VN Ren'Py Abandoned Chrome Lifelines-Chapter 1 [Ch 1 Part 2] [zTi Creations]

[TundraLupus]

So far, you have a well grounded, internally consistent story that makes sense within the universe. I would urge you not to ruin it with copious porn logic. It's damn near impossible to write a realistic harem (Why are all these women a-OK not only with just the MC, but also sharing him with many others, in this world of free-flowing sexuality? Why would they devalue themselves like that?). In 99% of harem games (if not 100%) all choices boil down to "do you want to have sex with this character? yes/no". That means there are no stakes, no threats, no consequences. Good guy kills all the bad guys and gets all the girls. That's just... boring, really.

I just wanted to comment on this cause I mostly agree with the premisse, sadly we don't have a tag for relationship types but we could have open-relationships or polyamory and those would be realistic ways to make a "harem" by the definitions of this site.
quick explanation that will probably get me some facepalms from some specific people:

Open-Relationship; it is a broad term but from my own understanding it would be having a pyshical and emotional relationship with one person and having an agreement to be able to be pyshical with others (for all involved)

Polyamory; Has many types but again from my definition it would be people being able to have multiple fullfyling relationships, physical and emotional or just one of those, and having an agreament about it, it can have hierachy or not(I prefeer the "not") and have many shapes or forms but the gist is that everyone involved would be able to persue multple relationships if they wished(my sig has a link to a question on the polyamory sub-reddit if anyone is curious)

So I think one of those would be more realistic(because they actually happen in real life) than most harems around.

 

[jufot]

Great timing! I was just checking out some of the games in your signature because I found it intriguing, and immediately you post a comment to that effect

So I think one of those would be more realistic(because they actually happen in real life) than most harems around.

I agree, both would be very interesting to see, but let's not kid ourselves - the people asking for a harem are not asking for poly or ENM

On a separate note, we've had an interesting discussion on polyamory on the story-first thread (see my signature) a while back. You're welcome to join us there.

 

[TundraLupus]

Great timing! I was just checking out some of the games in your signature because I found it intriguing, and immediately you post a comment to that effect


I agree, both would be very interesting to see, but let's not kid ourselves - the people asking for a harem are not asking for poly or ENM

On a separate note, we've had an interesting discussion on polyamory on the story-first thread (see my signature) a while back. You're welcome to join us there.

yeah, I tend to mention those as options when I see that the dev doesn't want to do a cookie-cuter(I don't know why I'm using this word so much) harem or want a more realistic aprouch, at least that way they know they have options.

I'll check out the thread on your sig.

 

[Take The Red Pill]

Racially/culturally ambigous is what I'm going for.

Who the fuck are you kidding, man?
While you’re at it, put your own dick in his mouth, and tell him that’s a phone.

 

[Saint Blackmoor]

I'm I seeing this right?
The changelog reads from oldest at the top to newest at the bottom. I don't mean to be nitpicking.
The version system is already confusing.
Just an observation.
I like the game, the visuals are great.

 

[DogzBallz]

As someone with dark skin, I find myself enjoying playing a different kind of MC that isn't acting like a GTA parody for once. (not that things like MC skin color should affect how much you can relate to a character in a porn game imo kinda says a lot about you that you felt the comment was necessary)

I think it is valid feedback, I personally find playing as a different race / gender breaks my immersion to the point that I will pass on games because of it. It's a shame because there a lot of what look like really cool games out there with protagonist's that don't fit my mould. Also interesting as I don't have any issue with characters in books or movies etc being a different ethnicity to myself. I'm thinking it is interactive elements make VN's much more immersive, ie. participatory instead of observational. I don't think it's a rascism thing, though possibly it is as I'm sure we all hold some form of unconscious bias. I have spent some time considering the matter of MC race, as I'm working on a VN myself. I have decided to give the player a choice of race, as I don't want to exclude anyone. This does add a little extra work to my project, but I consider it worth the extra time and effort.

 

[WindKazuya]

The renders look amazing, particularaly the feet. Can we expect any foot fetish content ?

 

[desmosome]

I think it is valid feedback, I personally find playing as a different race / gender breaks my immersion to the point that I will pass on games because of it. It's a shame because there a lot of what look like really cool games out there with protagonist's that don't fit my mould. Also interesting as I don't have any issue with characters in books or movies etc being a different ethnicity to myself. I'm thinking it is interactive elements make VN's much more immersive, ie. participatory instead of observational. I don't think it's a rascism thing, though possibly it is as I'm sure we all hold some form of unconscious bias. I have spent some time considering the matter of MC race, as I'm working on a VN myself. I have decided to give the player a choice of race, as I don't want to exclude anyone. This does add a little extra work to my project, but I consider it worth the extra time and effort.

At least you acknowledge the possibility of some latent racism. For one thing, you shouldn't really be able to self insert as any MC. Most of them will have backstories that are wildly different than you. They will have relationships that you don't have. They have a set personality and thought process that is distinct from you. So you are saying you can let your imagination run wild and self insert as this incredibly different person, but a different race is a step too far? What about japanese games? Did you pass on all those too? Maybe it's just dark skin MCs?

