VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Ch.10 v0.71] [NeonGhosts]

[MilesEdgeworth]

yea Im all about the ashe and britt action so it might take a minute for my preferred update

 

[Joshy92]

It doesn't matter to me who an update focuses on I'll make love to any and all of these innocent angels.

 

[kaldrangar]

Sad I'll have to wait to get my filthy paws on innocent lil Britt, but Neon's writing is peak for AVNs and I don't mind waiting for lots of content all at once. Much better than lots of small piecemeal ones imo.

 

[KiryuKazuma095]

Sad I'll have to wait to get my filthy paws on innocent lil Britt, but Neon's writing is peak for AVNs and I don't mind waiting for lots of content all at once. Much better than lots of small piecemeal ones imo.

Britt is Innocent??Well i don't believe that this is true!!!Plot so far is good i really enjoy it really very much

 

[NeonGhosts]

I understand where you guys are coming from, and I don't want to speak for the author or anything, but we should consider this:

1) He said he does the writing & coding at his day job whereas he does the rendering at home.
2) We know rendering always takes up majority of VN development (usually, anyways), but we also know these short stories are very, very modestly rendered (unless plans have changed). So, the writing would probably make up most of the work for these short stories.
3) On top of that, the writing itself for the short stories is usually vastly simplified compared to the main game (no large decision trees, etc.).

Considering all that, this might just be spare time at his work that wouldn't have been spent working on the game anyways (assuming the writing for the main game is making good time, which it sounds like it is and the rendering is the bottleneck).

He hasn't said he plans on expanding the nature of short stories (decision trees & render count), so I don't see why we should worry too much, personally.

Sorry to ping you NeonGhosts, but can you comment on any of this? Are short stories changing in scope? Do you think it will interfere w/ the main game's progress?

The plan would be to keep the short stories pretty limited in some cases, and not so much in others. I got to thinking about this while I was doing the prose stories for Ashe and Viola -- these are two that I think would really benefit the story, if they appeared in-game. And, they're two stories that I kind of wrote with the mentality of, "How would I translate these to visuals?"

So, it's mostly just.. Viola talking to her landlord. Ashe typing on her computer. Viola talking on the phone. Ashe posing on a beach. They've got some smut in them, but it's mostly just people sitting around and talking.

Now some, like the one I'd like to do for Brittani, would basically be mini-chapters. I'm trying to get away from the thing where each chapter is basically a day of linear time. So, following the remake of Chapter One, following chapters may have little skips of a week or a few days between them. That serves two purposes. For one thing, it stretches the narrative out a little. It was kind of my intention to make the first phase of the game like.. Guy's Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week. He's constantly talking about how busy he is, how stressed he is, etc. It's supposed to be a tumultuous period in his life, in which a bunch of things are set in motion.

In the next phase, we'll see some of those developments play out with the emphasis being more on the interesting parts of the story, than a rigid POV where we're over Guy's shoulder as he goes about his day. I think that'll help make certain relationships more believable, and it'll help smooth past the boring parts of certain events.

Like, we don't really need a day-by-day check-in as Brittani films a movie. But, we do need to see things like the casting call, her first day of shooting, her first nude scene, etc. That's all interesting stuff.

We don't really need to see every single step of Guy and Gabby's relationship, but if I show the first time they sleep together, their first date, etc. and skip ahead a couple weeks, we can safely assume they have a relationship burgeoning in the background, and we'll check in for the important story moments.

Now, some of those events may be better served as smaller updates, which I can put out more quickly between larger chapters.

Picture something like this:

December: Chapter 11, Big Update of 1100 renders: Guy arranges a meeting with the director of the movie and Ashe, while auditioning Brittani for the part. He brings Viola to his condo to explain her cleaning duties. He has an interaction with Carolina to give Viola a copy of his key, and plan their date. He arranges a meeting with Gabby, to discuss the status of their relationship.

February: Chapter 12, Small Update of 500~ renders: Having noted Brittani was off at her audition, he goes to visit her at Chesty Cheetah's. Noting her popularity, he wonders if they both might not be better served working at a certain diner. Guy takes Carolina out for dinner, but forces outside their control derail their date.

March: Chapter 13, Small Update of 200~ renders: Guy appears on a news segment hosted by Wren's father, a local newsman. Nicki earns her paycheck.

July: Chapter 14, Big Update of 1100 renders: Guy and Risa team up to solve a problem. Wren and Ashe take MC to lunch -- and then for dessert. Gabby asks Guy for help with her portfolio, but he has a request of his own. Guy has questions for Pepper, and checks in on his new waitress (?). Mason proves tech savvy.

September: Chapter 15, Small Update of 350~ renders. Guy pays Bonnie and Cole a visit looking for answers, but receives more than he bargained for.

