Ren'Py Holiday Island [v0.4.5.1] [darkhound1]

[Cynicaladm]

Cynicaladm
There are two main answers to your post.
The first is the most obvious. If you don't like sandbox games, do not play sandbox games.
The second is to play the game differently. There is no need to max all stats of all girls and to hug/kiss whatever them all the time. Just play the game, move from and to your room every now and then, check the quest log.
If you want a game experience where the game more tells you what to do, get Amy on the island and play her extensive affection/love quest line.
Last one - don't go achievement hunting until you have gotten most of them already.
If you still don't like it after that, then I suppose the game just isn't for you.

Much appreciated. Is there anyone in particular or a plotline I should keep an eye on to understand a bit more of what's going on? I really have a strong sense of... Being a bit lost, when it comes to the main plot... And now i can't tell if i have missed stuff or have to play on to find out.
I don't mind sandbox, but there are ways to make sandbox games less grindy and I would love it if more devs took those shortcuts into consideration, like for instance a single button to go to bed, take a shower and eat, at the end or beginning of the day, rather than having to keep track of how hungry you are or how smelly, which i don't believe adds much to the game. Whereas I understand the need for different levels of horniness, or even, to an extent, fatigue, feeding and showering is really a bunch of buttons to click and nothing more.. That would be a substantial shortcut already... And yes, I understand that that's just my personal preference.

In the end, fatigue, hungriness and tiredness are 3 variables to take into account the combination of which either gives you access to an event or a girl, or it doesn't. Which is a binary solution.
From a realistic point of view it makes sense, but ultimately, it could all be summed up in just one stat, fatigue, and would produce the same result of either accessing a scene or girl or not being able to. From a Dev perspective you're complicating something simple for the sake of realism.
From a player perspective, you're adding a complication that doesn't produce a different result, as far as I can tell, and therefore doesn't really add anything appreciable to the game other than more buttons to press. Again, i feel this is so on the ancillary stats, not necessarily on the core ones... But it's just an example of how sandbox can become grinding for the purpose of grinding... But doesn't have to.

 

[Bantry]

Spoiler: Fair warning, this is part massive spoilers, part review and part question

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Spoiler: My Answers

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[MarsUltor]

Spoiler: Fair warning, this is part massive spoilers, part review and part question

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First, I respect your willingness to to express what is almost certainly an unpopular opinion here and ask some unconfortable questions, at the risk of getting flamed by the fan of this game, here; I'm not going to do that, though. It should be noted that, about 30 minutes after your post, the developer of the game provided you with a candid non-agro response. Think about that for a moment.

I want to address what I think is the elephant in the room from your post - the plot. I'll put my response in quote tags, and hopefully won't incur darkhound1's ire in the process.

Spoiler: Holiday Island's plot - some food for thought

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[Cynicaladm]

Many thanks to all that have reacted to my queries. I tend to ramble on and not everybody would engage with a wall of text they disagree with and keep the discourse civil, so, kudos.
From the answers I understand that I have indeed missed a few hints here and there, though not many because the main plot is still very much unexplored. That does comfort me in that I haven't messed things up.
I still have a few issues with the mechanical side of things, much as I made one case in my previous post, but again, that's a matter of preference... Or at best a suggestion on how to optimise game design, suggestion the Dev can absolutely tell me to shove somewhere unpleasant...
Coupling that aspect with a game that is about a third of its way in and requires a guide of 60+ pages to delve into, might result in something either not for me (but I play d&d on the regular and write lore as a hobby, so that can't be true) or just something that I need to tackle when I'm not running on fumes at the end of a day... That's on me, certainly not on the Dev.

I've had my share of "is there anal/incest/ntr/preggo in the game?" Kind of questions to answer, so the irony of finding myself asking questions in a similar vein is not lost on me. All I can say in my defence is that I did put in some hours of gaming, before deciding to just ask.
I'm not giving up on the game despite my oscillating opinions about it, because I do want to know more about the story (also, boobies, have I mentioned those?)

Anyway, thank you for the civil interactions, which on this site, or with more or less engaged fandoms, isn't always a given.

 

[ZenGarden]

*snip*

TL;DR - Go for a jog on the beach around 1100 on or after day 45. Make sure you check the guide for some possible progress you need to make beforehand. Your first major insight into the plot occurs then.

Other than that, it's a game of mystery and discovery. Why do these girls all have such hooters? Why are they there? Why are YOU there? Who is really holding the cards?

Is the game grindy? Absolutely, but if you concentrate on a girl or two at the start (I would suggest Amy and Yvette due to the sheer volume of stuff available), you begin to learn some tricks to get past some of it (or at least use it to your advantage).

Good luck and good playing. Let us know where you land (I'm actually interested).

