VN Ren'Py Earth Girls [v0.29] [Lydcreations]

[lydcreations]

so in a sand box yes the girls would still be going to school every day yes the difference is that you can go as long as needed and visit as many girls as you want

The sandbox games I have played all had a time element. Say the first period is chemistry and has four girls in the class. The game didn't allow me to attend chemistry 4 different times that day so that I could interact with all four girls. Summertime Saga for example is a sandbox game but still has a time element that involves choosing one choice over another. Perhaps I'm not properly following your points?

the choices would be made as to which girls you want to romance would cut off other girls as romancible options (personally i prefer the ability to go for a full harem if possible) let people talk to each girl individually and have a list of which girl goes to which class this way you would be able to make educated decisions on which girls you want to go for.

My intent is that the player can acquire a full harem. I realize the player won't be able to see all the scenes for all the girls due to the scheduling and I even have Charlie joke about how the player is trying to be in 2 places at once. The schedule format is taken into account when calculating how many points the players needs with a girl to have her in the harem.

Another plus for the sandbox method is that unlike what you said in my opinion it shouldnt hurt the MC at all because story events would be triggered based on your stats and/or how many or what girls you are romancing instead of the plot progressed each day like it has in this game.

I do have school events that are schedule based. After school events at the gym for example will be based on relationship level and have a progression for each visit if the level is met. It's a bit of a mix, but as I mentioned, one doesn't need all the event points for a girl to be part of the harem. The extra points would lead to more interaction options and a better ending with the girl.

Sandbox would also give you the ability to add a section like a library or reading up on the game on wiki or something to add more lore to give the player more context to what the fuck is going on.

I revised the optional intro of V0.07 to have Giles provide more background info on the Eternals and how the contest came about. I do have a library already in the game that could provide additional info. What items in particular would you find help to be included as part of this info?

the possible major negative for you is you may have to adjust the way classes work to where you can talk to anyone but would have to make choices as to who you would hang out with after class and that kind of stuff, but in my opinion this would benefit the player a lot.

There are multiple classes in which the player is given the choice to interact with any of the girls present. I'm looking into how best to create an interaction option that would involve choosing talk options. This would provide for some standard interactions scenes and allow for more interactions as each scene wouldn't be a custom interaction.

also if you did end up going sandbox you would probably have to implement a quest system to help players remember where they are and help them find what they need to move forward.

I have thought about a quest system, but I don't know how to code one. The player's journal does track his relationships with the girls so does let one know where they stand with each girl.

tldr yes the player would still be choosing which classes he went to each day but that wouldnt be as consequential because you are not restricted by time

Still not following I guess, as even in a sandbox, one cannot attend the same chemistry class from my above example multiple times in the same day. A player isn't going to be able to see all of a girls events in one game with the current format. For me, as long as there are a reasonable number of days to win the game and assemble a harem if one wishes, the format works. With this format, a player can have a different gaming experience based on if he focuses on getting close to a few girls or tries to win over everyone.

sorry if i rambled a bit

I appreciate your sharing your thoughts. I do want to hear what players think and any ideas that they think would improve my game. As long as they are a good fit for my game, I'm open to considering them. Thanks for bearing with me as I try to make sure I'm properly following your points.

 

[lydcreations]

in a single blind play trough almost none, there is probably a lot more if you play trough it like 5 or so times though

I don't follow how one could say that there is almost no playing time to my game. If one reads all of the text , I'd say there is a good amount of content to play. I haven't timed how long this takes or know what the general guideline is to how much playing time a game needs to have to be considered to have a good amount of content. Also, as you pointed out, the meaningful choices do provide a good amount of replay ability.

 

[lydcreations]

I didn't look at the reviews' date, sorry.

Thanks. Again, nothing against you. But it gives players reading it a bad impression of my game as the post makes it look like the text issue is an issue with the current version. Not that it was a small old issue that has already been addressed in an older update. I edited the text for the entire game in that older version to make sure that I resolved the issues. I would appreciate it if the posts were removed as players may only see the first post and not read the later posts that clarified the situation. I did reach out to a mod to see if they could assist.

 

[Brady2626]

Still not following I guess, as even in a sandbox, one cannot attend the same chemistry class from my above example multiple times in the same day. A player isn't going to be able to see all of a girls events in one game with the current format. For me, as long as there are a reasonable number of days to win the game and assemble a harem if one wishes, the format works. With this format, a player can have a different gaming experience based on if he focuses on getting close to a few girls or tries to win over everyone.

