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

[NeonGhosts]

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tldr; Adding scenes -- fuck my life. But! You get some Brittani in this update, as well as a peek at her workplace. Also, I did a fairly long write-up about how I built the above scene. Check it out!

BTW, I'm curious about other players' opinions: do you guys prefer protagonists with inhumanly large schlongs, or are you ok with more average ones, or at least realistically larger ones? Would a lap sausage in place of a pork roast of the nethers make a VN unplayable to you, or is it just a preference?

This VN is perfect either way, so not a dig, but I have to say I really, really prefer more reasonable dick sizes. I think I'm in a very, very small minority though Guy's dick size compliments the dark route & corruption routes, though, so don't know if that's part of the decision making too.

I actually put some thought and consideration in ol' Guy's wang-dang! I hate giant porno dicks in AVNs, so by default he's actually got a shorten/scale-down effect on. Now, I do use Dicktator, which is by default kind of hilariously large. But, some effort was made to keep it in the bounds of realism. I mean, it's still a solid 7-8", because this is a porno game, buuuut..



One thing I very quickly realized is that most sex poses get wayyyy easier if your character has a Coney Island foot-long. So, I get why some people make their heroes ridiculously hung. And every now and then, if it's a weird position where I want a little more dick visible, I'll tweak the settings and add an inch or two. >_>

I personally think that a game should indeed have consequences but it should also let the player breat. If you pursue an obviously destructive path you can't demand an happy ending, but MC should be able to sleep around and the player enjoy the scenes until later in the game. Otherwise to start over for like 10 mutually exclusive routes like old times JVNs might be taxing.

Yeahhhh, I've mentioned this before, but I kind of regret how I did things with Ashe's date, where you took an automatic nap once you reached the end of a route. Buuuut, I was super exhausted and burnt out by the end of that update, and I just desperately wanted to be done with it. :'D What I'd like to do eventually, is go back and basically give Guy a number of 'energy points' for the night, with various actions impacting him: Sex with Ashe, viewing Sapphire's livestream, watching TV, visiting/getting a footjob from Risa, etc. And basically, if you're below a certain number of energy points, then you fall asleep doing whatever you're doing. Or you can choose to stay with Ashe, Risa, alone, etc.

The outlier would be if you visit Nicki, which automatically ends the evening.

I talk about this in my most recent blog posts on SubStar, but Chapter 10 will be an attempt to do something that kind of splits the difference between forcing players to choose a route, and trying to give everyone access to lots of content. Basically, the middle section of the chapter will have Mason's shopping trip, a sex scene with Mason, and then three optional mini-events. One revolves around Britt, the other two are a little hush hush for now. But, the idea is that, if you don't take Mason/delegate the job to Nicki, you can pursue all three optional scenes. But, if you do take Mason, you get the shopping event, but only have time for one optional scene. And Mason's sex scene is designed so it can occur at two main junctures of the story. So, the three main variations look like this.

• Guy Takes Mason Shopping : Shopping Trip for Clothes/Glasses > Choice of One Optional Event > Optional Mason Sex Event
• Nicki Takes Mason Shopping: Choice of Three Optional Events > Optional Mason Sex Event
• Nobody Takes Mason Shopping: Optional Mason Sex Event > Choice of Three Optional Events

This has turned some aspects of coding the chapter into kind of a pain in the ass, but I think the end result will ultimately please more people than not.

I played this for the dark route, and with the shit Guy does, I can't see this feasibly ending happily for Evil Guy. Man just goes out and does horrible shit that probably he can get away with for a while but ultimately hes gonna get caught. Or best case, I guess he runs away to a non-expedite treaty country and starts his own little Epstein island lol. If there's a "bad ending" for Evil guy, I'd still play it because the evil fucker gets what he deserves. Wondering what NeonGhosts has cooked up in his head with regards to the endings, though they are a long ways off. Would love to hear a few thoughts/teases even if they're very early ideas now.

Honestly, there will be several endings, based on what you did, who you did it with/to, and the choices you made after. I think that just doing the various endings will take a full dev cycle, once I get there.

