VN Ren'Py City of Dreams [v0.4.2] [vncityofdreams]

[HeroHate]

I just can't get any scene with Pike no matter what I do. I reject drug dealing, helping at caffe and still can't get any scene

Wear the non-sexy dress wehen you first meet him.

 

[Planmaster]

This has become one of my favorite games, the mc is hot and the AI is great, but when will the next update be available?

 

[seaoflove]

I like this game, It has good art, and interesting story, and it seems like it is going somewhere with various ways to play the game and mold the MC's life how you want.

At the same time I dislike some aspects of it, and I think the developer needs to actually play the game for just an hour to two just to see how bad the in game economy is for the player.

The money system is not balanced. You are expected to pay $500 per week rent, but the coffee shop job only pays you $30 per time you work. Rent is due every 7 days.

Mathematically this means that you must work 17 times in 7 days at the coffee shop just to break even on rent. That is about 2.5 shifts per day at the coffee shop and that is just to break even without spending money on anything else at all. Most days are broken up into 3 parts. So, that's most of your time at the coffee shop to pay rent.

That means, you are not going to the gym to stay in shape. The gym that costs... $100 to use!? You are not buying clothes or going out spending money at the club or on other things.

It is too much like a

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If Rent was only $300 per week or if the coffee shop paid $50 instead of $30 it would be much more balanced.

All of this stuff can be cheated around of course if you open up console. You can add $9999999 dollars breaking the economy completely. You can change the day back to day 1 at any time too.

It defeats the point though if one must cheat to have a reasonable chance to see the content.

Another thing I dislike is that it has a designated end point. Which means if you were saving up money to buy an outfit, or working out to do something with that it just takes you back to the main menu before you can go get the other scenes you missed.

It would make more sense to say, "Save here, you can continue to play, but it will loop back to the start of this day at the end of this day forever until next update." Meaning you can go check out scenes you may have missed.

Just forcing the player to the main menu without chance to save is a bad idea.

These simple solutions would make the game far more enjoyable for most players.

 

[vncityofdreams]

I like this game, It has good art, and interesting story, and it seems like it is going somewhere with various ways to play the game and mold the MC's life how you want.

At the same time I dislike some aspects of it, and I think the developer needs to actually play the game for just an hour to two just to see how bad the in game economy is for the player.

The money system is not balanced. You are expected to pay $500 per week rent, but the coffee shop job only pays you $30 per time you work. Rent is due every 7 days.

Mathematically this means that you must work 17 times in 7 days at the coffee shop just to break even on rent. That is about 2.5 shifts per day at the coffee shop and that is just to break even without spending money on anything else at all. Most days are broken up into 3 parts. So, that's most of your time at the coffee shop to pay rent.

That means, you are not going to the gym to stay in shape. The gym that costs... $100 to use!? You are not buying clothes or going out spending money at the club or on other things.

It is too much like a

You must be registered to see the links

If Rent was only $300 per week or if the coffee shop paid $50 instead of $30 it would be much more balanced.

All of this stuff can be cheated around of course if you open up console. You can add $9999999 dollars breaking the economy completely. You can change the day back to day 1 at any time too.

It defeats the point though if one must cheat to have a reasonable chance to see the content.

Another thing I dislike is that it has a designated end point. Which means if you were saving up money to buy an outfit, or working out to do something with that it just takes you back to the main menu before you can go get the other scenes you missed.

It would make more sense to say, "Save here, you can continue to play, but it will loop back to the start of this day at the end of this day forever until next update." Meaning you can go check out scenes you may have missed.

Just forcing the player to the main menu without chance to save is a bad idea.

These simple solutions would make the game far more enjoyable for most players.

Hello, thank you for your review.

Regarding the economy of the game, it is our interest that the topic of financial management be an important element.

Several elements that you may not have taken into account:

- It is a game in development that only has the 1st week of play, so it has not had time to develop all the income possibilities.
- There are other income possibilities (coffee is just one of them), it is the player's task to find which is most profitable and fits the path that Claire wants to follow. Even in this very early version I assure you that if you investigate you will find some of them.
- In each version, economic adjustments are made so that it is not unfair or forces you to perform the same task over and over again.
- It is not necessary to carry out all the activities or events right now, once more days of game are added both the economy and Claire's time to develop skills will be more balanced.

Without further ado, thank you very much for your comment, we will do our best to make the game balanced and fun.

 

[seaoflove]

Hello, thank you for your review.

Regarding the economy of the game, it is our interest that the topic of financial management be an important element.

Several elements that you may not have taken into account:

- It is a game in development that only has the 1st week of play, so it has not had time to develop all the income possibilities.
- There are other income possibilities (coffee is just one of them), it is the player's task to find which is most profitable and fits the path that Claire wants to follow. Even in this very early version I assure you that if you investigate you will find some of them.
- In each version, economic adjustments are made so that it is not unfair or forces you to perform the same task over and over again.
- It is not necessary to carry out all the activities or events right now, once more days of game are added both the economy and Claire's time to develop skills will be more balanced.

