Unity LOK: Rebirth [v0.1.8.0 Test] [The Tribe Devs]

[KaneoJones]

It may sound silly but I'm stuck at the beginning of everything. I don't know what to do to find the chief.

 

[ruziy]

It may sound silly but I'm stuck at the beginning of everything. I don't know what to do to find the chief.

Do nothing. Because you didn't get stuck, but completed this "game".

 

[chopolander]

It may sound silly but I'm stuck at the beginning of everything. I don't know what to do to find the chief.

To sum it up, you would have more fun playing Windows 95 Minesweeper.

 

[KaneoJones]

All I can say about this game is that it is an example of what happens when you believe that "More is better". I have played this game, and later I played the abandoned 0.8, and the difference is huge. This "remake" has a lot of things that it doesn't need, that were added to "make it look better" and a lot of mechanics that are useless at best. The 0.8 was simple, with few stats but everything was understandable, everything looked good. It has made me rue the day it was abandoned, because with what little it has it has kept me entertained and made me think "Damn, how cool would this be if it kept being updated". While this 0.1.3.1 has done nothing but make me think "What am I wasting my time on?"

 

[BruceMcGivern]

All I can say about this game is that it is an example of what happens when you believe that "More is better". I have played this game, and later I played the abandoned 0.8, and the difference is huge. This "remake" has a lot of things that it doesn't need, that were added to "make it look better" and a lot of mechanics that are useless at best. The 0.8 was simple, with few stats but everything was understandable, everything looked good. It has made me rue the day it was abandoned, because with what little it has it has kept me entertained and made me think "Damn, how cool would this be if it kept being updated". While this 0.1.3.1 has done nothing but make me think "What am I wasting my time on?"

Ironic that 0.8 makes more of a difference than the rebirth right?

The assets are by default a lot optimized from the abandoned version than this version and you can easily tell how a good game was done by the proper individual. and making emphasis on singular of INDIVIDUAL.

But anyways this version gets a hard benefit of the doubt when comes to bring that spice the initial and yet abandoned version still has over this one.

 

[Staning]

One Hub, One Waterfall, and One Tavern


(Posted Feb 13th, 2023

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)
Hello Everyone and Happy February! Build 0.1.7.0 is around the corner. Place some rose petals on the bed and get ready to tuck in.
Let’s begin with a look back at build 0.1.6.0 and the Hub background. The Hub will be the focal point of the Village moving forward. Plans for a rotating set of Characters, Interactables, and Events are all in the pipeline. However today the Hub is a blank canvas that is confusing to navigate with areas impeded by foliage. So let’s start to fix this.
Firstly you will see more visual cues helping you reach the place you want to go. This includes adding Locations to the Hub, such as the Tavern Entrance or the Storage Tent in place of some trees. In addition, you will see Wooden Signs informing you on where you’re heading.
In addition to the visual cues, we’ve decided to take up some landscaping. Intrusive Trees and Foliage will be removed with other Foliage becoming transparent as you pass. The Hub is meant to be a living Background. As such, we are always looking for further Improvements and Suggestions.
When you Launch 0.1.7.0 we can’t wait for you to see the Tavern. Kuja and Sayo absolutely knocked this one out of the park. Wait! You haven’t met Sayo? Sayo is the newest Artist on the Tribe Dev team and, quite frankly, his talent speaks for itself. I hope you take a moment to Welcome him Aboard.
With the Tavern comes the Waitressing Minigame. Back in September we had posted our outline for the Minigame. For those of you who are new, or those who need a refresher. Here’s the outline for the basics.
Phase 1 - The tutorial and initial game mechanics presented to the player.

• Physically taking the correct order to the table in the appropriate time frame. This will include one of 4 food types, and a specific drink.
• Kay will move to the center table with all the food for food orders, and select which type of food to place onto her serving tray.
• Initially the tavern will be mostly empty, with the tutorial being one or two lizards seated.
• Lizards will show whether they are ordering, satisfied, or upset via barks such as:

"Hey, I want food!"
"Why is it taking so long!?"
"Finally. Delicious."

• Speaking to them will allow you to get their exact order, which must be remembered. The order could be a combination of food and/or drink.
• The difficulty increases simply by adding more patrons to the tavern thus increasing the work load and time difficulty.
• The amount of respect gained is directly proportion to the effectiveness of service Kay renders. If patrons are unhappy from waiting too long, wrong orders, or missed orders then she will receive less respect.

Phase 2 - After a few days Nesi will remark that she needs help with the bar as well. Kay will then have to mix drinks in addition to her previous duties.

