VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Ch.11 v0.72] [NeonGhosts]

[Eland51298]

What's people's feeling on mercer? Do you think he'll help with lucien or is he in on it?

He's too friendly which is suspicious, he's probably working with that scumbag, taking bribes from him to cover him or something like that

I mean seriously, I live in a normal country where the Police don't start shooting at you if you seem suspicious to them and I haven't seen such a friendly cop in my life, so this guy is definitely plotting something wicked

 

[Akabakka]

What's people's feeling on mercer? Do you think he'll help with lucien or is he in on it?

My sus radar tells me he's bad, and that the grumpy cop might end up being the good one instead.

 

[Bruce F. Lee]

Time for Neon's Standard Check-In and Address Talking Points with Talking Points: Starring Neon!

• WTF, Dead Game: I put out a full chapter in November. I took an unpaid vacation December, halting my billing for my platforms. I returned in January and put out the Chapter 11 teaser with 150~ images, and then in February put out a mini-game for Sapphire with another 150+ images. I wanted the Chapter 1 remake to be done for March, but due to a couple factors, it just didn't happen. I'll return to this in a bit. But, I'd love for someone to point me towards all these games made by solo devs, which have a bunch of branching paths, and also update every month. Because I'm lucky to get one update a year from my favorites.
• 150 Images, This Is a Bullshit: The reason I made this Chapter 11 teaser was because I always put out some playable content for my $15 tier each month. As I was writing Chapter 1's remake during January, I couldn't really put out a demo for Chapter 1. But, I'd written some of Chapter 11 while I was on vacation, so I decided to just render that, and make it available to my high-tier patrons. Plus, that gave me a little jump on Chapter 11.
• Why Didn't You Remake Ch. 1 Ages Ago?! aRe yOu StUpiD: I've explained this about a dozen times, and half of them to the same gentleman. But, once more with feeling, I suppose. I'd always planned to remake Chapter 1, once Cassie was introduced. That was kind of the waypoint in my mind, for when the story would hit a bit of a climax, and feel like a season-ending cliffhanger. It felt like both a satisfying little break, and a tease for the future. Basically, the perfect place to park the story, and have people wait a bit. But, it was originally meant to happen sooner. Some plot developments got moved forward, ahead of it -- Lucien, Risa, Mason, etc. Then, things just snowballed, and pretty soon I had to redraw the plot map a bit.
• But Why Remake It Now: Chapter 10 is the end of Season 1. This year I'll be packaging the first ten chapters (plus Brent, Alex, and Sapphire's short stories) up, and getting it ready for Steam distribution. If anyone could tell me a better time to do it, which doesn't require a time machine and tremendous hindsight, I'd be interested. Do I wish I'd done it back when I originally planned to, after Chapter 4? Sure. Can't do anything about that now, though. The best time to plant a tree is yesterday, the second best time is today, and other such idioms.
• Where Are My Favorite Characters: Literally every love interest has appeared in the last two updates. Ashe only had a small part, but she also had almost an entire update to herself, so her inclusion felt less pressing. The nice thing is that we're kind of coming to a point where several of the main characters (Nicki, Ashe, Risa, Mason) have had full ero scenes on all their alignment paths. Pepper and Viola have had full scenes on their dark paths. This means that one of the biggest headaches for each character (multi-position, multi-cumshot sex scenes) are slowly being winnowed down, which removes a substantial burden for each character. So, plot developments should come a little faster, and girls who haven't had sex scenes yet will get them (Gabby and Brittani are next-up, and Carolina some time later this year).
• Where Are My Plot Advancements: Cassie showed up, Nicki ditched you or is your girlfriend or is gaining confidence as your assistant, Ashe is collaborating with you to secure her position at the museum, the photo mystery with Ashe has been resolved but had a new wrinkle added, Gabby's family is now reunited and her relationship to the player has been firmed up on every path, Brittani's about to collaborate with the player to make a movie which sets up her arc, Mason has his glasses (and soon a job at Barron Books), Risa's redemption plotline with Lucien is in swing, a date with Carolina is imminent, and and and.. Like, shit's happening all over the place.
• Heh, 150 Images? No Thanks: Respectfully, I don't make content for this forum. I make it for my supporters. My supporters understand why I put out the (sometimes bite-sized) content that I do, because I communicate it to them, and if they want to reach out directly, I'll explain my plans and reasons in more detail. My concern is only ever in delivering them what I promise them, for their support. That means $15 supporters get some kind of playable demo monthly, $5 supporters get a weekly update with a look at the script and art, and $2 supporters get exclusive bi-weekly art and story features. I can't even guarantee that they'll like it, though I do my best.
• I Am Not a Robot, I Am a Human Being: Life happens, and that does affect development. My day job got busier and more stressful over the past few months, which means some days I just haven't had the mental bandwidth to write or render as much as I might like to. My area of the country was also hit with: an ice storm, tornadoes, and floods, in a three month span. This meant intermittent power outages, surges, etc. I bought a UPS and a solar battery/generator, which allow me to work through small outages. But, we return to the fact that stress does have an impact on my ability to actually.. Do things. But, all that aside, if you're unhappy with my decisions, understand this -- I am not a content creation machine. I do not analyze and fine-tune my output for maximum return on investment of my time/effort. Sometimes, I miscalculate how long something will take. Sometimes, I get writer's block. Sometimes (like recently) I fuck up some renders and have to redo them. I don't have a studio, an assistant, or anything else. It's literally just me, writing, rendering, coding, doing blog posts, doing art, managing my social media, tracking expenses, filing taxes, etc. while still working a 60+ hour a week full-time job, and trying to have an actual life.

As always, thanks for reading and playing.

Fuck the haters.

 

[Bruce F. Lee]

What's people's feeling on mercer? Do you think he'll help with lucien or is he in on it?