Without further ado, thank you very much for your comment, we will do our best to make the game balanced and fun.

You are absolutely right that there are other sources of income. However, all other sources of income come at some sort of cost.

1) You can "pretend" to be a hooker and suck some dudes dick for some money.
2) You can work at the night club for slightly more money, but you need to buy an outfit to do that first. You won't get enough return on investment buying that this early in the game because it ends on day 8.
3) You can do porn shoots. There is only the 1 shoot, and it's mostly just talking dirty.
4) Cosplay Shoot, This requires you to buy a cosplay outfit. Like the night club it won't have return on investment yet.
5) I think there is one acting job, but I think you need to spend time getting in shape for it.
6) Drug Dealer, again that is down a bad path.

I may have missed some money sources?

So, most the alternate incomes are shady or slutty.

When I play a game with multiple endings; I like to play the "Innocent Virgin" / "Good Guy / Good Girl" / "Romance" path first. Then from there I work on other routes until I get through them all.

I understand it's still in development, and is in need of tweaking and fine adjustments.

Although it may be "not necessary" for a player to carry out all events; A developer should want their player to find all events possible that they may want to find. Or else what's the point of making the content if the developer deems it "not necessary"?

I get where you are coming from how it can get repetitive doing the same task over. This can be mitigated with "Random Events" and "Art Swaps / Dialogue Swaps" Mop the floors one day, serve coffee to a customer another, work the register another day etc. Maybe a horny customer randomly grabs MC's ass, and you can slap his hand away or not. Maybe you get a better tip if you don't. Plus you could get "Regulars" in there. People who may get to know and possibly build a friendship or relationship.

There could be other sources of income or money saving not yet available. I'll give some examples of what might be good:

1) Steal from the register. Could get caught or fired, or blackmailed. Lots of story lines there.
2) Camgirl job, and this could also be done in a way where the MC may want to wear a mask to not show their face.
3) Street Prostitution: The one guy pays MC for a blowjob. It would be nice to open up more avenues of street prostitution. Several scenes could be added, and there could be other elements there. What if there is some sort of pimp. Other hookers to meet. Police involvement? As it is a sandbox it would be nice to have repeatable / random scenes.
4) Personal Trainer: Fitness is one of the players key stats. If you build it high enough you should be able to use it for financial gains. MC could become a "Yoga Instructor" or "Personal Trainer" or "Make an online Fitness Blog"
5) "Influncer: Basically if you get enough subscribers on Instagram you can shill products. This could lead to free products / extra money.

 

[vncityofdreams]

You are absolutely right that there are other sources of income. However, all other sources of income come at some sort of cost.

1) You can "pretend" to be a hooker and suck some dudes dick for some money.
2) You can work at the night club for slightly more money, but you need to buy an outfit to do that first. You won't get enough return on investment buying that this early in the game because it ends on day 8.
3) You can do porn shoots. There is only the 1 shoot, and it's mostly just talking dirty.
4) Cosplay Shoot, This requires you to buy a cosplay outfit. Like the night club it won't have return on investment yet.
5) I think there is one acting job, but I think you need to spend time getting in shape for it.
6) Drug Dealer, again that is down a bad path.

I may have missed some money sources?

So, most the alternate incomes are shady or slutty.

When I play a game with multiple endings; I like to play the "Innocent Virgin" / "Good Guy / Good Girl" / "Romance" path first. Then from there I work on other routes until I get through them all.

I understand it's still in development, and is in need of tweaking and fine adjustments.

Although it may be "not necessary" for a player to carry out all events; A developer should want their player to find all events possible that they may want to find. Or else what's the point of making the content if the developer deems it "not necessary"?

I get where you are coming from how it can get repetitive doing the same task over. This can be mitigated with "Random Events" and "Art Swaps / Dialogue Swaps" Mop the floors one day, serve coffee to a customer another, work the register another day etc. Maybe a horny customer randomly grabs MC's ass, and you can slap his hand away or not. Maybe you get a better tip if you don't. Plus you could get "Regulars" in there. People who may get to know and possibly build a friendship or relationship.

There could be other sources of income or money saving not yet available. I'll give some examples of what might be good:

1) Steal from the register. Could get caught or fired, or blackmailed. Lots of story lines there.
2) Camgirl job, and this could also be done in a way where the MC may want to wear a mask to not show their face.
3) Street Prostitution: The one guy pays MC for a blowjob. It would be nice to open up more avenues of street prostitution. Several scenes could be added, and there could be other elements there. What if there is some sort of pimp. Other hookers to meet. Police involvement? As it is a sandbox it would be nice to have repeatable / random scenes.
4) Personal Trainer: Fitness is one of the players key stats. If you build it high enough you should be able to use it for financial gains. MC could become a "Yoga Instructor" or "Personal Trainer" or "Make an online Fitness Blog"
5) "Influncer: Basically if you get enough subscribers on Instagram you can shill products. This could lead to free products / extra money.

