VN Ren'Py Blood Spirals [Ep.2 v0.2.3] [Modern Degenerate]

[ModernDegenerate]

So, just finished the first playthrough, and have the one or another question to ModernDegenerate :

While I have nothing against hard sex now and then, I have to admit that the scene with Aneta in the club was absolutely not my cup of tea. Is this the kind of h-contend we have to expect in the future or will this only ramp up, or will we have the option to tune it one or two (hundred) steps down an d keep it more vanilla?

The same goes for Chloe, in my opinion she was just the fifth wheel on the wagon - completely superfluous.

While I like the interaction between Emily and the MC, I fear we have to expect similar strange preferences. Without going into spoilery territory, I'm right with my assumption or will this stay *normal*. The impression I get of Emily, because of her description of her past abuse sexlife I have doubt that she will get off by such kind of stuff. On the other side, we don't know how much mental damage she has suffered in the past.

Beyond being bisexual and willing to share Kieran, Emily is vanilla and overtly looking for affection. Emily will not even take it in the bum, so there's nothing to worry about with extreme sex involving her.

Kieran himself is reticent to indulge Aneta because, while being dominant and aggressive excites him, there is a constant internal conflict with his morality, which has been the story of his life from the age of fifteen, discongruency between his human brain and his chimp brain, to borrow the metaphors. This is why Aneta was designed as she was, because it tests this important deficiency in Kieran that he will have to overcome to succeed.

As for Aneta herself - she will never not like being instructed and tied up, but her fucked up attitude to pain and abuse is important to establish because (and I don't think this is a spoiler for future episodes, as I hope it is the logical step in most people's minds, it shouldn't be a surprise that this is the direction) it is driven by her shame and self-destructiveness - parts of her that she needs to acknowledge and overcome with the help of Kieran, and later Emily.

As for Chloe, this is a girl who is mean-spirited, and narcissistic. She is important to the relationship dynamic because she does not want Kieran and Aneta to happen. She is an antagonist when it comes to the storyline of the Aneta/Kieran romance - she was on best behaviour at the sex club because of how Aneta's spine has already grown as a result of her "dates" with Kieran. The choices in the back room are part of the options Kieran will have for dealing with her.

But make no mistake, Aneta is the crown jewel of her conquests and she has no intention of letting her go.

 

[weqdfdqwdqw]

This game is sick, best wishes in making it, dev!

 

[wiseold6996]

Can we pimp out the slut?

 

[Mortarion]

Can we pimp out the slut?

I have massive doubt that this is the ultimate goal of the game, at least from my understanding of this post from the dev...

 

[wiseold6996]

I have massive doubt that this is the ultimate goal of the game, at least from my understanding of this post from the dev...

Meh

 

[Calchito]

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Alrighty fellas!

I'll have a free-member post-mortem post going up after the first progress update on Episode 2 (for paid patrons) next week. But for now, I just want to drop an FAQ here that covers some of the questions and issues that cropped up after release.

Hope you're all have excellent days, and I'll catch up with you soon.

-MD

FAQ

Can I avoid the slutty girl?
Unfortunately Aneta is the most important character in the narrative aside from Kieran. There is no way to make her optional while still having a story.

So Love interests are forced?
Yes. If you really hate one of them, or both - the game will piss you off rotten. Sorry!

What do you mean "this romance is more than a little unconventional" ?
Point one: All three characters are pretty damaged people. Point two: The game's win condition is a throuple. Point three: Aneta is an extreme submissive, with a fetish for punishment, that comes from an unhealthy mental state that she will have to confront over the course of the story.

How many episodes?
Four. No more, no less.
I am mulling over splitting episodes into parts for a faster release cadence - but I am reluctant because episodes generally follow a thread through to a big moment, or a twist, and are satisfying as they are. Splitting them would mean not getting that "Oh shit!" moment in every update.

Can I play evil (Like exploit the girl's vulnerabilities for my own satisfaction)?
No, you cannot.
You get a lot of choice with Kieran's actions, but those choices are informed by his character and narrative arc.

