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

[WuzzyFuzzy]

I'd wager the vast majority of NTR fans just want to fap to depraved porn without self inserting, and it has nothing to do with personal experiences for them.

And similarly, I'd guess that the majority of anti-NTR people didn't go through some traumatic experience regarding dating. A lot of them tend to self insert so it just feels bad, as expected, when MC gets shit on.

You've touched on something I've previously written about, what I call first person vs third person participation in these games(?).

It was a bit of a surprise to me when I first came to this forum that so many participate/play in these novels and "self insert". The reason I say that is after reading hundreds of books across decades, I never found myself thinking to be the protagonist. I might cheer for them, root against them, believe in their cause, wish them harm, etc, but never do I take upon myself the persona of the character (or characters). So I approach these games the same. I don't become the MC. I don't derive satisfaction from accomplishing a task or goal as I would in a video game that is designed to be beaten or conquered. These AVNs are more like a book. I typically follow all the routes and see how things are written. Is it a believable premise? What circumstances occurred to cause certain reactions and behaviors. So I don't get wound up over a sharing, swinging scene. If the MC is written to be a douche, I may derive some degree of pleasure manipulating him or her to be treated poorly which sometimes includes cheating or cuckolding. (And I would submit, there is cuckolding in every game that has the "cheat" tag on it.)

But I realize there are those that self insert, play first person, and they get really wound up as they are more emotionally invested than someone like me. I don't really mind that, to each their own, except when those emotions aren't controlled, other play styles aren't accepted, and the negativity starts. I also realize this place is extremely sexist in general which, given my age and the false assumption of how progressive I thought other areas of the world to be, also really surprised me. (Touched upon by Cynicaladm in a previous post.)

Epilogue....

Cynicaladm I wanted to mention your last few posts (on this page) are excellent commentary which I suspect are borne from someone who's been around the block a time or two. Thank you for your insight.

 

[Wildehilde]

Terrible update.

The author is clearly tired.
I'm ending his support on patreon.

You would be tired too if you worked on a game for 3 years with barely a break in between.
Give him some rest he deserved it.

 

[Cynicaladm]

WuzzyFuzzy, thank you for your kind words.
I'm one of them Xennials who are usually overlooked in the generation narrative.. we are old enough to have played outside until it got dark with minimal parental oversight and to have had our formative years and tastes in fiction shaped by books, but young enough to where my first videogame were space invaders, frogger and pacman, and my first instance at swearing at a computer was playing the original Prince of Persia.
In general, I find that people in that small age group are supposed to dislike the millennials and the boomers in equal measure , and gen Z should just stay away from our lawns..(Except we don't have a lawn because we got fucked over both ways by the economy) or at least that's how I believe we should present ourself if we want to stick to the tags that we are handed out by society.

In all of the playthroughs in every one of these games I ever played, I named the main character Burt Reynolds, and no, I don't self insert either, which is not to say I can't get emotional about these games.. there have been a select few that have made me feel in ways I didn't expect I would... Ideally I would like this game to also bring that to a few people, but that's such a personal and intimate reaction that provoking it artificially might just be a roll of the dice.
Generally speaking, I look in these games pretty much for the same kind of content that I would be interested in finding if I were to look for porn, and I assume this counts for most people.
And my tastes are definitely also framed by actual experience first, and wish fulfillment second (no, I am not saying that is how it should be, just that that's how it works for me).
I am one of those weirdos who like 70's and 80's porn because it often came with a plot and some attempt at a narrative, and if it was a costumed affair, the 17th century wench actually looked like one rather than a tattooed and pierced plastic inflatable stuck in a carnival costume...which have their own appeal, just not in a period piece.

I am rambling.

 

[Paz]

Terrible update.

It would help if you mentioned what exactly was wrong with it because, whether you believe it or not, we always try to improve.

"It fucking sucks" has exactly 0 value as actionable feedback.

 

[FormerlyknownasOlheden]

WuzzyFuzzy, thank you for your kind words.
we are old enough to have played outside until it got dark with minimal parental oversight and to have had our formative years and tastes in fiction shaped by books, but young enough to where my first videogame were space invaders, frogger and pacman, and my first instance at swearing at a computer was playing the original Prince of Persia.


