VN Ren'Py It's Just a Game [v0.4.1] [DigiDec]

[gregers]

Also why does QAI have some antagonist vibe in the ending? I thought the AI was suppose to help MC or this another red herring where the AI goes rogue and be the main villain again ?

I'm travelling and haven't played the latest update yet, but don't forget that Qai "accidentally" dropped itself and the MC into Nat's sim one of the first times around. Whether it'll turn out an outright antagonist or not I don't know, but I'd expect Qai to be pursuing its own agenda and the MC probably shouldn't trust it.

I once briefly considered the possibility it could be working in with Isabella, but the MC meets Qai before she becomes aware of his existence, if I remember correctly.

 

[Axelfire]

welp I played it and loved it, kind of wondering what will xiangs path be? I'm aware she's not a main character but I am currious

 

[longjohngold]

This was quality. I've got a thing for well-to-do rich girls so definitely want to see Xiang get it. I tend to opt away from betrayal stuff, but I'd switch sides if owning her was part of the deal. I enjoyed the kinda of devoted loyalty thing Qai has going on too. Sara looked infinitely hotter at the start in the cyber-punk sim though, so I hope she somehow ends up like that again. Oh and the receptionist became way hotter to me once we saw her all tatted up, I like the route the attitude the gf is adopting too.

It seems strange the whole blocks your memories and puts in fake ones as just a regular part of games is being treated so lightly. You could take anyone, give them false memories and a false setting and extract whatever information you wanted from them. I can't see that ever being allowed, especially in a commercially available product.

 

[Canto Forte]

There be mandatory spin off at the subject matter that breaks your immersion - you should watch Inception - they do it speciffically as a highest level of corporate espionage aimed at literally and deliberately altering a very minute aspect of the personality - then go watch Westworld the series, where they literally use biotech flies to permanently alter the whole personality and reactions of humans while using also tones to override all sentience and turn humans into pure emotion = rage, anger, fury.

I can't see that ever being allowed, especially in a commercially available product.

We are deliberately shown how top of the line corpos - literally the two competitors sitting at the forefront of corporate gaming industry - as they are both duking it out with corporate espionage and covert ops lioness tactics while fighting for MC and his ideas.

They cannot brute force MC into anything, because his mind and his Qai is their end goal - you cannot rush genious or creativity so they ramp it up to 99000% stimuli all throughout this game.

People have been saying that since the 80s

Logan run spells it out: ”Imagine a world in which you need never be alone: you touch a switch, turn a dile and the perfect lover steps into your arms” 1976

 

[Marduke]

In the very near future, VR-like simulation games are a popular form of entertainment.

People have been saying that since the 80s

 

[DigiDec]

The end of 0.3 is a bit confusing as we going all over the place. Since we cannot tell which is simulation and real life since the color tone is not that obvious in every scene. It's only obvious when there is something to compare to. All in all a good update.

I was expecting Sara to be more extreme but it ended up Nat is the one going crazy. DigiDec also please make a gallery so we at least know if we miss something.

Also why does QAI have some antagonist vibe in the ending? I thought the AI was suppose to help MC or this another red herring where the AI goes rogue and be the main villain again ?

At the beginning of 0.3 did you have the little chat with Izzi or did you tell her to fuck off? If you had the chat, she mentions some things that might fill in some of the missing puzzle pieces.

I will look at making a gallery for the game. I intend to get it up on Steam at some point and I think some QoL improvements like that will make the game seem more like a professional product instead of a clusterfuck of nonsense slapped hastily together by a complete amateur.

I'm travelling and haven't played the latest update yet, but don't forget that Qai "accidentally" dropped itself and the MC into Nat's sim one of the first times around. Whether it'll turn out an outright antagonist or not I don't know, but I'd expect Qai to be pursuing its own agenda and the MC probably shouldn't trust it.

I once briefly considered the possibility it could be working in with Isabella, but the MC meets Qai before she becomes aware of his existence, if I remember correctly.

