VN Ren'Py Jezebel [Ep.1 v1.02] [Mr. Pengo]

[telidar]

I do want to mention that while having "phantom choices" like the market investigation has some... issues, sometimes, there are other times that it's pretty neato.

For instance: I understand you could have just had Duvessa scream "WHO ARE THEY" in text when she was roughing up that merchant in the market. But it FELT more impactful to pick the option to have her scream it. And that feeling does matter, at times. Especially when trying to capture the feeling of a semi-crazy cackling evil scene.

HOWEVER... if you link invisible variables to what otherwise seem like flavor choices you're a monster. And I say that not to you, but to all VN devs.

Monsters.

Yeah, C&C in this VN is close in complexity to Alpha Protocol, lol, you don't see that kind of thing every day.

 

[Mr. Pengo]

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Apart from that , great game. I truly enjoyed playing it.

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Thanks for the kind words!

 

[GreenDark]

I don't like mostly anything involving Jasen. He just pops up out of nowhere with incredible resources and already crazy high influence. Also, he's not much of a character. He's mostly a plot device to force Duvessa to deal with the peasantry and to provide Davor's letter.
The situations Duvessa deals with as a result of his appearance are worth their presence in the story, but the way they came about because of Jasen feels incredibly forced.

I love this VN, by the way. I'm currently writing a big wall of text where I talk in detail about all of the ways this has very quickly become one of my favorites. I just have a few criticisms and Jasen is one of them.

 

[Mr. Pengo]

I don't like mostly anything involving Jasen. He just pops up out of nowhere with incredible resources and already crazy high influence. Also, he's not much of a character. He's mostly a plot device to force Duvessa to deal with the peasantry and to provide Davor's letter.
The situations Duvessa deals with as a result of his appearance are worth their presence in the story, but the way they came about because of Jasen feels incredibly forced.

I love this VN, by the way. I'm currently writing a big wall of text where I talk in detail about all of the ways this has very quickly become one of my favorites. I just have a few criticisms and Jasen is one of them.

Fair enough! Hopefully you'll come to see him as a character in his own right in the future.

Thanks, by the way!

 

[Buletti]

Cheers my friend!
When will the new update be available here?

Looking forward a lot!

 

[Mr. Pengo]

Cheers my friend!
When will the new update be available here?

Looking forward a lot!

Within the hour. It's up on Patreon already. Just uploading it everywhere else now.

 

[Mr. Pengo]

Version 1.02 is live, and now available for Android!

Changelog:

• Fixed several bugs, including one oft-reported issue where the pause menu sub/dom counter glitched out upon reaching max level of either.
• Corrected further minor typos
• Minor aesthetic changes

~

Note: I have tested the Android version on my phone, and while the game itself is fine, the menus etc. are kinda dysfunctional atm. Working on it! I'll get it fixed asap but the game is still playable as is atm.

 

[Buletti]

A huge thank you to everybody who played Episode 1 of Jezebel in its first week! By the by, in case anyone missed it, the Android version is now live as well! There are some issues with the UI at present, but I'm working to get them resolved ASAP. The actual game works perfectly well.

Going into game development totally blind with no prior reputation as a writer can be a very solipsistic experience; the entire time I was making the first episode, it was almost like the game both didn’t exist, and did exist but was possibly terrible. It’s wonderful to see the positive reception and to know that neither of those things appear to be true! The game hasn’t exploded overnight or anything, nor did I expect it to, but from what I have gathered the people who liked it really liked it, which is a great sign for the prospect of growing its fanbase in the future! A special shoutout to anyone who subscribed to the Patreon, and to anyone who gave it a positive review on sites like

You must be registered to see the links

or F95Zone! Both of those things are so vital when it comes to getting this thing off the ground early on!

