Ren'Py Divine Dawn [v0.30] [Cryswar]

[MarkasLin]

Never meant for you to rip off their stuff, but inspiration is always useful, not at least, in methods of organisation.

 

[Fleis]

Update? Update! Hype!

 

[RodolFaso]

Thank you very much for the update, I had not played it before because I had a problem with my game. Not long ago I changed my hard drive for an SSD keeping the saved games in another place, the problem was that when I copied the saved games to the game folder it let me load them but in many of the decisions they generated errors. So I decided to delete the old saved games from the two directories and start one from scratch, having the personal experience of the first game made the first part of the game much easier for me since I knew when to play it safe or risk a little more . Playable I find it very enjoyable since it allows you to customize in a good way in which you want your character to develop, I do not know if it is planned in the future but I would like you to have at least one more companion in the team. I liked the new content and Metatron for the moment remains my favorite character, as for Celica we still do not know her much but I found it curious the high level of initial affection she has for the protagonist at the beginning I thought it was because she knew him from many years before but if that were the case it would also have to have those same Sam levels but it is not like that, so I think that maybe it is due to the initial decisions or it is supposed to be that way for something that they will explain later.

 

[Cryswar]

Thank you very much for the update, I had not played it before because I had a problem with my game. Not long ago I changed my hard drive for an SSD keeping the saved games in another place, the problem was that when I copied the saved games to the game folder it let me load them but in many of the decisions they generated errors. So I decided to delete the old saved games from the two directories and start one from scratch, having the personal experience of the first game made the first part of the game much easier for me since I knew when to play it safe or risk a little more . Playable I find it very enjoyable since it allows you to customize in a good way in which you want your character to develop, I do not know if it is planned in the future but I would like you to have at least one more companion in the team. I liked the new content and Metatron for the moment remains my favorite character, as for Celica we still do not know her much but I found it curious the high level of initial affection she has for the protagonist at the beginning I thought it was because she knew him from many years before but if that were the case it would also have to have those same Sam levels but it is not like that, so I think that maybe it is due to the initial decisions or it is supposed to be that way for something that they will explain later.

Sorry to hear you were having that issue... I don't know much about how Renpy works with saves, but that sounds like a pain.

When you say one more companion on the team, do you mean in camp, or in battle? The former is DEFINITELY planned lol, many more over time. The latter, not as much.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the new stuff! Celica is a little mysterious for now, figuring out what her deal is will definitely be a running theme in her trust/affection events. In retrospect, I think prioritizing her T/A events for 0.5 would have been smarter, less of a delay from intro to initial explanation.

 

[Deleted member 770309]

All this needs is a harem and we are golden.

 

[Cryswar]

I love both male mc & t.b combat.
But text based is not for me.

I'm hoping there'll start being art later this year, kinda depends on a mix of Patreon funding and my own... lackluster but gradually improving skills. Can't promise anything specific, though.

All this needs is a harem and we are golden.

Definitely coming! Not everyone will get along with everyone, but a fair few are willing to share to some degree or another. Might take a bit of convincing, though.

 

[zARRR]

Yes another update!
this could be my new favorite text game

 

[RodolFaso]

Sorry to hear you were having that issue... I don't know much about how Renpy works with saves, but that sounds like a pain.

When you say one more companion on the team, do you mean in camp, or in battle? The former is DEFINITELY planned lol, many more over time. The latter, not as much.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the new stuff! Celica is a little mysterious for now, figuring out what her deal is will definitely be a running theme in her trust/affection events. In retrospect, I think prioritizing her T/A events for 0.5 would have been smarter, less of a delay from intro to initial explanation.

Don't worry, I'm glad this happened now that the game is in its early stages because it didn't take me too long to catch up.

I was referring to battle but it was more out of curiosity, I don't know anything about programming but thinking about it a bit it seems like it would be too much work and it may even saturate the battle screen with so much character involved. I thought this would be the standard team grouping, I am very much looking forward to meeting the others since for now I have loved the ones you have introduced.

