VN Ren'Py Cultural Replay: An Unofficial Culture Shock Fan Project [v0.36] [Palos69]

[AvengersDoomsDay]

do u think the update is almost done ?

 

[Chemish]

Just a quick progress update before I go dark for the holidays:


I would say I'm about 75% complete with the first part of the rewrite. I’ll post it in the thread when it's in a decent state so people can try it, but I probably won’t add it to the first post of the thread until it’s further along. It definitely won’t be perfect because of the added complexity, but I have spent a lot of time refining the dialogue and testing routes. I'm hoping it'll be finished sometime during January, but I have some interviews that I have to study for so I can't make any promises.

To reiterate, the main focus of the rewrite is switching the VN to one that's more character-driven, as the original game has turned into more of a loosely connected set of lewds. I have made several major changes to address this.

Firstly, the rewrite has switched to an episodic format. Each episode 'should' have one driving event or motivation that will be the basis of the episode. The first episode is just about the MC getting into school but I've fleshed it out more, made it more reactive than the original, and added additional choices to setup some central conflicts for the rest of the story. This type of format will also allow for significant time skips between episodes, as one of the main criticisms of the original game and subsequently this project, was the unrealistic pace.

The original game was character heavy in the early days, but I've cut out many of these side characters for later. By sticking to the framework of the original game, it was clear they were being spread too thin and it felt jarring when they didn’t show up for long periods of time. This is another thing that the episodic format is meant to address. Those cut character renders can be concentrated with the others, allowing for completion of their arcs.

The side effect of this change is that many of the early lewds have also been cut and will be reintegrated later. I have added more endings to the drinking game at Marcus's house, but if you're only interested in the NSFW stuff, I would hold out for at least one or two more episodes. A positive aspect of all the cuts, lewd or not, is that the first few days go a lot faster and the story feels more focused.

Lastly, I have replicated the format for text conversations that I saw in another game. This decouples the project from the hardcoded and poorly spelled renders from the original. While I have to be careful not to overuse texting now, it adds another tool to pad out some of the characters lacking neutral renders (like Emma). I have attached an example screen to the post.

That’s all for now.

I wish you all a happy holiday!

I hope your year was better than mine!


View attachment 4369314

Looking forward to it. Hope your new year’s going well.

 

[Palos69]

do u think the update is almost done ?

I’ve been almost done for a long time lol.

New things keep coming up. Some experimental Marcus branches I added just weren’t working so I’ve been removing them and reintegrating what I can. I’m contemplating moving some major features to Ep 2.

 

[Chemish]

I’ve been almost done for a long time lol.

New things keep coming up. Some experimental Marcus branches I added just weren’t working so I’ve been removing them and reintegrating what I can. I’m contemplating moving some major features to Ep 2.

Looking forward to it.

 

[Diegoz]

thx

 

[DeadpoolandWolverine]

hows the progress on Ep 2 ?

 

[Palos69]

hows the progress on Ep 2 ?

Outline only, still working on episode 1.

I’ve been close to finishing episode 1 for a while, but real life things and having to walk back some ambitious ideas has caused delays. Not sure when it’ll be finished but I work a little bit on it each day.

 

[Chemish]

Outline only, still working on episode 1.

I’ve been close to finishing episode 1 for a while, but real life things and having to walk back some ambitious ideas has caused delays. Not sure when it’ll be finished but I work a little bit on it each day.

I bet it’ll be fun.

 

[Palos69]

Quick update:

This is still getting worked on but it’s slowed down because of interview stuff and because of testing.

My issues with testing is that it’s pretty daunting to try to manually test all the choice combination and keep track of them. So most of my time has been spent creating tools to mitigate that. With just the first three days of content, there are 468 choice combinations even with pruning. I’ve run the script on other branching renpy games and that seems about the norm with some of the more popular games having even more given the exponential nature of branching.

I’ve written a code analysis tool that saves every path between two scenes in a game to a file, and I’m working on polishing it up for potential release to the renpy community in general by adding features like totalling stat changes per path, etc. I know people here would probably prefer I work solely on the game, but I think these tools will help in the long run.

 

[Chemish]

Quick update:

This is still getting worked on but it’s slowed down because of interview stuff and because of testing.

My issues with testing is that it’s pretty daunting to try to manually test all the choice combination and keep track of them. So most of my time has been spent creating tools to mitigate that. With just the first three days of content, there are 468 choice combinations even with pruning. I’ve run the script on other branching renpy games and that seems about the norm with some of the more popular games having even more given the exponential nature of branching.

I’ve written a code analysis tool that saves every path between two scenes in a game to a file, and I’m working on polishing it up for potential release to the renpy community in general by adding features like totalling stat changes per path, etc. I know people here would probably prefer I work solely on the game, but I think these tools will help in the long run.

Sounds interesting.

 

[DarkKaiba666]

Quick update:

This is still getting worked on but it’s slowed down because of interview stuff and because of testing.

My issues with testing is that it’s pretty daunting to try to manually test all the choice combination and keep track of them. So most of my time has been spent creating tools to mitigate that. With just the first three days of content, there are 468 choice combinations even with pruning. I’ve run the script on other branching renpy games and that seems about the norm with some of the more popular games having even more given the exponential nature of branching.

I’ve written a code analysis tool that saves every path between two scenes in a game to a file, and I’m working on polishing it up for potential release to the renpy community in general by adding features like totalling stat changes per path, etc. I know people here would probably prefer I work solely on the game, but I think these tools will help in the long run.

