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

[ijako3]

But now that i again think about these lines together -
- The game will have a permeating story. It is NOT a sandbox game. That said, there will be choices and branches.
- Some events will be forced for the sake of the story.

Don't these two points really exclude each other? Doesn't forced stuff really cause more harm overall than good things when it comes to storylines with choices and branches?
Why don't let every scenario through the whole game, not only the endings have a lot of different outcomes that depends on how player played through the whole game and choices he took on the journey. I think that increase muh immersion and players feel like ''Oh, that happened. I feel good now that i did it that way and not another'' and not ''Well damn, i did everything i could, maybe i will reload from the beginning, go through different setup of choices - Well damn again, nope. I feel bad now.''

In my opinion you can have a story and don't force anything for the sake for it, let the players playing the game decide what happens while playing, experiencing that journey themselves.

 

[Zirael Q]

I didn't play after the beach volley thing, but I have to ask this. Why do I have to be with the dullest and most boring girl and dodge the others? If this goes even beyond I will be upset a bit tbh. Can we stop our relationship with Megan? Don't mind being friends tho

 

[Enyos]

it has been said numerous times..."22 endings" so chances are there will be at least one nice ending? (meaning married to Melissa who you knocked up because..of course you did!!! )

Something I noticed after playing through again yesterday... The "pull-out" method is NOT safe sex....

Spoiler: knocked up?

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[KollegeX]

From what I can glimpse a lot of words have been had about Chapter 7.
So why not add a few more.

First: Congratulations for trying something new and delivering a heartfelt story
Second: While I cant claim to know the aim you had when creating it there are several issues imo.(i will list them further down)
Third: You may have destroyed my ability to go into a story without Spoiling myself the story first.

Issues:
- the emotional drama. It is a little bit too much. As an erotic visual novel i read them to enjoy myself. Be that through fapping or just interacting with the characters. I do not start a story to ruin the day for me, sadly this happened because of chapter 7.
- the romance options. The relationship with Megan feels incredibly forced. With every other character we have the chance to get together with them or not (for however long), but Megan is thrown into our face. Effectivly locking our options to be an asshole and sleep around or get the girl you might not want.
- The Rescue one, but not the other. While it definitly was surprising and dramatic it also ruined the entire game. Liam was already enough drama, but killing them off made me want to vomit. Kudos for getting me invested enough to care, but also Go Fuck Yourself for not the fucking very least giving anything close to a warning.

Let me be clear that i think this is a good game. But only if you know what happens at the end. Otherwise my guess is over 50% of the players will leave annoyed,disgusted etc

 

[Zer0Z0neR]

I don't think many would really argue with that. If you want a darker plot game with crime, murder and suspense then, let's be real, you'd have downloaded and played Depraved Awakenings and skipped past Acting Lessons based on how each was originally portrayed. And that's what I was getting at way back when I said that genre-switching pretty much always sucks.

You see, the author of Depraved Awakening had the entire game to build up the necessary suspense and drama, to tell the real story, and to start foreshadowing the major plot right from the start. It creates a smoother and better 'narrative arc' that way. It also means you have, from the very start, an audience that has self-selected the genre, and appreciates it.

What Acting Lessons did, while creating shock, was create 'cognitive dissonance' and that in turn seriously affects the necessary suspension of disbelief that a story needs. The shock was more along the lines of "WTF?!" than "Wow! I didn't see that coming!".

As several others have noted, this is an early game from a new developer. He's still testing things and experimenting, and there will be things that could have been done better - which is what will give him the first hand experience from which to learn and to do better. But he also pulled off a few things so brilliantly that others can already learn lessons from this first game. Most particularly the way he portrayed some of the central characters with familiar traits the audience could both identify with, and feel a bond over. Not bad for someone just out of the gate.

This!!!!! So much this!!!

Third: You may have destroyed my ability to go into a story without Spoiling myself the story first.

- The Rescue one, but not the other. While it definitly was surprising and dramatic it also ruined the entire game. Liam was already enough drama, but killing them off made me want to vomit. Kudos for getting me invested enough to care, but also Go Fuck Yourself for not the fucking very least giving anything close to a warning.

And this!!!

 

[sarge87]

I didn't play after the beach volley thing, but I have to ask this. Why do I have to be with the dullest and most boring girl and dodge the others? If this goes even beyond I will be upset a bit tbh. Can we stop our relationship with Megan? Don't mind being friends tho

If you mostly ignore her during the story there will be a situation where you will have the opportunity to end ... or rather ... terminate the relationship in favor of another girl.

