VN Ren'Py Artemis [v0.5.1] [digi.B]

[LustButNotLeast]

Yeah, the MC would have to be stupidly naïve and trusting to give Cassandra a second chance. She got him drunk, fucked him, and then had him sign his part of the project over to her. She then parlayed that into a partnership, where she is fucking the son of one of the partners, then every time she sees the MC she twists the knife she buried in his back. How the fuck is there any redemption for her?

If the MC turns to the dark side, steals from Kindra, fucks over the House of Ink, and then uses Cassandra to rise to the top (before discarding her) I could see that working as a storyline. But for Cassandra to realize what she's "lost" (destroyed) three years after the fact and suddenly decide to reconcile with the MC would be a ridiculous storyline. Unlike a soda can, Cassandra has no redemption value. She is a perfect antagonist and I hope stays that way.

I absolutely agree, and particularly I like the quote "and every time she sees the MC she twists the knife she buried in his back".
I guess there could be a theorethical redemption (I'm a Lost fan, and so "what happened, happened"), but there MUST be a punishment. "World" can forgive that woman, but MC not, and I think it's right so.
Only thing I don't agree is that it could be a storyline if MC will act with Kindra, HoI, and other ones like Vulvamort acted with him.
I guess that I and nearly all other players would be less "empathic" with MC, and the winning card of this game is the empathy that players feel for MC (and all that is about Kindra, but this is a different thing).

 

[imoutolover]

So according to the development log timestamp, it should be completed by now. Now it's just a waiting game. Can hardly stand the anticipation!

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Happy Monday!!
I'll keep this update short since not a whole lot remains to be worked on. I've completed stitching together the scenes and animations, I only found one issue with an animation and that is scheduled to be done rendering in a few more hours. I also added some additional renders for scenes I felt really helped. All the scenes have been laid out and coded. All that remains is reviewing the variables, organizing the code, complete the soundtrack and a few more assets remain to be created. Mostly small things. However, that said I'll be sending the beta for testing before this weekend!!
Have yourselves a fantastic rest of your week!!
digi.B

 

[Canto Forte]

Long week ahead waiting on them renders to bake, code to actually blend together and variables to make sense to the 1st version of this game ... mayham is upon us.

 

[MrFriendly]

I absolutely agree, and particularly I like the quote "and every time she sees the MC she twists the knife she buried in his back".
I guess there could be a theorethical redemption (I'm a Lost fan, and so "what happened, happened"), but there MUST be a punishment. "World" can forgive that woman, but MC not, and I think it's right so.
Only thing I don't agree is that it could be a storyline if MC will act with Kindra, HoI, and other ones like Vulvamort acted with him.
I guess that I and nearly all other players would be less "empathic" with MC, and the winning card of this game is the empathy that players feel for MC (and all that is about Kindra, but this is a different thing).

Don't take my speculation as any desire for a dark side path. I could see it happen but I don't want it to happen. I very much empathize with the MC, to the point where I found the entire naked and blindfolded getting a blowjob to be horribly preposterous porn logic. The guy was betrayed by a woman who he was in love with, she got him drunk, sexed him up, and then fucked him over. He should have more issues than just with alcohol when it comes to trusting women. Up until the introduction of the HoI I was really excited by how well written this game was, one of the best debuts I've seen. But after that it went into the "cautiously optimistic" pile.

I really hope that digi.b avoids the porno logic and focuses on telling a good story.

 

[Canto Forte]

MC is desperate 4 a job .. it is that easy.
MC has a friend who vouched 4 him - he cannot jinx her trust any longer.
MC is at the end of his rope - he is down to getting mercy from his barmaid ffs.
From living in his car to going to a mansion to meet possible collegues is a step up.

I absolutely agree, and particularly I like the quote "and every time she sees the MC she twists the knife she buried in his back".
I guess there could be a theorethical redemption (I'm a Lost fan, and so "what happened, happened"), but there MUST be a punishment. "World" can forgive that woman, but MC not, and I think it's right so.
Only thing I don't agree is that it could be a storyline if MC will act with Kindra, HoI, and other ones like Vulvamort acted with him.
I guess that I and nearly all other players would be less "empathic" with MC, and the winning card of this game is the empathy that players feel for MC (and all that is about Kindra, but this is a different thing).

Don't take my speculation as any desire for a dark side path. I could see it happen but I don't want it to happen. I very much empathize with the MC, to the point where I found the entire naked and blindfolded getting a blowjob to be horribly preposterous porn logic. The guy was betrayed by a woman who he was in love with, she got him drunk, sexed him up, and then fucked him over. He should have more issues than just with alcohol when it comes to trusting women. Up until the introduction of the HoI I was really excited by how well written this game was, one of the best debuts I've seen. But after that it went into the "cautiously optimistic" pile.