November: Chapter 16, Small Update of 500~ renders. Brittani's accent coach gives her some tips before her first nude scene.

Basically, I'd use smaller updates to deliver more story content, more often, while still doing bigger updates. And I know people are probably wondering, "Hey, why not just do bigger updates with smaller gaps between them?"

The honest answer is that this kind of work isn't 1:1 in terms of speed. I've said it before, but that Brent mini-chapter took me about four days to write, render, and code. It's around 100 renders, and very straightforward, true. But, the big difference is that I was able to work on it with a very small, concise framework in mind. I didn't have to juggle multiple scenes, which would all need to interact with each other in different ways. There's also just a mental toll. With a short story, the end of the road is visible, and I just have to get there. With these longer chapters, it's more like trying to see the end of the path through a dense wood. I know it's there, but I have to explore a bit before I find it. It's exhausting, and sometimes that leads me to drag my feet because it just feels overwhelming.

Also - the big, complicated sex scenes I like to do, take a lot of time. People sitting around and talking doesn't take that much time. So, I could do some talky scenes that have nudity and light sexual content, and get through them pretty quickly. I've said it before, but part of my plan for these later chapters is to de-emphasize the exhaustive sex scenes. Like, once a character has their big sex scene with multiple positions, I think it's okay to go, "Alright, we've seen her blow him. We can deal with this new blowjob in ten to twenty renders." The scene in Chapter 8 where you have sex with Nicki in bed, or in Chapter 7 where you have sex with Ashe over the table, are good examples. Still robust, but not 125+ renders per scene.

That was kind of long and rambling, but hopefully people could follow it. The bottom line: Smaller updates delivered more often, but longer ones wouldn't go away.

 

[ename144]

February: Chapter 12, Small Update of 500~ renders:
...
Guy takes Carolina out for dinner, but forces outside their control derail their date.
[emphasis mine]

NOOOOOOOO! Why do you have to crush my hopes and dreams like that, Neon? Why??

Sorry, I needed to get that out of my system. Moving on to your larger point, personally I much prefer the talky bits to the sex scenes, so in theory I'm all for adding these small vignettes. That said, I do see a couple caveats. First, the fact that some chapters will literally be 3+ times the size of other chapters may be confusing and frustrating for people who don't follow your development logs closely. Not saying that should be a showstopper, but it is something to consider.

Second and more significantly, I worry that the simplicity that makes these scenes quick and easy to write will wind up handicapping the game in the long term. It might not take a lot of renders to handle a branching conversation, but the conversation still needs to branch. Given how different the MC's relationship with the various girls can be, even a short scene would have to cover a lot of bases. If we get only limited options, or if the options we do get never amount to anything down the line, I think the game would be sacrificing one of it's biggest assets, namely the way we can influence the MC's life in a very direct and tangible way. On the other hand, if those choices are going to ripple forward, you're going to have to be doubly careful not to bite off more than you can chew because I suspect it will be even more tempting to go wild when the art (and potentially story) bill won't come do for many months.

Just my $.02. I'm still eager to see how Guy's story plays out, especially with Carolina... whenever we finally get there.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

Same...I couldn't care less for Risa and her overused archetype in vns. And I feel like a broken record now crying about the lack of Brittani progress. I realize Mason and Gabby have the same gap in content, but at least they have a proper route start and are allegedly getting the continuation soon. Better to forget about The Risa and Random Assholes Show Friends in Need for a year, or two.

You can get on all of Britanni's paths during the modelling sequence, so not sure what you mean?

And yeah, I'm just as disappointed as you are. But, well, there's a lot of LIs, each LI has at least 3 major routes, and each route thus far has gotten pretty juicy scenes with a nice amount of choice (or an amazing amount of choice, sometimes), different positions, etc. All of that on 1 dev's shoulders is bound to make for slow progress, but quality requires sacrifice

Damn the update you guys pirate isn't tailored towards the LIs (all different) that you all want?

View attachment 3611906

That's the burn we all deserve tbh lmfao

The plan would be to keep the short stories pretty limited in some cases, and not so much in others. I got to thinking about this while I was doing the prose stories for Ashe and Viola -- these are two that I think would really benefit the story, if they appeared in-game. And, they're two stories that I kind of wrote with the mentality of, "How would I translate these to visuals?"

So, it's mostly just.. Viola talking to her landlord. Ashe typing on her computer. Viola talking on the phone. Ashe posing on a beach. They've got some smut in them, but it's mostly just people sitting around and talking.

