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

[Stan5851]

Mistress Tess — Today at 12:02 AM
I am just doing a quick public post outlining a few things: (I have pasted this from Patreon so forgive the formatting if off) I am trying to get out a new version of 0.8 by this Friday/Sat but it is possible I won't finish everything I want to do and if so, I will still release a version this weekend that I will call 0.8Beta for $8 tier+ if it's missing anything. What I have added so far/trying to add from Test:

1. Corrections and other tweaks
2. Animations (were not in Test)
3. New sub scene x1 or 2
4. Easter Egg message for sub k1 players

Not sure but on the list for Final regardless:

1. 1 or 2 dom scenes
2. Outro scene with developer thank you, etc.
3. Intro card to start episode (I have to track down all the masks again because I lost them in my SSD crash but have gotten some nice help on some of them already)
4. Nice to add but might not -- a short everybody sees scene (general main branch) I was thinking of putting in Part II.

I will keep working even if I fall a bit short on the weekend and keep going until Final is ready. There is a big poll happening on my page right now, and it's been very illuminating for me in ways I didn't expect and I am usually hard to surprise. But I'm a bit surprised. I think I know what I'm going to do moving forward, but going to let that all play out first.

I have really thought hard on this and have finally relented as he's been wanting this for a while, and will be formally bringing on the only person in the world I am willing to submit to (only a tiny bit haha!) to help me with communication and other ways to handle external noise/nonsense. I will also pull back with communication/messages a bit just in the help/tech sense to assist, etc. I have already assigned Anais to handle Itch but I am likely going to pull back admin stuff a bit more to him on Itch/Patreon/Discord and later stuff, and be grateful for the help. I am always a bit stubborn about being self-reliant and strong, but I am ready to have his arms around me to shield me a bit more. I trust no one else more to assist and especially protect me, and will speak more on that and do an intro soon.

I am guaranteeing here that a Final Version will be out even with unexpected problems at the very latest before I leave for a trip overseas. That trip is not exactly set, but it's roughly from Feb 16th to 24th give or take a day or two. I will not be able to render well during this time, so plan to write out a lot of Part II both outlining and script, etc. The absolutely worst case is that even Final needs further refinements but hopefully it doesn't happen and this version will be available to $5 tier worst case I would say the week of the 13th to 16th range. But I think it will be ready much sooner.

Another factor is that I've gotten super busy this week with more than I thought outside the game, but juggling everything as well as I can right now! I'm even helping write and decorate/plan a kind of dinner murder mystery charity event and it's really been a lot of fun!

I also admit I took an extra day off last week and enjoyed three free days instead of two...I think I needed it! I didn't get to play tennis much but did golf three times! (I played tennis/golf/volleyball formally and still love them all!) But I'm back in the proverbial saddle and working hard this week! I feel pretty refreshed!

But it is still my goal to get as much as possible done and maybe I'll get a Final out this weekend!

Thank you all! Tess

The most interesting part of the post for me is not even the preliminary release dates of the game, which generally coincided with what I assumed, but this paragraph.

There is a big poll happening on my page right now, and it's been very illuminating for me in ways I didn't expect and I am usually hard to surprise. But I'm a bit surprised. I think I know what I'm going to do moving forward, but going to let that all play out first.

As a Dom player, I'll be insanely interested to read what Tess thinks of all this. Almost 4 years of releasing updates for one of the most successful femdom-oriented game and suddenly finding such results, hehe..)

 

[Maviarab]

The most interesting part of the post for me is not even the preliminary release dates of the game, which generally coincided with what I assumed, but this paragraph.

As a Dom player, I'll be insanely interested to read what Tess thinks of all this. So many years of making a femdom-oriented game and suddenly finding such results, hehe..)

Yeah it's...it may very well be an interesting eye opener for her. Or, maybe not at all. Femdom games are niche, while there are many male submissives, I would imagine they are still a small minority to the other way around (such as myself for example as I've discussed before).

While it was the story first and foremost that pulled me in, there is still no real 'dominant' content yet but you can see it slowly building...especially with some more important characters within the game who are starting to respect you and willingly wanting to be under you (which they would have never done at the start of the story). Also as I've said, this is not your typical D/s game (from a male pov) but there is enough bubbling under the surface (and promised) to enjoy that path regardless because the story is fantastic (and all the girls are seriously 12/10 lol).

