VN Ren'Py Magical Restart - Development Thread

[mrbigchungus]

Years ago, I ignored most of Icstor's work - then Milfy City came out...wow. What was amazing about that game?

From the first version, there was a *lot* of content, lots to do, and you could easily & clearly see where things were headed. I've checked out some early releases & demos since then, and I can't name any that had even 1/2 the content of the first edition of Milfy City.

You know that feeling when something leaves an impression? In Behavioral Economics, it's called, "Anchoring." If you're a fan of Dan Arielly (author of a few books on the topic, famously survived some hideous accident, etc) then you're familiar with the concept. Then we can look at how the brain works, when we see an old friend. 60% of what we see in that old friend is from long term memory. 40% is from the "here and now," aka, the present.

So when we see something new, it has a chance to leave that impression - "anchor," itself into our long term memory. The brain's a funny thing, really. While we might be aware of these concepts & ideas, it doesn't stop them from being useful or interesting.

What's behavioral economics & memory got to do with it?

Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken...what's love got to do, got to do with it? Ooops, my mind went back to some Tina Turner I heard a long time ago. Where was I?

(snaps fingers). Anchoring!

It's why I'm not going to ship anything until it's ready, even though from playing demos & "version .1," of games shows me that my initial tranche of content is ahead of a lot...but it's absolutely not ahead of Icstor

There's a bigger risk in putting together more stuff, goes without saying, right? Harder to give up on something you put a lot of time into, and it's harder to accept feedback, or change things. Hm. Well, it's a risk I'm determined to take. Either Magical Restart is freaking awesome, or it's just ten pounds of crap in a five pound bag. Kind of useless.

Six weeks from now, give or take a smidge, I think I'll be ready. It won't be Icstor's work, but hey, go big or go home, right? It's why I've spent almost half the time on game development so far on sound - effects, music, etc. I want the experience to be immersive, unforgettable - even epic.

We'll see.

 

[mrbigchungus]

I am now of the opinion not all hair products are created equal. Too many renders with the Georgia hair for genesis 3 (the fairy hair I've used so far) just look...hideous. The shape ends up "off," showing too much skin in the middle of the scalp, even with adjustments, and using 'stock' shapes for genesis 3 / characters from the store.

Good thing I've only got less than a week or so of work into the game, and the sounds, etc, don't need redoing - only renders + animation for the fairies. The 'corona' or halo around them won't always be visible, but I wanted to make sure everything lined up right. Much better, I think, than the last go 'round.



Previous generation fairies for reference including broken hair product. Also, I decided to get an additional outfit, as the previous outfits were 'meh.' This way, all the characters are also genesis 8, since they just look so much better than genesis 3.


Glad I'm reworking things when I haven't released to the public Makes me feel like I'm on the right track. The hair in the previous fairy example, just no good. Also after I consulted some fairy images, etc, an updo seemed appropriate.

 

[mrbigchungus]

About half way now to where things were with the 1st edition fairies; the more work I do with the newer ones, the happier I am, they look hawt.

An action shot from the scene in progress, just before Purple casts a spell on MC with her fairy dust. The skin, to me, is like a clear sign "this isn't gen 3," where before, it looked not as real.

 

[mrbigchungus]

That was some work, but, I'm really happy with the redux of the first two scenes, with the new fairies

Green fairy in the middle here is preparing to cast a spell.



Beyond redoing the first two scenes, I'm now working on the next step in the hero's journey model, "Tests, Allies, and Enemies." In the montage, so to speak, the protagonist learns the magical spells, and then some. Doing things this way requires I have a spell list (check) and a basic magical system (check). Though next, I'm working on the remaining sound effect + visual effect combinations, to ensure each spell has a specific sound + appearance in game. The two spells in game so far are really cool, though only one of those is a spell that will repeat much - the other was a portal spell, a one off to go from the normal world to the fantasy world.

I figure at least a month then I'll know how much more work there is to do for the first chapter.

 

[mrbigchungus]

Wanted to share an epiphany I had today about the options, choices, and customizations I'm including in the game. Personally, since I love fantasy books, there are always scenes where I ask myself, "What if the character did *that* instead of *this*?"

It's fun, refreshing, and gives me the kernel of the concept for the main meter in the game, which will enable options, deny others, and bend the narrative to your play through. The Swag O'Meter (TM), a measurement of the characters *Swagger*. Too much? Options might be blocked. Too little? Options might be blocked.

