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

[georsak]

Then he goes and says "a few more weeks" to know how many animations are left?

In a nutshell, that's exactly what got me disappointed and worried for the future

 

[georsak]

Like, nah bro it's cool. I'm gonna like it. We're all gonna like it. Just release the thing. We all appreciate your passion but I don't think most people are going to care about fucking in zero-g or something crazy technical about the animations when we've got to be alone with Zoey for half of the episode anyway.

Exactly this

 

[felicemastronzo]

You are making it too easy for yourself. DPC himself wrote that he did the interlude not only for technical reasons, but also so that we players would understand a context later.

Could he ever have said anything different?

"dear patreons, I don't want too many complaints when the new chapter comes out so I decided to test the save system first with an inflated story to make it self-sustaining"

or

"dear patreons, the new chapter, unlike hoped for, as usual will be huge so the time needed to finish it will go far beyond the usual time, hopefully in the year, so I decided to give you something to break the wait, but since I didn't have to waste too much time on it is the usual extended flashback with some extra content"

I would say no...the interlude is so narratively necessary that there is the only man-woman sex scene without MC. terrible sex scene with him more uncomfortable than MC during cum-petition. the only interesting part the cheering of the drunk girl

and to be sure Emma in addition to being ugly has also been made half-crazy, just in case, that you fall in love with anyone

 

[Cedroc1701]

Heh when I realized it was October I thought "I bet the people in the BaDik thread are getting rowdy."

Yup.

You'd think if there was one game where you could just relax and wait for the magic to happen, it'd be this one.


I, for one, enjoyed The Interlude, and Zoey went from the least explored to the most explored among the main cast, slightly ahead of Maya and Josie (with regards to backstory) so it was time well spent. It was also a good way to break up what is otherwise a rather linear progressing of the timeline (outside of the diary and a scant few flashbacks)

 

[felicemastronzo]

Regarding DPC's information message, I can only assume that he wants to keep expectations low in order to trigger an "aha" effect later.

You are leaving one thing out. We don't know the connection yet because it only becomes visible with EP9. That's why the interlude, because without the interlude in EP9, the connection would not be recognizable or would be more difficult to grasp.

After all, you can't take a ready-made cake out of the oven if you haven't mixed the ingredients together beforehand.

if there was no interlude there would have been a flashback, so something would have been told anyway, maybe less but it's not even certain

aside from Bella's flashback, the others gave me a lot of information anyway, it's work much better as a launch for the chapter being attached

I, for one, enjoyed The Interlude, and Zoey went from the least explored to the most explored among the main cast, slightly ahead of Maya and Josie (with regards to backstory) so it was time well spent. It was also a good way to break up what is otherwise a rather linear progressing of the timeline (outside of the diary and a scant few flashbacks)

I would say then that DPC has not done a great job on the 5 LIs in the last 4 years....

 

[Cedroc1701]

I would say then that DPC has not done a great job on the 5 LIs in the last 4 years....

I didn't say we didn't know anything about the others, just that Zoey is now (perhaps) more explored. I mean, we got an extended POV view at months of her life and know a lot about her current motivations and feelings. We know those things from most of the other LIs too, though more slowly like peeling layers off of an onion.

The other LIs also have more to reveal (especially Jill, Bella, Sage, and Quinn if we're counting her; I'm sure there's something left of the Maya/Josie backstory too, though it's less obvious)

Whereas Zoey is supposed to be more of a "known thing" to the MC, he's known her a long time. Think of all the other games that have the "old friend" character in them, and how isolated Fuckface is in comparison. This and the mom flashbacks are the only history we have on the MC. It was definitely needed from a story standpoint, even if some might prefer the lack of history to be able to 'self-insert' more easily.

She's a different kind of character, and lets not forget that her purpose in the story currently is to be a "bomb" from the past dropped into whatever is going on. You can't really slowly ramp that up, and I much prefer all of the context we have for her now, rather than her just swinging in like Mylie Cyrus on a wrecking Ball.