I am rambling.

That described my childhood almost to the letter. Except I had cursed out a few computer games quite some time before Prince of Persia. Commodore 64 had a bunch of very annoying games ...

 

[Cynicaladm]

That described my childhood almost to the letter. Except I had cursed out a few computer games quite some time before Prince of Persia. Commodore 64 had a bunch of very annoying games ...

eh... Outrun was a terrible game...still played in on the C64... also, ghouls and ghosts.. another very swearable game

 

[Kokodeska]

Wow dev did definitely a fucking good job when nadia became a sultry and seductress shhhheeeshh fucking hell when the scene omar mc and nadia fuck till now i have boner

 

[fhiaofwiao]

Terrible update.

The author is clearly tired.
I'm ending his support on patreon.

This game actually gets decently sized updates at reasonable time peroids compared to some other games on this site. For example A Wife and Mother dev took more than 3 months to release an "update" where main character changes hairstyle and thats it.

 

[fitgirlbestgirl]

I don't know if I'm mentally ill but I swear there used to be a scene that explains why Ain is wearing a slave collar, that scene doesn't seem to exist anymore in later releases or I can't figure out how to trigger it. At some point she just wears it and it's never explained or commented on.

 

[Gato21]

I don't know if I'm mentally ill but I swear there used to be a scene that explains why Ain is wearing a slave collar, that scene doesn't seem to exist anymore in later releases or I can't figure out how to trigger it. At some point she just wears it and it's never explained or commented on.

I think it was a form of punishment when she let Fairy go. I think generally it is to show that a slave belongs to a household, but I think that was in the context of Emilia.

eh... Outrun was a terrible game...still played in on the C64... also, ghouls and ghosts.. another very swearable game

Man you guys are dating yourselves. Commandore growing up to me was like what artifacts are to the inhabitants of this game. I was always more of a strategy gamer, think Civilization or Hearts of Iron. I like numbers, min/maxing, etc. When I played a game that did have more a narrative story-like theme, it was generally JRPGs, which still had an element of strategy. I think for you guys growing up Adventure games were more popular, I could be mistaken.

Do think your GenX upbringing is the source of nihilistic themes and critique of a consumerist society in the game, or am I reading to much into it? The conversation with leader of the undead, the hut in the fog covered field.

 

[KhaiFirst]

0.12a living room is Good! thx Dev... my fav place to visit, if i said dev make it better that ME asking too much! haha

 

[Gato21]

don't listen this troll. It's clear from nickname that he's from Ukraine. He wouldn't help to anyone even if he could afford it

I would say that name is to elicit a response, but seeing when he joined I guess not. Try not to denigrate people on immutable characteristics. The war sucks, we are all losers from it.

 

[Cynicaladm]

eh, just because I started with an old IBM with floppy disks that were actually floppy, that doesn't mean I stopped there... If I still pick up a regular computer game to play it is usually RPG.. stuff in the vein of Skyrim (who am I kidding..it is just Skyrim), or Baldur's Gate on my tablet. (I am a DnD playing fantasy nut, so.. there)

Do think your GenX upbringing is the source of nihilistic themes and critique of a consumerist society in the game, or am I reading to much into it? The conversation with leader of the undead, the hut in the fog covered field.

those themes are mostly Z's input actually... something you should ask him... but he's both of a different age and country than me, so I doubt that it's a generational thing, at least not one tied to my generation.

 

[WuzzyFuzzy]

heh...you guys are all youngsters. The first video game I played was Pong on a neighbor's Odyssey. The experience was much like listening to Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time...nothing's been quite the same since.

 

[randysum]

Getting zip header errors on .12a from all the gofile pixledrain, and anonfile the source upload for win corrupted?

 

[Gato21]

eh, just because I started with an old IBM with floppy disks that were actually floppy, that doesn't mean I stopped there... If I still pick up a regular computer game to play it is usually RPG.. stuff in the vein of Skyrim (who am I kidding..it is just Skyrim), or Baldur's Gate on my tablet. (I am a DnD playing fantasy nut, so.. there)
those themes are mostly Z's input actually... something you should ask him... but he's both of a different age and country than me, so I doubt that it's a generational thing, at least not one tied to my generation.

