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

[GrimCiri]

Him.

The game lets you refer to Mason as a her, so I think either should be correct.

 

[Deleted member 3788572]

I remember a post by the dev where they kinda layed down the plan for next few upcoming updates, like chapter 1 rework in November iirc. Is this still up to date, any news on the current situation? Thanks.

 

[SlapE]

I remember a post by the dev where they kinda layed down the plan for next few upcoming updates, like chapter 1 rework in November iirc. Is this still up to date, any news on the current situation? Thanks.

Yes, as far as I know, the plan is to release one more update before doing the rework, so an update sometime this year, then the rework, and then another actual update early next year. Not sure about November for the rework, but should be before the end of the year.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Hey folks! I've been a little out of sorts for the past couple of weeks. Sciatica acting up, my dominant hand keeps going numb due to a pinched nerve, blah blah blah.. But, I'm feeling better and I want to do some lightning-round Q&A.

NeonGhosts bro if I expose ashes face and then fuck her face again will that cut off any ashe major content in the future?

It'll definitely have repercussions, but I'd expect it to vary based on Ashe's relationship to you. A cowed and terrified Ashe won't respond the same way as girlfriend Ashe, or friend Ashe, or corrupted Ashe.

In another path image 4o362a is missing too.

Thanks, I got this fixed for the next version. Realized that I put that in there meaning to make a variation of the image, and just.. Never did. D'oh.

I was struggling on how to end my Good Guy playthrough. I had to save scum that last bit. In the end, I decided to stay up and discover that Pepper is a camgirl even though it isn't really the good thing to do wanking to another girl online while your girl is sleeping in the other room just because she snores. However, I felt that in the long run it was probably less bad than leaving Ashe to diddle the concierge or end the night with Nikki (not fair to either of them). I think that in the long run, finding out what Spicy Sapphire is up to will give good guy an opportunity to help her because if she is both employed full time and doing sex work on the side she is probably in as desperate trouble as poor Viola.

Ahhhh I can't wait to dig into Pepper's story a little more. I've been dropping little hints as to where it's going, but so far only one patron has picked up on it. Well, at least they're the only one who's said, "I see what you're doing.."

Honestly, I only play the good guy paths, therefore this update felt definitely damn short to me.

I won't lie: I feel let down and I feel this game just entered the "BaDIK episode 9 territory".

That's interesting, because there's arguably more good guy content than anything else. Viola's route is longer if both she and Ashe are on speaking terms with you, there's a whole scene where you rescue Viola, there's both friendship and love dates with Ashe, both of which are longer than the corruption or dark path dates, and the love/fwb path has the longest sex scene. I've only played the first chapter of BaDIK, so I can't comment on the comparison.

O'hoy mateys. I been abusing Nicki too harshly and she done escaped me and mine crew in the apartment we procured for her. I thought i had that landlubber secured in my grasp. does anyone here know if the dev brings her back, or do that be it for her? yarr.

Nicki will be back, but I wouldn't count on her showing up anytime soon. Fool me once, etc.

[/B]Good Guy is pretty much a walking and talking good samaritan. Nice that he could not only give Viola a ride during a stormy night but also help her with her sleemo landlord, all that while Guy ponders about his situation growing up. Well maybe her situation will change enough so she can bring her mother to live in a better place.

And that had the nice side effect of making Ashe even more wet for him. Speaking of Ashe it kinda seems to me that she is the one doing the corruption on the good route: blowjob on a speeding car, incest play, anal plus a bit of spanking/choking. Also the fact they did it four times in one night (counting the shower fade do black scene). Kinky, i liked that change on roles.

The explanation for her accent was funny and i enjoyed when she opened up about how most people see her just as a dumb bimbo who sleeps her way to the top. That leads to Guy likely going to end up becoming a movie producer to help both her and Brittani.
By the way, speaking of Brittani i don't get the bracelet story Guy mentioned. Is he thinking she stole it? Admit i was a bit sleepy when playing the game last night and may have missed something.

