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

[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.

 

[Elduriel]

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

mostly because he is trans would be my guess, that never goes down well with some players

 

[MilesEdgeworth]

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

Honestly my hangup is mostly that going dark with Mason is misgendering which really makes me feel like shit ( I know what kind of game this is and I am an admitted hypocrite but still).
Plus the fact that so far, every other character in the game has a better story than Mason so far.

Perhaps this update will change that.

 

[as22]

..

Just read your latest patreon post. I had to ask dev, why aren't there any females in this game who are assertive or proactive in trying to make Guy theirs?

All characters are relatively passive towards the MC. We "go in" after which their feelings slowly become more positive towards Guy. Rinse and repeat. But there are no characters who are actively vying for the MC regardless of the choices we make. Maybe Nicki at the start. And perhaps Britanni's mom, but you don't plan to make her a LI.

 

[Machete]

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.

That's actually what i was pointing at, months ago, when i said i though this game had too many characters...
It's easy for one to write himself in such a situation where it's hard to have space for everyone and more space for one character, even for just one episode, can be perceived as less space for the others.

 

[Dessolos]

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

I don't dislike Mason but Mason isn't a potential LI for me. There is 3 main reasons for this. However I do think Mason has the potential to be a amazing character story wise.

1. I don't feel ive gotten to know Mason enough as a character to want to peruse anything.
2. Currently how the route plays I would feel like a pos taking advantage of him.
3. I do admit the trans thing would make me a tad uncomfortable not because I have anything against that ( tho it isn't my cup of tea). If this was a real relationship and not a video game I would fear I would say something wrong or offensive without meaning to. I already second guess my self alot with small things that don't matter. I think I would be doing that alot more as it would be in the back of my mind until I get used to it or comfortable.

 

[Elduriel]

I don't dislike Mason but Mason isn't a potential LI for me. There is 3 main reasons for this. However I do think Mason has the potential to be a amazing character story wise.

1. I don't feel ive gotten to know Mason enough as a character to want to peruse anything.
2. Currently how the route plays I would feel like a pos taking advantage of him.
3. I do admit the trans thing would make me a tad uncomfortable not because I have anything against that ( tho it isn't my cup of tea). If this was a real relationship and not a video game I would fear I would say something wrong or offensive without meaning to. I already second guess my self alot with small things that don't matter. I think I would be doing that alot more as it would be in the back of my mind until I get used to it or comfortable.

he's not on my main saves either as an LI, just as a friend. But I admit if you're not an asshole, and nice to him, that BJ scene is far from the worst in the game.

 

[Dessolos]

he's not on my main saves either as an LI, just as a friend. But I admit if you're not an asshole, and nice to him, that BJ scene is far from the worst in the game.

I actually never seen that scene I always turned it down just cause I didn't want to feel like I was taking advantage of him.

 

[Elduriel]

I actually never seen that scene I always turned it down just cause I didn't want to feel like I was taking advantage of him.

I think it's worth checking out, you can cuddle etc. afterwards, Mason seemed to be quite into it.

 

[gregonzole]

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.

Why are you making branches of the story into optional minisodes instead of part of the main game? I don't get it.

 

[Skep-tiker]

I don't dislike Mason but Mason isn't a potential LI for me. There is 3 main reasons for this. However I do think Mason has the potential to be a amazing character story wise.

1. I don't feel ive gotten to know Mason enough as a character to want to peruse anything.
2. Currently how the route plays I would feel like a pos taking advantage of him.
3. I do admit the trans thing would make me a tad uncomfortable not because I have anything against that ( tho it isn't my cup of tea). If this was a real relationship and not a video game I would fear I would say something wrong or offensive without meaning to. I already second guess my self alot with small things that don't matter. I think I would be doing that alot more as it would be in the back of my mind until I get used to it or comfortable.

Quite the same. I’m a firm believer of ‚you do yours‘, so Masons Pronoun is not my thing to begin with. It only becomes an issue as soon as it interferes within my own boundaries. So as calling him ‚he‘ during sexual activities is a legit issue, as it kills my mood instantly. So it would either turn him down or be an ass to her….