However, I'm sure Tess has the stats from her subscription levels to regular posters etc. She has put that content into the story/VN because she knows it is popular, a pure femdom game alone would never have been as successful, we know this and I'm damn sure Tess is well aware of it too. It's been going for long enough now I think that she's probably well aware of what the split may be. The fact she balances the content between the dom and subs path says a lot in itself.

 

[dgreen1108]

Perhaps someone can refer me to a previous post regarding my concern.

WTF doesn't the MC refer to the sisters with the Mistress title? Everyone excluding the MC's sister does so, except high ranking clients. Everytime the MC refers to one of the Board by name without the honorific, it's off putting. I'm not directing this solely towards the submissive route. I'm saying the MC starts out no better than a slave and is working his way up, HOWEVER he's still FAR from having his freedom and being on their level.

This has been a WF rant. Please continue with your regularly scheduled posting. Thank you.

 

[Mr. Chatty]

Yeah it's...it may very well be an interesting eye opener for her. Or, maybe not at all. Femdom games are niche, while there are many male submissives, I would imagine they are still a small minority to the other way around (such as myself for example as I've discussed before).

While it was the story first and foremost that pulled me in, there is still no real 'dominant' content yet but you can see it slowly building...especially with some more important characters within the game who are starting to respect you and willingly wanting to be under you (which they would have never done at the start of the story). Also as I've said, this is not your typical D/s game (from a male pov) but there is enough bubbling under the surface (and promised) to enjoy that path regardless because the story is fantastic (and all the girls are seriously 12/10 lol).

However, I'm sure Tess has the stats from her subscription levels to regular posters etc. She has put that content into the story/VN because she knows it is popular, a pure femdom game alone would never have been as successful, we know this and I'm damn sure Tess is well aware of it too. It's been going for long enough now I think that she's probably well aware of what the split may be. The fact she balances the content between the dom and subs path says a lot in itself.

Took her sweet time to realise that, people have been telling this to her from the start.

 

[drdiver3]

The question really is what does she want to develop. Does she want to develop one route? Both routes? None? She should just do whatever she actually wants to do.

I don't have the answer to that, of course. Not sure why a poll is even relevant, only one person's choice even matters.

Considering she wants to do a femdom only game in the future, my guess is she prefers doing the femdom path. In fact it's a femdom game regardless of Kane's status (and he's still essentially a slave even at K9 anyway).

I haven't actually played the new update, I have an extreme evil Dom Kane that I really enjoy the story for so far. If it gets dropped it gets dropped, but I'd miss that. Otherwise the most unique thing about this game is the femdom and dystopia. Without any of the adult elements there is no way I'd bother playing this and waiting for the updates, jmho. So many great games and things to watch and read that I don't fixate on any one thing, and especially some game on F95.

Again I don't know what Tess wants to do, but I'd suspect she prefers the femdom, and with all these problems from Dom only fans, if I was her I'd just drop the Dom path entirely, and if it's still bad, I'd stop making these types of games altogether, or if I still wanted to do indie games I'd make a different account and name, pretend to be a guy, and limit my interaction with any fanbase and this website completely. Heck I might even not really bother with a Patreon, just do the entire game, then dump it on itch.io or something and ignore f95 and even patreon entirely. But those are just ideas, and I don't know.

What I do know is this is not the first time there were problems. Anais had to talk her down from pulling the plug. And it still happened again. And it's from the Dom players. Pulling back did not help. And now her SO has to get involved and buffer things for her. But is he really going to want to deal with the bullshit either? They may get even nastier towards him for all we know, ime the types of people that go crazy like this especially hate the woman's SO, and save their real hatred for him. They want to replace him in most cases.

It's not from the Dom players generally. It's from a small subset of dom players who are attracted to a particular path among many potential dom paths. She never suggested cutting the dom content altogether and it makes no sense as a solution to the problem that has been discussed at length.

Also, generally speaking devs like to be paid for their time and expenses, so I doubt she'd spend years working on the game with no Patreon income simply to cut interaction with a few bad actors. That's kind of overkill with respect to the particular issue she faces.