Do you know if he is Eastern European? Post soviet disillusionment? Familiarity with Stalker franchise? Maybe I'll just stick to speculation that is a little bit more within my grasp. What excited me most was the seizure of the settlement by the raiders. I am curious the variables are a simple tally of binary improved living conditions/bad, or if your choices matter in individual cases. I generally went with improved infrastructure and delegation of running the settlement. I am curious if there will be a fractional split of the more traditional raiders headed by Zion and a more sedentary faction lead by the girls. Maybe a more extractive settlement placates Zion?

heh...you guys are all youngsters. The first video game I played was Pong on a neighbor's Odyssey. The experience was much like listening to Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time...nothing's been quite the same since.

God Damn! I played Alien rain on a 3.5 floppy on an old IBM computer my parents had. That was my exposure to that time period in gaming.

 

[Cynicaladm]

heh...you guys are all youngsters. The first video game I played was Pong on a neighbor's Odyssey. The experience was much like listening to Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time...nothing's been quite the same since.

heh.. I'd forgotten about Pong...

Do you know if he is Eastern European? Post soviet disillusionment? Familiarity with Stalker franchise? Maybe I'll just stick to speculation that is a little bit more within my grasp. What excited me most was the seizure of the settlement by the raiders. I am curious the variables are a simple tally of binary improved living conditions/bad, or if your choices matter in individual cases. I generally went with improved infrastructure and delegation of running the settlement. I am curious if there will be a fractional split of the more traditional raiders headed by Zion and a more sedentary faction lead by the girls. Maybe a more extractive settlement placates Zion?

God Damn! I played Alien rain on a 3.5 floppy on an old IBM computer my parents had. That was my exposure to that time period in gaming.

Z's origins are for him to reveal (or not).. not for me to say, but Fallout, Stalker and Mad Max are pretty much officially our main sources of inspiration for the game (and a few more cameos of other things here and there)...
It's worth noting that anything fallout and stalker comes from him.. I have never played those games.

I shall leave you to your speculations as to the rest

 

[Gato21]

heh.. I'd forgotten about Pong...

Z's origins are for him to reveal (or not).. not for me to say, but Fallout, Stalker and Mad Max are pretty much officially our main sources of inspiration for the game (and a few more cameos of other things here and there)...
It's worth noting that anything fallout and stalker comes from him.. I have never played those games.

I shall leave you to your speculations as to the rest

Playing your cards close to your chest. Gotcha. Respect.

 

[sortakinda]

This was some good stuff. I loved the trip towards the factory part.

If there is something I'd would complain about, it would be that the green on black wall of text was a complete pain in the ass to read. As in, my eyes were not having a good time at all with that.

Suggestion;
For the future reference, maybe try "amber monochrome"-colors when doing a monochrome-screen, as it's far easier for the eyes due to having less blue light involved.

 

[SperryTop]

...[T]here have been a select few [games] that have made me feel in ways I didn't expect I would... Ideally I would like this game to also bring that to a few people...

For some reason I feel like sharing, so I'll delurk for a bit.

So I was playing a game that is relatively well regarded on this site. It wasn't bad, but nevertheless I wasn't too impressed for various reasons, and was about to wrap up my time with it about half way through.

One of the LI, who otherwise wasn't an interesting character, was dealing with deep, hidden pain. The dev put in a scene showing how she dealt with it internally. It was so real and raw that clearly either the dev or someone extremely close to them had wrestled with their pain in this way; it was exactly the same way that I had made it through my darkest times. No other author in any other literature (and I've read quite a bit) had ever represented the hell that I had lived through with that much hope and honesty.

I just sat in front of my computer and bawled for five minutes. And it was a stupid adult VN that brought that out.

So while I haven't reacted to Desert Stalker on that level, I can confidently say that this game is much more than simple smut. I haven't supported it financially yet, but I will sometime. Thank you for bringing it to us.