VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Ch. 9 v0.60c] [NeonGhosts]

[NeonGhosts]

Daz can be a bit challenging, but once you get the hang of it, it's very easy. I am an artist and I've only been messing with Daz for about 2yrs. (I procrastinate alot lol) most important thing, learn lighting and camera work. Visuals can kill a game just as easy as a bad story. Watch a video on YouTube about 3-4 point lighting; def will help.

Thanks! Yeah, speaking with other devs definitely clued me into the importance of lighting a scene correctly. It'll be a learning process for sure, but I'm confident I'll deliver something that can satisfy the majority. But, I'll keep your offer in mind! The dream scenario would be for me to grow this game to such a point I could step back and bring on a full-time artist, but I'm a ways off from that.

 

[zedascove]

Really impressed with the game even at this early stage. Writing is really good and I like the multiple choices - even after choosing to be kind you can change to evil halfway in.

Keep up the good work and please don't give in to the crybabies that get offended by a videogame. Be strong.

 

[zedascove]

Just an advice: don't put the "evil" content in a separate patch. By reading the options it's pretty clear what to expect and if someone picks one of these options he's doing it at his own risk so he shouldn't complain about it if it isn't to his taste.

I'm saying that because you got two "bad" reviews because the reviewers clearly didn't bother to read the first post till the end and downloaded the "vanilla" game only to complain later about the lack of choices.

I tried to report those reviews because they're misleading but I'm not sure they're gonna be removed.

 

[Pornfather 3000]

Congrats Neon! Amazing work! Can't wait for the next update to see where the story goes!

 

[NeonGhosts]

edit

 

[zedascove]

Unfortunately, this is just a matter of hewing to Patreon’s rules. They don’t allow certain content on their platform, and in order to remain in their good graces, the game needs to be officially vanilla.

Now, if they get a bee in their bonnet anyways and I have to go to Subscribestar, the patch will go away. But, I’m sticking with Patreon because it’s more mainstream and trusted, at the moment.

And don’t sweat the bad reviews, I’m certainly not! I’m making this because it’s fun, and no bad reviews will make it not fun for me.

But to your earlier point, don’t worry, the mean content will never go away.

Perhaps you could draw more attention to the patch on the OP, maybe be more descriptive about it too?

I'm sure many people don't read the developer notes. Try putting what it is above the download link, maybe?

 

[I am Gone]

Honestly, I feel a certain type of way about the two bad reviews being from people who apparently missed the patch details, but it is what it is.

I actually reported those 2 reviews and you can also we have rules for reviews and if broken they get removed and considering they didn't read and install the patch for the dark path those reviews are bullshit and should be removed.

Great time for people who like the game to go give it a review though, hint-hint.

Eh, I love dark games as you can see by my Sig but for one I haven't played it yet but it's on my list to try (a very long list but it's around the top) so can't review it and second I don't really leave reviews except saying I like it or something in the thread itself.

Unfortunately, this is just a matter of hewing to Patreon’s rules. They don’t allow certain content on their platform, and in order to remain in their good graces, the game needs to be officially vanilla.

Little advice change up the thread a little remove the dev notes about the patch and change the name of it in OP to something like "Fan-Made Dark Path" with a * at the end of the patch link. Patreon likes to snoop on other sites to see if the content being pedaled breaks their rules. As of right now it kinda looks like it's a Dev-made Patch Which we all know it's not. Damn Evil Modders

 

[zedascove]

Going to such lengths to remove a friggin' porn videogame from its site is ridiculous beyond measure.

Zoomer culture is such a cancer. No wonder the entertainment industry today is fucking shit.

 

[JoeTheMC84]

The crazy thing is, the original script contained exactly that, on the most negative path. It was a thing of - "Okay, you get a third of the money now, and I get you two more times, and if you thought this was bad.."

But, things in the story developed in such a way that it would've been a bit redundant, and needlessly muddled certain dialogue trees. That said, you're not the first person to mention this idea, which makes me suspect people are enjoying the financial domination aspect in Nicki and MC's relationship - if that's the case, I think people will be really happy in a couple chapters.

