VN Ren'Py Abandoned Another Man's Wife [v1.092] [Too Perilous]

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

Sorry for the delay. Very busy today and old and tired tonight....

"...a sense of dread" he said. I like that. I know all of us are not going to be on the same page with what may/may not happen with this story (plots and subplots), but I like the not knowing. If I were writing and coding one of these games I would always use a randomizer in the code. Looking back at my life it is fascinating how some decisions and their outcomes were predictable and others completely unpredictable. Five minutes earlier, five minutes later and who knows what would have happened. Sometimes I thought I did everything right and failed. Sometimes I really screwed up and miraculously everything worked out.

I've been married for 30+ years, but did a lot of skirt chasing (and I mean a lot) in the 70s and 80s. I sometimes kick back and wonder about this person or that. I've been cheated on and lied to and have felt that sting. I never physically cheated on anyone, as I thought a lot of honor. But I also never wanted to be bitter or angry, so made it a point to keep any jealously locked in a deep, dark dungeon somewhere. I learned that there's only one thing we have control over in this life and that is our actions. I also learned that what we thought we had figured out, agreed upon, promised...sometimes crumbled to ruin. So there is always that wee small voice that whispers about the dreadful things that might happen.

So, as I wrote a few days ago about brain chemistry...people don't always do what they say they will. Sex and emotion are sometimes wildly unpredictable in how they influence someone, ourselves included. So, to tap into that reality in making a game, I circle back to the randomizer. The game should have some degree of unpredictability even if all the right choices are made. I realize that would drive many peeps crazy, but that's how I would do it.

Are the 70s and 80s, fun times. I married in the 80s to my first wife for 15yrs, ugh what a disaster. I remarried in the 2000s to an utterly awesome woman, been 20yrs of happy times.

Oops off topic there, I don't mind the sense of dread or an unknown factor/person behind the scenes, it is frustrating that it usually ends up being a cheating spouse or the bad guy who steals the cheating spouse. Hopefully it isn't the case with this story.

A randomizer sounds interesting but I'm not sure how you would implement that in a VN environment. VN platforms seem to be made for choice not randomizing. I ask because I am interested in the possibility, I just don't know how it could be implemented. I would certain like too

 

[JetZ]

Sorry for the delay. Very busy today and old and tired tonight....

"...a sense of dread" he said. I like that. I know all of us are not going to be on the same page with what may/may not happen with this story (plots and subplots), but I like the not knowing. If I were writing and coding one of these games I would always use a randomizer in the code. Looking back at my life it is fascinating how some decisions and their outcomes were predictable and others completely unpredictable. Five minutes earlier, five minutes later and who knows what would have happened. Sometimes I thought I did everything right and failed. Sometimes I really screwed up and miraculously everything worked out.

I've been married for 30+ years, but did a lot of skirt chasing (and I mean a lot) in the 70s and 80s. I sometimes kick back and wonder about this person or that. I've been cheated on and lied to and have felt that sting. I never physically cheated on anyone, as I thought a lot of honor. But I also never wanted to be bitter or angry, so made it a point to keep any jealously locked in a deep, dark dungeon somewhere. I learned that there's only one thing we have control over in this life and that is our actions. I also learned that what we thought we had figured out, agreed upon, promised...sometimes crumbled to ruin. So there is always that wee small voice that whispers about the dreadful things that might happen.

So, as I wrote a few days ago about brain chemistry...people don't always do what they say they will. Sex and emotion are sometimes wildly unpredictable in how they influence someone, ourselves included. So, to tap into that reality in making a game, I circle back to the randomizer. The game should have some degree of unpredictability even if all the right choices are made. I realize that would drive many peeps crazy, but that's how I would do it.

ah if ur putting it that way i think i can understand ur point,
i think it's more of the word "dread" for me personally bring too much negativity since english is not my first language, everytime "dread" comes up, i would think about death or anything related to that.
but i guess i learn now that it can basically means the same as uncertainty or unknowing.

and no worries for the late reply

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

Are the 70s and 80s, fun times. I married in the 80s to my first wife for 15yrs, ugh what a disaster. I remarried in the 2000s to an utterly awesome woman, been 20yrs of happy times.

