VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.10.1] [DrPinkCake]

[ename144]

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This week I worked on and completed a big and tricky scene and some smaller scenes.
I have started working on the remaining lewd scenes of the episode now, posing both static renders and animations for them.
Art for 8 scenes remains, and three of those scenes need writing. I might need a couple more scenes after playtesting the episode if I feel something is missing.
I playtested Isabella's branch this week. It took me over 3 hours to complete it, without mini-games and without being able to test everything, as the final free roam event is still a bit of a mess regarding the code.
I felt that some parts of this branch needed a bit more content, while other parts of it were perfect and unique.
And this is an example of how I will work after finishing the art for the remaining scenes. I will playtest and then polish and add any additional content I feel is needed.
I have to do this for five branches and all possible combinations of choices and consequences therein. Each branch is of similar length, meaning a single playtest of all branches will require at least 15 hours of playtime. I always do this many times, over and over.
While there is plenty of joint content, there is also plenty of unique scenes for each branch; this makes quality control a big task.
But I'm very much looking forward to playing the episode. There are many scenes I haven't even seen in-game yet, even though the art has been finished for months - it's crazy, even more so than usual.
I'm up to 4524 renders, and now that I started animating again, I will know how many more animations I need within a few more weeks.
I don't have an accurate estimation of the release date; everything will depend on the remaining animation render times and how smooth the last stretch of development goes.

Have a nice weekend

Dr PinkCake

Huh. From the context it's entirely unclear if the 4524 renders he sites is posed or completed. The former suggests he rendered about 410 statics in a single week (a very high number), whereas the latter tells us nothing about how many were completed. I'm going to assume the latter since that's more conservative, he's switched to reporting posed totals recently, and it also lines up with the rate at which he's been adding statics to the queue. Unfortunately, that means there's really nothing new to add to the charts. Here's last week's charts again, though, for old time's sake:

Spoiler: Last Week's Charts

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Realistically, even if he did complete all 4524 statics, they're still not the part that matters. animations are, and the radio silence over them continues. It feels like we've been stuck in a holding pattern since that ultra-difficult animation finished rendering. That was supposedly slowing down the process, but with no additional data we can't tell how much. That really confounds any effort at prognostication. We're clearly not getting an October release if DPC is still "a few more weeks" away from knowing how much is left to do, but that's not exactly news. We're just going to have to settle in for the long haul and hope it ends sooner rather than later.

 

[Lightaces]

If there isn't much content for Riona and Lily

Well, we've already seen a preview for what sure looks like a Lily lewd scene, and if Riona in that cat suit doesn't end up back in the MC's room, I'll be shocked!

 

[Lightaces]

Art for 8 scenes remains, and three of those scenes need writing. I might need a couple more scenes after playtesting the episode if I feel something is missing.

I felt that some parts of this branch needed a bit more content, while other parts of it were perfect and unique.
And this is an example of how I will work after finishing the art for the remaining scenes. I will playtest and then polish and add any additional content I feel is needed.
I have to do this for five branches and all possible combinations of choices and consequences therein.

I started animating again, I will know how many more animations I need within a few more weeks.

- Yeah, absolutely no reason for Panic, or more properly for disappointment. after all, after all this time, He still dont even know how many thing he need to add, to finish it.

Not a writer, are you? You can plan all you want, but you never really know how things are gonna go until you've written it. The story only really starts to take shape when you start rewriting it. Before that, it's just a collection of....stuff. But for things to really be connected, you need more than just....stuff. Hell, most of the time you don't really even know it's done until after it is done. You usually have to start making it worse before you realize, "oh, nope, that was already done."

 

[Lightaces]

A common thing for fanatical perfectionists.

I would say instead, a completely normal part of any professional writer's process.

All the Kerouac nonsense about stream of consciousnesses writing is just bull shit. It's a good start to a project, and sure, On the Road worked pretty well, but most people who try to write that way, without rewriting, write trash. The whole point of rewriting is to make sure your audience is getting the experience you intend, and that is almost always enhanced by not being tied down by an early draft. You'll never know if you have said what you want to say until you have said it, and preferably heard back from others about their reactions.

 

[dempun]

I would say instead, a completely normal part of any professional writer's process.

All the Kerouac nonsense about stream of consciousnesses writing is just bull shit. It's a good start to a project, and sure, On the Road worked pretty well, but most people who try to write that way, without rewriting, write trash. The whole point of rewriting is to make sure your audience is getting the experience you intend, and that is almost always enhanced by not being tied down by an early draft. You'll never know if you have said what you want to say until you have said it, and preferably heard back from others about their reactions.

