VN Ren'Py Blurring the Walls [v0.5.2] [Torimiata]

[burcounting808]

The very first suggestion was do remaster AFTER ending the game. I knew several projects which did it.
Second, release it part by part together with new updates. Like: 0.6.0 + remaster of first game release (0.2.7 if I remember correct), then 0.7.0 + remaster of 0.3.0, 0.8.0 + remaster of 0.4.0 and so on. I again I knew some projects who did it and no one in their community complain about it.

Why would it be extra work? It's just splitting it across multiples updates.

So this obviously would be perfectly fine if he was just updating the visuals of the game. Which he has stated multiple times that is not the case. We're going to have to wait and see once the game comes out but it sounds like he reimagined almost all the scenes in the game as well as added new ones. Some changed a ton so it's basically brand new. I'm guessing that also comes with mega scripting changes in order to align the beginning story to the new two path system and then building on that narrative in the more recent updates.

If he went down the path you suggested we would have two random stories going on at the same time. We'd have the newer story in early updates then the old story in the middle with old graphics and then he would have the newer story again in the most recent update which wouldn't make sense since we're missing the middle of the script since it's just the old update? Just makes more sense to start from the beginning and make all the changes you've been holding off on and add your new things so future updates can align more with the new vision and truly build off a story that has a clear direction from the beginning.

 

[burcounting808]

First, Announce it ahead of time.
Second, under no circumstances should you come out and explicitly state that the remaster would only be a few scenes and not the whole game and then just remaster the whole game anyway.

he also never announced the change of plans when he decided to remaster the whole game. one day when people were complaining about it taking a long time he just says "yea i mean it's a lot of work, i'm redoing the entire game" and everyone was like "????????????? but you said???????" and he just shrugged and treated his paying supporters like they were crazy for being confused about it.

I think we've established communication as a weak point for the dev. So although all of those complaints are valid, they are kind of beating a dead horse at this point. I was looking more for opinions on how the dev could've handled the actual development side of the remaster since I was curious how other people/devs/games have done it.

 

[RAMPANT123456]

I think we've established communication as a weak point for the dev. So although all of those complaints are valid, they are kind of beating a dead horse at this point. I was looking more for opinions on how the dev could've handled the actual development side of the remaster since I was curious how other people/devs/games have done it.

Are you his alt? But jokes aside
"Beating a dead horse" when communication is part of the development, lets just say that a lightbulb went on his mind or his problems began last moments on 0.6 development (wich I don't believe) as he said the update was "basically over" before he decided to remake the game, he should've finished the update, with all the pain and "perfectionism" aside that would've shown the change in style maybe if it was a thing, then after that he would've been able to communicate with his audience (oh no communication) about everything that he has on mind for the future of the project and then talk about the remake, and stopping the proyect for a time or releasing updates in parts of the remake up to the same point, that would even add intrigue and interest in people if the remake is as different with the routes and all that as he said and even gain more audience, but obviously there will be detractors as with everything, i think that i would've still be backing him if he did somethin like that, instead of leaving everyone in the dark for a thing he came up in apparently a day

 

[Athres]

I think we've established communication as a weak point for the dev. So although all of those complaints are valid, they are kind of beating a dead horse at this point. I was looking more for opinions on how the dev could've handled the actual development side of the remaster since I was curious how other people/devs/games have done it.

His weak point is not exactly a communication, but planning.

 

[slaveofdesire]

Why would it be extra work? It's just splitting it across multiples updates.

You are seriously asking that question? He would have to complete the game with the old method and the remaster method, its double the work. Once he releases the remaster he can release the next updates in the remaster method. Im not defending Tori here, justs saying that is not the way to go.

 

[skeerey]

You are seriously asking that question? He would have to complete the game with the old method and the remaster method, its double the work. Once he releases the remaster he can release the next updates in the remaster method. Im not defending Tori here, justs saying that is not the way to go.

I think what people are saying is that 0.6 and onwards will use the remaster method while every update or so replaces the old updates with the remastered version. Only problem is that tori scope creeped way too much and end up apparently making changes to the story so it wouldn't necessary work. Though if those changes are essentially nothing burger and doesnt change the current story much then i would have to wonder why it wasnt done iteratively.

