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

[Dr.Slime]

I honestly if a game has music i dont want to hear mute it then play my own (general for most VNs).
If i like it play it and have fun , before i thought “ wow a game without music i can’t play this , how can i enjoy it etc… but then i discovered Spotify or Youtube music is A thing can you believe it .

for animation for what is worth i really ,
on my opinion don’t mind if there is or if there is not, if i like the story then everything fixes it self for me.

 

[ImSenjou]

The first thing I do when starting a Ren'py game is mute the game's music and sounds, and then select all the 'SKIP' options, it's almost automatic for me to do this.

So I'm another one who doesn't care if there's music or not, I'll mute it anyway.

As for animations, when done well they are well accepted, but the bad ones, those that are basically 2sec stimuli loop, I prefer not to have them at all.

I've been finding some "weird" animations that I didn't like so much, they seem to be as if the stills were made in Daz and the animations in Blender, I can't like them; a great example is the game Unbroken I really liked the story, but I didn't like the animations, and I would have preferred it not to have them, the animations are well done, but the render seems to be different, I found similar animations in other games, and It always bothers me.

Quick edit:
I mentioned Unbroken, but another game that has similar but much better animation is The Hellcat Lounge, the dev of The Hellcat Lounge filled the game with animations, much more than I'm used to, and some are just a few frames, but it's well done, it's worth taking a look for some inspiration.

My 2 cents.

 

[Dessolos]

Honestly bad animations don't bother me at all I think it's better than nothing if it seems like some effort was put into it.

Edit : but that's cause ive gotten used to seeing some form of animations in most games

 

[GokutheG]

RE: Music -- I'd love to have music in the game, and it's part of my longterm plan. But, does anyone want me to take that time out of the art and writing? Because I only have so many hours in a day.

Sooo, that leaves me with the option to:

• do a bad job of the music and take some time from the writing/art
• do a good job with the music and take a lot of time from the writing/art
• continue to ignore the music to focus on the writing/art

Note that if I did spend a dozen hours and a few thousand dollars making my ideal soundtrack, someone will just tell me they hate the music, don't listen to the music, or "Hey, why aren't there options to change the style of music?? I don't like jazz, I think this scene should have operatic rock!"

I'm not trying to be snippy, but I work an average of 60 hours a week at my day job, and haven't taken more than a week off from active development in two years. I put out content as frequently as I can, and I basically never miss updates on my subscription platforms. For that, here's a sample of the comments I can expect to get in return.

Spoiler

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

Now, I'm not throwing a hissy fit. My supporters are lovely and my appreciation for them is bottomless.

But, every time I try to do something special/nice for people, it's rarely received with that energy from the more vocal segments of the internet.

I do a special little Halloween update, free for everyone?

"Why'd you even make this? Boring. Lame. Stupid."

I stay up all night on Christmas Eve, and sacrifice most of my Christmas Day, so I can release a free preview of Chapter 8?

"Ugh, short. Boring. Dev makes us wait months for this shit?? Dev doesn't know what he's doing. Too many paths, too much missed content."

I add much-requested features?

"I liked it the other way, change it back."

So: I plan to add music, eventually. Ditto quality animations. This isn't a short-term project for me. I anticipate working on it for a good while. But, I don't see myself having the time until Season One/Book One/Whatever the Fuck I Call It wraps up. At that point I'll start prepping the game for Steam distribution, and look at doing a lot of spit and polish work. But for now, the cost::benefit ratio is such that I see zero incentive to put more work on my plate.

To add a spoonful of sugar to this medicinal post, here's some older Wanton Weekends content, showing what this scene may have looked like if Britt's costume poll had swung towards another option.

View attachment 3328397

View attachment 3328394

View attachment 3328395

No matter how much work you put out there will always be people who only want to bitch. Please don't let the very loud minority sour your mood. Most people enjoy and appreciate your hard work.

 

[Ragnar]

I tend to mute most games because music/sound suck ass. Now imagine FiN with some legenday songs.

 

[Joshy92]

RE: Music -- I'd love to have music in the game, and it's part of my longterm plan. But, does anyone want me to take that time out of the art and writing? Because I only have so many hours in a day.

Sooo, that leaves me with the option to:

• do a bad job of the music and take some time from the writing/art
• do a good job with the music and take a lot of time from the writing/art
• continue to ignore the music to focus on the writing/art

Note that if I did spend a dozen hours and a few thousand dollars making my ideal soundtrack, someone will just tell me they hate the music, don't listen to the music, or "Hey, why aren't there options to change the style of music?? I don't like jazz, I think this scene should have operatic rock!"