Always happy to get some love for the good path! I really want to make the romance paths just as kinky and exciting as the darker paths -- just in different ways. It always killed me that in so many AVNs, the romance stuff basically means super boring sex. Because in my experience, the fun stuff tends to happen when someone opens up to you, and willingly indulges your kinks.

The bracelet thing's been answered, but that was just Guy seeing Ashe in a bracelet, and then his brain connecting Ashe --> bracelet --> Brittani --> same bracelet. I had a lot of people speculate on the photo, thinking that it was connected to Brittani wearing the same one during her schoolgirl photoshoot. So, I just wanted to address that. It wasn't an intentional red herring, I just used the same prop twice. But, I thought it'd be fun to give a nod towards the fan speculation.

I played through the non-taboo version of Chapter 4 Part 3, or at least a decent portion of it. Overall I think it was quite good, though there are a couple parts that left me scratching my head (mostly in the Ashe storyline). I don't plan on delving too far into the darker paths, so I won't comment on them.

Spoiler: Chapter 4 Part 3 - Viola

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Spoiler: Chapter 4 Part 3 - Ashe

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Spoiler: Chapter 4 Part 3 - Other Thoughts

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tl;dr Solid update that delivers a lot of Ashe (and some nice setup with others) even if it has a few structural issues. [On the nice guy paths. I have no idea what the taboo paths are like.]

Thanks for this super thoughtful and detailed review! I'll just address a few points of speculation, as I could otherwise spend an hour replying. :'D

The car blowjob with Ashe: that's actually a really good point, and something that I probably should've considered. I might put a check in there for "ashhpts" so that if she really likes you, she'll trust you enough to drive while she gives you head, and otherwise won't.

Ashe's job at the museum, and involvement with the movie: Ashe won't be overly involved with the Brittani plotline. Her main focus is still cultivating the 'local artists' collection, and the movie is just a small sliver of that, basically acting as a point of contact for the museum. I plan to have her present to basically introduce Grady to MC, interact briefly with Brittani, and then go back to the museum. It's not an accident that the cast involves a lot of creative people -- Gabby, Jamie, Brittani, Pepper, Viola.. Ashe can plausibly intersect with all of them due to her position.

Ashe's model history was actually revealed previously, albeit very briefly, and only in the path where MC jerks off to the girls' photos in Chapter 3. You're right though, I might tack on a little scene in Chapter Two, where MC looks her up and gathers a little preliminary information.

I'm still kind of surprised nobody's really gotten the photo mystery yet, but it is pretty subtle.. The pieces are there to solve it, but it'll be further explained next chapter on Ashe's romantic sleepover path.

The Orc Exchange stuff, admittedly, is just me having fun with different toys. I'm a fantasy nerd, and I like the idea of MC having a favorite show. Plus, in the re-written Chapter One, I use it to nod towards a future development with Nicki.

Again, big thanks for the notes -- sorry I can't address all of them!

a little one-frame clutter magic

Spoiler

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Hah! I was aware of this and kept telling my patrons, basically up until the release -- "I'm gonna fix it, I'm gonna fix it!" But, I ran out of time. I've since gone back and corrected those images.

Mason is a well rounded character on top of a rarity in this medium. Not in my top but I can appreciate a job well done.
Now while is true that most trans/dickgirls in fiction are portrayed with a beauty canon in mind, that doesn't mean that all the real ones are ugly or whatever. There are beautiful trans women in movies, modeling and so on, but if you as a dev want to portray an unconventional beauty that's fine too.

Oh for sure! I'm just saying that, with the way my brain works, I think I'd end up focusing more on the minutiae that interests me, than the sexy fantasy that I feel most people want. Never say never, but with the cast being as big as it is, and Mason already allowing me explore the idea of LGBTQ people, sex work, poverty, and the way they all intersect, a trans girl character would feel a little superfluous. If I was going to do it, I might just introduce a trans lady who's already super successful and well into her transition, as kind of an aspirational figure for Mason. That could be fun.