I'll wait a little bit longer, so more people get a chance to play and share their theories, but since some of the details aren't going to be entirely spelled out in the game, I'm willing to share a little look behind the curtain, birds-eye perspective of how I have it worked out on my end. Not yet though, gotta keep a little intrigue going.

welp I played it and loved it, kind of wondering what will xiangs path be? I'm aware she's not a main character but I am currious

Xiang is much more of a work in progress than the other characters since she was a late addition to the story. She's sort of an alternative to any of the Calloway family outcomes. For absolutely no reason I'll mention that since her family's company is a rival to Qoniv, she doesn't have a Qoniv implant and her implant doesn't run on Qoniv's network. Not that would be in anyway relevant, just a fun little fact.

She's also going to be the designated femdom character. There will be vanilla options available with her so if that's not your thing you'll still have some scenes to enjoy, and the femdom stuff will probably be pretty tame, but she'll have the whole spoiled princess vibe. As I get further along, and if she proves popular enough, I might fill out more content with her and maybe mix in a scene or two where MC turns the tables and doms her some.

This was quality. I've got a thing for well-to-do rich girls so definitely want to see Xiang get it. I tend to opt away from betrayal stuff, but I'd switch sides if owning her was part of the deal. I enjoyed the kinda of devoted loyalty thing Qai has going on too. Sara looked infinitely hotter at the start in the cyber-punk sim though, so I hope she somehow ends up like that again. Oh and the receptionist became way hotter to me once we saw her all tatted up, I like the route the attitude the gf is adopting too.

It seems strange the whole blocks your memories and puts in fake ones as just a regular part of games is being treated so lightly. You could take anyone, give them false memories and a false setting and extract whatever information you wanted from them. I can't see that ever being allowed, especially in a commercially available product.

Yeah, that shit probably wouldn't really fly. I take a lot of inspiration from cyberpunk (moreso the themes than the aesthetic) so there's this sort of unspoken idea that government oversight is a little bit lax in the face of our true masters - capital.
BUT!

Without spoiling too much, a very major plot point later in the game is going to revolve around the government asking some very pointed questions about the nature of these implants and whether it's something that a private corporation should managing.

People have been saying that since the 80s

Matter of fact, aren't we supposed to have flying cars and jetpacks by now?

 

[DigiDec]

Okay, I don't want to distract too much from everyone enjoying the update but in response to what seems to be the general reception to Mol's sim appearance, I've been workshopping some stuff. I'd love to hear your opinions, both good and bad, and also let me know if you're the type of player who normally goes for more extreme bimbo content or not. Keep in mind, the idea is that her sim appearance is intended to be extreme/shocking/slightly off-putting. I just need to find the right intersection of "I'm a little creeped out by this, but I still want to fuck her".

From left to right is her current real world appearance (although her actual current real world model has eyelashes...), a rough draft for her upcoming real world appearance, and the hypothetical updated sim appearance.

Spoiler

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Too hot, too cold, or just right?

 

[Tuperr0]

Niceeee

 

[madrid3423]

Having a extreme bimbo version of her in sim wont be that big of a deal if you want to explore some niche genre or fetish.

 

[DigiDec]

Having a extreme bimbo version of her in sim wont be that big of a deal if you want to explore some niche genre or fetish.

That's kind of the idea. The absolute goldilocks outcome would be that the average player looks at the sim version and thinks it went a little bit too far, while someone who is into the whole bimbo/plastic surgery look would look at it and think it could go just a little further. There needs to be a little design space for me to push it some more once we get toward the end of the game, but I want it to be a little on the extreme end. I just don't want it to be so unappealing to the average player that it spoils all of the Mol-related content.

 

[Axelfire]

personally I'm fine with the models, then again i'm also a mark for bimbofication content so I'm hardly the best measuring stick for restraint.

