Ren'Py Completed After the Inferno [v1.0] [Classy Lemon]

[HogRocket]

So I won't lie and say that the obvious declining interest in the game isn't discouraging. However I also won't lie and say that I don't realize the reason for it.

Since the first release I've received a lot of great feedback and constructive criticism. Patch 0.7 will be the final update to the game, as such I have made a few notes of areas I'd like to change and/or improve upon for my next game.

- More focus on the girls. Until now I've tended to put more focus on the MC and his story.
- While some people like the larger eyes, I realize that it's alienated a lot of people as well. In the end I don't think it was a good design choice.
- Sandbox be gone.
- Give the girls continuous roles throughout the story, rather than giving them one storyline each and then almost forgetting about them.
- More dialogue choices and player input.
- Spend more time on designing the characters.
- Don't create more work for myself by working on game elements that people don't care about. This may not directly improve the game, but I'll be able to work more effectively which I think will indirectly improve it.

Things that I believe have seen improvements later in the game, but are executed poorly enough at the start to deter a lot of people:

- Render quality. Early renders both have bad quality and poor lighting, I also had a tendency to keep the player on the same static image for way too long.
- Dialogue. Stop overexplaining and talking about pointless things. It's boring. Make dialogue less stale, let it flow more naturally.

Suggestions or comments are welcome. I can be reached by DM as well.

Yeah, unfortunately that's not a reason that I have any control over.

I didn't expect to go big after my first game, but if I don't focus on the things that I know need improvement, then I'll likely never get to that point

At a basic level, I do enjoy the game. The reasons I don't enjoy it more are mostly the ones you've outlined here. I am impressed that you have listened to your "customers" so well and are willing to see/make changes that seem to be needed even if they don't fit your original vision. Especially without getting "game suicidal" or angry.

There are two basic approaches to most "products"; make what you want and fuck them if they don't like it or, make what the customer wants even though it's not what you originally proposed. Obviously there are middle paths in there that take some of both. Having been in product design, I have had to do both.

Personally I wouldn't "abandon" or shorten this game, just make the changes that make sense mid-stream and then make the other changes on your next project. I'll admit I am one of the people that complain about the eyes, but the story is good enough that I keep checking for updates to see what is happening. Smoothing out the dialog and pacing will go a long way. I've played games that had characters that looked way worse to me that I still followed because of the story. Even though I know I'll never make a game/VN, I have started trying to write some stories/scripts for a game just to see if I could. It's harder than most people think. I have a great story in my head but by the time I've got it written down it sucks. Even this "wall of text" feedback has gone "off script" from what I had intended.

TL : DR
game decent - keep going
good attitude towards feedback/criticism
make compromises that fit you and your story

 

[Tavi13]

So I won't lie and say that the obvious declining interest in the game isn't discouraging. However I also won't lie and say that I don't realize the reason for it.

Since the first release I've received a lot of great feedback and constructive criticism. Patch 0.7 will be the final update to the game, as such I have made a few notes of areas I'd like to change and/or improve upon for my next game.

- More focus on the girls. Until now I've tended to put more focus on the MC and his story.
- While some people like the larger eyes, I realize that it's alienated a lot of people as well. In the end I don't think it was a good design choice.
- Sandbox be gone.
- Give the girls continuous roles throughout the story, rather than giving them one storyline each and then almost forgetting about them.
- More dialogue choices and player input.
- Spend more time on designing the characters.
- Don't create more work for myself by working on game elements that people don't care about. This may not directly improve the game, but I'll be able to work more effectively which I think will indirectly improve it.

Things that I believe have seen improvements later in the game, but are executed poorly enough at the start to deter a lot of people:

- Render quality. Early renders both have bad quality and poor lighting, I also had a tendency to keep the player on the same static image for way too long.
- Dialogue. Stop overexplaining and talking about pointless things. It's boring. Make dialogue less stale, let it flow more naturally.

Suggestions or comments are welcome. I can be reached by DM as well.

Try not to be discouraged (easy for me to say, isn't it?); from what I have seen mentioned by other devs, interest levels are always pretty fluid.

Heres my 5 cents, adjusted for inflation, and that is about all it is worth

No idea if the eyes were a good choice or not; I got used to them, but I can see why they would turn some people off.

