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

[AMRFTY]

After all the hard work on my site, I FINALLY got around to finishing this game to the lastest update.
Wow. NeonGhosts - I can say a lot of things, but above all you have put a lot of effort into this game.
My initial response was that Chapter 1 was rough around the edges, but this game picked up from Chapter 2 onwards.
Super glad to see you are redesigning Chapter 1, it will 100% help people ease into the later content.

I'll ruin run a couple more playthroughs (full depravity mode, couple 1 li only ones, maybe friendzone everyone) and see what kind of variations you created. You definitely stepped up from The Student Loan. I kinda stepped in at the wrong time, but it's interesting to see how you created this world.

 

[rockstarporno69]

When can we expect the release?

 

[Rorikon215]

I think Neon is planning to have his extended chapter one remake ready by the end of the month for supporters. The public release should be a few weeks after that.

 

[AMRFTY]

Okay, so I went through the game multiple times and was actually working on the final review. So I open the walkthrough and I find a patch opens up a whole plethora of degrading options? And there's an additional Viola backstory? Man, there is content everywhere but it really seems all over the place at this point. I'm going to hold off the full review for now, but can anyone educate me on what patch it is and how to use it? Do you get it from the private discord? Is it a fan made thing? I'm confused about this right now.

This might be considered spoiler, so I'll put it under a hidden tag:
So I have played the first game, Friends in Need: Blue Valentine and multiple playthroughs of Friends in Need. A regular playthrough, a depraved playthrough (which oddly felt like pretty vanilla?), Nicki only route, Ashe only route and some other things).

So now I read there's a Viola story (or backstory rather, which is nice as well) and there's a patch that opens up more dark paths? What else is there? I'm trying to take the full story in so I can judge things fairly, but it's getting kind of hard to keep the overview. Thanks for helping out!

 

[Pixillin']

Okay, so I went through the game multiple times and was actually working on the final review. So I open the walkthrough and I find a patch opens up a whole plethora of degrading options? And there's an additional Viola backstory? Man, there is content everywhere but it really seems all over the place at this point. I'm going to hold off the full review for now, but can anyone educate me on what patch it is and how to use it? Do you get it from the private discord? Is it a fan made thing? I'm confused about this right now.

This might be considered spoiler, so I'll put it under a hidden tag:
So I have played the first game, Friends in Need: Blue Valentine and multiple playthroughs of Friends in Need. A regular playthrough, a depraved playthrough (which oddly felt like pretty vanilla?), Nicki only route, Ashe only route and some other things).

So now I read there's a Viola story (or backstory rather, which is nice as well) and there's a patch that opens up more dark paths? What else is there? I'm trying to take the full story in so I can judge things fairly, but it's getting kind of hard to keep the overview. Thanks for helping out!

The "Dark Paths" patch is available at the top of the thread, right below the game downloads. It is definitely not fan made as it unlocks a lot of content that is in the game but not accessible without the patch. Also the first chapter is being reworked and extended so it's not just new art, it includes a lot more backstory and completely re does your introduction to Nicky in ways that will change her entire path. That should be out any time now.

 

[AMRFTY]

The "Dark Paths" patch is available at the top of the thread, right below the game downloads. It is definitely not fan made as it unlocks a lot of content that is in the game but not accessible without the patch. Also the first chapter is being reworked and extended so it's not just new art, it includes a lot more backstory and completely re does your introduction to Nicky in ways that will change her entire path. That should be out any time now.

Thank you. I don't see a download patch before downloads on my PC, but I think the download below it might be it. I can't physically attach a picture right now, don't know what F95 is up to. Usually 'Taboo patches' are unofficial incest modifiers, so I wasn't sure if that was the right file.

My patch.rpy returns:


label patch:
$ patch = False
return

I see what you did there, Neon.

Scraping the Patreon is super-tiring, but I also saw the "A slave to desire" mini-sode. Is that part of the whole universe? Scrap that, I just finished playing that. I'll put the taboo patch on my download, read Viola's story and go back from there with the walkthrough.

 

[Pixillin']

Thank you. I don't see a download patch before downloads on my PC, but I think the download below it might be it. I can't physically attach a picture right now, don't know what F95 is up to. Usually 'Taboo patches' are unofficial incest modifiers, so I wasn't sure if that was the right file.

Scraping the Patreon is super-tiring, but I also saw the "A slave to desire" mini-sode. Is that part of the whole universe? Scrap that, I just finished playing that. I'll put the taboo patch on my download, read Viola's story and go back from there with the walkthrough.

No, the taboo patch is the one you want. There is no potential incest in this, at least not until the sister arrives which just happened so in this case it's other stuff. I do not know what the "slave to desire" minisode is unless it has already been rolled into the full game (it might be the bit you watched on your phone after you got the photos of the girls) - like the Blue Valentine part will be eventually.

 

[Dessolos]

No, the taboo patch is the one you want. There is no potential incest in this, at least not until the sister arrives which just happened so in this case it's other stuff. I do not know what the "slave to desire" minisode is unless it has already been rolled into the full game (it might be the bit you watched on your phone after you got the photos of the girls) - like the Blue Valentine part will be eventually.