I am a game dev and would glady help you test and make sure the variables are straight and the scene switches are all correct and you stay on the paths you're supposed to. I am very lazy (or I guess tired and unmotivated to do a bunch) because of irl stuff I gotta do but I can for sure at least test and send back some bug fixes. I'm not a schoolkid anymore with free time lol.
(for free I should add, idc about getting paid but will enjoy helping updates move along faster)
LMK.

 

[Palos69]

I am a game dev and would glady help you test and make sure the variables are straight and the scene switches are all correct and you stay on the paths you're supposed to.

Sorry for the delayed response.

I appreciate that offer, man. I really do. But I think I'm finally ready to say this game is on hiatus. I've been in denial for a while. I just don't have the time to focus on it right now with my other projects, job search (yup, still unemployed), and moving to a different state this month. I sent out a rough copy to someone, got a rather lukewarm reception, and it made me realize how much stuff was still missing.

That being said, I'm not "not" working on it. I just have zero idea when the first release is going to happen and it's not being prioritized. And I'll be honest, I've kind of lost interest in the story's premise. It's quite generic, and a lot of the big changes I'm making are just so I don't get bored. I've started focusing on the technical aspects of the game because the rest is a slog.

I've been working on things like this:

Spoiler: demo

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Having this kind of range for non-verbal communication is a game changer.

I don't know if anyone here saw my post in the thread for the original game, but I posted some others there. I'm generally on the "fuck ai" train, but this type of application might have real value. post in og game thread

 

[gordovalor]

Sorry for the delayed response.

I appreciate that offer, man. I really do. But I think I'm finally ready to say this game is on hiatus. I've been in denial for a while. I just don't have the time to focus on it right now with my other projects, job search (yup, still unemployed), and moving to a different state this month. I sent out a rough copy to someone, got a rather lukewarm reception, and it made me realize how much stuff was still missing.

That being said, I'm not "not" working on it. I just have zero idea when the first release is going to happen and it's not being prioritized. And I'll be honest, I've kind of lost interest in the story's premise. It's quite generic, and a lot of the big changes I'm making are just so I don't get bored. I've started focusing on the technical aspects of the game because the rest is a slog.

I've been working on things like this:

Spoiler: demo

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Having this kind of range for non-verbal communication is a game changer.

I don't know if anyone here saw my post in the thread for the original game, but I posted some others there. I'm generally on the "fuck ai" train, but this type of application might have real value. post in og game thread

No way that animation is AI-generated—it’s too good!

 

[Chemish]

Sorry for the delayed response.

I appreciate that offer, man. I really do. But I think I'm finally ready to say this game is on hiatus. I've been in denial for a while. I just don't have the time to focus on it right now with my other projects, job search (yup, still unemployed), and moving to a different state this month. I sent out a rough copy to someone, got a rather lukewarm reception, and it made me realize how much stuff was still missing.

That being said, I'm not "not" working on it. I just have zero idea when the first release is going to happen and it's not being prioritized. And I'll be honest, I've kind of lost interest in the story's premise. It's quite generic, and a lot of the big changes I'm making are just so I don't get bored. I've started focusing on the technical aspects of the game because the rest is a slog.

I've been working on things like this:

Spoiler: demo

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Having this kind of range for non-verbal communication is a game changer.

I don't know if anyone here saw my post in the thread for the original game, but I posted some others there. I'm generally on the "fuck ai" train, but this type of application might have real value. post in og game thread

Best of luck in the job search. I like what you’re doing with this game. I look forward to seeing the rest or another project of yours sometime.

 

[AvaRedux44]

Sorry for the delayed response.

I appreciate that offer, man. I really do. But I think I'm finally ready to say this game is on hiatus. I've been in denial for a while. I just don't have the time to focus on it right now with my other projects, job search (yup, still unemployed), and moving to a different state this month. I sent out a rough copy to someone, got a rather lukewarm reception, and it made me realize how much stuff was still missing.

That being said, I'm not "not" working on it. I just have zero idea when the first release is going to happen and it's not being prioritized. And I'll be honest, I've kind of lost interest in the story's premise. It's quite generic, and a lot of the big changes I'm making are just so I don't get bored. I've started focusing on the technical aspects of the game because the rest is a slog.

I've been working on things like this:

Spoiler: demo

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Having this kind of range for non-verbal communication is a game changer.

I don't know if anyone here saw my post in the thread for the original game, but I posted some others there. I'm generally on the "fuck ai" train, but this type of application might have real value. post in og game thread

As others have said, truly good luck with the job search. If you do want any help at all with the story, I'd be happy to help. Though that part is sometimes the fun part, so I do get it. This story is pretty generic though, so I do understand. It's appealing to me to see if it could become a bit more layered and interesting if there was even a fraction of consistency.

I like what you've done with it so far!

 

[oohhh]

Sorry for the delayed response.

I appreciate that offer, man. I really do. But I think I'm finally ready to say this game is on hiatus. I've been in denial for a while. I just don't have the time to focus on it right now with my other projects, job search (yup, still unemployed), and moving to a different state this month. I sent out a rough copy to someone, got a rather lukewarm reception, and it made me realize how much stuff was still missing.

That being said, I'm not "not" working on it. I just have zero idea when the first release is going to happen and it's not being prioritized. And I'll be honest, I've kind of lost interest in the story's premise. It's quite generic, and a lot of the big changes I'm making are just so I don't get bored. I've started focusing on the technical aspects of the game because the rest is a slog.

I've been working on things like this:

Spoiler: demo

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Having this kind of range for non-verbal communication is a game changer.

I don't know if anyone here saw my post in the thread for the original game, but I posted some others there. I'm generally on the "fuck ai" train, but this type of application might have real value. post in og game thread

is this in progress ?

 

[Tranx5000]

Is there any update on this?

 

[PatreonTed]

Is there any update on this?

Literally 5 posts above yours.