 

[znar25]

It has been awhile. Any new guesses on where the story might go with Sally?

 

[felicemastronzo]

I didn't say we didn't know anything about the others, just that Zoey is now (perhaps) more explored. I mean, we got an extended POV view at months of her life and know a lot about her current motivations and feelings. We know those things from most of the other LIs too, though more slowly like peeling layers off of an onion.

The other LIs also have more to reveal (especially Jill, Bella, Sage, and Quinn if we're counting her; I'm sure there's something left of the Maya/Josie backstory too, though it's less obvious)

Whereas Zoey is supposed to be more of a "known thing" to the MC, he's known her a long time. Think of all the other games that have the "old friend" character in them, and how isolated Fuckface is in comparison. This and the mom flashbacks are the only history we have on the MC. It was definitely needed from a story standpoint, even if some might prefer the lack of history to be able to 'self-insert' more easily.

She's a different kind of character, and lets not forget that her purpose in the story currently is to be a "bomb" from the past dropped into whatever is going on. You can't really slowly ramp that up, and I much prefer all of the context we have for her now, rather than her just swinging in like Mylie Cyrus on a wrecking Ball.

however you have seen the other LIs interacting with each other and with other characters that we "know" anyway

Sage talking to Quinn, to Maya, to Bella tells me a lot more (about both Sage and the others) than Zoey talking to Bret

furthermore, the syncopated narration of the interlude does not help me empathize with Zoey: she wants MC to come with her (extremely selfish) when it makes no sense for MC to lose the school year to follow a dream that is not his, then when the school year is over and he might come, she decides (based on the experience of people she practically does not know) that it is time to let him go (selfless) , then when she runs out of money (detail emphasized several times) she realizes it is time to return. a roller coaster of changes in ideas

by the end of the interlude Zoey's portrait is not so defined: she is an introvert, and then? little else

 

[inevitableandinfinity8]

Interestingly, I see such whining only on the F95 forum. Reddit fan page, (I don't like Reddit but I have to give them credit) there people are more restrained, I did not see there drama whining and shouting "why so long", "dev milking" and "blame the Interlude".
And judging by what I saw on Patreon, its subscribers respond adequately, the number of donators has been stable for several months within 11.5-13.5k subscribers. So there is no "collapse of subscribers". Only here there is such drama and all because he did not provide data on animations and suggested that he would have to do more animations. Just assumed.
There is a Kindergarten.

I kind of agree with you. Dr. Pink cake usually update information on updates, He never disappointed on end product and he shares art and more Yet more and more winning.

Personally because I am not paying for the game " I can share my point of view on what i like or not and what can be change for better " But saying he should release game on My pov , Would be a bitchy behaviour.

Only people which are paying for game should have a say in it, If updates are late or not.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

I kind of agree with you. Dr. Pink cake usually update information on updates, He never disappointed on end product and he shares art and more Yet more and more winning.

Personally because I am not paying for the game " I can share my point of view on what i like or not and what can be change for better " But saying he should release game on My pov , Would be a bitchy behaviour.

Only people which are paying for game should have a say in it, If updates are late or not.

Everyone should have the right to an opinion, even those who are not subscribed to Patreon. For many, this is simply unbearable financially, not everyone here is from the First World. But if people turned off their emotions and thought more before writing something, it would be great.
I basically understand why "so long". What I saw in the preview and in the Interlude - the game has grown in graphics and I imagine how huge the size of Episode 9 will be. I think at least 6-7 GB, the entire first season takes this size! The short Interlude took up 2.3 GB, which is unbelievable. It takes longer to process this amount of content and it would make sense for PinkCake to buy even more rendering hardware. If there is still free space for computers in his house.
Plus this problem with Friday Prophets, which stole one week to create the 0.83 patch and deal with the itch.to scammer, took another week. And someone else in the thread said that he had Covid.
What I see in his reports is enthusiasm and love for his creation, even to the point of fanaticism. So I don't think there is anything to worry about. The game will be released, albeit later than we expected. And people who make drama because of the delay for one or two months are just amateurs, they don’t know how it is to wait for STALKER 2 and Half-Life 3

 

[znar25]

"[...] I will know how many more animations I need within a few more weeks."

