VN Ren'Py Cosy Cafe [v0.13.1 EA] [Cosy Creator]

[smuk]

Every time I hear music from this game used in other games I get a little upset that they're stealing from Cosy even though I know they're all just pulling from the same free use music library.

early Misaki train theme was giving me really weird vibes because I used to know this song from the other project

 

[vsvsx92]

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Hey guys, it's dev log time again!

I want to start by saying welcome to all of the new supporters that have joined since the release of version 0.12 a couple of weeks ago - the reception for this one has been really positive, so thank you all! I make these dev logs every couple of weeks, so if you stick around between updates you'll get used to hearing from me!

Now, onto the dev log:

It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, as usual. Of course, work on version 0.13 is already underway - I'm currently finishing up the first phase of writing, which is the detailed scene planning stage. There's a hell of a lot to fit into the next couple of in-game days (the goth weekend), and fitting it all in has been a bit like doing a jigsaw.

So, I can't remember if I mentioned this in a previous dev log or not, but I had previously planned on doing the weekend in a single two day update, but now I'm weighing up the possibility of splitting it into two single day updates. Ultimately I'll make the final decision when I've got it all written out in full and I can see the final length, but if it ends up way too long I might not have a choice if I want to keep up a regular release cycle.

Other than that, I'm also currently working on a version 0.12.1 that will be ready for the public release of version 0.12 in a couple of weeks. At the moment it contains a few hundred minor grammar improvements across the last three or four updates, but I'm also hoping to fix a few bugs as well.

The main one may be something that some of you have noticed: For some reason video playback on animated scenes has been a bit slow in 0.12 (no idea why, nothing should have changed in that respect) and you can sometimes see white/transparent screens flashing up before each video plays. I've already got a semi-fix in place that improves the problem, but I have another one in the works (credit to moderateUtopia on discord for putting me on to it) that is a bit more time consuming to implement but may eliminate it completely.

Beyond that initial work on 0.13 and 0.12.1, I've also been setting up a new PC! Those of you who have been around since the beginning will remember me using a big chunk of my early patreon money to build the one I'm using currently, and it's served me well for the last couple of years, but it does rather hit its limit with some of the larger scenes (the Founding council and the back yard of the cafe were particularly painful to work with).

So I'm currently setting up my new one using all-new graphical mods - it's taking a bit of time to get it all working, but I'm hopeful it should allow me to make some visual improvements! And, of course, I'm going to be careful to make sure it stays in-keeping with the current style of the game. Once I've got it up and running I'm gonna see what I can do, and maybe post some comparisons for you in the next dev log if there are noticeable improvements.

So, as I said earlier, I'm currently working through the writing process for 0.13 - hopefully that should also be finished by the time of the next dev log, at which point I'll be able to give you a few more details - but for now, I'll leave you with a custom image set of Lucy I made for fun on discord recently, I thought it turned out really cute!

And that about does it for this one - if you have any comments, feel free to leave them here or on discord!

And as always, thank you all for your support, I truly appreciate it!

- Cosy Creator

When will the MC escape the accounting/desk work hell?

 

[smuk]

When will the MC escape the accounting/desk work hell?

Vicky might pick it up. or Rachel if she became good with math
Or MC just won't give it up while the Kitten are there

 

[love'cherry]

I really love this game, which is why I created a Simplified Chinese version for Android.
Since I have limited free time, the translation quality isn't perfect, but it's still better than machine/AI translations.
Currently, the known issue is that the BIOS screen is inaccessible on the Android version, though all features work fine on the PC version – I'm not sure what's causing this. Additionally, many Simplified Chinese players deeply enjoy this game.
For various reasons, they can't financially support the creator, but they still hold a deep affection for it.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Peregrine Strike]

The problem with harem games is that there's never another male character worth a shit. It is literally impossible for Sarah to have 0 male friends to help her here, or be unable to tell her father or literally 8 siblings that she's being stalked

Unfortunately, wanting a handful of decent non-ntr male characters other than the MC in a harem game for the sake of immersion makes you and I part of the minority opinion

Her family are a bust, but she goes to a school where she's grown up with at least some of your LIs, meaning she must know male classmates like that too. Akatsuki even mentions this somewhere in the game. There's no shot she doesn't have a male buddy she's known for years for situations like this.

Just one of those suspension of disbelief things I guess. People can tell me "It's a harem game" but I don't think thats an excuse for the writer/dev to cheap out on world building and immersion for people who can appreciate a good story in their VNs.