I think, but it's a personal taste, that it would be interesting to jump back episode into Nicki's story with the rich pervert.
Depending on the player's choices, Nicki did or did not do certain "things":
- lonely fans account, nude photos, and other she don't want to tell.
Being in the past this does not change the current events of FIN.

I do actually plan to do a short story for Patreon/SubStar, focusing on Nicki's time with Vaughn, and her experience with the pornographers. But, I'm rewriting some of that plotline in Chapter One/Two to make it less convoluted, so I'm kind of waiting to have that stuff all hammered out.

I don't really do flashbacks, since I have a rule to always keep the POV with Guy. That way, we never know more than he does. Sometimes this is a bit of a pain in the ass, because I'd love to just jump over into Gabby or Viola's life and show the player what they're up to, instead of having them deliver some clunky exposition. When the game is all finished, I'd really like to go back and add some chapter breaks that would play like kinetic novels, translating the short stories I've been doing, into playable bits of the game. But, that's a ways off.

I will say tho I ironically discovered this game at the right time as it looked like I discovered just slighty after an update and this is easily probably on my top 5 all the characters are pretty much likeable and have a decent backstory which is probally the most important aspect for me.

Glad to have you! Love seeing people discover the game for the first time.

brittany may be one of the hottest model in avns right now, holy shit

But the most beautiful thing about her is her giant -- personality. Right? Right?! ;_;

NeonGhosts
Hey, last patch I noticed something and wanted to check the intent (if you're willing to share it).

Spoiler

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I had to go back and look at that, but after getting the blowjob and misgendering Mason, you can still cuddle, he's just clearly not as into it. And as Mason remains slightly on guard, he doesn't relax enough to crawl into your lap and fall asleep. But, you can still kiss him, showing you're not just going to be a total jerk about the whole thing.

The plan there is basically that MC can go one of a few routes: accept Mason's gender and be platonic, romantic, or treat him like a FWB, which can be done nicely or not-so-nicely. Or treat Mason like a girl, and basically stay on a FWB route, where you can be nice or not. Kind of similar to Ashe's corruption route.

The idea is that Mason is basically accepting of anything, but if you want him to genuinely open up, you have to accept him for who he is, leading to friendship or romance. Otherwise he'll just continue to act like what he thinks you want: a dutiful sex-kitten trading his body for sex, whether you call him a boy or a girl.

Game needs a romance-pampering path with the bimbos. I'm talking dates, cotton candy and pink colours lmao

Man, I'd love to do big dates for all the characters, but this Ashe update nearly killed me.. In the future I'll probably just make it an option for love path only.

No dark option with Risa either. I find it off how you can't just "slip in it" while she's dryhumping you.

Sadly another casualty of me running out of time. Going to see what I can do about that, though.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Yes, as far as I know, the plan is to release one more update before doing the rework, so an update sometime this year, then the rework, and then another actual update early next year. Not sure about November for the rework, but should be before the end of the year.

I try to avoid setting hard deadlines, because I invariably miss them. We'll get at least one more chapter before the end of the year, though, followed by the Chapter One rework. And I'm going to try to do another holiday special, with a limited number of renders.

Everyone yelled at me about it last year, but that's fine, their hatred sustains me.

 

[Bad Wolf]

In the future I'll probably just make it an option for love path only.

So, that means on my two saves(Gabby and Mason) we'll get huge dates for them?

 

[Izakiya]

Everyone yelled at me about it last year, but that's fine, their hatred sustains me.

 

[Joshy92]

NeonGhosts is putting little clues in the story about what's going to happen with the characters
And here I am over here drooling over Nicki & Mason too much too notice

 

[Samuel Hidayat]

I like NTR but i prefer our mc is the one who steal other people lover. Goddammit Neon just let us fk Ashe mom already

What you want is called Netori. Usually when people say NTR, they mean the most popular and OG version of it.