I'm not trying to be snippy, but I work an average of 60 hours a week at my day job, and haven't taken more than a week off from active development in two years. I put out content as frequently as I can, and I basically never miss updates on my subscription platforms. For that, here's a sample of the comments I can expect to get in return.

Spoiler

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

Now, I'm not throwing a hissy fit. My supporters are lovely and my appreciation for them is bottomless.

But, every time I try to do something special/nice for people, it's rarely received with that energy from the more vocal segments of the internet.

I do a special little Halloween update, free for everyone?

"Why'd you even make this? Boring. Lame. Stupid."

I stay up all night on Christmas Eve, and sacrifice most of my Christmas Day, so I can release a free preview of Chapter 8?

"Ugh, short. Boring. Dev makes us wait months for this shit?? Dev doesn't know what he's doing. Too many paths, too much missed content."

I add much-requested features?

"I liked it the other way, change it back."

So: I plan to add music, eventually. Ditto quality animations. This isn't a short-term project for me. I anticipate working on it for a good while. But, I don't see myself having the time until Season One/Book One/Whatever the Fuck I Call It wraps up. At that point I'll start prepping the game for Steam distribution, and look at doing a lot of spit and polish work. But for now, the cost::benefit ratio is such that I see zero incentive to put more work on my plate.

To add a spoonful of sugar to this medicinal post, here's some older Wanton Weekends content, showing what this scene may have looked like if Britt's costume poll had swung towards another option.

View attachment 3328397

View attachment 3328394

View attachment 3328395

I can't believe some people act the way they do in those comments.

This is one of the few games on this site that draws me in & that is in my opinion a masterpiece.
The writing, the emotions, everything about it is good.

So many other games disappoint me but not this this game is special.

 

[CookieMonster]

RE: Music -- I'd love to have music in the game, and it's part of my longterm plan. But, does anyone want me to take that time out of the art and writing? Because I only have so many hours in a day.

Sooo, that leaves me with the option to:

• do a bad job of the music and take some time from the writing/art
• do a good job with the music and take a lot of time from the writing/art
• continue to ignore the music to focus on the writing/art

Note that if I did spend a dozen hours and a few thousand dollars making my ideal soundtrack, someone will just tell me they hate the music, don't listen to the music, or "Hey, why aren't there options to change the style of music?? I don't like jazz, I think this scene should have operatic rock!"

I'm not trying to be snippy, but I work an average of 60 hours a week at my day job, and haven't taken more than a week off from active development in two years. I put out content as frequently as I can, and I basically never miss updates on my subscription platforms. For that, here's a sample of the comments I can expect to get in return.

Spoiler

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

Now, I'm not throwing a hissy fit. My supporters are lovely and my appreciation for them is bottomless.

But, every time I try to do something special/nice for people, it's rarely received with that energy from the more vocal segments of the internet.

I do a special little Halloween update, free for everyone?

"Why'd you even make this? Boring. Lame. Stupid."

I stay up all night on Christmas Eve, and sacrifice most of my Christmas Day, so I can release a free preview of Chapter 8?

"Ugh, short. Boring. Dev makes us wait months for this shit?? Dev doesn't know what he's doing. Too many paths, too much missed content."

I add much-requested features?

"I liked it the other way, change it back."

So: I plan to add music, eventually. Ditto quality animations. This isn't a short-term project for me. I anticipate working on it for a good while. But, I don't see myself having the time until Season One/Book One/Whatever the Fuck I Call It wraps up. At that point I'll start prepping the game for Steam distribution, and look at doing a lot of spit and polish work. But for now, the cost::benefit ratio is such that I see zero incentive to put more work on my plate.

To add a spoonful of sugar to this medicinal post, here's some older Wanton Weekends content, showing what this scene may have looked like if Britt's costume poll had swung towards another option.

View attachment 3328397

View attachment 3328394

View attachment 3328395

That's unfortunate Good Sir NeonGhosts. I might not have said it, but I have enjoyed your game immensely. (Hopefully one day my finances will improve to the point where I can feel good enough to back my words up with moneys) That said, I was partially hoping that all the negativity becomes fuel for the Good Sir NeonGhosts to go full Darth NeonGhosts.

I mean... I remember when I was a new grad out of college, one of my colleagues pointed out that he looked at hate mail as fan mail. He was referring at that time to people sending angry messages in a strategy game. But basically, if you're managing to elicit such a strong response out of somebody, you're probably actually doing something right. So I do hope you keep on trucking on.

