-foreshadowing of the endings. Literature, like real life, is replete with them. People die at the end, just like real life. In literature, you often get foreshadowing. But it's not a hard-fast rule. I am reminded of a movie [unfortunately I don't remember the name or who was in it] that focused on the rocky relationship between a father and son. Towards the end of the movie, they have grown to understand one another. The boy goes to visit the father in the father's high-rise office building. The father is late to work. While the boy waits and looks out the window, we are treated to a scene of a 747 flying towards the window. Yup, 9/11. End of boy. No foreshadowing. Just as there was none for the occupants in real life.

The movie is called Remember Me