Technically the Ashe and Britt Roleplay counts as incest as far as the patch is concerned. But yeah no actual incest yet.

 

[JayTee4]

The kinetic novel "A slave to desire" can be seen in Neon's post #15,217 of this thread. It gives some background to our favorite gym owner, Alex.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Making a new post to contain the short stories I've done so far.

Get them here:

You must be registered to see the links

Current Stories:

• Viola's Song
• Picture Imperfect
• A Little Mad (Part One)

I'll work on getting these formatted in a more visually appealing way at some point.

 

[armond]

Making a new post to contain the short stories I've done so far.

Get them here: LINK

Current Stories:

• Viola's Song
• Picture Imperfect
• A Little Mad (Part One)

I'll work on getting these formatted in a more visually appealing way at some point.

What about Brittany's boobies? ( part one&two)

 

[NebulousShooter]

NeonGhosts , I was away for a few days and I had to look for some DarkAssassin Android ports and I noticed this banner. Is that early drafts of the characters, because I don't remember Mason with that hairdo

 

[Rorikon215]

Wow I'm glad we got the Mason we did!

Also, lol what the hell is wrong with Carolina at the back? Looks like something just hit the side of her head and stunned her stupid.

Apologies if that's coming across harsh. I understand not every character you design is gonna be 100% fire on your first attempt. And most of them *were* great looking from the beginning.

 

[NeonGhosts]

@NeonGhosts , I was away for a few days and I had to look for some DarkAssassin Android ports and I noticed this banner. Is that early drafts of the characters, because I don't remember Mason with that hairdo

Yeah, that was the banner I used for the first few months. :'D

My original concept for Mason was pretty different, and many of the love interests' models were tweaked. Madison got some better hairstyles. I lightened Britt's eyebrows. Nicki's hair was changed, and eventually I made some tweaks to her face before Chapter 4. Carolina got a new skin texture before her first appearance. Mason was made shorter and given a better hairstyle, and a softer attitude.

A lot of the quirks in this image are just a result of me being much better at lighting stuff now, though. I've had supporters mention that I "replaced" Carolina's model between her first appearance and her next one. But the fact is that I just had her start wearing make-up, to demonstrate that she was getting back into a headspace to consider dating. I'm just better at lighting now, so the difference seems more pronounced.

Carolina Chapter 3


Carolina, Chapter 5


Carolina, Chapter 1 (Remake)


The remake model is the same one as the Chapter 3 model, she just looks way better because I've learned how to work with the character, and lighting. Likewise, Madison often looked kinda mehhhh early on, but I've got a better handle on her nowadays.

 

[NebulousShooter]

Yeah, that was the banner I used for the first few months. :'D

My original concept for Mason was pretty different, and many of the love interests' models were tweaked. Madison got some better hairstyles. I lightened Britt's eyebrows. Nicki's hair was changed, and eventually I made some tweaks to her face before Chapter 4. Carolina got a new skin texture before her first appearance. Mason was made shorter and given a better hairstyle, and a softer attitude.

A lot of the quirks in this image are just a result of me being much better at lighting stuff now, though. I've had supporters mention that I "replaced" Carolina's model between her first appearance and her next one. But the fact is that I just had her start wearing make-up, to demonstrate that she was getting back into a headspace to consider dating. I'm just better at lighting now, so the difference seems more pronounced.

Carolina Chapter 3
View attachment 4677024

Carolina, Chapter 5
View attachment 4677027

Carolina, Chapter 1 (Remake)
View attachment 4677030

The remake model is the same one as the Chapter 3 model, she just looks way better because I've learned how to work with the character, and lighting. Likewise, Madison often looked kinda mehhhh early on, but I've got a better handle on her nowadays.

View attachment 4677038

I was also sure you changed Carolina

I checked and I made my first post in this thread in page 206~(default page size), but I think I still remember a banner similar to the current one, so that banner is definitely before my time.


I also have some duf files downloaded since forever, never tried them out to see what version of the characters you shared

Side note: I like femme fatale Carolina with the makeup for the chasing phase, but in a relationship on her route, I would pick no makeup any day.

 

[NeonGhosts]

I was also sure you changed Carolina

I checked and I made my first post in this thread in page 206~(default page size), but I think I still remember a banner similar to the current one, so that banner is definitely before my time.

View attachment 4677173
I also have some duf files downloaded since forever, never tried them out to see what version of the characters you shared

Side note: I like femme fatale Carolina with the makeup for the chasing phase, but in a relationship on her route, I would pick no makeup any day.

I'm a fan of Cool Mom Lina, dressing down her work clothes with a denim jacket and some sneakers. Rowr.



Also, sometimes I start looking through the blog posts and realize how much content I've made over the past few years.. :'D Staggering!

 

[Joshy92]

You can clearly see how much Neon has improved when comparing those banners. It's night and day.

Also, I much prefer Mason's short red hair hairstyle he has now, It's really hot.