Oops off topic there, I don't mind the sense of dread or an unknown factor/person behind the scenes, it is frustrating that it usually ends up being a cheating spouse or the bad guy who steals the cheating spouse. Hopefully it isn't the case with this story.

A randomizer sounds interesting but I'm not sure how you would implement that in a VN environment. VN platforms seem to be made for choice not randomizing. I ask because I am interested in the possibility, I just don't know how it could be implemented. I would certain like too

This guy said what I felt better - it's not that the word dread in a story immediately repels me; it's the context of how it typically occurs in these games. Dread doesn't mean 'oh shit my lovely parakeet died' or 'My wife just got news from the doctor she has a brain tumor'. No, it has a very narrow way of playing out in the avn sphere - it either means the love interest opts to find action elsewhere, or a new character comes on the scene specifically with the goal of usurping your relationship.

 

[JetZ]

This guy said what I felt better - it's not that the word dread in a story immediately repels me; it's the context of how it typically occurs in these games. Dread doesn't mean 'oh shit my lovely parakeet died' or 'My wife just got news from the doctor she has a brain tumor'. No, it has a very narrow way of playing out in the avn sphere - it either means the love interest opts to find action elsewhere, or a new character comes on the scene specifically with the goal of usurping your relationship.

well i guess i learn new things today from u guys, thanks for explaining it
but i guess it's just my brain work that way at first either it's death or it's related to a really nasty thing

but yeah i still stand by my word, it'll be a major letdown for me personally if steph ended up in Anne shoes in a short time (if it's Tori i don't really care tbh lol)

but we all can agree, we're all just worried because so far the story and dialogue is unique compared to most VN that has swinging premise,
and i know most of us wants it stay that way in a long run (especially knowing they will have another game after this)

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

well i guess i learn new things today from u guys, thanks for explaining it
but i guess it's just my brain work that way at first either it's death or it's related to a really nasty thing

but yeah i still stand by my word, it'll be a major letdown for me personally if steph ended up in Anne shoes in a short time (if it's Tori i don't really care tbh lol)

but we all can agree, we're all just worried because so far the story and dialogue is unique compared to most VN that has swinging premise,
and i know most of us wants it stay that way in a long run (especially knowing they will have another game after this)

Oh no, your initial impression was correct, dread does mean just that. But it can be a useful motif in literature, outside the realm of adult games.

 

[Nurikabe]

i had a sus moment when i thought it was Tori as well since Tori and Steph know each other already
but when i saw a line of dialogue on the last update how steph acted like she knows gina that well
it all made me re-play and reread the dialogue again

Spoiler

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I think we will have to walk a very thin line to get the 'good' result here.
I am 100% with you, Pr0GamerJohnny, and Grumpy Old Aussie. If this goes down the route that many of us suspected in the first iteration, that Steph is cheating or that she is manipulating the MC to get with a guy she wants (or that she wanted to swing in general), that will put a huge damper on my feelings for the game. There are too many "hints" that Steph is not on the up and up. We know something is going on. With the latest response to your questions you posted, we can see that there is definitely something negative that is lying under her behavior.

My issue lies with how Steph has responded so far. She has stressed the importance of being open and honest. Yet, she is hiding something. What she is hiding and why she is hiding it is the big shit elephant in the room here.

First is the phone conversation. I think the best response from the MC is to challenge who she is talking to in a nonconfrontational manner that turns her into ultra-bitch and ends the story. Anyone would come down hearing her on the phone and at least ask who she was talking to. He can't let it go outright.

Let's say Tori is who she was talking to. If that is the case, then it is most certainly a situation where Tori has been coaching Steph on how to get into the lifestyle. I could let that go if it goes no further than that. Nothing leads me to believe that Gina could have been on the call. It happens with or without Gina going home with the MC. If it were a man on the phone, then that is game over for me. Steph cheating or manipulating the MC in a negative manner is the end of my support for her. And as I have mentioned, I am already on the fence with her. Creating an unlikeable protagonist (e.g. Anne) is a deadly game to play with a story. Perhaps, Steph has been the antagonist all along. Honestly, that is not the type of story I want to read; the manipulative, cheating wife.