EDIT: to be fair to the dev, there is a few decent male npcs in this game, that alone does put this game ahead of most harem VNs for me. Minor characters sure, but they're around. Also to be clear, I love this game. If you're reading dev, you're doing great <3

 

[Thy Fallen One]

Unfortunately, wanting a handful of decent non-ntr male characters other than the MC in a harem game for the sake of immersion makes you and I part of the minority opinion

Her family are a bust, but she goes to a school where she's grown up with at least some of your LIs, meaning she must know male classmates like that too. Akatsuki even mentions this somewhere in the game. There's no shot she doesn't have a male buddy she's known for years for situations like this.

Just one of those suspension of disbelief things I guess. People can tell me "It's a harem game" but I don't think thats an excuse for the writer/dev to cheap out on world building and immersion for people who can appreciate a good story in their VNs.

EDIT: to be fair to the dev, there is a few decent male npcs in this game, that alone does put this game ahead of most harem VNs for me. Minor characters sure, but they're around. Also to be clear, I love this game. If you're reading dev, you're doing great <3

What suspension of disbelief her only friend was lucy and she locked herself in the club room. She wanted nothing to do with the founding families so she separated herself. Also it is (world Building) why no males are around the girls. It is not a stretch 3 of the girls were around Brian 1 was engaged to him 1 he thought he owned and 1 was a founding family herself so you think other guys would try and get between them? lucy we know her past and how shy. Our kitten had a job and dont talk much. Teach is sheltered and shy. You talk about world building it is there.

 

[Cherubin25]

Unfortunately, wanting a handful of decent non-ntr male characters other than the MC in a harem game for the sake of immersion makes you and I part of the minority opinion

Her family are a bust, but she goes to a school where she's grown up with at least some of your LIs, meaning she must know male classmates like that too. Akatsuki even mentions this somewhere in the game. There's no shot she doesn't have a male buddy she's known for years for situations like this.

Just one of those suspension of disbelief things I guess. People can tell me "It's a harem game" but I don't think thats an excuse for the writer/dev to cheap out on world building and immersion for people who can appreciate a good story in their VNs.

EDIT: to be fair to the dev, there is a few decent male npcs in this game, that alone does put this game ahead of most harem VNs for me. Minor characters sure, but they're around. Also to be clear, I love this game. If you're reading dev, you're doing great <3

Honestly, the problem is the players, not the Dev. I can totally understand why Devs dont care about male characters or only use some which are really not fleshed out OR just outright villains (e.g. Brian would be one of those). Because when you start making a decent male character, some people start to fear that there might be NTR involved (and you know those people, they see a male in a Thumbnail and are instantly asking if this will mean there is NTR). Making said male NPCs ugly would not even help there.
So there needs to be some form of Plot Armor, e.g. the male NPC being gay or having a girlfriend (like Leo for Twisted Memories, who basically only got a GF so that the Dev can have a reason to make him appear less often which brings some immersion). But if it is the latter, you will have to make the girlfriend ugly, because otherwise people will ask for this girlfriend to be part of the Harem (see Mikaela from Eternum for example).

I have seen countless discussions and nonsense about it in various games. I totally understand why Devs dont really want to bother with this and just focus on their main characters so that stupid questions and discussions cannot really come up.

And for this game, the male NPCs which matter a bit are just either villains or parts of the founding families, so old and just outright uninteresting for any female LI.

 

[Peregrine Strike]

What suspension of disbelief her only friend was lucy and she locked herself in the club room. She wanted nothing to do with the founding families so she separated herself. Also it is (world Building) why no males are around the girls. It is not a stretch 3 of the girls were around Brian 1 was engaged to him 1 he thought he owned and 1 was a founding family herself so you think other guys would try and get between them? lucy we know her past and how shy. Our kitten had a job and dont talk much. Teach is sheltered and shy. You talk about world building it is there.

You have a good point about regular guys not wanting to get with founding family girls and I agree that is great world building there. But you're talking about characters we're familiar with. The setting is a school with plenty of off screen individuals. All the people in her class, her teacher, people from other classes and years etc. Sarah has been at that school for years and would realistically have (non-romantic) relationships with many of them over that time.

You're telling me she doesn't know 1 reliable, friendly guy who she could tag along with to her neighborhood on their way home for safety? That's where I have to do the suspension. Besides that, keeping an issue like this to herself and not approaching literally any adult at the school immediately about a fucking stalker is wild.

It's a situation that gets more unbelievable the harder you think about it.