 

[AMRFTY]

NeonGhosts Although I read you like to protect yourself from strong opinions on your game on Patreon, I did want to take the ballsy chance to give you my opinion. It's not harsh, but there are a few things I wanted to voice my opinion on - before I post reviews later today. It's clear you have passion for the universe you created and love spending time puzzling how things work to connect together. I figured I'd post this in your discord, but since I'm unable to find it - I'll just put this here. I'll put everything in spoiler tags because it might get lengthy and let's not inconvenience people with scrolling.

Also, sometimes I start looking through the blog posts and realize how much content I've made over the past few years.. :'D Staggering!

Spoiler: So about content amount...

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Making a new post to contain the short stories I've done so far.
(...)
I'll work on getting these formatted in a more visually appealing way at some point.

Spoiler: On formatting short stories

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I'm just better at lighting now, so the difference seems more pronounced.

Over time, things in FiN definitely got better and I now understand Chapter 1 was originally rendered by someone else and since, you went back and re-rendered things for earlier chapters. That's a lot of commitment for which I also want to praise you. In reading your dev updates, a lot of choices, frustrations and cut content come through and it's a great insight into how hard it is to create a game like this.

***

Okay, that's enough out of me. I'll finish up a couple reviews - the FiN one + Friends Indeed + patch + short stories , the 'A Slave to Desire' and the 'Blue Valentine' - and post those. Whatever my opinion will be, I just want to make sure you understand you are doing great work to your subscribers and to the world you're building. That's far more important.

And if you can, please explain why Dutch language keeps popping up in your game unnannounced when you're not even in Europe.

 

[breeper]

Weird nitpick, bro... Viola is not so rare both as a proper name and as a diminutive form of the name Violetta.

Now Violetta is a Russian name I've heard!
Viola is the diminutive of Violetta? That's interesting. I tried looking it up and I found that the diminutive of "Violetta" is "Vita" according to

You must be registered to see the links

But then again, this Russian lady named Violetta has the name Viola in her username

You must be registered to see the links

, so maybe you're right.
But I suppose they could both be true.
Still, thank you for your answer.

View attachment 4670878

Thanks, could you link me the website please, instead of the screenshot?

Even if it *wasn't* a proper Russian name, isn't it still possible she had a non-Russian parent/grandparent or that she was simply given a foreign name for some other reason? My Irish father called my brother 'Carlos' after a musician despite it not exactly being a common name there.

That would be great if there's a storyline reason for her name, but thus far, there has been no diegetic dialogue between MC and "Viola" as to the reason for her name. If it is agreed upon that it is as an uncommon name(which it may not be), then MC should remark on the uncommon-ness of it somehow.

Let's say I agree that Viola is the short of VIoletta, would a Russian person(when asked for their name), actually use the diminutive version of their name when first introducing themselves? I think not.

If instead the dialogue went,

MC: What is your name?
And If Viola was like, "Violetta Sir, but people call me Viola."

I wouldn't even have thought to bring it up, if she'd said that.

I don't think Russian people introduce themselves in formal settings, using the diminutive version of their own name. This seems wrong to me.
Now, if the two people in question are related/somewhat familar with each other, then maybe.
But introduction between two complete strangers? I don't think so.

 

[Eternamite]

Dev Update! 3/25/25

Hey, folks! First off, sorry this is a day late. I was on a roll rendering yesterday, and just didn't want to break my stride. So, figured I'd kick it to today. Then I had to go have my taxes done, and blah, blah, blah.. Hope you're all doing well this week!

I'm still hard at work on the Chapter 1 remake, and progress remains steady. Some of these scenes are taking a little longer to render than normal, which is a bit annoying. But, no major problems so far. For the most part, I leave those renders to run while I'm sleeping or at my day job, so it doesn't result in a bottleneck. It can be a little annoying when I realize something didn't render right, and I need to go back and redo it on the fly, though.

I'm still working towards having the Chapter 1 remake done by the end of this month, and hoping I don't slip into April. If I do, it should only be by a week or so. Either way, I'll have a new build ready by month's end for the Close Friend/$15 tier.

But, I'm not leaving everyone else out! I recently unlocked

You must be registered to see the links

for $5 supporters, and I'll be doing the same for $2 supporters on Friday, the 28th. It'll be made available to the public on Monday, the 31st. So, everyone will have a little something to enjoy. The release schedule will look like this, for the foreseeable future.

• Chapter 11 Teaser: Releases by the end of this month for everyone. Use your most recent save, and see what the beginning of Chapter 11 looks like. This will be the last version compatible with previous saves. (Sorry! ;_; )
• Chapter 1 Remake: Releases by end of this month/early next month for $15 members, before rolling out to everyone else on the normal schedule. Start a new game, and play through the new and (hopefully improved) Chapter 1.
• Chapter 2-10 + Chapter 11 Teaser: Releases by end of April. Might be some minor story improvements in Chapter 2/3, but mostly just fixing code I haven't had time to address yet.
• Chapter 11: Planned for release by end of June. I've got about 80% of it written, so I just need to get the variables set, and begin rendering the rest of it.

Hopefully that's not too confusing. I promise, it'll all make sense eventually.

I'm going to get back to rendering! Got a long few days ahead of me, but I've got the eye of the tiger and the thrill of the fight. As always, take care of yourselves and thank you for your support!