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

[John Bon Clay]

Hopefully not too many people feel as you do so I actually do finish it versus moving to a different game project, but I appreciate the sentiment, thanks!

Yeah you're right, In ways I do like early access, but sometimes I can feel cheated, and one shouldn't let the few apples spoil the bunch.. I believe many of us have been there too . Also I will back you later with a little at least, as the game already is so good that it's worth it

 

[Spfjolietjake]

I can't express how much I want this dev to succeed, 100% for selfish reasons. I wish I could throw some money their way as this vn is in my top ten and I know that dev will have a awesome follow up even.

Bottom line is that it would be a travesty for this vn to not reach completion.

 

[tineyes]

This is one of the best games I've played.

 

[Dark Guy]

Nathan, you worthless piece of shit, thank you for your contribution.

 

[Impatient666]

I played it last week for the first time. I think I explored all choices. This game is fantastic so far. Great setting, fairly original concept, big cast of interesting characters and most importantly this dreading feeling of intertwined schemes but with an overarching goal in mind.

With conclusion of Chapter 3 I think that prologue is complete. The plot so far was linear with different possible outcomes at the end. Also a lot of introduction scenes for characters and a lot of hints to possible plot development.

In my opinion now comes most challenging part for creator. The game starts. I'm interested how it will play out. Will it be more event based with both MCs triggering, which of them happen? So called "inmate rehabilitation" program is supposed to last 6 months. For now it could still go with linear story for maybe first week introduction, explaining some rules. Still I'm curious whether there will be some gameplay to it with stats and for example evaluation points or does it continue with pure choices.
I could also think of an option with sister setting curriculum for the day as manager and MC dealing with it.
Maybe it will be some kind of mix of those things or something completely different. I'm really looking forward to it.
Also I'm wondering how much action will Karlsson sisters have. I guess they can't just stay at some facility all the time and have fun when they have this massive company to run.

It may be an overestimation but with how I see this story it could have like 100 or more different endings depending on how protagonists develop their traits and relationships. All these possibilities. Good/evil, Dom/Sub for both MCs in different variants and levels. Plus their possible backers/alliances/enemies which could differ. The sheer amount of these scenarios I can see unfolding is staggering. Like for example good dominant sister rescuing brother who got too submissive and guiding him to actually succeed. Which could in turn get him or both of them in more trouble. Or doing very good as evil dominant and getting more acquainted with let's say Veronica and making this one crucial mistake which gets you a bad outcome or possibly dragging others down with you. There was also this question on the test with Solo, Team or Gambit option, which could be of importance.
I'm thinking about that gambit in the title. Was something sacrificed from the start by Karlsson father or is the story about making these sacrifices along the way? Maybe both.
This power play is exciting. Is it possible for one or more Karlsson sisters to get a bad or very bad end? The players stop abiding the rules and the game is destroyed option? Inciting a riot of middle management option?

It should get more straightforward as the story progresses because what I imagine is too ambitious and complicated for single creator to make. We can see already how much trouble the creator of Estate Dominate have with transitions of different paths and he has like 6 characters in the game.

Just a bit of possibly incoherent ramblings by someone impressed by this project.

 

[morel]

So the main protagonist is male or female ? There is also female protagonist tag

 

[Spfjolietjake]

So the main protagonist is male or female ? There is also female protagonist tag

Its both. So far more male protagonist scenes. I don't know what else to say with out giving away anything

Edit: They are separate characters

 

[TessSadist]

I can't express how much I want this dev to succeed, 100% for selfish reasons. I wish I could throw some money their way as this vn is in my top ten and I know that dev will have a awesome follow up even.

Bottom line is that it would be a travesty for this vn to not reach completion.

Thanks for the kind words, I have no plans or anything right now, I just have pressure from the current artist assisting and a very huge dev that has given me a little starting advice. Both say I am wasting my time on this style of game, but right now I don't agree!

 

[TessSadist]

Nathan, you worthless piece of shit, thank you for your contribution.

He lives within 30 minutes of me, so that maybe helped in the end...