Personally, I have no complaints about the characters with whom you decided to release that type of scene, I liked the scenes quite a bit and made me very curious about what the "aspects" of Sarah and Ashley are.

 

[Deleted member 770309]

I'm hoping there'll start being art later this year, kinda depends on a mix of Patreon funding and my own... lackluster but gradually improving skills. Can't promise anything specific, though.


Definitely coming! Not everyone will get along with everyone, but a fair few are willing to share to some degree or another. Might take a bit of convincing, though.

My amazing charm will convince them all.

 

[Cryswar]

Don't worry, I'm glad this happened now that the game is in its early stages because it didn't take me too long to catch up.

I was referring to battle but it was more out of curiosity, I don't know anything about programming but thinking about it a bit it seems like it would be too much work and it may even saturate the battle screen with so much character involved. I thought this would be the standard team grouping, I am very much looking forward to meeting the others since for now I have loved the ones you have introduced.

Personally, I have no complaints about the characters with whom you decided to release that type of scene, I liked the scenes quite a bit and made me very curious about what the "aspects" of Sarah and Ashley are.

From a purely technical standpoint, I could, -in theory-, add as many characters as I wanted to each side, though it'd take a bit of work. The UI would rapidly turn into a nightmare, but I need to rework it anyways. The real reason I don't want to increase it (except for a bit when summons release) is below.

The partner system was a deliberate choice; the idea of building trust with someone by fighting at their side, of having them specifically react to most of the stuff you run into, of spending downtime with them in the camp and getting to see other sides of them that feed into combat (extra abilities, traits, etc from future T/A scenes and storylines), and sometime in the future, being able to do quickies with them at rest points. Of, eventually, making it feel like you're adventuring with your girlfriend or your wife or your best friend, or all at once depending on the character and your relationship.

Whether that is a GOOD idea or not is a fair question, but it's the general idea of trying to sell partners as people that you can't 100% control or predict, and slowly building a relationship - that's the conceit I want to try and create.

Also, from a pure balance perspective, adding too many to either side makes it a one-shot-fest as well. 4 PCs with AOEs could kill an essentially infinite number of enemies, or obliterate bosses in 1-2 turns. HP and damage growth are ROUGHLY balanced for 2 PCs or 3 enemies, changing that would require much more hp on everyone, and completely disable the 'solo MC' playthrough some people apparently really like.

Glad you enjoyed the scenes! Yeah, Aspects and Virtues are a big deal for the angel/demon characters - finding them, and in some cases helping characters slowly accept them, is a source of unique traits for them (ex. once Metatron embraces her virtues better, she can unlock a Virtue of Courage trait with bonuses, similar for the succs), and once you can get further corrupted, you can gain some of those traits as well by bonding with the character enough. We'll see if the player can handle overriding urges better than the originals, heh.

I really appreciate the feedback, hope the explanations are helpful!

 

[RodolFaso]

From a purely technical standpoint, I could, -in theory-, add as many characters as I wanted to each side, though it'd take a bit of work. The UI would rapidly turn into a nightmare, but I need to rework it anyways. The real reason I don't want to increase it (except for a bit when summons release) is below.

The partner system was a deliberate choice; the idea of building trust with someone by fighting at their side, of having them specifically react to most of the stuff you run into, of spending downtime with them in the camp and getting to see other sides of them that feed into combat (extra abilities, traits, etc from future T/A scenes and storylines), and sometime in the future, being able to do quickies with them at rest points. Of, eventually, making it feel like you're adventuring with your girlfriend or your wife or your best friend, or all at once depending on the character and your relationship.

Whether that is a GOOD idea or not is a fair question, but it's the general idea of trying to sell partners as people that you can't 100% control or predict, and slowly building a relationship - that's the conceit I want to try and create.

Also, from a pure balance perspective, adding too many to either side makes it a one-shot-fest as well. 4 PCs with AOEs could kill an essentially infinite number of enemies, or obliterate bosses in 1-2 turns. HP and damage growth are ROUGHLY balanced for 2 PCs or 3 enemies, changing that would require much more hp on everyone, and completely disable the 'solo MC' playthrough some people apparently really like.

