VN Ren'Py Leaving DNA [Ep. 4.3a] [Impious Monk]

[Monetka_]

Developer's Journal 5:49

Hey everybody.

My playtester has Episode Five. However, I told him there's no rush as I think we still will be working on animations for some time. (Normally I pay two playtesters but it's worked out so only this guy is left. Tbh he's mostly been doing it himself the last couple of episodes anyway so I have no concerns.)

Bonus renders, menus, replays, Steam achievements, walkthrough, music, everything is done. Animations are the only thing left.

I have dumped too much work at once on Sandem here at the end. He of course has other obligations other than just working on my animations. So the first step is for him to have time to do the animations and the second step is for me to render them. I'm sure it's not possible to finish the rendering in January. But unless some mishap befalls Sandem it should be done in February. So far there are 28 videos rendered (based on nine animations) but that's not even close to half of the animations we have left.

You guys know my policy has always been that Biggest Supporters who sub at least half of the dev cycle get their names in the credits for that episode. Due to my canceling Patreon, anyone who subbed for the Biggest Supporters tier this cycle will get their name in the end credits. However, for the final releases of Episodes Six, Seven, and Eight, credits will instead be given only for Platinum Tier supporters.

Both Biggest Supporters and Platinum Supporters will receive Episode Five as soon as its ready. Lower tiers and Steam/Itch will get it five days later.

I am going to take a couple of days to do Blender tutorials, read books, and catch up on some AVNs. After that I will start working on writing/rendering Episode Six. By the time Episode Five drops I expect to already have a lot of work done on Episode Six.

Thank you for your patience.

--Monk

 

[guidedbyvoices]

The threesome scene was awesome by the way, maybe the best/most fun/sexy threesome i ever saw in a avn by the way (i like casual settings tho, that may played a part too)!

Thanks for confirming this for me in advance, except for the teddy bear scene with Jamie, with which I had a great laugh because I wasn't expecting it, I was indeed expecting the A in AVN but couldn't find it here. I stopped the game right there and went to check the forum first because I was dreading for another imminent blueballing cockblock


Don't read this if you are easily offended and/or a fanboi:


-Despite what the walkthrough says, I couldn't romance Aghavni even when the math adds up, I guess because I wasn't an ass about driving the car in the very early game (it was the only decision I didn't take about her) or maybe because she isn't compatible with being into Emmeline's path (a "path" where there's not even a single kiss with neither of them lol) also. She's allegedly into dominant men but she's actually the man. Friendzoned me

-Jamie is an endless cockblock, she doesn't go for it but doesn't allow you to go for it either, friendzoned me (either temporarily or permanently)

-Early Emmeline looked girly, sweet and funny so I liked her the most, but she turned into this black hole which sucks fun instead of matter, playing the hard to get blueballer after her not-so-discerning party days is downright unacceptable. I think she has a scene later in ep 4 but I couldn't be bothered anymore because you are apparently good enough to go with her to a wedding but not enough for a single kiss after several dates

-Malena's too high in the crazy scale, killing and breaking arms of men making advances on her and on no less than daily bupropion, no thanks. Sadly she's the only one actually delivering (according to her scenes in early chapters that I couldn't watch) without putting you on endless sob drama before a single first kiss could ever happen, but she's clearly nuts


So, FINALLY, the college girls mention a threesome and I thought at first "FUCKING FINALLY some action", but nooooo you have to drop every single LI and caring about your paternal crippled sister because you, as a bachelor, are somehow forbidden to have fun and required to be dragged into everyone else's sob story instead and your own self-sabotaging. Because of course, as a single man, having fun with horny hot college girls is irresponsible, unlike being with a professional killer on bupropion, a needy manly policewoman or a retired party girl playing hard to get is the responsible decision, sure

If that's the way it is then I've had it, enough is enough, I'll play the threesome scene and continue with another actual AVN.

The story is in fact good for a VN without the A, dropping all the emotional extortion about having fun.

 

[Tremonia]

The story is in fact good for a VN without the A, dropping all the emotional extortion about having fun.

This game isn't for the weaks. That's for sure.

 

[guidedbyvoices]

This game isn't for the weaks. That's for sure.

It also needs a dream about Vega, she's so mad at the MC for dumping her that she could hate fuck him into curing his depression. She's the woman most into the MC, even though she looks like she's the least one.

That could put the A in AVN.