 

[TessSadist]

I played it last week for the first time. I think I explored all choices. This game is fantastic so far. Great setting, fairly original concept, big cast of interesting characters and most importantly this dreading feeling of intertwined schemes but with an overarching goal in mind.

With conclusion of Chapter 3 I think that prologue is complete. The plot so far was linear with different possible outcomes at the end. Also a lot of introduction scenes for characters and a lot of hints to possible plot development.

In my opinion now comes most challenging part for creator. The game starts. I'm interested how it will play out. Will it be more event based with both MCs triggering, which of them happen? So called "inmate rehabilitation" program is supposed to last 6 months. For now it could still go with linear story for maybe first week introduction, explaining some rules. Still I'm curious whether there will be some gameplay to it with stats and for example evaluation points or does it continue with pure choices.
I could also think of an option with sister setting curriculum for the day as manager and MC dealing with it.
Maybe it will be some kind of mix of those things or something completely different. I'm really looking forward to it.
Also I'm wondering how much action will Karlsson sisters have. I guess they can't just stay at some facility all the time and have fun when they have this massive company to run.

It may be an overestimation but with how I see this story it could have like 100 or more different endings depending on how protagonists develop their traits and relationships. All these possibilities. Good/evil, Dom/Sub for both MCs in different variants and levels. Plus their possible backers/alliances/enemies which could differ. The sheer amount of these scenarios I can see unfolding is staggering. Like for example good dominant sister rescuing brother who got too submissive and guiding him to actually succeed. Which could in turn get him or both of them in more trouble. Or doing very good as evil dominant and getting more acquainted with let's say Veronica and making this one crucial mistake which gets you a bad outcome or possibly dragging others down with you. There was also this question on the test with Solo, Team or Gambit option, which could be of importance.
I'm thinking about that gambit in the title. Was something sacrificed from the start by Karlsson father or is the story about making these sacrifices along the way? Maybe both.
This power play is exciting. Is it possible for one or more Karlsson sisters to get a bad or very bad end? The players stop abiding the rules and the game is destroyed option? Inciting a riot of middle management option?

It should get more straightforward as the story progresses because what I imagine is too ambitious and complicated for single creator to make. We can see already how much trouble the creator of Estate Dominate have with transitions of different paths and he has like 6 characters in the game.

Just a bit of possibly incoherent ramblings by someone impressed by this project.

Thanks for the kind words. I can't quite do what I really wanted but I will be able to do a lot of what I planned. What I really wanted was an actual mini-game for Olivia(sis) to implement different directives and impact on the prisoners...one kind of random example might be Karyn's Prison...but I don't know how to code anything at that level at all. If I could do some kind of gameplay for points I would love to, but my poor coding knowledge impacts this...but yes, there will be evaluation points and different test outcomes depending how you choose and do in the training, etc. The actual Gambit has something to do (not main goal but a part of it) with what Alexander Karlsson himself faced when he was younger (not in story yet), but a minor hint is that he faced a strong core of females...and survived somehow.

For endings, I have what I consider 15 core endings planned, now some have sub-endings like side characters and what happens so I don't consider that a true ending but rather a part of bigger ending as the side sub stuff will likely have a set of pictures and narration/scenes separate detailing their end, etc. All of the 15 core endings are not truly unique in that for example 2 or 3 might be similar types of endings but with different characters but others are truly unique in that they can only occur with specific characters and choices one way only. A minor example/hint is that one Karlsson sister might be a possible romance that can be influenced (think of a fulcrum) to different endings, but another one might be set in her ways and can only be experienced a very specific and singular way. Another example is that for the four sisters, only certain paths can romance them, one might never want a sub male, another may never want a dom one. Things like that...

 

[Aseratrix]

Thanks for the kind words, I have no plans or anything right now, I just have pressure from the current artist assisting and a very huge dev that has given me a little starting advice. Both say I am wasting my time on this style of game, but right now I don't agree!

May I ask what kind of games they thought would be better to make?

