VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Ch.1 Remake v0.25] [NeonGhosts]

4.60 star(s) 227 Votes
Discussion Reviews (227)
E

Eleanorduval

Engaged Member
Feb 12, 2025
2,208
1,285
NeonGhosts said:
So, originally the dev from The Regional Manager (great game, great guy, go play it!) did the art for Chapter 1. I used his model for Nicki, but there were certain things about her that I didn't love, and I wound up changing a bit before I took over rendering Chapter 2. I gave her more distinct eyes, tweaked her face a bit, blah blah blah. So, the Nicki present in Chapter 1, matches the Nicki that exists from Chapter 2 and on. I changed her hair from the original, just because that original asset was dForce hair, which is a giant pain in the ass to work with.



I just wasn't happy with it, honestly. Due to how it was made (with me writing, and someone else rendering) it just never felt as cohesive as I wanted it to. And I couldn't have as many renders as I wanted, because another dev was doing the art, while working on his own game, so he only had limited time to fuck with it. The new version lingers more on Nicki and Guy's friendship, goes into his original crypto investment a bit more, introduces some characters earlier, and adds more variety to the sex scenes. I wouldn't say it's just a new coat of paint on an old story. It's more like a retelling of the original, with more elements added.



Difficult to say, but my best guess would be mid-late July? I'm still early into Chapter 11, and it should be a pretty large chapter.



Eh, I'm not really frustrated. I'm pretty accustomed to this pattern by now. I do [X], some folks says it's the death of the game, and then we rehash the exercise in four months. Been that way since the first release. I just wish people would realize that, if their intent is to whip me into submission like a dog, it's just.. Not going to work? That seems to be the impetus, right?

"How fucking dare you do this thing I don't like! Bad! Bad developer!"

Like.. Maybe that works for some people? But, I'm always working as quickly as I can, and yelling at me about X, Y, or Z isn't going to make me go faster.

Still, I appreciate the kind words! :D



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he help u but he abandoned his game "The Regional Manager" :cry:
 
NeonGhosts

NeonGhosts

Well-Known Member
Game Developer
Mar 20, 2019
1,237
14,992
jish55 said:
I'm just sad we have to wait even longer for the full implementation of the Gabby relationship, especially since mc ended things with her back in 2023.
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Well, fortunately Chapter 11 does push things forward with Gabby in a big way, on every path (well, less so on the friend path, but..). Unfortunately, sex scenes tend to be the most labor-intensive rendering, and this chapter will have three of them, so that's the biggest threat to a timely release.*

GB.png

*giggity
 
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FatYoda

FatYoda

Well-Known Member
Sep 12, 2017
1,282
1,167
ImperialD said:
agree to disagree ... i always tend to think the original is best :love:
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she might go back to the way she was tbh. not sure. this did take place before she was put through the shit by brent for like 6months. That much stress for that long can age a girl. and really what she looks now in this version is younger, less weathered, softer.
 
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FatYoda

FatYoda

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Sep 12, 2017
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NeonGhosts said:
Well, fortunately Chapter 11 does push things forward with Gabby in a big way, on every path (well, less so on the friend path, but..). Unfortunately, sex scenes tend to be the most labor-intensive rendering, and this chapter will have three of them, so that's the biggest threat to a timely release.*

View attachment 4802642

*giggity
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yeeeesssss, i've been wanting gabby back in my life soooo bad!
 
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Krytax123

Engaged Member
Dec 29, 2022
2,745
5,825
NeonGhosts said:
Because I love repeating myself: Chapter 1 was remade in its entirety -- I'd get into the reasons why, but let's just say it's because I wanted to personally hurt people's feelings that were looking forward to Chapter 11, and went through a lot of effort to do so.

The following chapters (2-10) needed to have some code and story beats updated, but I've tried to leave as much untouched as possible. While I'm going through the chapters line by line, I'm adding some renders here and there, and tweaking some dialogue. But we're talking about 100~ renders, for scenes I've already built, lit, etc. and 90% of it is in Chapters 2/3, with 20ish added to Ashe's date scene. As soon as that's done, I'll be re-releasing Chapters 1-10 as Season 1, and Chapter 11 will kick off Season 2.

