VN Ren'Py Abandoned Estate : Dominate [v0.36.1] [Henissart]

[kappajoe]

@Henissart i changed the story so anja is mc's and heather's mom. no accident no grief but 100% more naughty. i hate when parents die in the intro. they work so father can keep the lab. maybe you consider this for a #patch.#
p.s.: amazing cg and dialogs. if your next update is no bummer you got me hooked.

 

[KMJ96815]

I don't want to bug all of you with this too much, but if you really like the game and it wouldn't take the food from your table, consider chipping in on Patreon. I'm working on the game full-time and it's not possible to develop it any other way without huge gaps between updates. Since the start of development in February I've been living from my savings. Can't do that forever unfortunately.
If you like the game but you aren't in a position where you can spend money on it, that's fine too of course. I'm well aware there are more important things in life than porn. You can still help out by writing a review here or similar places, or simply by telling people about the game. Just about anything helps.

I'll consider being a Patron earlier (after 0.2) now after reading this if the quality remains good as I'd like to see you be able to do your creative vision with less strain from real life if possible. (I have always by habit never wanted to donate anything before 0.3 to see if a dev is serious in going forward) I typically go about 10-20 a month for Patron which isn't huge but I figure anything helps. I personally like the psychological elements and especially the idea of a person without much control nevertheless making decisions to get/give some level of control in their own way.

My wife is a much bigger Patron (she donates probably over 700-800 a month on various things on the site mostly non-game related) and separately might do the same but she is looking much more for very specific story elements than I am, so it would be a tougher sell for her but she loved 0.1. She's even considering hiring two programmers/artists she knows write an entire game for her just to get those specific story elements.

I really hope you develop the game well and wish you luck!

 

[trdx]

It's pretty simple really. First, it's an unrealistic scenario, at least in the time and place where it happens. No matter what backstory you make up, it's going to be easy to pick apart. Second, while I could've made a more realistic backstory, there are always trade offs involved. I would have to either spend considerable time on it instead of making content at the estate. The content that people actually want to play. Or I could've done the prologue as pure text. Essentially like a little prologue novella. I did consider that, but I shelved it because I thought too many people would see a wall of text, explaining stuff that gets discarded anyway once the MC is at the estate, say "the fuck is this shit" and stop playing. So in the end I decided that most people will realize that you need to suspend your disbelief once at the start, move on and have fun.

I'm fine with the story beginning, because you have to start moving. But if I may suggest another look at the problem you are describing and possible solutions...
A lot of games that I start playing have terrible story-writing. It starts... right at the beginning, with narrator trying to explain every single detail in first 3 minutes, using most cringe-worthy narrative methods. Few years back I found a "novel" I wrote when I was 12 and those same tricks were used there. I couldn't finish reading. Terrible. Now you didn't do that, but notice that whatever you decide to write, there will always be someone saying "oh but why did he agree to this, all he had to do was nuke the mayor's house, steal a horse and ride to the other side of the world". And I'm not blaming anyone. Whatever the scenario is, someone will always find it unrealistic.

So why bother? You could have started by discussing unspecified debt. It's a big one. But you never mention what it actually is. You just imply that it has to be done. For example Anja, people are asking what is her thing? Well my guess is that she has a debt to pay and it's a really big one, going well beyond finances. Suppose that's true. You never have to explain what it actually is. Everyone can guess their own debt that would fill into the premise. Sure, you might annoy couple of kids complaining why it's not explained, but I think most people would find it interesting.

if you want to keep do this instead of full time job, why not put it as your patreon goal/s. dont know about others but im more inclined to support devs who have not reached them. especially the "going fulltime" which a lot have.

My view on this is that 95% of creators's stated goals are just space fillers. They just write it because they have to. If I reach 500 I will upgrade PC, but if I only get 480, then I won't. What? Even if you have 480 for 12 months? If I reach 2000, I will be able to work on it full time, but if I reach 1800, then I will have to keep my job. What happens when you reach 2000, you resign, and then you lose half of the patrons? Imagine a creator waiting in front of the screen for number to switch from 1999 to 2000 with phone in his hand, his office on the speed dial. Life is much more complex than that and I don't believe any of the goals. I support because I support. What they do with the money is their choice entirely. They can buy new GPU or spend it on gold sprinkled hamburgers. Obviously the creators will usually always invest more resources into a project they see is bringing in some cash.