That's a very good point. We've seen it here with several devs redoing chapters in their VN's after a time. It also helps to have an ending to your story in mind. We've seen many VN's that just seem to meander while forgetting to advance the story. (That is, for the VN's that actually HAVE a story.) I would wager those are the devs who do not have an ending in mind.

 

[1200]

i dont know, if i payed 15 USD per update than yeah i would agree, but you and me are getting them from free here.

What about the ones who never update - ICSTOR etc, if we cant say updates take too long then we can't say that what ICSTOR is doing is wrong, when it blatantly is. I don't think DPC is anywhere near that level, but even if you aren't paying you can say he should be delivering more for what he earns, regardless of whether we get the product for free or not. It's about moral expectations as opposed to what I practically want, and it sets a very bad president for patreon funded projects as a whole.

 

[Sheet420]

And we are all reminded, once again, that the Interlude was not worth the opportunity cost. Not even close.

3 months spent on that hurts to think about now. It did nothing for the plot that couldn't have been done in more efficient ways and it was not very interesting as a standalone either.

 

[Lightaces]

That's a very good point. We've seen it here with several devs redoing chapters in their VN's after a time. It also helps to have an ending to your story in mind. We've seen many VN's that just seem to meander while forgetting to advance the story. (That is, for the VN's that actually HAVE a story.) I would wager those are the devs who do not have an ending in mind.

Tolkien never understood the rewriting process, and as a result we have far fewer finished stories that we could have by the father of fantasy. Every time he got stuck, he had to start over from scratch. The initial writing, that's the joy, but the rewriting, that's the work, and that's where it becomes great.

 

[Ilhares]

And we are all reminded, once again, that the Interlude was not worth the opportunity cost. Not even close.

3 months spent on that hurts to think about now. It did nothing for the plot that couldn't have been done in more efficient ways and it was not very interesting as a standalone either.

Considering he needed to get the underlying tech tested (for imports and all), and he was still going to have Zoey backstory, the only thing a lack of the Interlude would have resulted in would have been no update for anything whatsoever at all this entire time, because that same "boring" story content would have been worked into the rest of the stuff anyway.

Don't be angry about the interlude, this lengthy delay was always going to happen. Be angry that DPC obviously lied about pushing for smaller, faster episodes than what he'd done prior to the bloat of episode 8.

 

[Thekingofdope]

What about the ones who never update - ICSTOR etc, if we cant say updates take too long then we can't say that what ICSTOR is doing is wrong, when it blatantly is. I don't think DPC is anywhere near that level, but even if you aren't paying you can say he should be delivering more for what he earns, regardless of whether we get the product for free or not. It's about moral expectations as opposed to what I practically want, and it sets a very bad president for patreon funded projects as a whole.

Well i think ICSTOR is ripping people off, i think DPC is taking his time, and making quality content. Could he be faster? probably, would i LOVE if he was? yeah man give me an update every 4 months and i would be very happy. And tbh, if he was smart he would lower the devolopment time somehow, maybe hire someone, or buy another pc to do some rendering i dont know ,or he should consider making smaller updates. But as alot of people have said, he made his business this way, and it made him rich, why would he change that?

 

[Oliver Wendell Homely]

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You're welcome.

He lost 1.000 patrons since december 2021. November 2021 doesn't count because it was ep. 8 release: since then, he's constantly and slowly losing patrons.

That's common and not any different, in real terms, from the ebbs and flows of Patreon supporters that always accompany new content releases.

 

[allanl9020142]

That's common and not any different, in real terms, from the ebbs and flows of Patreon supporters that always accompany new content releases.

I feel like maybe sales from Steam and the other platforms for ep 9 and on would be a better indicator. It just makes sense that they'd be more fairweather than patreon supporters. Actual consumers buying a product vs people essentially donating to a creator on a monthly basis.

 

[aslknaslknd]

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You're welcome.

He lost 1.000 patrons since december 2021. November 2021 doesn't count because it was ep. 8 release: since then, he's constantly and slowly losing patrons.

And he'll gain twice or thrice that amount when he drops the next episode so I don't think he cares.

 

[Rome5555555]

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You're welcome.

He lost 1.000 patrons since december 2021. November 2021 doesn't count because it was ep. 8 release: since then, he's constantly and slowly losing patrons.

I assure you it's not much more than 10%.. And you have to understand that 10% is gone and another 10% has come..

 

[DrSoong]

Be angry that DPC obviously lied about pushing for smaller, faster episodes than what he'd done prior to the bloat of episode 8.

