VN Ren'Py Karlsson's Gambit [v0.8.1 Part I] [Grym Gudinna Games]

[TessSadist]

In KG there are about 75 characters and about 220 variables. You can end episode 5 as: K2/3/4/sub5/5/6/7/8 - all with different sets of variables. I have 26 different saved files at the end of episode 5. You don't want to know who many saved files I have for episodes 1-4. It's very complicated to keep track of all those files - I am so glad there exists spreadsheets!

Some more numbers:
episode 1: 456 renders
ep.2: 653
ep.3: 987
ep.4: 1740
ep.5: 2150
it looks like ep.6 is going to have 3228 render.

KG is one of the most intriguing and complex games I have ever encountered. Nothing but praise for Tess. I sure want to interview Tess about how (and how long) she planned creating this game. Did the game change in depth during the creation proces? - English is not my native language - I'm sorry for errors.

Are you the same one talking to me (similar name) on Discord, if so, hello.

Rendering one of the last big batches...whew...my guess is 3,491 final render count, give or take 10-20 or so up or down as I make changes during editing--->Test--->General.

That 456 for 0.1 kind of shocked me for perspective. I remember taking 3 months carefully doing that amount. I think I did 500 in the last two weeks or so!

I spent about six months outlining another game idea I decided to wait on because I knew I didn't have the skill to try it for a first game. It was very complex and I naively thought KG was super simple. My friend Anais who helps me a little with art is still trying to get me to do that game instead, but someday...not now. I still don't have the skill for it, and it would require more people than a mostly solo act to do it well. I guess in comparison KG is much simpler too, but not necessarily in how I am branching it out right now.

I spent about 3 weeks I think outlining KG with roughly fifteen "endings" (some are variations of similar themes with different women) and characters, etc. The only two characters I have changed a bit from the original are Katsumi (originally a minor character but now a bit larger role due to Patron popularity and some new ideas for the narrative to be honest) and a character that has not been introduced yet formally. The tricky part for this game to me has always been the balance with more than one protagonist and different types of paths. I worry I can't get deep enough with all of the characters because of how wide the net is cast so to speak. So at some point, I am winnowing things down more to stricter paths for depth as Act III begins later.

I also changed some physical appearances from original designs -- Alessandra, Juliette, and Samantha were changed late to their current models from another design. Veronica Karlsson was actually voted on by Patrons out of about 7-8 options through voting way back in the day, so they are primarily responsible for that pick. (although to be honest I was quietly rooting for this design too) Kane's new haircut (after 0.1 from the long hair) was also picked by Patrons as I had 6-7 designs I showed them.

New character for 0.6 Cynthia DeKock (although I couldn't make first choice work so runner up model is being used) was also voted on by Patrons, as well as a few others although my brain is fuzzy with last minute work on this update.

The only two models I always felt comfortable right away with what I wanted (in terms of nailing what I imagined in my mind) were Olivia and Elena as they never deviated from my very first render of them. The models I have never been entirely comfortable with (even now) are Kane, Dominique, Sonya, Natalia DeKock (new character coming in 0.6), and Patricia...and not for a "looks" reason but rather how I picture them in my mind given what I know is coming later.

 

[Kxca]

I also changed some physical appearances from original designs -- Alessandra, Juliette, and Samantha were changed

I remember seeing an old comment on the Itch page where you said that at one point, you wanted to make Juliette uglier than the other sisters and that she would be bullied for her looks. But this idea was scrapped. While I certainly like prettier Juliette more, why was this train of thought dropped, if I may ask? Was it purely for aesthetic reasons or something else?

 

[TessSadist]

I remember seeing an old comment on the Itch page where you said that at one point, you wanted to make Juliette uglier than the other sisters and that she would be bullied for her looks. But this idea was scrapped. While I certainly like prettier Juliette more, why was this train of thought dropped, if I may ask? Was it purely for aesthetic reasons or something else?

