You could use the Universal Ren'Py Mod by 0x52 to cheat. It works with this game. I used it on almost every Ren'Py game that's compatible with it and I also used the Extended Variable Viewer by anne O'nymous which both are posted here on F95 if you search for them. You can use both of them at the same time if you want to. However I think the Extended Variable Viewer doesn't work well with this game but I know the Universal Ren'Py Mod works well with it though.
I am no familiar with Ashford Academy but I will say the majority of the systems are already in place. It is mostly a polish and expansion game at this point, trying to bring everything's quality up. I would say the early game income is the biggest issue, so I need to look into adding some early game options to make money.
Thanks for the long write up of your ideas and notes.
I will make a note of needing to fix this, should be easy enough.
Update being 0.307 or one of the hotfixes? I am not sure why videos wouldn't be playing as the video format or encoding options haven't changed.
They are save compatible, so you can add girls and mothers to saves and they won't break. Same goes for all the mods.
That is a huge write up. I will take the time to read through it and make notes. Thanks for that, I appreciate the feedback.
Great to hear that the majority of systems are in place. But yeah, definitely look into early game income.
These are excellent ideas that I hope you can implement in the near future, as yeah, I had a relatively borked session from realizing too late I had picked a bad sponsor for the beginning of the game. I also think you should introduce the idea that the player should be swapping between sponsors throughout the game, as that isn't intuitive, and there's nothing in the game right now suggesting that's even a profitable idea. Unless I missed something, every sponsor currently pays out the same, meaning the only difference is how easy or hard it is for the player to fulfill what the sponsor wants.
Yeah, I don't move many girls to the alumni status either. Though that's due to a few factors:
Yup, that's definitely a factor. Like with sponsors, I think it is due to a difference in how we play. I generally push the naturalism after raising corruption and affection to a certain level, then lower int, and only then focus on naturalism. But part of why I do that, like why I pick the sponsor/photoshoot route I do, is because that's what experience has taught me is an effective/efficient way to play.
Okay, I adore your points about the photoshoots. I didn't even like them when they were first introduced to WTM Academy, and while I now accept them, I'm frustrated by the amount of labor it took to create them versus their payoff. Here they're even worse for the reasons you lay out, and so on top of your recommendations I'd say:
I will note, judging by most recent game, that things really start to break down once you get to around 13 students or so, because yeah, it becomes harder to corrupt them, your chance of seeing a specific student in class is lower, etc., Hence, maybe modifying things so the max number of students is say, 12, not counting alumni, could work better? The alumni really do reduce the need to be able to have lots of girls at once, after all.
Ah, this explains a lot because I'm also someone who initially focuses on Naturalism.
If that mother has a "daughter_id" assigned to her the game won't use her until that girl is accepted into the academy. Those mods might have just been set to randomly assign to a girl.
There isn't a real guide. There are some rules/guidelines on the discord server but for the most part users have been using the examples as templates and the mod tools to create and name shoots/videos.
I knew there was something I was forgetting. I think this winds up slipping my mind so much of the time because the impact reputation is having is not clearly laid out anywhere that I can think of. Add to that that affection is harder to raise than corruption and anytime I hit pushback on a PTA vote I tend to put it down to not having affection high enough, and when I come back the following week I've generally built up more reputation as well.
Yeah I think how you're doing it is closer to how the game's "intended" to be played. Fighting the mechanics for ridiculous results early is part of the fun for me. Overall, the very strongest aspect of this game and the others like it is that fundamental freedom in the exam loop. The feeling that you express something about yourself in the way you approach things given the limitations and that almost anything can get results in the long run. If your thing is exclusively rubbing thighs for 15 turns a day, you can do that and it will work. Slowly. You can be methodical and insidious or brazen and abusive. You can pursue any number of esoteric goals you set yourself. If you want to you can even ignore everything sexual and just treat this as an education simulator. And while the results of success usually look much the same, the journey's always different.
