Ren'Py Heavy Five [Ch.2RS] [Nottravis]

[JD59]

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, this time about the strip poker, it's good to go

 

[JD59]

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, this time they found what seems to be one of the causes of the bugs found in the game. Sounds like we'll might wait for mid-September at this point...

 

[Oddball2k]

As things have cooled down on the thread, I can give my two cents on this:

I agree with a lot of your observations. In fact, some of them are the main reason I just deleted the game and likely won't bother coming back for future updates.

OK, talking about removing the game from your HD might sound like a "rage-quit", defo not a good start to introduce your opinion on the game.

On the character front, I was rapidly left not really wanting to interact with any of the other characters at all.

And it's already getting worse..

I'm playing as a female MC, but Chris is a bit too butch for my tastes, and her more aggressive dom style really isn't for me (and I kind of agree that her aggressive flirting with every woman she meets - and straight up molesting my sister under the guise of sparring - really doesn't make me all that sympathetic to her existence).

Er, what? You played as a female MC and found that Chris has an "aggressive dom style"??
As an experienced player of H5, let me strongly disagree with you:
1)"her aggressive flirting with every woman she meets"
Totally wrong! The only scene you witnessed of a "pseudo-flirting" is with Sarah during the Vanny's crisis. I say "pseudo-flirting" because if you'd have been more experienced about the game, it's totally fit Chris' pattern to prevent someone from freaking out. In this tense crisis, Sarah felt completely lost without the help of Sonia(the disconnected Vanny's AI pilot).. Sarah is a so-called "child of the blue" by Chris, if you know what I'm talking about.
And about flirting with Kelly, it's so anecdotal that I won't mention it.
2)"and straight up molesting my sister under the guise of sparring"
Wrong!
He-he, every time I read something like this about Chris' sexually assaulting/molesting our sister, I think here is another failed opinion.
Firstly, it's an optional event, not everyone has witnessed it. Secondly, you're the main cause if something went wonky, despite two failsafe options to quit. And Thirdly, your interpretation of the full optional event is biased and so wrong.
Cf. the spoiler in this post: https://f95zone.to/threads/heavy-five-ch-4-remastered-nottravis.23184/post-8515660

And the cherry on the quake, as a female MC, there is no domme route with Chris so far..

Sarah's ditziness could be appealing (and her character design is nice), but her kinks aren't necessarily something I want to explore.

OK, but triggering her "kinks" is not an obligation for having a romantic route with her.

For a while Annie seemed like a positive alternative, but then in the drinking scene she goes full-on stereotype Australian slang and smoking, and it killed most of her appeal.

Well, despite the fact that she is overplaying it (Yeah, she can hold her drink pretty well), your point of view..

It's a sad thing when the only characters you find attractive as potential love interests at all are the author-insert tutorial narrators.

Yep, so sad for you that HeavyFive_TheBonusGames-1.0 was never leaked here..

As for the other NPCs, most seem mildly intolerable, including our sister (I get they were probably going for sibling rivalry, but it comes across a bit too hostile and abusive for my taste). Mike's about the only one who doesn't grate, and that's because he's more of a non-entity than a full character.

Your lack of experience of the game is totally showing here. Nothing is straight forward in this game, especially characters-wise. Nottravis excels in getting you paranoid.. Whose are the ones I can trust?

(And if you've got problems with NTR - like you seem to from your post - the aliens feel like they've been set up solely to either present NTR-flavored threats to your crew or to straight up molest most of the female crew eventually.)

Tss Tss, using the three letters word on this thread is considered as a complete lack of argumentation. Last time it was mentioned here, two pages of methodical deconstructions of it were erased by the moderation, cause it took an unexpected turn... Never again!

I definitely agree with the limited time issues preventing real immersion when it comes to interacting with characters/the setting/the story, but considering I barely want to interact with them at all that's not much of a problem.

I guess you're talking about each day's free-roam. It's not an issue, but a feature. At each free-roams starts, there are more events available than your allotted time can cover. You have to schedule your free-roam to cover your best interested events, events that don't overlap each other and come one after another in time.
This feature makes your path quite unique, a personal one.
He-he, a reviewer tried to cheat by reducing the time spent on an event:
Yeah, I know where to find three specific power buses. Just replay the event and go straight to the three power buses to buy some time for the other events. What the..?? Nottravis used an anti-cheat trick. What a vile Dev, I'll whine about that in my review!?.. Low!!!

