Ren'Py Desert Stalker [v0.16c] [Zetan]

[Cynicaladm]

MidnightVT
Speaking from an entirely personal point of view, I have yet to find an AV game that wasn't HTML and using real porn clips, where the moaning and grunting were either done well/believable/didn't feel out of place or weird... more often than not they take me entirely out of the fiction/immersion, such as it is. But that's just me and your mileage obviously varies.

speaking not from a personal point of view: Z is very good with playing with his soundtrack and puts a lot of effort in ambient music, even for the sex scenes.
I think that the kind of sounds you are expecting are probably a bit disruptive to those music accompaniments, which doesn't make it necessarily undoable, but adds another layer of complexity that is of interest to only a fraction of the potential market.
That said, I can't exclude that some day in the future these extra sound effects might be added...but I expect it to be very much a "when the game is mostly done/the budget is high enough to do it really well and possibly do a whole voice over for the characters" type of deal. He does actually add the very rare and occasional sound bite, like the droplets of blood in a certain Fairy scene, or the sound of a gate or door being slammed open, more often than not in animations/cutscenes, for cinematic effect... but that's about it.

As of today, adding sexy noises during sexy scenes does not appear on the development planning log.

 

[muschi26]

Speaking from an entirely personal point of view, I have yet to find an AV game that wasn't HTML and using real porn clips, where the moaning and grunting were either done well/believable/didn't feel out of place or weird...

Really? I find the moans and dirty talk and stuff in real porn a million times worse than the generic understated moaning in most games or animations. Not that the latter are great by any means, but definitely not as bad IMO.

 

[GetOutOfMyLab]

like the droplets of blood in a certain Fairy scene

I'll have to revisit this...I don't recall hearing said sfx.

 

[Aioto]

Speaking from an entirely personal point of view, I have yet to find an AV game that wasn't HTML and using real porn clips, where the moaning and grunting were either done well/believable/didn't feel out of place or weird... more often than not they take me entirely out of the fiction/immersion, such as it is. But that's just me and your mileage obviously varies.

Well, a game I feel did sex sounds well is Solvalley School, it has animations that aren't looped and the audio track follows the movements of the animation.

 

[JohnF95zone]

About the update

Spoiler: v0.10a

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Spoiler: v0.10a Bugs Report

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I personally feel that giving the player the option to do so if they feel like it adds to the game. Some choices are obviously "bad", some are obviously "good", and some....yet to be revealed.
....

The problem with seasonal/episodic/however-you-want-to-call-them content for DS is ....

Choice
You can't please everyone with anything. You didn't give them choice they will complaint, you give them choice they will complaint too (too many choices, not enough choices, choices don't matter, choices only change the dialogue, choices only for sex variations and the list go on). My personal opinion on this matter, is that I feel it is counter-productive or pointless to give players choices that will undermine the game in terms of contents or theme, other kinds of choices are fair use. NO, I am not saying about the choices in this game specifically but generally speaking. Let me give (exaggerated) examples, say there is a story heavy game that gives the player a choice in the beginning (or can be updated in the preference) "Skip dialogues and jump to sex scene?" Yes/No. Players that pick "Yes" certainly did not play the game at all. One could argue that there are players who like that, they don't care about the narratives and characters but they just want to watch the scenes especially sexual scenes, mostly for recreational purposes. There is really no need for a developer to cater for such players because clearly they are not the intended audiences. The players already had the implicit choice to play or not to play the game in the first place.

Seasons/Episodes
I don't know if you (Zetan & the Desert Stalker production team) realized it or not but you have been consistently provides episodic releases. However, specific to DS it is actually called quest. There are main and side quests. Some are big, some are small. Big ones already been divived into multiple parts i.e. Quest X Part 1 and so on. In one way or another, you are doing it (of course improvements are always welcomed).

I like how these quests are in a way self-contained, isolated and not intermingled with the other quests but quests may have dependency (and/or sequence) with each other. Releasing this episodic quests gives flexibility in terms of development too, for example to meet deadline Quest Y Part 2 content can be cut short, which means next release Quest Y Part 3 will have slightly more contents than originally planned. If a quest originally planned to be short but can be streched out by adding more parts to it.

Here are some possibilities of exploiting the quest system (which can be applied to some quests NOT all quests) without the need for additional contents like renders and dialogues. I don't know how complex they are but at least I know they are possible.
1. Replay/Re-Live Completed Quests (in view mode)
Usually people just load save for this if they made a save in the first place. Replaying quests that have variations can help especially to unlock the Galllery scenes without having to replay a different path. Player can just be on one path, with as little saves as possible. The replay however should not change your game state, treats it like an extended Gallery Replay, the difference is that Gallery Replay is for scene but this is quest per se.