Now some, like the one I'd like to do for Brittani, would basically be mini-chapters. I'm trying to get away from the thing where each chapter is basically a day of linear time. So, following the remake of Chapter One, following chapters may have little skips of a week or a few days between them. That serves two purposes. For one thing, it stretches the narrative out a little. It was kind of my intention to make the first phase of the game like.. Guy's Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week. He's constantly talking about how busy he is, how stressed he is, etc. It's supposed to be a tumultuous period in his life, in which a bunch of things are set in motion.

In the next phase, we'll see some of those developments play out with the emphasis being more on the interesting parts of the story, than a rigid POV where we're over Guy's shoulder as he goes about his day. I think that'll help make certain relationships more believable, and it'll help smooth past the boring parts of certain events.

Like, we don't really need a day-by-day check-in as Brittani films a movie. But, we do need to see things like the casting call, her first day of shooting, her first nude scene, etc. That's all interesting stuff.

We don't really need to see every single step of Guy and Gabby's relationship, but if I show the first time they sleep together, their first date, etc. and skip ahead a couple weeks, we can safely assume they have a relationship burgeoning in the background, and we'll check in for the important story moments.

Now, some of those events may be better served as smaller updates, which I can put out more quickly between larger chapters.

Picture something like this:

December: Chapter 11, Big Update of 1100 renders: Guy arranges a meeting with the director of the movie and Ashe, while auditioning Brittani for the part. He brings Viola to his condo to explain her cleaning duties. He has an interaction with Carolina to give Viola a copy of his key, and plan their date. He arranges a meeting with Gabby, to discuss the status of their relationship.

February: Chapter 12, Small Update of 500~ renders: Having noted Brittani was off at her audition, he goes to visit her at Chesty Cheetah's. Noting her popularity, he wonders if they both might not be better served working at a certain diner. Guy takes Carolina out for dinner, but forces outside their control derail their date.

March: Chapter 13, Small Update of 200~ renders: Guy appears on a news segment hosted by Wren's father, a local newsman. Nicki earns her paycheck.

July: Chapter 14, Big Update of 1100 renders: Guy and Risa team up to solve a problem. Wren and Ashe take MC to lunch -- and then for dessert. Gabby asks Guy for help with her portfolio, but he has a request of his own. Guy has questions for Pepper, and checks in on his new waitress (?). Mason proves tech savvy.

September: Chapter 15, Small Update of 350~ renders. Guy pays Bonnie and Cole a visit looking for answers, but receives more than he bargained for.

November: Chapter 16, Small Update of 500~ renders. Brittani's accent coach gives her some tips before her first nude scene.

Basically, I'd use smaller updates to deliver more story content, more often, while still doing bigger updates. And I know people are probably wondering, "Hey, why not just do bigger updates with smaller gaps between them?"

The honest answer is that this kind of work isn't 1:1 in terms of speed. I've said it before, but that Brent mini-chapter took me about four days to write, render, and code. It's around 100 renders, and very straightforward, true. But, the big difference is that I was able to work on it with a very small, concise framework in mind. I didn't have to juggle multiple scenes, which would all need to interact with each other in different ways. There's also just a mental toll. With a short story, the end of the road is visible, and I just have to get there. With these longer chapters, it's more like trying to see the end of the path through a dense wood. I know it's there, but I have to explore a bit before I find it. It's exhausting, and sometimes that leads me to drag my feet because it just feels overwhelming.

Also - the big, complicated sex scenes I like to do, take a lot of time. People sitting around and talking doesn't take that much time. So, I could do some talky scenes that have nudity and light sexual content, and get through them pretty quickly. I've said it before, but part of my plan for these later chapters is to de-emphasize the exhaustive sex scenes. Like, once a character has their big sex scene with multiple positions, I think it's okay to go, "Alright, we've seen her blow him. We can deal with this new blowjob in ten to twenty renders." The scene in Chapter 8 where you have sex with Nicki in bed, or in Chapter 7 where you have sex with Ashe over the table, are good examples. Still robust, but not 125+ renders per scene.

That was kind of long and rambling, but hopefully people could follow it. The bottom line: Smaller updates delivered more often, but longer ones wouldn't go away.

Wow, man! Thanks so much for that deep insight into your planning process! That all makes perfect sense to me, so I really appreciate it.

NOOOOOOOO! Why do you have to crush my hopes and dreams like that, Neon? Why??

Sorry, I needed to get that out of my system. Moving on to your larger point, personally I much prefer the talky bits to the sex scenes, so in theory I'm all for adding these small vignettes. That said, I do see a couple caveats. First, the fact that some chapters will literally be 3+ times the size of other chapters may be confusing and frustrating for people who don't follow your development logs closely. Not saying that should be a showstopper, but it is something to consider.