Yes, I did scrap it as originally I had five Karlsson sisters being introduced early, and a different dynamic for two of them. The only thing later with Juliette I really worried about was trying to give her very (not sure how else to say this) ice cold blue eyes...to match her mind.

From the wayback machine haha! The vote was completely dominated by Veronica's current model way way ahead with a close second place (which became Kiyomi later) far far ahead of the others. (those two were well over 50% from memory versus all the others below 50% combined) I frankly would pick much better models now doing it again, but this was literally my second month ever of even doing renders/writing, etc.

Veronica Karlsson Final Poll/Thread for Design!

Ok! This is it! I have to pick the last sister character soon! So I have selected ten models and I am leaning towards three specifically but not going to say which yet because I don't want to taint the voting! Now, a few points of order:
1. I am opening the voting to all tiers, but I want to be clear that I am much more taking into account the individual votes of $20+ tier members, because that (voting on actual character designs) is a benefit of their tier. But I still want to get everyone's opinion with a chance to have their say! And this is one of the few times where the most worthless slaves that have my personal attention (Nathan, Jack, and James) actually have a lot of say in this and I've already asked them personally and they will be voting too of course!
2. If it matters in helping a pick, not going to spoil too much, but Veronica's character is less emotional (on the outside, who knows what is inside!) and more analytical in looking at everything. She is proficient in spying, information/analysis, and medical research. Prefers the shadows and the background to being an out sized personality and the center of attention. Most introverted sister.
3. I will select three from this list and test them because there is no guarantee a particular model looks great when you actually render it on the program. So you need backups. I just picked the default pictures from the model pages and I realize some models might have better looking natural pics here but I'd have to buy all ten models to create the same exact look for a vote! I'd rather just buy three so I can get more clothes and environments, hee hee!
4. I have two specific Veronica mother back stories based on the final choice because I think it might need to be tweaked depending on appearance and I like both of them so I'm happy either way.
5. Make sure and have your say here with comments if you have specific thoughts!
Last. Pay most attention to the face, nose, eyebrows, facial structure and to some extent skin as those can be the hardest to change easily. Do not worry as much about hair, body shape, and height as I can change those on almost any model quite easily. So if you like a specific model but not the hair or something, you can always comment that you like Model A but maybe a little more chunky/petite/blonde hair/brown hair, etc.
OK! (I know this is a long post, but it's important!) and vote top picture as 1 going all the way down to 10. I am leaving this poll up for a while to allow the most voting, etc. (leaving it up until June 6 or so)
If there are any errors, let me know! Thank y

 

[Kxca]

Yes, I did scrap it as originally I had five Karlsson sisters being introduced early, and a different dynamic for two of them. The only thing later with Juliette I really worried about was trying to give her very (not sure how else to say this) ice cold blue eyes...to match her mind.

From the wayback machine haha! The vote was completely dominated by Veronica's current model way way ahead with a close second place (which became Kiyomi later) far far ahead of the others. (those two were well over 50% from memory versus all the others below 50% combined) I frankly would pick much better models now doing it again, but this was literally my second month ever of even doing renders/writing, etc.

Veronica Karlsson Final Poll/Thread for Design!