 

[Dessolos]

It also needs a dream about Vega, she's so mad at the MC for dumping her that she could hate fuck him into curing his depression. She's the woman most into the MC, even though she looks like she's the least one.

That could put the A in AVN.

A doesn't always have to mean porn / sex you know especially in a more story focused one.

 

[Chillout1984]

A doesn't always have to mean porn / sex you know especially in a more story focused one.

Also there already is sex in this game, so that should fit the A part for people who think it should contain sex/porn.

 

[guidedbyvoices]

A doesn't always have to mean porn / sex you know especially in a more story focused one.

True, "adult" doesn't always mean it's about sex, but I'm talking about the conventional term "AVN" where the A means sex because it's the specific subgenre of VNs that actually contains explicit sex.

 

[mumudef4]

Why does this game have an cheating tag? It doesn't feel like a Netori game.

 

[Just Jericho]

It also needs a dream about Vega, she's so mad at the MC for dumping her that she could hate fuck him into curing his depression.

I think you'll like the 4th dream then...

 

[Impious Monk]

Why does this game have an cheating tag? It doesn't feel like a Netori game.

One of the dreams scenes has cheating. It's not in the actual story, though.

 

[mumudef4]

One of the dreams scenes has cheating. It's not in the actual story, though.

I was looking for Netori games under the “cheating” tag, and I just tried this one. In it, a married woman from the gym tries to hook up with the protagonist, but he refuses, saying he’s not the kind of person who breaks up families. That’s why I was confused about the “cheating” tag—it turns out it only happens in a dream. The protagonist seems like a straight-laced, decent guy, so there probably won’t be any actual Netori content. Thanks for your reply.

 

[maxthruster]

I was looking for Netori games under the “cheating” tag, and I just tried this one. In it, a married woman from the gym tries to hook up with the protagonist, but he refuses, saying he’s not the kind of person who breaks up families. That’s why I was confused about the “cheating” tag—it turns out it only happens in a dream. The protagonist seems like a straight-laced, decent guy, so there probably won’t be any actual Netori content. Thanks for your reply.

This is why I wish they'd adopt a two-tiered tag system - primary tags for the content that makes up the majority of the game and is most related to its core themes, and secondary tags that are more superfluous, rare or avoidable stuff. Would really help a lot of people.

 

[Tremonia]

That could put the A in AVN.

The A in AVN stands for Adult as others already stated. Adult content is not synonymous with porn. It also means adult themes and plots. Sure, personally, I have nothing against explicit love scenes in games. However, they are not necessary for a game to be good. An AVN with a good story and few sex scenes, or perhaps even none at all, can still be a 10/10 game. An AVN with 1312 sex scenes but no plot will never score higher than 1/10. These games are played because of the N in AVN: Novel. They tell us stories that, in the best case, draw us into the story. A good story makes the sex scenes meaningful and with that more enjoyable. If it's just about jerking off, there are better and faster places on the internet, where you can find Petabytes of videos.

 

[yossa999]

The A in AVN stands for Adult as others already stated. Adult content is not synonymous with porn. It also means adult themes and plots. Sure, personally, I have nothing against explicit love scenes in games. However, they are not necessary for a game to be good. An AVN with a good story and few sex scenes, or perhaps even none at all, can still be a 10/10 game. An AVN with 1312 sex scenes but no plot will never score higher than 1/10. These games are played because of the N in AVN: Novel. They tell us stories that, in the best case, draw us into the story. A good story makes the sex scenes meaningful and with that more enjoyable. If it's just about jerking off, there are better and faster places on the internet, where you can find Petabytes of videos.

The funniest thing is that LDNA has 100% adult/porn scenes for all the main characters except Jamie. The dude simply has skill issues and can't get them even with the help of the walkthrough.

I wonder if he managed to find the bonus scenes. There's a threesome with Vega, he was just complaining about the lack of a scene with her. And then there's the "plomp." Too adult for this site.

I know this dude is just trolling and ragebaiting, and his posting history shows that he does it everywhere he goes. So no more food for him.

 

[Tremonia]

I know this dude is just trolling and ragebaiting, and his posting history shows that he does it everywhere he goes. So no more food for him.

Oh, I didn't checked it. Okay... next one for the list.

 

[Monetka_]

Developer's Journal 5:50/6:1

Hello friends.

My playtester still has Episode Five. Unfortunately, no work was done on animations this week. However, since I didn't want my rendering machines sitting idle, I dove in on Episode Six and cranked out 213 renders. That might be a record for me. I doubt I'll be able to come close to that again, particularly if (hopefully) I'm able to render some animations this week.