 

[Sneaky Heresiarch]

Nicki will be back

Crypto bro classic.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Ok, you don't like netorare, can I wish for NTR mini episodes at least?

I wanted to reply to this, since you got dog-piled a bit. Unfortunately, NTR kinda falls into that group of kinks that I just don't really get. So even if I were to do it, it'd come off as kind of limp and half-hearted, and would likely leave you unsatisfied. My personal preference is doing it from the other side, where we control the character who's sleeping with someone else's girlfriend/wife, with the goal of humiliating/dominating the girl or her partner.

This will probably get me some face-palm reactions, but I have some plans for optional MMF/FFM/gangbang scenes, predominantly in the darker paths. But, those would all be at the direction of the player, with the goal of dominating certain love interests. So, not really the same goal of NTR.

So, yeah. My personal position is not to indulge in fetishes I don't get, if I can't find some way to engage with them. I also don't really like femdom stuff, but I have a good friend who's done dominatrix-y stuff before. So, when I did the scene where Brittani channels her moody goth persona to degrade the MC, I was able to ask her what kind of stuff she might say, what a guy who's into that would want to hear, etc.

 

[Dessolos]

I wanted to reply to this, since you got dog-piled a bit. Unfortunately, NTR kinda falls into that group of kinks that I just don't really get. So even if I were to do it, it'd come off as kind of limp and half-hearted, and would likely leave you unsatisfied. My personal preference is doing it from the other side, where we control the character who's sleeping with someone else's girlfriend/wife, with the goal of humiliating/dominating the girl or her partner.

This will probably get me some face-palm reactions, but I have some plans for optional MMF/FFM/gangbang scenes, predominantly in the darker paths. But, those would all be at the direction of the player, with the goal of dominating certain love interests. So, not really the same goal of NTR.

So, yeah. My personal position is not to indulge in fetishes I don't get, if I can't find some way to engage with them. I also don't really like femdom stuff, but I have a good friend who's done dominatrix-y stuff before. So, when I did the scene where Brittani channels her moody goth persona to degrade the MC, I was able to ask her what kind of stuff she might say, what a guy who's into that would want to hear, etc.

I must say after reading this makes me look forward to future updates even more as you clearly put alot of thought into everything. I never hated or disliked NTR but the fact you don't want to add it because you don't feel it would come out to your standard which is something I like about you. As I always thought NTR in general should only ever be in a game if it serve a purpose in the story even if it's off screen NTR and shouldn't be forced just to check off a kink or fetish for other players.

 

[Deleted member 313508]

but I have some plans for optional MMF/FFM/gangbang scenes, predominantly in the darker paths. .

Seems legit to me. Although I'll probably skip the MMF ones.

As I've always said about going into a game thread and asking for a certain kink the dev doesn't like... it's like going to a BBQ restaurant and asking for their vegetarian option and then being upset when they say they aren't serving that. You knew what you were walking into.

 

[Candy_L]

I wanted to reply to this, since you got dog-piled a bit. Unfortunately, NTR kinda falls into that group of kinks that I just don't really get. So even if I were to do it, it'd come off as kind of limp and half-hearted, and would likely leave you unsatisfied. My personal preference is doing it from the other side, where we control the character who's sleeping with someone else's girlfriend/wife, with the goal of humiliating/dominating the girl or her partner.

This will probably get me some face-palm reactions, but I have some plans for optional MMF/FFM/gangbang scenes, predominantly in the darker paths. But, those would all be at the direction of the player, with the goal of dominating certain love interests. So, not really the same goal of NTR.

So, yeah. My personal position is not to indulge in fetishes I don't get, if I can't find some way to engage with them. I also don't really like femdom stuff, but I have a good friend who's done dominatrix-y stuff before. So, when I did the scene where Brittani channels her moody goth persona to degrade the MC, I was able to ask her what kind of stuff she might say, what a guy who's into that would want to hear, etc.