 

[Stan5851]

It's not from the Dom players generally. It's from a small subset of dom players who are attracted to a particular path among many potential dom paths. She never suggested cutting the dom content altogether and it makes no sense as a solution to the problem that has been discussed at length.

Also, generally speaking devs like to be paid for their time and expenses, so I doubt she'd spend years working on the game with no Patreon income simply to cut interaction with a few bad actors. That's kind of overkill with respect to the particular issue she faces.

Exactly, and Tess has written many times that a good femdom game without a Dom route makes no sense to her. So nobody is going to delete an entire Dom route because of a small group of inadequate admirers of a tiny (compared to the entire Dom route) extreme offshoot with flags demon and demoness (for the extremely evil Kane and Olivia).

p.s.And I have no doubt that most of the fans of this extreme path are quite normal people.. but as we know, normal people are usually not as visible as the aggressive minority.

 

[Stan5851]

Yeah it's...it may very well be an interesting eye opener for her. Or, maybe not at all. Femdom games are niche, while there are many male submissives, I would imagine they are still a small minority to the other way around (such as myself for example as I've discussed before).

While it was the story first and foremost that pulled me in, there is still no real 'dominant' content yet but you can see it slowly building...especially with some more important characters within the game who are starting to respect you and willingly wanting to be under you (which they would have never done at the start of the story). Also as I've said, this is not your typical D/s game (from a male pov) but there is enough bubbling under the surface (and promised) to enjoy that path regardless because the story is fantastic (and all the girls are seriously 12/10 lol).

However, I'm sure Tess has the stats from her subscription levels to regular posters etc. She has put that content into the story/VN because she knows it is popular, a pure femdom game alone would never have been as successful, we know this and I'm damn sure Tess is well aware of it too. It's been going for long enough now I think that she's probably well aware of what the split may be. The fact she balances the content between the dom and subs path says a lot in itself.

I agree with you and think so too, however, to be honest, I was somehow sure that the balance of power would not be in favour of Dom players.. I imagined (given some circumstantial data from Tess's other polls that she referenced in discord) that the Dom/Sub ratio would be somewhere around 40/60. Again, I wasn't basing this on a general, shall we say, global Dom/Sub ratio (in the world), but specifically on the fact that KG is a femdom game, and thus, a priori, it will primarily attract Subs, and many Doms (out of ignorance and distrust of an unloved fetish) may just pass it by...

Anyway, I think KG wouldn't be such an interesting game if we started "cosplaying GigaChad" from the very beginning. There are no miracles, and it's impossible, being a prisoner, even if in Dom's case it's a formality, to instantly gain power and break the whole system in your favour. It's a long road with obstacles and traps, and "mommy's dominators" apparently just don't have the patience to understand the depth of this story and look at everything that happens from the point of view of logic.

 

[Mwanted]

As a Dom player, I'll be insanely interested to read what Tess thinks of all this. Almost 4 years of releasing updates for one of the most successful femdom-oriented game and suddenly finding such results, hehe..)

"As a dom player", as if playing a game should classify the player on one side or the other. I really don't understand this way of thinking.

I try and play everything in this game because it's fucking great, the amount of roleplaying possibilities is amazing. The success comes from this, not one kink or the other.

 

[Stan5851]

"As a dom player", as if playing a game should classify the player on one side or the other. I really don't understand this way of thinking.

I try and play everything in this game because it's fucking great, the amount of roleplaying possibilities is amazing. The success comes from this, not one kink or the other.

Everyone's criteria for a game's success are different. For me, the success of KG is (first of all) a deep and very well-developed plot, in fact, a full-fledged Book that hooks you and doesn't let you forget about it, charismatic characters, each of whom is a separate universe with their own skeletons in the wardrobe, interesting dialogues, often hiding a lot of secrets and meanings, as well as a tangle of unsolved intrigues and mysteries, with Kane at the centre of them. And yes, there's some great stuff in here too, such as domination and other fetishes/kinks.

As for femdom, as I've written before, it's just not my cup of tea. I don't mind when those kinds of interactions happen with NPС (which is what we see in KG), but not with my MC. So in a way I envy switch players who go through the game for both sides and enjoy it, but I'm not going to step on my own throat just to see all of the game's content. So to each their own.