Second and more significantly, I worry that the simplicity that makes these scenes quick and easy to write will wind up handicapping the game in the long term. It might not take a lot of renders to handle a branching conversation, but the conversation still needs to branch. Given how different the MC's relationship with the various girls can be, even a short scene would have to cover a lot of bases. If we get only limited options, or if the options we do get never amount to anything down the line, I think the game would be sacrificing one of it's biggest assets, namely the way we can influence the MC's life in a very direct and tangible way. On the other hand, if those choices are going to ripple forward, you're going to have to be doubly careful not to bite off more than you can chew because I suspect it will be even more tempting to go wild when the art (and potentially story) bill won't come do for many months.

Just my $.02. I'm still eager to see how Guy's story plays out, especially with Carolina... whenever we finally get there.

Based on what Neon's said, it seems to me that the most major, major decisions in the game are occurring right now, through the first few interactions with every girl, and those decisions basically will set the stage. Those would be the critical branching points with the biggest impact on the nature of the story going forward. And then things will slow down, there'll be bigger time jumps as the focus turns to only notable events, and so on. The decisions would have to be smaller in scale by necessity I'd think. But that doesn't mean they have to be boring or even minor.

Take Nicki for example: focusing only on romance & dark routes, you can basically be a normal, nice person to her... or a psychopath rapist. The branching gap there is an entire fucking ocean lol. But once you're locked onto her romance route, I mean, I don't see there being anymore psychopath rapist choices; that choice was already made (ofc, there's still plenty of room for less straightforward or obvious rape).

Maybe it'll be things like how much respect do you show her in general? Do you do things for her without expecting anything in return? Or does every gift or favor come with a price? Do you ask permission before you stick your finger up her arse? Do you flirt with another girl in front of her? Do you cheat on her? I can easily see those kinds of choices presented and they're still very compelling imo.

And on Carolina, since I love to try and guess how things will play out in this game, I bet the interruption has something to do with Maya. Maybe something the babysitter didn't know how to handle, or Maya gets sick, or something like that. More perfect opportunities for Guy to showcase he can be a nice, competent, patient partner & parental figure. Or, ya know, the opposite if that's what the player wants

 

[NebulousShooter]

You can get on all of Britanni's paths during the modelling sequence, so not sure what you mean?

And yeah, I'm just as disappointed as you are. But, well, there's a lot of LIs, each LI has at least 3 major routes, and each route thus far has gotten pretty juicy scenes with a nice amount of choice (or an amazing amount of choice, sometimes), different positions, etc. All of that on 1 dev's shoulders is bound to make for slow progress, but quality requires sacrifice

No, you can't. I was promised a romance option down the line if you refuse the boob job from the girl that isn't in the right frame of mind to jump into something new, both heavily hinted by in game choices and from Neon's posts here(can't find it now) and to this day nothing has come of it. In fact judging from their brief interactions in the shop I would not be surprised if that is out of the question entirely and now the only ways to start her routes are the boobjob, or blackmail...

This roadmap was posted in June 2023. Risa 'the pothead side hoe that is there just for quick fucks and comic relief', has now been eating 2 updates worth of screen time (no, seriously go and count all the previews for next chapter, 90% are scenes are related to her. ). While I love Ashe and Nicki both also have a disproportionate amount of focus as well, to the detriment of anyone else and the main story bits.

By the time anything meaningful can happen with Brittani the Jan-Feb 2024 will realistically be Jan 2025. Two years since I started playing the game. Unless, Neon considers the shop Brittani scenes as the promised content, if that is true then lol is all I have to say.

I am sorry, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade if you are still enjoying the content with my constant moaning, circling back it really feels like a game I will probably check once a year, if not longer from now on.

 

[Ottoeight]

I consider this game's plot with its branches and paths a big mushroom which overgrew and overgrew and overgrew in the hands of the Author until it exploded.

If you want to save your project you have to prune your tree, bro.

 

[Dessolos]

View attachment 3614326 View attachment 3614327
No, you can't. I was promise a romance option down the line if you refuse the boob job from the girl that isn't in the right frame of mind to jump into something new, both heavily hinted by in game choices and from Neon's posts here(can't find it now) and to this day nothing has come of it. In fact judging from their brief interactions in the shop I would not be surprised if that is out of the question entirely and now the only ways to start her routes are the boobjob, or blackmail...
View attachment 3614307
This roadmap was posted in June 2023. Risa 'the pothead side hoe that is there just for quick fucks and comic relief', has now been eating 2 updates worth of screen time (no, seriously go and count all the previews for next chapter, 90% are scenes are related to her. ). While I love Ashe and Nicki both also have a disproportionate amount of focus as well, to the detriment of anyone else and the main story bits.

By the time anything meaningful can happen with Brittani the Jan-Feb 2024 will realistically be Jan 2025. Two years since I started playing the game. Unless, Neon considers the shop Brittani scenes as the promised content, if that is true than lol is all I have to say.