Because a pivotal scene is coming up, the business trip, the receipt clue left on the table is particularly concerning and damning. If she had planned on trying to fuck someone on the trip all along, again, this is a game over for me. There are way too much politics played when a woman decides to sleep with a coworker or someone related directly to work. For this reason, it is rarely something that occurs on a whim. It is well-planned and thought out. The concern of deep manipulation here is simply unacceptable.

What I have truly enjoyed about this story so far is that it gives an honest, "true-feel" look at a couple opening up the idea of an open relationship. Decisions that are over-the-top at pushing the wife, or the extreme sex (the husband as voyeur/cuck) have been tempered well with highly negative responses. Essentially, the developers have shaped the choices so you protect the couple and keep them together. There have been threats to that idea (Steph's not being open and honest). But each time it is mediated with choices that bring the couple back together. If you go too far (the "train" route) with Steph the first night, she apologizes profusely to her husband. The husband can accept her apology and reset the couple back to equilibrium. During that conversation, the husband can choose much more extreme options (e.g. "I really enjoyed you being like that") and open up the voyeur/cuck route which seems to be a route the developers have been warning you to avoid by the choices presented.

Why do all that work to force the player into a scenario where the "central conflict in the story" could "destroy" the couple? Was the story a 'no-win' scenario to being with? I have read other stories like this where the couple screwed themselves the moment they opened up about the idea of an open marriage. The story I think they are eluding to was that story. I am trying desperately to remember what the name is. I remember writing how it felt like the author was trying to warn against extreme behaviors in a marriage and how it will ultimately destroy the couple. It was highly unpleasant and not fun at all. But as I have mentioned previously, it seems ALL stories that attempt to tell the story of an adventurous, swinging, open couple ends in misery.

 

[Phoenix Lord]

Interesting, in my play this phone call in the morning doesn't happen, or at least the MC doesn't hear her talking to anyone

 

[WuzzyFuzzy]

ah if ur putting it that way i think i can understand ur point,
i think it's more of the word "dread" for me personally bring too much negativity since english is not my first language, everytime "dread" comes up, i would think about death or anything related to that.
but i guess i learn now that it can basically means the same as uncertainty or unknowing.

and no worries for the late reply

In the US, "dread" can be used on a spectrum. I can say, "I dread going to class tomorrow". (I didn't study and am not prepared. Or, I don't want to see my ex-girlfriend.) So it can be used in a lighter, more humorous way. And, as you've pointed out, it can be used to elicit a more serious, darker emotion.

When I read a good book, the author can pull me in to a greater degree if they can generate strong emotions in me as I progress through the story. I can begin to worry about the outcome of the plot or whether the protagonist will survive the ordeal, etc. So, in these stories, if a writer can do the same then our reactions are stronger, both good and bad. Of course, 99% of all the writing in these things are subpar and full of drivel and we rarely are engaged in any meaningful game. So I don't mind different routes such as if she cheats as long as there are multiple routes which offer engagement and they are well-written. I just want the story to be believable.

 

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

Interesting, in my play this phone call in the morning doesn't happen, or at least the MC doesn't hear her talking to anyone

Pursue all the paths in the bar and go through with them until the next morning. You will get it.

 

[WuzzyFuzzy]

A randomizer sounds interesting but I'm not sure how you would implement that in a VN environment. VN platforms seem to be made for choice not randomizing. I ask because I am interested in the possibility, I just don't know how it could be implemented. I would certain like too

When my daughter was a teen, I could come home from the office and say 'hello' followed by a generic, but well-intentioned greeting. I could say the same thing seven days in a row and get the same response. But every once in a while, if she had a bad day at school or a certain biological condition was happening, I'd get a totally unpredictable response.

If I were creating one of these there would be a small chance that even if I did all the right things, so to speak, maybe there would be a 5% chance that a character would respond in an unpredictable manner. So maybe as we chat here in this thread several of us would mention we got result A and one of us would get B. While we were playing we'd know about B and, in a light-hearted way, dread getting B, but it's that dread of B that elicits a stronger engagement.

