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

[asehpe]

Thank you, any decision I make about this game will likely be about lost opportunity income as the main factor. I won't really get into that thread anymore other than to say I think it's different for a game dev - versus just a normal player/poster - to release another dev's game for piracy. I'd never do that and I have no issues with this site or piracy in general, it's more about how I think game developers should treat other game developers. [...]

I've been away for a while (the world is a mess right now, especially the US, as everybody knows, and I'm getting really busy with election work as an attempt to try and do some good, and time for writing comments has been drastically reduced), so this comment is coming way too late... So, all I will say here is that I agree creators and their professional ethics are crucially important -- after all, if it weren't for creators, pirates would have nothing to pirate. I would also never do that, and I wouldn't feel much respect for a creator who did.

Thanks for the kind words. The simple reality is that I believe now is that certain styles of femdom games can't achieve a particular floor of commercial viability. It is what it is. I do have a theory about that but won't share that as it obviously could be wrong and I also don't want to be negative either. A game I really like in Estate Dominate is a good case study. It has been out since April 2019, and despite it's quality writing and narrative, it cannot even break 2,000 a month. Then I see two other femdom games that are doing ok (between 4-6k a month) and I can make an educated guess why they do well and why ED - and by extension my style of game as well - can't do as well. People wanting to donate to a game need a certain tipping point, and I do believe now that certain types of games can hit that point much easier than others.

I kind of am a hobbyist, but the time required to do my style of game makes it very difficult to not have to sacrifice time from my own business. If I didn't make that kind of time, I'd take 6-8 months to do one update! The opportunity cost has been VERY large over the past three months. I think many would be shocked at what this number actually has been over the past roughly 100 days. I'm pretty lucky that sacrifice isn't killing me because I have been very smart about investing money in things since I first made any money at all at 16 years old, but I also have a fiduciary duty not to harm my business partner's potential either by sacrificing too much. All that is playing in how I am evaluating everything now.

But, I am always considering other options to make things work, as that's always my modus operandi in life. Adapt and adjust to accomplish what you want, etc. The new girl we recently hired for interior design in one day created in my opinion a better set of test renders for my game for fun in Daz Studio than I have in months of working on the game. Her specialty is incredible renders for interior design so she's already way ahead of the game. One scene in my game for 0.3 will likely have a few of her renders. But she loves a certain kind of story more than others...that might matter for me soon.

I'm also probably plunking down 5k for a new computer to help with speed and memory, and other ideas are percolating in my mind as well. I'll probably announce what I am doing in about a month when I know for sure but I am growing more confident KG could continue in an even better way than right now. I had four initial story ideas for a game, so perhaps the one I really wanted to try first will end up the result but it might also be continuing this game for the planned eleven versions. Karlsson's Gambit was actually not my first choice for a story, but I thought it was easier to try as a first game with my complete lack of experience. One story idea I really focused on at first was actually (hard to describe because it's much deeper than what it sounds like at first glance but this is reasonably close) kind of a Mission Impossible/James Bond/Raiders of the Lost Ark/Tomb Raider type of narrative with sexy locales, characters, cool tech/gadgets, mysterious history/artifacts, etc.

I may end up with a three person team working on two games at once, where I do most of the writing and only some of the art. I am not sure as now it might depend on the potential team dynamic just myself moving forward. That might be the only way to balance out my time correctly. But I am doing a lot behind the scenes to try and make it all work as I also near finishing 0.3. I don't want to continue this kind of financial sacrifice that I have for the past three months, so I am trying to be solution oriented on it with as best as I can. I have fallen in love with some of my characters in KG so I do have a vested interest in wanting to see them keep going!

