Ren'Py Abandoned Interns of Ecstasy Island [v0.342] [Usagitriplesix]

[Highland_Hunter]

@Usagitriplesix :

Is there a better place, for one to find out answers, or a guide, to help with, while playing this game ?


I hadn't played it for quite awhile, and just recently decided to try it again .

It seems quite-a-bit-more polished, than the last time I had played it .

I have several questions, about event/encounters, I hadn't found before in previous play-throughs .

As-in, like, I just had an encounter, with Miss Scarlett (?), (she's the blonde, executive/owner, of the resort), where she was introduced, by Gabby, to the MC, (after transformation), who was interested in the MC, and was mentioning she might like to use her for some Modeling,(photos, I suppose ?).

Then later, again, she was invited by Miss Scarlett, again to another meeting, in a VIP section, private booth, (just MC, Gabby, and Miss Scarlett, room was other-wise empty) . . . but was very cryptic about the subject, of this meeting . (was wondering, if her interest, was for some type of girl-on-girl encounter . . . , as the description of the encounter, seemed to imply, she was looking very sexually-hungry,(was actually mentioned/said), at the MC !

Thanks for your replies .

 

[Anteron]

I doubt he's even watching the thread. Last update was 3 years ago.

 

[f96zonetrooper]

I doubt he's even watching the thread. Last update was 3 years ago.

This is an old game, started in 2016 ...
If you go back one page, you see that dev is still active from time to time and (last year) answered some questions in this thread ...
If you hover over dev's avatar, you see that dev recently was online on f95 ...

 

[BeccaBoo]

The dev is still very much active in creating mods for X-Change life and probably other projects I don't follow

 

[Anteron]

This is an old game, started in 2016 ...
If you go back one page, you see that dev is still active from time to time and (last year) answered some questions in this thread ...
If you hover over dev's avatar, you see that dev recently was online on f95 ...

That last active seems to show up on some who are even "likely deceased" as recently active. He made it rather clear he wasn't ready to work in this one anytime soon.

 

[f96zonetrooper]

Is there a better place, for one to find out answers, or a guide, to help with, while playing this game ?

Did you check the game's page on tfgs?

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Anteron]

Had he continued, this could have been a great game.

 

[f96zonetrooper]

Had he continued, this could have been a great game.

How much of the content did you explore?
According to tfgs " ... there are over 408,000 words of story content, ..."
Based on older posts one of the problems seems to be that events are triggered by pre-conditions + RNG, so if you have bad luck you fail to get the events which unlock the events you want to see ... at least that was mentioned as reason why there is no walkthrough ...

 

[Anteron]

How much of the content did you explore?
According to tfgs " ... there are over 408,000 words of story content, ..."
Based on older posts one of the problems seems to be that events are triggered by pre-conditions + RNG, so if you have bad luck you fail to get the events which unlock the events you want to see ... at least that was mentioned as reason why there is no walkthrough ...

I didn't even play the last update but played it A LOT before. It tended to get pretty repetitive.

 

[UsagiTripleSix]

@Usagitriplesix :

Is there a better place, for one to find out answers, or a guide, to help with, while playing this game ?

Yes, I do still live and check in occasionally, especially if I happen to see a notification.

The closest thing out there to a guide is a section of the TFGames.site forums where users tried to document all of the available scenes and how to get them.

You need an account, but it looks like the info is still there:

You must be registered to see the links

Interns would be a hard game to jump back into development on, especially since my skills with Honey Select have gotten really rusty. I haven't completely ruled it out, but I imagine there'd probably be a lot of streamlining involved, because the complexity got way out of control.

Right now, I'm making very slow progress on another project that I hope will be a much simpler game with just a few characters. AI slop, though (which has been giving me a lot of trouble, as I'm no longer using an Nvidia card).

 

[reidanota]

Right now, I'm making very slow progress on another project that I hope will be a much simpler game with just a few characters. AI slop, though (which has been giving me a lot of trouble, as I'm no longer using an Nvidia card).

I remember seeing you sharing an interest in AI slop, I think it was on mugwump's discord. Got me to download some front-ends and models and do a few runs of my own, within what my hardware could manage (if the cost is hidden in your utilities bill, it even feels like you're doing it for free)... Then I realised that what I was getting was no different than what anybody could get with the same generic prompts I used. Respect for all the AI slop games out there. Criticism tends to be unfair, all of the games I played have characters and backgrounds that feel unique and streamlined.

Will that game be another along the tf line?

 

[UsagiTripleSix]

I remember seeing you sharing an interest in AI slop, I think it was on mugwump's discord. Got me to download some front-ends and models and do a few runs of my own, within what my hardware could manage (if the cost is hidden in your utilities bill, it even feels like you're doing it for free)... Then I realised that what I was getting was no different than what anybody could get with the same generic prompts I used. Respect for all the AI slop games out there. Criticism tends to be unfair, all of the games I played have characters and backgrounds that feel unique and streamlined.