I realize most of the people playing these games don't want that and want things to turn out their way before the story even begins. But I am a contrarian and like to be unpredictable.

 

[danov17]

is there's walkthrough for route option

 

[packard1928]

is there's walkthrough for route option

no...not yet .. but it is fun playing to all the questions.

 

[ename144]

Because a pivotal scene is coming up, the business trip, the receipt clue left on the table is particularly concerning and damning. If she had planned on trying to fuck someone on the trip all along, again, this is a game over for me. There are way too much politics played when a woman decides to sleep with a coworker or someone related directly to work. For this reason, it is rarely something that occurs on a whim. It is well-planned and thought out. The concern of deep manipulation here is simply unacceptable.

Am I the only one who thinks the receipt is meaningless? A married woman treating someone to lunch, in and of itself, is so utterly unremarkable that I don't see why the MC would expect her to mention it specifically. My take on the receipt is that it's a red herring, a chance for the MC to indulge in the sort of rampant paranoia that would eventually sabotage the whole open marriage if left unchecked.

I'm not keen on forcing drama over Steph's fidelity, but I don't see a problem with letting us make it an issue through our own actions. But that's my take, we'll have to see how the devs plan to handle things.

 

[Claudio83]

I thought the MC husband made a point in the bar to Steph that this was not about Tori. It is about an open marriage. However... reading all these other comments... I am not 100 percent sure MC dude initiated all this. Steph and possibly Tori masterminded this all along.
Not sure where Steph dug up Donny if he is involved from the beginning....as is mentioned by the office lunch bill. Why did she pick up the tab if she met Donny ?

The Tori thing ("Would you like to be in a threesome with me and my wife?") is only a start point towards an open marriage relationship involving MC and his wife (swinging, hotwifing, cuckolding, etc.)
In general the open marriage path is a kink of the husband that he confess to her wife (see The Adventurous Couple for example and many other games of this type), but this time the kink is instilled in the husband's mind by the strange request of his friend and colleague.

 

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

I think we will have to walk a very thin line to get the 'good' result here.
I am 100% with you, Pr0GamerJohnny, and Grumpy Old Aussie. If this goes down the route that many of us suspected in the first iteration, that Steph is cheating or that she is manipulating the MC to get with a guy she wants (or that she wanted to swing in general), that will put a huge damper on my feelings for the game. There are too many "hints" that Steph is not on the up and up. We know something is going on. With the latest response to your questions you posted, we can see that there is definitely something negative that is lying under her behavior.

My issue lies with how Steph has responded so far. She has stressed the importance of being open and honest. Yet, she is hiding something. What she is hiding and why she is hiding it is the big shit elephant in the room here.

First is the phone conversation. I think the best response from the MC is to challenge who she is talking to in a nonconfrontational manner that turns her into ultra-bitch and ends the story. Anyone would come down hearing her on the phone and at least ask who she was talking to. He can't let it go outright.

Let's say Tori is who she was talking to. If that is the case, then it is most certainly a situation where Tori has been coaching Steph on how to get into the lifestyle. I could let that go if it goes no further than that. Nothing leads me to believe that Gina could have been on the call. It happens with or without Gina going home with the MC. If it were a man on the phone, then that is game over for me. Steph cheating or manipulating the MC in a negative manner is the end of my support for her. And as I have mentioned, I am already on the fence with her. Creating an unlikeable protagonist (e.g. Anne) is a deadly game to play with a story. Perhaps, Steph has been the antagonist all along. Honestly, that is not the type of story I want to read; the manipulative, cheating wife.

Because a pivotal scene is coming up, the business trip, the receipt clue left on the table is particularly concerning and damning. If she had planned on trying to fuck someone on the trip all along, again, this is a game over for me. There are way too much politics played when a woman decides to sleep with a coworker or someone related directly to work. For this reason, it is rarely something that occurs on a whim. It is well-planned and thought out. The concern of deep manipulation here is simply unacceptable.

