VN Ren'Py Eternum [v0.9.5 Public] [Caribdis]

[Takkatakka]

-Updates progress tracker every 8-10 days

-Has one of the most consistent release schedules among AVN devs at the moment (6 to 6 and a half months of dev work per update)

-Consistently posts previews and wallpapers on his Patreon Page for higher-tier subscribers to enjoy

-Still gets accused of abandoning his game

View attachment 3124346

Right, it's more 6-6 1/2 and not 5-5 1/2...why am I always writing 5?

Still on the low side compared to, say, VNs like Fate/Stay Night tho...

And those aren't real deaths...well...maybe you can actually die at the beginning of 0.7, we'll see.

Also, this works better than it should:

 

[bolenart]

I don't know if Caribdis will actually see this or not, but I hope one of the endings involves dying and resetting your level to 1 at every opportunity. If we base this game on Cari's previous game, this game will have a harem ending that requires a specific way of playing through the game. There will likely be an evil ending if Old Man McGee's offer is accepted. In any case, I am hoping there is an ending that requires you to die and reset your level at every opportunity you get. Although, as far as I got (not much farther past declining Old Man McGee's offer) I haven't seen any importance on the MC's level in the game. Has anyone seen a different scene based on your level at particular points in the game?

In the best of worlds, there would be tons of branching story paths each giving a unique playthrough like it's Baldurs Gate or something. That would be fun.

But in reality, this project is mostly (entirely?) a one-man project, and for the sake of development pace it's very linear with girls getting "greyed out" and you losing out on lewd scenes being the only real consequence of your choices. Even with this linearity I'd estimate that we're looking at 4+ years until the game is done. Add branching story paths to and we'd reduce the development pace by a lot, with the only gain being that it's nice to see your choices matter.

 

[Redd23]

Alright Dorfnutter I gotta say, this theory (1, 2, 3) is massive and well-crafted... Definitely an interesting lecture, and we'll see how much it'll have in common with the actual plot, but the cycle of trapped and reforged souls sounds really fitting to the ongoing events.
The cycle itself reminds me a little bit of Pillars of Eternity plot, but there the problem was reversed - souls were trapped within an engine and weren't able to go back and reincarnate, so any newborns were soulless, just empty vessels, without any counciousness within them.
So just to throw a wrench in the works:

Spoiler: basicaly just a variation to your theory

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In general heavy alegories to mythology are fitting, but I would honestly be a little dissapointed if it turned out to be 100% true. Firstly because at some point we would be almost sure what's gonna happen next and secondly it's really massive and complex worldbuilding. While having a solid background is immersive and in case of Caribdis I expect nothing less, if it's too much, it might overshadow actions of single characters. What I mean the overall plot of ongoing events suddenly becomes more interesting than personal life of MC and the girls, and in the end their relation seems petty in comparion. Because:

The tragedy about this I suppose is that...if this is true and Ulysses has been doing this for a very long time (and I mean very long, man's probably millions of years old by now)...

Sounds quite serious and other things pale in camparion
Obviously it all depends how it's presented, so I'm not really worried, I doubt Cari for some reason suddenly switches focus from MC to more "global" approach.

Spoiler: other things from mythological/cycle of souls theory

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So yea, your posts weren't just food for thought, it was a fuckin feast
Can't wait for 0.7 and see what new theories come to life.

 

[Redd23]

And just one more random thought about Kredon being some kind of special place:
MC is not the only one with special powers. Aside from Luna's power, her eyes are red similar to the Lady in Black (and both are connected with the theme of death). Nova hawk eyesight in her left eye might be just a genetic anomaly, but still it's something rather unusual. And Alex ashen hair (and Calypso comment about elven lineage) is also something that maybe will have some significance in the future.
I know I'm fishing here (aside from Luna's eyes, which are actually quite important IMO), but just a random after-thought

 

[ermal]

so, no sneak peek this month? Damn i wish i would see some more Luna render before the update

 

[Dorfnutter]

So just to throw a wrench in the works:

Spoiler: basicaly just a variation to your theory

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Just some corrections: what I was proposing in the theory post about the state of Eternum is that the "natural" cycle used to be Birth of Soul -> Life -> Death -> Afterlife, so basically a linear progression. After Acheron was sealed though, it became an "unnatural" cycle of death and rebirth, where the soul is used up as material for reincarnation until it breaks down to the point that it can no longer reincarnate. So once all is said and done, the original state of Eternum will likely return and all of the souls trapped will be sent to their respective afterlives instead of faffing about in Eternum/the Astral Plane.