After the branching in Ep8 i had my doubt zhat Ep9 was getting smaller, now be has 5 different strands to tell, this will take time (every strand has to be that long that the players aren't disappointed).

 

[felicemastronzo]

After the branching in Ep8 i had my doubt zhat Ep9 was getting smaller, now be has 5 different strands to tell, this will take time (every strand has to be that long that the players aren't disappointed).

why? didn't he tell 5 stories anyway with each chapter before? (actually since the second season, the first one told essentially one)

the only difference before and after the eighth chapter is that now to see the 5 stories you have to do 5 games

 

[Lightaces]

Well i think ICSTOR is ripping people off, i think DPC is taking his time, and making quality content. Could he be faster? probably, would i LOVE if he was? yeah man give me an update every 4 months and i would be very happy. And tbh, if he was smart he would lower the devolopment time somehow, maybe hire someone, or buy another pc to do some rendering i dont know ,or he should consider making smaller updates. But as alot of people have said, he made his business this way, and it made him rich, why would he change that?

He's got 8 PC's rendering, and works 14 hour days. There is no evidence that rendering is a choke point. Though, as his desire for larger, more complex renders continues to grow, I'd imagine he is going to want to keep updating his render hardware.

 

[felicemastronzo]

I actually think the branching will be easier than the previous paths. Up until now all sorts of paths and permutations of relationships were possible. I'm gonna try to list them off the top of my head, and I'm sure to miss something:

1. M&J only
2. M&J and Jill
3. M&J, Jill and Sage
4. M&J, Jill, Sage and Bella
5. M&J and Sage
6. M&J, Sage and Bella
7. M&J and Bella
8. Jill only
9. Jill and Sage
10. Jill, Sage and Bella
11. Jill, Sage, Bella and Jade
12. Jill and Bella
13. Jill, Bella and Jade
14. Jill and Jade
15. Sage only
16. Sage and Bella
17. Sage, Bella and Quinn
18. Sage, Bella, Quinn and Jade
19. Sage and Quinn
20. Sage, Quinn and Jade
21. Sage and Jade
22. Bella only
23. Bella and Quinn
24. Bella, Quinn and Jade
25. Bella and Jade
26. Quinn only
27. Quinn and Jade
28. Jade only

And that doesn't even include that you could start a path with Jade but have it end prematurely due to M&J, same goes with Quinn's path ending due to Jill and so on. Or that Cathy, Riona, Lily, Nicole etc are all thrown into the mix. Actually I should have added Nicole and Lily into the above combinations, but I really just can't be fucked (lucky that's not DPC'c attitude!), but that would just blow it out even further.

Al that shit is pretty fucking convoluted, and it's worked fine.

Now since the "crossroads", we're looking at:

1. M&J only
2. Jill only
3. Sage only
4. Bella only
5. Others (basically all combinations of the below group)
   1. Quinn
   2. Jade
   3. Nicole
   4. Lily

I'm not sure how much Nicole's relationship with the mc is gonna progress. I get the impression they will just fuck from time-to-time, I don't think he's really the one she's looking for.

The Jade relationship is possibly about to go south big time due to this family meeting, or they could keep up their tryst.

It looks like there's going to be more happening with the Lily relationship since she wants to "Roll" with the mc.

And surely the Quinn relationship will keep progressing.

Oh yeah, and then there's Zoey!

So to me, it doesn't look like it's going to get more complicated with these branches, it'll actually be less so.

here shazba tells you, but you know it's like me saying it, we would seem to casually agree again, but it must be just a coincidence

 

[Ir0n Ma1den]

Im also in the loop with all relationship

 

[Ottoeight]

Don't be angry about the interlude, this lengthy delay was always going to happen. Be angry that DPC obviously lied about pushing for smaller, faster episodes than what he'd done prior to the bloat of episode 8.

That's the whole damn point. I'm glad someone is pointing it out.

That's common and not any different, in real terms, from the ebbs and flows of Patreon supporters that always accompany new content releases.

And he'll gain twice or thrice that amount when he drops the next episode so I don't think he cares.

I assure you it's not much more than 10%.. And you have to understand that 10% is gone and another 10% has come..

So what. He was the 2nd most popular porn game - number of patrons, I mean - on Patreon when he released episode 8. Only Summertime Saga had more patrons. Now he's the 5th-6th.

This is not the point, anyway. The point is that he TOLD that he was going to release faster and shorter updates after episode 8. He told it in the message he posted after he released episode 8.

Did it happen? Interlude happened. Episode 9 development happened. The opposite happened.

Should I care? Should I worry? Well, I just want to see the end of the story, you know. I want to know what's going to happen to MC, Josy, Maya, Sage and Jill.