Thank you again for your honest comments and suggestions. We are working on the content for the new update and I assure you that there are many more activities and events planned.
Maybe similar to some of your examples...
I can't give details yet

 

[oosinoots]

The money system is not balanced. You are expected to pay $500 per week rent, but the coffee shop job only pays you $30 per time you work. Rent is due every 7 days.

Mathematically this means that you must work 17 times in 7 days at the coffee shop just to break even on rent. That is about 2.5 shifts per day at the coffee shop and that is just to break even without spending money on anything else at all. Most days are broken up into 3 parts. So, that's most of your time at the coffee shop to pay rent.

That means, you are not going to the gym to stay in shape. The gym that costs... $100 to use!? You are not buying clothes or going out spending money at the club or on other things.

It is too much like a

You must be registered to see the links

Protag just moved to LA to pursue her dream of becoming an actress with next to no money. She's been there just one week, so obviously ROI is negative given the short time frame. The money issue is pretty realistic and because this is a game she has a lot of opportunities to fix it. FYI you can have over $200 after paying the second weeks' rent and buying the expensive dress + hot gym clothes + night club outfit.

When I play a game with multiple endings; I like to play the "Innocent Virgin" / "Good Guy / Good Girl" / "Romance" path first. Then from there I work on other routes until I get through them all.

This is still possible if you restart your relationship with Sofia (I think she bails you out -- haven't played that path myself). Technically romance path with no slutty and shady behavior.

 

[Penitensary]

Protag just moved to LA to pursue her dream of becoming an actress with next to no money. She's been there just one week, so obviously ROI is negative given the short time frame. The money issue is pretty realistic and because this is a game she has a lot of opportunities to fix it. FYI you can have over $200 after paying the second weeks' rent and buying the expensive dress + hot gym clothes + night club outfit.

It's still fairly easy to make rent though, the point of the game is putting you in a tight spot the first week to start the path to corruption. This is while declining every -Morality option:



Photo Studio is fairly OP in the current build. You spend 200 on a cosplay outfit (required to unlock Photo Studio) and then get the most expensive photo taken for 42, which gets you a return of 319 through social media income. After that you can just keep spamming the $42 photo for 319 every time as soon as you get the scene where you check your income via your phone. Because of that, any photo that isn't the 42 one isn't much worth it since to use the Photo Studio again, you need to wait for the income to roll in first.

There's two ways, either buy the red dress at the start (230 remaining, work the cafe once to get the 242 required), though personally i prefer the blue dress for the +Fame gain and hit the Porn Studio job the next morning to make up the difference.

Without the Photo Studio it's also possible, you can get 100/day (Cafe morning and afternoon, Nightclub work at night) so you'll end up a little over 500 with the 150 from helping out the cafe the final night included, you just need to keep in mind that you cannot buy everything in the first week. After that, from week 2 on and assuming 100/day that's two days (or 6 time segments) left over to do with what you want, or taken up by events.

 

[HeroHate]

It's still fairly easy to make rent though, the point of the game is putting you in a tight spot the first week to start the path to corruption. This is while declining every -Morality option:

View attachment 3844872

Photo Studio is fairly OP in the current build. You spend 200 on a cosplay outfit (required to unlock Photo Studio) and then get the most expensive photo taken for 42, which gets you a return of 319 through social media income. After that you can just keep spamming the $42 photo for 319 every time as soon as you get the scene where you check your income via your phone. Because of that, any photo that isn't the 42 one isn't much worth it since to use the Photo Studio again, you need to wait for the income to roll in first.

There's two ways, either buy the red dress at the start (230 remaining, work the cafe once to get the 242 required), though personally i prefer the blue dress for the +Fame gain and hit the Porn Studio job the next morning to make up the difference.

Without the Photo Studio it's also possible, you can get 100/day (Cafe morning and afternoon, Nightclub work at night) so you'll end up a little over 500 with the 150 from helping out the cafe the final night included, you just need to keep in mind that you cannot buy everything in the first week. After that, from week 2 on and assuming 100/day that's two days (or 6 time segments) left over to do with what you want, or taken up by events.

Are there any real scenes through the cosplay stuff yet?

 

[Penitensary]

Are there any real scenes through the cosplay stuff yet?

Nope, you take the picture and then somewhere in between time segments after that you see a one CG scene of Claire walking over the street while checking her phone, and then you get the photo's income added. There is someone complaining that the pose is 'overused' if you already did a similar picture before that, but there is no impact on the amount of money it brings in so yeah... always go for the 42.