 

[Thy Fallen One]

You are leaving out the main reason why no male npc. Most of the time they are not needed. Alot of games are bogged down by too many npcs. If the game is not a ntr game or use ntr bait then it is just a waist of time. Tell me what would more males add to this story....... How many games are stuck with the male friend that is annoying. Also You said it ( who basically only got a GF so that the Dev can have a reason to make him appear less often which brings some immersion ) This is not LOTR we dont need a backstory for every npc the mc walks past.

 

[Cosy Creator]

You have a good point about regular guys not wanting to get with founding family girls and I agree that is great world building there. But you're talking about characters we're familiar with. The setting is a school with plenty of off screen individuals. All the people in her class, her teacher, people from other classes and years etc. Sarah has been at that school for years and would realistically have (non-romantic) relationships with many of them over that time.

You're telling me she doesn't know 1 reliable, friendly guy who she could tag along with to her neighborhood on their way home for safety? That's where I have to do the suspension. Besides that, keeping an issue like this to herself and not approaching literally any adult at the school immediately about a fucking stalker is wild.

It's a situation that get more unbelievable the harder you think about it.

I mean, she does know a guy at school that can walk her home for safety - the MC, it's a major part of them growing closer. I guess I just don't understand what there is to be gained by taking that formative part of their relationship away from them and giving it to some random other guy?

 

[Thy Fallen One]

You have a good point about regular guys not wanting to get with founding family girls and I agree that is great world building there. But you're talking about characters we're familiar with. The setting is a school with plenty of off screen individuals. All the people in her class, her teacher, people from other classes and years etc. Sarah has been at that school for years and would realistically have (non-romantic) relationships with many of them over that time.

You're telling me she doesn't know 1 reliable, friendly guy who she could tag along with to her neighborhood on their way home for safety? That's where I have to do the suspension. Besides that, keeping an issue like this to herself and not approaching literally any adult at the school immediately about a fucking stalker is wild.

It's a situation that gets more unbelievable the harder you think about it.

I could be mistaken but alot of her story was her withdrawn and mc helping her open up. She was hostel to the mc she only gave him a chance because of lucy. It is not a far stretch that she would treat other people at the school the same. And she does know 1 reliable friendly guy to tag along with (MC). And She didnt tell lucy her best friend why would she tell someone a acquaintance. MC basically forced her. That whole plot was put in place to get her close to the MC so what would a random male npc achieve?

 

[Thy Fallen One]

I mean, she does know a guy at school that can walk her home for safety - the MC, it's a major part of them growing closer. I guess I just don't understand what there is to be gained by taking that formative part of their relationship away from them and giving it to some random other guy?

As i was typing. I was too slow.

 

[Peregrine Strike]

You are leaving out the main reason why no male npc. Most of the time they are not needed. Alot of games are bogged down by too many npcs. If the game is not a ntr game or use ntr bait then it is just a waist of time. Tell me what would more males add to this story....... How many games are stuck with the male friend that is annoying. Also You said it ( who basically only got a GF so that the Dev can have a reason to make him appear less often which brings some immersion ) This is not LOTR we dont need a backstory for every npc the mc walks past.

My point is having the MC being the only decent guy in a story is unbelievable. More males would make the story more believable. Having a likable guy as a side character doesn't have to be "ntr bait". Vicky's brother is a good example in this game of this. They don't have to have a fleshed out backstory either.

I mean, she does know a guy at school that can walk her home for safety - the MC, it's a major part of them growing closer. I guess I just don't understand what there is to be gained by taking that formative part of their relationship away from them and giving it to some random other guy?

I agree with what you're saying. Having a random other guy helping Sarah here does nothing for the story, but it would make more sense realistically. Why go with the new guy if she already had a male buddy she's known for ages from school?

I'm not saying this should've happened in the game because it's an important part of the story. But like I said, it's a situation that I struggle to suspend my disbelief in. This was my original point from my 1st post, where I was mostly lamenting about male npcs in harem games generally.

 

[hameleona]

Lucy was bullied and an outsider and having someone like Brain be friends with her bullies (part of the bullying?) probably plays a major role why she is alone. Still, she is beautiful and has a massive rack - irl somebody would have tried to be friends with her, regardless of circumstances.
Vicky was with the bullies and under Brain's aim, so no actual friends there, tho I suspect there is more to her story to be learned. Her brother might have also had some influence.
Sarah is essentially Lucy, but shorter and with smaller rack, not to mention combative, rude and in a self-imposed exile due to her hating she is Founding Family member. Probably has some sad stories about early childhood "friends". Of all the girls - I am the least surprised she has no friends. She actively doesn't want friends.
Hannah might as well have friends, tho I imagine Brain shoved most away in the last few months after they got engaged, but we do see her at least try to be nice to Lucy. That said, in many ways she is still a mystery (waiting for her update to shine eagerly). More likely she also has some sad stories about people trying to get to Founding Family BS trough her.
Akatsuki barely talks, I would be surprised if she has any friends at all. Cosy knows where this comes from.
Catherine literally started school with the MC - she was home-schooled before.

