Ren'Py Abandoned Ashford Academy Redux [v0.5.3] [Dream Chaser]

[Varik8876]

I'm not arguing that people would go "this is impossible, something unnatural must be happening." I'm arguing that people would go: "I don't like these changes, I don't want them to happen." I absolutely don't think parents would fail to react to their teens having sex at school just because the changes took place over a year and a half, and I think having some opposition would make the game more fun.

True, but you are assuming that the kids would even talk about sex at school, most would be thinking free sex is a pretty good thing and be very aware the parents would not be happy with it, though it does seem a bit odd that there is no comment from the parents, calling them in for a parent/teacher meeting then giving them all a bit of a whammy to not pay much attention to what is going on in the place would make sense, but yes having to deal with parents sticking their noses into what is going on it the school could add some potential problems, it could also add some more adults for the kids to have fun with as well, both the mothers and fathers of the students giving some hands on education help.

 

[Varik8876]

I feel like much of the pushback you are asking for is already simulated in some of the games mechanics, namely the reputation stat, events that are publicly knowable that deviate too far from societies norms already deduct reputation.
The main thing that the game needs in that regard is making the management of reputation and scandals more involved with more meaningful decisions. Maybe if you have policies that are scandalous you have events regarding what you can do to try and keep the parents and wider public knowing about the schools activities so reputation becomes something more actively managed rather than just another stat that trends up or down. Also would make certain upgrades more useful such as having the dorms mitigating a lot of the events due to students primarily living on site reducing the amount of information that leaks to the general public.

A boarding school, especially a closed campus type of boarding school would solve a lot of the problems about outsiders finding out about things they should not, it would also make it easier to keep track of which kids have been done and which have not been done enough, though a simple act normally outside of school or when you are in private with other students or teachers would also head off quite a bit of potential problems as well. In fact any mind controller with even the smallest amount of common sense, would have this as one of the first things they implant into their toys, just to draw less attention to themselves and what they are doing.

 

[dreamchaser]

Thank you for that discussion. It was very interesting, and did give me some ideas.
For now I have noted down (for version 0.6, not for upcoming 0.5):
- Events that trigger with rising school corruption (low inhibition/high deviance) where students and/or parents make trouble. High reputation gives better options.
- Change dormitory so that it turns the school into a boarding school. Make high corruption lower reputation, but the dormitory mostly protects against that (maybe other policies too?).

We'll see what becomes of that, but I think these are sound ideas.

 

[Bloodly]

Pushback? Certainly. But also 'pull'. One of the more...memorable?....events, added by an older mod was students asking you to go further with the uniform. There is technically more pull in that your assistants are meant to be agitating for you to go further, but there's few events like this. They follow your lead. There's the event for the wiring up of the school for sex vids, which is, of course, sketchy as hell but of course you need the money....

I suppose the issue is more one of how passive you can end up being.

 

[DariusD]

Any update for example when we will get new release?

 

[dreamchaser]

Any update for example when we will get new release?

I post regular development updates in

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Development is ongoing, but I can't estimate a date for the next release yet.

 

[i1269496]

I post regular development updates in

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Development is ongoing, but I can't estimate a date for the next release yet.

Would you mind to tune balance a bit? My biggest disappointment in the redux, it's so much easier to play comparing to the original, barely any challenge at all.

 

[ANUBIS969]

it also say multiple protag

Baby Yodas cutest Thingie on earth!

 

[dreamchaser]

Would you mind to tune balance a bit? My biggest disappointment in the redux, it's so much easier to play comparing to the original, barely any challenge at all.

Well, you are the first one to say so. All other replies I had with regards to difficulty was that it was too hard/took too long. So I have tended to make things a little bit easier. And for those that still think that things are too hard/too slow, I even offer a mod just to make the game easier...

We'll see what feedback I'll get for the next version. That will be rebalanced, as I am modifying all events, but my intention isn't to make the game harder.

 

[Venchi]

Well, you are the first one to say so. All other replies I had with regards to difficulty was that it was too hard/took too long. So I have tended to make things a little bit easier.