Never forget about a/the girls. Players find their favorite, then (as I am sure you have discovered) get REALLY pissed when they don't get new content with them. Unless you are doing a short-story/stand-alone type thing, leave no character behind.

Dialogue choices and player input are great ideas, but can also create a ton of extra work....up to you to decide how much of that you can do.

Render quality is always a good thing to strive for, images can never be too good, but there are tons of games around here with so-so renders that are doing well.

I am saying this as a consumer with no talent for creating these things: character/story development is probably the key. Make the players want to know what is going to happen next, while they are (im)patiently waiting for more content for their personal *best girl*. Unless you plan on dropping a generic fetishcentric fuckfest, you need the consumers to be invested in the fate of the story & their *best girl*

Last comment, and probably the most important one I will make: Do what you want to do. Create the content that you want to create. The project will be better for it, and the fans will follow. If you start churning out content that you have no interest in, it will show.

Sorry for the wall of text...

 

[Gorse]

So I won't lie and say that the obvious declining interest in the game isn't discouraging. However I also won't lie and say that I don't realize the reason for it.

Since the first release I've received a lot of great feedback and constructive criticism. Patch 0.7 will be the final update to the game, as such I have made a few notes of areas I'd like to change and/or improve upon for my next game.

- More focus on the girls. Until now I've tended to put more focus on the MC and his story.
- While some people like the larger eyes, I realize that it's alienated a lot of people as well. In the end I don't think it was a good design choice.
- Sandbox be gone.
- Give the girls continuous roles throughout the story, rather than giving them one storyline each and then almost forgetting about them.
- More dialogue choices and player input.
- Spend more time on designing the characters.
- Don't create more work for myself by working on game elements that people don't care about. This may not directly improve the game, but I'll be able to work more effectively which I think will indirectly improve it.

Things that I believe have seen improvements later in the game, but are executed poorly enough at the start to deter a lot of people:

- Render quality. Early renders both have bad quality and poor lighting, I also had a tendency to keep the player on the same static image for way too long.
- Dialogue. Stop overexplaining and talking about pointless things. It's boring. Make dialogue less stale, let it flow more naturally.

Suggestions or comments are welcome. I can be reached by DM as well.

First of all, I always liked your game right from the start! For me it is still very enjoyable regardless of the girls' oversized eyes and such nitpicky details some people tend to overcriticise a lot... as if these were really serious issues.
No, serious issues, in my opinion, are when a game has no (coherent/interesting) story and/or plain, stupid, blank characters building upon all these ridiculous porn tropes constantly instead on a realistic plot and carefully developed characters and their branches into the story.
You didn't "fail" for me here at all. You can seriously be proud of your skills to tell a story which is worth to be told and interesting, your graphic abilities up to these amazing animations (which are outstanding!).
Apropos outstanding: It's even your first game - come on: most developers "failed" much more than you initially and aditionally learned almost nothing from their "mistakes".

So second, I feel with you, but don't be that much discouraged. Don't let yourself (and your fine work!) down too much!
"After the Inferno" is not bad nor is your effort you put into it, it's @Classy Lemon work! No Rubbish Grapefruit stuff

I can somewhat agree with some of your notes ... in particular the Girls' continuous appearance throughout the story and the sandbox point. The latter maybe more in the direction that if you implement a sandbox, it has to give the player free roam. So it's maybe more: doing the sandbox mechanic in the right way instead of not making use of it at all?!
The linear branches to each Girl are maybe not the best way, but neither a total obstacle to play. For me the main plot isn't branched out enough so far - and within the "not-so-great" implemented sandbox the pacing for the continuation of the main events in the plot seem to be little bit off. Not a huge issue, but one of the few I noticed.

Another "issue" perhaps could be the long time period between the patreon releases and the public releases (even here on this pirate forum)?! I mean, while I am patient enough to wait 4 weeks more for the public update, there may be others who are not. And 4 weeks is really long in comparison to most games around here that try to engage patrons as well as non-patrons.
Maybe consider shorter release time shifts in the future?!

Well, after this wall of text I can only encourage you to not cut this game short only because some temporal decrease of fans or support. There are always ups and downs. So take your time, take some deep breaths in between and do what you love to do.
Everything done with passion has two sides so far I've learned: on one side it could let you burn out in the worst case. But on the other side it can light the brightest flame that is able to delight people!
Sorry for the cheesy allegory... but you get it for sure nevertheless

All the best!!!

