VN Ren'Py Her Heart's Desire - Development & Research Thread

[mrbigchungus]

Main Plot:
A struggling writer, you just managed to sell a book for enough money to afford a house.
Life in the suburbs promised to be everything you dreamed of in the city: more space, more quiet, and
maybe without roommates, it was time to kick start your love life. At forty-three, you weren't getting any younger.
Everything changed when a young college student responded to your advertisement to sublet one of the open bedrooms.
She was blonde, eighteen, and as you quickly discovered, had a secret desire. As her landlord, you have time, and
feel obligated to help her pursue her fantasies, however depraved they might be. After all, when you thought about
kick starting your love life again, you never imagined it could be so...fulfilling.

Main fetishes / tags for the game:

• Fetishes planned / tags - F solo, M/F, M/F/F, F/F, oral, vaginal, anal, group, squirt, toys, voyeurism, spanking, domination, corruption, humor, first person POV)
• What won't be included: NTR, futa, bestiality, and or other stuff that's not Patreon friendly.

and another shot:


Wait, what? Weren't you making Magical Restart?
It's been put on hold.

So what's this game all about?

Her Heart's Desire gives you the story of Chad McBadass, a struggling writer, who recently bought a house. In walks a new House Guest (relationships are customizable) and now, for the first time, dear old Chad is facing life as a Landlord (again, customizable).

Thing is though, Dee (name changeable) has her own ideas on House Guest and Landlord relationships.

The alpha demo is about the first day when Dee arrives at Chad's house, and shares her story. Turns out, she was living in an orphanage...and got kicked out. On her birthday. At the age of eighteen. The demo follows Chad and Dee as they navigate their new relationship, and he tries to ensure she enjoys her birthday. After their first tumultuous day together, two more eighteen year old women arrive, also in need.

Will Chad put them up as House Guests as well? It also just so happens that they are all three Friends. Chad's surprise and delight at the comforts of having Dee in his home are quickly turned upside down in the presence of three gorgeous young women who live in fear of breaking the house rules and getting punished. Or do they secretly want it?

Releases ongoing

 

[mrbigchungus]

The images I shared need a few touch ups; I haven't done post-work yet, as I've been cranking through both story & rendering as I write. It's awesome.

I think this is really fun to make, and it'll be even more fun (though hit *different*) than Magical Restart.



Who doesn't need a good cup of coffee to start their day off right?

Getting close to 70 images for the story so far, over 60 integrated into the prologue, and the interaction is all customized based on relationship, nickname, and during the conversation they agree on other terms of endearment - the default is he calls her "Hon," short for "Honey," and she calls him, "Friend."

And yes, the poke through of the dress will be fixed in the render above in post-work with Photoshop (it's sticking through the chair arm a little).

 

[mrbigchungus]

Even in a first person POV visual novel experience, there may be times where it makes sense to do a face reveal, or show more than just a floating penis.

Shocking, I know - ha!

So here's Chad McBadass again, fresh from the trip to Carthun, now playing the part of 43 year old writer living in the suburbs. Why's he in such good shape?

Well, he wouldn't be a McBadass if he was squishy like Big Chungus, right? ha ha ha.


Just blew past the 80 milestone for images in the game, have about a half dozen small animations, nothing 30FPS (yet). Lots more story to go before things are perfect, but it's an incredible start. Loving the work Fingers crossed ya'll do too!

 

[hiya02]

he doesn't even have any grey in the temples - it must all that yoga! the images look good, I am already waiting to see more.

 

[osanaiko]

Even in a first person POV visual novel experience, there may be times where it makes sense to do a face reveal, or show more than just a floating penis.

Shocking, I know - ha!

So here's Chad McBadass again, fresh from the trip to Carthun, now playing the part of 43 year old writer living in the suburbs. Why's he in such good shape?

Well, he wouldn't be a McBadass if he was squishy like Big Chungus, right? ha ha ha.
View attachment 1204628

Just blew past the 80 milestone for images in the game, have about a half dozen small animations, nothing 30FPS (yet). Lots more story to go before things are perfect, but it's an incredible start. Loving the work Fingers crossed ya'll do too!

Lol that's most 18-22 year old 43yo author I've ever seen.

 

[mrbigchungus]

Did a bunch of writing when I was AFK from my rendering computer this weekend; result is, I have almost as much copy written out and scenes in Her Heart's Desire as I had in the alpha version of Magical Restart.

In less than a week since starting to write the game, as well - I think it's a lot faster / easier to write modern story where it's a Landlord Epic - reason being, a lot of times it's relatively straightforward. There are no magical things to explain, no flying creatures...no real, "hero's journey," at least, in the typical fantasy sense.

What's Her Heart's Desire got then?
Temptation. Romance. Desire. Lust. Navigating a new relationship, figuring out where the boundaries are, if any...and learning to push past them.

• 110+ images rendered so far; a few minor animations, nothing yet 30FPS (though plan to have at least a few for the alpha release)
• Thirteen thousand words of story - includes a few branches based on decisions, variables, etc.
• Customize your name (placeholder Chad McBadass) customize your relationship with (House Guest) who's default name is (Dee). Give her a nickname when you're chatting - default is you sometimes call her (Hon).
• She calls you (Chad) or sometimes (Landlord) or if you get on well enough, you get a nickname - default is Friend.

Once I get further into rendering the story I wrote up, I'll share more. Onward

 

[mrbigchungus]

Shopping trip in progress, the new scenes I've written over the weekend without a computer I'm now about 20% through rendering...wow. It's a lot faster to write the story without rendering as I go, but then there are a lot of little things that end up getting changed / improved in the story as I render to match.