I am sorry, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade if you are still enjoying the content with my constant moaning, circling back it really feels like a game I will probably check once a year, if not more from now on.

yeah while the content of whatever LI is in an updates doesn't matter to me, I like them all and im more interested into guy's story as im always curious what he is going to do than what LI he is gonna bang or help. I can see how it's a bit frustrating if you do only play this game for a certain LI however I always take any estimated dates with a grain of salt anyways so the roadmap is whatever to me.

Yeah Brittani content was so short last update it was a bit of a bummer. Brittani , Viola , Carolina and Pepper seems to have taken the biggest L in terms of amount of content ( tho Brittani has more content than those 3 i'd say she has just slightly more than Risa until the next update). Tho I personally don't see a big deal about the Risa content so far in terms of screen time unless you are someone that wants her written out of the story completely.

( which is something ill never understand why some may want that with any LI from any AVN unless the character has only content unrelated to the plot or just a quick fuck )

Risa content always felt short to me up until the last update but that makes sense since it's part 1 of what was suppose to be a longer chapter If I recall correctly.

 

[zedascove]

I really love this game and most LIs, but that Brit storyline with her mom made me obssessed with it over the other characters. Such a bummer there won't be anything new with them in the next two chapters(AFAIK... hope I'm wrong).

 

[Mesmerizet]

Approx ETA until we have access for 0.59b here? Would like to see Risa in action

 

[zeph19]

I really love this game and most LIs, but that Brit storyline with her mom made me obssessed with it over the other characters. Such a bummer there won't be anything new with them in the next two chapters(AFAIK... hope I'm wrong).

Brit's my favorite character and I can't wait to see her for 10 minutes in 0.61b (early 2026)

 

[Machete]

I really love this game and most LIs, but that Brit storyline with her mom made me obssessed with it over the other characters. Such a bummer there won't be anything new with them in the next two chapters(AFAIK... hope I'm wrong).

Unfortunately this is how this game goes. Think about how long have we been with Gabby mad at MC and pending and there won'ìt be major interactions with her for 2 more updats, i think. And the more the story forks the more NeonGhost will have to work for each chapter and the more chapters he will need. At a certain point i think there will be need to rationalize.

 

[zedascove]

Just for the record, I'm happy with how the game is being developed. The fact that I prefer one character over the others doesn't mean the other characters are bad. I don't remember playing a single update I didn't enjoy, the quality each update is at least good enough.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

View attachment 3614326 View attachment 3614327
No, you can't. I was promised a romance option down the line if you refuse the boob job from the girl that isn't in the right frame of mind to jump into something new, both heavily hinted by in game choices and from Neon's posts here(can't find it now) and to this day nothing has come of it. In fact judging from their brief interactions in the shop I would not be surprised if that is out of the question entirely and now the only ways to start her routes are the boobjob, or blackmail...
View attachment 3614307
This roadmap was posted in June 2023. Risa 'the pothead side hoe that is there just for quick fucks and comic relief', has now been eating 2 updates worth of screen time (no, seriously go and count all the previews for next chapter, 90% are scenes are related to her. ). While I love Ashe and Nicki both also have a disproportionate amount of focus as well, to the detriment of anyone else and the main story bits.

By the time anything meaningful can happen with Brittani the Jan-Feb 2024 will realistically be Jan 2025. Two years since I started playing the game. Unless, Neon considers the shop Brittani scenes as the promised content, if that is true then lol is all I have to say.

I am sorry, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade if you are still enjoying the content with my constant moaning, circling back it really feels like a game I will probably check once a year, if not longer from now on.

You're fine, your opinion doesn't bother me homie. But, I'm sorry, you absolutely can. You chose 1 option out of, like, 3, and it's the only option branch that doesn't result in a scene. That option keeps you on friend/undefined route and probably sets you up for a slower paced romance to develop (or a continuation of friendship, depending on later choices).

I'm not criticizing your choice or anything, it's very sweet and clearly the correct choice if you're a nice Guy (and I plan on playing it later). But ALL of the options basically put you on one of the paths: friendship, romance/corruption, and dark; and the latter choices gave us two excellent scenes to celebrate with.

I only say "romance/corruption", because until the story continues, I'm not sure what Brit considers your relationship if you accept her advances. It's interesting to think about, actually.. maybe she offers herself because she's used to "paying" with her body, or because she's used to being moved on and this has become an automatic response to men (especially those in control of her future), rather than it being what she truly wants to do in that moment. Sounds like her mom programmed her with that kind of thinking. And up to this point, we're used to the corruption route starting with payment or blackmail or something like that. Brit would be unique if this is how her corruption route starts, as in, it continues the corruption her mother & step-father (and probably most other men in her life) have already started. Hope this isn't true for Joshy's sake

But, anyways, rambling break aside, Brit's path has definitely already begun and it came with 2 whole separate scenes depending on choices. We just haven't gotten a continuation yet. I guess this distinction is probably inconsequential to you, but I thought it was worth correcting. Maybe I'm being pedantic.