I appreciate your sharing your thoughts. I do want to hear what players think and any ideas that they think would improve my game. As long as they are a good fit for my game, I'm open to considering them. Thanks for bearing with me as I try to make sure I'm properly following your points.

i think what you are not getting(or maybe im not being clear enough) is that the story doesnt have to move forward every day in a sand box environment. and what i dont understand is the need to force the player to miss content to add replay value in my opinion int it's current state at least it is very hard to keep track of who is where and what i am missing

I revised the optional intro of V0.07 to have Giles provide more background info on the Eternals and how the contest came about. I do have a library already in the game that could provide additional info. What items in particular would you find help to be included as part of this info?

yes but piling on all the lore at the beginning tends to make people forget it just as fast as they heard it so having it easily available for others is helpful, yes you have a library but you cant visit it any time you want. i want an area holding all the lore or at least some of the more in depth lore about the world.

My intent is that the player can acquire a full harem. I realize the player won't be able to see all the scenes for all the girls due to the scheduling and I even have Charlie joke about how the player is trying to be in 2 places at once. The schedule format is taken into account when calculating how many points the players needs with a girl to have her in the harem.

ok so again here is what i dont understand if you intend to have the player have a full harem why have them miss scenes with the girls? you want the MC to be as attached to each girl as he can be no? Is it just for replay value? you have to realize that majority of players will not play your game more than once and personally i dont see the point in punishing that. ok so you can get every girl into your harem by the end good but if you miss half the content while doing so you may not develop the same kinds of relationships and care at all about the girls.

The sandbox games I have played all had a time element. Say the first period is chemistry and has four girls in the class. The game didn't allow me to attend chemistry 4 different times that day so that I could interact with all four girls. Summertime Saga for example is a sandbox game but still has a time element that involves choosing one choice over another. Perhaps I'm not properly following your points?

so im not talking about a day night cycle when im saying a time element sorry if i did not make my self clear i am specifically talking about things like "you have ___ many days to get everything done" i havent played summertime saga but almost all sand box games allow you to complete all of the content in it unless it has some path differences of which tend to be very clear which path you are going down like tyrant has a corruption path and a love path and both are clearly marked and obvious which path you are going on.

I do have school events that are schedule based. After school events at the gym for example will be based on relationship level and have a progression for each visit if the level is met. It's a bit of a mix, but as I mentioned, one doesn't need all the event points for a girl to be part of the harem. The extra points would lead to more interaction options and a better ending with the girl.

what i was talking about was having all events based on your stats not just school based ones. also making multiple endings for every girl based on their stats seems quite difficult considering the size of the cast no?

I have thought about a quest system, but I don't know how to code one. The player's journal does track his relationships with the girls so does let one know where they stand with each girl.

that basically is a quest system just add what the player should do next with the girl and boom perfect quest system (would probably work far better and be easier to implement for more linear story telling with each girl where you are not actively missing scenes and events)

There are multiple classes in which the player is given the choice to interact with any of the girls present. I'm looking into how best to create an interaction option that would involve choosing talk options. This would provide for some standard interactions scenes and allow for more interactions as each scene wouldn't be a custom interaction.

now i havent played through the game multiple times but every time i interacted with a girl in a class it would move time forward which isnt what i mean but the talk function seems to be similar to what im talking about.

 

[tigerdiamond]

I don't follow how one could say that there is almost no playing time to my game. If one reads all of the text , I'd say there is a good amount of content to play. I haven't timed how long this takes or know what the general guideline is to how much playing time a game needs to have to be considered to have a good amount of content. Also, as you pointed out, the meaningful choices do provide a good amount of replay ability.

I don't know about other people, but personally, I prefer a game to have at least 6 hours of playtime before I feel the download is worth it (of course that also depends on how much lewd content there is; accidentally picked a path in another game recently that only had 2 scenes completed that were at the beginning of the game and spent 8 hours just reading a, admittedly very good, book.)

That's just my own personal preference though as I like to binge large chunks of a game at a time rather than come back once a month for 15min to an hour of new content. I've just been burned too many times by forgetting to check the version number of a game, getting super into it, and then hitting the end of it an hour in.

That said, from what I've read it seems like you've got a pretty good amount of content going so far. I'm def putting this on my list of games to download once I finish some of what I'm currently playing.

 

[Vrijgeest]

Nope. It just does not work for me. Too clunky.

 

[rf96]

Thanks. Again, nothing against you. But it gives players reading it a bad impression of my game as the post makes it look like the text issue is an issue with the current version. Not that it was a small old issue that has already been addressed in an older update. I edited the text for the entire game in that older version to make sure that I resolved the issues. I would appreciate it if the posts were removed as players may only see the first post and not read the later posts that clarified the situation. I did reach out to a mod to see if they could assist.

