VN Ren'Py Karlsson's Gambit [v0.8.2 Test] [Grym Gudinna Games]

[Maviarab]

i played the last update and i enjoyed it very much.
thank you for your amazing job, mistress
but i want to tell you something
i guess most of your Game's fans playing only K4 story-line i think most of us are here because of Femdom contents.
so why don't you focus on K4 path and forget about maledom? there is dozens of games in this forum with maledom or regular sex contents.
one of the most important thing that make your game spacial is Femdom not maledom or regular sex scenes.
and i alittle disappointed about Olivia ( female protagonist ). there wasn't enough contents for her in this update. i wish see her in more action ( of course femdom)
and 1 more thing
as i told you before, i cant directly support you. due u.s sanctions. but i can mining for you (Ethereum) up to 40$ per month.
it's my pleasure if you send me your Ethereum wallet code so i could serve you Mistress
sorry for my terrible english language skill. and i wish you best in your real life and hope you continue your fantastic job with this game.

Maybe because Tess wants both options. Even on dom path...you're not really going to be a true dom...not with women like that. You just won't be a complete sub.

Another question would be..why do people keep constantly commenting on game threads telling the dev to do something different?

 

[SubFork]

Maybe because Tess wants both options. Even on dom path...you're not really going to be a true dom...not with women like that. You just won't be a complete sub.

Another question would be..why do people keep constantly commenting on game threads telling the dev to do something different?

i know. but focusing on only femdom path makes this game developing much faster and better

i only said my opinion. im not try to force devs to do anything. its just opinion buddy.
i really enjoy this game and if you read my review you understand how much i love this masterpiece.
but Sorry if my comment caused a misunderstanding.

 

[Maviarab]

i know. but focusing on only femdom path makes this game developing much faster and better

i only said my opinion. im not try to force devs to do anything. its just opinion buddy.
i really enjoy this game and if you read my review you understand how mush i love this masterpiece.
but Sorry if my comment caused a misunderstanding.

But you understand the appeal of fetishes and themes yes? femdom alone...would reduce Tess to being a little unknown small time dev forever. it fdoes not hold the mass appeal or interest of the majority. Maledom does (for obvious reasons). Now, I don't know if Tess added the maledom version for those reasons, or she actually wanted it in. However, if you had actually bothered to read her posts here, the maledom path is not actually a true dom path. You will still be very subserviant to the women in the game, just not to the extent of being completely submissive to them. So even on that path, you are still taking orders. From what I can gather, it is how you carry out those orders, when and for the greater good of being 'used less' as an object or plaything.

As for the second part, every thread here has people coming to them asking the dev to change things they do not like, don't want to see blah blah yadda yadda. It gets old real quick, trust me. Like for example..what's your fave game here? Shall I go to that thread and start saying I don't like stuff....I want this changed..why are you doing this etc etc? You see my point? Tess is making the game she wants to make, or is making to attrract more attention. That's unlikely to change. Accept it or move on.

So I apologise if my first response came across as a little blunt and harsh.

 

[Aseratrix]

Wow, that makes this the 4th "best game on this site" this week and I think we've got at least 100 total "best game on this site" games.

Every time a well planned out game comes out it's the best game on the site. It's an incredibly diluted phrase that has no meaning anymore.

I've seen people say those shitty mass produced rape fest RPGM games are "the best game on this site". Everyone has an opinion on that it seems.

Don't get me wrong, this game is in a class of it's own and to top it off Tess is an absolute darling but there's a lot of competition for "best game on this site".

I guess I forgot to add "for me" then, but I figured it should be obvious. I can only repeat it once again: FOR ME this is definitely the best game on this entire site.

Your outburst was entirely uncalled for, I was expressing sincere and heartfelt gratitude for this game.

Ps: I don't hate RPGM games, some of them, depending on CONTENT are great in what they aim to achieve. In fact with precious and noted few exceptions, VNs are the most boring experience I ever had, some RPGMs at least try to be a GAME, where you actually INTERACT with an environment, allowing for free-roaming, sandbox aspects better than VNs. Its not always about graphics or original artwork or even high-minded concepts and involving stories, sometimes a game can serve its intended purpose with fitting very well a desired fetish and/or genre, and be cute and endearing as such.