I'm not attacking you, even though these questions look pretty aggressive. Kudos to you for having some self reflection regarding a sensitive topic. Still, there is no way complaining about a black MC is "valid feedback" lol. Valid feedback is about the writing, grammar, camera work, posing, scene composition, coding, music, and other skill based avenues of development. Complaining about tags, MC being too weak, MC being too black, story not going their way, etc etc... these are not "valid feedback." That is just entitlement.

 

[HogRocket]

I think it is valid feedback, I personally find playing as a different race / gender breaks my immersion to the point that I will pass on games because of it. It's a shame because there a lot of what look like really cool games out there with protagonist's that don't fit my mould. Also interesting as I don't have any issue with characters in books or movies etc being a different ethnicity to myself. I'm thinking it is interactive elements make VN's much more immersive, ie. participatory instead of observational. I don't think it's a rascism thing, though possibly it is as I'm sure we all hold some form of unconscious bias. I have spent some time considering the matter of MC race, as I'm working on a VN myself. I have decided to give the player a choice of race, as I don't want to exclude anyone. This does add a little extra work to my project, but I consider it worth the extra time and effort.

At least you acknowledge the possibility of some latent racism. For one thing, you shouldn't really be able to self insert as any MC. Most of them will have backstories that are wildly different than you. They will have relationships that you don't have. They have a set personality and thought process that is distinct from you. So you are saying you can let your imagination run wild and self insert as this incredibly different person, but a different race is a step too far? What about japanese games? Did you pass on all those too? Maybe it's just dark skin MCs?

I'm not attacking you, even though these questions look pretty aggressive. Kudos to you for having some self reflection regarding a sensitive topic. Still, there is no way complaining about a black MC is "valid feedback" lol. Valid feedback is about the writing, grammar, camera work, posing, scene composition, coding, music, and other skill based avenues of development. Complaining about tags, MC being too weak, MC being too black, story not going their way, etc etc... these are not "valid feedback." That is just entitlement.

I think it depends on how immersive the VN/game/book is to the individual. I don't play "female protagonist" games for the most part because I'm a guy, I don't have a connection to that character point of view. Having said that, there are other games/VNs/books that have a female, black, asian, gay, alien or other protagonist that I feel more like an outside observer and enjoy them immensely.
In the case of this game, I was feeling a lot of immersion in the character, since he had mostly been shown shadowed or obscured but then shown buck-ass-naked and being many skin tones darker than my Scots heritage/red haired/pasty white self really took me out of the story for a minute. Probably not a "deal killer" for me, just I will not feel as immersed in the character than I did before.

 

[desmosome]

I think it depends on how immersive the VN/game/book is to the individual. I don't play "female protagonist" games for the most part because I'm a guy, I don't have a connection to that character point of view. Having said that, there are other games/VNs/books that have a female, black, asian, gay, alien or other protagonist that I feel more like an outside observer and enjoy them immensely.
In the case of this game, I was feeling a lot of immersion in the character, since he had mostly been shown shadowed or obscured but then shown buck-ass-naked and being many skin tones darker than my Scots heritage/red haired/pasty white self really took me out of the story for a minute. Probably not a "deal killer" for me, just I will not feel as immersed in the character than I did before.

That's fine man. That's more about personal preferences in the type of game you enjoy or requirements for you to immerse. What you personally want in a story is not really valid criticism though. There are so many things I enjoy. I like MCs with questionable morals. I like male dom. I like cheating, whether it's from MC or someone else. I would never consider the absence of such things in a story as valid avenues of criticism.

 

[DogzBallz]

At least you acknowledge the possibility of some latent racism. For one thing, you shouldn't really be able to self insert as any MC. Most of them will have backstories that are wildly different than you. They will have relationships that you don't have. They have a set personality and thought process that is distinct from you. So you are saying you can let your imagination run wild and self insert as this incredibly different person, but a different race is a step too far? What about japanese games? Did you pass on all those too? Maybe it's just dark skin MCs?

I'm not attacking you, even though these questions look pretty aggressive. Kudos to you for having some self reflection regarding a sensitive topic. Still, there is no way complaining about a black MC is "valid feedback" lol. Valid feedback is about the writing, grammar, camera work, posing, scene composition, coding, music, and other skill based avenues of development. Complaining about tags, MC being too weak, MC being too black, story not going their way, etc etc... these are not "valid feedback." That is just entitlement.

You are correct in saying that the MC being to black is not valid feedback. I probably should have worded my response better. I think a more accurate feedback would be, that having a MC of an obviously different race to a player has the potential to alienate a lot of potential players. I am not specifying race, ethnicity or colour as I imagine most people would relate better to an MC that has a closer resemblance to themselves, similar to the issue players have with MC's that are hung like a horse.