• Mixing drinks is accomplished by a 2D minigame screen where she has to use a set of three barrels filled with multi-colored liquid to produce the appropriate mix. The colors of drink will also be in shapes to help colorblind.
• A Patron may order "Aufrik Ale" or up to 26 other possibilities (3*3*3) which Kay must recall the recipe and mix properly, then deliver the order like any other in a timely fashion.

Thank You for the support. You make it possible for us to find the talent that makes Lok:Rebirth possible. We have lofty goals and even loftier expectations. Have a Happy Valentine’s Day. Until Next Time. Peace and Stay Strong

 

[Theovonpapen]

With the Tavern comes the Waitressing Minigame. Back in September we had posted our outline for the Minigame. For those of you who are new, or those who need a refresher. Here’s the outline for the basics.

So basically it's that Garfield's Dinner mobile app, but on a NSFW PC game.

 

[chopolander]

Well, at least it's more than a light switch. Although I wonder if we'll stick with the paper mario-like eight directions and vertical scrolling crap that makes objects look bigger than the character, lol.

 

[Hahahehehihohuha]

the file is no longer available on Mega

 

[Staning]

the file is no longer available on Mega

You can Download the launcher from here

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[kaka123321312]

nice, keep it up!

 

[Ion.TemUS]

Same my man (or woman), same.
Let me add on to what was said.

I don't want to bash the devs. After all this time this is counterproductive. I do think some people have rose-colored glasses indeed when it comes to 0.8. While 0.8 imo was great narratively and the basic mechanical side of gameplay was fine, the corruption was done well and so on, it also had a lot of repetitive boring mini-games where you kept doing the same thing just to have minor changes from day to day and a story-"event" every few days. Frankly, once the character-rigs and 3d models are set up, technically story events should be producable very quickly. CGs and unique animations are often the bottleneck of games such as this, but on the narrative side there is a lot that can be done rather quickly, epecially if your pre-plan the different paths, characters and interactions beforehead. They had more than enough time to do all of that. Even if there are changes throughout development and if scenes are added as ideas for new kinks to include or new elements to add, the base narrative structure should be decided on, and so simple dialogue should be "easy" to do. Im putting it in quotation marks becuase obviously inspirational and creative work can't be done on a conveyer belt, especially if its supposed to be done right. One might spend 2 weeks without coming up with anything good from a writing perspective, then spend the next 2 days doing work equvialent of the last 2 months. It happens. You can't put creativity on a set schedule. That being said, creative work is, especially writing, is also non-linear and that is one of it's strong points. Being able to produce months worth of work in a manner of days is an advantage. Organizing the storyboarding process properly will lead you to always have some good narrative to add with the next patch. Which I do not see happening as much here.

Honesty, if I was making a game (and yes Im not, because I am doing my degree, Im working and I have other hobbies in my free time). But if I was making a game and Id have trouble to keep up with animation, CGs etc because understabably they take a lot of time and polish, here would be my steps:

1. Define my base story. What is the "main path" I want to establish for my character? The main story. Then most important characters. Most important evironments. Side characters, later environments. Included fetishes. Interactions and dialogue (vague) that would lead to those fetishes dymanically. The progress of the MC towards corruption. Do I have a dom and sub path? A nympho vs. monogamy path? Do I have different character paths? Different factions to gain reputation with and support? Lay the foundation

2. Obviously you need to lay the mechanical foundation. That means, establishing basic rigs, character models and the most basic animation elements. Backgrounds, controls, interaction functions, gameplay systems (corruption meter, decision trees, whatever else you need)

3. Now I can establish the first CGs and animations for the demo. In that capacity I would also try to make sure to produce the most reusable animations first.

4. Once we are at this step development goes accoring to the production of new animations and CGs. But while this is going on, I can create as much story as I want. Getting to know main and side characters, talking to them, getting to know their character types. A dialogue can be just as spicy as an h-scene if it manages to inspire the fantasy and the player to imagine further actions, especially if there are implications in the dialogue and if the dialogue is long and rich. Minor events like the likable male character who is a potential partner for the MC having cheeky and wholesome conversations and interactions with the MC, her opinon of them changing/improving, them overcoming some hurdles together and starting to like each other. Or the despised character that the MC hates harassing her and slowly but steadily gaining control over her. Like using the MCs weaknesses against her, using her friends against her, blackmail, using their power to force her to do things, seeding thoughts into her to make her more submissive. I can go on, that goes for any type of character you can imagine really. Be it the dominant male, the submissive male, the wholesome relationship, the naughty nymomaniac, the thug-type male the honest-to-a-fault, the old geezer or the immature pervert. There is so many types and a lot one can set up and establish through simple day-to-day dialogue improvements. This is the "filler" content of a game, but it also is a neverending source of material for people to fall in love with the world, immerse themselves, play out different paths, discover new things and to bide the time till that next CG or animation loop is done. It doesn't matter if it's a fade-to-black and we play out the scene in text-form withou an animation. Hell even if they slightly alter the text later to suit the cg/animation h-scene better once it's done, that's fine too.