That being said, on the other end of the spectrum, I suddenly understand why every creative type seems to have an intense “fuck the haters” mentality now. I didn’t receive too much in the way of negative feedback (negative, that is...not constructive!), but some that I did was reaaaallly dumb. On one hand, I’m extremely pro-criticism and always have been; on the other, I’m not sure the point of negative criticism is for it to reach the creator its directed toward, so much as it is literally everyone else. I view it as a sort of collective exercise in understanding what makes things good, and what makes things bad, like a prosecutor and defense attorney working together to find the truth. I’m worried that, if I were to read negative reviews in the future, I’d eventually run into one that I didn’t think was dumb…one that would shake me and make me go “damn, they have a point”, maybe even make me want to alter my fundamental vision for the game. As such, I don’t think I’ll be doing so going forward.

As for the further development of the game, anyone who is invested can continue to look forward to these progress reports every week! I plan on previewing episode 2 as I make it as well as being as transparent as I can about where I’m at with things. Further bonus scenes are going to be released once a month for Matriarch-tier Patrons…I’m thinking the first one will be out June 25th. It’s taking a bit longer than I would have liked because it features a new character I only just got the artwork for, but I hope it will be worth the wait. It’s also going to canonically take place during the events of episode 2…if the player considers it canon at all. Every bonus scene is going to be Schrodinger’s canon; whether it takes place during the events of your Jezebel save is completely up to you!

I know this post is getting obnoxiously long, but I would like to share what I’ve actually been up to! I’m starting the process of getting the game onto Steam, and I have been writing Episode 2 every single day. I have a unique opportunity here, as writing Duvessa is so much fun that I rarely get burned out. I can 95% guarantee that the second episode will be out within 2025 and, depending on its success, I’ll hopefully be able to release at least three more in the year 2026.

That’s all for this week! Thank you for playing, and thanks to anyone who put up with all of my ramblings and read the whole thing! The picture attached is the very first sketch of Duvessa, aka the first bit of art ever produced for the game!

Great work my friend.

Did you consider smaller, but more frequent updates as well?

A 1 or 2 month release schedule tends to be the way for most of the VNs with the most Engagement.

Cheers!

 

[Mr. Pengo]

A huge thank you to everybody who played Episode 1 of Jezebel in its first week! By the by, in case anyone missed it, the Android version is now live as well! There are some issues with the UI at present, but I'm working to get them resolved ASAP. The actual game works perfectly well.

Going into game development totally blind with no prior reputation as a writer can be a very solipsistic experience; the entire time I was making the first episode, it was almost like the game both didn’t exist, and did exist but was possibly terrible. It’s wonderful to see the positive reception and to know that neither of those things appear to be true! The game hasn’t exploded overnight or anything, nor did I expect it to, but from what I have gathered the people who liked it really liked it, which is a great sign for the prospect of growing its fanbase in the future! A special shoutout to anyone who subscribed to the Patreon, and to anyone who gave it a positive review on sites like

You must be registered to see the links

or F95Zone! Both of those things are so vital when it comes to getting this thing off the ground early on!

That being said, on the other end of the spectrum, I suddenly understand why every creative type seems to have an intense “fuck the haters” mentality now. I didn’t receive too much in the way of negative feedback (negative, that is...not constructive!), but some that I did was reaaaallly dumb. On one hand, I’m extremely pro-criticism and always have been; on the other, I’m not sure the point of negative criticism is for it to reach the creator its directed toward, so much as it is literally everyone else. I view it as a sort of collective exercise in understanding what makes things good, and what makes things bad, like a prosecutor and defense attorney working together to find the truth. I’m worried that, if I were to read negative reviews in the future, I’d eventually run into one that I didn’t think was dumb…one that would shake me and make me go “damn, they have a point”, maybe even make me want to alter my fundamental vision for the game. As such, I don’t think I’ll be doing so going forward.

As for the further development of the game, anyone who is invested can continue to look forward to these progress reports every week! I plan on previewing episode 2 as I make it as well as being as transparent as I can about where I’m at with things. Further bonus scenes are going to be released once a month for Matriarch-tier Patrons…I’m thinking the first one will be out June 25th. It’s taking a bit longer than I would have liked because it features a new character I only just got the artwork for, but I hope it will be worth the wait. It’s also going to canonically take place during the events of episode 2…if the player considers it canon at all. Every bonus scene is going to be Schrodinger’s canon; whether it takes place during the events of your Jezebel save is completely up to you!

