VN Ren'Py How I Became a Hero [Ch.8] [Naughty tales studios]

[BlasKyau]

My personal opinion with Sandboxes is it should be a tool to be used in addition to the main Visual Novel part. The Sandbox should be used as the space between story events happening and being able to choose the story options. However this means limited use of sandbox, for example say you're in a school and your objective it so meet your sister on the 3rd floor, inbetween going to meet her and continuing the story, you are able to explore the first 2 floors and unlock renders, codes for hidden unlockables, side stories/characters. I'm tired of the full Sandbox experience where you have little to no guide to where you need to be to find the objective. Often times making me feeling like I'm actively playing a puzzle trying to find a small unnoticeable objective or find a door/room thats tucked into the very corner of an image. Sandboxes can be good, but that requires them to have the Story continue with intermissions between the story progressing as sandboxes. Not the game is being told through a sandbox.

That's the problem with a lot of sandboxes, that you feel like you have a bunch of empty locations where there's really nothing to do and there's no clue to tell you if there's someone or something to do at each particular location, which makes the player wandering around different locations until he finds something to do.

 

[KKonaBROthere]

That's the problem with a lot of sandboxes, that you feel like you have a bunch of empty locations where there's really nothing to do and there's no clue to tell you if there's someone or something to do at each particular location, which makes the player wandering around different locations until he finds something to do.

This is why I say theres a 1% of Sandbox developers who know how to use a sandbox properly

 

[baklol]

You're just lazy in general my man. Im not a sandbox fan but if going between 2 locations is "grinding" to you, I think you'd be best to sticking to porn videos

well i have played uop and other games also that sandbox wrks for me but whole sandbox things don't appeal me

 

[Allan Trumbull]

Kuggazer
Developer,
Could you add opacity slider for dialogue box??

& What are done to navigation on map. It is complicated now

 

[rigoberto2020]

I don't mind the sandbox so much here because it's just a means to get you from scene to scene, but I think one thing that might help would be putting an identifier next to a location where you have an active quest. Most of the game is linear as far as the objectives you need to clear to get through the story, and except those few times where the character is looking for something, he generally knows where he needs to go. I'd also suggest adding an outline to interactable objects/NPCs in scenes when you hover over them.

I'm enjoying this so far, though.

 

[Kuggazer]

Kuggazer
Developer,
Could you add opacity slider for dialogue box??

& What are done to navigation on map. It is complicated now

I am working on this.
I'm doing a version without sandbox and I'm modifying the text box as well.
I am also coloring the names of each character differently. This had already been pointed out to me by many people.

 

[covertanon]

I don't think it is worth starting over from the beginning with sandbox. If this was a VN, then I could just hold ctrl and skip to chapter 3. If wasn't for the fact that I like fantasy stories I would never play a sandbox. Unfortunately it seems that Fantasy VNs are few and far between. I actually think I've read through all the non-sandbox fantasy stuff multiple times. I do like the story in this though so I'll probably wait a couple more chapters and then start over.
Edit: I guess I'll wait for the VN verzion. Good luck dev.

 

[Aj Atkinson]

What happened to the map? I can't do mouseover on locations, they work but are not visible.

 

[Deleted member 1985504]

What happened to the map? I can't do mouseover on locations, they work but are not visible.

"To make it work properly, however, you should play the game from the beginning.

You can skip the whole thing until the end of Chapter 2. It will only take a few seconds anyway."

 

[Zeruelll]

Hi there. Can you elaborate on what you don't like about the sandbox?
Do you find it unnecessary in an adult game? Does it interrupt the action too much?

Haven't played the game yet since it's still downloading. I don't mind Sandbox games in general, but what I don't like is when there's unecessary "Grinding" tied to it on some Sandbox games. An example would be when you have to increase an LI's love points to 10 to continue her route, and the only way to do that is by talking to her everyday for a +1. That becomes talking to her and reading the dialouge the first time, and spending 9 more in-game days skipping through everything 9 more times since it's the same dialogue every time. I could explain it more in detail, but the post will be long but this is basically why.

If the sandbox element is just used to access free roam events/scenes(e.g.: repeatable sex scenes) and characters/locations to continue with the story/character routes, then it's already a game with sandbox done right, for me at least.