 

[Max1276]

another interesting update

 

[BigStuffedTiger]

thank you for your amazing job, mistress
...
but i want to tell you something
i guess most of your Game's fans playing only K4 story-line i think most of us are here because of Femdom contents.
so why don't you focus on K4 path and forget about maledom?

I thought she explained her reasoning, and preferences, quite eloquently in the game's Intro. You did read it didn't you? Because you seem to be attempting to convince her that your preferences are more important than hers.

 

[Glooskabe]

Hmm. I was hoping not. I do have positive points with Dom, Vic and Juli but the choices near the end edge Juli forward on points so I think you get the sponsor you have the most points with and if you met their criteria. Honestly I find Vic and Dom to be the best looking and seeing them on opposite ends just encourages more playthroughs.

We don't know yet on this either because sponsor in 0.3 is not based on which point you have the most. If you look at the walkthrough, you basically can get more points with Dominique but ends up with Juliette or Veronica.

Apologies if somebody else has addressed this. (I looked, but I could have missed something!)

The way the sponsorship opportunity is handled in the code is through an if-elif-else chain (Veronica->Juliette->Dominique). I believe it is possible to meet the criteria for sponsorship for more than one of them (although, full disclosure I haven't played that path!) so the offer/meeting you get is the FIRST one in the chain you qualify for. (Btw Dominique is the catch-all. If you don't qualify for Veronica or Juliette, you get Dominique regardless of the points you have with her. Although, I haven't actually analyzed the point distribution that closely. A quick look suggests that failing to qualify with V or J, you to pick up at least 2 points with Dominique... Another rabbit-hole for another day! )

Another point worth noting is that Alessandra is not available for sponsorship at this time... Is that because of her relationship with Sister or something else?

 

[Medak]

Great update,
The game is slowly starting to branch out, so I guess in the next few updates we will have that do or die moment.
The main problem for these kinds of games is when either the updates take too long and each update gives a small amount of content for each specific path, because there are a lot of different variables and paths to choose from or the game starts to slowly limit your options into a few main paths where most other choices are just flavor text, because it's not realistic to develop many meaningful branches without avoiding the first problem.

So I hope that the devs don't drown and abandon such a great game, because sadly there are a lot of examples of promising games that where abandoned midway because of maybe overambitious attempts and the overwhelming amount of content needed to keep up the pace with all the paths.
That would be a shame, because this game is a prime example of a femdom(dom) game done right with both stunning visuals and good storytelling.
I won't say the only one on this site, but one of the tragically few with this main theme and kind of quality.

Best of luck to the devs

 

[Skylaroo]

The way the sponsorship opportunity is handled in the code is through an if-elif-else chain (Veronica->Juliette->Dominique). I believe it is possible to meet the criteria for sponsorship for more than one of them (although, full disclosure I haven't played that path!) so the offer/meeting you get is the FIRST one in the chain you qualify for.

Yeah that's what I said. In 0.3 you're only able to meet one sponsor, and even if you have the highest points with Dominique, you could end up with Juliette/Veronica if you meet their criteria instead. In the future update, it's likely that Dominique's points would matter again, but we don't exactly know yet in what form and how it's going to work out.

Another point worth noting is that Alessandra is not available for sponsorship at this time... Is that because of her relationship with Sister or something else?

This is just my speculation, but I'm guessing it's because she's focused on dealing with Olivia for now and not too invested in Kane yet. Story-wise, there's no reason to hurry in sponsoring him either. It's not like first-come first-serve and exclusive sponsorship system, so Alessandra can hang back and see how Kane develops before deciding to sponsor or not.

 

[BigStuffedTiger]

Apologies if somebody else has addressed this. (I looked, but I could have missed something!)