Now, let's play Jump to Conclusions!

  • I'm Milking My Supporters: True! You got me, nobody tell those naughty little cows. ;)
  • I'm Trying to Avoid the Abandoned Tag on This Fine Pirate Site: True! Granted, Chapter 10 only came out in November, and the abandoned tag doesn't kick in for at least a year.. And the Blue Valentine mini-sode came out in February.. And the Chapter 11 teaser in March.. And now a full chapter in April.. Shit, I'm putting a lot of work into not working.
  • Steam Demanded I Change the Content: Truueeeee! As you can see, Friends in Need is already on Steam, but they demanded I strip out any naughty content. So, I'm reworking it as a farming sim. The new title will be Friends with Seed. It still sounds dirty, but it isn't.
  • I'm Abandoning the Game: Trrruuuuueee-- *
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Its maybe not fair to you in person but avn readers simply developed some kind of ptsd against reworks as so many devs failed to do them properly and they oftentimes lead to new content being pushed back for year(s) which is bad considering avn development isnt fast in general.

I think at least 90% of the devs starting a rework, arent doing it because of the sarcastic conclusions you listed and indeed intend to enhance their avn with the rework honestly and intend for the rework to just take a few months of time at max.

It just most of the times doesnt turn out like that and they realise that they will have to change more and more after they started with the changes in the first place. Have to develop new renders, maybe getting new ideas and quickly a year is gone without any new content at all.

This development isnt unusual at all after a rework started, so imo its only normal that readers get a bit nervous about reworks.

As i said, its not fair to you in person as you havent disappointed anyone yet and kinda have to take the blame for the other devs failings and maybe you got it all figured out and it will be gucci. We just dont know that, a lot of these other devs were great devs making awesome avns too and still failed at this step.

It oftentimes get along with the devs losing interest in their work as reworking stuff seems to be less exciting and more and more as longer it takes.

Its disheartening when storys youre really enjoying end like that. And none of these devs intended it in the first place and there are really good devs among them. I kinda struggle to comprehend how/why you make fun of these worries like its something entirely not imagineable while it happens all the time.

I can understand why youre annoyed but i think ridiculing these users is not really the way to go and i dont really understand why you didnt took the time to quickly state your reasons instead/additional to this sarcastic post if youre replying to it anyway.
 
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Uryzell

Newbie
Feb 10, 2023
42
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GeoffG said:
The reason people are concerned about a remake is that 'remake' usually means 'sanitising the shit out of it and ruining it'. This has been the trend with... controversial... games for several years by now, with games being remade and going to shit to appease the patreon gods. Shortly before being abandoned most of the time.

Would be helpful to have some details somewhere properly explaining what the remake actually is and what it changes. If only to alleviate concerns
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this is true, i taked some of these games to play, and is exactly what you said, begin with a remake for 1 chapter them the other and other and other and end being abandoned because the autor dont know what to do anymore and that´s it, i personaly like Nicki, she made a shit show in the begining, but she get a way better in the others chapters, this make a good charatcer development in my opinion.
 
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ffive

Conversation Conqueror
Jun 19, 2022
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Krytax123 said:
I can understand why youre annoyed but i think ridiculing these users is not really the way to go and i dont really understand why you didnt took the time to quickly state your reasons instead/additional to this sarcastic post if youre replying to it anyway.
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I suspect it's in large part because the dev already took his time to address those concerns repeatedly. At some point it does start to feel ridiculous and the inclination to just go "fuck it" and don't extend lot of courtesy to people who couldn't be bothered to check the thread before starting to voice their complaints and fears... gets strong.
 
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Joshy92

Joshy92

Message Maven
Mar 25, 2021
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I wasn't going to say anything, but I'll give my thoughts.

Nothing about the remake is a waste of time, the old chapter one was good, but it needed a remake to bring it up to the quality of the later chapters, especially because you only get one first impression on steam.

Every time there is an update people come here spewing negativity even though anyone who even pays a little attention can see how hard NG works.
 
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4.60 star(s) 227 Votes