Agree. This is important. In a few more weeks he will know how many more, expensive in manhours, products he will need....

 

[znar25]

It’s pretty much what you would expect:


View attachment 2073951

Holy F'ing God. It is like a North Korea, Dear Leader cheerleading squad. I feel thankful that at least here there are some that can hammer though numbers and read stats to predict progress.

 

[Melissa fan]

You are leaving one thing out. We don't know the connection yet because it only becomes visible with EP9. That's why the interlude, because without the interlude in EP9, the connection would not be recognizable or would be more difficult to grasp.

Everything in the interlude could have just been a quick 2 minute flashback or under 10 sentences in a conversation and it wouldn't really change much. Zoey and MC were together, Zoey's Grandmother died and left her money, Zoey left to become a surfer and MC stayed behind to finish school, Zoey met some people and worked in a tattoo place, Zoey ran out of money and didn't like surfing so she decided to return home to the MC.

Start of episode flashback. Zoey and MC talking with Zoey deciding to leave and MC staying behind.

Scene with MC telling Derek his ex is back. Flashback of Zoey and MC hanging out and Zoey finding out her Grandmother died. Zoey finds out her Grandmother left her money to become a surfer and Zoey discusses leaving with the MC.

Scene of Zoey and MC. Flashback where Zoey tells the MC about some of the people she met, she didn't like surfing, she ran out of money and missed the MC.

All I need to know about Zoey is that she had a relationship with the MC and a small amount of background about her character. Josy, Maya, Jill and Sage didn't get a whole episode about their life without the MC and I didn't need it for Zoey. Just like every character I don't need a whole episode dedicated to a part of their life I just need some bits of their background while growing a relationship with them in the game.

 

[znar25]

I agree with you on a lot of things. But I think to myself that he is also very focused in EP9. Over-focused might be a better word.

He will be so focused on turning mysteries and consequences into a coherent picture story. His focus will be on the end result, but he wants to achieve that end result too precisely and perfectly, so he's inserted new images every now and then to better explain the story.

I also expect that there will be a lot of consequences. I was playing EP7 again yesterday and something Tommy said struck me.

Tommy: "Haha! I am a motherfucker! That MILF bar is the bomb."

With sentences like that, I always wonder if we should take DPC at their word. In the bar is Nicole (Envy). There's an EP9 preview with her. The MC also sees Jade and Cathy. In EP9, the MC will probably meet Jade, and Cathy is seen in the EP8 recap. Nora is also seen in the bar, in the credits of EP8, and in a preview.

The number of bar consequences alone would have made the paths very unmanageable, and DPC has built so many possibilities for consequences into the story that it is very confusing to create a detailed picture story for them.

Proper script writing and storyboarding should be the first task? That is not a criticism of DPC, but I am speculating a weak point.

 

[inevitableandinfinity8]

Everyone should have the right to an opinion, even those who are not subscribed to Patreon. For many, this is simply unbearable financially, not everyone here is from the First World. But if people turned off their emotions and thought more before writing something, it would be great.
I basically understand why "so long". What I saw in the preview and in the Interlude - the game has grown in graphics and I imagine how huge the size of Episode 9 will be. I think at least 6-7 GB, the entire first season takes this size! The short Interlude took up 2.3 GB, which is unbelievable. It takes longer to process this amount of content and it would make sense for PinkCake to buy even more rendering hardware. If there is still free space for computers in his house.
Plus this problem with Friday Prophets, which stole one week to create the 0.83 patch and deal with the itch.to scammer, took another week. And someone else in the thread said that he had Covid.
What I see in his reports is enthusiasm and love for his creation, even to the point of fanaticism. So I don't think there is anything to worry about. The game will be released, albeit later than we expected. And people who make drama because of the delay for one or two months are just amateurs, they don’t know how it is to wait for STALKER 2 and Half-Life 3

Hmmm, I see . . . where are you coming from. While I agree with you on this point completely