Some of games i played remastered/revised on the final stretches of the story to make changes but it doesnt seem like we're even near it and tori is already remastering the game. Can definitely see tori remastering the remastered version in the future once the game is near the end.

 

[Zorg771]

Based on what I'm reading about the development of this game, it really feels like the overwhelming support and positivity Tori received early on got to his head; expectations skyrocketed and he started to overthink literally everything about the game, leading to a "remaster" of a game that barely even got room to breathe in the first place, and even more specific and odd changes like changing the dick size of certain characters. Lots of unnecessary road blocks.

I had really high hopes after finishing the latest version a few months back, but it really feels like Tori has no idea where to go from here and is just stringing patrons along as long as he can while trying to get his shit together and figure out a legitimate direction. At least he decided to pause people's subscriptions, but it happened way too late, and I'm sure he's well aware of that too.

 

[hangmansjoke]

Based on what I'm reading about the development of this game, it really feels like the overwhelming support and positivity Tori received early on got to his head; expectations skyrocketed and he started to overthink literally everything about the game, leading to a "remaster" of a game that barely even got room to breathe in the first place, and even more specific and odd changes like changing the dick size of certain characters. Lots of unnecessary road blocks.

I had really high hopes after finishing the latest version a few months back, but it really feels like Tori has no idea where to go from here and is just stringing patrons along as long as he can while trying to get his shit together and figure out a legitimate direction. At least he decided to pause people's subscriptions, but it happened way too late, and I'm sure he's well aware of that too.

this is just what happens when you lose the creative spark behind a project. you start fiddling with the edges, redoing stuff, endless tweaking, "optimizing workflows" and other things that ultimately amount to procrastination.

this has been my position since the remaster was first announced: tori lost the drive and energy to complete the project. the scope of the remaster has grown because it's the only way to justify how little work has been done. this will end in disaster of course, because people have built up their expectations and think they're going to get a remaster that feels like 7 months worth of work, but in reality, i think it's going to be a remaster that feels like 2 months of work and 5 months of stalling, which will lead to disappointment.

here's how we'll know if the remaster is just an excuse for a slowdown in development: once the remaster comes out, do subsequent updates come out in 1-2 months, or will all future releases be on a sllllooooowww months-long update cycle like this one? my guess is the latter, if we even get another update after.

 

[BloodDemon365]

Does anyone know when will be tori returning from holiday and will be working on the project?

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

this is just what happens when you lose the creative spark behind a project. you start fiddling with the edges, redoing stuff, endless tweaking, "optimizing workflows" and other things that ultimately amount to procrastination.

That hit a little too close to home

 

[KasuganoSakura]

current status of the game?

 

[slaveofdesire]

I think what people are saying is that 0.6 and onwards will use the remaster method while every update or so replaces the old updates with the remastered version. Only problem is that tori scope creeped way too much and end up apparently making changes to the story so it wouldn't necessary work. Though if those changes are essentially nothing burger and doesnt change the current story much then i would have to wonder why it wasnt done iteratively.

Some of games i played remastered/revised on the final stretches of the story to make changes but it doesnt seem like we're even near it and tori is already remastering the game. Can definitely see tori remastering the remastered version in the future once the game is near the end.

That makes more sense.

 

[BloodDemon365]

Does anyone know when will be tori returning from holiday and will be working on the project?

???

 

[FMarshallboy]

current status of the game?

Abandoned or No Updates

 

[hlfwaycrks]

current status of the game?

Current actual status, Tori made it seem, again, that he was going to buckle down and release the remaster before he left for a business trip on 2024-11-14. Then, before he left, he clarified and said that wasn't going to be possible, and posted this dev diary. He's paused Patreon subscribers and basically says he's still endeavoring to get this done as soon as he can when he's back from the work trip...

 

[GuioPlue]

Based on the number of ratings and the game’s overall score, I decided to check it out. I translated a few hundred lines into my language using GPT and started playing, and… it was disappointing. The image resolution is so low that there’s no sense of realism while playing. It feels like I’m playing a pixel art game instead. How can CG be made with a resolution of 336x608 pixels? In fact, it’s more like 240x600 if you exclude the hands and part of the hair, leaving only the main portion of the CG. It’s absurd – how am I supposed to appreciate a character at just 240 pixels?