Obviously their will be people that don't have any issue with MC's of other ethnicity's, genders or species for that matter, but I personally always find it breaks my immersion. In relation to Japanese games, I can't say I have played a lot, but that is due to the animation style. As far as dark skinned MC's go, you are assuming that I am not dark skinned myself. I don't have an issue with any skin colour, I actually have a preference for dark skinned women. I am just pointing out that regardless of skin colour, if the MC has an obviously different skin colour to your own, be that black, white or green, their is a fair chance that those without that skin colour will find their immersion broken.

 

[desmosome]

You are correct in saying that the MC being to black is not valid feedback. I probably should have worded my response better. I think a more accurate feedback would be, that having a MC of an obviously different race to a player has the potential to alienate a lot of potential players. I am not specifying race, ethnicity or colour as I imagine most people would relate better to an MC that has a closer resemblance to themselves, similar to the issue players have with MC's that are hung like a horse.

Obviously their will be people that don't have any issue with MC's of other ethnicity's, genders or species for that matter, but I personally always find it breaks my immersion. In relation to Japanese games, I can't say I have played a lot, but that is due to the animation style. As far as dark skinned MC's go, you are assuming that I am not dark skinned myself. I don't have an issue with any skin colour, I actually have a preference for dark skinned women. I am just pointing out that regardless of skin colour, if the MC has an obviously different skin colour to your own, be that black, white or green, their is a fair chance that those without that skin colour will find their immersion broken.

You are probably right that there is a significant amount of obligate self inserting white people in the community. So there is potentially a lot to lose by using a non-white MC. But this line of "feedback" always gets on my nerves. It doesn't stop at the MC's race. There are a lot of NTRphobic people. There are a lot of people who hate the MC going through hardships. There are a lot of people who hate choosing between LIs.

These types of critique are usually in the guise of the so called "financial" feedback. "Hey dev, you gotta please the supposedly majority crowed by doing this, this, and this." Do we just want more of the same wish fulfillment type of games that are flooding the scene? If devs just wanted to hit the biggest crowed to make money, all we'd see is College dating sims, Incest harems, or some daddy daughter loli game looking for the pedo bucks.

I say no thanks. I want to see variety and creativity in story telling.

 

[HogRocket]

That's fine man. That's more about personal preferences in the type of game you enjoy or requirements for you to immerse. What you personally want in a story is not really valid criticism though. There are so many things I enjoy. I like MCs with questionable morals. I like male dom. I like cheating, whether it's from MC or someone else. I would never consider the absence of such things in a story as valid avenues of criticism.

I think you've got me mixed up with someone else. I made no criticism. I was just stating my feelings on the race/gender/etc issue of game MC's and the various impacts on me depending on circumstances and my feelings on the scene in question.

 

[BoosterGold74]

Totally off subject but why are so many sci-fi games always so dark? Did these timelines not have the invention of the light bulb? Is energy so hard to produce that they must live in the dark to conserve? Rarely saw the Enterprise so dark and they were trekking in the deepest depths of space. Just a pet peeve. If it's part of the story (sun is burning out, people live underground, planet far from star, etc) then that's cool.

 

[BeingADikDik]

I was about to give a thumbs up to your comment, but then I read the last one It's been discussed here before, but the story so far has been grounded, rational and self-consistent. That sort of harem nonsense should be some sort of non-cannon bonus scene. Otherwise, it would ruin individual character development for a few seconds of porn, and this game deserves better than that.

Those four girls I suggested weren't randomly selected. Everyone in that grouping has been or is presently in a relationship with Elle (and several at the same time!) , and obviously have not gotten over her.

I'm not a fan of the 'MC gets literally every girl' harem trope - but the dev made the decision to include these past relationships, so a group ending like that makes narrative sense.

The way I see things:

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[jufot]

but the dev made the decision to include these past relationships, so a group ending like that makes narrative sense.

I dunno man. My wife knows about my past girlfriends, but somehow I don't think she'd be enthusiastic if I were to suggest a harem of her and my past lovers

 

[BeingADikDik]

I dunno man. My wife knows about my past girlfriends, but somehow I don't think she'd be enthusiastic if I were to suggest a harem of her and my past lovers

They weren't HER past girlfriends though ...

Also, sorry you don't get to be the MC IRL.

 

[jufot]

They weren't HER past girlfriends though ...

Good point. Though I don't think her ex boyfriends would want to be in her harem with me either

Also, sorry you don't get to be the MC IRL.

I know, right?! I could really use some of those cool implants

 

[acondo]

Racially/culturally ambigous is what I'm going for.

So is the mc black? What is this?

 

[woofer90]

Never really paid much attention to be honest, but this one is probably the 1st game i saw with a black MC, if it wasnt for the other comments, probably would not even have realized.

Considering there is already a discussion about it, i hope this dosent become a factor on whether this game is successful or not.

As for the game itself, i agree with what others said before about the angles in the sex scene, that is something i would say should be improved, otherwise the game looks very promising.

Best wishes to the dev and good luck on your project