VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.11.1] [DrPinkCake]

[OFT]

And let's focus on the good.

Way ahead of you.

 

[Sasanid]

from discord

Enjoy this wallpaper of Sage as my best way to thank you in my sleep-deprived state. Good night!

So now we got a relieved DPC.

 

[ename144]

Although a lot of us jump to the conclusion that Zoey is coming back for the mc, it's not explicitly stated. She talks about home blindness or whatever the fuck, but it's ambiguous as fuck.

My guess is that it leaves things open for different possibilities when she reunites with the mc. We don't know what she's expecting or intending on her return, and I'm fairly confident she'll be weaved into the plot, but whether she just looking to go back home where life was good, or whether she's got feelings for the mc, it could be either or both.

I do recall you could make the mc all sad and shit in his responses to Zoey, or make him enthusiastic for her experiences. Not sure if the responses factor in to anything.

We have no control over the MC's texts in the Interlude (nor anything else MC-related for that matter), we can only determine whether Zoey calls attention to his short answers or remains oblivious to the potential problem.

I agree DPC was probably trying to leave it ambiguous so as not to hamstring the actual game, but that's precisely why the Interlude should never have happened: it can't address any actual plot points so it's forced to spend all its time on meaningless fluff - with the unfortunate implication that said fluff matters more to Zoey than the plot points. DPC should have scrapped the whole idea if he wasn't willing to commit to making the Interlude plot-bearing, but he's just not willing to kill his darlings.

And I totally agree here. Beside the older LI in the game, the older students are 20-21 (like Sage, Heather, Rusty, Tommy, ambiguous for Lily, etc.), while most are between 18 and 20.

I'm -way- older than that, but I remember that I didn't know what I wanted when I was that age.

And I think that's one of the points of BaDIK, they don't know what they're doing...

Zoey was the first best friend the MC ever had, and I think it was likewise for Zoey, they discovered their puberty and sexuality together, for a span between 4 to 6 years, they were each other's LI, but they didn't know what they were doing... before she left cause she didn't know what to do with her life, she wanted the MC to come with her, because she couldn't see it otherwise. The MC didn't know how to react, but he wanted to finish school, so he stayed behind... you can see in Interlude how Zoey thought she had it all figured, going to chase her dream, while in reality she didn't know what she was doing at all, moreover, she left the one she finally figured she loved behind, and they even cut their contacts... while the MC 'got over it' and tried for something else instead.

They didn't know what they were doing, of course, they were 18 when Zoey left.

Same pattern comes back with the throuple, Josy got a crush on the MC because she didn't know how to repair the gap between her and Maya, and the MC made her feel good again. Maya developed feelings for the MC, but didn't understand why cause she thought she was lesbian (just to clarify, a real lesbian couldn't fuck a man without help, in Ep8 she doesn't need that help, beside alcool, at the dorm, my little brother is gay and before he admitted it when he was 18, he tried a couple times with girls, never worked) and went on because the MC made her feel good. And then when the MC and Maya/Josy choose to try something, they admittedly don't know what they're doing, but they try it anyway.

Sage was scared to date the MC because she doesn't know what a real relationship is and didn't want to lose him. Her family is fucked up and she doesn't know how to deal with her feelings.

Jill doesn't know what dating is at all, and never had any sexual experience. She was always imposed things, she never really decided on her own, for her own life.

Quinn (bla bla bla I hate her bla bla bla, get over it thanks) doesn't know what healthy feelings are at all, fucked up upbringing, dead father, wrecked mother who doesn't recognize her anymore... she doesn't know anything about dating, at all either.

Derek seems to have an answer to everything, but the rare occasions where he isn't goofing around, you see he doesn't have a clue about what he's supposed to do, his feelings for Ashley being the first major thing.

And so on and on and on...

They're between 18-22 for the most part, of course they don't know.

One thing though, brought that aspect a couple times already, but the MC is an introvert, the way he process information, the way he's pretty much always listening and in his head more than talking and being the center of attention. Maya is an introvert, Sage also is (yeah she's partying without problems, but most of the time, she's alone), Bella is, too. I'm an introvert, I'm sure there are introverts here, heck I'm sure DPC is an introvert himself, an extrovert can't really know how an introvert works inside (not a knock on extrovert, just to be sure).

Where I'm going with that, is what Zoey represents to the MC. When he told his backstory to Bella, while I wasn't bullied like he was nor was as dirt poor, I understood what he went through. When someone, like Zoey, comes into your life as a youngster, and manages to get you out of your bubble, that person suddenly becomes -very- meaningful.

She meant the world to him.