Or the options you select might not play through the same, if your Swag O'Meter had a different metric on it. People in real life, react differently to you depending on a variety of things - past relationship, if you have one, visually accounts for about 60% of what you "see" when you see a familiar face. That anchoring thing has an impact here too (mentioned above).

Also hot off the presses today is the finalization of the magical spell list, the accompanying audibles & visuals for each has been mapped out. The Tests, Allies & Enemies chunk of the Hero's Journey wouldn't be complete without the grueling *training montage* right? There's a Van Damme movie I remember where he had a coconut dropped on his stomach, the guy asks, "Ready to protect?" And then Van Damme falls over, wheezing, after the coconut hits his stomach.

The showcase how far the hero has gone in his training, the montage near ending shows Van Damme getting the coconut dropped onto his stomach, and this time, from the guy standing on a massive ladder - then when it hits, he exhales, and does this "Uhhhh!" sound where he grunts, flexes his eight-pack, and doesn't fall over about to pass out.

I think that repetition is good for a montage, and showcases without telling specifically, "Look, the Hero is now so much more powerful in combat now, he couldn't even take a mild punch to the gut, now he could take on anything!"

 

[mrbigchungus]

Yesterday, I finished one of seven spells in the current scene. Man, it's work, but it is rewarding work.

"The legendary Bruce Leroy, he could catch bullets with his teeth!"

"Sho 'nuff!"

"A master would use that to keep his pants up."

Epic lines stick with you from movies, right?



As the Protag learns in-game during the "fast forwarded," montage, he's of course reading from spell scrolls (is there any other way to learn magic? A grimoire, perhaps, but we're using scrolls here).



Naturally, the flow is learn -> practice; and I shared the images here in this post backwards from the order they occur in for the game ha ha.

At 30 FPS, I've now got 12 seconds in total of animation, but there are smaller animations as well (two frames) that don't factor into this count. The demo in progress now has five thousand words, and a little over a hundred images other than the animation; 3 music tracks (using CC licensed stuff, as it's free with the mention in the credits, like I've seen a few others do); sound effects with similar license from freesound.org (those are awesome). I've got more sound, those are just the ones included in the game so far, every spell has a specific sound + visual.

Personally, I prefer a meatier experience with a demo; I want to know more, want to know how things will unfold, and most importantly, I want the play time to last longer than the download time (we've all been there, right?).

I read way too many comic books as a kid, still have boxes of 'em from the 90's. Only over the weekend, did I realize: a Ren'py game without animation -> Comic Book. About the same amount of story, etc, the same makeup (pictures + words), nothing moving or animated. Those cost like what, $5 bucks per issue, and arrive monthly? With...maybe 60 pages?

It's interesting to compare costs + product offered in other forms of media and contrast that with an interactive experience, I think. Pricing is something I'm starting to think about, but it's further down the list than the actual production, which is exciting, and fun. Daily I play through the next ~1-3 minutes to review, edit language, and ask myself, "Is this awesome? Does it need changes? Do the choices give enough sense of agency?"

Until next time

~Mr Big Chungus from Big Chungus Productions
(At some point, I'm going to make brand assets, I'm thinking a genesis 8 model male converted into an ape, beating his chest with one of those Tarzan style yells. And yes, I know, Big Chungus was a spoof on a well known rabbit - I just think it fits a gorilla better).

 

[mrbigchungus]

Wondering if the short video clip I created can be embedded / viewed here, let's see...


(preview shows the video, so I think it worked)

 

[mrbigchungus]

It's a little oversize, and I'll need to scale it down, but after Chad (ha ha ha) or whatever you name him, learns a few spells, he's tired, and the fairy suggests he get some food and rest, then pick up the lessons the next day.

While it's a stock environment, the village looks plenty fantasy.

 

[mrbigchungus]

It's strange; there's only three scenes so far before the main character meets a fellow human, but after almost a month (has it been that long? Almost, since I started), it's ...different, rendering a group of humans.



I should probably optimize these before sharing...next time, and definitely before shipping the first version. I've seen a few times where a game seems like it's got a lot of stuff, then it's only 100 images...just unoptimized.

Magical Restart as of now is only 4 scenes in total, about 125 images, and more than 400 animated frames. There will be a total of twenty scenes, I think, when the demo / first chapter is ready for public consumption.

Lots to do between now and then, but the progress is fun. Rendering humans is also interesting after staring at fairies for weeks ha.

 

[antonio1508]

Thanks for the enthusiasm, antonio1508 I appreciate it.
> grab them and have fun
Ah...sounds like The Spellbook, or perhaps Long Live the Princess - they both have action with a tiny fairy in the game

Since those are both well known, and well done, I'm trying to avoid copying other people's awesome work. In other words, most likely, that kind of scene won't be in game.

