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

[anoterfuckingmaster]

Yeah Mason and Gabby aren't for me either but eh not every update is gonna have big updates for my favorites just the way things go. As long as the rest looks promising like how we are gonna get some Viola content or that cliffhanger I won't skip an update.

me someone who has been waiting for the sister for an god knows how long lol . to me overall story is interesting enough that i dont mind .

 

[Joshy92]

Spoiler: Alex

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Damn she has spunk. Come on then Alex show me what you've got.

 

[interested_guy]

is there any WT mod for this game ?

 

[Ragnar]

while i do like Gabby, i much prefer the stepmom. i hope we get to find out that the dad is a drug dealer and he gets locked up, leaving an open path to the stepmom, which Gabby supports when she finds out what a pos her dad is. otherwise, my favs are Nicki, Viola and Ashe..in that order. not into Risa at all. although i hope we can prove her dad is a criminal and get him locked up. ah so much potential here.

The stepmom is Dark Path fuel. Married to a drug dealer and with a tsundere kid. She asking for it

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

yeah that's the only dark path I will play assault her in the Alley but drug her and don't sleep with her yet to try this without drugging her. The next day in the morning It kind of feels like a redemption arc or almost like Ashe feels bad for guy / second thoughts for second like he is lonely. At least that's how it seems to me im probably way off the mark since hard to imagine how she would feel bad for a guy that raped her in the past.

I think I already said this, so my bad if repeating. But, what I took from that scene is more wariness, caution, and confusion. Guy's pretty unpredictable at that point and she doesn't want to say or do the wrong thing that triggers him; she's also probably in shock and perhaps mentally surrendered. But she's also confused and naturally feels compelled to understand her situation and her abuser. Most normal people have a hard time understanding evil when faced with it, much less the irrational kind, but we feel driven to, especially when it involves us. I mean, one day he violently assaults her in an alley, the next he drugs her just to sleep next to her because he's lonely.. that shit's fucking 'put the lotion in the basket' kind of scary O_O That's just my take, anyways. Yours is definitely interesting! Here's the pic btw, if anyone's curious.

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EDIT: Maybe you're thinking of this scene? It's post-apology during the date on the dark route, but not on the drugged route.
"All the money, all the-- all the favors in the world can't undo w-what you did. You really want to apologize?"
Looking over her shoulder, the young woman glares at you derisively as she exits the hot tub.
"Just stay the fuck away from me."
You sit in the hot tub, watching as Ashe gathers her things and prepares to leave. As she goes, she casts one last look back in your direction. Her eyes are steely, and cold. As you'd expect. But, there's something else. Pity.

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And on that note, I really love that even on the dark route you can shape Guy and detail what kind of crazy you want to see on screen. Fascinating and obviously gives a lot of replay value.

A Menu for mini-sodes would be more intrusive than inserting then during normal gameplay imo. It feels formulaic and breaks inmersion. Bren story can be added easily with just a "Meanwhile...".
I'm not a fan of "Do you want to see this or that scene" nor trigger warnings of any kind during the flow of the story, it breaks the 4 wall and kills inmersion.

I'm not super partial one way or the other, but I do think the ideal placement of flashbacks or character perspective shifts are at the beginning of chapters before a fade out back to our MC. Lots of TV shows execute them that way, and I think it's really effective.

I disagree, do you find gallery, or settings/options on the main menu intrusive, if not, why the double standard.
To me it breaks my immersion, I personally don't care about what went on with brent and there may be other minisodes I don't care for.
I am not a fan of black screen, do you want to see this for me just always clicking no instesd of jumping to next scene, like I would like, just ruins the flow imo. Putting it on the main menu would be the same as a gallery, or pictures that other games have, that way people can view it or not.

I think Neon wants to flesh out Brent for us before some eventual story (or perhaps even character) arc. Pretty standard for minor antagonists, and great authors love to challenge first impressions. Putting it on the menu either makes it easy to ignore entirely, or easy to play through at the 'wrong' time. But I definitely get what you're saying, I agree it's awkward.

 

[Machete]

I think Neon wants to flesh out Brent for us before some eventual story (or perhaps even character) arc.

I think it would be cool to see a Brent redemption arc for good or passable MC and he becoming an ally/sidekick in the main plot.

 

[MagicMan753]

I think Neon wants to flesh out Brent for us before some eventual story (or perhaps even character) arc. Pretty standard for minor antagonists, and great authors love to challenge first impressions. Putting it on the menu either makes it easy to ignore entirely, or easy to play through at the 'wrong' time. But I definitely get what you're saying, I agree it's awkward.