Ok! This is it! I have to pick the last sister character soon! So I have selected ten models and I am leaning towards three specifically but not going to say which yet because I don't want to taint the voting! Now, a few points of order:
1. I am opening the voting to all tiers, but I want to be clear that I am much more taking into account the individual votes of $20+ tier members, because that (voting on actual character designs) is a benefit of their tier. But I still want to get everyone's opinion with a chance to have their say! And this is one of the few times where the most worthless slaves that have my personal attention (Nathan, Jack, and James) actually have a lot of say in this and I've already asked them personally and they will be voting too of course!
2. If it matters in helping a pick, not going to spoil too much, but Veronica's character is less emotional (on the outside, who knows what is inside!) and more analytical in looking at everything. She is proficient in spying, information/analysis, and medical research. Prefers the shadows and the background to being an out sized personality and the center of attention. Most introverted sister.
3. I will select three from this list and test them because there is no guarantee a particular model looks great when you actually render it on the program. So you need backups. I just picked the default pictures from the model pages and I realize some models might have better looking natural pics here but I'd have to buy all ten models to create the same exact look for a vote! I'd rather just buy three so I can get more clothes and environments, hee hee!
4. I have two specific Veronica mother back stories based on the final choice because I think it might need to be tweaked depending on appearance and I like both of them so I'm happy either way.
5. Make sure and have your say here with comments if you have specific thoughts!
Last. Pay most attention to the face, nose, eyebrows, facial structure and to some extent skin as those can be the hardest to change easily. Do not worry as much about hair, body shape, and height as I can change those on almost any model quite easily. So if you like a specific model but not the hair or something, you can always comment that you like Model A but maybe a little more chunky/petite/blonde hair/brown hair, etc.
OK! (I know this is a long post, but it's important!) and vote top picture as 1 going all the way down to 10. I am leaving this poll up for a while to allow the most voting, etc. (leaving it up until June 6 or so)
If there are any errors, let me know! Thank y

Wow! That's a post from way back in May/June 2020 when 0.2 was in development. Almost 2 years to the day. KG has undoubtedly gotten bigger and better since then. I am glad the 6th model won- she just invokes Veronica in my mind. Maybe my hindsight is tainting my opinion, haha. Another question since the post mentions Veronica's mother if you don't mind. Veronica's a natural redhead with freckles and all, while Yvette looks like a blondie. So was Alexander a redhead? Pardon my ignorance about hair genetics because everyone has black/dark brown hair where I am.

 

[Retromancer]

From the wayback machine haha! The vote was completely dominated by Veronica's current model way way ahead with a close second place (which became Kiyomi later) far far ahead of the others. (those two were well over 50% from memory versus all the others below 50% combined) I frankly would pick much better models now doing it again, but this was literally my second month ever of even doing renders/writing, etc.

I like the idea that Veronica was super freckled, which made her shy, which gave her the drive to become the super mad (evil?) scientist she has become. I know you didn't say that, Tess, but that is gonna be my headcanon.

 

[TessSadist]

I like the idea that Veronica was super freckled, which made her shy, which gave her the drive to become the super mad (evil?) scientist she has become. I know you didn't say that, Tess, but that is gonna be my headcanon.

I was rooting quietly for the current model and also # 3 (also freckled) but I had prepared accordingly if another one was picked. I thought the current Kiyomi model might have a shot (which it turned out was correct, she was close behind and a factor in why I picked her for Kiyomi later...I kind of pictured her that way anyway) Side note, Kiyomi is the only model I have used with no alterations at all -- for everyone else I have always tweaked something, but when I loaded her I just thought she was fine right out of the proverbial box. Most customized one is Olivia. I've even toyed with the idea of later letting Patrons vote if Olivia should tweak her hair color to one color as she gets to a certain point in the story, but not sure yet. (I'm very reluctant to mess with her at all)

I kind of wanted a redhead for Veronica because the other Karlssons didn't have that yet. My three biggest slaves at the time (Nathan/James are still here two years later) were pushing HARD for the current Veronica model (Nathan at the time offered to throw in extra $$ just to pick her) so I did take that into account if # 6 might have lost narrowly. But it turns out the Patrons picked her anyway and frankly I think a lot of them are really good at voting for good options when you look back in hindsight!

For Alexander, not really sharing his physical description yet.

I have one last big batch of renders to finish and that's it for rendering anymore. I'm one day behind where I wanted to be today, but 1-2 days ahead of where I feared I could end up, so I'll take it.