 

[GokutheG]

I can't believe some people act the way they do in those comments.

This is one of the few games on this site that draws me in & that is in my opinion a masterpiece.
The writing, the emotions, everything about it is good.

So many other games disappoint me but not this this game is special.

Yeah I rarely play guy led games and the writing is what got me hooked on this one. The mc can be a very likable person. All the women and Mason are interesting and make me want to help them. And I definitely love that the player can shape the mc's relationship to the LIs. This is definitely one of the top adult games I've had the pleasure to play.

 

[sagerock820]

I'll add my voice to the previous posts - ignore the naysayers. I appreciate everything you put into this game, a game I love to play. I am also another person that plays all my AVNs without sound. Animations when done good, can add a lot to a game. IMO.

 

[HentaiKami]

RE: Music -- I'd love to have music in the game, and it's part of my longterm plan. But, does anyone want me to take that time out of the art and writing? Because I only have so many hours in a day.

Sooo, that leaves me with the option to:

• do a bad job of the music and take some time from the writing/art
• do a good job with the music and take a lot of time from the writing/art
• continue to ignore the music to focus on the writing/art

Note that if I did spend a dozen hours and a few thousand dollars making my ideal soundtrack, someone will just tell me they hate the music, don't listen to the music, or "Hey, why aren't there options to change the style of music?? I don't like jazz, I think this scene should have operatic rock!"

I'm not trying to be snippy, but I work an average of 60 hours a week at my day job, and haven't taken more than a week off from active development in two years. I put out content as frequently as I can, and I basically never miss updates on my subscription platforms. For that, here's a sample of the comments I can expect to get in return.

Spoiler

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

Now, I'm not throwing a hissy fit. My supporters are lovely and my appreciation for them is bottomless.

But, every time I try to do something special/nice for people, it's rarely received with that energy from the more vocal segments of the internet.

I do a special little Halloween update, free for everyone?

"Why'd you even make this? Boring. Lame. Stupid."

I stay up all night on Christmas Eve, and sacrifice most of my Christmas Day, so I can release a free preview of Chapter 8?

"Ugh, short. Boring. Dev makes us wait months for this shit?? Dev doesn't know what he's doing. Too many paths, too much missed content."

I add much-requested features?

"I liked it the other way, change it back."

So: I plan to add music, eventually. Ditto quality animations. This isn't a short-term project for me. I anticipate working on it for a good while. But, I don't see myself having the time until Season One/Book One/Whatever the Fuck I Call It wraps up. At that point I'll start prepping the game for Steam distribution, and look at doing a lot of spit and polish work. But for now, the cost::benefit ratio is such that I see zero incentive to put more work on my plate.

To add a spoonful of sugar to this medicinal post, here's some older Wanton Weekends content, showing what this scene may have looked like if Britt's costume poll had swung towards another option.

View attachment 3328397

View attachment 3328394

View attachment 3328395

Best thing you can do is to try and ignore, possibly mute, those who don't offer any constructive criticism and only offer toxicity like the first one in those example comments. That kind of toxicity has sadly damaged many creative people, and by proxy the people who like the creative work.

About music and animations, i prefer to mute pretty much most VNs i play, especially if the music starts blaring before i even have chance to balance the sound options. So in that sense i prefer your approach of only adding music at the end of development. So many devs don't put the effort in actually having good sound balance and cause the music overwhelm pretty much anything. Animations are nice, but as you said, it's better to focus on the writing and creating the scenes etc... before adding animations, since those can easily triple the dev time. Iirc Moonbox, the dev of Grandma's House did a side story prequel episode to his game to test how animations would affect the dev time and said it made it from few weeks to 6 weeks easily.

All in all, keep up the good work and provide us with Gabby and Ashe content, with side order of other LIs.

 

[Dark Silence]

Best thing you can do is to try and ignore, possibly mute, those who don't offer any constructive criticism and only offer toxicity like the first one in those example comments. That kind of toxicity has sadly damaged many creative people, and by proxy the people who like the creative work.

About music and animations, i prefer to mute pretty much most VNs i play, especially if the music starts blaring before i even have chance to balance the sound options. So in that sense i prefer your approach of only adding music at the end of development. So many devs don't put the effort in actually having good sound balance and cause the music overwhelm pretty much anything. Animations are nice, but as you said, it's better to focus on the writing and creating the scenes etc... before adding animations, since those can easily triple the dev time. Iirc Moonbox, the dev of Grandma's House did a side story prequel episode to his game to test how animations would affect the dev time and said it made it from few weeks to 6 weeks easily.