I don't the mods will remove them. The best thing to do is that someone posts a more up to date review.

 

[MoistSponge]

Love a girl in glasses. Will watch this one.

 

[lydcreations]

i think what you are not getting(or maybe im not being clear enough) is that the story doesnt have to move forward every day in a sand box environment. and what i dont understand is the need to force the player to miss content to add replay value in my opinion int it's current state at least it is very hard to keep track of who is where and what i am missing

I see the choices as game mechanics that let the player influence their gaming experience. The player gets to choose whether they attend Religion or Chemistry class which provide 2 different stat increases. Class options for a full focus on the lecture for 2 stat points. Or the player can interact with a girl for 1 relationship point and one stat point. As the classes are taught at the same time, different girls attend each class. If a player is interested in Lincy, they would attend Religion class as both the stat point and relationship point would help them with Lincy. If the player is interested in Julia, they would attend Chemistry for the same reasons. If I have a sandbox game where the player attends all classes and sees all the scenes, it's more like reading a story. Many of the player choices that I mentioned are removed.

yes but piling on all the lore at the beginning tends to make people forget it just as fast as they heard it so having it easily available for others is helpful, yes you have a library but you cant visit it any time you want. i want an area holding all the lore or at least some of the more in depth lore about the world.

So you are looking for something like a book that the MC carries with him similar to the journal that shows the girls info? Could you provide some examples of information that you would find helpful to be included in this book.

ok so again here is what i dont understand if you intend to have the player have a full harem why have them miss scenes with the girls? you want the MC to be as attached to each girl as he can be no? Is it just for replay value? you have to realize that majority of players will not play your game more than once and personally i dont see the point in punishing that. ok so you can get every girl into your harem by the end good but if you miss half the content while doing so you may not develop the same kinds of relationships and care at all about the girls.

As I mentioned above, my format is about game mechanics. If say I like Lincy, then I focus on attending her classes and event choices that involve her. This allows me to progress to the highest level with Lincy. I could also focus on getting most of the content for several other girls to a high level. But then not getting as close to several other girls due to said focus. This format allows the player to pursue characters and elements they are most interest in. Being able to attend all the classes to easily max out the stats doesn't provide much in the way of mechanics or a challenge to the player.

so im not talking about a day night cycle when im saying a time element sorry if i did not make my self clear i am specifically talking about things like "you have ___ many days to get everything done" i havent played summertime saga but almost all sand box games allow you to complete all of the content in it unless it has some path differences of which tend to be very clear which path you are going down like tyrant has a corruption path and a love path and both are clearly marked and obvious which path you are going on.

what i was talking about was having all events based on your stats not just school based ones. also making multiple endings for every girl based on their stats seems quite difficult considering the size of the cast no?

Again, it comes down to trying to include game mechanics that allow players to make meaningful game choices. Having everything available removes the importance of the choices as one can always pursue a missed scene later. A popular game here called Being A Dik has the player shaping the type of character they are by their choices. The character type determines the options that the player can choose from later in the game. Not all of the content is available within one game play. Both styles of play are good formats to use. I believe that meaningful choices represent a better fit for my dating sim game. Multiple endings will be a challenge. I'll use player feedback and work on the most popular girls first.

that basically is a quest system just add what the player should do next with the girl and boom perfect quest system (would probably work far better and be easier to implement for more linear story telling with each girl where you are not actively missing scenes and events)

A quest system would be a good addition but I don't know how to code one. I'll keep it in mind as something to look into.

now i havent played through the game multiple times but every time i interacted with a girl in a class it would move time forward which isnt what i mean but the talk function seems to be similar to what im talking about.

My game uses segments of day such as Morning as opposed to hourly increments. I have the day advance after various scenes so time progresses for lunch, end of school, and end of day.

 

[lydcreations]

I don't know about other people, but personally, I prefer a game to have at least 6 hours of playtime before I feel the download is worth it (of course that also depends on how much lewd content there is; accidentally picked a path in another game recently that only had 2 scenes completed that were at the beginning of the game and spent 8 hours just reading a, admittedly very good, book.)

That's just my own personal preference though as I like to binge large chunks of a game at a time rather than come back once a month for 15min to an hour of new content. I've just been burned too many times by forgetting to check the version number of a game, getting super into it, and then hitting the end of it an hour in.

That said, from what I've read it seems like you've got a pretty good amount of content going so far. I'm def putting this on my list of games to download once I finish some of what I'm currently playing.