I know this post is getting obnoxiously long, but I would like to share what I’ve actually been up to! I’m starting the process of getting the game onto Steam, and I have been writing Episode 2 every single day. I have a unique opportunity here, as writing Duvessa is so much fun that I rarely get burned out. I can 95% guarantee that the second episode will be out within 2025 and, depending on its success, I’ll hopefully be able to release at least three more in the year 2026.

That’s all for this week! Thank you for playing, and thanks to anyone who put up with all of my ramblings and read the whole thing! The picture attached is the very first sketch of Duvessa, aka the first bit of art ever produced for the game!

Great work my friend.

Did you consider smaller, but more frequent updates as well?

A 1 or 2 month release scedule tends to be the way for most of the VNs with the most Engagement.

Cheers!

I posted this in the development forum as well anyone who wants to follow the game's progress can check that thread out.

As for the update schedule, I'm really not sure. I've long envisioned the game as having significant episodes the likes of the first one or longer in terms of length. But releasing said episodes in parts could be an option if it'll help grow the game more.

 

[Mr. Pengo]

FYI to anyone who uses Android: My coding guy has given me an ETA of three days for a totally optimized Android version. At the moment the game itself works fine, as do the Encyclopaedia and Scene and Music Gallery, but the settings and history screens are more than a little fucked and the save/load screens are at least mildly fucked So up to yall if you wanna wait or not!

 

[Buletti]

Being someone always a little weary with saves your popup after starting 1.2 made me a little concerned.

Was this only a precaution or do you really have reasons to be suspicious? I can understand you wanting to make people aware, but sometimes notifications like this may be a little too much.

If you think you changed too much to guarantee safes work, please add a notification in the OP. There are quite a few devs that do that. But please tell us right away if it is recommended to start new. Some people will grit their teeth, but we genuinely will do that without too much fuss.

But saying it like this without a clear guidance is not the best way imho. It's like getting your car back from a real shady shop and wondering each time you approach a stop sign if the brakes will work for another time.

So please give an honest opinion: Should we restart or will it be fine?

Thx very much for your hard work my friend!

 

[Mr. Pengo]

Being someone always a little weary with saves your popup after starting 1.2 made me a little concerned.

Was this only a precaution or do you really have reasons to be suspicious? I can understand you wanting to make people aware, but sometimes notifications like this may be a little too much.

If you think you changed too much to guarantee safes work, please add a notification in the OP. There are quite a few devs that do that. But please tell us right away if it is recommended to start new. Some people will grit their teeth, but we genuinely will do that without too much fuss.

But saying it like this without a clear guidance is not the best way imho. It's like getting your car back from a real shady shop and wondering each time you approach a stop sign if the brakes will work for another time.

So please give an honest opinion: Should we restart or will it be fine?

Thx very much for your hard work my friend!

The notification was just something my coding partner added without my say so. There shouldn't be any issue.

Do you think of it as that much of an inconvenience? I could see if he could get rid of it.

 

[Buletti]

The notification was just something my coding partner added without my say so. There shouldn't be any issue.

Do you think of it as that much of an inconvenience? I could see if he could get rid of it.

Not inconvenience. But planting the seed of insecurity, if you know what I mean. Sorry, if my english is not good enough to describe my feeling.

And by all means don't take me as a standard. There are people here that hop even on clearly marked beta releases without thinking and complain afterwards that their saves are fucked up

I guess all I want to say, if you think it's fine, have the balls to not bother with making us second guess. If it goes sideways, you still can tell people to use older saves. It will sort itself out.

 

[Mr. Pengo]

Not inconvenience. But planting the seed of insecurity, if you know what I mean. Sorry, if my english is not good enough to describe my feeling.

And by all means don't take me as a standard. There are people here that hop even on clearly marked beta releases without thinking and complain afterwards that their saves are fucked up

I guess all I want to say, if you think it's fine, have the balls to not bother with making us second guess. If it goes sideways, you still can tell people to use older saves. It will sort itself out.

Yeah, again it wasn't my initiative so it doesn't represent anything nebulous. I'll get rid of it in the next update.