 

[Retromancer]

I've even toyed with the idea of later letting Patrons vote if Olivia should tweak her hair color to one color as she gets to a certain point in the story, but not sure yet. (I'm very reluctant to mess with her at all)

DO NOT mess with Olivia. j/k, I guess Patreons can vote however they want, but I think your instinct not to mess with her model is correct and if you put it up to a vote it would probably be waste of time as most Patreons would vote to keep her the same. And by most I mean I think it would be a landslide.

 

[rain blood]

I was rooting quietly for the current model and also # 3 (also freckled) but I had prepared accordingly if another one was picked. I thought the current Kiyomi model might have a shot (which it turned out was correct, she was close behind and a factor in why I picked her for Kiyomi later...I kind of pictured her that way anyway) Side note, Kiyomi is the only model I have used with no alterations at all -- for everyone else I have always tweaked something, but when I loaded her I just thought she was fine right out of the proverbial box. Most customized one is Olivia. I've even toyed with the idea of later letting Patrons vote if Olivia should tweak her hair color to one color as she gets to a certain point in the story, but not sure yet. (I'm very reluctant to mess with her at all)

I kind of wanted a redhead for Veronica because the other Karlssons didn't have that yet. My three biggest slaves at the time (Nathan/James are still here two years later) were pushing HARD for the current Veronica model (Nathan at the time offered to throw in extra $$ just to pick her) so I did take that into account if # 6 might have lost narrowly. But it turns out the Patrons picked her anyway and frankly I think a lot of them are really good at voting for good options when you look back in hindsight!

For Alexander, not really sharing his physical description yet.

I have one last big batch of renders to finish and that's it for rendering anymore. I'm one day behind where I wanted to be today, but 1-2 days ahead of where I feared I could end up, so I'll take it.

Kiyomi is so perfect, just like Katsumi!! (maybe I prefer Asian Mistress because I am Asian, hahah) I wonder if there will be a Katsumi slave route in the future? You know, when I finish the slavery route, I can't bear to play the male dominant route, because I can't bear to see my mistress Katsumi dominated by MC. How lovely she is. I feel sad every time I see Katsumi dominated by MC! Will there be a slavery route for Katsumi in the future? Every time I vote on patreon, I always vote for Katsumi, Kiyomi, haha

 

[panalok]

I like all the characters except for Elena. Her whole demeanor has this aura of utter hateful superiorty around her that makes me really uncomfortable. To me she seems way more dangerous than Juliette, Alessandra, Samantha, or Katsumi combined even though the facts we know so far might contradict this feeling. She is definitively less predictable than the others.

I also can't help the impression that Kiyomi and Katsumi are not quite what they seem to be. Maybe they were played against each other and had to do anything to keep the other alive. Could be whishful thinking but they seem to have their own agenda.

 

[BigStuffedTiger]

It really depends on what someone means by dangerous. If we're talking about outright murder for kicks, than Juliette is the most dangerous character we've met so far. She's entitled, somewhat impulsive, and delights in acts of murder. Other characters like Katsumi, whom Elena mentored, are much more emotionally dangerous as Juliette lacks the patience to get into someone's head and heart before destroying them. Elena may test the MC and then berate, humiliate and degrade him if he submits, but otherwise she goes fairly easy on the MC in comparison. I don't see her as being hateful, just brutally honest about what he can expect in the future if he immediately submits to every woman he meets. She has plenty of other slaves she can abuse and degrade as she points out, and she clearly has a humiliation/degradation kink that she'll exercise on the MC if he submits and thus in her eyes deserves it. She had a job to do and did it, with maybe a small bit of fun for herself thrown in, and now that's she's learned more about Olivia and the nature of the Gambit she's developed new plans for whose bed she wants the MC in.

TessSadist: Elena's renders appear to have been greatly improved about 2 updates or so ago. She looks more polished, and comes across as more refined and elegant in the Joy Complex than she did in the prison.

 

[Kxca]

Don't forget that Elena is a potential LI for Kane. In Tess' own words, her romance path depends more on choices made by others, rather than Kane himself. To me, she is one of the most interesting characters and a rather unique LI. Her morality is also tied to Olivia and will swing whichever way Olivia swings. So she may be the NPC whose redemption/corruption will completely be determined by player choices.