 

[DreamLab Studio]

Ok.. so... renders are great and all that...but... after finishing this update I have just one question in my mind - what the actual shit is this? I mean I don't want to be toxic or something like that... but man.... the story... what the hell was that?... Its a shame because I really like renders... well I guess that this game apparently not for me... and will be one of those, where just right click without reading, just to see pretty renders. Shame

I guess I'm sort of having the same "what the shit is this" feeling about your post. Did you not understand the story after going through the game? Are you not happy with the story? I found the story to be a very clear to understand so I'm not sure what issue you may have had. Since your comment didn't include more than "WTF?" I'm not sure what issue you actually had.

 

[EroticBloom]

Nah, that would be too much spoiler. Glasses will happen though. Love them and Heather obvs only wears contacts now. So no problem having a scene or two with glasses soon.

Glasses are a top tier fetish and I'm glad to hear there will be more scenes in the future. Mrs. VonStern looks ridiculously sexy with them so I hope to see more of them in the future.

 

[Henissart]

if you want to keep do this instead of full time job, why not put it as your patreon goal/s. dont know about others but im more inclined to support devs who have not reached them. especially the "going fulltime" which a lot have.

Will do. But when I started the page I had no idea if even a single person would be interested. Now it looks like I might actually have a shot at full-time development, so I'll add that goal before long.

@Henissart i changed the story so anja is mc's and heather's mom. no accident no grief but 100% more naughty. i hate when parents die in the intro. they work so father can keep the lab. maybe you consider this for a #patch.#
p.s.: amazing cg and dialogs. if your next update is no bummer you got me hooked.

Lol, well you certainly have my blessing. Let me know if I can support that project in some way. Maybe I can add a mod channel to the Discord to help you get it out there. I certainly think you'll have a lot of work to do if you want everything to make sense.

I'll consider being a Patron earlier (after 0.2) now after reading this if the quality remains good as I'd like to see you be able to do your creative vision with less strain from real life if possible. (I have always by habit never wanted to donate anything before 0.3 to see if a dev is serious in going forward) I typically go about 10-20 a month for Patron which isn't huge but I figure anything helps. I personally like the psychological elements and especially the idea of a person without much control nevertheless making decisions to get/give some level of control in their own way.

My wife is a much bigger Patron (she donates probably over 700-800 a month on various things on the site mostly non-game related) and separately might do the same but she is looking much more for very specific story elements than I am, so it would be a tougher sell for her but she loved 0.1. She's even considering hiring two programmers/artists she knows write an entire game for her just to get those specific story elements.

I really hope you develop the game well and wish you luck!

Cheers. I understand supporting projects early in development is always a bit iffy. Does make it a bit of a chicken and an egg problem though. I think many projects simply die early because it seems like not enough people are interested.

I'm fine with the story beginning, because you have to start moving. But if I may suggest another look at the problem you are describing and possible solutions...
A lot of games that I start playing have terrible story-writing. It starts... right at the beginning, with narrator trying to explain every single detail in first 3 minutes, using most cringe-worthy narrative methods. Few years back I found a "novel" I wrote when I was 12 and those same tricks were used there. I couldn't finish reading. Terrible. Now you didn't do that, but notice that whatever you decide to write, there will always be someone saying "oh but why did he agree to this, all he had to do was nuke the mayor's house, steal a horse and ride to the other side of the world". And I'm not blaming anyone. Whatever the scenario is, someone will always find it unrealistic.

So why bother? You could have started by discussing unspecified debt. It's a big one. But you never mention what it actually is. You just imply that it has to be done. For example Anja, people are asking what is her thing? Well my guess is that she has a debt to pay and it's a really big one, going well beyond finances. Suppose that's true. You never have to explain what it actually is. Everyone can guess their own debt that would fill into the premise. Sure, you might annoy couple of kids complaining why it's not explained, but I think most people would find it interesting.


My view on this is that 95% of creators's stated goals are just space fillers. They just write it because they have to. If I reach 500 I will upgrade PC, but if I only get 480, then I won't. What? Even if you have 480 for 12 months? If I reach 2000, I will be able to work on it full time, but if I reach 1800, then I will have to keep my job. What happens when you reach 2000, you resign, and then you lose half of the patrons? Imagine a creator waiting in front of the screen for number to switch from 1999 to 2000 with phone in his hand, his office on the speed dial. Life is much more complex than that and I don't believe any of the goals. I support because I support. What they do with the money is their choice entirely. They can buy new GPU or spend it on gold sprinkled hamburgers. Obviously the creators will usually always invest more resources into a project they see is bringing in some cash.