I think any work of love comes with a sacrifice, often severe sacrifice. There is no such thing as love for something and/or someone that doesn't involve it. It is up to each individual to evaluate things and see where they want to (or can) draw the line, and what their other interests and duties mean to them. From what you write, you're hitting all the right points and orienting yourself in the best possible direction. I had thought about writing something about how financial success -- the so deeply fetishized crux of "Americanness" these days -- is not everything (from what you say, you probably make more money than I do as a professor who is probably going to get tenure in the next couple of years; and yet I'm happy with my situation; I don't desire more wealth and/or success, not even more academic success). However, re-reading what you wrote, I thought this was not really the point. Since you're the one who lives your life, you're the one best placed to decide how to move forward, what to sacrifice and not to sacrifice, and why. I would selfishly want you to do the best KG you possibly can (you're not the only one who fell in love with some of your characters...) but frankly real people are more important than fictional people, and if your sacrifices end up being too much for you or your business partners, then, well, that's it. ('That guy' made the sentence 'it is what it is' sound horrible now, but I think it applies here.)

I will only say, though, that femdom games, like any niche merchandise, could never really become big blockbusters -- unless their crucially integrate also non-femdom elements with enough talent to attract people outside of the niche (most people don't read "Papillon" because they enjoy life in a tropical prison like Devil's Island, even though those who do enjoy it will of course like the book). This means that there is no way for someone in your position to avoid (at best moderately heavy) financial loss, even if you manage to reach that "tipping point." ED is probably near the top of possible successful results for such an endeavor.

Whatever decision you make, though, I can honestly say that what I've seen here is enough for me to be thankful to you for all the effort and care you've already put into it. I'm really happy KG exists and that I've been able to play and enjoy it, even if it should end here.

 

[BigStuffedTiger]

Plus the detail that you apparently can't get [K6] without being "selfish" and keeping the best food for yourself, so that you can jog during the physical test.

You can actually give the best food away and still get K6, but it's considerably harder. It's possible to remove up to 2 slave points if you pick the right choices (get Elena to mentor you, cut a deal with Pat, tell her you have no questions during the test, and tell Jake nothing about the test) which can counter the minimum 2 points gained because of suboptimal running performance due to malnourishment dropping you back to 0 slave points and enabling you to attain K6.

Of course not warning your buddy Jake at all can also be considered a selfish move. So if you want K6 you can either keep the food for yourself and tell him a little bit about what's going on, or you can give your food to him or the other prisoners and not warn him at all.

 

[Spfjolietjake]

You can actually give the best food away and still get K6, but it's considerably harder. It's possible to remove up to 2 slave points if you pick the right choices (get Elena to mentor you, cut a deal with Pat, tell her you have no questions during the test, and tell Jake nothing about the test) which can counter the minimum 2 points gained because of suboptimal running performance due to malnourishment dropping you back to 0 slave points and enabling you to attain K6.

Of course not warning your buddy Jake at all can also be considered a selfish move. So if you want K6 you can either keep the food for yourself and tell him a little bit about what's going on, or you can give your food to him or the other prisoners and not warn him at all.

Good to know thank you.

 

[asehpe]

You can actually give the best food away and still get K6, but it's considerably harder. It's possible to remove up to 2 slave points if you pick the right choices (get Elena to mentor you, cut a deal with Pat, tell her you have no questions during the test, and tell Jake nothing about the test) which can counter the minimum 2 points gained because of suboptimal running performance due to malnourishment dropping you back to 0 slave points and enabling you to attain K6.

Of course not warning your buddy Jake at all can also be considered a selfish move. So if you want K6 you can either keep the food for yourself and tell him a little bit about what's going on, or you can give your food to him or the other prisoners and not warn him at all.

Interesting. I hadn't realized that, but looking at the walkthrough I can see you're right. I wonder what consequences each path to K6 will have...

 

[Sorrow85]

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I am doing this a little earlier than Sunday because I am happy to say that I will finish all renders tomorrow! The projected size of 0.3 will be the following: 992 renders, 34,600 words, the total of Episodes 1-3 combined will be roughly 2,109 renders and 77,100 words. Whew! I've been running hard for a few weeks straight, so after I finish the last renders during the day tomorrow, I'm honestly going to hang out with friends at night and refresh the mind! Then Sunday, it will be the start of all play testing, editing and music! I've been so bogged down in details the last two weeks, so it's going to be weird going back to the forest view versus the trees on Sunday!

