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

[Holy Bacchus]

Well what you want if these features wouldn't be there the game would be done in 8-10 updates not 12-14...

Honestly, that would be fine by me. If the story is engaging and each update lasts a significant amount of time with plenty of choices and paths along the way, I don't mind it being as short as a Netflix or Disney+ series in terms of update/episode length. It's about quality over quantity, and "quantity" doesn't just apply to update/episode length, it also applies to how much a dev packs in to their game and features like this, whilst impressive and ocassionally immersive, can be a bit much when it's the characters and story that are more engaging and deserve more focus.

Do you know why I think Being a DIK is the top rated game on this entire website? It's because the devs don't take those kinds of shortcuts, and release a product which only focuses on the next sex scene after the other.
Without Pinkcake's initiative this game wouldn't have a killer soundtrack, fun minigames, great visual design or little details in the cutscenes that take the characters from 3d animatrons to fully fledged people. None of these things were technically necessary for telling the story, but it's what makes it great.
Most games on this website feel lifeless because of the same reason a Ubisoft RPG feels lifeless: The game designers only care about efficiency, speed and money per hour worked, leaving their games devoid of any creative spirit.
That's why I think skipping details like this is a horrible idea. You'll get a product a few weeks earlier, but you'll end up heavily dissapointed and whine in the comments like it always happens on this website if quality dips half a percentage below the expected.
So let Dr Pinkcake work. The devs have earned MUCH confidence with their current and previous work.

Focusing on the main characters and story over updating the in-game phone feature is hardly "taking a shortcut", it's focusing on what's most important in a "visual novel".

A game can still have a "killer soundtrack, fun minigames, great visual design or little details in the cutscenes" and still be a great game without spending an inordinate amount of time on things which are extraneous to the main story. I do think that the phone feature is a nice touch, particularly the Rooster app which is very immersive, but it has no great impact on the story and was fine the way it was.

DPC said before Ep 6 that they were working on a couple of new features, so we know this has been in the works for a while, but whether it's this or spending who knows how long working out the mathematical computations of how to make the mansion repair system be doable within a few episodes, this is all time that, I feel, would have been better spent on the main game to not only provide more content that advances certain parts and answers certain things, but also iron out any plot holes and inconsistencies that seem to be cropping up more and more.

I see a lot of you are saying that Swyper is dead...
In the news update, DPC mentions that some apps "have merged".
So, as far as we know, it may have merged with Rooster, for instance.

This is probably still a WIP version so it's possible that's why it's not there.

Can anyone explain to me why MC feels betrayed when he found out Maya dated Josy? I've played this game several times but never got that

If you don't get it even after playing their paths, then you probably never will.

Yes, but you can avoid her romance xd

But why would anyone want to do that?

 

[Dr Krieger]

Nope, it's used as a center point for a lot of the early drama.

Uh, that is a little bit sad. So basically I can do whatever I want and I will still end up in the same situation where I have to choose between starting a threesome or going for the "friends" route.

 

[MoarDakka123]

Yes, but you can avoid her romance xd

... Oops. I think my brain just went '[any kind of relationship]=romance with Maya because of course you romance Maya' and called it a day, my bad.

 

[Dr Krieger]

... Oops. I think my brain just went '[any kind of relationship]=romance with Maya because of course you romance Maya' and called it a day, my bad.

A little bit immersion killer.

 

[ename144]

The only moments that were cited by other people was Riona saying "we shouldn't be talking about this" Ename insist that this is proof that Riona is defending Sage, after blatantly lying about her. So if you have any Riona dialogue that shows a feeling of affection or respect for Sage, please produce it. And I'm talking about clear dialogue of undoubted meaning, not "we shouldn't be talking about this", which could be interpreted many ways. If you can't produce such dialogue then please drop the subject.

Let me try a different tack:

Sage mentions that she didn't ask her HOT Sister's for help because their pity embarrasses her. Riona does say to the MC to take care of Sage, which is a bit odd because Riona was spreading rumors about Sage only a few days before.

Can you explain why you think it's odd Riona would ask the MC to take care of Sage?

