Ren'Py Abandoned Cutely Suspicious [v0.12.033] [Ellaraia]

3.10 star(s) 21 Votes

Dackma

New Member
Dec 4, 2018
11
7
I can't figure out when/where to kiss the older sister to complete that quest. I currently have 5 out of 6 and it claims that there are 8 possible.
 

Ellaraia

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Feb 13, 2018
1,141
1,491
I can't figure out when/where to kiss the older sister to complete that quest. I currently have 5 out of 6 and it claims that there are 8 possible.
Here: Dressing (morninng), Dressing (Party), Laundry, Relaxing on bed, Telly in bedroom, Telly in Lounge, Cafe, Washing.
 

Nachtfalke

Newbie
May 30, 2017
53
37
Hello can anyone help me I can't get the " Dani - Trading Favours " finished and I play week after week thanks
 

jan.spam

Active Member
Mar 30, 2018
699
1,208
I find it slightly illogical that you supply Dani with alcohol but then get to spank her when you "find" it in her room..
 
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jan.spam

Active Member
Mar 30, 2018
699
1,208
Dressing requires an evo. If her portrait is white then it won't work. Not sure about cafe.
same problem, I keep getting the option to apologize to her at 7pm at the telly, without having done anything wrong. portrait is white with red circle, what does that mean?
 

Ellaraia

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Feb 13, 2018
1,141
1,491
I find it slightly illogical that you supply Dani with alcohol but then get to spank her when you "find" it in her room..
I just needed more reasons to spank each character tbh. I've not had as much time lately as I'd wish so I've really being rushing to get content added and all the connections between them have suffered. Spanking was one such area and it really feels isolated from the rest of the game. I'll fill out storylines and stuff when I've got time and the way things are going around here my work may be shut down again soon, so I'll have lots of time to improve stuff.

same problem, I keep getting the option to apologize to her at 7pm at the telly, without having done anything wrong. portrait is white with red circle, what does that mean?
Red outline means she's upset at you, hence the required apology. If apologising isn't removing that then I'll need to look into fixing that because it should do.

White = neutral / no evo. You should have an evo by now but I've noticed a few players sticking neutral with Dani which doesn't mesh at all well with the system's design. I have some changes in my mind for the evo and storyline systems that I need to finish my Dev Diary on for tonight. It'll be free because I want feedback and I'll post a link here when it's live.
 

Ellaraia

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Game Developer
Feb 13, 2018
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Ideas on potential changes to the game that I'd love feedback on:
 

jan.spam

Active Member
Mar 30, 2018
699
1,208
Ideas on potential changes to the game that I'd love feedback on:
thanks for posting! my five cents, I would try to keep it simple. I would really focus on the story development with each character, keep that rather linear but change pics and dialogues for each route (love/sub etc). Advantage of this setup is, that your time is mostly dedicated to the parts of the game we will eventually see. if you have a super elaborate evo system, and spend time on all these fancy story branches most players won't ever actually play means they will assume your game is much shorter than it actually is.

Plus, too many branches will make dating both girls at once (threesomes, yeah!) much more complicated for you to handle, which I believe most players are hoping for. Personally I don't like having to save at crucial points of time just to play the second route, I like games where routes are not fixed but flexible, so if you treat a girl a certain way at some point a well know scene changes.
 
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i107760

Sistersitting / Housesitting Developer
Modder
Game Developer
Nov 1, 2016
849
1,477
I've never really liked stories with many (small) branching paths. If stories want to branch, I prefer having it done early and obviously, with branches that are so different, that I can play both. I honestly like it more when there's one route, so content is produced faster.
For your game though, I imagine you have fans that will be disappointed if their "route" for a girl is gone. A compromise could be that you do the "love" route for Cute, and the "dom" path for Dani.
 
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spam753

Member
Aug 6, 2017
310
318
I've got a reproduceable crash when I ask Dani "what are you watching?"

Traceback & autosave attached.