The way the sponsorship opportunity is handled in the code is through an if-elif-else chain (Veronica->Juliette->Dominique). I believe it is possible to meet the criteria for sponsorship for more than one of them (although, full disclosure I haven't played that path!) so the offer/meeting you get is the FIRST one in the chain you qualify for. (Btw Dominique is the catch-all. If you don't qualify for Veronica or Juliette, you get Dominique regardless of the points you have with her. Although, I haven't actually analyzed the point distribution that closely. A quick look suggests that failing to qualify with V or J, you to pick up at least 2 points with Dominique... Another rabbit-hole for another day! )

According to ZoeyRaven's walkthrough:

If [Vmeet] >=2 {Go to Veronica Meet}
If [Jmeet] >=3 & [Evil] >=3 {Go to J Meet}
Else {Go to D Meet}

As per our lovely authoress, Dmeet will matter later even if you meet with Veronica in chapter 3. Apparently Dominique allows Veronica to have the first shot at any MC that catches her eye to tie her closer, as they seem to be allies. Juliette on the other hand is welcome to evil MC's that catch her interest. I suppose Dominique meets with any dominant MC who doesn't catch the interest of one of her sisters, even if they aren't her type, simply because of the Gambit. Despite the fact that the variable [DominiqueSponsor] gets set, it's hard to imagine Dominique actually sponsoring a highly evil MC who doesn't manage to catch Juliette's interest however.

Another point worth noting is that Alessandra is not available for sponsorship at this time... Is that because of her relationship with Sister or something else?

It's possible that Alessandra is less attracted to men than women. Beyond Alessandra's surprisingly strong warmth towards the MC's sister, Veronica seemed surprised that Alessandra only kept Diana for herself and gave away Diana's male love interest to the rehabilitation program. I admit that this is by no means conclusive as Alessandra is clearly a sadist and she's setting Diana up to suffer as she watches her love get used and abused by other women, but Alessandra also noted that Diana had spurned her previous offer, and well, Hell hath no fury like a spurned Sadist...

 

[Glooskabe]

According to ZoeyRaven's walkthrough:

If [Vmeet] >=2 {Go to Veronica Meet}
If [Jmeet] >=3 & [Evil] >=3 {Go to J Meet}
Else {Go to D Meet}

As per our lovely authoress, Dmeet will matter later even if you meet with Veronica in chapter 3. Apparently Dominique allows Veronica to have the first shot at any MC that catches her eye to tie her closer, as they seem to be allies. Juliette on the other hand is welcome to evil MC's that catch her interest. I suppose Dominique meets with any dominant MC who doesn't catch the interest of one of her sisters, even if they aren't her type, simply because of the Gambit. Despite the fact that the variable [DominiqueSponsor] gets set, it's hard to imagine Dominique actually sponsoring a highly evil MC who doesn't manage to catch Juliette's interest however.



It's possible that Alessandra is less attracted to men than women. Beyond Alessandra's surprisingly strong warmth towards the MC's sister, Veronica seemed surprised that Alessandra only kept Diana for herself and gave away Diana's male love interest to the rehabilitation program. I admit that this is by no means conclusive as Alessandra is clearly a sadist and she's setting Diana up to suffer as she watches her love get used and abused by other women, but Alessandra also noted that Diana had spurned her previous offer, and well, Hell hath no fury like a spurned Sadist...

Your thoughts on Dominique's sponsorship are fairly consonant with my own. I didn't go into detail about that since I was only responding to posts questioning/speculating about how the sponsorship meetings were awarded. I'm not sure why you quoted the walkthrough since I already referenced the code in my response..

Regarding Alessandra, your point about her sexual proclivities may in fact be the case, but that doesn't explain her lack of interest in sponsorships as it doesn't seem that sponsorship necessarily implies any kind of sexual relationship with the sponsor. It seems to be more involved with how the MC's personality/worldview/goals line up with the sponsor's.

 

[BigStuffedTiger]

Your thoughts on Dominique's sponsorship are fairly consonant with my own. I didn't go into detail about that since I was only responding to posts questioning/speculating about how the sponsorship meetings were awarded. I'm not sure why you quoted the walkthrough since I already referenced the code in my response..