Truth is , I am going to ignore it anyway, along with some other minisodes probably, maybe a option to automatically skip minisodes in the options menu can be another suggestion, Idk.

I just personally the don't like the minisodes i popping up middle of the story.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

I think it would be cook to see a Brent redemption arc for good or passable MC and he becoming an ally/sidekick in the main plot.

Yeah, lots of people hate him understandably, but I agree with you. I think he's redeemable and can even become interesting. Hell, I think a lot of people can honestly relate to him because I don't think he's an intentional pos, I think he's genuinely oblivious to his own attitude and behavior and how its affected his relationships and position in life. Not that it absolves him of course.

Truth is , I am going to ignore it anyway, along with some other minisodes probably, maybe a option to automatically skip minisodes in the options menu can be another suggestion, Idk.

I just personally the don't like the minisodes i popping up middle of the story.

Fair enough. Just justifying its current execution from a story perspective.

 

[Heabob]

i much prefer the stepmom

+1
Hope she has more content in the future.
Other girls Mom's are quite pretty too, lol.
Viola and Ashe are also two of my favorites.

Since I don't see a harem tag I guess we'll have multiple endings.

Fun game overall and can't wait for more.

 

[Eezergoode]

I say only that when a DEV has his success, after some months the updates becames veeeeery long.

Or.. and hear me out on this... could it possibly be that the farther you get into making a game like this, the more complex each update gets, and will therefore take longer? Not every dev turns their game into a milking machine. I mean, yeah, a lot of them do, but not all. And being someone who has been involved in writing branching narrative and multiple dialog options... I can assure you that the deeper into a story with choices you get, even one NOT super deep, the more you have to produce to get the same play-time.

 

[Shitty]

Is the next chapter gonna focus on Carolina? with the buildup to that date I'd love to finally see it happen.

 

[Eland51298]

Or.. and hear me out on this... could it possibly be that the farther you get into making a game like this, the more complex each update gets, and will therefore take longer? Not every dev turns their game into a milking machine. I mean, yeah, a lot of them do, but not all. And being someone who has been involved in writing branching narrative and multiple dialog options... I can assure you that the deeper into a story with choices you get, even one NOT super deep, the more you have to produce to get the same play-time.

In addition, there was literally a vote in which the option of larger updates in a longer time interval won out
So, people literally got what they wanted xd

 

[armond]

Spoiler: Alex

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Damn she has spunk. Come on then Alex show me what you've got.

I believe the spunk is in her water bottle

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

In addition, there was literally a vote in which the option of larger updates in a longer time interval won out
So, people literally got what they wanted xd

Yep, plus on top of that I think Neon said he was also gonna do smaller updates on the side in between, for things that don't move the narrative along so much, or maybe don't fit perfectly. So, for example, I'd guess that if/when we get a scene with Brit's mom, it'd be one of these smaller ones. Updates have been moving along smoothly and they're always good quality. Don't know what people are worried about.. it sucks waiting, but that's how VNs go.

 

[ename144]

Is the next chapter gonna focus on Caroline? with the buildup to that date I'd love to finally see it happen.

Unfortunately no, Carolina's date is a very long way's off, maybe late 2025 if we're lucky.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Just for a quick state-of-things update: I passed 1500 renders for FiN today, making it the biggest chapter by a rather Large Marge-in. I've rendered the ending scenes (save for one small path) and now I need to circle back do a little stuff here and there. I've moved my target for the $15 release to next week. Gonna try to make Wednesday, but may push it to Friday the 15th.

I appreciate that people aren't happy with how long it's taken. Neither am I! This one's been a killer, and I really boned myself by deviating from my planned content outline, because I didn't think the update would feel big enough, with what I had. Well, I solved that problem and created a new one.

In the future I'm going to try focusing on smaller, tighter updates with an A-plot and a B-plot, without so many little side-quests pinging around the background. And of course, the mini-sode content. Speaking of which, I'll be unlocking the Halloween mini-sode for everyone, next week.

Truth is , I am going to ignore it anyway, along with some other minisodes probably, maybe a option to automatically skip minisodes in the options menu can be another suggestion, Idk.

I just personally the don't like the minisodes i popping up middle of the story.

My plan is to shunt some mini-sodes into a main menu, while some will just be between chapters. The ones like Slave to Desire, which takes place in the past, can be put in a menu without much problem. But, the trouble comes when I want to reference things from the main game, in the mini-sode. Like, in Brent's, he referenced the MC/Guy by name. It gets tricky to do that, if it's not pulling data from an existing save file. Or I can just break immersion and say, "Hey, type your name again.." which I don't like.