I wouldn't even be surprised if Zoey is a reference to one of DPCs own childhood friend/crush, that he went through something similar the MC lived. He worked way too much on her for her to just be an afterthought in the MCs life.

That's why he had an existential crisis on that bench, when she left.

That's also why he had an existential crisis when Neil called him at the end of the Interlude.

He just made a choice, but the 'love of his life', who left about 6 months ago, is coming back, a recent past which hurt him (because of a huge misunderstanding), but someone he just can't brush off, even with the choice he made.

Cause let's be honest, as its been said since the start, teens don't know what they're doing.

Zoey will be the test of his young life so far.

But you can't have it both ways. If the characters are just young and immature then their actions make sense, but the 'love' between the MC and Zoey is every bit the trivial crush it appears to be; if the MC and Zoey are mature enough for their relationship to carry genuine weight, then their behavior makes no sense.

This is made worse by the way we've seen the MC's relationship with the other girls develop into something that is approaching maturity. His conversations with Maya/Josy, Jill, Sage, Bella and even Quinn are only small steps toward sorting out the difference between an infatuation and genuine love, but they're lightyears beyond anything Zoey has attempted.

I know I keep harping on it, but that's the crux of my problem with Zoey's handling here. Her relationship with the MC is woefully underdeveloped, yet it's being forced to compete against well developed relationships that *we* personally have been nurturing for literal years. It's like presenting a professional cyclist with his old childhood bicycle (complete with training wheels!) and expecting him to angst over whether or not to stick with the bike he just bought in his next race. No one's saying the old bike wouldn't be important to the cyclist, but it just can't hold a candle to the real thing (unless the player happens to dislike all the bikes in the showroom, I suppose).

Zoey is being thrust into a role she's ill-prepared for and that's going to suck for everyone involved.

Note, this is purely optional -- Zoey learns it only if she can handle the situation calmly. If she doesn't she never realizes Emma's intentions and feelings, nor that Brett's advice was stupid and based on false reading of the overall situation. So it's very easy to have Zoey who's still stuck in the mindset of "helping the MC by cutting him off" and only grow generally homesick as time goes, only very late realizing what (or whom) she's really been missing.

Zoey only gets it spelled out for her if she talks Emma down, that's true. But it doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to work out why Emma went off like that, which still demonstrates that Bret's advice was not all it was cracked up to be. Plus the angry path makes it even more of a stretch that Zoey'd want to stay in San Diego for months when her tiny circle of friends now has a jagged hole in it.

Now, see, while i can agree that this can make relationship between Zoey and MC look shallow, the important part is that it appears to support the idea that Zoey didn't in fact sits for months on realization the MC was such a precious person to her after all and just "couldn't be bothered" to do something about it. So she can't be accused of that.

I also don't think her looking first at the photo of her grandma and reconnecting with her mother instead of being all MC MC MC is something to hold against her, or somehow proving her relationship with the MC is weak. I mean, seriously, should she push her mother away and instead go "where's Fuuuuuuckface, i miss him sooooo much" entering her house? That's pure narcissism. The MC might be a close friend and potential boyfriend, but her mother is the only real family she has left. And her thoughts do turn to the MC as soon as she's done with basic greetings, and she goes to see him on that very night. You really think that's something a person without any real attachment does? I don't.

That's a false dilemma. What we should have seen was Zoey calling the MC on the train (if not sooner); we already know she won't get through, but that would at least establish that her relationship the MC is very much on her mind. Instead, it comes across as the sketch reminding Zoey that the MC exists - and she still doesn't reach out to him until she's settled in back home. It's just bad writing.

It doesn't matter that her mother is her only family because this isn't reality, it's a story and Zoey's mom isn't even a character in that story: she's just a foil for Zoey. Alison is there to help reveal who Zoey is and what makes her tick. Unfortunately, what she reveals is that Zoey has reprioritized her mom over the MC - both in Zoey's earlier narration and again when she hugs her mom before reaching out to the MC. That not only fails to support the notion that Zoey has come to realize how important the MC was to her, it actually demonstrates the opposite: the MC is even less important to Zoey than when she left.

All of these problems could have been solved if DPC was willing to commit to Zoey actually coming to terms with her feelings for the MC, but as Shazba said, DPC clearly did not want to go there. So we got this mess instead.

 

[Darkwen]

how anyone can love a zoey simp tho?

straight up savage, does Ached need some ointment for that

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

Way ahead of you.