 

[zapallbugs]

First, I respect your willingness to to express what is almost certainly an unpopular opinion here and ask some unconfortable questions, at the risk of getting flamed by the fan of this game, here; I'm not going to do that, though. It should be noted that, about 30 minutes after your post, the developer of the game provided you with a candid non-agro response. Think about that for a moment.

I want to address what I think is the elephant in the room from your post - the plot. I'll put my response in quote tags, and hopefully won't incur darkhound1's ire in the process.

Spoiler: Holiday Island's plot - some food for thought

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Spoiler: Game development state

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[DuckSwim]

The game is already heavily compressed. Without compression it would be about 15GB.

Boobs like water cannot be compressed by normal means, only fondled
Also, remember to get plenty of both (use two hands).

 

[SiJa]

Boobs like water cannot be compressed by normal means, only fondled
Also, remember to get plenty of both (use two hands).

Might be a bit of a translation thing...
Never heard of fondling water... unless it's a new fetish I am glad to not know about

Caress would be a better word for a thing you can do to both boobs and water
Although I don't really do that to water... drink, swim, and wash with it is usually the norm...
Not sure you can do those actions with boobs?
Well... maybe drink if its milk time

Also, breast compression is a thing... apparently good to help with breastfeeding... google it if you don't belive me

 

[Irgendwie Irgendwo]

Let me chime in that I found that hunger, showering and tiredness are pretty much non-issues. Granted, it may have something to do with the fact that I've maxed pretty much everything, but never once has a girl said anything to my MC about being smelly, or refused to interact, even at Level 2 smell. Guess it does not make much of a difference if charm is at 5 or 4. In 150+ in-game days I ran once into orange hunger because I forgot to eat for a day; the only consequence was that endurance was 80 instead of 100. Tiredness? Just finish the day normally and go to bed early, everything fixed.

Bottom line: Just ignore that stuff and deal with it once the status pops up.

 

[SiJa]

A dish best served cold...

(***disclaimer***)
( This is FAN FICTION / FAN EDITED and no way represents any actual story from the game )
(Any similarity to any future story-line is coincidental) ​

 

[BDMick]

Much appreciated. Is there anyone in particular or a plotline I should keep an eye on to understand a bit more of what's going on? I really have a strong sense of... Being a bit lost, when it comes to the main plot... And now i can't tell if i have missed stuff or have to play on to find out.
I don't mind sandbox, but there are ways to make sandbox games less grindy and I would love it if more devs took those shortcuts into consideration, like for instance a single button to go to bed, take a shower and eat, at the end or beginning of the day, rather than having to keep track of how hungry you are or how smelly, which i don't believe adds much to the game. Whereas I understand the need for different levels of horniness, or even, to an extent, fatigue, feeding and showering is really a bunch of buttons to click and nothing more.. That would be a substantial shortcut already... And yes, I understand that that's just my personal preference.

In the end, fatigue, hungriness and tiredness are 3 variables to take into account the combination of which either gives you access to an event or a girl, or it doesn't. Which is a binary solution.
From a realistic point of view it makes sense, but ultimately, it could all be summed up in just one stat, fatigue, and would produce the same result of either accessing a scene or girl or not being able to. From a Dev perspective you're complicating something simple for the sake of realism.
From a player perspective, you're adding a complication that doesn't produce a different result, as far as I can tell, and therefore doesn't really add anything appreciable to the game other than more buttons to press. Again, i feel this is so on the ancillary stats, not necessarily on the core ones... But it's just an example of how sandbox can become grinding for the purpose of grinding... But doesn't have to.

I would also like to add a few things to the discussion. I am a big fan of Holiday Island and started playing the game about three years ago. Like others I do not perceive the game as overly grindy. I think the amount is OK for a sandbox game.

However, in the most recent version of the game, two things were introduced where I'd fully agree with your statement that they are a complication and do not add much to game play itself. I personally even perceive them as negative additions to the game. They are supposed to add realism, but have no positive effects whatsoever imho:

• Other girls in the night bar -> no sex in the ladies' room
• Rain

The first point can always be solved by sending away girls to change their outfit (like in other scenes). So not being able to have sex in the ladies' room is an unnecessary addition to the game. It just makes game play more awkward.
Instead, I'd love to see a different chain of events in this case. When other girls are around, you do run the risk of getting caught. So why not have situation(s) where this actually happens? All sorts of other interesting things could spawn from that event (second girls wants to get it on, too; threesome; ...). That would make it much more interesting.