Glad you enjoyed the scenes! Yeah, Aspects and Virtues are a big deal for the angel/demon characters - finding them, and in some cases helping characters slowly accept them, is a source of unique traits for them (ex. once Metatron embraces her virtues better, she can unlock a Virtue of Courage trait with bonuses, similar for the succs), and once you can get further corrupted, you can gain some of those traits as well by bonding with the character enough. We'll see if the player can handle overriding urges better than the originals, heh.

I really appreciate the feedback, hope the explanations are helpful!

As for the balance of the game, it seems to me completely understandable that you have chosen this distribution of allies and enemies, certainly if more than one partner could be chosen, it would lead to synergies of skills that would make things much easier, and it would end up encouraging the partners to be chosen more for its playable compatibility than because you like them. Also as you say, the difficulty settings would be somewhat inconsistent for the sections in which you have to fight as a team in relation to when you have to fight only with the protagonist.

I think that in terms of relationship with the characters it will be something that will become more and more noticeable when we progress more in the story, for the moment I imagine that most of the players will improve more or less proportionally the T/A of all the characters to not to miss any scene, once we get to know the characters more and that establishing a relationship with one means not doing it with another, we will concentrate more on our favorite.
One thing that I liked is that at the moment the playable has gone hand in hand with the plot, specifically in the battle against the abomination, although we only managed two characters, it did not mean that they were the only two who were fighting and at least I would like that would hold up in the future because it would be rare to have a team of a multitude of characters available to fight but for most to stay out of battle.

Thank you very much for the reply, I am very excited to see the next updates!

 

[Cryswar]

As for the balance of the game, it seems to me completely understandable that you have chosen this distribution of allies and enemies, certainly if more than one partner could be chosen, it would lead to synergies of skills that would make things much easier, and it would end up encouraging the partners to be chosen more for its playable compatibility than because you like them. Also as you say, the difficulty settings would be somewhat inconsistent for the sections in which you have to fight as a team in relation to when you have to fight only with the protagonist.

I think that in terms of relationship with the characters it will be something that will become more and more noticeable when we progress more in the story, for the moment I imagine that most of the players will improve more or less proportionally the T/A of all the characters to not to miss any scene, once we get to know the characters more and that establishing a relationship with one means not doing it with another, we will concentrate more on our favorite.
One thing that I liked is that at the moment the playable has gone hand in hand with the plot, specifically in the battle against the abomination, although we only managed two characters, it did not mean that they were the only two who were fighting and at least I would like that would hold up in the future because it would be rare to have a team of a multitude of characters available to fight but for most to stay out of battle.

Thank you very much for the reply, I am very excited to see the next updates!

The conceit is that some/most other allies are out adventuring and exploring in small groups while you are. You'll run into them in random events in the next area for example, and some boss battles or major events will have multiple parties helping. A lot of it will be fairly minor though, so I don't drive myself crazy trying to write it all super in-depth LOL. You raise a good point though, they're not all just standing around. Thanks for the feedback!

Hopefully the sex battle system goes well, we'll see if I can make this next release date haha.

 

[FourPixels]

Is the back/rollback button disabled for the whole game?

 

[zeraligator]

I've seen yes'm used a couple times ingame, what's that all about?

Also the TP point every five levels seems a bit sparse, at level 12 I have 12 traits available and but a single point to spend! (obviously it'd be two picks from 13 skills if I hadn't used one already, but still) I think it would work better with a fallout like system with a point every two or three levels or something. Of course it also depents on how many traits you plan to put in, but with it currently unlocking a trait for every attribute score(I've only checked three because I've only done one playthrough) you raise by five points, It would mean focusing on just one given that you would/could unlock at least three traits every five levels.

On the topic of traits, some say they increase "stat growth rate" what does that mean? Also, is it retroactive or should it be picked up ASAP.