 

[kaldrangar]

Britt is Innocent??Well i don't believe that this is true!!!Plot so far is good i really enjoy it really very much

She won't be after I'm done with her

 

[NeonGhosts]

No, you can't. I was promised a romance option down the line if you refuse the boob job from the girl that isn't in the right frame of mind to jump into something new, both heavily hinted by in game choices and from Neon's posts here(can't find it now) and to this day nothing has come of it. In fact judging from their brief interactions in the shop I would not be surprised if that is out of the question entirely and now the only ways to start her routes are the boobjob, or blackmail...

This roadmap was posted in June 2023. Risa 'the pothead side hoe that is there just for quick fucks and comic relief', has now been eating 2 updates worth of screen time (no, seriously go and count all the previews for next chapter, 90% are scenes are related to her. ). While I love Ashe and Nicki both also have a disproportionate amount of focus as well, to the detriment of anyone else and the main story bits.

By the time anything meaningful can happen with Brittani the Jan-Feb 2024 will realistically be Jan 2025. Two years since I started playing the game. Unless, Neon considers the shop Brittani scenes as the promised content, if that is true then lol is all I have to say.

I am sorry, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade if you are still enjoying the content with my constant moaning, circling back it really feels like a game I will probably check once a year, if not longer from now on.

In Chapter 8, if you turned down Brittani in the loft, and were nice during the photo shoot, she's happier to see you, less nervous, etc. and she flirts a bit by showing off her work uniform.

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Is it a lot? No. But, it's appreciably different than if you were more aggressive with her, and it hints that she'll be warmer to you. You know, like you may want in a romantic relationship. But, she's also not super cold to you if you did take her up on her offer. She just clearly feels a bit awkward about it.

I'm just going to skip over complaints about certain girls getting an outsized amount of time, because here's some other characters that have gotten the same complaint: Nicki, Ashe, Gabby, Viola, Pepper, Risa, Carolina, Madison, and actually literally every character in the game.

As for lol at the shop content, that was a late, unplanned addition in order to give Brittani fans a little content, since we hadn't seen her in a little while, and I figured I could tee up her next appearance. It's not uncommon for me to be working through an update only to realize, "Hey, this character would fit in really well, here.." and then I end up writing and rendering an extra scene. It happened in Chapter 6 with Mason, Chapter 7 with Risa, Chapter 8 with Brittani, and Chapter 9 with Pepper. Then, the schedule slips. But, I don't add these scenes, without thinking they'll benefit the story as a whole.

And it seems like that 'story as a whole' idea is something people keep having trouble with. Things happen in the story.. Because the story needs those things to happen. Risa was, initially, just planned as a foil to Carolina. Fun and free-spirited, to Carolina's uptight and rigid. Then, I realized she could work as a viewpoint character into some of the shady things MC keeps brushing up against. So, she took on some more screentime, to move the plot forward in a more interesting way.

Other characters who were never planned for, but wound up being pretty important: Ashe, Carolina, Brittani, Pepper, Viola, Wren..

I mean, I'm not really sure what to say here. It's a story. Characters show up when they have something to do, and they're not around when they don't. When they don't have interesting things to do, someone else gets center stage for a bit. I just don't get it, honestly. Do people get mad when they're reading A Storm of Swords and they get to a character POV they dislike?

"UGH, FUCK! Fucking Tarly. I'll just skip this one and go to the next Tyrion chapter -- such bullshit!"

I mean, do you want to go check in with Gabby? Okay.

• mc"Hey Gabby, how are you?"
• gb"Still mad at you. I'm waiting for a major plot development to occur, which will allow me to forgive you."
• mc"Oh, cool. I bet we'll do that when I see you in Chapter 10."
• gb"Bet."

Oh, here's Brittani.

• mc"Brittani, what's up?"
• bri"Uh, I just saw you today. I'm currently at work. I assume I'll see you tomorrow, or the next day? To audition for the part? But, it'd be helpful if you knew anyone with a Slavic accent to help me with the role."
• mc"Wow! Shockingly, I do! I'll just need to see her in Chapter 10, to tee that up."
• bri"Great, see you after that."

Now, for people who want to complain about the schedule, et al. -- go look at the date this thread launched. March 30th, a bit over two years ago.

