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

[robin312]

Is it only me or this girl is more beautiful than half of our LIs?

 

[Skrotum]

It think here might be something off with the variables. I am pretty sure I made Mason a girl.

 

[armond]

Is it only me or this girl is more beautiful than half of our LIs?
View attachment 4282711

I like the dog

 

[Ottoeight]

I’d probably just play the beta. I’m planning to get the public version up today, but it really doesn’t add too much besides a few pieces of art where Guy and Nicki are talking about comics, and it makes a change in Chapter 9 where you can refuse to watch Ginger’s video. Maybe some typo fixes, too.

But, in terms of gameplay, very little will change between the beta and final version.

A little advice: there's no need to show every second in Guy's life minute by minute - please skip a few days, so we won't see that fucking black eye on his face anymore.

Guy's black eye is your worst idea by far: he got the black eye in chapter 4, part 1 and we're in chapter 10 now.

Meaning: we saw him with a black eye on his face most of the time.

 

[NewTricks]

It think here might be something off with the variables. I am pretty sure I made Mason a girl.

View attachment 4282803

You can't change how the narrator refers to Mason. Only the way Guy does.

 

[Dessolos]

A little advice: there's no need to show every second in Guy's life minute by minute - please skip a few days, so we won't see that fucking black eye on his face anymore.

Guy's black eye is your worst idea by far: he got the black eye in chapter 4, part 1 and we're in chapter 10 now.

Meaning: we saw him with a black eye on his face most of the time.

Neon has said there will be time skips at some point. Personally I dont mind the black eye , I like seeing the reaction the characters have to seeing it lol. Yet to play the update but I assume time skips will happen when the immediate events that need to be dealt with are dealt with.

 

[robin312]

My little guide to the love interests in the game

You need to upgrade your guide
Excellent work for newcomers and people who had a long break!

 

[Parcel]

A little advice: there's no need to show every second in Guy's life minute by minute - please skip a few days, so we won't see that fucking black eye on his face anymore.

Guy's black eye is your worst idea by far: he got the black eye in chapter 4, part 1 and we're in chapter 10 now.

Meaning: we saw him with a black eye on his face most of the time.

I don't really understand the incredibly condescending tone of this message.

I have a little advice of my own, for you; game devs are more likely to take your suggestions seriously if you don't talk to them like they're a child or a moron.

 

[NewTricks]

Neon has said there will be time skips at some point. Personally I dont mind the black eye , I like seeing the reaction the characters have to seeing it lol. Yet to play the update but I assume time skips will happen when the immediate events that need to be dealt with are dealt with.

You are fucking with the wrong dev. He's more likely to give Guy two black eyes now, so thanks for that

Edit: I quoted the wrong comment. I'm still hopped up on Turkey tryptophan and whatever the fuck my pothead sister put in the cranberry sauce.

 

[NeonGhosts]

Quick FYI: The beta is unlocked for everyone, but I may need a few more days to finish the public version. Today, I completed two pieces of hand-drawn art that I needed, but I still need one more and to insert them into the story. So, it'll just be a bit. You're not missing much of anything story-wise, just adding a little visual accompanyment to the dialogue. I'd share the images, but f95 is being weird about uploading files right now.

I have never supported any project to receive exclusive content. Actually, that "exclusive" content usually ends up posted somewhere, and it is not usually that important.

That's all well and good, buuuut I always get a big subscriber bump right before a release, and certain Wanton Weekends releases net me a few extra subs. So, exclusive content does have some effect. Ultimately, I just try to run my platforms the way I wish other devs ran theirs, with lots of content and updates.

And as for the whole posting leaks thing, I feel like folks may have missed my second post about it. But, I said I don't care if people post Dev Update stuff here, or even partial stuff from the Wanton Weekends/Sneak Peek stuff. Heck, wait a few weeks and then post it. There's a giant back-log of old content.

But, when I post something at 9 PM, and it's uploaded here by 9:30 PM, it's just a bummer for me.

It think here might be something off with the variables. I am pretty sure I made Mason a girl.

f95 isn't letting me attach files right now, but it's correct in my script. The problem is that if you only make Mason a girl during sex, sometimes those things aren't flagged correctly. In that BJ scene, it basically only switches over to girl pronouns, just before the BJ starts. When I go back through the chapters, I'm going to establish the 'mstempgirl' variable from the first sex scene, and try to make all that a little smoother. But for now, it's basically just a function of the player treating Mason one way outside of sex events, and another way in them.

A little advice: there's no need to show every second in Guy's life minute by minute - please skip a few days, so we won't see that fucking black eye on his face anymore.

Guy's black eye is your worst idea by far: he got the black eye in chapter 4, part 1 and we're in chapter 10 now.

Meaning: we saw him with a black eye on his face most of the time.

I actually agree about not showing every second of Guy's life. I'm trying to get a little better about jumping into or out of a scene without hand-holding the reader. But, when I do that I also get people saying, "Hey, that was a really harsh jump, is the script broken or..?" So, it's a balance. Story clarity is super important to me.