Thanks for your clarification about playtime. I can appreciate wanting to play large updates. Many supporters for example like to see how much content has been added from month to month. So I work hard to put out the best update I can each month. I hope you will like my game if you get a chance to play it and I would appreciate your feedback.

 

[lydcreations]

Nope. It just does not work for me. Too clunky.

Could you clarify what you found to be too clunky?

 

[Venoma]

I haven't timed how long this takes or know what the general guideline is to how much playing time a game needs to have to be considered to have a good amount of content.

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but general rule of thumb tends to be people wanting to know if there is any worthwhile erotic content scenes in the game yet. Or basically...has it progressed to the point we are getting a good wank in somewhere, or will we be left blueballed with nothing but pure tease on every character while waiting for a latter update

That usually is the is it worth the download yet threshold I personally wait for games to cross.

 

[dce8383]

I feel like I'm channel hopping when playing this game. You say you want to give the players meaningful choices, but the story jumps around so much that there's no context when making choices, and no way to understand what impact the choices have later. The parts of the story I can follow are interesting, but the rest is like clips from other games.

If you want to provide random glimpses into school life, you need more of a sandbox style. Let the player grind through increasing his school stats/grades/whatever, and add in interactions with the girls at random intervals, gradually adding to the story or having sexy times. As it stands, the game feels incredibly short because the choice possibilities are so wide, and the only way to find new content is to restart a bunch of times and try different choices, most of which are forgotten between playthroughs. I've never understood games that try to make it difficult to see their content... Maybe add a choice tracker, to see if you tried a choice before?

 

[tigerdiamond]

I see the choices as game mechanics that let the player influence their gaming experience. The player gets to choose whether they attend Religion or Chemistry class which provide 2 different stat increases. Class options for a full focus on the lecture for 2 stat points. Or the player can interact with a girl for 1 relationship point and one stat point. As the classes are taught at the same time, different girls attend each class. If a player is interested in Lincy, they would attend Religion class as both the stat point and relationship point would help them with Lincy. If the player is interested in Julia, they would attend Chemistry for the same reasons. If I have a sandbox game where the player attends all classes and sees all the scenes, it's more like reading a story. Many of the player choices that I mentioned are removed.

Reading through this conversation, I have a suggestion; include a scene viewer that maybe unlocks after completing a playthrough. I understand wanting to make a game where you can have multiple playthroughs that result in vastly different experiences, but the hard truth is that most people will only want to play it once. I think that's why that guy is pushing so hard about "missing scenes" being such a big deal for them. a scene viewer that lets people see all the scenes that they missed would mitigate those kinds of complaints. Of course, it's your game and you should always just make the type of game that you think is best.

 

[ut1stgear]

The game description and the pics caught my attention and then I read the 2 reviews. Haven't downloaded it yet but since the reviews are VERY VERY old I don't feel they have any bearing any longer. The english seems to have been corrected based soley on the description on OP. On my watch list for later.

 

[lydcreations]

I obviously can't speak for everybody, but general rule of thumb tends to be people wanting to know if there is any worthwhile erotic content scenes in the game yet. Or basically...has it progressed to the point we are getting a good wank in somewhere, or will we be left blueballed with nothing but pure tease on every character while waiting for a latter update

That usually is the is it worth the download yet threshold I personally wait for games to cross.

Thanks for your thoughts. As a dating sim, my game is based around relationship building to reach increasingly more intimate options. I'm using fantasy, dreams, and a wild child character to include adult content.

 

[lydcreations]

I feel like I'm channel hopping when playing this game. You say you want to give the players meaningful choices, but the story jumps around so much that there's no context when making choices, and no way to understand what impact the choices have later. The parts of the story I can follow are interesting, but the rest is like clips from other games.

My game follows traditional dating sim format. That is, the player chooses what class to attend based on what stat that they want to increase. For example, attend English Lit to increase charm. I have a stat bar across the top of the screen to show that attending English Lit increases the charm stat. Should I include within the text charm increase +1 for attending English Lit to make the stat gain more clear? I also have interactions with the girls to increase the relationship level. The player creates a journal after meeting all the girls that tracks info on each girl similar to the stat bar. Should I also include in the text relationship increase +1 after interacting with a girl ? I'm working on an interaction system where the player would select a girl that they would like to interact with. Then choose say the talk options. The talk options will provide talk options such as art, books, etc. The girls will comment on the topic the player selects and the relationship level will increase or decrease based on the girls interest in said topic. Would these changes address the confusion? The goal of the game is to build the relationship level with the girls to become more intimate with them and being more successful in doing so than the Eternals champion. This is shown by the player score and the Eternals score in the stat bar.