The MC being a bit of a passive observer (like you mentioned) and the awkwardness of the game interface at times (trying to explore and repair the base) make it feel more like a chore to slog through than something that encourages or rewards action on the part of the player. There may be a deep and interesting story hiding just under the surface, or waiting to blossom once the foundation is out of the way, but I have zero motivation to care or even look for it.

Really sad you deleted the game, plenty of rewards are coming in the form of achievements in the next release..

I mostly tried the game because it seemed like a lot of people were giving it huge positive reviews, but it feels like I can't possibly be playing the same game those people were.

Well, sorry you felt that way.

Can I suggest you to have another try later with the upcoming new chapters five or six with a refreshed GUI and an introduction to the up-to list of achievements?

 

[GentleMaster]

...
There's either way too many subroutes or the developer is simply milking his supporters by working on this a few weeks each year, while pretending it isn't abandoned.
...

In that case the dev (Nottravis) is doing a really poor job of the milking-aspect. She keeps pausing the Patreon payments quite frequently in order to prevent people having to pay for a month without getting anything in return.

Yes, this game does have a bit of a bumpy ride when it comes to the frequency of the updates. Aside from the bugs that were recently discovered, the dev has had a pretty bad year because of some personal issues and a pretty serious car accident which left her unable to work for a few months. And I'm not gonna lie, from what I gather from her progress-reports, Notty does a tendency to lose herself in the details and striving for perfection. Which is a good thing for quality, but not so much for the update-frequency.

Whenever there is an update however, the content is usually far more than 10 minutes worth (unless you fast-forward through everything aside from the sex-scenes). The Chris-domme module alone is already at least 30 minutes of content, or 5 - 10 if you cheat and skip!

But, this game is certainly not your typical erotic VN game. It leans far more towards a detective-story on an alien planet with the occasional sex-scene and you have to be willing to spent the time investigating and talking to everyone, and be willing to do multiple playthroughs to fully enjoy the depth of the game, the story and the characters. So it's definitely not a game for everyone.

Personally, I've really enjoyed every single path I've played with this game and I'm looking forward to the upcoming update. When it comes to story and attention for details, only a handful of VN's come close to this one in my honest opinion.

 

[STNeish]

I really enjoy games where the emphasis is on CHARACTER, even more than the erotic elements (though, I do like those parts too). That is, the erotic elements are FAR more interesting to me if I have some personal attachment to the characters involved, beyond mere appearance.

As such, I'm prepared to wait for something I really like. In its way, it's the closest thing to an actual relationship I have.

 

[Oddball2k]

I've given up on this game.

Unless there are some drastic changes it won't be finished within the developer's lifetime and I don't want to wait 1 year for 10 minutes of content.
There's either way too many subroutes or the developer is simply milking his supporters by working on this a few weeks each year, while pretending it isn't abandoned.
I've only played one route myself so idk.

Well, it seems you've given up on this game a long time ago.

You claimed waiting "for a few more chapters before continuing" when chapter four has been leaked out here, cf your previous post just below:

Thanks, I will wait for a few more chapters before continuing.
I was actually sarcastic using minutes instead of hours, but it seems like my fears were not unfounded.

I won't argue with you about your unrealistic counting of time spent on your own single route, nor your pseudo complaints on the game or the Dev.

My main concern is about your review posted a few minutes before your last post on the thread:
Writing a review of H5 based on the first three chapters(known as the introduction chapters) and without mentioning it, just before the release of chapter five, is simply dishonest.. Don't you think?

 

[Qwert99]

Well, it seems you've given up on this game a long time ago.

You claimed waiting "for a few more chapters before continuing" when chapter four has been leaked out here, cf your previous post just below:

I won't argue with you about your unrealistic counting of time spent on your own single route, nor your pseudo complaints on the game or the Dev.