 

[popabear]

Quest 1: Talk to everyone. Quest 2: Talk to everyone, again. Most of them say the same thing as yesterday. Then why is it necessary to talk to everyone? I think I've talked to everyone but apparently not, because I'm not progressing. "Event trigger hunting" with no guidance was never for me. That's it, I'm out. I might check it again when the stupid sandbox is gone.

 

[hobobobb]

I understand you, but with Max's life I lost not only your support, but that of many others. You can believe me or not, but I will not make the same mistake twice. The mistake of making sharing scenes optional. I thought I was not hurting anyone this way, I was wrong. Also because it's easy for things to get out of hand sooner or later.

It means a lot when someone is willing to admit a mistake, and 10x more when they are willing to learn from them. I truly hope that you are being genuine. Hopefully, HIBAH proves you are sincere and if so (and once this game is complete) I for one will be happy to consider $upporting you in the future.

Hi there. Can you elaborate on what you don't like about the sandbox?
Do you find it unnecessary in an adult game? Does it interrupt the action too much?
Maybe I will try to make a version without a sandbox today, more to see myself if it turns out to be smoother.

For myself the issues with sandboxes are as follows;
-adds grind (sometimes)
-adds complexity and a learning curve to a game that brings debatable value
-Increases playtime for the "same content"
-Increases complexity of code, leading to more bugs/problems/issues
-Requires developer focus on "code" which tends to slow game "story" updates (considering that story is the focus of most VN's...)

To be clear, there are games designed and based around a Sandbox that do it well, Love Sex Second Base is a debatable example of a game focused around a sandbox, but I would argue that those types of games are less focused on an overarching and compelling story. Generally, it has been my experience that (outside of some big-budget Japanese games) a Developer needs to narrow their focus to accomplish things in a timely manner.

Kinda like the whole "I offer three things and you can pick any two", for games around here those three things offered would be;

- A good/compelling story with interesting characters.
- Quick updates/game completion.
- A complex gameplay system (I.E a Sandbox).

Dev's get to pick any two.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

 

[Punto]

I love the game!! Now I'm waiting for a quick update!!?? (By the way, it worked well to get into the 3 part)

 

[BlasKyau]

For myself the issues with sandboxes are as follows;
-adds grind (sometimes)
-adds complexity and a learning curve to a game that brings debatable value
-Increases playtime for the "same content"
-Increases complexity of code, leading to more bugs/problems/issues
-Requires developer focus on "code" which tends to slow game "story" updates (considering that story is the focus of most VN's...)

To be clear, there are games designed and based around a Sandbox that do it well, Love Sex Second Base is a debatable example of a game focused around a sandbox, but I would argue that those types of games are less focused on an overarching and compelling story. Generally, it has been my experience that (outside of some big-budget Japanese games) a Developer needs to narrow their focus to accomplish things in a timely manner.

Kinda like the whole "I offer three things and you can pick any two", for games around here those three things offered would be;

- A good/compelling story with interesting characters.
- Quick updates/game completion.
- A complex gameplay system (I.E a Sandbox).

Dev's get to pick any two.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

Actually, sandboxes are good for games that want to develop management systems, or implement combat or other things usually related to RPGs. They can also be useful if the game is going to have a large number of LIs (main and side) with a good part (or all) of them being optional.

But if the game is going to have a more or less linear story and the sandbox basically consists of going from one location to another following the indications without being able to do anything else (that is, the only thing you can do is go to the appropriate location in that moment, since going anywhere else results in nothing), then it's not practical to have a sandbox at all.

Because of how the game is, surely the sandbox isn't the best system, and converting it into VN is a good idea.

 

[Kitchentable]

There is no stats grind with tideous and reptitive mini-games or any other stuff like that in this AVN/game.

There is a quest journal and all locations can be accessed with one mouse click from an overview map.
No clicking through a whole building of empty rooms to access a certain room or anything like that.

Just a few more mouse clicks to access a location and to interact with a character than in a VN.
Sheesh, humanity can't have gotten that complacent already that it is overstraind with an additional
flick of a finger for a mouse click or two.

Look at the banner. The main protagonist sitting between the ladies from both worlds.
Maybe wait a few updates to see where the dev is going because a sandbox would make totally sense
if the MC later can go back and forth between the worlds and there are repeatable scenes in each.

