VN Ren'Py Friends in Need [Mini-Sode: Blue Valentine] [NeonGhosts]

[NebulousShooter]

Well, i want finally meet Cassie, more time for Carolina and Viola.
Beside them, Brittani and Ashe all the way.

How did you manage to hack my brain?

 

[Samuel Hidayat]

What I might change is the option to give Nicki money, and how that affects her life over that three-month gap. It'll likely be something like: MC gives Nicki the money, and she still winds up in a financial hole due to Brent, but she never gets involved with the local photographer, never ends up at the surprise porn shoot, and never arrives at MC's place tear-streaked and wearing a schoolgirl costume. Instead she just shows up having completed her 'work' in Florida, wanting to reconnect with MC and repay him the money he loaned her. I think it'd give some extra weight to the first big choice of the game, and it wouldn't require a ton of writing around it.

I honestly don't see how MC giving her money without demands would somehow change her "career" path from MC straight up abusing her.

But hey, you're the dev, so you definitely have planned this out. Wish you all the best, man.

 

[camube]

Next update will show some path divergence for Viola, and possibly Nicki if you make certain choices. But, at this point the player's already made the choices that will cause those divergences. The Brittani and Gabby stuff will come later.



It's always been my plan to have Gabby change her hair up a lot as the game progresses. It's just kinda hard when the game takes place largely in one-day increments. But, I'm planning to have a brief time-jump soon, at which point I might give her some new hair. I don't know if I'll go with that one exactly, because I see Gabby's decision to embrace her natural/curly hair as a direct response to her break-up with Jamie. I'll likely put it to a poll on Patreon/SubStar.



Some element of that kind of has to stay in there - mainly that she disappears for a while with Vaughn/Florida Man. Because doing an untattooed Nicki for every image she appears in would be.. Tough.

What I might change is the option to give Nicki money, and how that affects her life over that three-month gap. It'll likely be something like: MC gives Nicki the money, and she still winds up in a financial hole due to Brent, but she never gets involved with the local photographer, never ends up at the surprise porn shoot, and never arrives at MC's place tear-streaked and wearing a schoolgirl costume. Instead she just shows up having completed her 'work' in Florida, wanting to reconnect with MC and repay him the money he loaned her. I think it'd give some extra weight to the first big choice of the game, and it wouldn't require a ton of writing around it.

i don't think you should change that first choice. it's pretty good as is

 

[Uriel ☁]

I honestly don't see how MC giving her money without demands would somehow change her "career" path from MC straight up abusing her.

From what I understood there'll be the option to outright refuse to give money to Nicki.
If you take that option she'll still disappear to Florida, and when she comes back she ends up in the surprise porn shoot from where she escapes straight to the MC (same story as the current one).
If you give her money though, with or without getting something out of her for them as usual, she'll come to the MC after Florida to repay him.

Basically very little would change except a new choice + consequence tied to it right away.

 

[Master of Puppets]

If Nicki isn't in such dire straits when she returns you have to ask why he doesn't tell her to fuck off after she ghosted him. If she is in serious trouble then even if she really upset him, he just can't do that to her. If she isn't though...
I said before what change I think should be made to chapter 3. Let us choose how to treat her upon her return, which we can't currently really do; how he treats her is determined by the choice made in the beginning. If we were mean to her at the start, he's an asshole to her with only some minor choices to be slightly more or less harsh with her, and if we were nice to her at the start then he's automatically understanding and forgiving with only a slight difference in just how forgiving he is. No choice to not forgive her. Instead, IMO, give us the choice how he reacts to her reappearance. Maybe he treated her badly at the start, but he regrets that and is nice to her and seeks her forgiveness. Or maybe he was nice to her at the beginning, but after she ghosts him it hardens his heart and he is cruel to her upon her return. Give the player some agency over this instead of changing how she returns.

 

[Machete]

I'm not 100% sold on the idea of doing it, but I think it'd be useful from a storytelling perspective. Right now, Nicki winds up in deep trouble no matter what you do. I think that giving the player the option to make a tangible difference would illustrate the moral decisions = consequences nature of the story.

Well, as a matter of fact, MC already makes a tangible difference. He puts her back on her feet after her rovinous fall. I personally think that 'failing' the first time in helpin Nicki adds to the story. He gives her money. It's quick and easy, but exactly because of that she has to fall again. And MC learns that there is no quick and easy in helping others. You need to put effort and invest yourself into the endeavour. So the inspiration to found Friends in Need.

On a narrative point of view i think it works very well, both for the overall story and for Nicki's arc. Being rescued a second time and from deeper shit than ever she finally gets she needs to steer the wheel and she understand (finally, for once on a damn visual novel, for an actual reason) that MC is a worthy person.

 

[NeonGhosts]

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tldr; 440~ images done, working on the first ero scene, and targeting June 14th for a Beta release.

 

[DanteRed]

So, there is something that I'm confused about, based on the last public post, namely the render of the bottle of pills. Is that the medicine that we can steal from Baron Books in chapter 2? Or is that something that dark MC has available for ... spicing things up?

 

[Ottoeight]

So, there is something that I'm confused about, based on the last public post, namely the render of the bottle of pills. Is that the medicine that we can steal from Baron Books in chapter 2? Or is that something that dark MC has available for ... spicing things up?

Time and the next update will tell.

 

[NeonGhosts]

So, there is something that I'm confused about, based on the last public post, namely the render of the bottle of pills. Is that the medicine that we can steal from Baron Books in chapter 2? Or is that something that dark MC has available for ... spicing things up?

