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

[drakkor]

Is there perchance any constructive criticism that you would suggest to the dev and/or fellow players of the game to more illustratively demonstrate why you feel that the writing is not as up to par in the most recent DS update? Do you feel as if the character conversations were too stale? Or were the dialogues simply not as meaningful and/or impactful sentiment-wise from a character-bonding lens?

Just intrigued to know why you feel the way that you do, not meant to call anyone out or anything. But just curious to know for my own knowledge sake if anything.

it has become crude.

the way he tells the slave girl in his basement that getting fucked is her only purpose ( or someting along those lines),
the whole interaction with the niece, or even just the daughter watching from the sides ( 'you stand there looking. it's distracting me. i told you not to distract me; now get punished').
it's a weak dude's idea of what it means to be dominant and being in control.

previously the MC was way more controlled. he didn't have to throw a fit. He got whatever he wanted, because it was his due and everyone knew their place.
it's a complete change in personality and in feel

i would have seriously sworn that the writer had changed.

 

[Maviarab]

it has become crude.

the way he tells the slave girl in his basement that getting fucked is her only purpose ( or someting along those lines),
the whole interaction with the niece, or even just the daughter watching from the sides ( 'you stand there looking. it's distracting me. i told you not to distract me; now get punished').
it's a weak dude's idea of what it means to be dominant and being in control.

previously the MC was way more controlled. he didn't have to throw a fit. He got whatever he wanted, because it was his due and everyone knew their place.
it's a complete change in personality and in feel

i would have seriously sworn that the writer had changed.

You do posess the intelligence to understand that's an entirely different path where Zaton 'is' more an asshole? Right....right? You get that...

On the normal path...he is the same as he always was....just as you described. Maybe don't play play the asshole paths if you don't like the MC being an asshole. Just a thought...

 

[Gato21]

it has become crude.

the way he tells the slave girl in his basement that getting fucked is her only purpose ( or someting along those lines),
the whole interaction with the niece, or even just the daughter watching from the sides ( 'you stand there looking. it's distracting me. i told you not to distract me; now get punished').
it's a weak dude's idea of what it means to be dominant and being in control.

previously the MC was way more controlled. he didn't have to throw a fit. He got whatever he wanted, because it was his due and everyone knew their place.
it's a complete change in personality and in feel

i would have seriously sworn that the writer had changed.

Also, besides writing, the recent Zion and Torso Boy date night reminisce scenes felt like a downgrade from the usual quality that we come to expect, at least to me. The animation was clunky, had an amateurish lighting and framing feel to it, and the chick getting amputated had the most nonplussed look on her face. I wonder if perhaps it was delegated to someone else.

 

[Penumbral Evanescence]

it has become crude.

the way he tells the slave girl in his basement that getting fucked is her only purpose ( or someting along those lines),
the whole interaction with the niece, or even just the daughter watching from the sides ( 'you stand there looking. it's distracting me. i told you not to distract me; now get punished').
it's a weak dude's idea of what it means to be dominant and being in control.

previously the MC was way more controlled. he didn't have to throw a fit. He got whatever he wanted, because it was his due and everyone knew their place.
it's a complete change in personality and in feel

i would have seriously sworn that the writer had changed.

I see, well thanks for letting us know.

The parts where Zaton (the MC) is being overly 'aggressive' and/or 'vulgar/crude/confrontational' in his dialogues with the women are simply another route/characteristic that you, as the player, can personify in him should you wish to steer the MC down that path of expression.

Desert Stalker is unlike that of a kinetic novel. As such, you as the player are given freedom as to how you would like to mould him based on his overarching demeanour with the other women he comes across in his travels. Thus, you can essentially customize how you would prefer Zaton to interact with the women around him based on the dialogue choices that you are presented with throughout the game's narrative.

In essence, if you do not like how Zaton's mannerisms and/or behavioural conduct is portrayed within the more 'aggressive/crude' route, then you can steer him in a more level-headed manner and sensible persona by choosing the appropriate responses during his dialogues with the various women he encounters in-game.

So, essentially, by choosing the right options you can keep the MC affixed to the more natural/level-headed route (i.e., not having to be overly crude to get the women around him) should you prefer that option of gameplay experience instead.

 

[Penumbral Evanescence]

chick getting amputated had the most nonplussed look on her face

Oh yeah, I agree with that....she essentially had very limited expressiveness/limited reaction on her face during the amputation scene IIRC... looked like she was more dazed than in pain Like she was at the dentist and they had given her anesthesia for her wisdom teeth removal or something

 

[DuchessYasmin]

Now would be around the time for the weekly dev logs, if not for Patreon being its usual annoying-pain-in-the-ass-self
Did Zaton or anyone from the team issue a statement regarding the situation anywhere? Discord or SS?

 

[GetOutOfMyLab]

In regards to the writing... CynicalAdm posted this: https://f95zone.to/threads/desert-stalker-v0-15c-public-zetan.68105/post-12774971

For those who don't know, CynicalAdm helps the dev with writing.

As far as how the MC "sounds", that is often based on choice. There are different routes for some characters, such as Fairy, where you either fully heal her, have a middle ground, or leave her broken. So unless I'm misunderstanding the complaint here, that will be why some things are different (based on choices made).