You've made it clear you don't see her defense of Sage to Heather as in any way indicative of of Riona caring about Sage. So why is her offhand remark to the MC different? She's not under truth serum, and she has made no effort to help the MC in his task.

If you think Riona is secretly out to get Sage, wouldn't this just be another case of Riona playing the loyal sister in public?

 

[Gladheim]

But why would anyone want to do that?

Because there are very bad people in this world

 

[MoarDakka123]

A little bit immersion killer.

The game does have some forced plot elements to it, for sure, but personally I think one just needs to accept that products like these need to have a central plot with its own drama with or without player intervention, otherwise starting from your very first choice you would basically need to start baking an entire branch of a game next to the first one. Like, there is always a central line as the plot (because unless it's a completely free-form sandbox game like, say, Kenshi, there simply needs to be one) and all your choices are just little branches and loops that quickly return to the main route.

And if it's any consolation, lots of people that are more invested in this scene than I seem to be convinced that you'll eventually have the option to pick either Maya or Josy, so that may or may not be a thing.

 

[ApocalypseSurvivor]

can anyone please provide the complete save file with complete persistent? Thank You in advance.

 

[ename144]

The game does have some forced plot elements to it, for sure, but personally I think one just needs to accept that products like these need to have a central plot with its own drama with or without player intervention, otherwise starting from your very first choice you would basically need to start baking an entire branch of a game next to the first one. Like, there is always a central line as the plot (because unless it's a completely free-form sandbox game like, say, Kenshi, there simply needs to be one) and all your choices are just little branches and loops that quickly return to the main route.

And if it's any consolation, lots of people that are more invested in this scene than I seem to be convinced that you'll eventually have the option to pick either Maya or Josy, so that may or may not be a thing.

I think it was fine to force the limited romance with Maya and Josy at the start of the game. But I do think it was a mistake to allow the MC to decline their romance in Episode 4 (or even be rejected by them outright) and then continue to make the relationship with Maya central to future game events.

If Maya is going to be the main tentpost for the whole game, fair. If she's going to be a sort of Disc One boss you can later recruit into your party, cool. But for goodness sake don't try to mix and match the two. You'll just get the worst of both worlds: people who hate Maya will be pissed she never goes way, and people who love Maya will be sick of all the time wasted pretending she isn't our true love.

 

[helagertane]

No one:
Literally no one:
DPC: Here's another D&D

Oh, please, no. I hate it IRL and I hate it even more in BaDIK.

Normally, my irateness with it would end at the end of episode but it seems that we will see it again - not sure, but bet on it.

 

[MoarDakka123]

Oh, please, no. I hate it IRL and I hate it even more in BaDIK.

Normally, my irateness with it would end at the end of episode but it seems that we will see it again - not sure, but bet on it.

... Well, now I need to know why you hate it IRL.

 

[helagertane]

... Well, now I need to know why you hate it IRL.

I am immensely boring and have little to none imagination.

 

[MoarDakka123]

I am immensely boring and have little to none imagination.

I mean, I... I can see how that would be a problem.

 

[SteveyP]

I applaud the effort, I really do, but I question whether features like this are really more important uses of time than the actual story of the game and all the various paths.

Well, this is more of a quality of life change with the game rather than some goofy "minigame" like with DNG that brought the plot to a screeching halt. The only thing it did was foreshadow Jill's deal with Tybalt. I see this a welcoming improvement that'll apply to all future updates.

 

[Fanatic7]

So when should we expect the new update in january 15th?

 

[DavDR]

Let me try a different tack:


Can you explain why you think it's odd Riona would ask the MC to take care of Sage?

You've made it clear you don't see her defense of Sage to Heather as in any way indicative of of Riona caring about Sage. So why is her offhand remark to the MC different? She's not under truth serum, and she has made no effort to help the MC in his task.

If you think Riona is secretly out to get Sage, wouldn't this just be another case of Riona playing the loyal sister in public?

I never said that Riona was in a secret plot to get Sage, I said that there was no indication, in any of her dialogue that I can remember, that she cared about Sage as a friend or a sister. If you look back and carefully read her dialogue, you never see her showing any feelings of care or affection for anyone in the game, anyone but herself. Finally in chapter 6 she does say that Camila is her favorite daughter, but in my opinion that's just a sexual relationship. We'll see how it turns out. In the mean time my opinion of Riona is shaped by how we see her act and speak in game. And so far that's only been selfishly.