Originally that theory comes with the idea that said soul gets rebooted again once the Founder reboots the universe (which to a spirit is likely a living hell of sorts). But after some reruns with the game and the revelations of Caly's tale, it could be that I might be wrong about the Founder and that he instead might either be the Eldari or Y'liar (more of that in this post) and that the souls that can no longer reincarnate are doomed to wander Eternum as noncorporeal voices in the wind...or alternatively, as the Lady in Black tells it, "they all go back to the same box."

I still think that the Gems are the Caribdiverse version of the Sephirot tho. The similarities in their descriptions are just too damn close to be considered a coincidence.

In general heavy alegories to mythology are fitting, but I would honestly be a little dissapointed if it turned out to be 100% true. Firstly because at some point we would be almost sure what's gonna happen next and secondly it's really massive and complex worldbuilding. While having a solid background is immersive and in case of Caribdis I expect nothing less, if it's too much, it might overshadow actions of single characters. What I mean the overall plot of ongoing events suddenly becomes more interesting than personal life of MC and the girls, and in the end their relation seems petty in comparion.

Like I've said in one of my posts in this thread, I think that Eternum is to Caribdis what Fate/Stay Night is to Kinoko Nasu, in that it's that one title that essentially expands upon hinted stuff in their first game, establishes the rules and concepts that are to be inherent in the setting, all while creating a damn good VN that improves upon its predecessor in every single conceivable way.

As such, I think the worldbuilding is warranted, though from what I've seen in the past updates they never did overshadow the personal stories and relationship building between Orion and the girls - far from it (compare that to OIAL which IMO is the complete opposite where the personal stories and slice of life were a bit too much and only got balanced out around 0.5). I'm sure Cari will find a way to make things less complicated by the end though (I mean, despite some liberal use of mythological and religious references in OIAL it still ended up a bit straightforward in the end). Right now it only feels complicated because we're still trying to find out more about the setting.

Sounds quite serious and other things pale in camparion
Obviously it all depends how it's presented, so I'm not really worried, I doubt Cari for some reason suddenly switches focus from MC to more "global" approach.

I mean, compared to the Goonies-esque plot of the last game Eternum is indeed more serious in tone, though it's still set in the Caribdiverse, so random shenanigans and whatthefuckery are still pretty much expected.

Spoiler

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Spoiler: Soooo...funny thing I've learned a while back while sifting through Cari's Discord...

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Spoiler

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I feel like this theory should be discarded in light of 0.6's revelations but I suppose the Ulysses connection is still apt if it's revealed that the Founder is indeed Y'liar and Idriel is Anima...if only because I think their relationship somewhat mirrors Ulysses and Circe (and to some extent, a reverse of Ulysses and Calypso's relationship) in the Odyssey story.

 

[Dylan741]

Just some corrections: what I was proposing in the theory post about the state of Eternum is that the "natural" cycle used to be Birth of Soul -> Life -> Death -> Afterlife, so basically a linear progression. After Acheron was sealed though, it became an "unnatural" cycle of death and rebirth, where the soul is used up as material for reincarnation until it breaks down to the point that it can no longer reincarnate. So once all is said and done, the original state of Eternum will likely return and all of the souls trapped will be sent to their respective afterlives instead of faffing about in Eternum/the Astral Plane.

Originally that theory comes with the idea that said soul gets rebooted again once the Founder reboots the universe (which to a spirit is likely a living hell of sorts). But after some reruns with the game and the revelations of Caly's tale, it could be that I might be wrong about the Founder and that he instead might either be the Eldari or Y'liar (more of that in this post) and that the souls that can no longer reincarnate are doomed to wander Eternum as noncorporeal voices in the wind...or alternatively, as the Lady in Black tells it, "they all go back to the same box."