Since then I've done: 8,687 images, eight full chapters, a Halloween update, and an April Fool's update. Oh, and I did The Student Loan during that time, which had another 189 images. All of which needed to be written, coded, and playtested, by someone who didn't know how to code or use Daz, before starting this. Add to that juggling my community, trying to navigate through the changing whims of payment processors, having a life, and working my real job, and I think I'm doing okay.

I'm not going to sit here and defend my work ethic, because quite frankly it speaks for itself. I don't like to compare myself to other devs, but there are teams of two or three devs, people who do this for an actual living, who don't put out as much work as I do by myself.

And despite this, I get to deal with people telling me, literally since Chapter One, that the plot branches have clearly spun out of control, and I'll never be able to manage it. Yet somehow I'm still here, putting out releases every four months, and moving the story forward. Two years in! There are TV shows that run for five, six, seven years or more. Fuck, Spider-Man's been published since the 60s.

It's serial storytelling. It takes time.

If you feel you can do better, I make all the Daz files for my characters available in the fanart thread. Have at it! I look forward to playing your much better game.

 

[xert13]

In Chapter 8, if you turned down Brittani in the loft, and were nice during the photo shoot, she's happier to see you, less nervous, etc. and she flirts a bit by showing off her work uniform.

Spoiler

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Is it a lot? No. But, it's appreciably different than if you were more aggressive with her, and it hints that she'll be warmer to you. You know, like you may want in a romantic relationship. But, she's also not super cold to you if you did take her up on her offer. She just clearly feels a bit awkward about it.

I'm just going to skip over complaints about certain girls getting an outsized amount of time, because here's some other characters that have gotten the same complaint: Nicki, Ashe, Gabby, Viola, Pepper, Risa, Carolina, Madison, and actually literally every character in the game.

As for lol at the shop content, that was a late, unplanned addition in order to give Brittani fans a little content, since we hadn't seen her in a little while, and I figured I could tee up her next appearance. It's not uncommon for me to be working through an update only to realize, "Hey, this character would fit in really well, here.." and then I end up writing and rendering an extra scene. It happened in Chapter 6 with Mason, Chapter 7 with Risa, Chapter 8 with Brittani, and Chapter 9 with Pepper. Then, the schedule slips. But, I don't add these scenes, without thinking they'll benefit the story as a whole.

And it seems like that 'story as a whole' idea is something people keep having trouble with. Things happen in the story.. Because the story needs those things to happen. Risa was, initially, just planned as a foil to Carolina. Fun and free-spirited, to Carolina's uptight and rigid. Then, I realized she could work as a viewpoint character into some of the shady things MC keeps brushing up against. So, she took on some more screentime, to move the plot forward in a more interesting way.

Other characters who were never planned for, but wound up being pretty important: Ashe, Carolina, Brittani, Pepper, Viola, Wren..

I mean, I'm not really sure what to say here. It's a story. Characters show up when they have something to do, and they're not around when they don't. When they don't have interesting things to do, someone else gets center stage for a bit. I just don't get it, honestly. Do people get mad when they're reading A Storm of Swords and they get to a character POV they dislike?

"UGH, FUCK! Fucking Tarly. I'll just skip this one and go to the next Tyrion chapter -- such bullshit!"

I mean, do you want to go check in with Gabby? Okay.

• mc"Hey Gabby, how are you?"
• gb"Still mad at you. I'm waiting for a major plot development to occur, which will allow me to forgive you."
• mc"Oh, cool. I bet we'll do that when I see you in Chapter 10."
• gb"Bet."

Oh, here's Brittani.

• mc"Brittani, what's up?"
• bri"Uh, I just saw you today. I'm currently at work. I assume I'll see you tomorrow, or the next day? To audition for the part? But, it'd be helpful if you knew anyone with a Slavic accent to help me with the role."
• mc"Wow! Shockingly, I do! I'll just need to see her in Chapter 10, to tee that up."
• bri"Great, see you after that."

Now, for people who want to complain about the schedule, et al. -- go look at the date this thread launched. March 30th, a bit over two years ago.

Since then I've done: 8,687 images, eight full chapters, a Halloween update, and an April Fool's update. Oh, and I did The Student Loan during that time, which had another 189 images. All of which needed to be written, coded, and playtested, by someone who didn't know how to code or use Daz, before starting this. Add to that juggling my community, trying to navigate through the changing whims of payment processors, having a life, and working my real job, and I think I'm doing okay.

I'm not going to sit here and defend my work ethic, because quite frankly it speaks for itself. I don't like to compare myself to other devs, but there are teams of two or three devs, people who do this for an actual living, who don't put out as much work as I do by myself.