 

[Remembrance]

AllSims Mod​

Updated for game version: 0.3.2 (The way the mod is coded, even if the current game version is ahead of the mod, the mod will still work & not create problems. You just won't have any changes to the game content past this version. With the dev saying there won't be any 'choose 1 sim only' choice past version 0.2.1, the mod can be considered complete. I'll still try to update it to adjust the dialogue, but it shouldn't be any problem playing with an outdated mod unless the early content gets changed of course)

Features: Play all the sims in one play through naturally. (more info in spoilers)

Installation: Drop the 00_AllSimsMod.rpy file in the /game folder (found where the.exe is present)
Works with existing saves (more info in spoiler)
Doesn't break saves.

Spoiler

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Seems the dev went with the 'see only 1 out of 3' format for the sims.
Looking at the game's story, there shouldn't be a problem even if you see all the sims in one play-through.
Hence the AllSims Mod let's you, the player, decide whether the mc tries to see more than 1 sim per opportunity.

To the dev:
dev check the indent on line 9298 in script.rpy.
It seems to be locked behind the final else when it should (probably) be outside the if-else structure.

 

[DigiDec]

personally I'm fine with the models, then again i'm also a mark for bimbofication content so I'm hardly the best measuring stick for restraint.

Well, you'll just have to make sure I don't show too much restraint then.

AllSims Mod​

Updated for game version: 0.3.2

Features: Play all the sims in one play through naturally. (more info in spoilers)

Installation: Drop the 00_AllSimsMod.rpy file in the /game folder (found where the.exe is present)
Works with existing saves (more info in spoiler)
Doesn't break saves.

Spoiler

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Seems the dev went with the 'see only 1 out of 3' format for the sims.
Looking at the game's story, there shouldn't be a problem even if you see all the sims in one play-through.
Hence the AllSims Mod let's you, the player, decide whether the mc tries to see more than 1 sim per opportunity.

To the dev:
dev check the indent on line 9298 in script.rpy.
It seems to be locked behind the final else when it should (probably) be outside the if-else structure.

A mod just for my game! Momma, we made it

This shouldn't break anything, it might just lead to an occasional wonky line of dialogue down the road.

I talked about it a few times before but the intention with forcing the decision between the sims was to help establish to the player that things are happening outside of the MC's perspective and that he is not in control of everything. I know that sounds like it should be a given but with how most of these games handle things I felt it could use a little emphasis. I appreciate you making this mod, and I respect that you have a different preference but "bad" design might be a little bit harsh.

And we're pretty much done with that for the rest of the game. There will be instances where I let the player skip content, and you'll get some variance depending on the choices you make, but I won't be forcing you to pick between scenes like that again.

Also, good catch with that indent in the script!

 

[Remembrance]

This shouldn't break anything,

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it might just lead to an occasional wonky line of dialogue down the road.

I'll try to take care of it if I encounter it. Like the only change I had to make for 0.3.2 was that.

I talked about it a few times before but the intention with forcing the decision between the sims was to help establish to the player that things are happening outside of the MC's perspective and that he is not in control of everything. I know that sounds like it should be a given but with how most of these games handle things I felt it could use a little emphasis.

I don't think that works. Instead people are more likely to get the idea that this is a forced routes game, basically the opposite of your stated intentions for the future ("...won't be forcing you to pick between scenes like that again.")
You want to establish that in the story, not the gameplay.

Spoiler: Elaboration

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I appreciate you making this mod, and I respect that you have a different preference but "bad" design might be a little bit harsh.

By bad I meant it'd be better with more player interaction.
I tried to preserve this aspect by making this mod, instead of making a simpler mod that force plays all the sims no matter what you choose.
My mod loops through the menu, allowing players to choose 1, 2, or 3 sims to view.
So if they try to play a shy/moral mc, they'll be in the dark & later realise that even without their (mc's) input, the other sims were still executed.
Or they can choose to be a lusty/curious mc & go through all the sims. They'll see how they have no control in any sim & get a much better understanding that the mc isn't really in control of them.
This variety created through player choice is a much better way to establish that things are outside his perspective/knowledge (shy/moral play-through) or control (curious/lusty play-through) while also making it much more immersive & player impacted.