My main concern is about your review posted a few minutes before your last post on the thread:
Writing a review of H5 based on the first three chapters(known as the introduction chapters) and without mentioning it, just before the release of chapter five, is simply dishonest.. Don't you think?

Are you paid by the dev or why do you feel the need to post a wall of text replying to every single comment that doesn't praise the game on their knees? Looking at the last few pages I'd legit feel bad for you if you weren't being paid compensation for this much simping.

 

[Oddball2k]

Are you paid by the dev or why do you feel the need to post a wall of text replying to every single comment that doesn't praise the game on their knees? Looking at the last few pages I'd legit feel bad for you if you weren't being paid compensation for this much simping.

Tss tss, "the train of your insults glides on the rail of my indifference.." considering you're a professional of disinformation on the thread with this post about chapter four pre-remastered:

Considering the testers have received the "finished chapter" in 2019 before the first 3 chapters' remaster and also February this year I'm not very optimistic on what that means.

Yeah, the actual group of four testers was formed on the eighteenth of December 2019 and their only first task was to test the chapter one remastered, which was released on the first of January 2020.

No one from the testers has ever seen or tested your "finished chapter".

 

[Hullahopp]

Are you paid by the dev or why do you feel the need to post a wall of text replying to every single comment that doesn't praise the game on their knees? Looking at the last few pages I'd legit feel bad for you if you weren't being paid compensation for this much simping.

"When they talked nonsense about the game, I didn't say anything. I thought everyone knew it was nonsense.
When lies were spread about the game, I didn't say anything. I thought everyone knew it was a lie.
When their individual taste was disguised as criticism, I said nothing. I thought everyone knew it was just a private opinion.
When the dev decided she'd had enough of the negativity and gave up on the game, it was too late to say anything."

It's not enough to be a patron, have to look like one. Our compensation's this good game. And yours?

 

[JD59]

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from Notty, chapter 5 seems to be almost ready and she started writing chapter 6. Her Patreon is still turned off.

 

[Canto Forte]

” if gender == "female." That erroneous full stop blocked an entire path from opening... ”

PLayers better choose their MC better next time.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Unless there are some drastic changes it won't be finished within the developer's lifetime and I don't want to wait 1 year for 10 minutes of content.

She shared her on

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, so I'll also say it here... You're not that far from the truth when saying this, she's lucky that her car accident leave her with only mild sequel that just need a surgery. Pass five months in a row split between pain, painkillers, your job, and a stupidly broke health system, then come show us how much progress you've made on whatever project you worked on during this time.
But I'm sure that you, as well as the other poor deceived guys, care about this as much as I care about you stopping to play the game.

There's either way too many subroutes or the developer is simply milking his supporters by working on this a few weeks each year, while pretending it isn't abandoned.

There's sub routes of course, but there's also already hours of content even with a single route. At least for people who take the time to be entertained. For the others, yes, obviously if you rush through the dialog it's not really an interesting game. But well, before everything else, this just prove that it's not a game for you and that you should have quit after your first try.
It's a thriller, people have to play it with their brain on, and I'm not talking about the one that poorly fit in your hand. But, as I said, this mean that it's not a game for everyone, what it totally natural, we each have our own tastes and desires. Not liking a genre is not a shame.

As for the milking part, it's something I've always found funny. You guys will never hesitate to link the tweets talking about delay, but never ever the ones saying that the pledges have been paused. And it happen that they are paused since months (May if I remember correctly). So much money that she refused to take... She's apparently as bad as milking than you believe her to be bad at making a game.

 

[anne O'nymous]

” if gender == "female." That erroneous full stop blocked an entire path from opening... ”

In a chapter that haven't been released yet...

What a shame really, a dev that test her game before releasing it. And I'm serious, it's a shame. She should do like any other, including the authors of some top games, and release broken games. In one of the game I made a mod for, there's more than 200 bugs unresolved since years. And players don't care ; you can't complain about what you don't know. They just assume that there's nothing to see here, since there's nothing shown.

 

[Hullahopp]

” if gender == "female." That erroneous full stop blocked an entire path from opening... ”

PLayers better choose their MC better next time.

True. You cannot initiate a lesbian relationship if your character is male. I'm going to propose a remastered version where the characters are non-binary.