 

[Classy Lemon]

At a basic level, I do enjoy the game. The reasons I don't enjoy it more are mostly the ones you've outlined here. I am impressed that you have listened to your "customers" so well and are willing to see/make changes that seem to be needed even if they don't fit your original vision. Especially without getting "game suicidal" or angry.

There are two basic approaches to most "products"; make what you want and fuck them if they don't like it or, make what the customer wants even though it's not what you originally proposed. Obviously there are middle paths in there that take some of both. Having been in product design, I have had to do both.

Personally I wouldn't "abandon" or shorten this game, just make the changes that make sense mid-stream and then make the other changes on your next project. I'll admit I am one of the people that complain about the eyes, but the story is good enough that I keep checking for updates to see what is happening. Smoothing out the dialog and pacing will go a long way. I've played games that had characters that looked way worse to me that I still followed because of the story. Even though I know I'll never make a game/VN, I have started trying to write some stories/scripts for a game just to see if I could. It's harder than most people think. I have a great story in my head but by the time I've got it written down it sucks. Even this "wall of text" feedback has gone "off script" from what I had intended.

TL : DR
game decent - keep going
good attitude towards feedback/criticism
make compromises that fit you and your story

Thanks man, though do let me clarify. The next update would've been the last one regardless, I'm not abandoning or shortening anything

 

[Zephea]

Not really sure why people are complaining about this one... it is a great game. Big eyes? Magic? It is tagged as a Fantasy, and nothing in the game is that far fetched. Nit picky at best.
The story is good, characters are unique and play their 'parts' well. It's sexy, has fighting and some neat twists in the plot.
The one thing that I am still not too sure about is the 'end game' - where is the story going and how will we know we are close to getting there? It is not clear.

Overall I enjoy this! I look forward to updates and play them when they arrive. Have not been able to support it as of yet, but that would come over time. Once this is done - consider making another... live, learn and grow! Looking forward to it!

 

[UnDeaD_CyBorG]

I do concur that this was actually great, quality-wise. But yes, it was a bit odd to see the girls appear after their route.
It made sense for the first one to be the first, but after that, just naturally interweaving them, and doing no more than half a story per girl per update, would make people wait for more... more.
Definitely looking forward to your future games.
I don't necessarily see "sandbox" as a problem, per se. It's just, as far as they go, you need to make them meaningful, or leave them out.
Most sandbox games out there at least allow you to talk with npcs, even without new story, and maybe get the odd bit of dialogue, or in the case of 'love interests', the odd repeatable scene with slightly changing dialogue. If the sandbox is empty, might as well save yourself the sand. Though I'm sure you know that - just felt the need to elaborate my statement.

 

[DarkArchon]

So I won't lie and say that the obvious declining interest in the game isn't discouraging. However I also won't lie and say that I don't realize the reason for it.

Since the first release I've received a lot of great feedback and constructive criticism. Patch 0.7 will be the final update to the game, as such I have made a few notes of areas I'd like to change and/or improve upon for my next game.

- More focus on the girls. Until now I've tended to put more focus on the MC and his story.
- While some people like the larger eyes, I realize that it's alienated a lot of people as well. In the end I don't think it was a good design choice.
- Sandbox be gone.
- Give the girls continuous roles throughout the story, rather than giving them one storyline each and then almost forgetting about them.
- More dialogue choices and player input.
- Spend more time on designing the characters.
- Don't create more work for myself by working on game elements that people don't care about. This may not directly improve the game, but I'll be able to work more effectively which I think will indirectly improve it.

Things that I believe have seen improvements later in the game, but are executed poorly enough at the start to deter a lot of people:

- Render quality. Early renders both have bad quality and poor lighting, I also had a tendency to keep the player on the same static image for way too long.
- Dialogue. Stop overexplaining and talking about pointless things. It's boring. Make dialogue less stale, let it flow more naturally.

Suggestions or comments are welcome. I can be reached by DM as well.

Edit: I made it sound like I'm abandoning the game. That's not the case. Next patch would've been the last one regardless of how it went.

I am playing the game for the first time, and so far I like it. I am nearing the end of the last story path of the 0.5 version.