 

[Maviarab]

Thanks for the kind words. I can't quite do what I really wanted but I will be able to do a lot of what I planned. What I really wanted was an actual mini-game for Olivia(sis) to implement different directives and impact on the prisoners...one kind of random example might be Karyn's Prison...but I don't know how to code anything at that level at all. If I could do some kind of gameplay for points I would love to, but my poor coding knowledge impacts this...but yes, there will be evaluation points and different test outcomes depending how you choose and do in the training, etc. The actual Gambit has something to do (not main goal but a part of it) with what Alexander Karlsson himself faced when he was younger (not in story yet), but a minor hint is that he faced a strong core of females...and survived somehow.

For endings, I have what I consider 15 core endings planned, now some have sub-endings like side characters and what happens so I don't consider that a true ending but rather a part of bigger ending as the side sub stuff will likely have a set of pictures and narration/scenes separate detailing their end, etc. All of the 15 core endings are not truly unique in that for example 2 or 3 might be similar types of endings but with different characters but others are truly unique in that they can only occur with specific characters and choices one way only. A minor example/hint is that one Karlsson sister might be a possible romance that can be influenced (think of a fulcrum) to different endings, but another one might be set in her ways and can only be experienced a very specific and singular way. Another example is that for the four sisters, only certain paths can romance them, one might never want a sub male, another may never want a dom one. Things like that...

No mini-games Tess...just keep doing what you're doing.

 

[TessSadist]

No mini-games Tess...just keep doing what you're doing.

Not really my plan, someone tried to talk me into it and I have a hard time arguing against certain huge success, but it doesn't seem to match the tone well for my story. I do like choice based consequences a lot though...

 

[Maviarab]

Not really my plan, someone tried to talk me into it and I have a hard time arguing against certain huge success, but it doesn't seem to match the tone well for my story. I do like choice based consequences a lot though...

If talking about a certain particular huge success...I have no idea how they achieved it personally but, it also comes at a cost of 3x 7 grand machines running 24/7 and being full-time on the project and naturally...the 'genre' is popular which as we all know, yours is far less so (but far better story imo). Are they very good with Python? Yes. Are their renders excellent? For the most part but not the best around here (again, imo). You'll notice that 'huge success' is not in my sig, talented as they are 2 games from one dev in my Sig that are infinitely better than a more successful dev....he has no need for free-roams...sandbox...or mini-games. Just quality storytelling and artwork.

I'm a firm believer that excessive mini-games...multitudes of free-roam, just masks what is essentially a lack of real content and coherant story. We also have to be very subjective on exactly what defines success.

 

[TessSadist]

May I ask what kind of games they thought would be better to make?

I'll just say that both are convinced I could be making way way more money per month with a different style of game with how I write and render things, etc. I don't necessarily disagree with their logic -- you can clearly see how certain styles of femdom games do overall...compared to other things.

They have also heard my idea for my second game and this is part of their thinking. I don't want to divulge too much on it, but it's a game that would involve many exotic locations, action/adventure, and sexy but dangerous women, etc. But, they don't realize a few key things from my end even though I have said so enough: I make enough in real life just fine (it's the time not money issue that is most concerning to me with game development) and have five income streams working (KG is one of those five), and I want to tell stories I enjoy. I also don't know how to animate AT ALL yet, and that would be very key in the second one. KG all along was my learning project to figure out how the heck to even do this kind of thing...coming from a very newbie and green perspective.

 

[Spfjolietjake]

Thanks for the kind words, I have no plans or anything right now, I just have pressure from the current artist assisting and a very huge dev that has given me a little starting advice. Both say I am wasting my time on this style of game, but right now I don't agree!

I'm hooked on this so I'm pretty damn biased but I love this project. It's so fucking uniquely special and I honestly think the more people that find it and give it a chance the more that will love it.

 

[Maviarab]

I'll just say that both are convinced I could be making way way more money per month with a different style of game with how I write and render things, etc. I don't necessarily disagree with their logic -- you can clearly see how certain styles of femdom games do overall...compared to other things.