So, for stuff like that, they sort of have to remain within the main game. But, I may put a "generic" version of the same content into a mini-sode menu, just for the sake of having them all in the same spot.

Unfortunately no, Carolina's date is a very long way's off, maybe late 2025 if we're lucky.

I definitely plan on getting it out before that, buuuuut the best laid plans, and so on and so forth. The plan with the Carolina date, as it stands now, is to make it a mini-sode. I think that'll work a little better, and give me the space to really focus in entirely on the date, and the babysitter arrangements. The basic timeline I have drawn right now is Chapter 1 remake, Chapter 11 (mostly Gabby and Viola content), Brittani's Audition mini-sode (with guest-star Ashe), Carolina's date mini-sode, Chapter 12.

Speaking of mini-sodes: The idea I recently floated to my subscribers, which they seemed to like, was that I'd basically make certain story-central mini-sodes available in two formats.

• If you're on Carolina's love/friendship path and asked her out on a date, it would basically just be a mini-chapter between chapters. I'd set it up at the end of one, and then it'd be available in the next.
• If you're not then I'd release it as a stand-alone where the player might need to enter a few variables like their name, general disposition towards Carolina, past actions towards her, etc.

This way, I don't spend a month working on a mini-sode, and then only a certain percentage of the players have access to it. Nor do I need to conjure an entire separate branch for an event that will be optional. That's one area where I keep fucking myself.

In the most recent update, Mason makes up a big part of it. Buuut, some people don't like Mason, and didn't want to engage with his story. So, I'd originally written it so that MC just sort of.. Went home and watched TV. But, that felt like a cop-out, so I created an alternate path that basically sees MC kicking around town and visiting different people. I had to rewrite and re-work some stuff, add a bunch of renders, blah blah blah.. The fact is, it probably would've been smarter to just make that whole shopping event a between-chapters mini-sode, and focused on some of the core plot developments, like everything going on with Nicki, Brent, and Gabby's family.

 

[hoshin0119]

Just for a quick state-of-things update: I passed 1500 renders for FiN today, making it the biggest chapter by a rather Large Marge-in. I've rendered the ending scenes (save for one small path) and now I need to circle back do a little stuff here and there. I've moved my target for the $15 release to next week. Gonna try to make Wednesday, but may push it to Friday the 15th.

I appreciate that people aren't happy with how long it's taken. Neither am I! This one's been a killer, and I really boned myself by deviating from my planned content outline, because I didn't think the update would feel big enough, with what I had. Well, I solved that problem and created a new one.

In the future I'm going to try focusing on smaller, tighter updates with an A-plot and a B-plot, without so many little side-quests pinging around the background. And of course, the mini-sode content. Speaking of which, I'll be unlocking the Halloween mini-sode for everyone, next week.



My plan is to shunt some mini-sodes into a main menu, while some will just be between chapters. The ones like Slave to Desire, which takes place in the past, can be put in a menu without much problem. But, the trouble comes when I want to reference things from the main game, in the mini-sode. Like, in Brent's, he referenced the MC/Guy by name. It gets tricky to do that, if it's not pulling data from an existing save file. Or I can just break immersion and say, "Hey, type your name again.." which I don't like.

So, for stuff like that, they sort of have to remain within the main game. But, I may put a "generic" version of the same content into a mini-sode menu, just for the sake of having them all in the same spot.



I definitely plan on getting it out before that, buuuuut the best laid plans, and so on and so forth. The plan with the Carolina date, as it stands now, is to make it a mini-sode. I think that'll work a little better, and give me the space to really focus in entirely on the date, and the babysitter arrangements. The basic timeline I have drawn right now is Chapter 1 remake, Chapter 11 (mostly Gabby and Viola content), Brittani's Audition mini-sode (with guest-star Ashe), Carolina's date mini-sode, Chapter 12.

Speaking of mini-sodes: The idea I recently floated to my subscribers, which they seemed to like, was that I'd basically make certain story-central mini-sodes available in two formats.

• If you're on Carolina's love/friendship path and asked her out on a date, it would basically just be a mini-chapter between chapters. I'd set it up at the end of one, and then it'd be available in the next.
• If you're not then I'd release it as a stand-alone where the player might need to enter a few variables like their name, general disposition towards Carolina, past actions towards her, etc.

This way, I don't spend a month working on a mini-sode, and then only a certain percentage of the players have access to it. Nor do I need to conflate an entire separate branch for an event that will be optional. That's one area where I keep fucking myself.