He's covering for Lucien. He stopped the rape video short, presumably because it would have become obvious it wasn't consensual.

 

[Akabakka]

Spoiler

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[Cra1g281]

thank you very much for your help everyone, i`m deff going to give mercer a wide birth

 

[NeegNog]

Um, okay, fine, this is just a teaser for Chapter 11. How can you explain the lack of content in it... But I'm just confused by one simple question, why the hell do you need it at all? Just release a normal chapter when it's ready. What's the point of all these ridiculous movements? Just stop wasting your efforts on extraneous things, set priorities, instead of shifting the blame to the supposedly overly demanding fans of the game. A lot of paths in a game are of course good if there is an opportunity to do them, but if it becomes so difficult, then maybe it's worth reducing them a little, as well as the number of characters?) It's just logical to do what you can and calculate your capabilities.

yes , the focus should be put on one thing , and its the main game , i understund why he would want to rework them now , since usually the playerbase drops after the game is finished anyway , but still ...

 

[ArDZer]

My sus radar tells me he's bad, and that the grumpy cop might end up being the good one instead.

Spoiler: About a certain concierge's kid and other stuff

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[MrBee]

ah man, got excited. is the tease any good at least? 140 slides is like 1 min of content.

 

[Liftoff7073]

yo Neon, I have a question, is Viola's path pretty much over if Guy rapes her in the store? or is it planned to get back to her somehow anyway? so far all her later scenes are available only if Guy is nice or a bit of dick to her, the darkest path didn't have anything after the scene...

 

[Avaron1974]

Ashe also brought up the possibility of having a threesome with the MC and another blonde. Maybe planting the seed for a possible throuple?

That was flirty talk. She's made it quite clear she doesn't share, same with Nicki.

Ashe is looking for something serious.

yo Neon, I have a question, is Viola's path pretty much over if Guy rapes her in the store? or is it planned to get back to her somehow anyway? so far all her later scenes are available only if Guy is nice or a bit of dick to her, the darkest path didn't have anything after the scene...

Is that a serious question?

On the Dark Path he rapes her. Of course she's not going to be willing to give him a chance for more.

 

[MrBee]

That was flirty talk. She's made it quite clear she doesn't share, same with Nicki.

Ashe is looking for something serious.



Is that a serious question?

On the Dark Path he rapes her. Of course she's not going to be willing to give him a chance for more.

Maybe he is a good raper? I thought you can still hire her as a maid?

 

[dreddhead]

Mason may become my fave in this game.

Mason is precious and must be protected at all costs (and given head scritches).

 

[ffive]

Um, okay, fine, this is just a teaser for Chapter 11. How can you explain the lack of content in it... But I'm just confused by one simple question, why the hell do you need it at all? Just release a normal chapter when it's ready. What's the point of all these ridiculous movements?

The dev has explained it literally few posts above yours:

Respectfully, I don't make content for this forum. I make it for my supporters. My supporters understand why I put out the (sometimes bite-sized) content that I do, because I communicate it to them, and if they want to reach out directly, I'll explain my plans and reasons in more detail. My concern is only ever in delivering them what I promise them, for their support. That means $15 supporters get some kind of playable demo monthly, $5 supporters get a weekly update with a look at the script and art, and $2 supporters get exclusive bi-weekly art and story features.

It was a monthly update for the paid supporters. The point of these "ridiculous movements" is to give them some bang for their buck monthly.

 

[Liftoff7073]

Is that a serious question?

On the Dark Path he rapes her. Of course she's not going to be willing to give him a chance for more.

I didn't ask about her giving Guy a chance, lol. Did Ashe "give him a chance" after the scene on the street and willingly go on a date night?

 

[Bmagada]

I don't think so, don't remember exact conversation, but i think it was Ashe who said she is not in favor of flings and sharing.

Shes also the one who gets you to tell her you want two blondes at the same time soooooooo......

 

[Bmagada]

But it could have been have been done over 12-18 months ago..instead of having update after update after update...all the while knowing it still needed doing and would fuck everyone's saves up and force them to restart. Not a good look three years after it started.

Holy crap read the update. Do you have a time machine? No? Then all this backseat quarterbacking in hindsight is just complaining. He wrote himself into a corner and is aiming to fix it. Stuff got in the way and dude has a life and he chose more content over a rework because his job is to please his subscribers and not people on this forum so he's doing it now. No one is going to change what is. Also its not like you have to reread everything, get passed the first chapter and put the peddle down on that control key.

 

[Jack Townsend]

Shes also the one who gets you to tell her you want two blondes at the same time soooooooo......

Yes, she also seems to like and admire Brittani very much. You even score some points with Ashe by admitting you know her.

 

[NeonGhosts]

yo Neon, I have a question, is Viola's path pretty much over if Guy rapes her in the store? or is it planned to get back to her somehow anyway? so far all her later scenes are available only if Guy is nice or a bit of dick to her, the darkest path didn't have anything after the scene...

Pretty much over, but not over-over. In Chapter 10, Guy starts to ask his lawyer about her, only to have her tell him to stop talking. In the Chapter 11 teaser, he asks her again, and Lane explains that the situation with “the Pavlischeva girl” was taken care of. When he tries to press the issue, she basically says he’s a moron, and he needs to stay away from her.

So, just because a character isn’t actively around/being seen, doesn’t mean that they don’t exist or will never be seen again. But, in Viola’s specific case, you’re very unlikely to see any more ero scenes on her dark path.

That's cool, when I saw the game promoted in the latest updates I thought it was the Remake already.
So Remake eta?

Sometime this month. Trying to get the Alpha done this weekend, but we’ll see how it all goes.

 

[aack]

Taboo patch not working for me on the latest version. Anyone else?