View attachment 2020743

sometimes i hate F95:


So I'll leave my reaction here:

 

[AchedCroissant]

how anyone can love a zoey simp tho?


thats the legit one just fyi the others are not pink

Dear Goddes

Please forgive the sinners who don't appreciate your blue hair
Forgive those who dare to speak ill of you
And above all forgive those who do not accept you as the besto waifu of history
Amen

 

[Lightaces]

Or more likely Tybalt didn't bother to double check his presentation and just uploaded all the pics from his phone because he took the photos so naturally they're perfect. Only his lessors need concern themselves with something so crass as mistakes.

I mean, CLEARLY Tybalt didn’t check, which even when cheating one should always make sure, but I still think he had someone else do it.

 

[Vixen ♀]

how anyone can love a zoey simp tho?

Just because I love Zoey, that doesn't make me less or much of simp
Nice roast btw

 

[Jonboy80]

Same thing for me, actually, I'm here for how invested people are in the game.

But I know we're not in the majority, I wouldn't know any of the games I play (and I support 5 of those artists in Patreon, no expensive hobbies, helps) if I didn't get them here beforehand.

Now, people getting it for free, that's publicity for DPC, he knows that, what I think angers him, is people making money on his name. That's a POS move, and I understand him.

I'm a Patron for some things, on and off, depending on what my financial situation is for the month. On the one hand, I don't mind supporting devs but on the other I have to stop at some point because I can't justify spending $100 on a title. Especially on titles that take years to finish. A dollar per month (minimum, and I feel like a piece of shit at that tier) for four years is a bad investment given my finances. I'll have spent $48 on an incomplete novel with no guarantee of a finished product.. I've had a dollar-per-hour rule when it comes to entertainment purchases for a long time. If pay $60 for a AAA title, I expect 60 hours of enjoyment.

 

[ffive]

Zoey only gets it spelled out for her if she talks Emma down, that's true. But it doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to work out why Emma went off like that, which still demonstrates that Bret's advice was not all it was cracked up to be.

It may not take a rocket scientist, but it's a fact that Zoey doesn't figure it out on her own. Heck, Brett doesn't figure it out on his own, either, and he has no excuse of being an awkward teenager with very little love life experience.

If Emma doesn't spell it out after the optional decision, Zoey never works it out. She hates Emma and considers her a crazy bitch, as evidenced in how she thinks about Emma for the remaining part of the interlude.

Plus the angry path makes it even more of a stretch that Zoey'd want to stay in San Diego for months when her tiny circle of friends now has a jagged hole in it.

Why would she put more importance on the one person she hates over the few friends she still has, especially when they're about the only friends she has at all? (not counting MC here, since she's in the "cut him off" mode) Being around Emma might be awkward, true, but not abandoning everyone else over it is hardly a stretch.

That's a false dilemma. What we should have seen was Zoey calling the MC on the train (if not sooner); we already know she won't get through, but that would at least establish that her relationship the MC is very much on her mind. Instead, it comes across as the sketch reminding Zoey that the MC exists - and she still doesn't reach out to him until she's settled in back home. It's just bad writing.

That's not bad writing; it's just character not acting in the way you want to see them act. And is it really so weird she might prefer to come home first, unwind a little and then let him know she's back and would like to come over? I don't think so. Like i've mentioned earlier, it's not psychologically unusual to be afraid to reach out to someone you've cut contact with, even if you want to patch things up very much.

It doesn't matter that her mother is her only family because this isn't reality, it's a story and Zoey's mom isn't even a a character in that story: she's just a foil for Zoey.

That's a bit... well, absurd take; they're *all* characters in the story and for Zoey her mother isn't some "foil" but her actual mother. So she acts towards her like an actual person would act towards an actual person that's her closest and only remaining relative. One she hasn't seen for months.

Unfortunately, what she reveals is that Zoey has reprioritized her mom over the MC - both in Zoey's earlier narration and again when she hugs her mom before reaching out to the MC. That not only fails to support the notion that Zoey has come to realize how important the MC was to her, it actually demonstrates the opposite: the MC is even less important to Zoey than when she left.

What makes you think there was any reprioritizing here, and that Zoey's mother wasn't always the more/most important person to Zoey? Expecting the MC to be ever more important than her is, again, just very narcissistic take to me. Note, i don't think it somehow shows that Zoey doesn't care strongly about the MC. Just like the MC clearly loving his father doesn't make his feelings for the girl(s) he's with somehow shallow, and the girl(s) unimportant to him.

 

[Sasanid]

But you can't have it both ways. If the characters are just young and immature then their actions make sense, but the 'love' between the MC and Zoey is every bit the trivial crush it appears to be; if the MC and Zoey are mature enough for their relationship to carry genuine weight, then their behavior makes no sense.