I realize I missed my late release window of October 17, but I honestly was basing that off a size of roughly 750-800 renders, not nearly 1000. I hope all of you can understand that and I do plan to make 0.4 shorter! This episode just had to be a little longer to ensure everyone is at the same place, etc. 0.4 should actually move quicker with errr....action versus Episodes 1-3 as I think I have set up a lot of the branches for the future.

Another note is that if you end up using a walkthrough later to see all choices, please note that MANY of the choice flags from 0.3 will not impact 0.3 but rather later down the line in future episodes. That is by design. In fact, some flags are way way out from when they matter, but they are there anyway early. I actually have all of the major choice flags all the way through Episode 11 (the planned end roughly, depends on size, if they are all 0.3 size, it would be less than 11 episodes!) already mapped out, so for example you might have a choice from 0.3 that doesn't matter until many episodes later. Just FYI.

How long will it take me to do music and edits with play testing? (keep in mind it's just me alone testing it, I just release a test version with no other feedback, maybe crazy lol) I usually take about 3-5 days, but this one is a little bigger and more complicated. Having said that, I doubt I take longer than a week, but please note I might discover a weird issue along the way! But absent that, I am pretty confident that a test version is out before next weekend, and usually a general release (depending if test version goes well) isn't too far behind. (I hope!)

I know I am rambling now since I've been at it hard tonight, so I just want to say thanks! I have some possible good news regarding the game overall as well so I want to get to that after I finish 0.3! Have a great weekend!

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[Z - Reborn]

Follow your dreams man!

could have used DMs though

 

[LAKueiJin]

Slave points are different from sub points and they directly determine the results of the executive test. Here are the cut-offs straight from Zoey Raven's walkthrough:

If [Slave] >=10, then you will obtain [Pissboy] & [K4]
If [Slave] >=3, then [K4]
If [Slave] >=1, then [K5]
Else [K6].



Subs who want to do well in the program, who want to have some control over how and to whom they submit, and/or prefer not to be treated like trash should probably avoid slave points too. K4's get abused, and [Pissboy] is self-explanatory.




Yep it's all in Zoey Raven's walkthrough.

As a male who only enjoys femdom content, I feel I would prefer the K4 path to K5 or K6, as for example I liked the K4 scene with Kitty a lot more than the one on which your character gets to spank Samantha, but I would very much like some control at least in regards to whom I support in the grand scheme of things. A character can be submissive towards women by choice and still very much have a moral compass and enough willpower to make important decisions on his own, so I'm just concerned, given the way you phrased this, that that could not be an option?

The Tess tutorial very much led me to believe that as a sub the MC will still have a way to chose who to truly submit to, but this makes me think as a K4 you may be railroaded towards some of the mistresses... Do you know if that's the case or not in the following chapters or were you just speculating?

Also, great game overall with beautiful art, a lot of freedom of choice and very good atmosperic soundtrack I'd say! (especially for the darker scenes)

 

[TessSadist]

Any chance to become Your online pet? a real born submissive male 43 years here.
Also a senior dev. with 24 years experince iin C#, php, java, C#, sql, python.
I love this game so much and i do not know how to help.

Probably best to contact me through Discord or Patreon...that's a lot of experience!

 

[TessSadist]

As a male who only enjoys femdom content, I feel I would prefer the K4 path to K5 or K6, as for example I liked the K4 scene with Kitty a lot more than the one on which your character gets to spank Samantha, but I would very much like some control at least in regards to whom I support in the grand scheme of things. A character can be submissive towards women by choice and still very much have a moral compass and enough willpower to make important decisions on his own, so I'm just concerned, given the way you phrased this, that that could not be an option?

The Tess tutorial very much led me to believe that as a sub the MC will still have a way to chose who to truly submit to, but this makes me think as a K4 you may be railroaded towards some of the mistresses... Do you know if that's the case or not in the following chapters or were you just speculating?