In the most recent update, Mason makes up a big part of it. Buuut, some people don't like Mason, and didn't want to engage with his story. So, I'd originally written it so that MC just sort of.. Went home and watched TV. But, that felt like a cop-out, so I created an alternate path that basically sees MC kicking around town and visiting different people. I had to rewrite and re-work some stuff, add a bunch of renders, blah blah blah.. The fact is, it probably would've been smarter to just make that whole shopping event a between-chapters mini-sode, and focused on some of the core plot developments, like everything going on with Nicki, Brent, and Gabby's family.

'some people don't like Mason, and didn't want to engage with his story.'
On the flip side, some people like Mason's story.
Personally, I think Mason is the most pathetic person in Friends in Need, so I want to take care of him.
Thanks for making a great game.

 

[Joshy92]

Just for a quick state-of-things update: I passed 1500 renders for FiN today, making it the biggest chapter by a rather Large Marge-in. I've rendered the ending scenes (save for one small path) and now I need to circle back do a little stuff here and there. I've moved my target for the $15 release to next week. Gonna try to make Wednesday, but may push it to Friday the 15th.

I appreciate that people aren't happy with how long it's taken. Neither am I! This one's been a killer, and I really boned myself by deviating from my planned content outline, because I didn't think the update would feel big enough, with what I had. Well, I solved that problem and created a new one.

In the future I'm going to try focusing on smaller, tighter updates with an A-plot and a B-plot, without so many little side-quests pinging around the background. And of course, the mini-sode content. Speaking of which, I'll be unlocking the Halloween mini-sode for everyone, next week.



My plan is to shunt some mini-sodes into a main menu, while some will just be between chapters. The ones like Slave to Desire, which takes place in the past, can be put in a menu without much problem. But, the trouble comes when I want to reference things from the main game, in the mini-sode. Like, in Brent's, he referenced the MC/Guy by name. It gets tricky to do that, if it's not pulling data from an existing save file. Or I can just break immersion and say, "Hey, type your name again.." which I don't like.

So, for stuff like that, they sort of have to remain within the main game. But, I may put a "generic" version of the same content into a mini-sode menu, just for the sake of having them all in the same spot.



I definitely plan on getting it out before that, buuuuut the best laid plans, and so on and so forth. The plan with the Carolina date, as it stands now, is to make it a mini-sode. I think that'll work a little better, and give me the space to really focus in entirely on the date, and the babysitter arrangements. The basic timeline I have drawn right now is Chapter 1 remake, Chapter 11 (mostly Gabby and Viola content), Brittani's Audition mini-sode (with guest-star Ashe), Carolina's date mini-sode, Chapter 12.

Speaking of mini-sodes: The idea I recently floated to my subscribers, which they seemed to like, was that I'd basically make certain story-central mini-sodes available in two formats.

• If you're on Carolina's love/friendship path and asked her out on a date, it would basically just be a mini-chapter between chapters. I'd set it up at the end of one, and then it'd be available in the next.
• If you're not then I'd release it as a stand-alone where the player might need to enter a few variables like their name, general disposition towards Carolina, past actions towards her, etc.

This way, I don't spend a month working on a mini-sode, and then only a certain percentage of the players have access to it. Nor do I need to conflate an entire separate branch for an event that will be optional. That's one area where I keep fucking myself.

In the most recent update, Mason makes up a big part of it. Buuut, some people don't like Mason, and didn't want to engage with his story. So, I'd originally written it so that MC just sort of.. Went home and watched TV. But, that felt like a cop-out, so I created an alternate path that basically sees MC kicking around town and visiting different people. I had to rewrite and re-work some stuff, add a bunch of renders, blah blah blah.. The fact is, it probably would've been smarter to just make that whole shopping event a between-chapters mini-sode, and focused on some of the core plot developments, like everything going on with Nicki, Brent, and Gabby's family.

Fuck yeah Santa is coming early this year also, thanks for keeping is in the loop.

This update is going to be off the charts awesome.

 

[Shitty]

Just for a quick state-of-things update: I passed 1500 renders for FiN today, making it the biggest chapter by a rather Large Marge-in. I've rendered the ending scenes (save for one small path) and now I need to circle back do a little stuff here and there. I've moved my target for the $15 release to next week. Gonna try to make Wednesday, but may push it to Friday the 15th.

I appreciate that people aren't happy with how long it's taken. Neither am I! This one's been a killer, and I really boned myself by deviating from my planned content outline, because I didn't think the update would feel big enough, with what I had. Well, I solved that problem and created a new one.

In the future I'm going to try focusing on smaller, tighter updates with an A-plot and a B-plot, without so many little side-quests pinging around the background. And of course, the mini-sode content. Speaking of which, I'll be unlocking the Halloween mini-sode for everyone, next week.