Why couldn’t the game be upscaled to Full HD resolution while preserving image scaling? I have no idea. However, when you compare a photo upscaled by x4 to one cropped to Full HD, there’s a noticeable difference. A compressed AVIF image upscaled to x4 (1348x2440) with 85-89 quality would have the same file size as the original PNG (336x608). This is complete nonsense. Why couldn’t the game be made more realistic?

Oh, and in the description, the developer also mentions that not everything is purely AI-generated. However, he only highlights that he is developing a LoRA, which doesn’t mean he adjusted anything manually after using AI. This is evident from the hand and finger details in both the original and the upscaled images.

Spoiler: Original IMG (336x608 263 KB)

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Spoiler: Upscaled IMG to FULL HD (596x1080)

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Spoiler: Upscaled x4 1338x2440

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Spoiler: Compress upscaled image by 4x to AVIF with quality 89 and size 256KB (converted to WebP lossless)

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[sudolink]

the hand and finger details

Spoiler: Original IMG (336x608 263 KB)

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Spoiler: Upscaled IMG to FULL HD (596x1080)

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Spoiler: Upscaled x4 1338x2440

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Spoiler: Compress upscaled image by 4x to AVIF with quality 89 and size 256KB (converted to WebP lossless)

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I'm fucking rolling here

 

[idkmanerally]

Based on the number of ratings and the game’s overall score, I decided to check it out. I translated a few hundred lines into my language using GPT and started playing, and… it was disappointing. The image resolution is so low that there’s no sense of realism while playing. It feels like I’m playing a pixel art game instead. How can CG be made with a resolution of 336x608 pixels? In fact, it’s more like 240x600 if you exclude the hands and part of the hair, leaving only the main portion of the CG. It’s absurd – how am I supposed to appreciate a character at just 240 pixels?

Why couldn’t the game be upscaled to Full HD resolution while preserving image scaling? I have no idea. However, when you compare a photo upscaled by x4 to one cropped to Full HD, there’s a noticeable difference. A compressed AVIF image upscaled to x4 (1348x2440) with 85-89 quality would have the same file size as the original PNG (336x608). This is complete nonsense. Why couldn’t the game be made more realistic?

Oh, and in the description, the developer also mentions that not everything is purely AI-generated. However, he only highlights that he is developing a LoRA, which doesn’t mean he adjusted anything manually after using AI. This is evident from the hand and finger details in both the original and the upscaled images.

Spoiler: Original IMG (336x608 263 KB)

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Spoiler: Upscaled IMG to FULL HD (596x1080)

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Spoiler: Upscaled x4 1338x2440

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Spoiler: Compress upscaled image by 4x to AVIF with quality 89 and size 256KB (converted to WebP lossless)

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this is the kind of autism that got us the remaster. bro can't jerk off cuz there aren't enough pixels. bro can't get hard when a porno uses the wrong video codec.

 

[GuioPlue]

this is the kind of autism that got us the remaster. bro can't jerk off cuz there aren't enough pixels. bro can't get hard when a porno uses the wrong video codec.

I never mentioned anything about “the wrong image codec or something like that.” I simply pointed out that if we use AVIF for such a high resolution, even compressed, we can achieve better quality with the same file size. Of course, it’s better to use Full HD resolution for CG for many reasons, including the fact that it will be sufficient.
I’d like to understand why the developer chose 1088x612 as the standard resolution for the game, as this decision results in everything looking quite blurry in terms of quality. If this were viewed on a smartphone (on smaller displays), the effect wouldn’t be as noticeable, but I’m using a 15.6-inch display, and even on this, the quality looks pretty bad. It makes me wonder how things look for players with larger screens. I just don’t get it—wanting at least Full HD in 2024 instead of 1088x612, is that really such a bad thing?

Spoiler: On the game's Discord server, the developer also agrees that the 612 resolution is quite low

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[hmc15]

Does anyone know when will be tori returning from holiday and will be working on the project?

So long as you keep paying on Patreon, he/she/shim will not be doing any updates. Precisely when money starts trickling AWAY a new update will magically appear. This may be a new trick for "Tori" but is hardly new to this plaform. See ICSTOR and RAINces and many more before them.