 

[HeresToAHappyLife]

So I won't lie and say that the obvious declining interest in the game isn't discouraging. However I also won't lie and say that I don't realize the reason for it.

Since the first release I've received a lot of great feedback and constructive criticism. Patch 0.7 will be the final update to the game, as such I have made a few notes of areas I'd like to change and/or improve upon for my next game.

- More focus on the girls. Until now I've tended to put more focus on the MC and his story.
- While some people like the larger eyes, I realize that it's alienated a lot of people as well. In the end I don't think it was a good design choice.
- Sandbox be gone.
- Give the girls continuous roles throughout the story, rather than giving them one storyline each and then almost forgetting about them.
- More dialogue choices and player input.
- Spend more time on designing the characters.
- Don't create more work for myself by working on game elements that people don't care about. This may not directly improve the game, but I'll be able to work more effectively which I think will indirectly improve it.

Things that I believe have seen improvements later in the game, but are executed poorly enough at the start to deter a lot of people:

- Render quality. Early renders both have bad quality and poor lighting, I also had a tendency to keep the player on the same static image for way too long.
- Dialogue. Stop overexplaining and talking about pointless things. It's boring. Make dialogue less stale, let it flow more naturally.

Suggestions or comments are welcome. I can be reached by DM as well.

Edit: I made it sound like I'm abandoning the game. That's not the case. Next patch would've been the last one regardless of how it went.

I'm liking and enjoying the game as well but I can definitely agree with that feedback. I don't usually post but I wanted to let you know that your work has not gone unnoticed, it really has potential and I'm looking forward to both the 0.7 update and your next work!

 

[DarkArchon]

Thanks man, though do let me clarify. The next update would've been the last one regardless, I'm not abandoning or shortening anything

Please make sure we can have our way with a naked barefoot Trysta in the last update!

 

[Rugerrell6]

Yea I gotta say I really liked this game. I havent played the previous update with the elf chicks because i've been waiting for Trysta. The eyes dont bother me at all if anything it gives them a somewhat unique look for 3d characters. But the only thing I would question (even tho I havent played the previous update) is why is the story ending so soon? It seems like it was only just gettin started to be honest. And the characters have a little background but its not much so I dont understand how it would be ending. But anyway its your project so its your choice when to end it or not but I cant say im not disappointed.

 

[Vitklim]

Game's ok on many levels, but the artstyle really does make it stand out. Good to see something uncommon and well executed. Thumbs up.

 

[Harbringer]

I look forward to your new game I really liked this one the art style and animation we're really great and unique looking forward to the next update

 

[TJP623]

gallery/codex unlock, to use download the file as a .rpy into the /game directory

How do you download this?

 

[Evoland]

fullsave gallery, plz? Gallery unlock doesn`t work(

 

[Classy Lemon]

Patch 0.6 - Public Release

- Main story continuation, click the bed in your room as always.
- Three new sex scenes
- Three new cutscenes
- Four new memories
- A couple new lore entries

Links in original post are updated.

That's it, hope you enjoy. Cheers and take care!

 

[Forgotten89]

Found the game just yesterday and finished all content within today. Sad to hear its comming to the end but if i would have to choose between game thats has like 15 chapters and gets dropped in the middle or shorter one but its finnished properly the choice is clear.

GL on a future projects

 

[Gorse]

Patch 0.6 - Public Release

- Main story continuation, click the bed in your room as always.
- Three new sex scenes
- Three new cutscenes
- Four new memories
- A couple new lore entries

Links in original post are updated.

That's it, hope you enjoy. Cheers and take care!

Wow, great update again - now the main story is reaching its (hopefully glorious!) finale...
Also reaching to these "ghostly privates" was scintillatingly witty.

Only in the reading lectures I almost felt like our MC: kind of magically bored.

BUT(T) fortunately, you got me thrilled again by the following events and incited for the final chapter to come.
Thanks for this game and your effort to finish it properly... assumingly with a big bang, Classy Lemon !

 

[Rugerrell6]

Is this version 0.6 or 0.5? cause its still saying v0.06 on the thread.

 

[Rugerrell6]

nvm i downloaded it anyway and its v0.06.

 

[Classy Lemon]

Hey mods how about that game update?