Rain... Currently, rain prevents you from playing all the repeatable sex scenes that happen during daytime (save for Desire's yoga scene). Many indoor scenes also require you to be alone with a girl in the gym. As that is now crowded due to the rain, you can't play those either. Yes, you can always still do it by having all the other girls change their outfit. Then, what is the point? Again, this addition to the game could have been made much more interesting if it enabled events that you cannot have on a fair day. E.g. tight, wet t-shirts clinging to huge tits, comforting a girl that got wet in the rain, helping her dry her boobies with a towel, or indoor sex scenes that can only occur on a rainy day. Then, I'd actually be looking forward to a rainy morning or afternoon. For now I always reload the game until there is no rain -> awkward game play.

In the end, Darkhound won't be able to make everybody happy. And he does not have to as it is his game. As can be seen from my recent posts, I still do love the game . In my case this is mainly due to the incredible sex-appeal, beauty, and cuteness of the girls and the mysterious background story. And: huge boobies

 

[darkhound1]

Pretty sure you'd complain that you could get the new events only during rain and not always (had I added them)
The rain is a very rare thing and only half a day. I haven't changed anything about the night bar sex scenes. Not that I recall in any case.

 

[BDMick]

Pretty sure you'd complain that you could get the new events only during rain and not always (had I added them)
The rain is a very rare thing and only half a day. I haven't changed anything about the night bar sex scenes. Not that I recall in any case.

No I would not. Never have.
Rain happens on my island about every 2-3 days.

Natasha night bar sex scene:
I just repeated it with different save files in v0.2.3.0, v0.3.0.0, and v0.3.1.1. I can play Natasha's night bar sex scene in the former two versions no matter how many girls are in the night bar. She never complains, and never has in the past.
I cannot play the scene in the most recent version even if there is only one other girl around. You can only play it when you are alone with her. And I had never had that type of behavior before 0.3.1.0.

Spoiler: Natasha's reply in v0.3.1.1 - too many girls around.

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Spoiler: Same scene in versions 0.2.3.0 and 0.3.0.0. Different text and ends in sex.

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ps.: It is the same with Amy.

 

[rowx87]

So, another small-ish issue. I'm trying to collect all the events for all the girls. I know in order to get a different plane girl you have to start a new game. I had Amy on my first playthrough and I commented on her legs. I started a new game, got Aly, loaded up my save and had both Aly and Amy. I made another new game, got Amy and commented on her shirt this time, loaded up my old save and it didn't carry over. I made a new game with Yvette and the plane scene carried over just fine, but not that Comment on Amy's T-shirt scene, so I can't figure out how to get both the T-shirt and Legs scene in the same game.

 

[DuckSwim]

Mercedes + Bedroom.
Hm, Hm.

What is a duck do, darkhound1 did vote for her.
If only I did not have Weakness:Fit busty babes.

 

[darkhound1]

Rain happens on my island about every 2-3 days.

Even if it feels like this for you, it is not possible. Rain can only happen after a pause of 5 days so not earlier than every 6th day).
On day 6 there is a 20% chance for rain in the morning and a 24% chance of rain in the afternoon.
On day 7 (if it didn't rain on day6), there is a 22% chance of rain in the morning and 26% in the afternoon. For each day without rain, another 2% are added.
It will only rain in the morning or afternoon.
So on average you will get rain about every 7th day for half a day.

Natasha night bar sex scene:
I just repeated it with different save files in v0.2.3.0, v0.3.0.0, and v0.3.1.1. I can play Natasha's night bar sex scene in the former two versions no matter how many girls are in the night bar. She never complains, and never has in the past.
I cannot play the scene in the most recent version even if there is only one other girl around. You can only play it when you are alone with her. And I had never had that type of behavior before 0.3.1.0.

You're right, I did change it. Must have been quite some time ago. I didn't remember it.
I have adjusted it to a maximum of three girls now (same for Amy).

 

[perfect_sin]

Hi guys, maybe someone can help me? Game crashes after training with Daniela in lab gym (recovery after injury).
Game crashes with error:
While running game code:
Exception: Possible infinite loop.

Tried different saves, different options, reinstalled the game - nothing helps Any advice?

 

[DuckSwim]

Hi guys, maybe someone can help me? Game crashes after training with Daniela in lab gym (recovery after injury).
Game crashes with error:
While running game code:
Exception: Possible infinite loop.

Tried different saves, different options, reinstalled the game - nothing helps Any advice?

Keep the game up to date

 

[DuckSwim]

Mercedes + Bedroom.
Hm, Hm.

What is a duck do, darkhound1 did vote for her.
If only I did not have Weakness:Fit busty babes.

Pillow fight nights
(also, she is going to win, spoiler )

 

[Griffin123]

I'm an android user and I don't know every time I play this game for about half an hour it will crash, whether my phone has problems or there are still bugs in the application, while playing offline games bigger than this is smooth...

Sorry for my bad english