Also it occurred to me that no mention was given to the addition of Cemila(if I'm spelling that correctly) to the tent situation. Nothing major really, just wondered about it given that the tent situation got a decent bit of attention in the dialogue preceding it.

On the topic of point gain versus expenditure, I have six ability points and nothing to spent them on.

I also survived a wolf bite/scratch leaving me at negative HP, probably because of the deep breaths trait.

 

[zeraligator]

Is the back/rollback button disabled for the whole game?

As far as I'm aware, yes.

 

[zeraligator]

Sorry to hear you were having that issue... I don't know much about how Renpy works with saves, but that sounds like a pain.

When you say one more companion on the team, do you mean in camp, or in battle? The former is DEFINITELY planned lol, many more over time. The latter, not as much.

I have also experienced some errors when using a previous save, for me it was most common during the adventuring section, but this is a problem I see a lot with Renpy games that get updated.

Also, as a player with the 'tank' setup, it would be a lot nicer if we could have at least one more companion. It just feels kinda weird to use abilities that say something like 'allies gain +5 defense for 2 turns' to affect just one ally. It would also allow for a more classic party selection of dps, healer and tank, usually the lineup would also include support but that's less important than the other three.

 

[Cryswar]

Is the back/rollback button disabled for the whole game?

Currently, yes. You can view things in the History log if you missed them, but it's meant to be more of a game than a strict VN and have more meaningful choices. There are no dialogue choices meant as 'gotchas', it's more about just picking whatever you want and running with the consequences.

I've seen yes'm used a couple times ingame, what's that all about?

Also the TP point every five levels seems a bit sparse, at level 12 I have 12 traits available and but a single point to spend! (obviously it'd be two picks from 13 skills if I hadn't used one already, but still) I think it would work better with a fallout like system with a point every two or three levels or something. Of course it also depents on how many traits you plan to put in, but with it currently unlocking a trait for every attribute score(I've only checked three because I've only done one playthrough) you raise by five points, It would mean focusing on just one given that you would/could unlock at least three traits every five levels.

On the topic of traits, some say they increase "stat growth rate" what does that mean? Also, is it retroactive or should it be picked up ASAP.

Also it occurred to me that no mention was given to the addition of Cemila(if I'm spelling that correctly) to the tent situation. Nothing major really, just wondered about it given that the tent situation got a decent bit of attention in the dialogue preceding it.

On the topic of point gain versus expenditure, I have six ability points and nothing to spent them on.

I also survived a wolf bite/scratch leaving me at negative HP, probably because of the deep breaths trait.

Traits slow down as you go up in the stat tiers, but I agree it's pretty slow atm. That CAN be changed later if necessary, just not sure it needs to be as of yet.

Stat growth rate is the same thing as when you set a stat to autogrow, you get that value each level for free. It is retroactive, so you can pick it up whenever.

Celica's T/A scenes hopefully in next update will explain, but tl;dr after she found out from Sam that y'all going adventuring, she went home and packed up as well. Unfortunately, they didn't make it into 0.5 since I wanted to rewrite some of it.

Abilities will definitely be expanded... HOPEFULLY next update, failing that in 0.7, where more will be added and you can start learning other elements/weapons. I didn't think it'd take this long to get to adding extra abilities, but stuff like masteries, adventures, sex battles, etc. have taken more time than I had hoped.

Surviving at 0HP is intended, albeit admittedly wonky, behavior. The idea is that if your ally heals you, you can get back up without needing a true revive. I don't think that passive heals should be able to do that though, but idk for sure.

I have also experienced some errors when using a previous save, for me it was most common during the adventuring section, but this is a problem I see a lot with Renpy games that get updated.

Also, as a player with the 'tank' setup, it would be a lot nicer if we could have at least one more companion. It just feels kinda weird to use abilities that say something like 'allies gain +5 defense for 2 turns' to affect just one ally. It would also allow for a more classic party selection of dps, healer and tank, usually the lineup would also include support but that's less important than the other three.