As for Guy's karmic choices.. I want to see Bad Guy get what he has coming to him, in the end. But, sometimes life doesn't work out that way. If a beloved philanthropist had a squeaky clean public image, but was maybe just awful to one person? Well, depending on who that person was, he might skate by. Sucks, but that's life.

I'm also slightly obsessed with the idea that someone can do something awful, and still try to do better. We see this with Guy at certain points, where he feels regret for some of the things he's done. The choices you make with Risa will do a lot to inform Guy's ultimate arc. I like the idea of an evil Guy who still has the ability to rationalize and excuse his own behavior, but sees something in Lucien that's so monstrous, it causes him to draw a line and maybe even try to fix some of the fucked up things he's done. That Guy probably still won't fare as well as Good Guy or even Corrupt Guy.. But, maybe there'll be some hope for him.

One thing I will say, and I've been fairly consistent about, is that I want things to basically work out for the love interests, no matter what path they're on. It'll ultimately vary from path to path, obviously. A Nicki who remains Guy's assistant and continues to grow into her role at Friends in Need, will probably have a better life than one that gets sick of Guy's shit and dips out.

But, no love interests will die, or end up in a mental hospital, or anything like that by the time the credits roll.

 

[Dogorti]

But, no love interests will die, or end up in a mental hospital, or anything like that by the time the credits roll.

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[Dessolos]

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Honestly I get a feeling at least maybe for 1 dark path route ending Ashe might just end up in a really toxic and abusive relationship with guy and stay no matter what. Like she is brainwashed thinking he isn't that bad no matter what other people say or he does to her type of deal. I get this feeling because there is a scene on the dark path if you don't sleep / rape her during the date after drugging her but did the first time you meet her, she gives guy this look almost like she feels bad for him and considering giving him a second chance or something. She also ask Guy what he didn't sleep with her.

 

[horns of giant]

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Maybe all the girls will get their revenge by the end
LIs not dying or getting mental issue does not mean the dark Guy are fine.

 

[The Anti]

I must purchase Chesty Cheetahs…
Think of the evil things I could do

 

[karumi56]

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...

Yeahhhh, I've mentioned this before, but I kind of regret how I did things with Ashe's date, where you took an automatic nap once you reached the end of a route. Buuuut, I was super exhausted and burnt out by the end of that update, and I just desperately wanted to be done with it. :'D What I'd like to do eventually, is go back and basically give Guy a number of 'energy points' for the night, with various actions impacting him: Sex with Ashe, viewing Sapphire's livestream, watching TV, visiting/getting a footjob from Risa, etc. And basically, if you're below a certain number of energy points, then you fall asleep doing whatever you're doing. Or you can choose to stay with Ashe, Risa, alone, etc.

The outlier would be if you visit Nicki, which automatically ends the evening.

Please think long and hard before you do this. Introducing Sandbox elements like "energy points" is a lot of effort for you the dev, and a huge turn off for the vast majority of players. It seems like a great idea on paper, but when you play games that have implemented it, it's just terrible.

Love the game, looking forward to more Brittani and other adventures!

 

[Ottoeight]

I played this for the dark route, and with the shit Guy does, I can't see this feasibly ending happily for Evil Guy. Man just goes out and does horrible shit that probably he can get away with for a while but ultimately hes gonna get caught. Or best case, I guess he runs away to a non-expedite treaty country and starts his own little Epstein island lol. If there's a "bad ending" for Evil guy, I'd still play it because the evil fucker gets what he deserves. Wondering what NeonGhosts has cooked up in his head with regards to the endings, though they are a long ways off. Would love to hear a few thoughts/teases even if they're very early ideas now.

Our buddy kaldrangar while waiting for Evil Guy's due reward:

 

[Joshy92]

I always get excited when I wake up and see a new dev log from Neon in my email.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Please think long and hard before you do this. Introducing Sandbox elements like "energy points" is a lot of effort for you the dev, and a huge turn off for the vast majority of players. It seems like a great idea on paper, but when you play games that have implemented it, it's just terrible.

Love the game, looking forward to more Brittani and other adventures!

No worries, this wouldn't be some kind of entirely new mechanic, with GUI elements, etc. It'd basically be a modifier for use in one specific set of scenes. Kind of the same way Chapter 8 had Guy possibly gain the "anger" trigger on one path, which then limited the player's options.