Also, great game overall with beautiful art, a lot of freedom of choice and very good atmosperic soundtrack I'd say! (especially for the darker scenes)

Hard to be super precise, but generally a K4 will have some ability to try and steer towards certain kinks/Mistresses, but he would also have some scenes that are universal as well. If you play 0.3 later you will see for example a few very distinct experiences the MC can kind of see if a choice is made a certain way. A K4 cannot see all scenes on that path no matter what they do (have to go back to maybe a save and choose differently) in one play session. The major huge choices are not coming yet, but later you will have to choose your allies/protectors very carefully. And, a player would also generally experience certain scenes that are just part of the general story so every K4 sees it, much like a K5 or K6 also have some universal scenes but choices as well.

A K4 long-term (or lower) can either end up very enslaved with little freedom in a sense or very protected/allied as well depending on what they do, etc. Just have to pay attention to which Mistress might do one or the other and try and choose accordingly...you probably want to pay attention to 1) their likely kinks and 2) what kind of personality they seem to have and how that translates to your treatment long-term. One Mistress for example may truly ally with you and work with you to help achieve a certain goal, while another might literally just treat you as trash.

 

[LAKueiJin]

Hard to be super precise, but generally a K4 will have some ability to try and steer towards certain kinks/Mistresses, but he would also have some scenes that are universal as well. If you play 0.3 later you will see for example a few very distinct experiences the MC can kind of see if a choice is made a certain way. A K4 cannot see all scenes on that path no matter what they do (have to go back to maybe a save and choose differently) in one play session. The major huge choices are not coming yet, but later you will have to choose your allies/protectors very carefully. And, a player would also generally experience certain scenes that are just part of the general story so every K4 sees it, much like a K5 or K6 also have some universal scenes but choices as well.

A K4 long-term (or lower) can either end up very enslaved with little freedom in a sense or very protected/allied as well depending on what they do, etc. Just have to pay attention to which Mistress might do one or the other and try and choose accordingly...you probably want to pay attention to 1) their likely kinks and 2) what kind of personality they seem to have and how that translates to your treatment long-term. One Mistress for example may truly ally with you and work with you to help achieve a certain goal, while another might literally just treat you as trash.

Wow, I certainly did not expect such a swift reply, and from none other than the dev herself! Thank you very much both for this answer and for all the effort, time, and ultimately even financial duress you had to endure in order to create and bring this game to us! (I skimmed through the thread a little bit beforehand)

Anyway, your in-depth explanation is really appreciated. but I still have a quick question - will there be any point in the game where sub behavior, as opposed to dom, is rewarded? As in, I might imagine a mistress like Dominique or Alessandra, depending on circumstance of course, doing that and potentially rewarding a dilligent sub for furthering their goals and helping with their agenda. Your explanation makes it clear that some mistresses will completely enslave you in the lower K levels whereas others might be more protective, but I'm just curious whether some of the latter may actually prefer you being submissive in some situations?

Thanks again for all the work you put in as I genuinely believe this is one of the best femdom games on f95, and have a great sunday evening!

 

[TessSadist]

Wow, I certainly did not expect such a swift reply, and from none other than the dev herself! Thank you very much both for this answer and for all the effort, time, and ultimately even financial duress you had to endure in order to create and bring this game to us! (I skimmed through the thread a little bit beforehand)

Anyway, your in-depth explanation is really appreciated. but I still have a quick question - will there be any point in the game where sub behavior, as opposed to dom, is rewarded? As in, I might imagine a mistress like Dominique or Alessandra, depending on circumstance of course, doing that and potentially rewarding a dilligent sub for furthering their goals and helping with their agenda. Your explanation makes it clear that some mistresses will completely enslave you in the lower K levels whereas others might be more protective, but I'm just curious whether some of the latter may actually prefer you being submissive in some situations?

Thanks again for all the work you put in as I genuinely believe this is one of the best femdom games on f95, and have a great sunday evening!

