Ren'Py Exilium - Breeding Empire [v0.1.9.1] [Nocturnal Illusions]

[nocturnalillusions]

I for one recognize the obvious time that went into this, so in advance, FWIW, I'd like to tip my hat to you. For the code leak, take it as a lesson learned, and move forward. In the grand scope of things, my guess is it probably wasn't the lion's share of where time was spent on the game. If this project is dear to you, keep at it. You'll learn and get better. Focus on fixing bugs and perhaps people will forgive in time. Ask other developers what strategy they use to handle patreon exclusive content, and choose one.

Can't please everyone. While this has been a rocky-ish start, plenty of people have shown interest and have said they like the potential and are waiting for this to mature a bit, so this, I hope, should give you some motivation to keep at it.

Godspeed.

Thanks! It's good to read something positive for a change.

Btw (if you're still checking these threads), totally fine to do some extra content for Patreon or whatever. Plenty of devs do, there's zero wrong with that. But yea, codes tend to be pase (cracking is super easy, codes get leaked easily). The most common thing I've seen on here that seems to be successful is having Patreon-only early releases (so that each iteration there's a Public release 2.0 and a Patreon release 3.0 or something like that) with the reward being 'getting there first', or a Patreon / Itch.to release that has a bit of extra (non game-gating) content and a Public release on here.

The first one is great because it lets people support you when they're able to (finances fluctuate, and even for those that are stable financially there are a lot of devs to support so they'll regularly subscribe for a month to one, then cancel and subscribe to another, and just keep going, 'cause otherwise they'd be supporting all the top-scoring long-history devs only and new devs - like you - would never get into the running). By having a (delayed) Public release it keeps excitement going for a (full-content) title, keeps people checking in for updates, and then folk can drop into Patreon/Itch when they're able.

The second one sounds like what would appeal to you more. Its essentially what you were doing with codes, but without codes (which yea, get leaked within days of posting, that's been an issue with codes and keys since the 90s). And its fine, just means you have to maintain two files. I haven't generally seen folk on here leak a private build if a public one was availalbe with most of the content - which isn't to say it never happens, or it doesn't happen elsewhere. But its not common. The dangerous thing with that (and keys) is that folk will often not support every version. There are a lot of games to play and so even if I wanted to I couldn't play all the releases on day-zero. Plus folk like to give releases time to build up content instead of downloading and playing 5 extra frames at a time. So the problem becomes that if a private-release has some content that's not in the public you have to be very careful that it doesn't destabilize the public-release next-version. For example, one of the games on here has a 'choice' for a scene where you can see two possible scenes, and a third (image and a bit of text) are patreon only. That's fine because all three of them have essentially the same outcome (the same variable is set) and the specifics never come up again. Your design though (locking a breeder or something away) would risk someone getting patreon-1.4 (w/ that unlocked breeder), then downloading public-1.8, and the game locks up because it tries to display the invalid breeder. So it will be a headache for you to manage that in a stable fashion.

(Oh, and there's the third path, trying to design for Steam, and using all these non-Steam releases as free beta-testers. But that's very risky with AI art because the laws around AI art are currently in flux, and not even consistent between countries / regions, so you could find yourself in a bad place doing that on such a public platform. I think, for example, that there are some US regions that require you to specify that an image is AI generated unless it has... I forget what % extra 'personal' effort done after the image was created, or how they tell)

Anyway, just stuff to think about. Don't worry too much about the hate-posts, sorry about that. Look on the bright side, if this was an NTR game you'd already have half-a-dozen pages about how that's terrible and horrible and NTR once kicked someone's cat or something. I suggest that if you stick around you just don't enage those kinds of posts / posts that aren't constructive. That's never gone well for anyone, from a new dev to a top celebrity. Good luck!

Thanks for help/feedback/pep talk!!

I think your advice is the one I should keep close to heart and just not engage on this kind of flamatory posts.

Thanks for giving also things to think about. Honestily I had never given in that much thought on the patreon reward type and didn't even think there would be all this buzz around it.

As for now I'll focus on the constructive feedback and in the community that is already forming on patreon. I'm full of ideas that I want to implement early on, even if still buggy or not optimal, just to obtain feedback and if it works or not.
For example I love the combat that I've implemented, but would also love to try out other things. I would adore to make a fight system similar to darkest dungeon. This early stages are what will allow me to test out things and get feedback from the people who already like the concept.

Thanks again to you and everyone that was positive and would like to see more of the game. I'll strive to improve it.


Also, for anyone facing issues with the game, I've launched this afternoon on itch a hotfix that fixes the rewards after combat and some of the save problems.

 

[FortheLoveOfPie]

So I recently go into civtai recently and totally understand how difficult all it is to generate a singular image let along similar images of the same model, and then to freaking create a video from it? Makes my brain hurt. Just something I noticied that instead of saving at a specific location, rather than saving at that specific location, when I right click it takes me back to the main screen. Again not a deal breaker but it's just slightly annoying from an end user standpoint. (again not a deal breaker)


Maybe it's because I half read the tutorial (not your fault, I got mad ADD) I couldn't understand how you generate resources? It might be a good idea, to use the engineers to create miners like they do in Warframe, it comes back every day with a specific low amount of resrouces. Now again just tryining to pull game ideas.