What is your definition of NTR?
If you're sensitive to it, probably not the same as yours.
NTR is a love interest cheating. In order to cheat, you need some level of commitment. I do not consider swinging and sharing NTR.

So the love interests can be shared?
Only with women. Both are bisexual, and the romance is not just between them and Kieran, but with each other. As they explore their sexuality, other side girl options open for exploration.
Some side girls (like Bridget) can be shared with other men where the narrative allows.

So... Amy's kind of hot...
The answer to this was: no - Amy does not have sexual content beyond a single flash back image you already saw, despite being a prominent character in future episodes.
However, I am currently rewriting my outline for episode 2, and some of the changes I have made (because of alterations when writing the script for episode 1 compared to its outline) do invite a small amount of lewd content with her. It is melancholic and anxious, so please set your expectations. It also comes in the final two episodes, so you will have to wait a little while.

That content isn't with Aidan, is it?
Do not fear. I don't want to see that orange money's backside any more than you do.

Are there side girls?
Yes.

New ones beyond those you fuck in episode one?
Yes. "Who" is a secret.
I can tell you one of them is for a pretty shallow reason. It's someone else's model that really tickled my balls and I wanted to work with it for my own perverted pleasure.
You might be able to work out one or two of the others yourself. But I can neither confirm nor deny.

Aneta has different tattoos in episode one than the other episodes!
I don't anticipate this game will get big enough for it to matter, but getting a cease and desist that affects many thousands of renders is a very different scenario to getting one for music issues. I really did not think about it until I was almost done with episode one. I can only apologise for the inconsistency.

Are you going to remake parts of the game where your renders stink?
No.
Starting from scratch, I accepted that quality was going to change a lot just by going from a person who had never touched Studio Neo, to a person with thousands of hours in it.
I'm here to get better and move forward, not to go back and tinker. I am not a perfectionist, and if I think I can get away with leaving something in that went a bit wrong, I will. As a solo developer, my philosophy is that you have to accept that you can't have robust QA, and you can't take the piss out of your audience by making them wait for things that aren't deal-breakers.

Can you give me an idea of what games Blood Spirals feels like?
I'd like to think that there is no game that feels like Blood Spirals. It is definitely not chasing popular tropes - but that's not for me to decide.
I can say that the biggest inspirations for the general tone are Pale Carnations and Leaving DNA.

 

[CleanJebboy]

I'm probably the only one but not being able to save Rosa would break my fucking heart. I probably couldn't handle the background either in real life but I hope we get to save her. Congrats on creating a sadly believable picture of what sex work too often is.

 

[Faptime]

Throuple is canon. You can only lose it by making repeated mistakes that alienate the girls.

MC needs both his Angel and his Devil.

 

[gibbonraver]

no oral?

 

[Padorublad3]

no oral?

There is "Oral"

Spoiler: Scene spoiler!

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[Calchito]

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Good day to you, fellas.

Please find attached the first update screen for Blood Spirals Episode 2! I'll be posting these every other Friday to keep you all abreast of development.

You get a small snippet of a music track from Episode 2, and while the image is an "imagined" scene, there is something to it, thematically.

While their screen time was mostly equal in episode 1, Aneta was, largely, the bigger presence. Episode 2 reverses that trend. They have similar screen time, but it is Emily who is driving things more this time.

I promised a small post-mortem on episode 1 for you all, so here we go:

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph - 5800 renders was too bloody many!

A big reason for this was my attempts for Blood Spirals to look more like a film than a visual novel. In hindsight, this was a mistake. Having to make 50 renders minimum (often 70+) per day meant a lot was sacrificed, including render quality. There were also some complaints about "jerkiness" from having so many different angles.

Episode 2 is going for less renders, but of higher quality. There will be fewer different angles, particularly in conversation scenes, and Kieran will not be in every render where he speaks now. This will be reserved for his non-verbal reactions.