If you want to provide random glimpses into school life, you need more of a sandbox style. Let the player grind through increasing his school stats/grades/whatever, and add in interactions with the girls at random intervals, gradually adding to the story or having sexy times. As it stands, the game feels incredibly short because the choice possibilities are so wide, and the only way to find new content is to restart a bunch of times and try different choices, most of which are forgotten between playthroughs. I've never understood games that try to make it difficult to see their content... Maybe add a choice tracker, to see if you tried a choice before?

I don't follow how a sandbox style would improve the game or how providing choices for strategy is labeled as making it difficult to see content. The player gets to choose from Religion or Chemistry as their first class. Going to Religion class for example, the player learns that the girl Britney introduced as Sharon in the school hall on the morning of their first day prefers to be called Lincy. Choosing to interact with Lincy in the school hall after class provides a scene later in which the player will overhear Lincy on the phone. These are examples of meaningful choices that would be lost in a sandbox style that my understanding of the style is to show all content. The choices allow the player to choose how they will play the game. Will they focus on the girls in the Religion class and thus won't be as close to the other girls? Which classeses will the player attend and how will these choices affect their succees with the girls. Having the player be able to attend all classes removes the strategy. The goal of the game is to score more points than the Eternals. The strategy the player uses will determine if they will succeed. I don't follow how I could keep this strategy while using a sandbox format. Please let me know if I'm missing something. I would like to improve my game and properly understand player feedback so that I can make my game better.

 

[lydcreations]

Reading through this conversation, I have a suggestion; include a scene viewer that maybe unlocks after completing a playthrough. I understand wanting to make a game where you can have multiple playthroughs that result in vastly different experiences, but the hard truth is that most people will only want to play it once. I think that's why that guy is pushing so hard about "missing scenes" being such a big deal for them. a scene viewer that lets people see all the scenes that they missed would mitigate those kinds of complaints. Of course, it's your game and you should always just make the type of game that you think is best.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I like to provide replay ability, but my main goal is to provide players with meaningful choices. Say a player really likes 5 girls and the others not so much. I'm trying to provide choices that let players pursue the girls they like the most. The choices is also largely about strategy. Should I take sports to improve my athletic stat or Photography to improve my fashion stat? The class choices is how the stats are built. And the stats are needed to progress with the girls who each have different stat preferences. When the player progresses with a girl, they are awarded points. How the player manages their choices will determine how many points they score and thus if they win the game. I don't see how I could preserve this strategy in using a format to show all content.

I'm not familiar with a scene viewer. I'm fairly new to Renpy as I have used Rags in the past to make games. I've seen galleries for images that unlock when an image is shown in the game. Of course, this wouldn't address missing scenes. I'm still learning to code the non basics in Renpy.

 

[lydcreations]

The game description and the pics caught my attention and then I read the 2 reviews. Haven't downloaded it yet but since the reviews are VERY VERY old I don't feel they have any bearing any longer. The english seems to have been corrected based soley on the description on OP. On my watch list for later.

Thank you for your interest. I am new to both Renpy & Daz, so I've had a large learning curve. I've worked hard to improve my game and try my best to understand and implement player feedback that seems to be a good fit for my game. I believe the English comments in the reviews were largely due to style and I have edited my game in a previous version to address this. I have received a number of positive comments on my writing for my older games as well as various versions of Earth Girls.

 

[tigerdiamond]

Thank you for your suggestions.

I like to provide replay ability, but my main goal is to provide players with meaningful choices. Say a player really likes 5 girls and the others not so much. I'm trying to provide choices that let players pursue the girls they like the most. The choices is also largely about strategy. Should I take sports to improve my athletic stat or Photography to improve my fashion stat? The class choices is how the stats are built. And the stats are needed to progress with the girls who each have different stat preferences. When the player progresses with a girl, they are awarded points. How the player manages their choices will determine how many points they score and thus if they win the game. I don't see how I could preserve this strategy in using a format to show all content.

I'm not familiar with a scene viewer. I'm fairly new to Renpy as I have used Rags in the past to make games. I've seen galleries for images that unlock when an image is shown in the game. Of course, this wouldn't address missing scenes. I'm still learning to code the non basics in Renpy.

I'm not super familiar with the inner workings (I was a programmer years ago, but never python and I haven't looked into how renpy works much) but I imagine a scene viewer works very similar to a gallery (From the user side they're pretty much identical) I know there are a couple people on this forum who've made gallery mods for other games, so you could probably find some good help in the dev section here. (If that's something you choose to pursue)