I'll just spoil it, and yes, they're the allergy meds. Prescription strength!

(In a perfect world I'd have time to design a new allergy label and re-skin the bottle, but it's an imperfect world and I'm but an imperfect ghost.)

Speaking of imperfection, here's a little test image I did to play with a new pack of fishnet shaders I bought, knowing I'd need them in advance of the remade Chapter One.

Does Brittani's dress make any sense? No. Can we still enjoy it? Yes.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

I think that her ending up in trouble no matter what you do should really underline for him that you don't solve problems just by throwing a pile of cash at them, and that he has to be smarter than that, like he was saying later on how he has to be careful what he puts his money into.

Well, as a matter of fact, MC already makes a tangible difference. He puts her back on her feet after her rovinous fall. I personally think that 'failing' the first time in helpin Nicki adds to the story. He gives her money. It's quick and easy, but exactly because of that she has to fall again. And MC learns that there is no quick and easy in helping others. You need to put effort and invest yourself into the endeavour. So the inspiration to found Friends in Need.

On a narrative point of view i think it works very well, both for the overall story and for Nicki's arc. Being rescued a second time and from deeper shit than ever she finally gets she needs to steer the wheel and she understand (finally, for once on a damn visual novel, for an actual reason) that MC is a worthy person.

You guys do make good points and I agree with you in a way, yet I do still like the idea of Nicki's outcome changing based on how you treat her in beginning.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

I'll just spoil it, and yes, they're the allergy meds. Prescription strength!

(In a perfect world I'd have time to design a new allergy label and re-skin the bottle, but it's an imperfect world and I'm but an imperfect ghost.)

Speaking of imperfection, here's a little test image I did to play with a new pack of fishnet shaders I bought, knowing I'd need them in advance of the remade Chapter One.

Does Brittani's dress make any sense? No. Can we still enjoy it? Yes.

View attachment 2660048

Daaaaamn, son... why you gotta pop my boner right as I was about to go piss? Look forward to seeing you utilize that purchase

Also, Nicki's a fuckin' midget, holy crap.. never realized just how short she was until now

Is it the bracelet?
View attachment 2657076

Spoiler

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[allanl9020142]

(In a perfect world I'd have time to design a new allergy label and re-skin the bottle, but it's an imperfect world and I'm but an imperfect ghost.)

Well at least you're a Neon-colored one, which sounds pretty cool so you've got that. Fashion over function? Well ... no BUT sometimes yes. In this case? Yes.

Also, damn. Nicki looks great in that one.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Also, Nicki's a fuckin' midget, holy crap.. never realized just how short she was until now

Hah! One of my true joys is putting Nicki next to people of normal height.

(Also, just noticed a little oopsie in the corner of that first image. Fuck!)

 

[Flojerazul20]

Can you imagine having ashe material with her mother

 

[Lykanzz]

man learnt some things about myself playing this such as im a sadistic bastard

 

[NebulousShooter]

Would he be able to detect me though if I stood completely still?

in his wife?

 

[Jace_Herondale]

I'll just spoil it, and yes, they're the allergy meds. Prescription strength!

(In a perfect world I'd have time to design a new allergy label and re-skin the bottle, but it's an imperfect world and I'm but an imperfect ghost.)

Speaking of imperfection, here's a little test image I did to play with a new pack of fishnet shaders I bought, knowing I'd need them in advance of the remade Chapter One.

Does Brittani's dress make any sense? No. Can we still enjoy it? Yes.

View attachment 2660048

My 3 best girls on one picture. What a treat

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

(Also, just noticed a little oopsie in the corner of that first image. Fuck!)

View attachment 2660094

Oh, damn... I never noticed that! Now it feels like Morpheus is about to walk through and ask me about pills

 

[Samuel Hidayat]

From what I understood there'll be the option to outright refuse to give money to Nicki.
If you take that option she'll still disappear to Florida, and when she comes back she ends up in the surprise porn shoot from where she escapes straight to the MC (same story as the current one).
If you give her money though, with or without getting something out of her for them as usual, she'll come to the MC after Florida to repay him.

Basically very little would change except a new choice + consequence tied to it right away.

When you put it that way, I guess I could see Nicki wanting to "repay" Good MC right away instead of avoiding him further and getting into shadier stuff. That's means her dialogues and responses need to be different as well, like her being grateful and guilty to Good MC or fearful and reluctant to Bad MC.

Maybe the current version already has the different reactions, but I wouldn't know since I never play Bad MC to Nicki.

Well, as a matter of fact, MC already makes a tangible difference. He puts her back on her feet after her rovinous fall. I personally think that 'failing' the first time in helpin Nicki adds to the story. He gives her money. It's quick and easy, but exactly because of that she has to fall again. And MC learns that there is no quick and easy in helping others. You need to put effort and invest yourself into the endeavour. So the inspiration to found Friends in Need.

On a narrative point of view i think it works very well, both for the overall story and for Nicki's arc. Being rescued a second time and from deeper shit than ever she finally gets she needs to steer the wheel and she understand (finally, for once on a damn visual novel, for an actual reason) that MC is a worthy person.

Thing is, MC already founded Friends in Need months before Nicki's reappearance. He also already has this mindset of not blindly investing on every request, hence why he personally approaches Madison's library.

Tldr Nicki's surprise visit doesn't make MC learn to put more effort in helping others since he's done that months before.