I would be also intreseted in a BBW pregnant model, possible of some sort of Pirate sect of the same type of humans/ company that is adiment that the protagonist impregnate everyone.

I could also see this having a cult following in the future. I believe what a good strategy right now would be to focus on the gameplay, and flesh out what you have so far. I would love to have the other different classes fleshed out, and the gameplay mechanics solid before releasing more content. Don't get me wrong, I think in this internet age, instant gratification at a new update and more images is always appreciated. But rather than some of the other games, I believe this one would be a hot positive game.


I really appreciate from a technical standpoint how difficult the AI generation is and understand how time consuming it is. For right now though focus on some of the mechanics. I think what would also be appreciated/neat, is a hucow/lactation bar, where you can express milk where you can sell it as a resource, or be able to gain resources from it.Possibely could even sell it for energy or what have you. Again just an idea. But yeah I mean let me know if you need anything and I will try to help. I wonder what Checkpoint model and Loras you are using to narrow down and refine the images. It's interesting.

Just your random neighborhood porn game appreciator.

 

[Novadrone]

As far as Patreon exclusive content goes, I'll point to Indivi and Lust Doll Plus. The model for that game is Patreon release, followed by a general release 2(?) weeks later. There are playable bad ends that are exclusive to the Patreon version, and the dev releases two builds of the game instead of using unlock codes. Not sure how difficult that would be in Renpy, but it's probably a more secure option compared to codes.

I've also seen other developers post a disclaimer stating that they don't endorse the piracy, but still wish to engage with users.

 

[brady560]

it not bad. i like it but man it buggy and unforgiving. i ll keep an eye on it

 

[Razgon]

Interesting concept, but bugs make it difficult to play properly. At least save/load needs to be fixed. Soldier upgrades don't seem to work either.

 

[Ramenlord2001]

anyone else get softlocked after doing a expedition because I did one and won right it said i gained 205 food and a few gems like 100 but non of the items that said I earned was added to my resources kind of frustrating

 

[Mario212]

This work on joiplay?

 

[mei-chan]

Ok, played through the game for ingame 100 days to see what it is about.

Personally, I like the setting, there is potential there, especially with what is written as the authors vision of this game.
I also recognize, that it is a 0.1 version, so many things are not there yet.

pros (in my eyes):
- the AI images are not bad (I have seen much worse)
- The UI has a nice visual design (which in itself is seldom enough and a nice thing to see adressed by a developer)
- The writing is OK
- Nice gimicks for patreons/supportors without blocking non supportors from actual gameplay features

Cons (again, personal opinion):
- many (in my essential) mechanics are missing which would be needed to fullfill the kind of strategic/basebuilding game
- Navigation is unintuitive (you get reset to the bedroom every time), with the kind of "choos your room from list" navigation the sense of a coherent world gets lost
- The "choose Card to interact" system makes the characters not feel like characters. This might be suited for the command room, within the actual locations making them show in the room as interactables might be a better choice
- On that note, the different rooms feel empty and unneccesary, as they only serve as a divider of character cards. Interactable things in the rooms might help that
- technical things:
- The exploration system does not give you any resources
- The card battle system feels wrong in this type of game and is quite un-strategical (is that even a word?)
- The breeding mechanic is nice at the beginning, but with the need to revisit every day it becomes a chore quite fast
- As others already pointed out, some usual renPy mechanics are missing (e.g. hide text box, especially as most artwork is directly placed behind the text box)
- (Character) artwork placing: some main UX rules: bigger= more important. If you have space, use it. A Backround is only there to avoid white Space.
=> The Chracter art is the important part, so make it use more than roughly 20% of the screen space
- Python: I had a look at the Code. It will be hard to extend and or change. While renpy is often a quite limiting engine the employment of OOP principles from the beginning of a project will save you a major headache down the line.
- AI art: As said in the pros, these are not bad compared to many others. They could still use some touch up in inpaint (Especially unifying clothing, remove the usual double navel, to many fingers and so on).
- Animations: I like the fact that the author tries this. Generate characters and backgrounds independently and so some kind of paper cutout animation style. With separatly generated images for characters and background, inpaint is your friend to generate small variations like changing faces/bellies/genitals and so on

Conclusion:
This game is still in (very) early development. The idea itself seems quite promising but understandably some mechanics and much content is missing. Also it quite obvious that currently the processes for asset/mechanics generation are not all figured out. On the other hand, I can see quite the potential here, depending on where the author leads this game too. Currently treat this as a short alpha demo for art style and core mechanics.