I really hope that digi.b avoids the porno logic and focuses on telling a good story.

Vulvamort is a LI precisely because she starts as the queen of his castle.
She threw him out the window into his dragon infested pond and is still
throwing his things out the windows whenever she gets any whim of him.
Her Li path is not over by a long shot.

 

[ExDeath730]

Don't take my speculation as any desire for a dark side path. I could see it happen but I don't want it to happen. I very much empathize with the MC, to the point where I found the entire naked and blindfolded getting a blowjob to be horribly preposterous porn logic. The guy was betrayed by a woman who he was in love with, she got him drunk, sexed him up, and then fucked him over. He should have more issues than just with alcohol when it comes to trusting women. Up until the introduction of the HoI I was really excited by how well written this game was, one of the best debuts I've seen. But after that it went into the "cautiously optimistic" pile.

I really hope that digi.b avoids the porno logic and focuses on telling a good story.

Good to see more people that disliked that scene. I hated it. That's one of the reasons i don't like the entire HOI situation, even if i do like some of the girls in it.

It could have been all a company event, a "Wolf of Wall Street" level party, but sororities were in vogue, i guess. Anyway, i think that scene was really out of place for the feel of the game and where the MC was.

 

[Canto Forte]

A beggar out on the lam, living in his car, down on his luck,
getting invited to a party of his employer .. who would back down getting a job, huh?

Good to see more people that disliked that scene. I hated it. That's one of the reasons i don't like the entire HOI situation, even if i do like some of the girls in it.

It could have been all a company event, a "Wolf of Wall Street" level party, but sororities were in vogue, i guess. Anyway, i think that scene was really out of place for the feel of the game and where the MC was.

He does a favor for someone sweet enough to put a good word
4 some homeless guy who cannot get a job 4 the life of him.

 

[pochops]

Don't take my speculation as any desire for a dark side path. I could see it happen but I don't want it to happen. I very much empathize with the MC, to the point where I found the entire naked and blindfolded getting a blowjob to be horribly preposterous porn logic. The guy was betrayed by a woman who he was in love with, she got him drunk, sexed him up, and then fucked him over. He should have more issues than just with alcohol when it comes to trusting women. Up until the introduction of the HoI I was really excited by how well written this game was, one of the best debuts I've seen. But after that it went into the "cautiously optimistic" pile.

I really hope that digi.b avoids the porno logic and focuses on telling a good story.

There's no way "porn logic" is completely avoided in a porn game. I believe digi.B is trying to work in a harem option, and there is nothing that screams "porn logic" more than a bevy of beautiful women worshipping one glorious penis. Regarding Cassandra, I can see three basic love interest routes for her that others have alluded to here -

1) Hands-off Annihilation Route: Her complete personal and professional destruction in which you make the choice not to come into sexual contact with her at all (this is the route I take);

2) Bow Down Bitch Route - Her complete personal and professional destruction where you make the choice to turn her into some form of degrading, subservient sex slave to you and the woman or women that are your true love interests;

3) Don't Kick A Bitch While She Is Down Route - Her complete personal and professional destruction in which afterwards you take the high ground. Maybe on this forgiveness path some details are learned about Cassandra's abusive past that contributed to her abhorrent conduct and make her a slightly more sympathetic character. It's much easier to forgive once you've already had revenge and are sitting on top.

 

[WastedTalent]

There's no way "porn logic" is completely avoided in a porn game. I believe digi.B is trying to work in a harem option, and there is nothing that screams "porn logic" more than a bevy of beautiful women worshipping one glorious penis. Regarding Cassandra, I can see three basic love interest routes for her that others have alluded to here -

1) Hands-off Annihilation Route: Her complete personal and professional destruction in which you make the choice not to come into sexual contact with her at all (this is the route I take);

2) Bow Down Bitch Route - Her complete personal and professional destruction where you make the choice to turn her into some form of degrading, subservient sex slave to you and the woman or women that are your true love interests;

3) Don't Kick A Bitch While She Is Down Route - Her complete personal and professional destruction in which afterwards you take the high ground. Maybe on this forgiveness path some details are learned about Cassandra's abusive past that contributed to her abhorrent conduct and make her a slightly more sympathetic character. It's much easier to forgive once you've already had revenge and are sitting on top.