As for whether it was a mistake or not.. Eh, maybe. This section of the game takes place over a very short amount of time. I do think I cocked that up, and today I was discussing some ideas with my supporters vis a vis expanding the early timeline of the game, so that things like Ashe and Gabby's relationships have more room to breathe, and Nicki has more time to cement herself as Guy's assistant. I don't want to get too into it now, but I'm working on some things that will make some of those early events feel more organic, so that current chapters run for like.. A month or two, rather than two weeks, or whatever.

But, for this black-eye section, I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with the timeline of events.

• Night One: Punched in the face during Britt's shoot.
• Day Two: Visits Pepper at the restaurant. Takes Mason to the studio. Picks up Ashe.
• Night Two: Date with Ashe.
• Day Three: Goes with Risa to meet Lucien. Trains with Alex. Finds Brent busting into his studio. Takes Mason shopping.
• Night Three: Goes to the police station with the Barrons.

So, it's two days from punch to where we are now. And for a lot of that he was wearing make-up over it. I think it'll read a little better playing the whole thing at once. But, Chapter 11 jumps a month into the future, by which time it's gone. Personally, I think it makes him look a little like a noir detective character, which feels appropriate for what's going on in the story at this juncture.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

Aww ... I was sure that would work. I mean maybe he underbid but ... oh well. I'm never on the dark path anyway. I stick with Nicki and fix everyone else's problems, but don't fuck them. Ok ... how about plan C or is it D - you hire mercenaries, ex special forces types, give them the layout of the building and have them extract her.

I get your line of thinking, but my gut tells me that's not quite how the world works.

First, while Guy is rich, I don't think he's that rich.

Second, even if he were that rich, he doesn't have established connections that maybe a traditionally wealthy person/family might have. Like, how would one even go about looking for a mercenary/group, much less finding one? And if they're out there, I highly doubt their only concern is "does the client have the money?" There are so, so, so many things they'd likely have to consider in that line of work. Just offering their services to any rich Joe-Schmo out there makes them extremely vulnerable to the authorities, for example. Not only that, but how can they be certain their clients will be as careful and quiet as they are? Yeah, I'd think you'd need some very tight-lipped connections that Guy just doesn't have.

And finally third, even if there were some merc team ready and willing and Guy had the necessary connections to access their services, we don't know the full scope of Lucien's work at this point in the story. That merc team I would assume takes the time to have a long, hard look at what exactly they'd be getting themselves into before conducting an operation. Well, they might find out that they wouldn't just be going up against Lucien and his scattered little helpers, but some very wealthy and powerful individuals in the background who are financing all of this. I don't know what Neon plans for his story, but that's not out of the question.

 

[TrixRabbit]

I get your line of thinking, but my guy tells me that's not quite how the world works.

First, while Guy is rich, I don't think he's that rich.

Second, even if he were that rich, he doesn't have established connections that maybe a traditionally wealthy person/family might have. Like, how would one even go about looking for a mercenary/group, much less finding one? And if they're out there, I highly doubt their only concern is "does the client have the money?" There are so, so, so many things they'd likely have to consider in that line of work. Just offering their services to any rich Joe-Schmo out there makes them extremely vulnerable to the authorities, for example. Not only that, but how can they be certain their clients will be as careful and quiet as they are? Yeah, I'd think you'd need some very tight-lipped connections that Guy just doesn't have.

And finally third, even if there were some merc team ready and willing and Guy had the necessary connections to access their services, we don't know the full scope of Lucien's work at this point in the story. That merc team I would assume takes the time to have a long, hard look at what exactly they'd be getting themselves into before taking on a service. Well, they might find out that they wouldn't just be going up against Lucien and his scattered little helpers, but some very wealthy and powerful individuals in the background who are financing all of this. I don't know what Neon plans for his story, but that's not out of the question.

Yeah, I mean who you hired and how good they were would have huge variables. I imagine the payscale goes from a few hundred dollars for each guy for a nights work to maybe 100 grand for the full team and full extraction (depending on their assessment of the target). I'm not wealthy or fancy but I'd know who to call if I needed high level service. I'd actually know who to call for the lower level stuff too. It's a difference though between ex-special forces and ... patched bikers. (Though the bikers would probably know immediately without research who/what you were dealing with and then it would be a yes/no thing more than a how much can they get you to pay thing.)

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

Yeah, I mean who you hired and how good they were would have huge variables. I imagine the payscale goes from a few hundred dollars for each guy for a nights work to maybe 100 grand for the full team and full extraction (depending on their assessment of the target). I'm not wealthy or fancy but I'd know who to call if I needed high level service. I'd actually know who to call for the lower level stuff too. It's a difference though between ex-special forces and ... patched bikers. (Though the bikers would probably know immediately without research who/what you were dealing with and then it would be a yes/no thing more than a how much can they get you to pay thing.)

Yeah, I must just not associate with the right circles haha. I do recall an interesting and funny story where someone on the dark web was offering 'assassin services'. FBI or something investigated, turns out he was just taking the money and not going through with the murders Think they ended up utilizing him as bait for some naive psychos out there who wanted people dead.