Meh , you gave them food and now they'll ask for more. Good luck with saying netorase is not ntr.

 

[Irshiki]

I wanted to reply to this, since you got dog-piled a bit. Unfortunately, NTR kinda falls into that group of kinks that I just don't really get. So even if I were to do it, it'd come off as kind of limp and half-hearted, and would likely leave you unsatisfied. My personal preference is doing it from the other side, where we control the character who's sleeping with someone else's girlfriend/wife, with the goal of humiliating/dominating the girl or her partner.

This will probably get me some face-palm reactions, but I have some plans for optional MMF/FFM/gangbang scenes, predominantly in the darker paths. But, those would all be at the direction of the player, with the goal of dominating certain love interests. So, not really the same goal of NTR.

So, yeah. My personal position is not to indulge in fetishes I don't get, if I can't find some way to engage with them. I also don't really like femdom stuff, but I have a good friend who's done dominatrix-y stuff before. So, when I did the scene where Brittani channels her moody goth persona to degrade the MC, I was able to ask her what kind of stuff she might say, what a guy who's into that would want to hear, etc.

That works for me, looking forward to it

 

[Izakiya]

Meh , you gave them food and now they'll ask for more. Good luck with saying netorase is not ntr.

Netorase is not Netorare which is not Netori. Words have meanings.

Besides, it doesn't matter if they ask for more because NeonGhosts has already told them what's on the menu.

 

[depeche mode]

I wanted to reply to this, since you got dog-piled a bit. Unfortunately, NTR kinda falls into that group of kinks that I just don't really get. So even if I were to do it, it'd come off as kind of limp and half-hearted, and would likely leave you unsatisfied. My personal preference is doing it from the other side, where we control the character who's sleeping with someone else's girlfriend/wife, with the goal of humiliating/dominating the girl or her partner.

This will probably get me some face-palm reactions, but I have some plans for optional MMF/FFM/gangbang scenes, predominantly in the darker paths. But, those would all be at the direction of the player, with the goal of dominating certain love interests. So, not really the same goal of NTR.

So, yeah. My personal position is not to indulge in fetishes I don't get, if I can't find some way to engage with them. I also don't really like femdom stuff, but I have a good friend who's done dominatrix-y stuff before. So, when I did the scene where Brittani channels her moody goth persona to degrade the MC, I was able to ask her what kind of stuff she might say, what a guy who's into that would want to hear, etc.

Mmf and gangbangs? For fucks sake. Another fucking game ruined. Ignoring

 

[Joshy92]

I wanted to reply to this, since you got dog-piled a bit. Unfortunately, NTR kinda falls into that group of kinks that I just don't really get. So even if I were to do it, it'd come off as kind of limp and half-hearted, and would likely leave you unsatisfied. My personal preference is doing it from the other side, where we control the character who's sleeping with someone else's girlfriend/wife, with the goal of humiliating/dominating the girl or her partner.

This will probably get me some face-palm reactions, but I have some plans for optional MMF/FFM/gangbang scenes, predominantly in the darker paths. But, those would all be at the direction of the player, with the goal of dominating certain love interests. So, not really the same goal of NTR.

So, yeah. My personal position is not to indulge in fetishes I don't get, if I can't find some way to engage with them. I also don't really like femdom stuff, but I have a good friend who's done dominatrix-y stuff before. So, when I did the scene where Brittani channels her moody goth persona to degrade the MC, I was able to ask her what kind of stuff she might say, what a guy who's into that would want to hear, etc.

Dude I love that Brittani Goth scene
It was perfect

 

[depeche mode]

Add sharing into future tags so people who hate that kind of content don't waste their time with this game just like i did

 

[Dessolos]

Add sharing into future tags so people who hate that kind of content don't waste their time with this game just like i did

If I understand correctly from what he said sounds like it would only be on the evil path so unless you are a evil path player shouldn't effect you.