With FiN, I really try to keep a lot of the gameplay mechanics as invisible as possible. That's why I try to avoid 4th wall-breaking dialogues, like: "If you do this, you'll see [X] content -- are you sure you want to proceed?" Nothing wrong with that, it's just not the way I like to handle it here.

Likewise, if I did this 'energy point' thing, players wouldn't really know it was there, unless they looked into the code. They'd just know that at a certain point, Guy would sit down wherever he happened to be, and fall asleep. Basically the same as it is now, but with the option of seeing/doing more before it happens.

 

[Old Grumpy Wolf]

No worries, this wouldn't be some kind of entirely new mechanic, with GUI elements, etc. It'd basically be a modifier for use in one specific set of scenes. Kind of the same way Chapter 8 had Guy possibly gain the "anger" trigger on one path, which then limited the player's options.

With FiN, I really try to keep a lot of the gameplay mechanics as invisible as possible. That's why I try to avoid 4th wall-breaking dialogues, like: "If you do this, you'll see [X] content -- are you sure you want to proceed?" Nothing wrong with that, it's just not the way I like to handle it here.

Likewise, if I did this 'energy point' thing, players wouldn't really know it was there, unless they looked into the code. They'd just know that at a certain point, Guy would sit down wherever he happened to be, and fall asleep. Basically the same as it is now, but with the option of seeing/doing more before it happens.

So, open console type in:

Energy_Points(Or whatever) = 999999

Code-ified crystal meth.

 

[Joshy92]

No worries, this wouldn't be some kind of entirely new mechanic, with GUI elements, etc. It'd basically be a modifier for use in one specific set of scenes. Kind of the same way Chapter 8 had Guy possibly gain the "anger" trigger on one path, which then limited the player's options.

With FiN, I really try to keep a lot of the gameplay mechanics as invisible as possible. That's why I try to avoid 4th wall-breaking dialogues, like: "If you do this, you'll see [X] content -- are you sure you want to proceed?" Nothing wrong with that, it's just not the way I like to handle it here.

Likewise, if I did this 'energy point' thing, players wouldn't really know it was there, unless they looked into the code. They'd just know that at a certain point, Guy would sit down wherever he happened to be, and fall asleep. Basically the same as it is now, but with the option of seeing/doing more before it happens.

I don't really like when games tell us what will happen it breaks my immersion. Probably why I don't even like to read guides or use mods either.

 

[Maviarab]

*sits in the corner quietly nursing his coffee while still waiting for the rework to redo all his saves*

 

[With The]

i think if you want to implement new mechanic maybe use on your next project, i've heard you planning to make new game beside this one. i already seen so many dev who implement feature that they think is good but in the end get hated by community.

 

[Joshy92]

*sits in the corner quietly nursing his coffee while still waiting for the rework to redo all his saves*

You're not sitting in my special chair are you I'm going to need that when Mason...... oops wrong game.

 

[Bombmaster]

I don't really like when games tell us what will happen it breaks my immersion. Probably why I don't even like to read guides or use mods either.

unless its a big flag,like: (this path is going into NTR)
sure you like this development but some ppl have cooties and delete the game if any shape or form of cheating is displayed with any LI, past or present

 

[Joshy92]

unless its a big flag,like (this path is going into NTR)
sure you like this development but some ppl have cooties and delete the game if any shape or form of cheating happen with any LI, past, present or future.

True but cheating won't happen in this game unless it's by Guy.

 

[Bombmaster]

True but cheating won't happen in this game unless it's by Guy.

so the porn route that could happen with some girls is not ntr in your book, interessing.
cuz for purists any kind of sexual energy directed to a LI is NTR

 

[Joshy92]

so the porn route that could happen with some girls is not ntr in your book, interessing.
cuz for purists any kind of sexual energy directed to a LI is NTR

It takes a fair bit for me to consider something ntr or cheating bro besides if the porn stuff happens it'll be on the dark route and it's not like Guy would be dating the girls.

That said I would totally date a porn star it btw.

 

[Dogorti]

Yeah your girl doing porn doesn't count as NTR or cheating in my books. I mean one is aware of that in that case.