I still think that the Gems are the Caribdiverse version of the Sephirot tho. The similarities in their descriptions are just too damn close to be considered a coincidence.



Like I've said in one of my posts in this thread, I think that Eternum is to Caribdis what Fate/Stay Night is to Kinoko Nasu, in that it's that one title that essentially expands upon hinted stuff in their first game, establishes the rules and concepts that are to be inherent in the setting, all while creating a damn good VN that improves upon its predecessor in every single conceivable way.

As such, I think the worldbuilding is warranted, though from what I've seen in the past updates they never did overshadow the personal stories and relationship building between Orion and the girls - far from it (compare that to OIAL which IMO is the complete opposite where the personal stories and slice of life were a bit too much and only got balanced out around 0.5). I'm sure Cari will find a way to make things less complicated by the end though (I mean, despite some liberal use of mythological and religious references in OIAL it still ended up a bit straightforward in the end). Right now it only feels complicated because we're still trying to find out more about the setting.



I mean, compared to the Goonies-esque plot of the last game Eternum is indeed more serious in tone, though it's still set in the Caribdiverse, so random shenanigans and whatthefuckery are still pretty much expected.

Spoiler: Soooo...funny thing I've learned a while back while sifting through Cari's Discord...

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I feel like this theory should be discarded in light of 0.6's revelations but I suppose the Ulysses connection is still apt if it's revealed that the Founder is indeed Y'liar and Idriel is Anima...if only because I think their relationship somewhat mirrors Ulysses and Circe (and to some extent, a reverse of Ulysses and Calypso's relationship) in the Odyssey story.

Uhm aside all the interesting things you wrote, the part about the Discord posts are giving me second thougths on working on a figure in 3D of Nova...
Dang now that I think about it, I didn't ask his permission to do that... I don't want to upset him... Ugh.... Ok scratch that, no 3D tries on Eternums's characters, I will try to learn on other subjects.
Sigh....

 

[Dorfnutter]

Uhm aside all the interesting things you wrote, the part about the Discord posts are giving me second thougths on working on a figure in 3D of Nova...
Dang now that I think about it, I didn't ask his permission to do that... I don't want to upset him... Ugh.... Ok scratch that, no 3D tries on Eternums's characters, I will try to learn on other subjects.
Sigh....



View attachment 3125602

Wait, what?

That's not what that Discord post implied at all. It's just that Cari thinks it's cheating to use your Patreon privileges to request a commission from him just to confirm a fan theory. Nothing in that post says that he's against fan work of any sort (hell, he even has dedicated channels for fan art AND AI art of Eternum characters).

So yeah, I think he'll be fine with whatever you're planning lol.

 

[Dylan741]

Wait, what?

That's not what that Discord post implied at all. It's just that Cari thinks it's cheating to use your Patreon privileges to request a commission from him just to confirm a fan theory. Nothing in that post says that he's against fan work of any sort (hell, he even has a dedicated channel for fan art AND AI art of Eternum characters).

So yeah, I think he'll be fine with whatever you're planning lol.

Really? I mean I know the post wasn't intended for that, but my conscience was nagging at me about doing something without asking ( especially because it would be about 3d models that would be printed for doing real statues) him for permission.
I was thinking if this could have been considered as a "You're doing so in order to sell it", but this is not my intention at all.
I just wanted a physical model to paint and put on my shelf as a homage to one of the best devs and games in my eyes...Though I could give him the 3D files once I finish, if they will be good enough in his opinion (of course).
Uhm, back to planning the best scenes to recreate, in the end I'm still far from being good at modelling, so I need a lot of practice before even thinking of printing something.
Thanks a lot man, I will ask Cari for permission anyway, and I will show him the works before.