 

[Planmaster]

When will the new update be there?

 

[vncityofdreams]

Nope, you take the picture and then somewhere in between time segments after that you see a one CG scene of Claire walking over the street while checking her phone, and then you get the photo's income added. There is someone complaining that the pose is 'overused' if you already did a similar picture before that, but there is no impact on the amount of money it brings in so yeah... always go for the 42.

Cosplay income was a Bug fixed on version 0.4.2. So you should earn more or less based on your pose/background choices. (Edited) Double check and still there is a problem with the penalty when use the same pose/background... added to Bugs to fix. Thanks

We also made the outfit required to work on Night Club free as it feel more balanced and logical.

 

[Malika1234]

i dont know if this was answered already or not.. but will there be a lesbian route? or just more lesbian scenes?

 

[Penitensary]

Cosplay income was a Bug fixed on version 0.4.2. So you should earn more or less based on your pose/background choices. (Edited) Double check and still there is a problem with the penalty when use the same pose/background... added to Bugs to fix. Thanks

We also made the outfit required to work on Night Club free as it feel more balanced and logical.

Huh, go figure.

Just out of curiosity, how was it supposed to work then? Understandably it cannot be a method to gain money way WAY faster than you could ever get it through 'honest' work, but just how much of a penalty is it supposed to have and does it go away over time again?

 

[vncityofdreams]

i dont know if this was answered already or not.. but will there be a lesbian route? or just more lesbian scenes?

Yes...and yes

 

[Cygnus X-1]

Which of the girls will be possible LIs?
Sam the cafe owner, Chloe the clothing store clerk, Karen the movie studio receptionist, Alex the gym trainer, Agnes the porn studio receptionist, Laura the landlady, Sofia the slut?
Will the game have a definitive ending or could we keep playing?
Will a high fitness score have any effect on Claire's appearance or is it too much work?

If you hide Aaron and then hand him over to the police you can search his apartment and find money, drugs and his phone. You can get enough money for three weeks of rent. But what do you do with the drugs? You could give them to the police when you eventually give a report of the evening. But they would probably ask questions. Or dump them in a river. I think the safest way would be just leaving them in the apartment for the police to find. That way you ensure that the police have proof against Aaron. But you can't take just the money and leave the rest. Only a measly 100$. Why not a 1000$? Could you sell the drugs yourself and make even more money? You have his phone and thus his contacts. You could even say that he was arrested and you are his friend and will continue business in his place. However if they didn't apprehend the guy Aaron sold drugs to, there's the risk he could go free and cause you problems.

 

[vncityofdreams]

Huh, go figure.

Just out of curiosity, how was it supposed to work then? Understandably it cannot be a method to gain money way WAY faster than you could ever get it through 'honest' work, but just how much of a penalty is it supposed to have and does it go away over time again?

There will be more cosplay costumes. They next cosplay outfits are selected by supporter polls on Patreon. There should be a "penalty" when Claire use the same outfit/background... and fans on social networks see it. I think you noted already the comments Claire fans made are based on the picture and options. So you should gain less and less money every time you use the same Cosplay options.

 

[vncityofdreams]

Which of the girls will be possible LIs?
Sam the cafe owner, Chloe the clothing store clerk, Karen the movie studio receptionist, Alex the gym trainer, Agnes the porn studio receptionist, Laura the landlady, Sofia the slut?
Will the game have a definitive ending or could we keep playing?
Will a high fitness score have any effect on Claire's appearance or is it too much work?

If you hide Aaron and then hand him over to the police you can search his apartment and find money, drugs and his phone. You can get enough money for three weeks of rent. But what do you do with the drugs? You could give them to the police when you eventually give a report of the evening. But they would probably ask questions. Or dump them in a river. I think the safest way would be just leaving them in the apartment for the police to find. That way you ensure that the police have proof against Aaron. But you can't take just the money and leave the rest. Only a measly 100$. Why not a 1000$? Could you sell the drugs yourself and make even more money? You have his phone and thus his contacts. You could even say that he was arrested and you are his friend and will continue business in his place. However if they didn't apprehend the guy Aaron sold drugs to, there's the risk he could go free and cause you problems.

I can not give you more details about next events...sorry.
I can tell you this.... there is a poll running right now at our Patreon page about how Claire will be interact with some of the main or side characters (some supporters are asking for this) when it ends we will know.
Game is planned to have a definitive ending after some time of play.
Once game end is final...but something is planned after that... I can not give more details yet.
Fitness is just a stat we need for now. Should not modify Claire's appearance.

 

[Cygnus X-1]

I can not give you more details about next events...sorry.

OK, but was anything planned with the drugs or is it just a red herring?

 

[vncityofdreams]

OK, but was anything planned with the drugs or is it just a red herring?

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