Key issue right there Tess for me. Doing it because you want to do it? Or to make moola? If the latter, probably never finish the game/VN (as many can attest to). Sure, if it's all about the cash, have a few teenagers, fuck your sister, your mothers cat....aunty...and have a dumb as rocks MC who forgets how to speak when he sees a girl. Guaranteed success.

But is that really what you want to write/render/spend so much time on? I know for sure as hell I don't, which is why I won't (for my own). Will it be successful? Probably not no. Make me a lot of cash? Also probably not. Will I be be a lame cop-out jumping on the bandwagon? Definitely not. Will you be respected more? Hell yes.

Personally I feel the more serious/better written VN's coming out are gathering much more interest than they ever would a few years ago, which can only be a good thing. Sure the masses might want their sister in a sandwich with their mom....but there are still a hell of a lot of folk who want a well written story with a good plot where the sexy stuff is just an extra bonus.

 

[gregers]

I make enough in real life just fine (it's the time not money issue that is most concerning to me with game development) and have five income streams working (KG is one of those five), and I want to tell stories I enjoy.

That's really the core of it, I suppose: Figuring out why you're in this and what you want to get out of it. If turning as large a profit as possible isn't the main concern for now, that gives you more freedom to pursue your own vision for the game.

I have my reservations about this game (the multiple protag thing and some of the early renders, no need to rehash that discussion for the umpteenth time) but I don't think anyone can deny that it's an original and personal project. To me that seems much more suited for building a name and cutting your teeth in game development than iteration #472 on some clichéd formula.

You keep telling the stories you enjoy, and I'm sure there will be an audience for it even if it isn't massive. If, on the other hand, you come to depend on the income from game dev, then sure, it might be worth thinking about how to appeal to a wider audience. That's just the yoke of capitalism, nothing shameful in that.

 

[Aseratrix]

I'll just say that both are convinced I could be making way way more money per month with a different style of game with how I write and render things, etc. I don't necessarily disagree with their logic -- you can clearly see how certain styles of femdom games do overall...compared to other things.

They have also heard my idea for my second game and this is part of their thinking. I don't want to divulge too much on it, but it's a game that would involve many exotic locations, action/adventure, and sexy but dangerous women, etc. But, they don't realize a few key things from my end even though I have said so enough: I make enough in real life just fine (it's the time not money issue that is most concerning to me with game development) and have five income streams working (KG is one of those five), and I want to tell stories I enjoy. I also don't know how to animate AT ALL yet, and that would be very key in the second one. KG all along was my learning project to figure out how the heck to even do this kind of thing...coming from a very newbie and green perspective.

Thanks for your answer! I completely understand and agree with your take on it. Let me take the opportunity to wish you happy holidays!

 

[TessSadist]

Key issue right there Tess for me. Doing it because you want to do it? Or to make moola? If the latter, probably never finish the game/VN (as many can attest to). Sure, if it's all about the cash, have a few teenagers, fuck your sister, your mothers cat....aunty...and have a dumb as rocks MC who forgets how to speak when he sees a girl. Guaranteed success.

But is that really what you want to write/render/spend so much time on? I know for sure as hell I don't, which is why I won't (for my own). Will it be successful? Probably not no. Make me a lot of cash? Also probably not. Will I be be a lame cop-out jumping on the bandwagon? Definitely not. Will you be respected more? Hell yes.

Personally I feel the more serious/better written VN's coming out are gathering much more interest than they ever would a few years ago, which can only be a good thing. Sure the masses might want their sister in a sandwich with their mom....but there are still a hell of a lot of folk who want a well written story with a good plot where the sexy stuff is just an extra bonus.

So true. I would absolutely say that there for me is a clear difference between a good story that I think is more commercial than a true commercial game tailored to just generate Patrons due to specific fetishes and plot points that I would be kind of ashamed to be spending hundreds of hours on, etc. I don't want to be hundreds of hours in and suddenly realize..."You know what, I'm creating and peddling pure shit here..." So I'm probably never going to go the landlord/roommate/sister/mother living in a house angle anytime soon.