Ren'Py Apartment #69 [v0.08] [Luxee]

[Corambis]

I don't know why ask for a friendship route for nea, I think they just feel guilty because she commits suicide, but the truth is that in a lot of games when you reject a LI it's almost what happens, their content is deleted from the game and It is done as if that character had never existed, why would it have to be different in this game?

I've played a lot of games with optional characters, and this hasn't really been the case for any of them. Or at least there's not a case where if you reject the love interest, they kill themselves. Sometimes the game gives you an option asking if you want to avoid the content, and then you never see the character at all. Other times they hang around, but you don't interact with them (at least with your penis). But we've had this lengthy intro to Nea and multiple interactions with her before her untimely demise in the friendship path. There's also multiple places where you're expected to tell the game "no, I still don't want the romance route", although the latest one was after you already see Nea naked, which again is pretty unusual for an optional character where some may not like the content. You generally don't expose them to said content before giving them the choice to avoid it in the future. But that's part of Luxee's thinking of "if I just show them enough of who Nea is, they have to love her". That's why the game isn't really designed to exist without her, since Luxee couldn't envision anyone wanting that after they met her.

 

[YogSothoth1982]

Exactly this. I'm not sure how Luxee plans to move forward with the friendship path at all after this. My guess is that we won't see anything regarding it in the next update because he doesn't know, and will kick that can down the road. That's assuming that the friendship path doesn't just end with Nea's death. I haven't played it in so long, but I don't know if the "avoid Nea" path even goes anywhere. I know in the first update or two taking that route effectively blocked progress in the game.

Well, after "starting the friendship route" with Nea which doesn't seem to end very well, there is one more scene where the MC should continue her story and what appears is a message that says something like this: "I don't remember what It happened, what a horror."

Personally, if the decision is to not include alternative scenes without Nea, I would be very upset: There are three paths for Nea, one for those who have decided on romance; another for those who have decided not to see what is happening from the beginning, but know that it's still happening (if they have read the explanations correctly, they will know); and a last one for those who, having seen the development of Nea's story, have opted for a friendship that has not ended very well. I don't think it's appropriate to match paths 2 and 3, since in one theoretically, from what I've checked, Nea has a romance with the MC without the players seeing it, while in the other one Nea is no longer there.

Creating in the next update an abrupt ending for those who have chosen not to romance Nea would be a bad move on his part. If he wants to do that, it would have been better if he had done it in the same update that you can reject Nea: After rejecting Nea and its consequences you can continue playing and there is another scene of Nea (and I already say what the MC says in that case) that of course you cannot see in this route.

 

[Hermit76]

I don't know why ask for a friendship route for nea, I think they just feel guilty because she commits suicide, but the truth is that in a lot of games when you reject a LI it's almost what happens, their content is deleted from the game and It is done as if that character had never existed, why would it have to be different in this game?

Why should anyone feel guilty? It's a fictional character in a fictional story, which the author decided to write out it in a slightly overdramatic way and which I was not interested at all in. I really could not care less.

 

[Freshenstein]

Man, I wish the developer was as active as this thread is!

 

[darlic]

I don't know why ask for a friendship route for nea, I think they just feel guilty because she commits suicide, but the truth is that in a lot of games when you reject a LI it's almost what happens, their content is deleted from the game and It is done as if that character had never existed, why would it have to be different in this game?

Because there is a whole page of comments right before yours arguing about her being a core character, and how unfortunate this is for those like me who are not interested in her?

 

[Dogorti]

Because there is a whole page of comments right before yours arguing about her being a core character, and how unfortunate this is for those like me who are not interested in her?

I already know that, but why a friendship route? If you reject her, she disappears from the game, what else do you want

 

[GingerbreadMan]

I already know that, but why a friendship route? If you reject her, she disappears from the game, what else do you want

Because I want her story, I just don't want the MCs dick in her ass.

 

[YogSothoth1982]

I already know that, but why a friendship route? If you reject her, she disappears from the game, what else do you want

Of course you can do it in many more or less dramatic ways (she disappears without saying anything after rejecting her, she runs off to another city, she locks herself in her house to eat ice cream all day...), but possibly the one that the LI in question jump off a rooftop is pretty drastic.