Unless an ability says it only affects your ally, if it says 'all allies' or similar, it includes you too. Maybe I should reword that to 'entire party' or something? Action economy is meant to be tight - buffs can have major effects, but 'waste' a turn that could be spent attacking. With masteries, you get more options for attack+buff actions.

I explained my 'partner' concept above, and why I don't want to add more. That may change in the future, but it's not currently planned.

If you can tell me the specific errors (preferably error logs, but just saying 'x happened when I tried to do y' would be fine) that would be very helpful! There are a few known rare bugs in 0.5, idk if you ran into those or others.

 

[zeraligator]

Currently, yes. You can view things in the History log if you missed them, but it's meant to be more of a game than a strict VN and have more meaningful choices. There are no dialogue choices meant as 'gotchas', it's more about just picking whatever you want and running with the consequences.


Traits slow down as you go up in the stat tiers, but I agree it's pretty slow atm. That CAN be changed later if necessary, just not sure it needs to be as of yet.

Stat growth rate is the same thing as when you set a stat to autogrow, you get that value each level for free. It is retroactive, so you can pick it up whenever.

Celica's T/A scenes hopefully in next update will explain, but tl;dr after she found out from Sam that y'all going adventuring, she went home and packed up as well. Unfortunately, they didn't make it into 0.5 since I wanted to rewrite some of it.

Abilities will definitely be expanded... HOPEFULLY next update, failing that in 0.7, where more will be added and you can start learning other elements/weapons. I didn't think it'd take this long to get to adding extra abilities, but stuff like masteries, adventures, sex battles, etc. have taken more time than I had hoped.

Surviving at 0HP is intended, albeit admittedly wonky, behavior. The idea is that if your ally heals you, you can get back up without needing a true revive. I don't think that passive heals should be able to do that though, but idk for sure.


Unless an ability says it only affects your ally, if it says 'all allies' or similar, it includes you too. Maybe I should reword that to 'entire party' or something? Action economy is meant to be tight - buffs can have major effects, but 'waste' a turn that could be spent attacking. With masteries, you get more options for attack+buff actions.

I explained my 'partner' concept above, and why I don't want to add more. That may change in the future, but it's not currently planned.

If you can tell me the specific errors (preferably error logs, but just saying 'x happened when I tried to do y' would be fine) that would be very helpful! There are a few known rare bugs in 0.5, idk if you ran into those or others.

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/adventures/adventure_framework.rpy", line 48, in script call
    call adventure_randomizer
  File "game/dawncode/adventures/adventure_framework.rpy", line 71, in script call
    $ renpy.call(renpy.random.choice(areaDictionary[adventure_current_ID]["discoveries"]))
  File "game/dawncode/areas/arden_forest_outskirts/discoveries/arden_outskirts_discovery_1.rpy", line 3, in script
    "You know better than to completely let your guard down, but staying on edge all the time probably isn't healthy, and it seems like a waste to completely ignore the atmosphere, so you strike up a conversation with [partner.name]."
AttributeError: 'unicode' object has no attribute 'name'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/camp/camp_framework.rpy", line 34, in script call
    call screen camp_home
  File "game/dawncode/adventures/adventure_framework.rpy", line 48, in script call
    call adventure_randomizer
  File "game/dawncode/adventures/adventure_framework.rpy", line 71, in script call
    $ renpy.call(renpy.random.choice(areaDictionary[adventure_current_ID]["discoveries"]))
  File "game/dawncode/areas/arden_forest_outskirts/discoveries/arden_outskirts_discovery_1.rpy", line 3, in script
    "You know better than to completely let your guard down, but staying on edge all the time probably isn't healthy, and it seems like a waste to completely ignore the atmosphere, so you strike up a conversation with [partner.name]."
  File "renpy/ast.py", line 715, in execute
    renpy.exports.say(who, what, *args, **kwargs)
  File "renpy/exports.py", line 1393, in say
    who(what, *args, **kwargs)
  File "renpy/character.py", line 1190, in __call__
    what = what_pattern.replace("[what]", sub(what, translate=True))
  File "renpy/character.py", line 1179, in sub
    return renpy.substitutions.substitute(s, scope=scope, force=force, translate=translate)[0]
  File "renpy/substitutions.py", line 270, in substitute
    s = formatter.vformat(s, (), kwargs)
  File "/home/tom/ab/renpy-build/tmp/install.linux-x86_64/lib/python2.7/string.py", line 563, in vformat
  File "/home/tom/ab/renpy-build/tmp/install.linux-x86_64/lib/python2.7/string.py", line 585, in _vformat
  File "/home/tom/ab/renpy-build/tmp/install.linux-x86_64/lib/python2.7/string.py", line 652, in get_field
AttributeError: 'unicode' object has no attribute 'name'