1 sounds good but I have a feeling no matter the route there is going to be a ton of over exaggerated drama along the way. I know every story needs some but this one is set up to go nuclear. The problem I have is how severely broken the MC seems to be. He can't even look at the chick without running away in terror. I get she hurt him and messed up his life but how can the shrink say he's better if he's still got PTSD or whatever from his past. But yes I would like to see her end up in really bad shape when it's all said and done. I could see a route where MC is coherced or forced to work with her or for her and he demolishes her and the company she works for as revenge. Pretty unrealisitic I'm sure because they have a lot of backing through share holders, but it would be good to see some actual justice instead of just half measures. Back to my point though MC seems pretty weak so it says to me he either still has feelings for her or he's intimidated by her and either way that leaves him open to be wounded further.

 

[MrFriendly]

1 sounds good but I have a feeling no matter the route there is going to be a ton of over exaggerated drama along the way. I know every story needs some but this one is set up to go nuclear. The problem I have is how severely broken the MC seems to be. He can't even look at the chick without running away in terror. I get she hurt him and messed up his life but how can the shrink say he's better if he's still got PTSD or whatever from his past. But yes I would like to see her end up in really bad shape when it's all said and done. I could see a route where MC is coherced or forced to work with her or for her and he demolishes her and the company she works for as revenge. Pretty unrealisitic I'm sure because they have a lot of backing through share holders, but it would be good to see some actual justice instead of just half measures. Back to my point though MC seems pretty weak so it says to me he either still has feelings for her or he's intimidated by her and either way that leaves him open to be wounded further.

PTSD doesn't really go away, at least not in my experience. You learn ways to control your reactions and deal with the emotions but you can still be surprised by a trigger. There are times when something will trigger a reaction and you never knew that was a trigger until it happened. The MC's therapist should have given him coping mechanisms for handling his emotions but when he is ambushed by Cassandra for the first time it is understandable that he reacts with panic. As he encounters Cassandra more then he should be able to mitigate her influence on him.

And I really want Cassandra to not be a love interest, to have no way of being fucked by the sacred dick of the MC, and in the end truly regret everything she did because she is left with nothing. That's the best revenge.

 

[pochops]

1 sounds good but I have a feeling no matter the route there is going to be a ton of over exaggerated drama along the way. I know every story needs some but this one is set up to go nuclear. The problem I have is how severely broken the MC seems to be. He can't even look at the chick without running away in terror. I get she hurt him and messed up his life but how can the shrink say he's better if he's still got PTSD or whatever from his past. But yes I would like to see her end up in really bad shape when it's all said and done. I could see a route where MC is coherced or forced to work with her or for her and he demolishes her and the company she works for as revenge. Pretty unrealisitic I'm sure because they have a lot of backing through share holders, but it would be good to see some actual justice instead of just half measures. Back to my point though MC seems pretty weak so it says to me he either still has feelings for her or he's intimidated by her and either way that leaves him open to be wounded further.

My three very basic scenarios all happen post battle after the mc gets a chance to reassert himself and vanquish Cassandra. I think Cassandra must remain one of the primary villains throughout most of the story and war must be waged against her. However, as the battle rages on, it could be interesting if details are slowly revealed about her that make the decision of how you choose to eventually end up with her more difficult. For example, what if we begin to discover that some form of intricate trap, coercion, or blackmail influenced her betrayal of the mc? Once Cassandra has been vanquished and is kneeling at my feet, I don’t think I’d mind if digi.B has somehow skillfully woven in detail that makes me a little ambivalent about whether to spit on her face or give her a helping hand up.

 

[Haast]

My three very basic scenarios all happen post battle after the mc gets a chance to reassert himself and vanquish Cassandra. I think Cassandra must remain one of the primary villains throughout most of the story and war must be waged against her. However, as the battle rages on, it could be interesting if details are slowly revealed about her that make the decision of how you choose to eventually end up with her more difficult. For example, what if we begin to discover that some form of intricate trap, coercion, or blackmail influenced her betrayal of the mc? Once Cassandra has been vanquished and is kneeling at my feet, I don’t think I’d mind if digi.B has somehow skillfully woven in detail that makes me a little ambivalent about whether to spit on her face or give her a helping hand up.

We all know that Vulvamort will try and grab Koko, as MC and Kindra had done what she couldn't, and she needs that code to keep her job...
If she succeeds at grabbing a copy, big if... I hope she copies it thinking she can just modify it etc and pass it off as her work, then as the company announce the development and she brings their project online infront of the press, the copy protection kicks in, announcing how the code isnt running on valid hardware, and is therefore obviously stolen, telling the reporters who the code owners really are, all while alerting the police etc.
At best (for her) she is devastated, fired, dumped and kicked to the kerb, at worst the entire company pays the price for the theft, but as she would have been behind it, jail time etc at the very least.
That would also be redemption for the MC, as he would get to see her taken down a few notches, all while proving it was his skills that got her the job in the first place.