As for renders, not just Elena but the entire game has gotten better looking with time. Understandable as Tess got better with renders, bought better assets, and used more a powerful rig.

 

[BigStuffedTiger]

Don't forget that Elena is a potential LI for Kane. In Tess' own words, her romance path depends more on choices made by others, rather than Kane himself. To me, she is one of the most interesting characters and a rather unique LI. Her morality is also tied to Olivia and will swing whichever way Olivia swings. So she may be the NPC whose redemption/corruption will completely be determined by player choices.

I can imagine some amusingly twisted scenarios with Kane being both Elena's boytoy and the father of her grandchild. I agree that Olivia, whom she clearly cares about a great deal, and to a lesser extent, a dominant Kane, may be able to redeem her, especially if they act in concert. Sub Kane will be completely dependent on Olivia's actions and decisions with respect to Elena.

As for renders, not just Elena but the entire game has gotten better looking with time. Understandable as Tess got better with renders, bought better assets, and used more a powerful rig.

While true overall, there are a few that I thought didn't improve, and of those that improved, Elena's was one of the most striking improvements. As a result I got the impression that Tess gave Elena some extra attention above and beyond what many others received. Phoebe for example didn't seem to improve any, although she perhaps was one of the characters that needed improvement the least, but her stepdaughters who I once dismissed as THOTS, have clearly received a lot of development time in the interim resulting in much more attractive renders.

 

[Gamer8n8]

Yep, all depends on how olivia likes/wants it ... !

Spoiler

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[Gamer8n8]

I love how everyone admires/like/fear olivia in d game ...
except may be Dominique !!

 

[dusk serenade]

Well, s/he does earn 4 grand a month from patreon alone.

such incredible poor taste, I mean do you feel like they don't deserve it?
The upcoming update is twice as big as the last one, there are constant progress update and communication. To be honest I don't think your comment is constructive at all it seems as if they're earning money and all of a sudden you're entitled to an opinion... that is never the case not even for a regular job and especially not for Patreon, where it is explicitely stated that contributions are totally voluntary and independent from outcome.

 

[Choooogatta]

Sooo I just now figured out why Olivia gives Kane the option to demote Jake out of the blue. It's for the scientist lady to have someone to work on.

Bit slow on the uptake there.

 

[Peerke007]

I like especially Elena because one way or another she is more sophisticated.

Her morality is tied to Olivia because, I think, Elena is Olivia's mother.

 

[Kxca]

I can imagine some amusingly twisted scenarios with Kane being both Elena's boytoy and the father of her grandchild.

This reminds me of a case I read on Reddit once. The mother-in-law had a sexual relationship with her daughter's husband for years. Here's the link if someone's curious:

You must be registered to see the links

Fair warning, it's pretty messed up.

 

[Vlahurg1]

DO NOT mess with Olivia. j/k, I guess Patreons can vote however they want, but I think your instinct not to mess with her model is correct and if you put it up to a vote it would probably be waste of time as most Patreons would vote to keep her the same. And by most I mean I think it would be a landslide.

Landslide? Too small a word for the magnitude of the vote!

 

[Vlahurg1]

I like all the characters except for Elena. Her whole demeanor has this aura of utter hateful superiorty around her that makes me really uncomfortable. To me she seems way more dangerous than Juliette, Alessandra, Samantha, or Katsumi combined even though the facts we know so far might contradict this feeling. She is definitively less predictable than the others.

I see that kind of superiority in other characters too. We've seen others demonstrate a cavalier disregard for human life for example. However, something that gives me the sense that Elena is incredibly dangerous is she's been around since Alexander's time and she's still in a position of power. She has brains, experience and she knows things like where the bodies are buried (and I guess not all of them figurative either). And she's not just surviving but is flourishing in a ruthless corporate environment. Definitely not a character to be underestimated.