 

[F1forhalp]

In a chapter that haven't been released yet...

What a shame really, a dev that test her game before releasing it. And I'm serious, it's a shame. She should do like any other, including the authors of some top games, and release broken games. In one of the game I made a mod for, there's more than 200 bugs unresolved since years. And players don't care ; you can't complain about what you don't know. They just assume that there's nothing to see here, since there's nothing shown.

haha don't let me start about untested.. try windoze, damn now i started.. it's where unfinished development hits big sales, on your very OS people, from day one. then some major makers sell games running on that OS, and you may face bugfix patches for several years, no cashback, 'you bought it, package is open, deal with it, we throw you another patch.' years. especially online games' alpha and beta tests cost time, and with that, cost money. lots of it, while some concurrent game may hit the shelves just a week before yours, and you're out cold, because your game is old news then, and you've put in a hefty sum.

 

[Hullahopp]

haha don't let me start about untested.. try windoze, damn now i started.. it's where unfinished development hits big sales, on your very OS people, from day one. then some major makers sell games running on that OS, and you may face bugfix patches for several years, no cashback, 'you bought it, package is open, deal with it, we throw you another patch.' years. especially online games' alpha and beta tests cost time, and witht hat, cost money. lots of it, while some concurrent game may hit the shelves just a week before yours, and you're out cold, because your game is old news then, and you've put in a hefty sum.

It's the players' fault. They want everything immediately. And it's also the developers' fault. Service providers should not have to pay attention to all our tummy aches.
I tried a new game from here, which is already completed. The renderings are pretty ugly, the characters are grotesque, the gameplay is cumbersome, the writing... Not very good. It's also buggy. Interesting, but most players like it. (Perhaps because of the unusual content. I don't like shotacon.)
"This is the best game, whoa!" So the developer thinks that anything is good for them.
Another popular game is updated every 3 months. And many people whine about the lack of content. What do they expect in 3 months?
You can't please everyone. If money is more important to the developer than the program, it reduces quality.

 

[JD59]

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post ! TL;DR : her shoulder and game-killing bugs are being fixed, and her Patreon will still be paused for September. We won't be seeing a preview trailer, instead we'll be seeing posters every week. Patience...

 

[tonydurrant]

Notty's posts are always entertaining, so for those that wasn't a bit more than the tl;dr; here it is in full.
_____________________