Windows-10-10.0.19041
Ren'Py 7.4.3.1414
Divine Dawn 0.5
Sat Apr 10 19:22:21 2021

This was one of three consecutive errors after an 'your party encountered something strange' encounter/event.

If the trait unlocking will slow down later in the game then it's probably better to not start trying to balance the trait point gain now.

It's good to know the growth bonus is retroactive, it's very annoying when something like that is unlocked late in the game and it's basically useless.

BTW I had no partner with me when I survived death three turns in a row before winning the battle.

It would be a lot clearer if you phrase it as 'party' or 'PC and partner' or something of the sort because allies kind of excludes yourself.

I haven't seen the partner system explanation but if later/planned features work off of that then it's fine, I'm currently going without a partner anyways.

Also, at what point do mastered abilities come in to the equation?

 

[Cryswar]

Ahhhh fuck, I totally forgot to fix that no-partner bug for 0.5. That is 100% my bad, Pavonius even mentioned it a week or so ago. Yeah, I assumed everyone would pick a partner, didn't realize how popular no-partner runs would apparently be lol.

On the off chance that you didn't know, when in camp, click on 'Allies' to change or pick a partner. The game is definitely balanced around assuming you have a partner.

I'll look into rewording those abilities for consistency and clarity.

Masteries TECHNICALLY unlocked back in the temple, but most likely you won't be able to get any until after one run of the forest. From there, go to the Progress menu in camp, then the Mastery tab. Mousing over the Mastery tab will explain the basic idea. You can check ability uses at any time by rightclicking, going to Abilities, and clicking on whatever ability you want to check.

 

[MSGTNP]

After playing this, It wasn't bad by any means. I found it enjoyable for the most part though some things did kinda annoy me

-Def should add more backdrops since most are used in places they shouldn't or don't make sense. I also found the temple backdrop to really be out of place interior wise. I felt like I was in a space station than a legit 800+ year old temple created by angels.

- I don't what It is but I really don't like Sarah's and Ashley's appearance. I think it's the multi colored hair? For some reason, I just picture as near nude loli girls/teens that are cosplaying lol or something stripped out of Gundam ZZ where most of the females had multi colored hair cause.....I'm a rebel? lol

-As for writing, whenever Sam and Ashley speak, I feel like I'm hearing a guy speaking in a purposely low, sarcastic like voice. I cannot take them seriously at all as characters lol They also feel like clones of each other. Ashley just feels like the Succubi version of Sam. I don't know If that's a outright good or bad thing, just stating it out.

-Not sure how to feel about the mastery system regarding abilities. I feel like you can just keep spamming the same two attacks to be op like with Vertical and rushing blade. I also find it strange abilities don't evolve into the next stage. Why do I have Vertical & Vertical B at the same time? Should I just have Vertical B since I evolved it? Lastly, I personally find AOE attacks to be near useless since they don't deal enough damage or their side effect doesn't occur enough to justify using them. I don't know if this is a bug either but apparently you can't update your combat abilities once you upgrade a few of them. They just vanish. I dunno that's on purpose due to the current build or not.

-Could make it more obvious/easier to pick a partner. I couldn't figure it out for like ten minutes lol


Going off topic, I wonder what type of art style will be used for this? As well as how far the customization will go. Either that or you can just allow people to upload PNG transparent images for characters for their own interpretation of said character. That said, I have difficulties picturing what our Archangel looks like lol