A lot of it comes down to how it's used. As with anything, you'll get a lot of low-effort stuff, but some people will try to actually see what they can do to make something that stands out from the rest of the slop. Taking time to actually address the weird glitches, like extra arms, certainly helps.

In my case, I've been somewhat starting over, as I learned a lot of Automatic1111, but can no longer use it on my new PC (prior one was a lot of 8-to-10-year-old components, so it had to be replaced). Since I could only find/afford an AMD card, it means learning some Linux, figuring out ComfyUI, and learning how every model since SD1.5 has to be treated differently.

I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep trying to do a hybrid style with Honey Select (where I use those for the base images and then improve them with AI), or see if I can just use more ControlNet and work with AI directly. (Most recently I killed my Comfy install by trying to get the Krita extensions working... trying to get it back up and running.)

Will that game be another along the tf line?

Yup. The idea most likely to move forward is a fairly simple "guy's female friend is a mad scientist who swaps his gender" setup. I'm trying to keep it simple and manageable, if at all possible.

 

[Troqu]

Yup. The idea most likely to move forward is a fairly simple "guy's female friend is a mad scientist who swaps his gender" setup. I'm trying to keep it simple and manageable, if at all possible.

I can't say I'm surprised by this and what you said about Interns in the previous post, but I am a bit disappointed. I feel TF mystery games that aren't just "how many sex scenes can you find" are an under-utilized niche. But I have no doubt that it's a pain to build them while keeping track of everything. Either way I feel you've got a lot of good credit in my book so I'll be there as soon as you're ready.

 

[reidanota]

I feel TF mystery games that aren't just "how many sex scenes can you find" are an under-utilized niche. But I have no doubt that it's a pain to build them while keeping track of everything. Either way I feel you've got a lot of good credit in my book so I'll be there as soon as you're ready.

I agree, games that explore a particular fetish AND have a plot aren't a majority. I really liked Interns. There's still a lot of potential, with the whole reason behind the MC's transformations yet to uncover. As in other (good) titles of the genre, it feels like the future holds a possible choice between accepting the transformation as definitive, while acquiring agency to deal with whatever dirty plot was behind it, or revert the process and still deal with it. Another aspect I enjoyed about Interns is that the MC wasn't just a push-over who could never get his bearings again, and would be exploited and abused the entire game. He can both embrace his (temporary?) new situation AND try to figure out who's causing it. Other NPCs feel like they can form a connection and aren't just using or bullying him. Struck me as having less humiliation and negativity than other titles of the genre. It was enjoyable to play.

The idea most likely to move forward is a fairly simple "guy's female friend is a mad scientist who swaps his gender" setup. I'm trying to keep it simple and manageable, if at all possible.

My unpopular opinion, a game with a good story may as well be mainly a kinetic story. Example, College of Mysteria, struck a good balance between a leading story that doesn't branch, and choices that mainly let players pick the flavour they want, skip unwanted scenes, etc... It's simple and honest. Nobody cares if most choices are about skipping scenes. Author was free to push the story forward every update. I don't even care about branching endings, as long as the author can keep me on board with where the story goes. When adding choices, imho, maximum freedom works best and is simpler to implement, make each choice independent, rather than setting up paths. It's the player and their roleplay style that decides if they want to stick to the same type of choice, or pick according to mood, as a more chaotic character.

Just a bit of rambling, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the process of making AI slop. Best of luck for the new game, and fingers crossed for a future revisit to Interns as well.

 

[f96zonetrooper]

A hint for players who try to find alternative random events :

It seems that Rollback does not affect/change random values. So rolling back and forth will always give the same event.
To get a different random event, Load a previous save game and replay the scene where the random value is produced and evaluated.

First (non-sexual) random encounter is on Day 1 on the yacht. There is a 20% chance for an event with May and John, 20% chance for an event with Chastity and 60% chance for no special event.

 

[Anteron]

A hint for players who try to find alternative random events :

It seems that Rollback does not affect/change random values. So rolling back and forth will always give the same event.
To get a different random event, Load a previous save game and replay the scene where the random value is produced and evaluated.

First random encounter is on Day 1 on the yacht. There is a 20% chance for an event with May and John, 20% chance for an event with Chastity and 60% chance for no special event.

I've literally never had anything happen in this game with a girl as a male.

 

[Highland_Hunter]

I've literally never had anything happen in this game with a girl as a male.

It's there, and can happen . . . it's all up to the "RNG"God, (aka, "RNG" is this House's Odds ", vs. your odds !)

First play-through, this time, . . . my male character, after leaving the "Club", (during the 2-days of using the facilities as a 'customer'), got waylaid by a staff intern member, "Oliver", who practically raped my PC ! Good Times !!!