 

[RC-1138 Boss]

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View attachment 3925922

tldr; Adding scenes -- fuck my life. But! You get some Brittani in this update, as well as a peek at her workplace. Also, I did a fairly long write-up about how I built the above scene. Check it out!



I actually put some thought and consideration in ol' Guy's wang-dang! I hate giant porno dicks in AVNs, so by default he's actually got a shorten/scale-down effect on. Now, I do use Dicktator, which is by default kind of hilariously large. But, some effort was made to keep it in the bounds of realism. I mean, it's still a solid 7-8", because this is a porno game, buuuut..

View attachment 3925910

One thing I very quickly realized is that most sex poses get wayyyy easier if your character has a Coney Island foot-long. So, I get why some people make their heroes ridiculously hung. And every now and then, if it's a weird position where I want a little more dick visible, I'll tweak the settings and add an inch or two. >_>



Yeahhhh, I've mentioned this before, but I kind of regret how I did things with Ashe's date, where you took an automatic nap once you reached the end of a route. Buuuut, I was super exhausted and burnt out by the end of that update, and I just desperately wanted to be done with it. :'D What I'd like to do eventually, is go back and basically give Guy a number of 'energy points' for the night, with various actions impacting him: Sex with Ashe, viewing Sapphire's livestream, watching TV, visiting/getting a footjob from Risa, etc. And basically, if you're below a certain number of energy points, then you fall asleep doing whatever you're doing. Or you can choose to stay with Ashe, Risa, alone, etc.

The outlier would be if you visit Nicki, which automatically ends the evening.

I talk about this in my most recent blog posts on SubStar, but Chapter 10 will be an attempt to do something that kind of splits the difference between forcing players to choose a route, and trying to give everyone access to lots of content. Basically, the middle section of the chapter will have Mason's shopping trip, a sex scene with Mason, and then three optional mini-events. One revolves around Britt, the other two are a little hush hush for now. But, the idea is that, if you don't take Mason/delegate the job to Nicki, you can pursue all three optional scenes. But, if you do take Mason, you get the shopping event, but only have time for one optional scene. And Mason's sex scene is designed so it can occur at two main junctures of the story. So, the three main variations look like this.

• Guy Takes Mason Shopping : Shopping Trip for Clothes/Glasses > Choice of One Optional Event > Optional Mason Sex Event
• Nicki Takes Mason Shopping: Choice of Three Optional Events > Optional Mason Sex Event
• Nobody Takes Mason Shopping: Optional Mason Sex Event > Choice of Three Optional Events

This has turned some aspects of coding the chapter into kind of a pain in the ass, but I think the end result will ultimately please more people than not.



Honestly, there will be several endings, based on what you did, who you did it with/to, and the choices you made after. I think that just doing the various endings will take a full dev cycle, once I get there.

As for Guy's karmic choices.. I want to see Bad Guy get what he has coming to him, in the end. But, sometimes life doesn't work out that way. If a beloved philanthropist had a squeaky clean public image, but was maybe just awful to one person? Well, depending on who that person was, he might skate by. Sucks, but that's life.

I'm also slightly obsessed with the idea that someone can do something awful, and still try to do better. We see this with Guy at certain points, where he feels regret for some of the things he's done. The choices you make with Risa will do a lot to inform Guy's ultimate arc. I like the idea of an evil Guy who still has the ability to rationalize and excuse his own behavior, but sees something in Lucien that's so monstrous, it causes him to draw a line and maybe even try to fix some of the fucked up things he's done. That Guy probably still won't fare as well as Good Guy or even Corrupt Guy.. But, maybe there'll be some hope for him.

One thing I will say, and I've been fairly consistent about, is that I want things to basically work out for the love interests, no matter what path they're on. It'll ultimately vary from path to path, obviously. A Nicki who remains Guy's assistant and continues to grow into her role at Friends in Need, will probably have a better life than one that gets sick of Guy's shit and dips out.

But, no love interests will die, or end up in a mental hospital, or anything like that by the time the credits roll.

hehehe the low poly models in that Sub post made me laugh.
Also what kind of monster wouldn't bring Mason to get new glasses and some shopping?