Without spoilers, I would say a few things are possible in what I consider kind of not 100% sub/slave/trash life. A Mistress might like someone very submissive behind closed doors, but actually proactive and strong in helping her achieve her goals. The right Mistress could even elevate you by rank in which you are quite powerful compared to the others, but mostly only submissive to your personal Mistress so to speak. But keep in mind, this specific kind of path might limit a large variety of pure sub scenes with others as well....so just play how you like I think. The main thing the dom path has that the sub does not is the dom has a little bit of an easier time being very independent/solo while lower ranks at first have a harder time and tend to need the cunning to find the right lower level friends and higher level power players to assist their own goals.

I'd also say some ladies will relish just punishing you even if you are perfect just because they can and are sadistic that way...while others will legitimately want you do perform well for them and be much more gentle/rewarding for good behavior, etc. And not everyone is who they necessarily appear at first, as character arcs for some - but not all - can actually be influenced to change over time. So for example one Karlsson sister might be permanently wired towards certain goals, while another may actually be possible to change over time. (so two different players would see two different versions of that character if played a certain way with choices)

 

[Deleted member 15555]

Without spoilers, I would say a few things are possible in what I consider kind of not 100% sub/slave/trash life. A Mistress might like someone very submissive behind closed doors, but actually proactive and strong in helping her achieve her goals. The right Mistress could even elevate you by rank in which you are quite powerful compared to the others, but mostly only submissive to your personal Mistress so to speak. But keep in mind, this specific kind of path might limit a large variety of pure sub scenes with others as well....so just play how you like I think. The main thing the dom path has that the sub does not is the dom has a little bit of an easier time being very independent/solo while lower ranks at first have a harder time and tend to need the cunning to find the right lower level friends and higher level power players to assist their own goals.

I'd also say some ladies will relish just punishing you even if you are perfect just because they can and are sadistic that way...while others will legitimately want you do perform well for them and be much more gentle/rewarding for good behavior, etc. And not everyone is who they necessarily appear at first, as character arcs for some - but not all - can actually be influenced to change over time. So for example one Karlsson sister might be permanently wired towards certain goals, while another may actually be possible to change over time. (so two different players would see two different versions of that character if played a certain way with choices)

but is not the mc ranks.... as far as my playthrough in the game was.... is clear the mc may have a better rank than the one he apparently has... otherwise none of them will be interested in controlling him or his sister...
Unless I read too far, in the maledom route he may be able to outrank with time over or at the same rank any of the Karlsson has or am I wrong to think the testament may give him that privilege if he proves himself apt ofc.
Btw will we always have to control both the sis and mc or at some point we can just control one instead since it seems they may at some point be at the mercy of each other

 

[Spfjolietjake]

Without spoilers, I would say a few things are possible in what I consider kind of not 100% sub/slave/trash life. A Mistress might like someone very submissive behind closed doors, but actually proactive and strong in helping her achieve her goals. The right Mistress could even elevate you by rank in which you are quite powerful compared to the others, but mostly only submissive to your personal Mistress so to speak. But keep in mind, this specific kind of path might limit a large variety of pure sub scenes with others as well....so just play how you like I think. The main thing the dom path has that the sub does not is the dom has a little bit of an easier time being very independent/solo while lower ranks at first have a harder time and tend to need the cunning to find the right lower level friends and higher level power players to assist their own goals.

I'd also say some ladies will relish just punishing you even if you are perfect just because they can and are sadistic that way...while others will legitimately want you do perform well for them and be much more gentle/rewarding for good behavior, etc. And not everyone is who they necessarily appear at first, as character arcs for some - but not all - can actually be influenced to change over time. So for example one Karlsson sister might be permanently wired towards certain goals, while another may actually be possible to change over time. (so two different players would see two different versions of that character if played a certain way with choices)

So if playing dominate, will there be clues on who to align with as well? Or will it be trial and error?

 

[Frosty2000]

Hmm I see some people are a bit worried about being too low in the pecking order. Well personally I got K4 and wouldn't mind to be used and abused by every single woman in the game. As long as my MC lives I am fine. Generally simply fully trust Tess judgement for that route.

 

[Spfjolietjake]

Hmm I see some people are a bit worried about being too low in the pecking order. Well personally I got K4 and wouldn't mind to be used and abused by every single woman in the game. As long as my MC lives I am fine. Generally simply fully trust Tess judgement for that route.