I know that you guys are looking at Episode Four as the latest update and thinking the game still has a long ways to go, but for me, because I'm done with my part on Episode Five and because Episodes Six, Seven, and Eight are shorter and will be released once all of them are finished, that means that I am now working on Leaving DNA's final update. So I can see the finish line. I can't tell you how energizing that is. I feel like I've got a second wind.

As no prior drafts of these episodes have ever been written, the process will be slowed down a bit while I'm working on the script at the same time I'm trying to keep the rendering machines busy. Most of Episode Five was this way, too. Still, you shouldn't expect that because Episodes Four and Five each took almost a year therefore Episodes Six through Eight will take three years. No, I have both a goal and an expectation and they are both vastly accelerated from that pace. So let's see how fast I can get this thing done.

Thanks guys.

--Monk

 

[guidedbyvoices]

The A in AVN stands for Adult as others already stated. Adult content is not synonymous with porn. It also means adult themes and plots. Sure, personally, I have nothing against explicit love scenes in games. However, they are not necessary for a game to be good. An AVN with a good story and few sex scenes, or perhaps even none at all, can still be a 10/10 game. An AVN with 1312 sex scenes but no plot will never score higher than 1/10. These games are played because of the N in AVN: Novel. They tell us stories that, in the best case, draw us into the story. A good story makes the sex scenes meaningful and with that more enjoyable. If it's just about jerking off, there are better and faster places on the internet, where you can find Petabytes of videos.

The story looked good to me as a non-erotic one, so I'm not against the story.

It's how it's all presented to shame you for wanting to have any kind of fun that I didn't like. It's true the sex scenes are scarce but for me that's not the main problem or the problem per se.

There's a threesome with Vega, he was just complaining about the lack of a scene with her.

I said it needed one, not that it lacked one including the most recent content. I stopped playing where I said I stopped playing so it wasn't unlocked yet for me, your reading comprehension is limited but that's not my fault.

I know this dude is just trolling and ragebaiting, and his posting history shows that he does it everywhere he goes. So no more food for him.

That's false and you are paranoid, I warned my opinion could hurt sensibilities so I placed it on spoilers. You are obviously tilted against me because I disagreed with you on another game's thread and it seems you can't handle a different opinion to your likings.

 

[MagicMan753]

So the final 3 episodes will be shorter overall. Yeah, Jamie's path is about to be a disappointment. Sure, I feel like she may actually get her big moment and scene in this epsiode with this news of how the final update and episodes will come out.

But none of that will make up for the entire first season(half of the game) and now with shorter episodes for the final 3, Jamie is never going to actually get treated super fairly or catch up with others and will just feel like the biggest missed opportunity and waste with how she was treated compared to the other main girls.

I am just letdown and disappointed, cause Jamie was the only reason I played this game and she was treated like a side character for first half of game and will just get minimal stuff in second half probably, while the others will continue to get great stuff. I am just very sad that it feels like Jamie was wasted and deserved better...

 

[Ottoeight]

So the final 3 episodes will be shorter overall. Yeah, Jamie's path is about to be a disappointment. Sure, I feel like she may actually get her big moment and scene in this epsiode with this news of how the final update and episodes will come out.

But none of that will make up for the entire first season(half of the game) and now with shorter episodes for the final 3, Jamie is never going to actually get treated super fairly or catch up with others and will just feel like the biggest missed opportunity and waste with how she was treated compared to the other main girls.

I am just letdown and disappointed, cause Jamie was the only reason I played this game and she was treated like a side character for first half of game and will just get minimal stuff in second half probably, while the others will continue to get great stuff. I am just very sad that it feels like Jamie was wasted and deserved better...

I 100% agree with you.

Now the Author might want to explain what was the damn point of all those long courtroom trial scenes.

This game is just the umpteenth case of an AVN where the "I'm introducing the story and characters" part is way bigger and richer than the "here's what happens, folks" part.

 

[Virtual Player]

I'm just here for the Jamie scenes. But this AVN was kind of a pseudo Law and Order exposition without the "Dun dun" theme music and the relative comic relief of Ice-T and Richard Belzer (RIP) or the sexiness of Olivia and Benson. Making an AVN is a lot of work, hat tip for the superlative artwork, but the rest of it is not something that I categorize under Guilty Pleasures.