As for the comment regarding "cruelty is the sign of a weak man"... if this were real life, I would agree. But this is just a game and it's a kink for some (not one I particularly care for)... surely you wouldn't want to be kink-shaming on these forums.

 

[therealmrwolf]

In regards to the writing... CynicalAdm posted this: https://f95zone.to/threads/desert-stalker-v0-15c-public-zetan.68105/post-12774971

For those who don't know, CynicalAdm helps the dev with writing.

As far as how the MC "sounds", that is often based on choice. There are different routes for some characters, such as Fairy, where you either fully heal her, have a middle ground, or leave her broken. So unless I'm misunderstanding the complaint here, that will be why some things are different (based on choices made).

As for the comment regarding "cruelty is the sign of a weak man"... if this were real life, I would agree. But this is just a game and it's a kink for some (not one I particularly care for)... surely you wouldn't want to be kink-shaming on these forums.

dose anyone play porn games cos of the writing?

 

[GetOutOfMyLab]

dose anyone play porn games cos of the writing?

I consider this more of an adult game than a simple porn game. I enjoy the Desert Stalker story and if this was just the story without the sex, I'd still enjoy it.

 

[Maviarab]

dose anyone play porn games cos of the writing?

Yes, I play for the story first and foremost. If I wanted to see porn I'd just save my time, bandwdth and disk space and just watch fucking porn.

 

[funkyhound]

umm should we be worried about the patron page being reviewed by there trust and safety team.

 

[Penumbral Evanescence]

umm should we be worried about the patron page be reviewed be there trust and safety team

Nah, DW about it, the dev and their team have other options on where they would like to take Desert Stalker from a subscription POV...like Subscribe Star for instance...Plenty of other digital content monetization platforms that don't necessarily come with the stringent amount of restrictions that Patreon may impose on certain games....

 

[Leinad_Sevla]

I'm wondering about this too. First time player here that just reached the end and both Fairy and Kat are greyed out for me too.
Btw I am glad I saved this one for a rainy day because goddamn it's REALLY GOOD

I wonder if it is a bug or if it has to do with my choices.
This game is fantastic, I started playing around version 0.12 and sometimes I wish I only started once this is done, so I d«on´t have to wait for updates.

 

[Penumbral Evanescence]

appreciate the creators attempt of mixing up the game a bit with random events and puzzles

I agree for sure

To be fair, the perceived 'sandbox' elements in this game (at least from my vantage point) are quite minimal in scope/design. I mean, the fact that it is merely just an overworld map and you proceed from one location in-game to the next is pretty much the gist of what the 'sandbox' elements pertain to.

With that said, the sandbox elements in DS are unlike those in other games with a more comprehensive emphasis on extensive sandbox elements like 'Seeds of Chaos' for instance that I had played through in the past.

For what it is worth, I believe the Dev has done a decent enough of a job (at least thus far in the game's development, who knows what future updates may bring) of balancing out events, puzzles, and emulated 'sandbox' kind of gameplay without it being perceived as too overly repetitive and/or grindy in nature.

 

[aboveyou]

I've also had an issue with the d8c variable:

Spoiler: Full Traceback

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This error happened for me with the 0.15c version on Android. I had it happen with both a new game and a earlier-game save from the 0.14d version (that save was around the second Rabiah visit). However a save with most 0.14d content completed worked without issue. Looking at the save file I think maybe the variable should be m_d8c.

 

[3xtreme]

Any previws this week?

 

[PaxHadrian17]

So uhh what's the story about the patreon ban? Big tit loli daughter? Gory sadism? Slaves? Walking into a bathroom and pissing on a girl chained to a shitstall? I don't wanna hate but it's baffling how so many devs include xtreme fetishes in their games even though they have no intention of actually fleshing them out beyond like 2 sex scenes. What demographic is being appealed to, at the risk of patreon bans probably caused by a report from someone who came for more or less vanilla sex and got triggered by the more xtreme stuff.

Someone put together a petition naming more than 100 devs who they say are violating Patreon's TOS.

Patreon has launched yet another crusade now and the dev for DS got hit along with Many other devs I like, including some who are almost pure vanilla in their content.

A significant number of devs are adding accounts to SubscribeStar so that their $ supporters can switch.

While devs are under review, they cannot add new Patreons (and there may be issues with accessing funds from current supporters - but I don't know how the Patreon payout system works to verify this).

Any time I can go with SS versus Patreon, I do - tired of the crusades and the uneven application of their TOS.

Cheers!!

 

[Skyangel007]

Someone put together a petition naming more than 100 devs who they say are violating Patreon's TOS.

Damn some people have no life...

 

[PaxHadrian17]

Ah thanks for the info. Yeah SS is probably the safest bet if you're making anything that can be reasonably interpreted as snuff and/or loli. Which a lot of stuff in this game can be, even tho the actual sex scenes are vanilla by and large.

Patreon is going so far as to target AVNs with the 'landlady/roommate' trope if they have an iPatch on a site like F95...

Interesting how GOT and HBO are not being targeted for the same...

Such is the stupidity we face due to some overbearing Primadonna's.

Cheers!!

 

[Penumbral Evanescence]

Damn some people have no life...

Agreed, seems like nowadays content creators who want to express their passion for their stories and imaginative worlds always get thrown a 'roadblock' because some politician or legislator just wants to stifle their creative talents based on some nonsensical assertions they make with the game and tying it back to "religion" and whatnot.....