2. Restart an Ongoing Quests
You have an ongoing Quest Z Part 5 but then you wanted to change your decision back in Part 1, it would be fantastic to have that rewind button and start over (while maintaining the current game state and discarding/resetting the restarted quest state). If I load a save for Part 1, not only will I have to do Part 2 and so on, but all the other quests too (to get back to my current game state). I mean this is only possible if the quest is in isolation but have simple dependent on other quests.

As far as I am concerned, DS does have have too many variables to keep track of stuff, so it might not be overwhelming to do it. It does however add some coding time depending on how good coder the team is.

I hope I do get my points across although it might not have been worded correctly and explained clearly. Cheers.

MidnightVT
... He does actually add the very rare and occasional sound bite, like the droplets of blood in a certain Fairy scene, ...

I noticed that. Cheers.

 

[Jeffersont00]

What's the sharing content?

 

[GetOutOfMyLab]

What's the sharing content?

Spoiler

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I think that's everything. Not a whole lot right now.

 

[Wallsfalldown]

How long is this update?

 

[Whiteblackman0]

Someone upload a full save pls

 

[slick97]

I can't believe I got pressured by Zetan to re-do the hive scene (leaving Mantis behind) by making it seem like I made the wrong choice initially. Needless to say The Hive definitely needs to be nuked before they become a powerhouse of their own.

It was also nice to see Zetan implementing some of the lore from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and directly referencing the anomalies. As for the results to Shani's story, I'll leave my predictions behind a spoiler:

Spoiler: Shani's Quest Prediction

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[Drakenite]

Way back when Kyra was held in my dungeon, before heading out she said Zahra wanted to talk to her (us?) but MC just said there's not really much time, so we headed out. I tried to postpone but doesn't seem like there was any event. Does anyone know what Zahra wanted?

 

[FiarLire]

It seems like the game is stuck at the "Friends in Low Places" mission for me
I go to the car to travel (the indicator appears), but there is no location selectable?

 

[ksatnod]

When I try to wake Ain up for her night scene it treats it as if she's asleep, no exceptions are thrown so I'm not sure if it's a bug or if I went too hard with the spanking.

 

[Cynicaladm]

Way back when Kyra was held in my dungeon, before heading out she said Zahra wanted to talk to her (us?) but MC just said there's not really much time, so we headed out. I tried to postpone but doesn't seem like there was any event. Does anyone know what Zahra wanted?

That's inaccurate, if memory serves me well...
Kyra's presence in the dungeon coincided with Ain being punished for getting in trouble in the market.
You had a choice between punishing Ain when Kyra was still present, or leaving with Kyra before the punishment.
The scene unfolds differently depending on whether she's still in the cage or not.
Her bit of dialogue should tell Zaton that Zahra intended to meet him in the dungeon (to punish Ain).. not to involve Kyra.
If you played the market scene and Kyra's captivity in a different order, that should not have occurred/matter.. And the dialogue should reflect that.
It might be that you have gotten the hint to stick around, punished Ain and then went with Kyra, which is how that should have played out.. If this doesn't fit with your narrative progression, let us know... Could be a minor bug that pulls up 1 wrong sentence.

 

[JB08]

MORE ASHA AND KYRA

 

[NukaCola]

About the Find allies for the mutants quest
What happens if you choose to leave Mantis at the hives? Does the hives agree to join you then?

 

[mightybored]

About the Find allies for the mutants quest
What happens if you choose to leave Mantis at the hives? Does the hives agree to join you then?

You then have the option to agree to send prisoners and such for the Hive to feed on in exchange for partnership. Also the Hive Queen has sex with you.

 

[MSNlover95]

When I try to wake Ain up for her night scene it treats it as if she's asleep, no exceptions are thrown so I'm not sure if it's a bug or if I went too hard with the spanking.

in it the "Sleep with Ain" scene:

1. home.rpy using "ain_awake" on it the line 295 but it the rest of code are mentioning "sa_awake" instead
2. "if sa_awake == True:" after it the "Cum inside" option missing it the indentation after
3. "Cum inside" missing "else" for it the "sa_awake == False:"

in short it the "Sleep with Ain" scene are need recode (1., 2.) and adding it the missing dialogue for sleeping creampie (3.)

 

[NukaCola]

You then have the option to agree to send prisoners and such for the Hive to feed on in exchange for partnership. Also the Hive Queen has sex with you.

But do you lost Mantis or you still can have sex with her?

 

[mightybored]

But do you lost Mantis or you still can have sex with her?

Not as of yet.