Goes well though



The only real challenge right now is sometimes, with the renders, I don't have the right lighting setup (and I forget to preview) so ten minutes later, I'm redoing the image. Definitely need to get better at that. And yep, this image needs post-work - next on my list is going through the images for the new scenes once rendered to make sure stuff like the white bits in her hair here don't happen in the final image.

Then again, as long as the end results are awesome, I think it's okay, right?

 

[mrbigchungus]

(Dee) modeling the first outfit at the clothes shop.

Dayaam, black leather pants are nice!

 

[osanaiko]

It's a lot faster to write the story without rendering as I go, but then there are a lot of little things that end up getting changed / improved in the story as I render to match.

I've seen the advice given before on the forums by a dev (can't remember who...) that after working out the draft of the story, they would do all the renders and then edit and change the dialogue to match, as it was much easier to work with the 3D assets/poses etc that already existed than to try and find (or make!) stuff to match the story details. Sounds like you are doing something similar...

 

[mrbigchungus]

Thanks for the comment; I think it would end up impossible to perfectly follow script, so given I'm only negotiating with myself on decisions, it makes things easier to change than if it was "design by committee," but then, I own it if it's not great because I got nobody to throw under the bus.

It's making my rendering (maybe slightly) faster, given I don't have to ask, "What's next?" - that's a perk.

I like feeling things are coming together at a decent pace.

Still need to work on more sound effects, and more music; I think I'm going to start in on more of that tomorrow.

 

[osanaiko]

OK, I'm sick of dancing around the real question here.

how do you know that BIG CHUNGUS is male? Did you assume Xhey's gender? That's exactly the bullshit traditionalist white male cis shitlord trash i've come to expect on this board.

(/s if not obvious )

 

[mrbigchungus]

That's a damned good question...lemme render a massive gorilla dick real quick.

ha ha ha haha ha.

I'm dying.

 

[mrbigchungus]

Choices in the game will matter, naturally. There will be scenes, and renders (like the one below, part of a series) where if you don't have enough Love Points with (Dee), you just won't get it.

Behave Rewards come to those who are kind, loving...and courteous. Dickish behavior, sadly, doesn't bring about this kind of scene.

As of yesterday's efforts, I'm now confident the fifteen thousand (will be a little longer, I'll bet) and change scenes will be fully rendered by weekend, which means with two hundred renders in game now, this week will push the demo well over 300 static images.

Animations aren't in the demo; yet. There are some planned, so those will be rendered when the time comes according to the script (also, animations are naturally a few hours each, where an image is 5-10 minutes perhaps, so it slows progress of developing a richer story - since animations also don't have much in the way of dedicated copy, unlike a full image series for a scene, which has a lot of copy).

 

[mrbigchungus]

Home after lunch, and a shopping trip! Next, (dee) needs to take a shower and get cleaned up...then, she's going to slip into something new after she's all nice and clean.

The question is...which outfit is she going to wear the hang out in around the house? He he he.


About 300 images (wow) in the alpha demo, it's coming along nicely. Text is now a little over fifteen thousand words, and I split up the file I was working on into two, just to make sure it's easier to manage.

Still need to research sounds / music, have been mostly rendering to catch up with all the story that's written.

 

[BigDaddyDom]

The images I shared need a few touch ups; I haven't done post-work yet, as I've been cranking through both story & rendering as I write. It's awesome. View attachment 1204473

I think this is really fun to make, and it'll be even more fun (though hit *different*) than Magical Restart.

View attachment 1204475

Who doesn't need a good cup of coffee to start their day off right?

Getting close to 70 images for the story so far, over 60 integrated into the prologue, and the interaction is all customized based on relationship, nickname, and during the conversation they agree on other terms of endearment - the default is he calls her "Hon," short for "Honey," and she calls him, "Friend."

And yes, the poke through of the dress will be fixed in the render above in post-work with Photoshop (it's sticking through the chair arm a little).

Looking forward to this, as I quite enjoy "landlord/guest" games. Hope the three "guests" are related, and there is the option to punish them Btw these breakfast renders look better IMO as she seems to look younger and more realistically 18.

 

[BigDaddyDom]

Even in a first person POV visual novel experience, there may be times where it makes sense to do a face reveal, or show more than just a floating penis.

Shocking, I know - ha!

So here's Chad McBadass again, fresh from the trip to Carthun, now playing the part of 43 year old writer living in the suburbs. Why's he in such good shape?

Well, he wouldn't be a McBadass if he was squishy like Big Chungus, right? ha ha ha.
View attachment 1204628

Just blew past the 80 milestone for images in the game, have about a half dozen small animations, nothing 30FPS (yet). Lots more story to go before things are perfect, but it's an incredible start. Loving the work Fingers crossed ya'll do too!

His face looks really young for 43. Maybe a different hairstyle and a bit more wrinkles?

 

[mrbigchungus]

BigDaddyDom

Thanks for the comments!

>Punish

Ha ha, the first day of the game, when (Dee) arrives, it's actually her 18th birthday...part of the plot. I just googled, "Birthday spankings," and since those happen on a birthday, of course there will be a spanking scene

>face looks really young
Botox + just for men?

There are only 3 images so far that show the face, and it's in a mirror - I might see if I can age him a little if there are other scenes I produce with his face.

 

[OutOfAshes]

i had too look after your explain

looks pretty nice

 

[mrbigchungus]

After delivering on your House Guest's request for birthday spankings, you'll get this image...but, if your love score isn't high enough, you won't get *all* the images with Dee wearing this set of lingerie.

My computer's on fire after all these renders, I'm going to need an extinguisher...


Later today I'll have an alpha build for ya'll to test

 

[mrbigchungus]

Of course...even with paring down the scope, there's a last scene I'm working on...but it's getting there