I can see why it might be redundant since even on the loving path just paying off her loan doesn't solve all her issues. She is still just a young woman working at a convenance store. It's made clear that she doesn't have much money anyway. And if she leaves the asshole and kicks him out of their place, well, she'll have to pay all her bills alone which won't be easy for her. So, her coming back to either move in with the MC or he becomes her sugar-daddy and takes of her but she still has or own place makes sense (or some darker "agreement" on a dark path). Another thing that could happen is if the BF doesn't use the money to pay off the loan but gambles it away again or something. She probably doesn't know who the money is supposed to go to, so she'd give it all to him to pay off and he's a stupid asshole. That could get him beaten up or worse and be the catalyst for her finally striking out on her own, or us saving her again showing her we're the better choice or the MC on a darker path dealing with it in a different way. If people like using blackmail and money to control her then there are plenty of ways that leave her in financial need. Even on the good path it is highly possible that financial problems cause by her BF will be finally puts her firmly with us.

Hopefully it only takes a few in games days to come to a head. If I was writing it; I'd have the BF waste the money he got on another get rich quick thing and have Nicki back with us by the end of the first in game week. Him doing that would also show how much better the MC is again, he got a lot of money and cashed out, wasn't greedy but the BF had what he needed but thought he could use it to get more and get ahead and bang, now he's beaten or worse and Nicki knows 100% he is a worthless shit. Cause as it stands, she can still make the excuse that the problem wasn't "really his fault" he just had bad timing, but if he blows the money we gave her... she can't ignore that. Maybe have her show up right when we get stuff settled to start our new business and she can be our first employee who helps us get it off the ground (or slave-worker on the darker path or whatever). And yeah, it can be months of development just for the first week to go by in game depending on the content in each game day so it might not happen IRL soon, but in game soon is my wish. I would just hate for months in game to go by before we get her away from her current situation. Still, that's just how I would do it and its just one of a bunch of ways it could go down.

 

[Meridian]

I'm kinda surprised at how vehemently people seem to dislike her.

We are presented with a choice to take advantage of her or let her take advantage of mc without any middle ground. Naturally there will be plenty of people taking former option in a video game.

And since, for what I assume is plot purpose, she never even brings up an idea of paying the money back(at least I dont remember such words) it just makes her look bad and quite hateable. She either came to guilt trip mc with her pleading eyes or seduce him with her body into giving her 20k. The most logical and reasonable option of taking a no interest loan from a nice rich dude never even brought up.

 

[raj100]

That said, you're not the first person to mention this idea, which makes me suspect people are enjoying the financial domination aspect in Nicki and MC's relationship - if that's the case, I think people will be really happy in a couple chapters.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Jonah Arkon]

Yeah those kinks have their separate path. You have to choose to be an asshole to do any of that, the dev even put those in a separate addon download. If you do not download the full content patch those kinks wont even be present in the game files.

Thanks for the kind reply and the explanation.

 

[Jonah Arkon]

View attachment 1732063
When you get new lingerie but don't really have the chest for it.

(Image courtesy of Horizontical. )

But her chest is just fine in my book. My only concern is am I looking at a girlfriend or sister or cousin. Two of which I walk away the third I run from. lol

 

[fleetp]

Well written and good looking art, thank you for making this.

 

[NeonGhosts]

But her chest is just fine in my book. My only concern is am I looking at a girlfriend or sister or cousin. Two of which I walk away the third I run from. lol

She’s *a* girlfriend, but not your girlfriend. Definitely not a familial relationship either.

I can see why it might be redundant since even on the loving path just paying off her loan doesn't solve all her issues. She is still just a young woman working at a convenance store. It's made clear that she doesn't have much money anyway. And if she leaves the asshole and kicks him out of their place, well, she'll have to pay all her bills alone which won't be easy for her. So, her coming back to either move in with the MC or he becomes her sugar-daddy and takes of her but she still has or own place makes sense (or some darker "agreement" on a dark path). Another thing that could happen is if the BF doesn't use the money to pay off the loan but gambles it away again or something. She probably doesn't know who the money is supposed to go to, so she'd give it all to him to pay off and he's a stupid asshole. That could get him beaten up or worse and be the catalyst for her finally striking out on her own, or us saving her again showing her we're the better choice or the MC on a darker path dealing with it in a different way. If people like using blackmail and money to control her then there are plenty of ways that leave her in financial need. Even on the good path it is highly possible that financial problems cause by her BF will be finally puts her firmly with us.

You and I are riding the same logic train, friend! Brent's a dumbass, and it's only a matter of time before he puts his foot in it again, and Nicki has to make some hard decisions.

 

[The ArcKnight]

Ya know... I saw someone mention how Nicki didn't even try to offer to pay the MC back and how much they hated her for it. Maybe that could be an optional good path: "I'll give you the 20k Nicki, but here's the catch, you will pay back the money by working for ME instead of wasting your life in that convivence store with your prick of a bf. I have an idea about starting this charity and need a sex-er-secretary.... and you already look so cute in a skirt an stockings..."