The bottom line is, just ADD SOMETHING. Add material that the player can use their own imagination on to make something out of it. Sure there will be more than enough people complaining that there "are no scenes yet" "no animations yet" "not many CGs or visual material yet". But right now what you have is prople complaining that there barely is any content AT ALL. And that is the issue. Most people who followef this project for years are just weary of the fact that we have waited so long and we are not even back at the point we were when 0.8 came out and the game got "rebooted".

I do also believe that there are a good deal of people here having too high expectations due to the development taking as long as it does. and with each month/year that passes people stack their expectations higher because they expect something as a reward for their patience and "if it takes longer, it must be better". But those people will ultimately end up disappointed no matter how good the game ends up being in the end.

At the same time, it is absolutely understandable why a lot of people are looking at these latest updates and say "yes, while I am glad there are updates and that something is added, it's just... not enough. This stems from a lot of different reasons, some of which I jsut mentioned above. It's a hard situation to be ijn really, cause I believe at least part of the community wants this game to succeed, but after so much time just keeps reconfirming their own belief that nothing is going to come of it at this pace.

And I have to agree. I understand 100% that only so many CGs and animations can be produced in a certain timeframe. But once you got the base animations and character models down for your main characters and most important side characters, I implore you to not be too afraid to release content patches that only update the story/events/dialogue without adding new animations. It might be annoying and disappointing at times, but if this is the ONE thing holding you back, don't let it stop you. It literally is the most slow thing about game development imo, and it certainily is a very common bottleneck. So find ways to circumvent the problem while still giving your animators and CG artists the necessary time to do their work properly.

Something or other had me going back to this post of mine. I've made it a habit to look back into this thread every 3-6 months just so I could check the progress. At this point the reason has become less of me wanting to see the game completed and more me being curious of how long this will be going on and what will change, if anything.

I really wish the devs would have taken this comment of mine and similar ones to heart a little more. The TLDR of this post was that I thought that once the basic mechanical foundation for the game was layed out, the devs could have easily chosen to regularily update the story. Once the standard walking and interaction rigs were done they could have continued to expand the story and build the big variety of characters we had in the old 0.8 version out from an narrative perspective so we at least got a story to interact and identify with.

The success of pixel-animation and "badly drawn" standing picture-only games in the last years proves more than anything that people don't need top notch animation and CGs to keep them invested in a good story. If the developers had issues with producing CGs an animations, as well as backgrounds fast enough, they could still produce a lot of the story right away. And while a creative endeavour like writing a narrative and dialogue can never be done on a conveyer belt, it at the very least can be done at regular instances and in a reasonable amount of time.

For me personally, the devs had more than enough time to build the story back up to the point of the old 0.8 demo, add a lot of new detail, maybe even new side characters, build a ton more interactions - probably twice or even three times as much dialogue and interactions as the original had - while the animators and artists could be working on the CGs and animations and gameplay mechanics and backgrounds. But if I can believe the reports that is not the case. Apparently there is a long way to go to even get to the narrative state that 0.8 was in.

For me, no amount of "we have to get this perfect" and "we make a lot of new gameplay additions" and "This game will have top-notch animation" is going to justify this. If you want to build a game from the ground up to finish without releasing any (or a lot of) content beforehand then make a kickstarter and work with the money you get there. A monthly subscription model is just immoral. At this point the patrons have literally supported these devs 5 years of their life. That's half a decade of free pay and mostly 100% creative freedom. When Silksong (Hollow Knight) comes out this year, the developers (also a small team of a few btw.) will have spend the same amount of time on development (or less) than this LOK Rebirth game and if the original Hollow Knight is anything to go by it will be a game that you can play for a good 60+ hours with top notch 2D animtion, interactions, creative moves and challenges and great level design, art and (probably) music.

Bottom line for me still stands. Tons of pixel-only games have had massive success in the last years. There is no excuse to not build the base foundation and regularily (every 1-2 months) release story content with dialogue and character interactions (including h-content that is without animations or cg, that is possible too) while the people are waiting for the big CG and animation milestones.

It's just sad how this development has gone imo. And it's really sad the developers are unable to prove many of us who doubted them wrong.

 

[Theovonpapen]

Bottom line for me still stands. Tons of pixel-only games have had massive success in the last years. There is no excuse to not build the base foundation and regularily (every 1-2 months) release story content with dialogue and character interactions (including h-content that is without animations or cg, that is possible too) while the people are waiting for the big CG and animation milestones.