 

[Simulacrum29]

I am still talking with my friend about the free roam matter.
We may decide to remove it if you don't like it. It would be much faster for us to work on the game without free roaming.
I will wait for some more opinions from those who are playing it.

so that obviously only my opinion, but don't do sandbox. Its always shit and even if its not shit its bearable at best. There are games I play despite sandbox, but there are many games I don't play because of sandbox.

If you make an AVN and saves got nixed because of code changes (or what ever) you can speed through the game with ctrl, if its sandbox you need hours to click through all the crap again. That's maybe fine, if it happens once or twice (in the whole dev process, and depending of the quality of the game overall) but I stopped playing games for less hassle.

They can also be useful if the game is going to have a large number of LIs (main and side) with a good part (or all) of them being optional.

but even then you can just integrate the Lis into the story with a simple yes or no choice, without the need for sandbox, in my new family the ex-bully girl is integrated in this way, if you follow her route at some time in the story MC visits her, if you don't the event is simply skipped and the player that don't want that LI doesn't even know that stuff got skipped.

My personal opinion with Sandboxes is it should be a tool to be used in addition to the main Visual Novel part. The Sandbox should be used as the space between story events happening and being able to choose the story options. However this means limited use of sandbox, for example say you're in a school and your objective it so meet your sister on the 3rd floor, inbetween going to meet her and continuing the story, you are able to explore the first 2 floors and unlock renders, codes for hidden unlockables, side stories/characters. I'm tired of the full Sandbox experience where you have little to no guide to where you need to be to find the objective. Often times making me feeling like I'm actively playing a puzzle trying to find a small unnoticeable objective or find a door/room thats tucked into the very corner of an image. Sandboxes can be good, but that requires them to have the Story continue with intermissions between the story progressing as sandboxes. Not the game is being told through a sandbox.

I could not care less for unlockables or hidden bullshit in game I'm here because of the story and the flow of that story gets broken every time you get some bullshit free roam to find that special render in one of the trashcans around the location.
Also fuck side-stories and side-characters if they are that unimportant that you need to hide them in a fucking corner in some bathroom far of the story path then cut that shit out. Either the sub-story/character fits into the Main-story or not, if it fits up it goes right into the plot. Want to investigate the black cat in the ally yes/no( -> sidestory open or closed), no need to forage on a fucking map for hours of additional clicks. And if it doesn't fit than cut it out.

 

[BlasKyau]

but even then you can just integrate the Lis into the story with a simple yes or no choice, without the need for sandbox, in my new family the ex-bully girl is integrated in this way, if you follow her route at some time in the story MC visits her, if you don't the event is simply skipped and the player that don't want that LI doesn't even know that stuff got skipped.

Actually, both options seem fine to me, I have seen games in which what you say works well (in fact the game that you talk about) and in others in which doing what I have put also works well (Lust Harem, I think this is the name). That is why I have said that it can be useful, it all depends on whether the Dev knows how to do it well or not, if he doesn't know how, it's best to use a VN that in principle is simpler and will also work perfectly well.

Personally, I like both sandboxes and VNs, so I don't have a problem with one system or the other.

 

[Simulacrum29]

Actually, both options seem fine to me, I have seen games in which what you say works well (in fact the game that you talk about) and in others in which doing what I have put also works well (Lust Harem, I think this is the name). That is why I have said that it can be useful, it all depends on whether the Dev knows how to do it well or not, if he doesn't know how, it's best to use a VN that in principle is simpler and will also work perfectly well.

Personally, I like both sandboxes and VNs, so I don't have a problem with one system or the other.

I never played Lust Harem because it has sandbox so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Sennistrasz]

Hi there. Can you elaborate on what you don't like about the sandbox?
Do you find it unnecessary in an adult game? Does it interrupt the action too much?
Maybe I will try to make version without sandbox today, more to see myself if it turns out to be smoother.

It’s easy to get lost moving about, always have the feeling that I might be missing something and double checking, clicking the whole screen because I don’t know if anything is hidden, it’s stressful.

I don’t see why any dev would want their content to be unintentionally skipped, so for those parts it would be better if they were just presented all at once.

 

[natsu36]

map seem to be broken on this update. cant click on any place at all once chap 3 starts