 

[Deleted member 1216335]

Can anyone explain to me why MC feels betrayed when he found out Maya dated Josy? I've played this game several times but never got that

Because the dev makes deliberately unreasonable things to make you mad so the thread would have 5000+ sites of ppl who don't have better things to do than to complain. This kind of attention makes him more money on patreon.

 

[KoolMe]

WARNING!
If you haven't played episode 6, there may be minor spoilers for you in this post.
This post contains minor spoilers for an updated feature in episode 7, but it's nothing that's story related.
Read at your own discretion.
This week's status update is a bit different than usual.

I wanted to present parts of an updated/new feature that will appear, starting episode 7.

Many of you have guessed it already, and for others, it might come as a minor surprise.

I have worked hard on updating the in-game phone to accommodate the future needs of the game.

The phone is updated starting episode 7, so it's not a retroactive change. The MC just got a new phone, and it's going to be an improved version of the old variant.

So, what I've done is a rewrite of the phone code. I've left functionality that works well, added new functionality that's needed, updated the GUIs, and more.

I could probably talk about the phone features for hours, but I have to limit myself and let you discover most on your own.

So, I'm not going to go overtly into details, as it's also a work in progress feature, but I will show you a few of the implemented features and my thoughts for them below.

The main GUI is completely new, but it should still feel familiar.

Note that the phone in the picture is from a playthrough without mini-games.

During free-roam events, there's a music bar displaying the name of the song that's currently playing. You can toggle this bar on or off if you'd rather see more of the wallpaper behind it.

In this picture you can see three new apps, and also notice the absence of some. Some apps may have been removed, some apps may have been merged.

The two new apps in this picture are 2D art and Pack Quest. You've come into contact with both of them in episode 6.

They will be handled directly from your phone starting episode 7.

With the exception of a few apps, most apps have been (or will be) revamped.

Two apps I'm particularly excited about are the Music and Bios apps.

In the Music app, you can now filter songs by genre, and I have included a genre for licensed music that many of you wanted to be able to play.

You can also set songs as favorites and have a playlist with just your favorite tunes.

This means that you can choose to have a customized playlist that you can play during free roam events.

I can't show you too much of the Bios app, but it's going to be a tilted version of the phone where each character will have their own screen with past choices and events.

Without getting into detail, a subset of other features that you can expect from the new phone are:

• Customizable/favorite/randomized wallpaper functionality.
• Simple emoticons in text messages.
• Animated transitions and screens.

The phone feels very modern and it's an enjoyable experience using it.

I hope that you will come to love it as much as I already do.



Have a nice weekend!

Dr PinkCake

Hmmmm
Dr Pink Jobs new revolutionary Galaxy S9 , with less apps , more wallpapers

Also
I thought the 2d pics were for decorating and customizing the crib ( I was hoping to hang a quin pin up over the bed to scare off Maya )
or are they meant to be phone and or laptop wall papers

 

[MoarDakka123]

Because the dev makes deliberately unreasonable things to make you mad so the thread would have 5000+ sites of ppl who don't have better things to do than to complain. This kind of attention makes him more money on patreon.

I think that's a needlessly cynical view. I feel like it's more likely that writing is hard, some times more than others, and manufacturing drama smoothly can get tricky.

 

[DavDR]

The game does have some forced plot elements to it, for sure, but personally I think one just needs to accept that products like these need to have a central plot with its own drama with or without player intervention, otherwise starting from your very first choice you would basically need to start baking an entire branch of a game next to the first one. Like, there is always a central line as the plot (because unless it's a completely free-form sandbox game like, say, Kenshi, there simply needs to be one) and all your choices are just little branches and loops that quickly return to the main route.

And if it's any consolation, lots of people that are more invested in this scene than I seem to be convinced that you'll eventually have the option to pick either Maya or Josy, so that may or may not be a thing.

I just recently started playing Heavy Five, the dev in that game is shooting for 200 endings, with dozens of branching paths for every LI. So it can be done.