Essentially, the MC is collecting (against his better judgement to add - guy just wanted to cook) a harem from outcasts, exiles and weirdos (Hannah possibly being the sole exception), giving them acceptance, a new chance at family and friends and a lot of spankings. And if you think about it - it's logical to an extent - he is a wild-card, unknown and literally the first day he goes to school he gets in a fight with Brain's bullying band of idiots.

 

[vsvsx92]

Unfortunately, wanting a handful of decent non-ntr male characters other than the MC in a harem game for the sake of immersion makes you and I part of the minority opinion

Her family are a bust, but she goes to a school where she's grown up with at least some of your LIs, meaning she must know male classmates like that too. Akatsuki even mentions this somewhere in the game. There's no shot she doesn't have a male buddy she's known for years for situations like this.

Just one of those suspension of disbelief things I guess. People can tell me "It's a harem game" but I don't think thats an excuse for the writer/dev to cheap out on world building and immersion for people who can appreciate a good story in their VNs.

EDIT: to be fair to the dev, there is a few decent male npcs in this game, that alone does put this game ahead of most harem VNs for me. Minor characters sure, but they're around. Also to be clear, I love this game. If you're reading dev, you're doing great <3

If we would have at least one or two non-ntr male characters (for example Chang-Eternum) I would give this game a perfect 10/10.
I would personally love for the MC in these harem AVNs to have at least a male friend who doesn't want to screw him over, but is a good friend the MC could count on
Right now it's a 9.99/10

 

[jadepaladin]

I don't need male friends here. I have Lucy, Vicky, Sarah, Kitten, Misaki, Allison, Hannah, and Catherine. Given what we've seen of most of the males in that school, they are all either like Brian or Misaki. They think they are powerful so too cocky or don't have power and are meek. If push comes to shove, we can have Vicky's brother just play a bigger role.

 

[Elduriel]

I don't need male friends here. I have Lucy, Vicky, Sarah, Kitten, Misaki, Allison, Hannah, and Catherine. Given what we've seen of most of the males in that school, they are all either like Brian or Misaki. They think they are powerful so too cocky or don't have power and are meek. If push comes to shove, we can have Vicky's brother just play a bigger role.

where Rachel?

 

[jadepaladin]

where Rachel?

Honestly, I'm not sure what I want to do with her. I'm also trying to arbitrarily hold myself to the 10 girl limit that was mentioned (and will probably be adjusted) and I'd rather have Akari and Elizabeth to round things out. I don't hate Rachel or anything like some people here do, it's just a hard sell on her getting a choker. Maybe Cosy will convince me over the next few chapters. I just hope Catherine gets a choker before Rachel does, if it's going to happen.

 

[Elduriel]

Honestly, I'm not sure what I want to do with her. I'm also trying to arbitrarily hold myself to the 10 girl limit that was mentioned (and will probably be adjusted) and I'd rather have Akari and Elizabeth to round things out. I don't hate Rachel or anything like some people here do, it's just a hard sell on her getting a choker. Maybe Cosy will convince me over the next few chapters. I just hope Catherine gets a choker before Rachel does, if it's going to happen.

well it being a kinetic VN with only a few superficial choices, I don't think it matter whether or not we like Rachel, game seems to be going into that direction either way. But she needs a lot of buildup, kinda like Sarah did (not exactly like that obviously, they are very different characters, but it also took a long time for the Sarah route to develop...)

 

[Thy Fallen One]

If we would have at least one or two non-ntr male characters (for example Chang-Eternum) I would give this game a perfect 10/10.
I would personally love for the MC in these harem AVNs to have at least a male friend who doesn't want to screw him over, but is a good friend the MC could count on
Right now it's a 9.99/10

What do you mean?
1- we have Vickys brother
2- we have the produce supplier who wants us to meet his family
3- guessing we will get a redemption for Akatsukis dad
4- Hannahs dad joining us will probably be a big plot point
5- Catherines dad will also probably get a redemption as well
How meany do you need And at what point does it start to take away from the story.
Also with what happens around the mc and the cafe how would a male friend fit in.