My plan is to shunt some mini-sodes into a main menu, while some will just be between chapters. The ones like Slave to Desire, which takes place in the past, can be put in a menu without much problem. But, the trouble comes when I want to reference things from the main game, in the mini-sode. Like, in Brent's, he referenced the MC/Guy by name. It gets tricky to do that, if it's not pulling data from an existing save file. Or I can just break immersion and say, "Hey, type your name again.." which I don't like.

So, for stuff like that, they sort of have to remain within the main game. But, I may put a "generic" version of the same content into a mini-sode menu, just for the sake of having them all in the same spot.



I definitely plan on getting it out before that, buuuuut the best laid plans, and so on and so forth. The plan with the Carolina date, as it stands now, is to make it a mini-sode. I think that'll work a little better, and give me the space to really focus in entirely on the date, and the babysitter arrangements. The basic timeline I have drawn right now is Chapter 1 remake, Chapter 11 (mostly Gabby and Viola content), Brittani's Audition mini-sode (with guest-star Ashe), Carolina's date mini-sode, Chapter 12.

Speaking of mini-sodes: The idea I recently floated to my subscribers, which they seemed to like, was that I'd basically make certain story-central mini-sodes available in two formats.

• If you're on Carolina's love/friendship path and asked her out on a date, it would basically just be a mini-chapter between chapters. I'd set it up at the end of one, and then it'd be available in the next.
• If you're not then I'd release it as a stand-alone where the player might need to enter a few variables like their name, general disposition towards Carolina, past actions towards her, etc.

This way, I don't spend a month working on a mini-sode, and then only a certain percentage of the players have access to it. Nor do I need to conjure an entire separate branch for an event that will be optional. That's one area where I keep fucking myself.

In the most recent update, Mason makes up a big part of it. Buuut, some people don't like Mason, and didn't want to engage with his story. So, I'd originally written it so that MC just sort of.. Went home and watched TV. But, that felt like a cop-out, so I created an alternate path that basically sees MC kicking around town and visiting different people. I had to rewrite and re-work some stuff, add a bunch of renders, blah blah blah.. The fact is, it probably would've been smarter to just make that whole shopping event a between-chapters mini-sode, and focused on some of the core plot developments, like everything going on with Nicki, Brent, and Gabby's family.

How can people not like Mason? he's so hot and nice.

 

[allanl9020142]

I think I already said this, so my bad if repeating. But, what I took from that scene is more wariness, caution, and confusion. Guy's pretty unpredictable at that point and she doesn't want to say or do the wrong thing that triggers him; she's also probably in shock and perhaps mentally surrendered. But she's also confused and naturally feels compelled to understand her situation and her abuser. Most normal people have a hard time understanding evil when faced with it, much less the irrational kind, but we feel driven to, especially when it involves us. I mean, one day he violently assaults her in an alley, the next he drugs her just to sleep next to her because he's lonely.. that shit's fucking 'put the lotion in the basket' kind of scary O_O That's just my take, anyways. Yours is definitely interesting! Here's the pic btw, if anyone's curious.

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EDIT: Maybe you're thinking of this scene? It's post-apology during the date on the dark route, but not on the drugged route.
"All the money, all the-- all the favors in the world can't undo w-what you did. You really want to apologize?"
Looking over her shoulder, the young woman glares at you derisively as she exits the hot tub.
"Just stay the fuck away from me."
You sit in the hot tub, watching as Ashe gathers her things and prepares to leave. As she goes, she casts one last look back in your direction. Her eyes are steely, and cold. As you'd expect. But, there's something else. Pity.

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And on that note, I really love that even on the dark route you can shape Guy and detail what kind of crazy you want to see on screen. Fascinating and obviously gives a lot of replay value.


I'm not super partial one way or the other, but I do think the ideal placement of flashbacks or character perspective shifts are at the beginning of chapters before a fade out back to our MC. Lots of TV shows execute them that way, and I think it's really effective.


I think Neon wants to flesh out Brent for us before some eventual story (or perhaps even character) arc. Pretty standard for minor antagonists, and great authors love to challenge first impressions. Putting it on the menu either makes it easy to ignore entirely, or easy to play through at the 'wrong' time. But I definitely get what you're saying, I agree it's awkward.

Jeez, I knew there were different branches but I didn't realize there were that many. At that point, I'm just like "I know what I must do and I'll stick to it. Make Ashe the head wife of the harem."

If I had the time, I'd love to put together an organized walkthrough mod for this game.