 

[Hellster]

Of course you can do it in many more or less dramatic ways (she disappears without saying anything after rejecting her, she runs off to another city, she locks herself in her house to eat ice cream all day...), but possibly the one that the LI in question jump off a rooftop is pretty drastic.

Exactly, I mean whether you reject her or accept a romantic relationship she is still in the game for the ones who went the romantic route, suicide, like you said, was an overly dramatic way to reject her.

 

[JGNeon]

Neither PL nor A69 will win awards for their writing. PL at least had more of it in a better narrative form versus A69, which feels like you're playing through the replay gallery of another game. That's part of the game design, in that you're walking around and revisiting memories, but I don't think that concept is really working. I still love the analogy someone used that the game feels like you're walking through the phantom version of our world in Stephen King's "The Langoliers" when you play this game.

As indicated when you start A69, the entire story is made of memories you're re-telling to that guy at the café, about how you met your girlfriend (who already went to the bathroom in that intro, so we don't yet know who that person ends up to be). The entire game is essentially a flashback to your story from the point where you move out to your own apartment until the time when you meet up with that old friend at the café.

It's not great, but I find it intriguing as I play each segment of the story.

I just wish Luxee would show a proper sign of life. The progress tracker hasn't been updated in 2 months, at which time they indicated that there was just one more scene left to do, and I've noticed that others have mentioned they've popped in very sparingly in their Discord since then. I checked and searched the Discord myself (only the open channels, since I don't have a subscription), and they pop up once every few weeks, but not with anything related to A69 or dev work, so I'm unsure what's going on there...

 

[Corambis]

As indicated when you start A69, the entire story is made of memories you're re-telling to that guy at the café, about how you met your girlfriend (who already went to the bathroom in that intro, so we don't yet know who that person ends up to be). The entire game is essentially a flashback to your story from the point where you move out to your own apartment until the time when you meet up with that old friend at the café.

It's not great, but I find it intriguing as I play each segment of the story.

I just wish Luxee would show a proper sign of life. The progress tracker hasn't been updated in 2 months, at which time they indicated that there was just one more scene left to do, and I've noticed that others have mentioned they've popped in very sparingly in their Discord since then. I checked and searched the Discord myself (only the open channels, since I don't have a subscription), and they pop up once every few weeks, but not with anything related to A69 or dev work, so I'm unsure what's going on there...

It's an interesting premise, although I don't think the setup necessarily precludes there being more of a story there to bridge things together either. A sandbox game is difficult to pull off as it is, with just that factor being an instant turnoff to some people because of how often it is poorly executed. I think it's unnecessary in this game because ultimately, it's just a visual novel with a few different paths that didn't need to be a sandbox, and probably shouldn't have been. There's no grinding like in so many other sandbox games, although a little bit of that could have at least given the illusion of more content and story. As it is, it just kind of feels cold and detached to me because it feels like I'm standing outside of the real world and only pop into it for these memories. I'm also not a fan of flashbacks in erotic games in general. That opening and the gameplay turns *everything* into a flashback. So a lot of this is personal preference.

We'll have to see if Luxee does at least become more vocal or at least finish this update. I love the detailed tracker they give us, where other devs just throw out numbers like "80% done" that could just be pulled out of thin air. The fact that they have been perpetually stuck on one or two scenes for months now and haven't communicated much if at all for as long doesn't seem to bode well for the game though.

 

[GingerbreadMan]

... I think it's unnecessary in this game because ultimately, it's just a visual novel with a few different paths that didn't need to be a sandbox, and probably shouldn't have been. There's no grinding like in so many other sandbox games, although a little bit of that could have at least given the illusion of more content and story. ...

When Luxee started A69, he explained that the game is not supposed to be a classical sandbox. He uses the sandbox elements present because he felt they were a (not necessarily the best, but the one he came up with feeling comfortable with) solution for him writing the story in a way that kept him in the loop.

You won't have to grind or browse through places to find events or any of that, but he explained that in the confines of a classical VN, he felt compelled to write everything as it happened, including a lot of filler stuff, that was just there because he spelled out everything from A-Z, not because it was overly important or interesting.