Not worried, just know which role I prefer to play. And I want to experience all I can at that level. If this vn continues this quality I'll probably peek at the other levels.

But why not play it how you enjoy it most first? There is no wrong level it's all about choice and preference.

 

[TessSadist]

but is not the mc ranks.... as far as my playthrough in the game was.... is clear the mc may have a better rank than the one he apparently has... otherwise none of them will be interested in controlling him or his sister...
Unless I read too far, in the maledom route he may be able to outrank with time over or at the same rank any of the Karlsson has or am I wrong to think the testament may give him that privilege if he proves himself apt ofc.
Btw will we always have to control both the sis and mc or at some point we can just control one instead since it seems they may at some point be at the mercy of each other

I'm likely not going to read this thread again over this week as I am working on finishing music, editing, and play testing but I will try and discuss a few last things on here before I get back to it.

Both subs and doms can achieve higher ranks than K6 over time. I really won't spoil much else other than to say it's very possible to go all the way up in the company (read into that what that means but one can guess), perhaps one wants to walk away from it all for a specific reason, or one can end up dead or other bad end states.

The interaction between Olivia and Kane (my default names for them) can over time become more tuned to one over the other in terms of playtime, but that would be greatly dictated by player choice. This is admittedly a very difficult area for me coding and for the story, and I have spent a LOT of time thinking about how to interact them in the same scene if they are together.

 

[TessSadist]

So if playing dominate, will there be clues on who to align with as well? Or will it be trial and error?

Some will be more obvious than others as it depends on the person. One for example might be more of an open book, and another may strategically hide their true intentions at first. Keep in mind also some of them are "set" in that they cannot be convinced to change from their base state so to speak, while others can be influenced to change over time. (easiest example of long-term change is an initially good or evil woman over time shifting towards the other direction, another might be a very dominant woman becoming more submissive, or vice versa)

 

[TessSadist]

Hmm I see some people are a bit worried about being too low in the pecking order. Well personally I got K4 and wouldn't mind to be used and abused by every single woman in the game. As long as my MC lives I am fine. Generally simply fully trust Tess judgement for that route.

More than likely the MC will live It is possible for all three siblings to die.

 

[Spfjolietjake]

Some will be more obvious than others as it depends on the person. One for example might be more of an open book, and another may strategically hide their true intentions at first. Keep in mind also some of them are "set" in that they cannot be convinced to change from their base state so to speak, while others can be influenced to change over time. (easiest example of long-term change is an initially good or evil woman over time shifting towards the other direction, another might be a very dominant woman becoming more submissive, or vice versa)

Sounds fun, exciting, and a bit nerve-wrecking
The more I learn the more the title of the vn fits. Kudos and thanks for the reply

 

[Sorrow85]

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Very quick! Hello from me! The test version of 0.3 will be out within 36-60 hours from this writing! I only have about five more songs to mix in the game, and then play testing all choices to make sure they all work. I am 99% confident I can hit this time because I have at least tested everything once, and will now spend the entire day tomorrow testing and testing.

What to expect with TEST version and what NOT to expect and how to help me!

Dialogue/text -- this is the least scrutinized area of the game and you may see some grammatical/spelling errors as I use the time between the test version and the general release to heavily check this area last. I certainly don't mind any feedback on these errors, but it's also something I will be carefully looking at as well.

Choices -- All choices/scenes are finalized and should work properly, but please let me know if you have any problems!

Music -- It will all be there, but I might be making adjustments on volume and tweaks here and there for general release.

I work really hard between Test version and the General Release working on the dialogue so it's still a bit to go! But, I think it should be very fun to play (I hope!) for people and hopefully, the general release can be staggered out very quickly afterwards...(fastest might be two days, slower might be 3-5 days for Founders depending on what is discovered that I might have missed)

Keep in mind this game has only one tester (me!) so it's quite possible I missed something really obvious so another pair of eyes helping me catch a big error would be great!

Thanks!


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