All in all, keep up the good work and provide us with Gabby and Ashe content, with side order of other LIs.

If Neon has ownership of the thread, he could easily thread ban assholes. If he doesn't, a mod will do it if he requests it.

 

[HentaiKami]

If Neon has ownership of the thread, he could easily thread ban assholes. If he doesn't, a mod will do it if he requests it.

I think the example comments he put in spoilers were from Patreon.

 

[camube]

is there 2 version of where chapter 8 ended?

the one i got from f95 just now ended with Lucien Graves introducing himself (i used patch)

the one i played previously ended with the cops being called on MC (but this version has black screen though, it has no pictures throughout).

 

[Ottoeight]

the one i played previously ended with the cops being called on MC (but this version has black screen though, it has no pictures throughout).

You apparently played either 0.55 or the preview demo release. Dunno, because I waited for 0.57.

Anyway, I don't think chapter 8 ends with 0.57: am I wrong?

 

[NebulousShooter]

Ashe has really become one of my favorites over this update. It's fun peeling back her hot girl veneer, and revealing the complicated person who's behind it all.



Gabby was just in the last update! D: In any event, she's not going anywhere. I laid this out in a patrons-only post, but my plan for the next few updates is basically as follows:

- Viola and Ashe (next update, coming soon)
- Mason, Alex, Risa, Gabby, and Madison (Early-mid August)
- Redo of Chapter One/bugfixes (October/November?)
- Gabby, Viola, and Brittani (January-February)

such a long wait for Brittani...its ok, I'm fine

View attachment 2713422

I avoided asking after the update, but is the shopping scene the Brittani content that was promised when you initially did your timeline of updates last year?Because if yes and now she has to wait her rotation again for another half a year, that is beyond bullshit, compared to 100 routes and scenes with Ashe and Nicki.

If you skipped her lewd stuff because you want it to be in a better moment than after her ass of her bf assaulting you, we haven't even started her route yet...Maybe in 3 years will gets some meaningful progress.

Looking at the previews now we have to deal with Risa' shit, what happened with her being just a side hoe for extra lewd stuff?
At this point I pray the sister is just a plot device and not yet another character to be added into the rotation.

 

[Joshy92]

I avoided asking after the update, but is the shopping scene the Brittani content that was promised when you initially did your timeline of updates last year?Because if yes and now she has to wait her rotation again for another half a year, that is beyond bullshit, compared to 100 routes and scenes with Ashe and Nicki.

If you skipped her lewd stuff because you want it to be in a better moment than after her ass of her bf assaulting you, we haven't even started her route yet...Maybe in 3 years will gets some meaningful progress.

Looking at the previews now we have to deal with Risa' shit, what happened with her being just a side hoe for extra lewd stuff?
At this point I pray the sister is just a plot device and not yet another character to be added into the rotation.

According to the character sheet Cassie is a main LI.

I always assumed she was anyway.

 

[Dark Silence]

More girls added to the roster, pushes other LIs like Gabby and Mason scenes out even further. I already haven't played in months. But it is what it is. I'm not goin to bitch and moan about it. When my favorite LIs have parts, I'll play. What I don't like though is being forced to play through scenes of LIs I don't care about, just to get to what I do care about.

 

[Joshy92]

More girls added to the roster, pushes other LIs like Gabby and Mason scenes out even further. I already haven't played in months. But it is what it is. I'm not goin to bitch and moan about it. When my favorite LIs have parts, I'll play. What I don't like though is being forced to play through scenes of LIs I don't care about, just to get to what I do care about.

But that happens in every VN bro.
We can't just ignore every girl we don't like.

I would agree if we had to sleep with her, but we don't.

Besides Risa's storyline will probably be connected to other girl's as well.

 

[sagerock820]

But that happens in every VN bro.
We can't just ignore every girl we don't like.

I would agree if we had to sleep with her, but we don't.

Besides Risa's storyline will probably be connected to other girl's as well.

lol Yes, we can. I ignore the ones I don't like. Sorry, Joshy. I know you have a bigger heart then me.

 

[Dark Silence]

But that happens in every VN bro.
We can't just ignore every girl we don't like.

I would agree if we had to sleep with her, but we don't.

Besides Risa's storyline will probably be connected to other girl's as well.

That's not the point, bro. I respect Neon and his way of tellin the story, I can still choose not to like it. That has no bearin on Neon. I hold no animosity towards him.