This is made worse by the way we've seen the MC's relationship with the other girls develop into something that is approaching maturity. His conversations with Maya/Josy, Jill, Sage, Bella and even Quinn are only small steps toward sorting out the difference between an infatuation and genuine love, but they're lightyears beyond anything Zoey has attempted.

I know I keep harping on it, but that's the crux of my problem with Zoey's handling here. Her relationship with the MC is woefully underdeveloped, yet it's being forced to compete against well developed relationships that *we* personally have been nurturing for literal years. It's like presenting a professional cyclist with his old childhood bicycle (complete with training wheels!) and expecting him to angst over whether or not to stick with the bike he just bought in his next race. No one's saying the old bike wouldn't be important to the cyclist, but it just can't hold a candle to the real thing (unless the player happens to dislike all the bikes in the showroom, I suppose).

Zoey is being thrust into a role she's ill-prepared for and that's going to suck for everyone involved.

I get where you're coming from, and I agree with most of your concerns, I have some over how DPC will present her, too, I really hope he does it slowly, not with a 'boom', pretty sure he won't actually, it wouldn't make sense.

dalli_x earlier brought great points I think, about how much they know each other, they both know how they react, they've been cut from each other for about 4-6 months, and there was a big misunderstanding on top of that (2 in fact, one where Emma shared the picture of Zoey accusing her of getting her boyfriend, and the other Zoey thinking the MC didn't want to speak with her anymore because he didn't reply, he was in pain, and probably met Josy by the time), but other than that they were together, all the time, for years before that.

While I hope a relationship won't be forced unto the MC (that would be increasingly bad writing), Zoey could remain an option (for later, not right in Ep9, wouldn't make sense either) while keeping an eye on the MC whenever he's around. And, the LI he pursued, who don't know him anywhere near as much as Zoey does, could be jealous of their natural affinity, which will cause some drama, good one I think, cause Zoey probably will see MCs reactions to said LIs if she happen to meet them. And since, as far as I remember, only Bella knows about Zoey, she'd probably be the one who'd freak out the most in such a situation.

Overall, yeah, their relationship wasn't clear, but I think it was meant that way, they didn't know what they were doing, or what they were to each other, they were too young, and shit happened. MC learned a lot, like you said, since Zoey's departure, but Zoey coming back, he probably will be able to put in words what he never could before, same with Zoey actually, the whole Emma/Bret discussion will come into play.

 

[Oliver Wendell Homely]

meh, another excuse to milk some more

You're not being "milked" unless you're paying. So this is the wrong place to post such crap.

 

[dalli_x]

I get where you're coming from, and I agree with most of your concerns, I have some over how DPC will present her, too, I really hope he does it slowly, not with a 'boom', pretty sure he won't actually, it wouldn't make sense.

dalli_x earlier brought great points I think, about how much they know each other, they both know how they react, they've been cut from each other for about 4-6 months, and there was a big misunderstanding on top of that (2 in fact, one where Emma shared the picture of Zoey accusing her of getting her boyfriend, and the other Zoey thinking the MC didn't want to speak with her anymore because he didn't reply, he was in pain, and probably met Josy by the time), but other than that they were together, all the time, for years before that.

While I hope a relationship won't be forced unto the MC (that would be increasingly bad writing), Zoey could remain an option (for later, not right in Ep9, wouldn't make sense either) while keeping an eye on the MC whenever he's around. And, the LI he pursued, who don't know him anywhere near as much as Zoey does, will be jealous of their natural affinity, which will cause some drama, good one I think, cause Zoey probably will see MCs reactions to said LIs if she happen to meet them. And since, as far as I remember, only Bella knows about Zoey, she'd probably be the one who'd freak out the most in such a situation.

Overall, yeah, their relationship wasn't clear, but I think it was meant that way, they didn't know what they were doing, or what they were to each other, they were too young, and shit happened. MC learned a lot, like you said, since Zoey's departure, but Zoey coming back, he probably will be able to put in words what he never could before, same with Zoey actually, the whole Emma/Bret discussion will come into play.

 

[shazba]

To all the cunts (term of endearment, well, not really) who act like it's nothing to have your work hijacked like this turd on itch.io did, you probably never worked hard on anything in your lives.

I write engineering software for a living and discovered some other fuckhead from a competing company had stolen my software and passed it off as his own. That personally annoyed the absolute shit outta me. My bosses decided to play nice, and accepted the other company's lame excuse that they didn't realise it was copyright, and everyone sucked each other's cock and made up. But I wanted to beat that fuckers head in, not suck his cock!