 

[Yvier the Duck]

Really? I mean I know the post wasn't intended for that, but my conscience was nagging at me about doing something without asking ( especially because it would be about 3d models that would be printed for doing real statues) him for permission.
I was thinking if this could have been considered as a "You're doing so in order to sell it", but this is not my intention at all.
I just wanted a physical model to paint and put on my shelf as a homage to one of the best devs and games in my eyes...Though I could give him the 3D files once I finish, if they will be good enough in his opinion (of course).
Uhm, back to planning the best scenes to recreate, in the end I'm still far from being good at modelling, so I need a lot of practice before even thinking of printing something.
Thanks a lot man, I will ask Cari for permission anyway, and I will show him the works before.

Nah, don't worry, is not the same and I'm pretty sure Carbdis will be flattered to see it, fan arts made with love always are well received. And of course, if you make a little stature of our Goddess... I want one.

 

[Dylan741]

Nah, don't worry, is not the same and I'm pretty sure Carbdis will be flattered to see it, fan arts made with love always are well received. And of course, if you make a little stature of our Goddess... I want one.

View attachment 3125661

Thanks a lot for the trust brother, I will try my best to recreate her in all her Magnificent Glory and Holiness.

 

[AVNTester2]

Really? I mean I know the post wasn't intended for that, but my conscience was nagging at me about doing something without asking ( especially because it would be about 3d models that would be printed for doing real statues) him for permission.
I was thinking if this could have been considered as a "You're doing so in order to sell it", but this is not my intention at all.
I just wanted a physical model to paint and put on my shelf as a homage to one of the best devs and games in my eyes...Though I could give him the 3D files once I finish, if they will be good enough in his opinion (of course).
Uhm, back to planning the best scenes to recreate, in the end I'm still far from being good at modelling, so I need a lot of practice before even thinking of printing something.
Thanks a lot man, I will ask Cari for permission anyway, and I will show him the works before.

Oh to have a statue of the best sniper in eternum would be very nice

 

[e6mill]

I could be wrong but I believe the reason you can't *sell* HS games is that their EULA gives THEM ownership of stuff created in it. So that could technically be an obstacle too. Though if you're not making money I don't see why they'd care - but I am not a lawyer. :shrug:

 

[Takkatakka]

Thanks a lot for the trust brother, I will try my best to recreate her in all her Magnificent Glory and Holiness.

In her Glory Holeness?


Oh wait...

-----

And I would love to participate in those wild story speculations but after around 8hs of learning, my brain is like "Na bro, I've closed for the day and you're on your own with those text walls... "

 

[Dylan741]

I could be wrong but I believe the reason you can't *sell* HS games is that their EULA gives THEM ownership of stuff created in it. So that could technically be an obstacle too. Though if you're not making money I don't see why they'd care - but I am not a lawyer. :shrug:

Yeah, that's true, but I'm not going to sell nor creating any copy aside for a single one and that would be it.

 

[Dylan741]

In her Glory Holeness? Oh wait...

-----

And I would love to participate in those wild story speculations but after around 8hs of learning, my brain is like "Na bro, I've closed for the day and you're on your own with those text walls... "

ROTFL!!!
Just you wait when I will create the statue of Luna..... and post the pics here....

 

[ThorinKing]

There's another reasonable reaction ...
View attachment 3124197

Not for someone with only four posts and only 1,000 spots on the ignore list - he isn't worth it.

 

[jock1a]

Thanks a lot for the trust brother, I will try my best to recreate her in all her Magnificent Glory and Holiness.

i just ordered me a new 3d printer i am going to try and make some as well hehe. Don't know if i can pull it off but will be a fun project

 

[Paladin_76]

-Updates progress tracker every 8-10 days

-Has one of the most consistent release schedules among AVN devs at the moment (6 to 6 and a half months of dev work per update)

-Consistently posts previews and wallpapers on his Patreon Page for higher-tier subscribers to enjoy

-Still gets accused of abandoning his game

View attachment 3124346

I don't recall accusing anyone of anything. I think one or two of you folks are just a smidge too sensetive. Relax snowflake, it'll be ok. It was a simple question that got answered politely like 57 times.

 

[Elhemeer]

Not for someone with only four posts and only 1,000 spots on the ignore list - he isn't worth it.

I've never capped out yet, so we'll see.
(probably close though ...)