You know, the fact that Pocket Dungeon and SHRIFT are finished games could tell you something about the balance of pace and content.

The only other content creator that has as much hiatus as this game is Monster Girl Dreams. And guess what? Despite being a text-based RPG game, the story is bussin, even if we don't see this game even 6 months later.
Contrast to this game, who, after 2 and half years, still looks like an unfinished demo that tries to be flamboyantly complicated rather than min-maxing the content and gameplay of the game.

It's just sad how this development has gone imo. And it's really sad the developers are unable to prove many of us who doubted them wrong.

I feel you too. I kept in touch every 5 or so notifications, and I have seen the woes and underwhelming. It's like watching the Western Roman Empire die after watching the Crisis of the Third Century. Or watching 15th century Eastern Roman Empire (Or Byzatines) trying so hard to get help from the west and failing.

 

[chopolander]

The developers ran away from here as soon as, during the early stages of development, we started criticizing issues that they eventually had to accept, but their great pride prevented them from apologizing and they continued to believe that they deserved every euro that came in through their Patreon... Well, from the Patreon of the previous game...

Now they congratulate themselves in their publications saying that they are moving forward... Shit, if after 4 years you don't make progress....

 

[Theovonpapen]

The developers ran away from here as soon as, during the early stages of development, we started criticizing issues that they eventually had to accept, but their great pride prevented them from apologizing and they continued to believe that they deserved every euro that came in through their Patreon... Well, from the Patreon of the previous game...

Now they congratulate themselves in their publications saying that they are moving forward... Shit, if after 4 years you don't make progress....

You know, people shit on pirates for not considering the value of the art of the artist. And here we are, actually caring about the progress of the demo more than the people who put their dime on this demo.

And yes, from now on, I'm referring this as a demo as I refuse to call this complete. And I implore to all of you to consider this as a demo and not a game.

 

[smithsmithsmith]

I was originally planning to write a little post each year to sum up what progress there was, after playing the demo currently available though I don't really think it's worth it. Next to nothing of what was planned a year ago has been added, even moving around the game still needs a ton of polish and dialogue feels stiff and awkward outside of the e-mails in the computer. Maybe I'll give it five years this time, see you all (or whoever is left) in 2028.

 

[Ion.TemUS]

You know, people shit on pirates for not considering the value of the art of the artist. And here we are, actually caring about the progress of the demo more than the people who put their dime on this demo.

And yes, from now on, I'm referring this as a demo as I refuse to call this complete. And I implore to all of you to consider this as a demo and not a game.

Honestly, I have thrown a buck or two at games that I liked during their development. One example is late Noxxian Nights and early Kingdom of Deception. It didnt pan out the way I imagined but I still wished them all good luck and when I stopped supporting I still had the impression they were making the game for an existing audience and providing regular content.

It's not like people here just leech off every game. Issue is in a sea of thousands of games there are only a few which I feel deserve the support. Most of us just sit here to discuss the public versions of games and that is okay in my book. A lot of developers are getting way more than they deserve (although there are just as many that don't get as much as they might deserve).

 

[Nikolas-Ambross]

Piracy is a necessity in an industry primarily built on promises that are never delivered.

In most cases, a quality project will garner support with adequate advertisement on key sites. Criticism should also be considered and built upon for progress instead of rashly ignored by prideful idiots that wish for the audience they want to have.

Which is why no matter the situation of this game, the developing persons behind it are at least negligent and incompetent or the most vindictive and lazy they could be.

I find the amount of drama and issues they have had, including abandoning a site as large as f95 because of having their feelings hurt, should give an adequate indication on who they are as a team.

Perhaps there is a reason why people aren't happy with the game? Maybe holding your hands against your eyes and not seeing the problems is detrimental?
Who am I to think of such a revolutionary concept as listening to the audience?

*Edit.
Maybe they are holding their eyes closed, it would explain why they aren't using their hands to develop the gane.

 

[Semondemon]

Huh so it's gone nowhere?
If I could draw I'd make a little game nothing fancy but eh.

 

[Theovonpapen]

Huh so it's gone nowhere?
If I could draw I'd make a little game nothing fancy but eh.

You can probably start with a text game with LOK lore (perhaps even literally from this "rebirth" demo). This may test your story creativity and gameplay design.

With a very text-based game, there's no flashy animations or graphical fidelity to hide behind, just pure, raw and ergonomic game on display directly. Development mistakes and bugs are far more blatant, like spelling errors and value misalignment. Hence why, despite supposedly being easier to update, some of them are in the hills of top games, such are the tales of Corruption of Champions series, Monster Girl Dreams and Lilith's throne.