So cocks aside, when someone steals your shit, or undermines your shit (I'm not talking typical pirates, but re-using your IP or selling your IP), that fucking hits hard. I get why DPC took it hard. And he's a control freak, so he would have taken it twice as hard... not the cock, the pain of the IP theft, what the fuck is it with you people and cocks?!

We have no control over the MC's texts in the Interlude (nor anything else MC-related for that matter), we can only determine whether Zoey calls attention to his short answers or remains oblivious to the potential problem.

Yeah, I got that the wrong way around, which means regardless of your choices, the mc is a sulking li'l snowflake.

Wow, AchedCroissant , N7 , Himself Burned you , I dont even remember seeing him posting anything beside his usual, Status update post, or Renders, or updates. That's a Big deal, I'm envy of your privilege, the power of being a Zoey simp, huh?

It's not like there's many Zoey simps around to be targeted, it's basically AC and some other dude...

 

[ffive]

It's not like there's many Zoey simps around to be targeted, it's basically @AC and some other dude...

Watch the numbers rise overnight in desperate bid to earn that exclusive N7 burn.

 

[NebulousShooter]

Yeah, I got that the wrong way around, which means regardless of your choices, the mc is a sulking li'l snowflake.

Who do you think he got that from, Lynnette, or Neil?

On a serious note, despite the ominous preview, I hope he stops being a sulking snowflake going forward, its getting old.

 

[Deleted member 3788572]

I'm no artist. Someone else using your own creative work must be special kind of devastating. Good on him for having it solved.

One thing got me wondering though. Usually when there's some sort of identity theft, you make it public asap so that friends/followers/customers are warned and can react/report. From what I've seen, DPC waited 4 days. Kinda surprising given he was losing out on money and customers were potentially getting scammed (malware, higher price).
And last but not least, the additional pressure from hordes of fans from various platforms was obviously pivotal to getting it solved today. He could've anticipated this reaction.

 

[Ilhares]

If something bad is going to happen, it will. First Friday Prophets, now a scam. I think we can forget about the release in October.

I hate siding with the torch & pitchfork crowd, but yeah, this release is taking way too fucking long. It better be jam-packed full of goodness to justify it.

October? DPC takes ~9 months in between releases, this wasn't coming out until November-December. I don't care that the last release was the Interlude, he probably went out of his way to make sure he didn't work on anything for episode 9.

I say this with the utmost disrespect intended: Pull your head out of your ass. You can find his history of updates in this very thread, and they aren't 9 months between releases. I may be mistaken, but I'm thinking it was ename144 who had a list of them, as he tracks all the development and progress history.

Not all of us. Many of us are patrons. I'm here for the community, sad as that is to admit.

We're a mixed bag of nuts. So much better than only being given fucking almonds.

Dude, I don't want to offend, but... imagine that you are busy with your life's work and someone steals your work, passes it off as their own and sells it.

I'd straight-up murder a motherfucker over that. If you just take something I wrote and use it for yourself, I don't really care. If something I made can be of use, go for it (which happened, waaaay-back in the BBS door game days in fact). If you are selling my work and passing it off as yours? I'm going to end you. Fuck the consequences for me, it will send a very clear message to others like you.

A dead pet is definitely a cause for depression. You can trust me.

Shit, I lost one of my two ferrets after only a year, I hadn't felt pain like that since I was a kid when my first dog died. I had to give the remaining one away to somebody who had a full litter of'em, just so it would have company. Bonding with animals is great, but when they can't share our lifespans it's just painful. I'd consider a tortoise, but they aren't fluffy and soft, and I don't trust them to NOT bite off a toe or finger hanging off the bed at night.


I don't blame DPC one bit for being bent out of shape over this situation, but 'piracy' isn't the problem (as defined here). It was somebody trying to basically steal his identity and life's work in terms of making income, which supports himself/wife+(maybe kids? no idea there), for which he gave up his tedious regular job.

He does have issues, though, and I think he needs to talk to a shrink or somebody about it. It was his rabid fans here that helped build up that popularity with AL, and definitely the early days of BaDIK, now he treats F95 almost like it's a cancer-causing word, which isn't cool. At least we still get the nice updates from N7, so clearly he hasn't turned his back on the community completely.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

As a result of today.
Dear maggots and DIKs! An incredible event has taken place. We are faced with an evil that has united us all - people from different platforms who may not like each other for different reasons. Today a pirate stands next to a Steam license player or a Patreon subscriber to protect what we love! We put aside our differences and defeated the evil that threatened our existence. Any Being A DIK fan, wherever you are, no matter what platform it's on - I'm salute you. We won this war together. Family comes first.

 

[Vixen ♀]

Geralt_From_Rivia OMG, you didn't not