What I have truly enjoyed about this story so far is that it gives an honest, "true-feel" look at a couple opening up the idea of an open relationship. Decisions that are over-the-top at pushing the wife, or the extreme sex (the husband as voyeur/cuck) have been tempered well with highly negative responses. Essentially, the developers have shaped the choices so you protect the couple and keep them together. There have been threats to that idea (Steph's not being open and honest). But each time it is mediated with choices that bring the couple back together. If you go too far (the "train" route) with Steph the first night, she apologizes profusely to her husband. The husband can accept her apology and reset the couple back to equilibrium. During that conversation, the husband can choose much more extreme options (e.g. "I really enjoyed you being like that") and open up the voyeur/cuck route which seems to be a route the developers have been warning you to avoid by the choices presented.

Why do all that work to force the player into a scenario where the "central conflict in the story" could "destroy" the couple? Was the story a 'no-win' scenario to being with? I have read other stories like this where the couple screwed themselves the moment they opened up about the idea of an open marriage. The story I think they are eluding to was that story. I am trying desperately to remember what the name is. I remember writing how it felt like the author was trying to warn against extreme behaviors in a marriage and how it will ultimately destroy the couple. It was highly unpleasant and not fun at all. But as I have mentioned previously, it seems ALL stories that attempt to tell the story of an adventurous, swinging, open couple ends in misery.

Spot on as always. Is MC giving us a hint here? Perhaps I am reading too much in to it.

 

[packard1928]

I did not get that line.... but this seems like maybe she was the one who whnted it ... but had not put her plan in effect. MC did it first.

 

[Nurikabe]

Spot on as always. Is MC giving us a hint here? Perhaps I am reading too much in to it.

I think you nailed it in that example! I think the clues are often in his self-talk. He says a lot of things in those parentheses that make me wonder if that is the method the author has used to reveal what is really going on... that kind of subtext (but is actually written).

In my original playthrough, I had a lot of negative feelings. Almost all of them were connected to those "thoughts." They have me second-guessing my decisions. He remarks about the receipt, Gina (more than once), Donny (more than once depending on player choices), the phone call, and her taking to the idea, just to name a few. Sometimes they are more overt, "Maybe now is not the right time to bring up Tori." Other times and most often, it is like the example you posted.

I keep coming back to the developer's words in JetZ's post, "Has she already lost it and the MC is too late in figuring it out?"
Clearly, I think the answers to those questions are "Yes." I just don't know what it means yet.

There is definitely something to it!

 

[Grumpy Old Aussie]

I think you nailed it in that example! I think the clues are often in his self-talk. He says a lot of things in those parentheses that make me wonder if that is the method the author has used to reveal what is really going on... that kind of subtext (but is actually written).

In my original playthrough, I had a lot of negative feelings. Almost all of them were connected to those "thoughts." They have me second-guessing my decisions. He remarks about the receipt, Gina (more than once), Donny (more than once depending on player choices), the phone call, and her taking to the idea, just to name a few. Sometimes they are more overt, "Maybe now is not the right time to bring up Tori." Other times and most often, it is like the example you posted.

I keep coming back to the developer's words in JetZ's post, "Has she already lost it and the MC is too late in figuring it out?"
Clearly, I think the answers to those questions are "Yes." I just don't know what it means yet.

There is definitely something to it!

I had the same experience. I was often left hesitant on which decision to make.

Those decisions became more complicated by Steph's hypocrisy. I learnt real quick to ignore her dialogues about honesty and only going as far as MC is comfortable with, etc. If you don't choose for MC to lead on or let things evolve unopposed, Steph is furious at him. The phone call is another example of that hypocrisy. It is followed by her carrying on about honesty in the dialogue that follows.

I found myself selecting ''to end it" occasionally just to laugh at her tirade. What can I say, some times I am a sick man haha.

 

[packard1928]

What did the dev mean by thiscomment ? "Has she already lost it and the MC is too late in figuring it out?"

 

[Phoenix Lord]

Pursue all the paths in the bar and go through with them until the next morning. You will get it.

Got it, thanks.