Anyways, I guess in the end the main thing that matters is how the author wants to tell their story and how compelling they make it. Can get away with a whole, whole lot, realistic or not, on just selling it convincingly. I guess we'll find out if Neon wants to go that route!

 

[NeonGhosts]

Yeahhhh, I don't want to have the story get dragged into a super dramatic underworld/mafia storyline. Definitely don't want to have him hire mercenaries to go gun down Lucien. I've got a few reasons for this.

• Guy hiring someone else to deal with Lucien, feels a bit like if Lethal Weapon ended with all the cops just dog-piling Gary Busey and beating seven shades of shit out of him. It might make sense, but it doesn't really make a good story.
• I'm really trying to dance on that knife's edge of Guy having dramatic, but grounded adventures, and upping the stakes with a problem he can't just throw money at. I don't want to tilt towards an action movie aesthetic too much.
• Anyone see that Glen Powell movie Hitman, that came out this year? It basically makes the point that super-secretive black-ops murder-for-hire types don't exist, and I'd generally agree. Like Phil said, I'm not even sure where you'd begin to hire someone like that.
• For all of Dark Guy's faults, even he hasn't been shown to be willing to kill someone. He says to Pepper at one point that, once you start thinking like a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
• Guy has no idea where Lucien currently is. So, even if he wanted to send the A-Team after him, it's not like it'd be an easy thing to accomplish.

But, to zoom out a bit.. One of the themes I keep hitting in the game, is that violence really doesn't solve much. Guy gets physical with Erik the homeless pimp, and nearly gets stabbed over a homeless kid's backpack. Jamie decks Guy, and loses his girlfriend. Guy confronts Marcus and Lucien, and nearly gets his head blown off. Guy learns a single self-defense move, and winds up in jail.

Every time a character tries to do the macho action hero thing, they only make things worse. I mean.. Those that read the short stories know that Lucien was created by the violence of another character. That doesn't mean I won't still present the opportunity to visit an ass-whippin' upon the well-deserving. But, will it make things better? TBD!

Further, I feel like a lot of people still perceive Lucien as kind of a Machiavellian criminal mastermind, who demands an overwhelming response. But, what have we seen him do? Hold a girl against her will, and ignore consent while filming porno? Hire a guy to guard him? These are not the hallmarks of a scheming mastermind. They're the actions of a bog-standard prick who realized there was money to be made in exploiting and harming women. He could be any one of the guys

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I've said it before, but why I find Lucien compelling isn't because he's some larger-than-life villain. It's because his brand of evil is so common and banal.

 

[Master of Puppets]

First, while Guy is rich, I don't think he's that rich.

He's more than rich enough. The problem he has is that he doesn't have the contacts. He has more than enough money; I've heard that having someone assassinated starts at around five grand. But you need to know who to talk to, which most people don't.

 

[TrixRabbit]

He's more than rich enough. The problem he has is that he doesn't have the contacts. He has more than enough money; I've heard that having someone assassinated starts at around five grand. But you need to know who to talk to, which most people don't.

The money is the hard part, the contacts aren't that hard to acquire. (I will refrain from fully explaining because this isn't an advertisement for hiring mercenaries, if you ever really need to know, you'll figure it out.) You just have to be careful, you don't want to take out a billboard downtown and talking to certain people amounts to the same thing. And I'm not necessarily saying have Lucien assassinated, just extract Cherry from the situation. My guess is that, unless he's very well connected and more afraid of his boss than death, a half dozen guys with assault rifles, Kevlar and laser sights suddenly showing up in his bedroom at 4 am would make him very cooperative and compliant and that Cherry and anyone else who want to leave would be showered, medically assessed and sitting down to a nice breakfast by 7. But it is NeonGhosts story to tell. I'm just thinking about what I would do if I had piles of money and needed to solve a problem when commonplace solutions - like going to the police, weren't working.

 

[Shitty]

A little advice: there's no need to show every second in Guy's life minute by minute - please skip a few days, so we won't see that fucking black eye on his face anymore.

Guy's black eye is your worst idea by far: he got the black eye in chapter 4, part 1 and we're in chapter 10 now.

Meaning: we saw him with a black eye on his face most of the time.

I agree I'm sick of seeing that black eye.

 

[TheCrimsonRevenger]

So why is there a whole mod dedicated to removing one character? Does she NTR the MC? Is she a he? Did she vote for Kamala?

 

[Old Grumpy Wolf]

once you start thinking like a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

That's the best way to view life imho. You just need to have the common sense to determine if you use tack hammer or a sledgehammer.

 

[PHIL101-YYouPPHard]

He's more than rich enough. The problem he has is that he doesn't have the contacts. He has more than enough money; I've heard that having someone assassinated starts at around five grand. But you need to know who to talk to, which most people don't.

I guess I wouldn't know either way. Never been rich, and certainly never even got a whiff of those types of 'connections' lol.. like, damn, if that's the real price, I'm shocked. I would've thought it'd be way more. Some chicks ask for more to do anal, ffs

That's the best way to view life imho. You just need to have the common sense to determine if you use tack hammer or a sledgehammer.

That is the most fitting profile pic