A good opportunity to give players control over their mc/game while simultaneously establishing that the mc doesn't have control of the whole story/characters/sims.
In my opinion atleast ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

There will be instances where I let the player skip content,

Be careful with that wording. Many (myself included) don't consider that the same as avoiding content, so if you do something controversial, like ntr/sharing(only an example), & there's only an option to skip it... It'll be the same as if it was unskippable & unavoidable.
I myself don't do drama, instead I just quietly drop the game if it feels too bad to me
Anyway, just be careful of establishing what is skipped (mc/player doesn't see but still happens in the story) vs what is avoidable (the event doesn't happen based on certain choices & the story reflects that it didn't happen)

Best wishes

 

[ufsmt]

Marci was actually a challenge for me to make. I needed her to be hot enough that you'd probably want to fuck her but not hot enough that you'd take her over Nat.

I know some guy earlier in the thread said something like "he's not sure why, but Marci kind of does it for him"... but I'm the opposite. To put it mildly, I find her 'granny slut crack whore' look really unattractive. Every time the MC make some comment about how 'the view is nice' or whatever when looking at her, I think "are you blind?!" The worst part is that my stupid fucking 'pokemon gotta catch-em all' mentality in this type of game might actually make my go down her path, though I'd likely just turn on skipping and zoom though it to see what's up, then probably reload and avoid.

There's no accounting for taste I guess (point that comment in whatever direction you want).

I'm only just past the 'first test' of the multiplayer bridge thing, and--Marci aside--I'm enjoying the game so far. I do like the whole 'VR game stuff cheats and lets your brain do a bunch of the heavy lifting' bit of the lore, to kind of explain how it all works with minimal handwaving (and to sneakily re-use models/insert family and frends into the various games). Ness's 'tough bitch blackmailer' bullshit put me off, and I've not warmed up to her yet, but I could see that changing, even if I never actually end up liking her (first impressions and all that). Well see where that goes I guess. OTOH, Sin-D, when choosing her hole during the sex-bot test, was totally up my alley.

 

[Euron13]

Not gonna lie, me and my Frank Reynolds brain would probably go down the Marci path. Girl’s a desperate mess, but I feast like a mantis.

 

[DigiDec]

Spoiler

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I'll try to take care of it if I encounter it. Like the only change I had to make for 0.3.2 was that.


I don't think that works. Instead people are more likely to get the idea that this is a forced routes game, basically the opposite of your stated intentions for the future ("...won't be forcing you to pick between scenes like that again.")
You want to establish that in the story, not the gameplay.

Spoiler: Elaboration

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By bad I meant it'd be better with more player interaction.
I tried to preserve this aspect by making this mod, instead of making a simpler mod that force plays all the sims no matter what you choose.
My mod loops through the menu, allowing players to choose 1, 2, or 3 sims to view.
So if they try to play a shy/moral mc, they'll be in the dark & later realise that even without their (mc's) input, the other sims were still executed.
Or they can choose to be a lusty/curious mc & go through all the sims. They'll see how they have no control in any sim & get a much better understanding that the mc isn't really in control of them.
This variety created through player choice is a much better way to establish that things are outside his perspective/knowledge (shy/moral play-through) or control (curious/lusty play-through) while also making it much more immersive & player impacted.