 

[Lord_Momentum]

So as calling him ‚he‘ during sexual activities is a legit issue, as it kills my mood instantly.

Does having sex with Mason make you gay?

 

[Skep-tiker]

Does having sex with Mason make you gay?

No and truthfully it isn’t your business at all, but you just proved that you are not capable of accepting any other opinion other then your own and of not acting like a total AH

 

[banqwert]

Mods deleted my message for simply describing some players' mentality and preferences as "kink shaming". Newsflash - it is not shaming unless the Mods themselves consider the aforementioned preference as "shameful". Talk about being insecure. Geeez

 

[Adhdclassic]

I don't dislike Mason but Mason isn't a potential LI for me. There is 3 main reasons for this. However I do think Mason has the potential to be a amazing character story wise.

1. I don't feel ive gotten to know Mason enough as a character to want to peruse anything.
2. Currently how the route plays I would feel like a pos taking advantage of him.
3. I do admit the trans thing would make me a tad uncomfortable not because I have anything against that ( tho it isn't my cup of tea). If this was a real relationship and not a video game I would fear I would say something wrong or offensive without meaning to. I already second guess my self alot with small things that don't matter. I think I would be doing that alot more as it would be in the back of my mind until I get used to it or comfortable.

Mason falls in the Vanya category you just want to protect them.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Quite the same. I’m a firm believer of ‚you do yours‘, so Masons Pronoun is not my thing to begin with. It only becomes an issue as soon as it interferes within my own boundaries. So as calling him ‚he‘ during sexual activities is a legit issue, as it kills my mood instantly. So it would either turn him down or be an ass to her….

There's a whole branch where you can just refer to Mason as a girl during sex, and otherwise not.

Why are you making branches of the story into optional minisodes instead of part of the main game? I don't get it.

I must have explained this poorly: Some of these would only be optional, because they don't apply to your path. Or because it doesn't necessarily need to be wedged into a normal, full-sized update. My normal updates have kind of a now-normal format of watching MC/Guy proceed through his day, handling different challenges. The mini-sodes would focus more on small, specific moments.

I already gave the example of Carolina's date being walled-off if you've made certain choices. If I put it into a normal update, here's what would happen: it'd be a big chunk of the update (300-400 renders worth of scenes, most likely) for everyone who wanted to play that route. But then, if they're not on that route, what do I do? Add a scene where the player goes to a titty bar, just so things feel balanced? Then, I have to also find a way for the titty bar route to link into all the other routes.

Or, I can just say: Fuck it, Carolina's date is its own update, it'll be in your main game if you chose to take her on a date, otherwise here's a mini-game: My Date with a Stoic MILF.

Conversely, Brittani's audition scene is currently applicable to all routes. But, putting that into its own, smaller update would allow me to really focus on just that, as opposed to all the things around it.

Like, that's the part of writing and organizing this thing that can make it a struggle. Because we tend to follow MC/Guy all day, it means I need to link up multiple choices to correctly go to a scene. In Chapter 10, Guy has the choice of visiting three different places, before returning to either meet Mason at the optometrist, go to another fun location, or go home to his studio. So, that means I need to write dialogue for those three locations of him leaving to point A/B/C, renders for him doing benign stuff like thinking/leaving, renders/dialogue for him arriving to point A/B/C and so on.

It's way easier for me to just open in a location, and say, "Alright, we already established that this audition was happening last chapter, here it is."

There's a reason why I can turn around these mini-sodes in a couple days, even though they have 100+ renders. It's just much, much easier to write and render an event in isolation. Especially when it just comes to my morale/mental endurance. If I know, "Alright, all I've gotta do is write this one series of linked scenes, and stay within this set of characters," it's way easier for me to sit down and power through it. And I only have to worry about using one set/environment, instead of building a new one for each scene change, which can take a good amount of time all on its own.

 

[Skep-tiker]

There's a whole branch where you can just refer to Mason as a girl during sex, and otherwise not.

I know, but I always interpreted this as the asshole path. So that’s why I say it’s either reject Mason or be an asshole for me.

 

[With The]

nice new scene with mason

 

[rafa30]

NeonGhosts

More Brittani please

 

[braiden]

gabbi and mason are my favs, love seeing them get screen time.