He wanted an option to concentrate on the important/interesting scenes without all that filler, and he wanted to be able to write at what he felt inspired for - whereas in a classical VN, he would have felt compelled to write whatever happened at the point in time he was at, just because that was where the story was at, without options to write other stuff and then fill story holes later.

So with the current way, you always know where memories are available, you only get the memories important for the story, and Luxee can work at whatever memory he wants without breaking story flow or continuity because they aren't part of a fixed chain of events/timeline.

You can like that or not, and Luxee himself admitted this might not be the most elaborate solution and not even a problem others deem worthy of being addressed/fixed, but he felt it was the best option for himself to address his 'me-problems' when it came to writing the story of A69.

 

[Corambis]

When Luxee started A69, he explained that the game is not supposed to be a classical sandbox. He uses the sandbox elements present because he felt they were a (not necessarily the best, but the one he came up with feeling comfortable with) solution for him writing the story in a way that kept him in the loop.

You won't have to grind or browse through places to find events or any of that, but he explained that in the confines of a classical VN, he felt compelled to write everything as it happened, including a lot of filler stuff, that was just there because he spelled out everything from A-Z, not because it was overly important or interesting.

He wanted an option to concentrate on the important/interesting scenes without all that filler, and he wanted to be able to write at what he felt inspired for - whereas in a classical VN, he would have felt compelled to write whatever happened at the point in time he was at, just because that was where the story was at, without options to write other stuff and then fill story holes later.

So with the current way, you always know where memories are available, you only get the memories important for the story, and Luxee can work at whatever memory he wants without breaking story flow or continuity because they aren't part of a fixed chain of events/timeline.

You can like that or not, and Luxee himself admitted this might not be the most elaborate solution and not even a problem others deem worthy of being addressed/fixed, but he felt it was the best option for himself to address his 'me-problems' when it came to writing the story of A69.

I recall Luxee talking about his brain not really taking a linear approach to creating a game. You could see that in some places in PL when he told some parts of the story in a strange order. People were concerned when he came out with an update, and Ava lost her virginity as part of drunken scene the MC barely remembered. Then an update or so later the "optimal" scene appeared which was from a different storyline.

I think his current approach is not working in the game's favor, although that's just my opinion of course. I know others aren't fond of the setup either, but of course others don't seem to mind. We're still ending up with a very linear game in that even though its the MC unlocking memories, they are unlocked in a very particular order. The sandbox approach lends a feel or haphazardness to it though because you have to go looking for them. And personally I miss there being not being more story there. I think we're missing a lot of character development with the MC and the love interests by just reducing their stories to some key memories.

I'm wondering what Luxee themselves thinks of their game? That might answer a lot of questions as to the delay, or to whether they think they made the right choices when they first created the game.

 

[GingerbreadMan]

I recall Luxee talking about his brain not really taking a linear approach to creating a game. You could see that in some places in PL when he told some parts of the story in a strange order. People were concerned when he came out with an update, and Ava lost her virginity as part of drunken scene the MC barely remembered. Then an update or so later the "optimal" scene appeared which was from a different storyline.

I think his current approach is not working in the game's favor, although that's just my opinion of course. I know others aren't fond of the setup either, but of course others don't seem to mind. We're still ending up with a very linear game in that even though its the MC unlocking memories, they are unlocked in a very particular order. The sandbox approach lends a feel or haphazardness to it though because you have to go looking for them. And personally I miss there being not being more story there. I think we're missing a lot of character development with the MC and the love interests by just reducing their stories to some key memories.

I'm wondering what Luxee themselves thinks of their game? That might answer a lot of questions as to the delay, or to whether they think they made the right choices when they first created the game.

I'm with you in the concern, Luxee might deem content that would be nice for character development as unworthy of a memory - but then I feel like most girls besides Nea haven't enough content to really judge that and in Neas' case, I didn't really feel like there was content missing - besides me wanting more content.

While in the first installment, you had to search for memories, Luxee has adjusted that, you have on the main screen exactly what memories are left for you. I think to remember the place was listed too, but I might be wrong about that.