 

[UsagiTripleSix]

I can't say I'm surprised by this and what you said about Interns in the previous post, but I am a bit disappointed. I feel TF mystery games that aren't just "how many sex scenes can you find" are an under-utilized niche. But I have no doubt that it's a pain to build them while keeping track of everything. Either way I feel you've got a lot of good credit in my book so I'll be there as soon as you're ready.

Ideally, I'd like to make games that I can play, myself, and still enjoy...and pure story games tend to not be that. It's part of the reason why I do so much modding for X-Change Life: The basic life-sim mechanics are there, the sex scene visual and audio are done (or added by others, in the case of modded characters), and I can craft up scenarios setups to add to the game, make them trigger semi-randomly, and then forget about them until they fire off on me. Sure, I know what they are when they happen, but I don't know how exactly they'll impact my run, which makes it worthwhile for me.

Doing a more linear story, like what I'm working on, isn't that compelling, but, in this, it gets me back into making *something* more substantial, and will hopefully lead me to a place where won't be as much of a leap to make more.

My unpopular opinion, a game with a good story may as well be mainly a kinetic story. Example, College of Mysteria, struck a good balance between a leading story that doesn't branch, and choices that mainly let players pick the flavour they want, skip unwanted scenes, etc... It's simple and honest. Nobody cares if most choices are about skipping scenes. Author was free to push the story forward every update. I don't even care about branching endings, as long as the author can keep me on board with where the story goes. When adding choices, imho, maximum freedom works best and is simpler to implement, make each choice independent, rather than setting up paths. It's the player and their roleplay style that decides if they want to stick to the same type of choice, or pick according to mood, as a more chaotic character.

I do tend to avoid any games that are listed as "kinetic novels," because I really want to have, at least, the illusion of choice in there. But, yes, having been "tricked" into playing some more linear games, I find I don't mind so long as the character isn't doing things I can't even partially agree with.

Just a bit of rambling, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the process of making AI slop. Best of luck for the new game, and fingers crossed for a future revisit to Interns as well.

There are plenty of ways to explore AI slop. I've looked at using it as a filter for Honey Select, but, from the sample below, you can see that the more you lean into the AI, the more it can fight with the proportions of the model. I figured to go this route will probably mean some back-and-forth with trying to get 3D models that are closer in design to whatever the AI style is.




I was trying to get this art style working for a bit (would be easy to do Photoshop edits to), but it's using SD1.5, and SDXL seems to be way better for anatomy.




And, today, I finally managed to get the Krita integration working. Did some quick test runs with some MS Paint doodles to see how well they'd work.

A hint for players who try to find alternative random events :

It seems that Rollback does not affect/change random values. So rolling back and forth will always give the same event.
To get a different random event, Load a previous save game and replay the scene where the random value is produced and evaluated.

Yes, this is built-in Ren'Py behavior. The creator made it so that rollback couldn't be used as a method of save-scumming; rather, it was just there so you could re-read things, or make a different choice.

I did lean into that a bit, with many choices being "locked in" well before the consequences of your choices hit (which is why, at lot of times, it doesn't feel like anything happens when you make a choice, as it doesn't branch until later in the story).

It's there, and can happen . . . it's all up to the "RNG"God, (aka, "RNG" is this House's Odds ", vs. your odds !)

First play-through, this time, . . . my male character, after leaving the "Club", (during the 2-days of using the facilities as a 'customer'), got waylaid by a staff intern member, "Oliver", who practically raped my PC ! Good Times !!!

Yup, that's pretty much the only sex I recall for the male PC. It was intended to be an Easter Egg that you only came across on rare occasions.

 

[Anteron]

It's there, and can happen . . . it's all up to the "RNG"God, (aka, "RNG" is this House's Odds ", vs. your odds !)

First play-through, this time, . . . my male character, after leaving the "Club", (during the 2-days of using the facilities as a 'customer'), got waylaid by a staff intern member, "Oliver", who practically raped my PC ! Good Times !!!

That would figure for me. In games AND real life I've always had extremely bad luck when anything is determined that way.

 

[f96zonetrooper]

It's there, and can happen . . . it's all up to the "RNG"God, (aka, "RNG" is this House's Odds ", vs. your odds !)

First play-through, this time, . . . my male character, after leaving the "Club", (during the 2-days of using the facilities as a 'customer'), got waylaid by a staff intern member, "Oliver", who practically raped my PC ! Good Times !!!

To clarify this for other players :
Her name is "Olivia" (female), not "Oliver" (male) ... it's a typo ... so the event is MF sex with a very horny girl, not MM rape.

The chance for this encounter (eg on day 1) after leaving the club EARLY is very high (70%) if mc has picked the monogamous trait. Otherwise the chance depends on how early mc left the "Paradise Club", the earlier the better ... If mc had too many actions at the club, the event has 0% chance, so many players likely never saw this scene?
The event varies if mc has picked "monogamous" and/or "virgin" or none of them ...

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