My advice for the author: Do some paperwork: Write down your intended mechanics, make flowcharts of how they work. Define processes for content generation and see if the output of that process fits your goal. Figure out some of your goals(e.g. should this be a strategical game, where characters are only assets you expect to loose or are they actual character which the player should bond with? Does this apply to all chracters? (e.g. girls vs miners/marines). Where do you expect the player to spend most of his time/attention? (This is actually quite hard if you dont want the answer to be tits *drool*). Check if the mechanics would be fun (e.g. to many cycles in a game mechanics flowchart are usually bad, repitition becomes labourous and so on).
Make implementation easier on you: learn basic OOP with python and use it (tip, if you use copy paste while coding you are probably on the wrong path). (This is literally a 4 hour youtube investment, so nothing major)
Make a work plan (and maybe use it to explain your progress steps to your supporters): Point out when you will work on what mechanic/content. Helps you to not get to lost in development, helps your supporters understand what to expect. Saves you from uneccesary work because you invest time in stuff which shouldn't be done yet (e.g. the upgrade mechanics, the other UI version)

 

[xgodjihyo]

will there be an android port? not working on my joiplay

 

[Mookubooku]

Decent concept but I was running into a bug that locked me out of progressing the story.

 

[Pebbles]

I understand what this is a first version of the game, but i'm disappointed what this game has so few polish and QoL features. Also saves are litteraly broken, can't scroll back, if i did something wrong (picked wrong option, made another click).
Also i would love to see improvements in UI, like at what stage breeder is, was he breeded today, putting icons showing at glance how battle is progressing (how many aliens died and survived), so i don't have to read text.
Hopefully you will be able to release a more polished version of the game free of most of bugs.

 

[icelandia]

Okayish concept.
Horrible combat.
If the player has no input in it, no tactical decision, and it's not even fun to watch, then why does it need to exist at all?
I don't think this game needs combat either. Could work just fine by sending exploration parties out and just hear back from the results.

 

[Kartuh]

Wich ai checkpoint are you using?

 

[XCelesX]

how do I get crystals? Also I can't send units out

 

[harem.king]

Wait, the women are pregnant with eggs?
are you playing as a human cuck watching as the girls are bred by tentacle monsters?
are you playing as a tentacle mosnter?
what is going on here?

Overview:
Exilium - Breeding Empire is an adult NSFW game that blends the strategic depth of worker placement and base building mechanics with the thrilling challenge of survival in a setting filled with mystery and danger. Set against the backdrop of a foreboding alien world, players must navigate the complexities of managing resources, enhancing their base, and assigning tasks to a diverse group of survivors. Each decision impacts not only the survival of the colony but also its ability to thrive amidst the unknown.

This overview is a bunch of purple prose that tells me nothing about the game itself.

 

[JokerOfTorment]

Wait, the women are pregnant with eggs?
are you playing as a human cuck watching as the girls are bred by tentacle monsters?
are you playing as a tentacle mosnter?
what is going on here?

This overview is a bunch of purple prose that tells me nothing about the game itself.

Looks like it's kind of copying that game called Subverse where you play a human male character that is in command and the female crew has sex with monsters and in return they can have babies with them, and they turn into your army type thing and the Mc just accepts it for whatever reason. You would think if those hot girls were running around you would want them all yourself instead of letting them do stuff with something gross. But yeah never liked it since I think it's all gross and stuff when bestiality and stuff related to it is involved. So ignored it when I found out about what goes on it.

 

[harem.king]

Looks like it's kind of copying that game called Subverse where you play a human male character that is in command and the female crew has sex with monsters and in return they can have babies with them, and they turn into your army type thing and the Mc just accepts it for whatever reason. You would think if those hot girls were running around you would want them all yourself instead of letting them do stuff with something gross. But yeah never liked it since I think it's all gross and stuff when bestiality and stuff related to it is involved. So ignored it when I found out about what goes on it.

Thanks for the warning.

 

[Hans Zuchter]

View attachment 3481020

Hang on... is that... McGwire?

 

[bombten]

I’m not a big fan of pregnancy (unless I get to fuck my daughter) but the strategy aspect makes this interesting to play. Looking forward to trying it.

 

[nocturnalillusions]

Wait, the women are pregnant with eggs?
are you playing as a human cuck watching as the girls are bred by tentacle monsters?
are you playing as a tentacle mosnter?
what is going on here?

This overview is a bunch of purple prose that tells me nothing about the game itself.

You are the captain of the ship/base, and you are the one who fuck the girls.

Looks like it's kind of copying that game called Subverse where you play a human male character that is in command and the female crew has sex with monsters and in return they can have babies with them, and they turn into your army type thing and the Mc just accepts it for whatever reason. You would think if those hot girls were running around you would want them all yourself instead of letting them do stuff with something gross. But yeah never liked it since I think it's all gross and stuff when bestiality and stuff related to it is involved. So ignored it when I found out about what goes on it.

Dude, I don't even know wtf is that game and what you described is nothing like what is going on. Stop making shit up without even downloading the game.
You are the one who impregnates the girls, and you and them are both human.