I put it up for any who might be interested, not necessarily yourself since you were already peeking at the code.

Regarding Alessandra, your point about her sexual proclivities may in fact be the case, but that doesn't explain her lack of interest in sponsorships as it doesn't seem that sponsorship necessarily implies any kind of sexual relationship with the sponsor. It seems to be more involved with how the MC's personality/worldview/goals line up with the sponsor's.

Look at the newest Z1, Kitty, who used to be Elena's sex toy. Given that we don't know the histories of most Z1's, it's hard to say how typical Kitty's situation of being both sex toy and assistant to a board member is for prospective executives. We do know that Sam was said by Kitty to be "too short" to be promoted into the executive ranks, so there definitely seems to be an appearance standard, something that Patricia also remarked upon as important to advancement, and higher ranking Karlsson employees clearly feel its their right to sexually prey on lower ranking employees. When Dominique decides to have sex with Junko, or sends her to give the MC a sexual massage, Junko doesn't dare say no. When Veronica and Allesandra decide to use Patricia as a footstool and footlicker she quickly complies without complaint.

 

[Glooskabe]

Yeah that's what I said. In 0.3 you're only able to meet one sponsor, and even if you have the highest points with Dominique, you could end up with Juliette/Veronica if you meet their criteria instead. In the future update, it's likely that Dominique's points would matter again, but we don't exactly know yet in what form and how it's going to work out.

Sure, I wasn't saying you were wrong. I was just amplifying your response with some detail. (If you had provided detail in an earlier post, I apologize. I did say I looked for related posts but may have missed something!)

As for how the dmeet points may be relevant in the future even if you are initially sponsored by someone else, as somebody mentioned above referring to MC's conversation with Kitty about her promotion, sponsorship by two Z level people is required for promotion to that level... Seems as likely an explanation as any at this point!

 

[Glooskabe]

Look at the newest Z1, Kitty, who used to be Elena's sex toy. Given that we don't know the histories of most Z1's, it's hard to say how typical Kitty's situation of being both sex toy and assistant to a board member is for prospective executives. We do know that Sam was said by Kitty to be "too short" to be promoted into the executive ranks, so there definitely seems to be an appearance standard, something that Patricia also remarked upon as important to advancement, and higher ranking Karlsson employees clearly feel its their right to sexually prey on lower ranking employees. When Dominique decides to have sex with Junko, or sends her to give the MC a sexual massage, Junko doesn't dare say no. When Veronica and Allasandra decide to use Patricia as a footstool and footlicker she quickly complies without complaint.

All true. No argument. However, for the other three sisters, the Xmeet points are related to decisions the MC makes which demonstrates an alignment of worldview rather than physical attractiveness. Let's face it. For people at their level, they don't need to sponsor someone to play with them if they want to. Sponsorship seems to be related to using MC to further their own agenda and possibly (big possibly really for most of them--not really an altruistic bunch!) mentoring MC's progress for his own sake.

At any rate, I'm not getting the impression that we are at odds here so much as perhaps not apprehending each other's nuanced positions fully. The nuance in this game's world seems to be key!

 

[blablabla0707]

You know you like a game when your hearts starts to beat faster when you realize there's a new update

 

[TessSadist]

Regarding the dom path, I really wanted to do one because I just like the idea of the story allowing that possibility. I guess I wasn't interested in having a pure railroaded sub MC only, but someone who had the chance to overcome obstacles and conflict in a specific narrative. I don't think the dom path helps me commercially for this specific game as I'm pretty confident 70-80% of my Patrons are sub males and 20% are dom females, but I could be wrong. I never figured this specific story idea (I had 4 I really liked, and I ranked this third at best, maybe fourth out of four for commercial viability) was very commercial given the smaller target audience. But I think it does prepare me well for future stuff, as the main reason I didn't do the story I initially targeted was no clue how to do animations. (I think you need them more for certain types of games)