 

[YuNobi1]

"As a dom player", as if playing a game should classify the player on one side or the other. I really don't understand this way of thinking.

I try and play everything in this game because it's fucking great, the amount of roleplaying possibilities is amazing. The success comes from this, not one kink or the other.

Most people aren't wired to "have a foot in both ponds", and while some decisions in a choice-based game can be changed over replays (or go counter in an early decision because they know it's necessary to get the content that they really want), players will still be moored to their general preferences. Even Tess has compared this game to Mass Effect, and the fan base sticks to either a mainly Paragon or mainly Renegade style of play, even on replays, few players will replay just to see the opposite choices, and even fewer will actually enjoy playing both sides. If playing alternate style bores/disgusts you out of your mind, then you're only hurting yourself, and thus your enjoyment of the game, and thereby the devs success in making a successful product, by continuing to play that which you loathe. I explored alternate routes in this game and while I can't critique Tess' breadth of imagination, I can't call any of it "good" because I did not like/enjoy any of it, so I'm not doing it again.

 

[Bulletproof 2301]

Will Android version releases in the upcoming update??

 

[Mwanted]

Everyone's criteria for a game's success are different. For me, the success of KG is (first of all) a deep and very well-developed plot, in fact, a full-fledged Book that hooks you and doesn't let you forget about it, charismatic characters, each of whom is a separate universe with their own skeletons in the wardrobe, interesting dialogues, often hiding a lot of secrets and meanings, as well as a tangle of unsolved intrigues and mysteries, with Kane at the centre of them. And yes, there's some great stuff in here too, such as domination and other fetishes/kinks.

As for femdom, as I've written before, it's just not my cup of tea. I don't mind when those kinds of interactions happen with NPС (which is what we see in KG), but not with my MC. So in a way I envy switch players who go through the game for both sides and enjoy it, but I'm not going to step on my own throat just to see all of the game's content. So to each their own.

Then I misunderstood you, sorry. I thought you were like some people here saying that if you like x kink that you are like that IRL. Which is stupid, oc. You are talking about personal preference, which is absolutely correct. I also share what you think about the reasons about this game success.

As for my personal preference, I like to experiment and I always loved ropleplaying (not to mention the naughty one ), so usually I can switch\have fun in many different playthroughs. That said, there are of course the bits I don't like, like some the extremes in femdom for example. Now that I think about it, one of the reasons I especially like to play every path Tess developed is because I didn't find those extremes (that I would find disgusting or similar).

 

[Maviarab]

Perhaps someone can refer me to a previous post regarding my concern.

WTF doesn't the MC refer to the sisters with the Mistress title? Everyone excluding the MC's sister does so, except high ranking clients. Everytime the MC refers to one of the Board by name without the honorific, it's off putting. I'm not directing this solely towards the submissive route. I'm saying the MC starts out no better than a slave and is working his way up, HOWEVER he's still FAR from having his freedom and being on their level.

This has been a WF rant. Please continue with your regularly scheduled posting. Thank you.

I completely agree. It actually annoys me that at times he seems to be incredibly flippant with certain people and the only one time it is brought up is on first evaluation where Chanel (dom path) corrects him when he tells Olivia...'sure thing'....he addresses the sisters by their name (which is fine in private)...but it does surprise me he is never shot down for his 'insolence'...it actually makes me cringe at times how he is and when he is not corrected for it (given the story setting). Pissed me off even more when Olivia meets Katsumi to see a game show room and twice she calls her Olivia instead of Mistress. Olivia should really have shot her down in flames there given what has happened before, especially with Seth.

"As a dom player", as if playing a game should classify the player on one side or the other. I really don't understand this way of thinking.

I try and play everything in this game because it's fucking great, the amount of roleplaying possibilities is amazing. The success comes from this, not one kink or the other.

Very few people are switches, very few. Personally, I don't understand how anyone can be...sure, it's wise to be able to identify with both to have a greater understadning of your dominant or submissive role. but I don't really understand the mindset..but that's a side debate.

At the end of the day, I have zero interest in the submissive path. At all. I'm playing it for two reasons, one to just see the content the developer has worked hard on and two (and the most important) to ensure I have all the information and context within the story as you can miss a lot of context only playing one path.