Is Kieran an inconsistent character?

This assessment was communicated to me several times. Honestly... I don't see it myself. I've replayed the game a bunch of times trying to find an instance where he acts out of character, but I can't see it. It could be that I am too deep in the weeds of it myself. If anyone can give me scenes where Kieran is not acting like a violent man trying to hold himself back (and sometimes failing), or something you consider inappropriate for other parts of him communicated in the game, please leave a comment below, because I really want to get to the bottom of this.

Animations were jank, bruv.

Yes, yes they were.

Part of this was time - I had to race through, so little things, like popping shoulders and not quite right movement, were left as is. The other part is that I am not an animator. I have a background in film, and computing - great for most elements of a visual novel, but not animation.

So why include animations at all?

Because I want them in the game, and I want to get better. Blood Spirals is an education for me. I have a couple of books, The Animator's Survival Kit and The Illusion of Life to work through as I am developing Episode 2, and so I hope they can lead to some decent improvements in animation quality.

I'm also dealing with Studio Neo, so jank is still guaranteed, but I hope to minimise its frequency.

Where's the gallery so I can fap later?

Sorry, most sex scenes use multiple variables from many previous scenes to dictate how they play out. Every gallery entry would require that you restate every one of them, and it's just more work.

I won't say never, but if there ever is a gallery for Blood Spirals, it won't come until after episode 4 is complete and I move on to my next project.

As I'm sure you can tell - Blood Spirals is likely to get a lot of reviews and ratings criticising its content over its quality. I'd like to take the opportunity to ask you guys that enjoyed it, and who haven't already done so, to leave it a rating or and/or review on itch and the zone, if you haven't already done so. This helps counter-balance the negativity (which is partially self-inflicted for releasing without trigger warnings).

Well, that's all for today. Hope you all have a good day, and I'll catch up with you in another fortnight.

-Mod

 

[Thur1in]

Loved the story so far, The Dev was right with LI's it is hit or miss. I did like Aneta her kink is a turn off hope it will not be deal breaker to be with her. the 24 year old in a 12 year old body is just meh..
That said the writing is really good.

 

[ModernDegenerate]

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Please enjoy these public sneak peaks from episode 2!

 

[Dorfnutter]

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Please enjoy these public sneak peaks from episode 2!

...Sorry. Couldn't resist.

 

[MagnusTempestus6]

...Sorry. Couldn't resist.

View attachment 5186089

Me neither

 

[ModernDegenerate]

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Episode 2 will release in two parts, with the first coming in October 2025.

 

[bitofaperv]

Visuals look upgraded, and they were already pretty decent.

Looking forward to the next episode.

 

[WARETZ]

How to trigger these scenes? thankss

 

[ModernDegenerate]

View attachment 5295582

How to trigger these scenes? thankss

For the first, you need to turn down the three-way with Grant and Bridget and not turn down Rosa when she pushes for sex.

The second: First, make sure to inflate your motorcycle tyres. Second, choose all the dominant options during the oral sex scene at the docklands. Third, the cum in mouth option for where to cum at the end, not the throatpie or facial.

 

[ModernDegenerate]

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Episode 2, Phantom Chains, continues the story of Kieran Adonic, the former boxer and East London gangster, as he tries to navigate life on the straight and narrow.

How will he deal with the discovery of Aneta's cache of weapons and passports? What will come of his interference in the Albanian gang's pimping of his fragile neighbour, Rosa?

Can Grant overcome the emotional scars of the beating he received at the hands of his and Kieran's former friends? What will Aidan's next act of violence towards the two men look like?

And just what influence does Emily's Pastor have over her family?

Find out more when Blood Spirals - Episode 2: Phantom Chains releases its first 90 minute update on the following dates:

Producer Tier: 11th October 2025

Moneyman Tier: 19th October 2025 (delayed by one day as I will not be able to upload on the 18th)

Grip Tier: 24th October 2025

Public Release: 26th October 2025.