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

[BorgiaBou]

Whoa, nice a Christmas release is expecting us... what a nice present...

 

[hakuna-matata]

Whoa, nice a Christmas release is expecting us... what a nice present...

You'll play for an entire day and then wait another year for episode 10!!!! Whoopi!!!

 

[gamingdevil800]

You'll play for an entire day and then wait another year for episode 10!!!! Whoopi!!!

Episode 10
12th September 2023

 

[BorgiaBou]

You'll play for an entire day and then wait another year for episode 10!!!! Whoopi!!!

I mean to be honest the last update took me about one and a half week to finish it if i remember right (played about 2-3 hr per day or one nut bust) but still i think the waiting periods for an update is becoming ridiculous...

 

[Darth Sidious]

Interesting nvidia is boasting double the performance of the 3090 with the 4090, hopefully he upgrades. Maybe in the best case scenario it lowers development time. But I doubt it.

It does not, unless what ever rendering programs he uses use DLSS 3 which I doubt, otherwise it's probably a +20% upgrade.

 

[Oliver Wendell Homely]

Will I miss something if I play the Brawler minigame on medium difficulty? Or should I play on Hard difficulty? I'm going for 100%.

I don't think it makes any difference. If playing on Steam there might be an achievement for playing it on the highest difficulty, but as far as the game goes, you don't need to. In fact, you don't need to play any of the minigames. If you select not to play minigames, the game will give you other avenues for making money and unlocking special renders.

 

[Darth Sidious]

Ok I used the Search function to find an an update on the game but saw nothing in the first few pages. So, has anyone leaked the Status Update from today yet?

 

[nyrek]

In such a scenario, and you can only save one or the other, do you save DPC or his computers which contains his work?

you beat me to it

 

[phxpoo]

How are you team Halloween release? DPC really needs to lower his own demands for every new episode. By season 4 we can expect new episode in 18 months if he continues like that, lol

 

[Oliver Wendell Homely]

Another nice write up but the only thing that I would consider "good" is the fact that it relatively close to a release. If it is a December release it will still be nine months for a single episode to be playable. At the current rate the second half of the game will likely be in development for close to a decade. That's a ridiculously long time for one game, I think.

For me personally, the extended dev times of the updates won't be worth it. I'm in these things for the stories but to me it looks like DPC's mind set has switches to quantity over quality. I wont know until I play it of course but the outlook for this is grim in my book.

There certainly is a lot of quantity, in terms of special renders and other features, but the story itself is also forcing longer development times. That is, the quality of the game is driving increases in quantity. With all the choices players have, DPC has to create several branches, each with their own plots and details. If you compare BaDIK with other games that also offer choices, BaDIK is much more sophisticated. Most games offer binary choices (yes or no) to engaging in sex, for example, but the story itself doesn't change (maybe only some dialogue does). DPC says players will need to have at least ten saves to see all possible content in this episode. So in a way, he's creating 10 episodes. They all share a lot of the same scenes and storylines, but the unique elements of each require a lot of work. Future episodes may get even more complicated, depending on how much choice we get. I suspect that at some point DPC will need to pare down the choices or have some outside force change the story in a way that supersedes our choices, just to prevent the branching from becoming totally unmanageable. Otherwise, development times will become exponentially longer with each episode.

 

[Deleted member 3788572]

Ok I used the Search function to find an an update on the game but saw nothing in the first few pages. So, has anyone leaked the Status Update from today yet?

Here.

 

[binbo3126]

The chain is a bit involved, but essentially if you tell Heather about the jock unconscious on her bed (after he's done talking with Lily) you'll have the option to get her a drink. Mix Heather something with Absinthe (found in Lily's desk) and you can choose to tell her about Tommy.

The catch is that you can only tell Heather about the jock if you picked the DIK Major Decision to make the alphas leave the party; otherwise the jock will be in the bed, but you can't tell Heather about it. Also, you can't make that Major Decision if you already have permanent CHICK Affinity.

I cant choose the Absinthe in the table why ?

 

[nyrek]

I cant choose the Absinthe in the table why ?

1. have you taken it from lily's room?
2. did you choose to get rid of the alphas?
3. did you tell heather jimmy is passed out drunk on her bed?
4. did you tell heather tommy fucked tanya?