And despite this, I get to deal with people telling me, literally since Chapter One, that the plot branches have clearly spun out of control, and I'll never be able to manage it. Yet somehow I'm still here, putting out releases every four months, and moving the story forward. Two years in! There are TV shows that run for five, six, seven years or more. Fuck, Spider-Man's been published since the 60s.

It's serial storytelling. It takes time.

If you feel you can do better, I make all the Daz files for my characters available in the fanart thread. Have at it! I look forward to playing your much better game.

...and that my friends is a smack down! LoL You go Dev, it's your game.

 

[Joshy92]

In Chapter 8, if you turned down Brittani in the loft, and were nice during the photo shoot, she's happier to see you, less nervous, etc. and she flirts a bit by showing off her work uniform.

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Is it a lot? No. But, it's appreciably different than if you were more aggressive with her, and it hints that she'll be warmer to you. You know, like you may want in a romantic relationship. But, she's also not super cold to you if you did take her up on her offer. She just clearly feels a bit awkward about it.

I'm just going to skip over complaints about certain girls getting an outsized amount of time, because here's some other characters that have gotten the same complaint: Nicki, Ashe, Gabby, Viola, Pepper, Risa, Carolina, Madison, and actually literally every character in the game.

As for lol at the shop content, that was a late, unplanned addition in order to give Brittani fans a little content, since we hadn't seen her in a little while, and I figured I could tee up her next appearance. It's not uncommon for me to be working through an update only to realize, "Hey, this character would fit in really well, here.." and then I end up writing and rendering an extra scene. It happened in Chapter 6 with Mason, Chapter 7 with Risa, Chapter 8 with Brittani, and Chapter 9 with Pepper. Then, the schedule slips. But, I don't add these scenes, without thinking they'll benefit the story as a whole.

And it seems like that 'story as a whole' idea is something people keep having trouble with. Things happen in the story.. Because the story needs those things to happen. Risa was, initially, just planned as a foil to Carolina. Fun and free-spirited, to Carolina's uptight and rigid. Then, I realized she could work as a viewpoint character into some of the shady things MC keeps brushing up against. So, she took on some more screentime, to move the plot forward in a more interesting way.

Other characters who were never planned for, but wound up being pretty important: Ashe, Carolina, Brittani, Pepper, Viola, Wren..

I mean, I'm not really sure what to say here. It's a story. Characters show up when they have something to do, and they're not around when they don't. When they don't have interesting things to do, someone else gets center stage for a bit. I just don't get it, honestly. Do people get mad when they're reading A Storm of Swords and they get to a character POV they dislike?

"UGH, FUCK! Fucking Tarly. I'll just skip this one and go to the next Tyrion chapter -- such bullshit!"

I mean, do you want to go check in with Gabby? Okay.

• mc"Hey Gabby, how are you?"
• gb"Still mad at you. I'm waiting for a major plot development to occur, which will allow me to forgive you."
• mc"Oh, cool. I bet we'll do that when I see you in Chapter 10."
• gb"Bet."

Oh, here's Brittani.

• mc"Brittani, what's up?"
• bri"Uh, I just saw you today. I'm currently at work. I assume I'll see you tomorrow, or the next day? To audition for the part? But, it'd be helpful if you knew anyone with a Slavic accent to help me with the role."
• mc"Wow! Shockingly, I do! I'll just need to see her in Chapter 10, to tee that up."
• bri"Great, see you after that."

Now, for people who want to complain about the schedule, et al. -- go look at the date this thread launched. March 30th, a bit over two years ago.

Since then I've done: 8,687 images, eight full chapters, a Halloween update, and an April Fool's update. Oh, and I did The Student Loan during that time, which had another 189 images. All of which needed to be written, coded, and playtested, by someone who didn't know how to code or use Daz, before starting this. Add to that juggling my community, trying to navigate through the changing whims of payment processors, having a life, and working my real job, and I think I'm doing okay.

I'm not going to sit here and defend my work ethic, because quite frankly it speaks for itself. I don't like to compare myself to other devs, but there are teams of two or three devs, people who do this for an actual living, who don't put out as much work as I do by myself.

And despite this, I get to deal with people telling me, literally since Chapter One, that the plot branches have clearly spun out of control, and I'll never be able to manage it. Yet somehow I'm still here, putting out releases every four months, and moving the story forward. Two years in! There are TV shows that run for five, six, seven years or more. Fuck, Spider-Man's been published since the 60s.

It's serial storytelling. It takes time.

If you feel you can do better, I make all the Daz files for my characters available in the fanart thread. Have at it! I look forward to playing your much better game.

A game that's better than this? That's nearly impossible bro.

Anyway it doesn't matter who is in any given update imo. They are all so awesome and different in their own ways and that makes things really interesting. There isn't a babe in this I wouldn't hang out with.