The "keep everything vague" is a pretty fair point. That might have been a better solution.
Regarding the goals: I wouldn't take them so literally. My first goal was a hardware upgrade and I've immediately upgraded even though I haven't hit it yet. But I'm sure enough that I will and that's what matters.
Quitting your real job on the other hand is actually kinda binary. Not many jobs can be scaled back to part-time, so you do have to make the choice at some point. My "real" job will be available until the start of August or September, so at that point I will have to make the choice myself.

Glasses are a top tier fetish and I'm glad to hear there will be more scenes in the future. Mrs. VonStern looks ridiculously sexy with them so I hope to see more of them in the future.

It's one thing I don't get in porn. So many scenes that start out with a woman looking amazing with sexy glasses, then 5 minutes in they get put to the side. And then they ruin a facial because she has to close her eyes to protect them when the perfect solution is sitting 2 meters away on the floor.

 

[N1K17Y]

just read the "very long post on the direction of the game " and it sounds like you are custom making it for me

 

[steelsmiter]

@Henissart i changed the story so anja is mc's and heather's mom. no accident no grief but 100% more naughty. i hate when parents die in the intro. they work so father can keep the lab. maybe you consider this for a #patch.#
p.s.: amazing cg and dialogs. if your next update is no bummer you got me hooked.

Lol, well you certainly have my blessing. Let me know if I can support that project in some way. Maybe I can add a mod channel to the Discord to help you get it out there. I certainly think you'll have a lot of work to do if you want everything to make sense.

All i'm sayin' is you should totally collab and incorporate that into the game

 

[Ashley young]

Will we get to turn the tables on girls at some point or is it going to be female domination all the way? I like the game, but I don't really want the game to turn out like Starless where you're pretty much treated like shit in every scene. It gets a bit repetitive after some time. In any case, I still like the game. GG.

 

[Claudio83]

If there will be some choices and paths to make in the 0.2 version, please add a walkthrough

 

[Henissart]

just read the "very long post on the direction of the game " and it sounds like you are custom making it for me

Glad you liked it. I should have probably included something like that in the game description here. I still think quite a few people have a somewhat wrong impression of what I want to make just due to the limited tag list of the game here and some extrapolation from other games they have played, like Starless, that are superficially similar but still very different.

All i'm sayin' is you should totally collab and incorporate that into the game

I don't have plans to include any family pictures into the game, so if kappjoe is motivated enough to rewrite large chunks of dialogue, it's at least in theory a feasible project. I'll certainly play it.

Will we get to turn the tables on girls at some point or is it going to be female domination all the way? I like the game, but I don't really want the game to turn out like Starless where you're pretty much treated like shit in every scene. It gets a bit repetitive after some time. In any case, I still like the game. GG.

Depends a bit on what you consider "turning the tables". There won't be a blackmail route that makes you Master of the Estate and turns the Mistresses into your maids or something like that, but there will be opportunities to be dominant, including a route that focuses on that. But even in the rest of the content you won't really be treated like shit all that much. It's often other characters, like Heather for example, that are treated worse and you might even take part in that. The majority of the people at the Estate are also not really out to treat you badly. The scenario is similar to Starless, but the content will not be like it overall. If you want more details, here's a link to a long post about the direction:

You must be registered to see the links

If there will be some choices and paths to make in the 0.2 version, please add a walkthrough

I'll make a walkthrough at some point. If I can make it for the release of Chapter 2 depends a bit on how well the "polishing phase" close to release goes. If all is smooth and I have some spare time, it's absolutely planned.

 

[Ashley young]

There won't be a blackmail route that makes you Master of the Estate and turns the Mistresses

Yeah, I get that. After all, the family pretty much owns everything, and the family is quite good in business, so it would be foolish for the mc to become the master of the house or anything. What I wanted to know is that if the mc will ever act even a bit dominant or will take initiative, or act cold at the daughters of the mom in any of the scenes. Because in Starless the mc was always fucked over, regardless of your choices. I don't want this game to turn into your standard "chad mc corrupts and dominated household", it should in essence mostly stay a game around femdom. However, a bit of role reversal would be fun.