[edit]

Another crash when I use the pager in the "Black & White", "Normal Underwear 1" or "Purple 1" gallery on the computer

File "<screen language>", line 583, in <module>
NameError: name 'shootWorkZebraBonus1' is not defined
File "<screen language>", line 729, in <module>
NameError: name 'shootSleepNormalBonus1' is not defined
File "<screen language>", line 875, in <module>
NameError: name 'shootSleepNormalBonus2' is not defined
 
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Lhooq

Newbie
May 19, 2017
16
4
Ideas on potential changes to the game that I'd love feedback on:
So my thoughts are that the game is trying to be too many different (and slightly contradictory) things at once. (And also that you've spotted the best solution, yes).

I get the intention for an "open world" feel, and naturally developing characters and story. I appreciate the wish for really different routes and relationships - this is great, if probably lots of work, and adds richness to story.

Although in the current design I'm sure all of this is *possible*, it doesn't happen for all players because the game doesn't give the kind of feedback that any of the structures need. I don't think it's that I've "sped through the game without paying attention"; I've just not understood how to make things happen in the game world.

I think in general, story-driven open world games need clearer objectives and choices (a bit like classic tabletop rpgs, or the wonderful old text adventure games) and more immediate consequences of actions (even if these are small steps at a time). Whereas stat-building games need clear signposts to how the stats build and when things will happen, to keep focus - you don't mind repeating actions as you're getting signal feedback that it is having an effect, or will do at some point. At the moment this game does neither very well, despite being a really good game underneath (I think!).

So I'm not a total idiot (I like to think) and I've played a lot of these games, and I like open world. But I'm baffled by the "Evos". I don't know how to change them, the game system doesn't really prompt me to pay attention to them (they're hidden in a settings menu) and in any case I don't know what the numbers mean in relation to my PC's actual actions.

I also don't really understand what the Suspicion meter does, and what the consequences of it are for each character. It's also not clear how to reduce it, apart from not doing anything, which is boring. (Contrast with the Horniness meter and that is very clear and can directly influence actions to take).

The only really clear feedback I get from the game is the Storylines menu, so it seems like this should guide what to aim for / do next, but it's frustrating because (and I only know this from looking up comments on here, not from the game itself) that some may not be possible to complete because of the Evos. But I don't know how to develop Evos. So I'm stuck and frustrated (specific example below). There is also *a lot* of empty time if you're just trying to complete the storylines (several weekends to photograph Dani, and none of the other open Storylines apparently able to progress), and so I'm not sure if I should be doing something else. But what?

Seeking out the right slots of time to complete quests is fun (that's one of the main mechanics of open world games, yes, I like this) but endlessly looking for something that won't appear for a reason that I don't understand or even really know about is Very Much Not Fun.

So, do the Evos reward consistency (as in eg Tlaero's games)? In which case, I dunno, should I be doing lots of particular types of complimenting? I dunno. I don't think doms generally use degrading talk, for example, that's weird (imo). But if I know that's how the mechanics work, then I can pursue that, if I want.

So in conclusion I think that yes, your thought of making the evos more choice-based is a very good one. I understand the wish to roleplay these, but at the moment (as I guess I keep saying) it's just not clear *how* to, as a player. There are surely ways of making the choices feel organic. At the moment in any case the organic flow is broken by worrying about hidden or opaque stats, and that pleases very few people I would guess.

Hope this is vaguely useful, as I do really like the game.


Right then, specific current Storyline questions, if anyone has suggestions:

TRADING KISSES
2) Kisses
(5 out of 6 completed, 8 possible)
So I know from the hint earlier in this thread where these are, but three of them:
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are never available to me. There's a hint that this might be to do with evos. But then what needs to be done?

So of course I then wonder if the reason that with weeks of searching I can't find more than 3 out of 5 necessary touches in
TOGETHER step 5)
is also because some are hidden...

Which means all I've go to go on is weekend quests (PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHER, CUTEST MODEL by the looks of it, just begun).
 