The setup in memories might lead to a feeling of disjointedness and less content, but I think a lot of that comes from the number of updates we got - if A69 was a classical VN, it would still feel short I think.

My main gripe with the current setup is the overall presentation in one-color silhouettes (not only for the memories) that I feel are somewhat degrading the overall quality. They got partially better though (the memory overview), and might be subject to further changes.

I myself prefer classical VNs too, but I'm not really unhappy with the current setup besides the amount of content - but that's universal if you basically like a VN.

 

[pleasenjoy]

sigh, just checkin in

 

[Elinan]

2 months and 1 week with no word about the last 12,5% of the update left. I miss when that was the total update time.

 

[Rutonat]

Ok, well if Nea is their primary inspiration/focus, then why not have a friend route option ? rather than only romance or suicide.
If they were that concerned on keeping her in the game, why not add the third option?
Many people have commented (including myself) that if there was a friend route they would take it, rather than the other alternatives, but we weren't given that option.

My personal theory is that the harassment and constant insults Luxee was subject to, because of their love for trans characters, led to them snapping. I've seen some of the drivel people will say and honestly, there's no surprise Luxee doesn't come to this site anymore. People are fucking vile.
So while I don't have any insider information or anything, Luxee being human, I think they just ended up snapping at the constant attacks over Nea, and had a "There ! You fucing happy now, you fucking assholes !?" type reaction. Which, while not very mature, is very much understandable, in my opinion. Devs are humans, they all have their breaking point. And people who get games for free can somehow be even worse than the mainstream gaming community when it comes to attacking a creator.

 

[Rutonat]

I've played a lot of games with optional characters, and this hasn't really been the case for any of them. Or at least there's not a case where if you reject the love interest, they kill themselves. Sometimes the game gives you an option asking if you want to avoid the content, and then you never see the character at all. Other times they hang around, but you don't interact with them (at least with your penis). But we've had this lengthy intro to Nea and multiple interactions with her before her untimely demise in the friendship path. There's also multiple places where you're expected to tell the game "no, I still don't want the romance route", although the latest one was after you already see Nea naked, which again is pretty unusual for an optional character where some may not like the content. You generally don't expose them to said content before giving them the choice to avoid it in the future. But that's part of Luxee's thinking of "if I just show them enough of who Nea is, they have to love her". That's why the game isn't really designed to exist without her, since Luxee couldn't envision anyone wanting that after they met her.

On a side note, the way Nea is written makes it actually quite logical. Her life pre-MC is extremely abusive, and trust me you have no idea how heavily that kind of environment affect trans people. So since she was written in such a broken and vulnerable state, the simple hope of someone loving her has absurdly high effects on her mental state, and understandably it's revealed she has a huge fear of abandonment.
So the MC pushing her away sends her very much spiraling inside her own head. And for someone in such a mental state, that spiral can be extremely destructive.
Plus the MC can be kind of fucking stupid at times with his interactions with her, too, which does not help in the slightest.

So while yes, the writting could have been chosen to go another way, it's actually fairly logically and realistically done, paradoxally.

 

[Hellster]

My personal theory is that the harassment and constant insults Luxee was subject to, because of their love or trans characters, led to them snapping. I've seen some of the drivel people will say and honestly, there's no surprise Luxee doesn't come to this site anymore. People are fucking vile.
So while I don't have any insider information or anything, Luxee being human, I think they just ended up snapping at the constant attacks over Nea, and had a "There ! You fucing happy now, you fucking assholes !?" type reaction. Which, while not very mature, is very much understandable, in my opinion. Devs are humans, they all have their breaking point. And people who get games for free can somehow be even worse than the mainstream gaming community when it comes to attacking a creator.

I have no issues with her being in the game, just woulda been nice to have a friend route option, no one else should have any issues with her either, but you know, people get angry over fictional characters in a game

 

[Rutonat]

I have no issues with her being in the game, just woulda been nice to have a friend route option, no one else should have any issues with her either, but you know, people get angry over fictional characters in a game

You have no idea how many transphobic cunts attacked Luxee over her and a PL side-character existing. That's absolutely nuts how vile people will be over something like that just to get their way...