 

[Alleykatt]

For me, I don't particularly want or need the MC to be dominant. (I prefer him a bit sub.) But I would like to see a bit of defiance. That can be very simple, such as just acting cold or hostile (while still being obedient), or just refusing to take pleasure from the things he is asked to do.

Having said that, I am a little bit disturbed by the sentiment aluded to by Hennisart, which seems to imply that he will get carried away with abusing his sister. In order to keep the MC sympathetic, I think he needs to keep the option of being self-sacrificial, sometimes bringing punishment down on himself in order to prevent his sister's discomfort.

 

[KMJ96815]

I like the choice aspect of the MC being either very pure and sympathetic or not. I guess everyone is different

 

[79flavors]

In order to keep the MC sympathetic, I think he needs to keep the option of being self-sacrificial [...]

I tend to agree.
I'm not sure the game should head that way... but I would prefer it if it did. I say that because I'm not really a Femdom fan - so when I point out my preferences... I also wonder if it would be working against the theme. But where the MC does have a choice... or at least a way of nudging events in a certain direction, however lightly... I would prefer it if he were doing do in whatever way he perceives would lessen Heather's discomfort. If not in the short term, at least in the long term. "Doing the wrong thing for the right reasons" comes to mind.

I like the choice aspect of the MC being either very pure and sympathetic or not. I guess everyone is different

It could be argued that both choices are sympathetic, but only one is pure.

I like to think both routes so far are the MC's way of trying to do what's best for his sister. Maybe he's a bit too focused on retaining his own sense of self determination. Maybe he's not able to see beyond what he's being told to do. Maybe he thinks the quicker he gets the deed over with, the sooner things will be over with for Heather. But there are ways you can frame it all as him doing the wrong thing for the right reasons.

All that said, I played the more sympathetic of the two routes - and the game let me.

 

[Henissart]

@Ashley young @Alleykatt @KMJ96815 @79flavors

All your posts are kinda connected, so I try to answer them all at once:
I plan to have 3 real routes in the long run. Those routes are centered around the relationship you have to individual characters. But since those characters have different preferences about your behavior, the routes are also somewhat aligned with how you behave. Very very roughly speaking, you could also call them dominant, submissive and neutral. It's not a perfect fit, but close enough I guess.
What this means is that, pretty much from the start, I try to write the MC in a way that let's you behave in congruence with that. Sometimes that will mean you can make choices that influence the events (say, successfully refusing to do something), sometimes it's only what's going on in your mind (e.g. you're forced to do something, but your thoughts reflect that you hate to do it). I try to always let you have some sense of control about the MC.
So I will never force you to be an asshole to Heather, you will always have the choice to do your best to support her. You will also have the choice to be more dominant with people. And that does include at least trying to turn the tables. But whatever you chose, there are also other people at the Estate with their own agendas, several of them in a more powerful position than you, so you will never have full control over what happens and sometimes choices can backfire.

 

[thjnh1591]

Is this game gonna be free roam or more visual light novel?

 

[DreamLab Studio]

Is this game gonna be free roam or more visual light novel?

It's more of a visual novel, no free roaming available.

 

[Henissart]

Is this game gonna be free roam or more visual light novel?

There's not going to be free roam in the game. I think it wouldn't work well with the setting. You are a servant and most of your day is structured by the tasks the family sets you, so giving you the ability to do whatever you want wouldn't make much sense. There's also the general problem with free roam, that it obviously doesn't add content on it's own. It's just a way to unlock it. And unless there is a tremendous amount of stuff to do on every screen, free roam games always end up feeling pretty lifeless to me. For some genres like dating sims free roaming makes sense regardless, the ability to chose whom to go after is simply essential for them. But in a case like Estate : Dominate, free roaming seems to me like nothing but a cheap way to artificially stretch out the game by wasting the players time.
If Chapter 1 was too restrictive for you in terms of choices, give Chapter 2 a chance when I comes around though. No free roam, but still a good deal more reactive than 0.1.


In somewhat related news: Since there have been so many questions about player choice, I've turned a formerly Patron only post with some thoughts on "choices and consequences" public.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[deluges]

Man... this is going to be a difficult game to play. The situation is hot, the women are hot, but holy fuck are they evil. It's great, but you also feel really bad for Heather.