Ren'Py Desert Stalker [v0.19.4] [Zetan]

[Ragnar]

Crossovers do dilute the superior game (DS) whereas the inferior game (HSOA) would see a boost. The games you mention at least have some similar quality. I tried HSOA and it does not compare. The visuals, the dialogue, the characters, etc. are not on the level of DS. Perhaps because I played DS first, but I still say DS is objectively better based on the F95 rankings/reviews.

Also cameos (brief appearance) are one thing, crossovers (directly involved in an episode plot) are another. You are conflating the two. But the biggest issue, as previously stated, is the two worlds don't mesh because of the Ice or lack thereof. It would wreck of the lore of one or the other. This isn't like the MCU.

Both games take place in deserted wastelands and both games don't explain much about how the rest of the world is doing. A crossover or a small came can work perfectly here and in HSOA. If you don't like HSOA that's fine, but that means nothing to the topic we're discussing.

Not sure you can state that categorically, like that.
I think that it is entirely dependant on other variables.

If the dev still completes a full and satisfying update, as well as the crossover, then I'd agree.

But, if the dev takes time away from developing story &/or character progression in this game, instead using it to create a scene for an imported character from another game who adds nothing to this story or to any of the characters...
Think that it is, effectively, dilution.

Some crossovers dilute nothing, sure.
Some absolutely do.

Yeah, I meant as long as both games are similar you can make some renders as easter eggs. It doesn't have to be an entire chapter dedicated to other game or characters.

 

[Kellermann]

Both games take place in deserted wastelands and both games don't explain much about how the rest of the world is doing. A crossover or a small came can work perfectly here and in HSOA. If you don't like HSOA that's fine, but that means nothing to the topic we're discussing.

Just because two games both have a wasteland doesn't automatically make them compatible. Your original point was that crossovers don't dilute games, which I refuted in the case of DS/HSOA. This has nothing to do with me liking HSOA. You're just ignoring the facts presented. HSOA is based on melted ice caps and DS is not. If the planet's ice melted then DS's Zeta would be under water. And DS does actually explain what is going on in other parts of the world. Another post showed (via screenshots) that in DS the northern Europe region still has ice so the two worlds don't mesh.

Leaving aside all of the two world logic issues, the characters would have one hell of an ocean trip from Antarctica to Egypt. And for what? Navigating all that way just so that the HSOA sisters can have a quick bang session with the DS sisters and then back to Antarctica? Because if they stayed in Egypt (in HSOA game) then it really would be getting into a copycat game scenario. I just don't see why a crossover or cameo would be needed other than your inexplicable fascination with it.

 

[JJJ84]

While at times I find the crossovers amusing, I think even if somehow the lore & the world setting completely matches with no issues between DS & HSoA, I just......want it to be its own thing.

Not everything needs to become a universe, interconnected.
Some things are just best left as its own, and I think DS is one of those cases (though some may disagree), despite me liking HSoA.

 

[dolfe67]

The best crossover would be with BADIK

 

[Juninpachi]

Can't believe I've only just found this game. What a great little gem.

 

[Ragnar]

Just because two games both have a wasteland doesn't automatically make them compatible. Your original point was that crossovers don't dilute games, which I refuted in the case of DS/HSOA. This has nothing to do with me liking HSOA. You're just ignoring the facts presented. HSOA is based on melted ice caps and DS is not. If the planet's ice melted then DS's Zeta would be under water. And DS does actually explain what is going on in other parts of the world. Another post showed (via screenshots) that in DS the northern Europe region still has ice so the two worlds don't mesh.

Leaving aside all of the two world logic issues, the characters would have one hell of an ocean trip from Antarctica to Egypt. And for what? Navigating all that way just so that the HSOA sisters can have a quick bang session with the DS sisters and then back to Antarctica? Because if they stayed in Egypt (in HSOA game) then it really would be getting into a copycat game scenario. I just don't see why a crossover or cameo would be needed other than your inexplicable fascination with it.

It's not only about being in the wasteland, we have the slave-harem society, the supernatural or mutated humans and so on. HSOA is not Waterworld either, both games use the Mad Max alike deserted wasteland with few resources and raider gangs.
If DS has water and ice in Europe why they don't move there? In a world with cat girls and the such, Do you think that traveling long distances is too far fetched? Copycat scenarios like the hundred of books and movies with post apocalyptic stories?
I know you don't like the other game but a cameo or some easter egg wouldn't hurt DS in any way.

 

[JJJ84]

I know you don't like the other game but a cameo or some easter egg wouldn't hurt DS in any way.

I mean, I like both games (even though I do think DS is the better of the two), but even if everything somehow aligns perfectly between the two (whether it's the lore or world building), tbh I'd prefer them to be just kept separate as their own things without the crossover/cameo.

A little bit off-topic, but similar to someone possibly suggesting the same for Rebirth & The Bite as well, I like both of those games also, but that doesn't mean I'd be that keen to see Sharon somehow pop up as a cameo for the Bite (though I'd imagine some would).

 

[BizeBire]

If DS has water and ice in Europe why they don't move there?

Because on top of having to literally move the whole city almost 6000 kilometres (that's about 3700 miles), they'd also have to fight the locals.

Why would they do that if they're already well established where they are?

 

[BizeBire]

(even though I do think DS is the better of the two)

I have to agree. Just finished HSoA today and... Well, even disregarding the "engrish", the story is just internally inconsistent.

I mean... How is it possible that in a society so focused on sex, the daughters of the MC have literally NO CLUE how sex is done? The adults all seem pretty casual with both nudity and having sex in public settings and yet the (adult, apparently) daughters have not only never seen how sex is done (don't they have porn...?) they're also somehow shy about being nude? How does that work?