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Ellaraia

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Feb 13, 2018
1,141
1,491
Evos

The aim of the evo system is to have 3 'types' of relationship for each girl. I planned for each to have a love route, a dominant route, and a submissive route but Cute's dominant route changed to be a second submissive one. The content you get is based on which evo you increase the most. You increase each evo via your dialogue choices and your actions.

In a perfect world, the player shouldn't even know the system exists. They should play the game with each choice and action being what they want to make. Upon completing the game they may search on here or elsewhere and discover that other people got different content, learn what the evo system is, then do another playthrough if they wish to see all the content.

However, I feel like I have to tell the player about the system for a few reasons. Minorly, as you say, the system is a lot of work and I don't want people seeing just 1/3rd of the content each release and think I'm not putting much effort into the game. Also, the little cross indicators are meant to slightly help add a feeling that you are progressing when you do things and that no action is wasted, though I probably don't go far enough or explain the system enough for this to be effective. There is also the aim to have the system function with a safety. What I mean by that is that if you are heading down the wrong evo for your tastes, then you can correct it with your actions, but for this you must be informed of the system and your current situation within it.

The main reason though, is that most people don't role-play the game, and I get why. There are so many games which are filled with stupid choices where there is a right and a wrong answer. Therefore, in CuteS when you get the choice of hugging a girl or rubbing your dick on her, lots of people choose the latter because it is assumed that choosing the hug will make you miss out on content. This is the biggest evo gainer in the entire game right now, but so many people make their decision based on how other games play, rather than the mechanics of the actual game they are playing.

The only way to fix this is to make it explicitly clear what the evo system is and how you manipulate it, but that goes against the point of it so much that I don't want to. I consider this design fight between role-play and player feedback to be in many aspects of the game. If I tell explain the evo system, you won't role-play for yourself, but for your content aims, but if I don't then you won't role play at all. I think the person who would get the most out of the system would be someone who has never played any of these before, but that is not the audience.

The evo system is naturally a large-scale mechanic that I very much struggle to bring to life.

And yes, you are supposed to be consistent. If you act dominant toward a girl, she becomes more submissive and, eventually, her storylines will develop this way too. And so on, though Cute's pet evo requires that you are affectionately dominant, which is kinda hard to explain.

Player Suspicion

Player suspicion exists as an early game barrier. It's there for 2 reasons. Firstly, so you don't act like a creep with 2 girls you're not in a sexual relationship with - this also makes overcoming the barrier and being allowed to watch them undress or sleep with them more rewarding as you earned it rather than being able to do it from the beginning. Secondly, it tries to stop you from rushing to see all of the early game content because it's a better experience if that content is spread out throughout the entire early-game rather than all in the first 30 minutes.

The higher your suspicion, the more likely you are to get caught when doing creepy things like spying on the girls.

In the end it probably doesn't actually help anything as players naturally want to see everything and so you're just being punished really.

Girls' Suspicion

The girls' suspicions are for later down the line. They are how much you are suspected of being intimate with each of them. Once again, the higher it is, the more likely you are to get caught. I'm yet to see how effective this is because we're only now getting to the point where you can actually play around with the girls. It is meant to give you the sense that you're sneaking around and doing something you shouldn't be, but it's too punishing in the early game. I'm not beyond the idea of removing it from the early game or making ignore a lot of the mundane activities it currently punishes.

Storylines

The way I balance evos hasn't been as good inn the last 2 updates due to lack of time and less innovative stages. There is an issue with Dani that many players are still neutral evo late into the current game with her because she doesn't have enough decisions - something I need to fix - I assume this is your problem too as both dressinng ones require an evo and the cafe kiss is just a mess. You don't need a specific evo, just not neutral, so if your portrait background for her is white you'll have to compliment her a lot or something until it gains a colour. I know that's shit, but I didn't expect players to still have neutral on her.

I already have a plan for changing Dani's photoshoots to remove or at least reduce the issue of waiting for the next weekend to complete them. Needs more designing before I talk about that though.

Cutest Model doesn't involve weekends currently.

Hope this is vaguely useful, as I do really like the game.
It is, thanks.
 
3.10 star(s) 21 Votes