A good opportunity to give players control over their mc/game while simultaneously establishing that the mc doesn't have control of the whole story/characters/sims.
In my opinion atleast ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯


Be careful with that wording. Many (myself included) don't consider that the same as avoiding content, so if you do something controversial, like ntr/sharing(only an example), & there's only an option to skip it... It'll be the same as if it was unskippable & unavoidable.
I myself don't do drama, instead I just quietly drop the game if it feels too bad to me
Anyway, just be careful of establishing what is skipped (mc/player doesn't see but still happens in the story) vs what is avoidable (the event doesn't happen based on certain choices & the story reflects that it didn't happen)

Best wishes

I get where you're coming from, and I see some of your points. We could go on for hours about why I made some of the design decisions I did (at least I could, you might actually have better things to do) and a lot of the stuff has as much to do with setting a tone as it does specific plot points. I think there's a big difference between telling a player that the MC is in the dark about something vs trying to make them feel like they're in the dark about some things. And again, specifically with this, I wanted to establish that the changes happening with the girls weren't tied to the MC's presence in the sim, since that's how the whole thing would work in a lot of games like this. So how do I do that? I could have outright told the player, but that's a little clunky. I could've abbreviated the sim scenes some, but those mostly only exist to lay some groundwork of establishing how the sims are supposed to work so I needed to let them play out a little bit. Also, I didn't want the player to be 100% in the dark.

And I'm not even entirely disagreeing with you. I went back and forth about how I would handle it, and I knew that this way would get some mixed reactions. The opening parts of the game are intended to convey a feeling of the MC not having control over the events in his life. As things progress he, and the player, starts to get a little more control. Eventually, he will be in a position to assert a lot of control.

As far as skippable vs avoidable, there will be in a sense both so I suppose I should be more specific. So, the sims in a sense were skippable in that those scenes are assumed to play out exactly as they are shown regardless of the player's decision to take part, whereas hooking up with the girl at the club is avoidable. Moving forward everything is going to fall closer to the avoidable end of that spectrum but some stuff would still fall under the skippable category.

And the comment about breaking stuff, I just meant that you probably won't have to worry about the mod breaking anything in future updates. Aside from maybe some dialogue not 100% matching for players who jumped into multiple sims.

I know some guy earlier in the thread said something like "he's not sure why, but Marci kind of does it for him"... but I'm the opposite. To put it mildly, I find her 'granny slut crack whore' look really unattractive. Every time the MC make some comment about how 'the view is nice' or whatever when looking at her, I think "are you blind?!" The worst part is that my stupid fucking 'pokemon gotta catch-em all' mentality in this type of game might actually make my go down her path, though I'd likely just turn on skipping and zoom though it to see what's up, then probably reload and avoid.

There's no accounting for taste I guess (point that comment in whatever direction you want).

I'm only just past the 'first test' of the multiplayer bridge thing, and--Marci aside--I'm enjoying the game so far. I do like the whole 'VR game stuff cheats and lets your brain do a bunch of the heavy lifting' bit of the lore, to kind of explain how it all works with minimal handwaving (and to sneakily re-use models/insert family and frends into the various games). Ness's 'tough bitch blackmailer' bullshit put me off, and I've not warmed up to her yet, but I could see that changing, even if I never actually end up liking her (first impressions and all that). Well see where that goes I guess. OTOH, Sin-D, when choosing her hole during the sex-bot test, was totally up my alley.

Marci's not a very big character all things considered so don't sweat it too much. Personally, I find a distinguished beak like hers attractive. Bitch definitely needs to gain some weight though.

Sin-D was originally going to be just a complete one-off character but she is consistently proving to be very popular. I've already worked out how she's going to show up again but unfortunately it hasn't made it into the game yet.

Ness is a pretty cool girl, once you get to know her.

Not gonna lie, me and my Frank Reynolds brain would probably go down the Marci path. Girl’s a desperate mess, but I feast like a mantis.

Regardless of what anyone here says, all of us are at best 3 beers away from looking at a girl like Marci and saying "...but them titties..."

 

[TigerWolfe]

"...but them titties..."

This is pretty much my motto.

 

[enzo ferrari]

So MC will always be a fucking wimp or he will tell Ness to fuck off

 

[DigiDec]

So MC will always be a fucking wimp or he will tell Ness to fuck off

How far into the game are you?