 

[Dragon59]

One thing that the situation with Cassandra reminds me of is the quote from Ian Fleming's Goldfinger"

PTSD doesn't really go away, at least not in my experience. You learn ways to control your reactions and deal with the emotions but you can still be surprised by a trigger. There are times when something will trigger a reaction and you never knew that was a trigger until it happened. The MC's therapist should have given him coping mechanisms for handling his emotions but when he is ambushed by Cassandra for the first time it is understandable that he reacts with panic. As he encounters Cassandra more then he should be able to mitigate her influence on him.

And I really want Cassandra to not be a love interest, to have no way of being fucked by the sacred dick of the MC, and in the end truly regret everything she did because she is left with nothing. That's the best revenge.

Yes, PTSD is not easily overwritten and "gotten over." As you said, most of the time, we work to be aware of our triggers and try to not let them control us so easily.

That first encounter with Cassandra was happenstance, and he and his therapist treated it as such. They had no idea their paths would continue to cross (and cross). He definitely needs to get another session after the events of the last few days.

My three very basic scenarios all happen post battle after the mc gets a chance to reassert himself and vanquish Cassandra. I think Cassandra must remain one of the primary villains throughout most of the story and war must be waged against her. However, as the battle rages on, it could be interesting if details are slowly revealed about her that make the decision of how you choose to eventually end up with her more difficult. For example, what if we begin to discover that some form of intricate trap, coercion, or blackmail influenced her betrayal of the mc? Once Cassandra has been vanquished and is kneeling at my feet, I don’t think I’d mind if digi.B has somehow skillfully woven in detail that makes me a little ambivalent about whether to spit on her face or give her a helping hand up.

I see the two of them battling with the powers of TWRR and IV behind them. Epic.

I still don't want to see her as an eventual love interest either. I'm still uncomfortable with Tanja in My New Family. This MC doesn't have the almost superhuman empathy of MNF's MC. It would seem a big stretch.

 

[imoutolover]

A beggar out on the lam, living in his car, down on his luck,
getting invited to a party of his employer .. who would back down getting a job, huh?


He does a favor for someone sweet enough to put a good word
4 some homeless guy who cannot get a job 4 the life of him.

It's been a while, but if I remember correctly he was conflicted about whether to go or not before accepting the invite. Am I wrong?

 

[Canto Forte]

Can you blame him, tho?
4 going I mean.

It's been a while, but if I remember correctly he was conflicted about whether to go or not before accepting the invite. Am I wrong?

Would you turn down the babe who supported you this long?

 

[MrFriendly]

Can you blame him, tho?
4 going I mean.


Would you turn down the babe who supported you this long?

"This long"? They'd been friends for less than a year, I want to say it's been less than 6 months. The "babe" who has supported the MC for a long time is his therapist. That's his longest relationship with anyone - 3 years.

And hell yes! If I was in the exact situation the MC was in I would turn her down. Being a stunt dick for a bitch is not exactly a self esteem booster. Depending on how the MC is played that is the first sexual contact the MC has with a woman since Cassandra (IIRC)

 

[Canto Forte]

Well .. yeah .. but she did not put in a good word 4 him on a new job 4 all those years,
it was the barmaid ... neither did anyone else get him real support to not become jobless+homeless.
The bar babe coulda been like the therapisrt and just take his money and
laugh him under the table, what did she care?

"This long"? They'd been friends for less than a year, I want to say it's been less than 6 months. The "babe" who has supported the MC for a long time is his therapist. That's his longest relationship with anyone - 3 years.

And hell yes! If I was in the exact situation the MC was in I would turn her down. Being a stunt dick for a bitch is not exactly a self esteem booster. Depending on how the MC is played that is the first sexual contact the MC has with a woman since Cassandra (IIRC)

We are talking survival kind of help here, not candy or hand outs.

 

[Joey the mangaka]

That was fast work.
Welcome and kicked before start for all the trash of Cassie . The more damage take it's June.

 

[Avaron1974]

harem option

Quite surprising how 2 words can kill interest in something.

 

[pochops]

Quite surprising how 2 words can kill interest in something.

I was referring to a brief exchange I recently saw on Patreon where a supporter asked about a harem and digi.B replied he's "trying to work it in". This could easily be consistent with what is already in the developer notes that there will be no ridiculous WVM-style "collecting every girl for an all in one buffet". Maybe just having fun with some of the girls and ultimately the choice to end up in a mini-harem.