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It's the "Good news!" update...
News, news and more news this time around but let's start with the key one.
Health stuff
I got my shoulder fixed.
I couldn't go on as I was and it was no fun not knowing from one day to the next how much mobility I had (and for how long before things went sideways again). It was also more or less stopping any progress on Heavy Five (you can't really do that much with a couple of hours one day, a couple of hours a few days later); so I threw down the credit card and I've paid for private surgery.*
So I'm fixed. In hock to my eyeballs, but fixed. It's been a slightly ropey month as I've recovered but right now I feel as good as new. Or at least as good as I was back in April before the accident (well, bar a little scar or two), and I'll happily take that.**
So with that blocker out of the way I can, and given I had this done a few weeks ago with all progress being positive since then, say quite confidently that I can start putting in decent hours again and wrap this chapter up.
Speaking of which...
Chapter Five
Despite the above, work has been on-going on the chapter with elements of the game having actually gone out for playtesting. Not as much as I'd have liked for sure, but something is better than nothing and the feedback so far has been entirely positive. The graphics are better, the script is better and, most importantly, the gameplay is better. So that's a win at least.
Now I'm fighting fit again, I'm expecting to be able to start shovelling other parts of the game out to the testers at a rate of knots as most of them are all ready bar a couple of visual tweaks.
And we even have some breakthroughs on why the game as a whole kept falling over. You may recall that list of possible reasons I gave last month? And top of that was the impossible one of having broken Renpy? The one that couldn't possible be the reason?
Turns out I broke Renpy.
Well, overwhelmed it at any rate it would seem. I say this as one of the testers came back to me with a bug in a section of the game that was coded perfectly. Clean as the cleanest whistle. They'd had a look themselves and reported back that it was fine from what they could tell but there was a line break (or blank line) in the code and could it be that?
Well, no. You see if Renpy comes across a blank line it just ignores it and my code has been littered with blank lines from day one. As I'm coding and writing I often put little notes to myself in the code. Little nudges to myself to remember to take into account what would have happened elsewhere in the game for example. Once I've dealt with them, I then delete the note, often leaving a blank line in it's wake. Not best practice but I've done it for ages so, it couldn't be that.
Except it was.
The tester deleted the blank line and that section of the game worked perfectly. Why something that Renpy used to be fine with, no longer is I've no idea. None. But this explains why I was struggling to find the game killing bugs. I just couldn't see them. The only explanation I have is that there is perhaps so much code now that Renpy is having to be a little less forgiving. So, time to hunt down every line break it seems...
The chapter does still has some coding problems however, but they seem mainly related to the new GUI interface now as opposed to some massive unknown structural failure throughout, which is a much more manageable state of affairs (and one hell of a relief too!). With luck it's the sort of thing that a solid few days work should be able to resolve and now I have a dependable arm again (It moves, it turns, it can wiggle up and down! I can do the Peacemaker dance again!)*** it's now a practical proposition to do so as well.
Patronage
I'm pausing September patron support.
Why if I expect to be working on it all month? Well, I'm hedging my bets a bit. I'm certain I'm one hundred per cent fit. I'm also certain I can now throw in the hours to get a lot of the game tested in September and clear all the bugs too. But there's a difference between what I'm certain will happen and what will actually happen.
You see from where I sit, I'm bloody lucky to have you guys as patrons. You have to put up with a lot from me at times. My over-ambition in terms of the development, my quiet periods, the gaps between releases, my bad jokes and my bad luck too it seems. I'd be a bloody fool to take patronage like that for granted. I'd feel more comfortable getting a full months work under my belt before turning the tap back on again to be honest. Although I have been doing work since I paused in April, it's been "bitty" and I might need a full months run to get to where I should be progress wise. I feel I owe you that.
Alright, for once the delay isn't actually my fault but that still doesn't make this four month(!) delay any easier for any of us and I rest more easily knowing that, if I can't do anything about the delay (well other than what I have), at least I haven't let it cost you any money whilst all this has been going on.
Previews
I mentioned in my last post I was looking to put together a non-spoilery preview trailer but I haven't been able to manage it. Raiding the animation box, most of them are either lewd (oh, we have a -lot- of those...), links or full of spoilers. Hell, even the die roll in Caverns is spoilery, which might give you an idea of the extent of the problem. I did have a bash but a trailer full of links or VR combat moves just didn't pitch the chapter at all.
So instead, I've gone down the slightly arty route and whomped up some film style posters for each of the characters. I'll be dropping one of these once per week just to remind you I still exist Besides they make a nice run in to the release of the game I feel.
Other matters
I'm still going to be fairly quiet comms wise. I'm not quite as furious at the world in general as I was (not going "Argh, bollockingbastardingarm!" when you reach for something helps with that I've found) but I am still a -little- grumpy.**** Besides I really want to focus and throw all my available hours into completion right now. I have peeked into the forum and discord a little but I think even there I'm going to be a fairly light visitor for the next few weeks, except for testing work, as I resolve and wrap up as much as I can. I trust you can appreciate my reasoning on this one.
And that's it for now.
Take care of yourselves and we'll speak soon.

Notty

* I realise paying for surgery is probably what a lot of you have to do elsewhere in the world, but over in the UK going private, instead of waiting for the sainted NHS to bless you with its services, is tantamount to confessing you sacrifice kittens to Satan whilst jumping up and down on a small child's favourite toys in hobnailed boots. Whilst dressed like a morris dancer.
** I did ask post surgery if I'd be able to play the violin and I was told I'd be able to with no problem at all. Which is nice as I've no idea how to play the violin. So, bonus?
*** That last one was my "Am I well?" test. Seriously.
**** I confess I may have pouted into a wine glass a few times bleating about "It's not bloody fair. Why me all the time?" but I'm over that now. But why take chances, right?

 

[tonydurrant]

Notty also posted a teaser...
__________

It's teaser number one...

 

[TheDevian]

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