"" * ""

What I see in his reports is enthusiasm and love for his creation, even to the point of fanaticism. So I don't think there is anything to worry about. The game will be released, albeit later than we expected. And people who make drama because of the delay for one or two months are just amateurs, they don’t know how it is to wait for STALKER 2 and Half-Life 3

"" * ""

About : "Everyone should have the right to an opinion." Kinda agree in my previously comment but :

You see, A driver can't bitch about car that is car owner's right. : I hope you get What I am trying to say.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

Holy F'ing God. It is like a North Korea, Dear Leader cheerleading squad. I feel thankful that at least here there are some that can hammer though numbers and read stats to predict progress.

Hello citizen! We noticed that you are talking badly about our great leader DrPinkCake. You get -15 social credit and minus one bowl of rice. From now on, be more careful in your statements.

 

[znar25]

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.

I respect your position. I do not agree that an Interlude helped in any way at all. That the whole thing was critical to produce an import device for future episodes would need an investigation into DPCs resources and thinking which we don't have other than his explanation.
The fact is, resources/time were expended to produce the Interlude. Not everyone agrees it was important. Some agree that it is important. Now, (my opinion), we are staring at 11, 12, (or more) months since the last useful update in November 2021.
Note: all this goes with the thoughts that I am VERY thankful for the hard work DPC has put into this story.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

Hmmm, I see . . . where are you coming from. While I agree with you on this point completely

"" * ""

What I see in his reports is enthusiasm and love for his creation, even to the point of fanaticism. So I don't think there is anything to worry about. The game will be released, albeit later than we expected. And people who make drama because of the delay for one or two months are just amateurs, they don’t know how it is to wait for STALKER 2 and Half-Life 3

"" * ""

About : "Everyone should have the right to an opinion." Kinda agree in my previously comment but :

You see, A driver can't bitch about car that is car owner's right. : I hope you get What I am trying to say.

I understand your philosophy. The driver takes a fellow traveler and gives him a free ride. The passenger begins to criticize this good man: his car is bad, the suspension is too stiff, and in general he drives very slowly and the trip will be "so long". It makes sense.
I think I saw you in another thread where there was a similar drama (it happens there all the time), I argued with whiners and saw a similar opinion. Until I realized that arguing with them is useless. This was a ORS thread by Eva Kiss.

 

[inevitableandinfinity8]

I respect your position. I do not agree that an Interlude helped in any way at all.

I think you are wrong about this because " You are looking at Interlude as Male mc view but Interlude is was a test project for a female MC "

TO COMBINE the two story with different MC to reach Main story is a great test run I WOULD SAY.

 

[znar25]

I disagree, as much as I dislike the interlude because it distracts from the main plots (as I've said before I don't mind the timescales of release as I believe DPC puts out more quality and quantity in one episode than other devs put out over 5 releases in a 2 year period), there's not much in the interlude that wouldn't need to be included as flashbacks to flesh out Zoey as DPC wanted, the first scenes with Fuckface were basically included with the story told to Bella but beyond that every point of the interlude needs to be included:

• Zoey realising on the train that Fuckface was more than just a fuckbuddy
• Zoey gradually losing enthusiasm for surfing because she wasn't good at it
• Zoey's artistic ability getting her the job at the tattoo parlour
• Zoey deciding to get tattoos
• Zoey getting close to Bret (as friends)
• Emma getting jealous about it and goading Zoey into risque poses on the beach
• Emma posting the pics on Rooster
• Zoey confronting Emma and either getting revenge or setting Emma and Bret back up together.

All those plot points would need to be covered in flashbacks to take Zoey to where she is now. What else was in the interlude that wouldn't need to be covered?

Or, just never mention her again in the story. A small price to pay for progress in all the other branches. She went away. Big deal. A possible future from that decision path:

BaDIK fan 1: "Hey whatever happened to MCs girl that is a friend before he went to college?"

BaDIK fan 2: "Who the Fk cares? I think you are right, Jade was hot in the last episode!"