I despise the sub path though, I am a dominant of close to 30 years now...I am not submissive, I will never be submissive and I will never switch and the vast majority never switch, because being dominant or submissive is a state of being...existing...it's not something you just turn on or off like a 'switch'. It's just something within you. People are, naturally either dominant or submissive, especially sexually.

So no, the success does not come from all the possibilities (though that helps), but I think you will find the vast majority of KG players do not play both paths, or if they do, they do so begrudgingly (like myself) purely for extra content of the overreaching story and plot.

 

[MilesEdgeworth]

Yea, Tess was sneaky enough to put secret information in both paths so if you want the full story, you gonna have to play the full game. If not, rely on other players to fill in the gaps.

As for tess removing demon/demoness, I imagine the only thing that really changes is that Kane and Olivia don't go around killing red shirts. Doubt it affects the overall picture

 

[Maviarab]

Yea, Tess was sneaky enough to put secret information in both paths so if you want the full story, you gonna have to play the full game. If not, rely on other players to fill in the gaps

Yup...and that is why I am taking one for the dom team hehehe...you all owe me copious amounts of coffee afterwards

 

[Mwanted]

Very few people are switches, very few. Personally, I don't understand how anyone can be...sure, it's wise to be able to identify with both to have a greater understadning of your dominant or submissive role. but I don't really understand the mindset..but that's a side debate.

You don't *have to* identify in anything, it's a game.. you are outside of the freaking game.
That's exacly what I meant when I said I don't understand when people don't get that
You can have preferences of course, but there's no other obligations required
So no, I'm pretty sure there's plenty of people that can play a game without identifying themselves in the MC.

 

[Maviarab]

You don't *have to* identify in anything, it's a game.. you are outside of the freaking game.
That's exacly what I meant when I said I don't understand when people don't get that
You can have preferences of course, but there's no other obligations required
So no, there's plenty of people that can play a game without identifying themselves in the MC.

Identifying with the MC is completely irelevent,...and that is what you are missing (and I sure as hell don't identify with our MC in KG because at times he's an utter fucking clueless moron). Do you watch femdom porn? No different to a VN if you are not self-inserting.

So yes, content is paramount and the only thing that matters, if you can't 'identify' with the protaganist/setting/content of any type of media, be it a VN, Film, TV show, book...you're just not going to get enjoyment out of it. I don't watch period drama's because they just literally do nothing for me at all. Likewise, I will never watch femdom porn...which leads us back to certain paths in KG because people who are diametrically opposite something themselves will never enjoy content of the opposite.

So yes, it really is everything.

 

[Mwanted]

Identifying with the MC is completely irelevent,...and that is what you are missing (and I sure as hell don't identify with our MC in KG because at times he's an utter fucking clueless moron). Do you watch femdom porn? No different to a VN if you are not self-inserting.

So yes, content is paramount and the only thing that matters, if you can't 'identify' with the protaganist/setting/content of any type of media, be it a VN, Film, TV show, book...you're just not going to get enjoyment out of it. I don't watch period drama's because they just literally do nothing for me at all. Likewise, I will never watch femdom porn...which leads us back to certain paths in KG because people who are diametrically opposite something themselves will never enjoy content of the opposite.

So yes, it really is everything.

No, I disagree. You can totally play a roleplaying game like a "third person", so experimenting making the MC do this or that, create different MCs with different characteristics and play and have fun without having to identify in jack shit.
Maybe, like you suggest, it may be different in another media (where you are more "passive", like tv), but in ropleplaying (video)games it's like I said.

 

[Maviarab]

No, I disagree. You can totally play a roleplaying game like a "third person", so experimenting making the MC do this or that, create different MCs with different characteristics and play and have fun without having to identify in jack shit.
Maybe, like you suggest, it may be different in another media (where you are more "passive", like tv), but in ropleplaying games it's like I said.

We shall have to very much agree to disagree then..

 

[lemonfreak]

We shall have to very much agree to disagree then..

You could do that but that's really just a way of saying "I'm right, you're wrong but we're going to stop talking about it"

Instead you could try accepting that the way you experience the work is not the only way to do so, that those of us who can play through a story from a god's eye perspective, get just as much from it as those who need to inhabit the character (which you don't) or identify with a route (which you seem to) and that these differences are equally valid