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

It will be ironically funny if this leads to a fire in which Dr PinkCake dies

Imagine that you come to the rescue during a fire and get options:
1. Save DrPinkCake
2. Save his hard drives with the game code and all materials
3. Save his feminist wife
Acting Lessons vibes intensifies

There certainly is a lot of quantity, in terms of special renders and other features, but the story itself is also forcing longer development times. That is, the quality of the game is driving increases in quantity. With all the choices players have, DPC has to create several branches, each with their own plots and details. If you compare BaDIK with other games that also offer choices, BaDIK is much more sophisticated. Most games offer binary choices (yes or no) to engaging in sex, for example, but the story itself doesn't change (maybe only some dialogue does). DPC says players will need to have at least ten saves to see all possible content in this episode. So in a way, he's creating 10 episodes. They all share a lot of the same scenes and storylines, but the unique elements of each require a lot of work. Future episodes may get even more complicated, depending on how much choice we get. I suspect that at some point DPC will need to pare down the choices or have some outside force change the story in a way that supersedes our choices, just to prevent the branching from becoming totally unmanageable. Otherwise, development times will become exponentially longer with each episode.

Simple solutions that can speed up development without cutting the game:
- Hire help for a certain kind of work. For example a drawer(hello Heycock) or a coder.
- Upgrade hardware, like changing graphics cards to RTX 4090, which is a huge performance boost
- Stop improving the graphics. It is already good and not inferior to AAA games. It won't take that long to render animations.

 

[nyrek]

Imagine that you come to the rescue during a fire and get options:
1. Save DrPinkCake
2. Save his hard drives with the game code and all materials
3. Save his feminist wife
Acting Lessons vibes intensifies

OR

Spoiler

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[Geralt From Rivia]

OR

Spoiler

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You are a cruel person, you want me to remember this scene and cry

 

[ename144]

Another nice write up but the only thing that I would consider "good" is the fact that it relatively close to a release. If it is a December release it will still be nine months for a single episode to be playable. At the current rate the second half of the game will likely be in development for close to a decade. That's a ridiculously long time for one game, I think.

For me personally, the extended dev times of the updates won't be worth it. I'm in these things for the stories but to me it looks like DPC's mind set has switches to quantity over quality. I wont know until I play it of course but the outlook for this is grim in my book.

It's all relative; I had been worried we'd be staring down the barrel of a January release the way DPC kept upping the targets. This time he actually reduced the animation targets slightly (with only a minor increase in statics). That's a good sign in my book, even if the rosy scenario (a late November release) is still well short of ideal.

As for the long development cycles, they honestly don't bother me as long as I have faith that a) the work will eventually be finished, and b) I'll enjoy the end result. I not worried that DPC will abandon the game before finishing Episode 9, so that's not an issue. But the way Episode 8 ended makes me extremely nervous about whether I'm going to like Episode 9.

My fear is that Season 3 is going to be a grueling slog where DPC pulls out every trick in the book to avoid advancing the relationship we supposedly just started until Season 4. IMHO we already had too much of that in Season 2. I'm not up for waiting another 3-4 years before we get to the good bits; I'll just put the game on the backburner until Season 4 is underway. But it's entirely possible my read is wrong and DPC does intend to flesh out the various branches, in which case I'll be happy to follow the news as we go.

Sadly, we've now spent nearly a year in limbo with no clear idea of where Episode 9 (and thus Season 3 as a whole) is headed, which has not made me a happy camper. So I'll take any indication this particular dev cycle is nearing an end as a good sign.

 

[nyrek]

You are a cruel person, you want me to remember this scene and cry

no, I want you to imagine you can tell that asshole
LISTEN HERE, UPDATE EVERY 4 MONTHS OR I GO HODOR ON YOUR ASS

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

no, I want you to imagine you can tell that asshole
LISTEN HERE, UPDATE EVERY 4 MONTHS OR I GO HODOR ON YOUR ASS

I will say that 6 months, that is, twice a year will be ok, I understand the level of this game and how it rises above other VN. 9 months is too long, with all due respect to his work. Not because "I'm tired of waiting", but because the release of the third season will then take too long and the game turns into a long-term construction. Like GTA VI

 

[ename144]

I cant choose the Absinthe in the table why ?

As nyrek suggested, you need to get the bottle of Absinthe from Lily's desk before you can mix drinks with it.

Once you have the bottle it should be an option.