And then we have a guy called "Shooter" who... goes into a super dangerous combat situation armed with a gun, one bullet and a short knife. I get being sure of your skills, but the story clearly says he has no idea how many enemies they're going to meet, so what exactly would he do, if there were 8 bandits, not 2?

I don't know which game showed up first but it definitely feels like the creators of DS thought their world out much better.

 

[Ragnar]

Because on top of having to literally move the whole city almost 6000 kilometres (that's about 3700 miles), they'd also have to fight the locals.

Why would they do that if they're already well established where they are?

Because life in Cairo is hell plus no water. If there are still iced places up north that would be the best place to settle down, near natural water resources and not in the middle of the desert.

 

[JoeTheMC84]

Logistically I don't see how crossover or even easter egg could happen. Egypt and Antartica aren't exactly close together. Depending on where HSoA takes place on Antartica to get from Egypt to there you have to cross a distance that equals the full length of Africa top to bottom twice. One of the biggest reasons mad max and fallout style games are as they are is the lack of range in travel and communication. Insular communities rise and deal and fight with other nearby neighbors. Cross culture and global communication would allow civilizations to rebuild exponentially. Even just an easter egg like a note would call into question all kinds of things. It is a big deal, for example, that Igor comes all the way from a Balkin nation like Romania, Ukraine, or Bulgaria. It is a big deal that the MC has a slave girl from central or northern Europe, a distance that is about 1/3 that from Egypt to Antartica.

Basically... could it be done, maybe. Does it take away from the games, possible as it dilutes the lore of both and calls into question many things that are fundamental to the settings. And it adds nothing to either game outside of the novelty of it happening. So, all in all a cross over or even easter egg would be odd.

A little bit off-topic, but similar to someone possibly suggesting the same for Rebirth & The Bite as well, I like both of those games also, but that doesn't mean I'd be that keen to see Sharon somehow pop up as a cameo for the Bite (though I'd imagine some would).

That would be even more odd. The vampires in those two games work very differently, it'd be like asking for a cross over between Twilight and Blade. The very nature of the vampires in those two setting precludes any decent cross-over that doesn't damage one or both by breaking the established rules.

 

[BizeBire]

Because life in Cairo is hell plus no water. If there are still iced places up north that would be the best place to settle down, near natural water resources and not in the middle of the desert.

I mean, clearly there's water if there's life, right?

And what kind of argument is that at all? Have you ever heard of the Bedouins? Or, like, the vast majority of the sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East? Damn, have you ever heard of the Mountain States in the US? Or Las Vegas? "Why don't they just move Las Vegas to Florida if there's so much more water there"... BTW - Las Vegas -> Florida is just about 1000 miles shorter of a trip than going from Cairo to the Nordic countries.

 

[dolfe67]

Why not a mega crossover between all college games while we are at it?

 

[JJJ84]

It's not only about being in the wasteland, we have the slave-harem society, the supernatural or mutated humans and so on. HSOA is not Waterworld either, both games use the Mad Max alike deserted wasteland with few resources and raider gangs.
If DS has water and ice in Europe why they don't move there? In a world with cat girls and the such, Do you think that traveling long distances is too far fetched? Copycat scenarios like the hundred of books and movies with post apocalyptic stories?
I know you don't like the other game but a cameo or some easter egg wouldn't hurt DS in any way.

Because on top of having to literally move the whole city almost 6000 kilometres (that's about 3700 miles), they'd also have to fight the locals.

Why would they do that if they're already well established where they are?

I think my memory of it in the game is, Emilia (MC's slave) tells DS's MC the story that her mother used to tell her of her homeland in the past long time ago, which was very snowy and frozen with ice (not sure the state of it is now, she didn't say).
She then asks MC whether he's seen snow before, and MC replies he's seen snow in one of the Zones.

So it's not confirmed whether Emilia's homeland is still snowing with ice as her mother's stories.
Only thing we know for sure is that one of the Zones had, and probably will still have snow and ice.


But regardless of the whole ice issue, given the distance between the worlds likely set for each game (post-apocalyptic Egypt, and post apocalyptic Antarctica?), it just seems too many hoops and hurdles for any character to physically traverse one one game's world to another.
I mean they already have a wide expansive world in their own respective game, so why would they go to all that trouble to get to the other game's world anyway? That itself would just feel like a stretch.

 

[snusnumrik]

The two games are very different in terms of quality. Desert Stalker isn't perfect but it's several steps above Hot Sands of Antartica. Besides, as soon as I saw HSoA, I immediately thought of it as a DS knockoff.

Th author declared at certain point that it IS a DS knock off

 

[goulet1995]

danm guess im the only one who likes hsoa a little better

 

[LurkyMcLurkFace]

Th author declared at certain point that it IS a DS knock off

I didn’t know this but it doesn’t surprise me. I don’t even know what all this discussion is about, a crossover would add nothing. Apart from all the bullshit about lore (which I only care about up to a point) the stylistic gap between the games just can’t be bridged.

 

[Kokodeska]

so its 28 now when do author planning the release??

 

[whichone]

so its 28 now when do author planning the release??

So I will say that I expect the pre-release to be ready for the 29th for now, with a few days of beta testing before. Crunch time has begun

 

[LordGMLP]

Also, isn't HSOA supposed to be in a world devoid of ice? It seems like melted ice caps would affect northern Egypt, which has a rather low elevation.

Oh I don't know, maybe future Egyptians built a giant sea wall from Alexandria to the Sinai or smth, or future human decided to block off the Strait of Gibraltar to have pool days at the Mediterranean Lake because, you know, everyone needs cooling off cause of global warming?