 

[Zer0Z0neR]

If you mostly ignore her during the story there will be a situation where you will have the opportunity to end ... or rather ... terminate the relationship in favor of another girl.

I see what you did there... brilliant... (thx... that lightened my mood a little)

 

[ijako3]

If you mostly ignore her during the story there will be a situation where you will have the opportunity to end ... or rather ... terminate the relationship in favor of another girl.

Yeah, that is a straight fire experience to witness.

 

[Enyos]

I've seen a lot of comparisons to Depraved Awakening. While I really like the noir detective theme and attitude there, I don't think the dialogues can compare. Acting Lesson's dialogue (and renders) was done to a much higher quality. I feel sorry for the characters in the detective novel, but never get close to the character attachment earned here. A character could die and I'd frown, but wouldn't get the heart pounding tearful response that chapter 7 brought. But, that could be the complaint people are waging. They don't want that attachment if things take a sinister twist, like how horror films always leave character development shallow. My counter is that it's necessary to gain attachment in order to get that response of "OMFG! :'(".

It's completely understandable that people are off put by the way things took a turn with the recent update, we are human (mostly). It did not go the way any of us wanted to, but it was undeniably well done. OK, we're of different opinions and plenty will deny based on personal preference and armchair quarterbacking, but it is undeniable that Dr PinkCake got the emotions through. I loved it, but can understand why many wouldn't.

 

[EnterpriseNL]

Just did episode 7 and wow,

Spoiler

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[Zer0Z0neR]

So I take it then you’ll be canceling your DrPinkcake patreon membership..

We'll see... i'm all for second chances, learning from mistakes and all that (there's still episode 8 in the works).
But this was definitely one big strike concerning this author in my book (i've expressed my feelings/thoughts in detail, in my other posts).

 

[loooooliiii]

wtf how am I suppose to get to 22 endings? Is there any walkthrough or fcking way to experience different endings? ffs

 

[Enyos]

wtf how am I suppose to get to 22 endings? Is there any walkthrough or fcking way to experience different endings? ffs

Apparently all of the decisions we made before are not for naught. They WILL come into play during episaode 8. It doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, but the dev claims there still is...

 

[sarge87]

wtf how am I suppose to get to 22 endings? Is there any walkthrough or fcking way to experience different endings? ffs

There will likely be some kind of guide as soon as the last episode is released or a mod to cheat your way to a specific ending like with Dreams of Desire.

Completely unrelated:
Why the fuck do you censor the word 'fuck' on a site about porn games?

 

[loooooliiii]

Apparently all of the decisions we made before are not for naught. They WILL come into play during episaode 8. It doesn't look like there's a light at the end of the tunnel, but the dev claims there still is...

Eps 8 better be worth it though

 

[ijako3]

The theory about this being staged right from the beginning or MC was entire time in coma is still high on my list that's why light at the end of the tunnel is still there.
But about this being staged.. they have real sex, so i don't think as a prep for acting school they would have real sex included in whole process.. Unless it's audition for porn.

 

[requiem31]

- Some events will be forced for the sake of the story.

You don't say...

 

[loooooliiii]

There will likely be some kind of guide as soon as the last episode is released or a mod to cheat your way to a specific ending like with Dreams of Desire.

Completely unrelated:
Why the fuck do you censor the word 'fuck' on a site about porn games?

Hopefully...

Well fuck then I guess lmao

 

[Enyos]

The theory about this being staged right from the beginning or MC was entire time in coma is still high on my list that's why light at the end of the tunnel is still there.
But about this being staged.. they have real sex, so i don't think as a prep for acting school they would have real sex included in whole process.. Unless it's audition for porn.

This is acting lessons for casting couch... <.<
We didn't actually SEE what went on during Megan's audition.

 

[ijako3]

This is acting lessons for casting couch... <.<
We didn't actually SEE what went on during Megan's audition.

I mean every sex scene girls knew some new tricks when it comes to bed sessions.. Just sayin.

Everyone but villians die at the end of episode 8 and the last few scenes show Johnny Sins walking out with a big dildo hunting bad guys with big text on the screen ''Brazzers Presents - Acting Lessons 2, anal revenge.''