 

[NeonGhosts]

Everyone's really worried about Nicki, but I think people will like our next Friend in Need - Gabriella.



Gabriella will come to the MC's attention when her family, the owners of a struggling local book store, look to him for help. But, it turns out Gabriella has a few problems of her own..

 

[soldano]

soldano
Tell me you can't read without telling me you can't read...
View attachment 1732582
View attachment 1732583

Something written in a spoiler?
No, I haven't read it. That's why this option exists, to give optional information, which may or may not be read, without making the post too long. If it's something essential, it should be displayed in plain sight in my opinion.

But that's fine, thanks for letting me know. I will play the extended version and change my rating accordingly.

 

[desmosome]

Tried the 3 routes. I liked all 3. Contrary to my usual preferred route, I think I enjoyed the good route here. Well, I did the rougher good route so it didn't feel like a boring vanilla love scene. I need male dom in scenes to find it hot, but I generally prefer the Japanese style of non-con where the females succumb to it and get ahegao mind broke lol. Real rapes with crying and everything could be a bit of a downer.

I always find it hilarious when people complain about fictional characters as if they were vetting a girl to spend eternity with. Self insert romantics lol. Anyways, I found Nicki's character interesting and her initial relationship dynamic (before you rape her, if you did) with the MC was quite realistically portrayed. A generally good girl who is in a tough situation because of her dickhead bf. Came hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Nicki and MC were just work friends, so neither of them really knew what each other is capable of.

I was not too impressed by the visual side, though. There is just a lack of variety and dynamics. Too few renders. Incongruent facial expressions and renders in general that don't really fit the situation being depicted in the script. And no subtlety in the expressions. It's all just extreme. Extreme frown. Extreme laugh. Extreme crazy smile. Extreme angry face. There is a lot of room for improvement in the visuals. From skimming the thread, I got that the renders were outsourced to a dev of another game by just describing the renders needed? That might be the source of all the shortcomings on the visual side. It was done separately from the script. Personally, I hope to see the dev learn to render or at least find a real partner to work with. Not saying the person who did the renders is terrible or anything (although let's face it, it's not the best by today's standards), but the process of commissioning DAZ renders seem to be holding the game back.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Tried the 3 routes. I liked all 3. Contrary to my usual preferred route, I think I enjoyed the good route here. Well, I did the rougher good route so it didn't feel like a boring vanilla love scene. I need male dom in scenes to find it hot, but I generally prefer the Japanese style of non-con where the females succumb to it and get ahegao mind broke lol. Real rapes with crying and everything could be a bit of a downer.

I was not too impressed by the visual side, though. There is just a lack of variety and dynamics. Too few renders. Incongruent facial expressions and renders in general that don't really fit the situation being depicted in the script. And no subtlety in the expressions. It's all just extreme. Extreme frown. Extreme laugh. Extreme crazy smile. Extreme angry face. There is a lot of room for improvement in the visuals. From skimming the thread, I got that the renders were outsourced to a dev of another game by just describing the renders needed? That might be the source of all the shortcomings on the visual side. It was done separately from the script. Personally, I hope to see the dev learn to render or at least find a real partner to work with. Not saying the person who did the renders is terrible or anything (although let's face it, it's not the best by today's standards), but the process of commissioning DAZ renders seem to be holding the game back.

Sorry to hear the visuals didn't quite land. I am indeed taking over the art duties for the foreseeable future. As an artist that comes from a 2D/illustration background, Daz always has a bit of an uncanny valley vibe to me. But, I'm happy with the first chapter.

That said, it will look different going forward. Not because I'm intentionally trying to make it different, but just because I have my own perspective, way of doing things, and hardware limitations. Hopefully people enjoy what I'm cooking up.

Also - PATREON QUESTION - if I created a lower tier that just gave access to development art and other stuff, but didn't give early access to the game, would people be interested in that? Think of it as kind of a tip jar that gives you access to a development blog. I'm thinking like $3.

I don't intend to ever embargo the game for overly long periods anyways - the current tiers are basically $5 and you get the game a week ahead of the official release, $15 and you get it as soon as it's ready, and $50 gets you the text-only next chapter, if you're just dying to know where it's going.

It's not a huge gulf between $3 and $5, but when you're pledging to a lot of Patreons, I know it can add up quickly - so I'd like to give people the option of showing support, without necessarily having to chip in $5 a month.