I'm actually with them on this one, I actually find it hard trying to handicap myself enough to keep certain stats low, say if I want to make sure I get as many image variants as I can for lower stats. As for actual difficulty, in the current version, from a fresh new game, you can turn on everything that you'd expect to set you back right away (high pay, smallest size for classrooms, no discipline, etc.), buy the most expensive building (say cafeteria), and you'll go positive again before running out of money.

I tried modding it myself to make things a bit more interesting, but between spending hours getting errors while trying to figure out how to make things work the way I wanted, and keeping an eye on upcoming plans, I kind of decided to wait and see before giving it another go. Stuff like high academics increasing the decay rate of athletics and vice versa (encouraging you to specialize in only one until you've got some building upgrades to back you up) and more noticeable consequence from stress could go a long ways to making players think more and not just bulldoze through.

 

[Konstantinus]

As for actual difficulty, in the current version, from a fresh new game, you can turn on everything that you'd expect to set you back right away (high pay, smallest size for classrooms, no discipline, etc.), buy the most expensive building (say cafeteria), and you'll go positive again before running out of money.

Actually cafeteria is giving money back. But yeah it is mathematically fixed it seems to not being able to get into red numbers.

 

[dreamchaser]

I'm actually with them on this one, I actually find it hard trying to handicap myself enough to keep certain stats low, say if I want to make sure I get as many image variants as I can for lower stats. As for actual difficulty, in the current version, from a fresh new game, you can turn on everything that you'd expect to set you back right away (high pay, smallest size for classrooms, no discipline, etc.), buy the most expensive building (say cafeteria), and you'll go positive again before running out of money.

I tried modding it myself to make things a bit more interesting, but between spending hours getting errors while trying to figure out how to make things work the way I wanted, and keeping an eye on upcoming plans, I kind of decided to wait and see before giving it another go. Stuff like high academics increasing the decay rate of athletics and vice versa (encouraging you to specialize in only one until you've got some building upgrades to back you up) and more noticeable consequence from stress could go a long ways to making players think more and not just bulldoze through.

Alright, thank you for the feedback.
I looked into the code, and saw that right now, there isn't even a lose condition in the game if you run out of money! Ups...
I'll implement a losing event for running out of money, and verify that you can actually run out of money by enabling too expensive policies too early. If that is not so, I'll make some policies more expensive than they currently are.
That is all perfectly doable for 0.5. But people have to tell me so I know there is actually a problem to fix. Thank you for that!

 

[Vladimir_xyz]

how long is game?

 

[dreamchaser]

Alright, I've implemented a bad end for 0.5 for running out of money.
Playtesting how feasible it is to actually lose the game (in this way or due to staff_support/behavior/reputation falling to 0) I will do when I am far enough along to playtest the new version.
As I said, I don't intend to make it harder per se, but losing should obviously be possible.

 

[Yytt11]

When the new update release?

 

[Volrath]

When the new update release?

Not speaking for our wonderful DreamChaser, but on the HHS boards the closest thing he mentioned is, hopefully this year. Given where he is in the progress reports he has posted, he is really getting a ton of work done.

 

[ayy]

Are you also adding more events/images with updates?

 

[dreamchaser]

Are you also adding more events/images with updates?

I am. There will be a few new events, and a lot of new images.
The main focus will be expanding existing events with more branches/random choices and more images (for more variety, and to make events available in more dresscodes and stages of the game).
I am overhauling pretty much all events, doing a few events per day (I am writing an update in

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whenever I finish a location). I don't have time to work on this every day, and the game has hundreds of events. So that is why the update is taking so long.

As Volrath correctly answered above, I hope to release 0.5 before the end of this year. But it will be close, so no promises.

 

[Dackd357]

Does anybody have some advice to manage well the school at the beginning I keep failing because some of my stats reach 0

 

[Konstantinus]

Does anybody have some advice to manage well the school at the beginning I keep failing because some of my stats reach 0

Congratulation. You are the first one to manage that.