Also keep in mind (not sure about other femdom writers) that I am dominant, so I do enjoy writing some scenes from the perspective of a dominant character. (even a male one, it's just fun to think and write about, because one iteration of Kane will end up as my fantasy strong male personality hee hee)

If I find a serious and good artist to lighten my load, I will probably try and write another idea as well during this game. My art is painfully slow, but I write very quickly. I don't doubt the talent of someone who did some of my 0.3, but she's also 22 years old and I'm not sure I can count on her completely yet. (I'm not much older than her, but very different maturity level) I'm not looking to become a full-time game dev because I actually do enjoy my work and it's really good income, especially given the current climate so I know I'm very very lucky. But for the game, working on solutions...if I was lucky enough to find a good artist/animator - maybe I can learn animation the right way too - who knows...

And quickly, Alessandra is at first focused on making sure Olivia is ready to go (her assignment), but we'll see how she progresses.

 

[Glooskabe]

Also keep in mind (not sure about other femdom writers) that I am dominant, so I do enjoy writing some scenes from the perspective of a dominant character. (even a male one, it's just fun to think and write about, because one iteration of Kane will end up as my fantasy strong male personality hee hee)

This is probably a good thing for people to keep in mind since I kinda suspect that typically femdom content is largely developed from a submissive male perspective.

 

[Skylaroo]

TessSadist if it isn't too much a spoiler, what are the planned path variations of the game? Someone brought up the concern of having too many branches in the game, and I thought that's a valid point. At the moment, we already see something along the line of K4/K5/K6 as well as the variation of the sponsors between Veronica/Juliette/Dominique. That's like 9 paths and we haven't even considered the varying degrees of sub/dom either.

I think you have beautifully navigated the branches so far, but how far are you planning to further branch out the currently existing branches and do you have any concern about how big the game would then become?

 

[lewdbender]

TessSadist i take the sub path with the male protagonist, and the dominant path with the sister, and how last chapter ended i want to know if the incest scens could be skiped or i must play theme to continue the story in the upcoming chapter.

 

[BigStuffedTiger]

All true. No argument. However, for the other three sisters, the Xmeet points are related to decisions the MC makes which demonstrates an alignment of worldview rather than physical attractiveness.

I wouldn't compare the opportunities available to regular employees with those available to the MC and his sister. The MC's sister is immediately welcomed to the top ranks like a long lost Karlsson sister, which she very probably is. And despite being imprisoned, the MC is immediately approached and recruited by a Karlsson board member, the only prisoner to receive that honor, and is provided with advice and opportunities (mentorship, good food, better treatment) not available to the others. So I think that between their parentage and the existence of the Gambit, the MC and his sister receive special consideration others in similar circumstances do not.

Let's face it. For people at their level, they don't need to sponsor someone to play with them if they want to.

This is true. But let me turn that question around. Why shouldn't they sponsor their most loyal and competent playmates when there is nothing stopping them?

Sponsorship seems to be related to using MC to further their own agenda and possibly

I agree, it's a requirement for an exec position, but I'm not convinced it's usually sufficient in and of itself for most employees to climb that high. There are only about a dozen Z1's in the entire Karlsson Group and I don't doubt that there are more than 12 extremely competent and loyal employees stuck in the lower ranks. Limiting advancement to the executive ranks only to the most attractive of them, most especially those that are putting smiles on their bosses' faces within the bedroom, cuts the number further. Of the 5 board members we've seen so far, Juliette is the only one we haven't seen promote someone that they've played with into the high K's or to Z1 . It seems standard operating procedure in the Karlsson Group to both play with and promote your most attractive employees.

(big possibly really for most of them--not really an altruistic bunch!) mentoring MC's progress for his own sake.

I've seen none of this so far so I'm skeptical. As you've said, this isn't an altruistic bunch.

At any rate, I'm not getting the impression that we are at odds here so much as perhaps not apprehending each other's nuanced positions fully. The nuance in this game's world seems to be key!

That sounds about right.