Also, the daz models when shrunken (at least the gen 3 I'm using for the fairies) look terrible; regular size without adjusting the parameter they look fine. Perhaps something to do with the level of detail that gets rendered, not sure.

More notes on Magical Restart, progress from the last bit;

I'm using the 3 act version of Hero's Journey to plot out the prologue / initial build. In the development version, I've got the following steps so far:

1. Ordinary world
2. Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of The Call (optional)
4. Meeting the mentor
5. Crossing the Threshold <- am here right now in the current scene in progress.
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies (longest chunk; akin to 'act 2' in a three act play / structure)
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
8. Ordeal
9. Reward
10. The Road Back
11. Resurrection
12. Return with the Elixir

Before I start shipping anything publicly, I'm going to "speed run," the MC through the entire structure, which then based on some books & book series, the cycle simply starts anew at that point. However, the second time through the journey, MC has skills, abilities, and experience they lacked that first time - a good metaphor was the Playstation game Journey, which was based on the cycle, and the second time through, you had costume details that showed where the character had been along the way, effectively.

If you got feedback on any tweaks to the models above, the longer it's been since I changed things up, the happier I am, at least. The earlier ones shown here (and I have more on my computer) weren't nearly as awesome, but personally, I'd bang the lot

oh they are many ways to have fun , no need to copy those games , or have some little things like peek or teasing , it should be sad to have pretty fairies and nothing about them

 

[mrbigchungus]

> sad to have pretty fairies and nothing about them

Truth, and I appreciate the sentiment here.

I wanted to share another thought I keep kicking around about the various games I've played, some of which I loved, some of which...whelp, maybe they were somebody else's cup of tea, just not mine, eh?

The thing is...there's no accounting for universal taste. One guy's butterface is another guy's dream partner. With that in mind, I'd say eventually, like perhaps Treasure of Nadia (one of my faves), the game should offer the opportunity to "bang the lot," - eventually. (am thinking of Harry Potter when the guy says, "we'll take the lot," in the first movie adaptation referring to the cart full of sweets & treats).

I mean, if we're all being honest here, playing games appeals to our own fantasies, just like Harry buying those candies.

Anyway, Magical Restart now has:

• About 170 images now in-game for the demo
• 440 animated frames (roughly 12-15 animations, some shorter, some a little longer)
• 4 scenes
• 5 music tracks
• 5 sound effects

However, that's not enough, and it certainly isn't done. I'm confident by end of May, I'll have a much better idea of what I don't know which I still need to do so that the initial version of Magical Restart is epic.

Still working through Tests, Allies, and Enemies but I have a solid view of where the current arc finishes before I get into the next part of the Hero's Journey.

 

[mrbigchungus]

When you love what you're doing, it's easy to jump out of bed, get excited, and then start rendering, writing, or pondering next moves in a project.

Then, I thought, "Wouldn't it be great to get feedback on this one?"

The topic is sexy time, and the questions are, "How much is too much? How little, too little? What kind of balance should be struck, if any?"

From reading entirely too much, in real life, the rule of three applies to copulation after dating a new prospective love interest. Essentially, first date, second date (kiss? more or less?), then third date sex is on the table (usually the bed, a table would be a little uncomfortable in my view).

Then, there's the PUA stuff I've read, which is that if you're trying to score on your first date, there's a formula. Meet at location one, during date if things go well, propose moving to location two, then if that goes well, propose drinks at your place (which becomes location three, where sex is a possibility due to the rule of three being followed, albeit all in one go, versus three distinct days where dates 1, 2, and 3 happen).

If Magical Restart follows this real life example, with a given love interest (so far, MC meets 3 fairies, and 4 human women), if you have three dates / meetings / instances of spending 1:1 time with them, then that third meeting should have optional initial sexy time for the game.

Now that I've written it up, I think this sounds like a good approach; a nice in-between where women aren't too easy, but neither are they generally, "hard to get." Though since it *is* a game, there will be questions, qualifiers, and a numerical score along the way, the Swag O'Meter, that helps - or hurts - your chances of having that sexy time scene during gameplay.

Would love to read some others perspectives on this, flaws with my thinking, alternative ways to implement, etc. Chime in, really.

 

[mrbigchungus]

Dayam, Purple cleans up pretty nice in her "human," form (really looks like an elf but hey, she's full size, and she did say 'mostly human', to the protagonist in the game before transforming).

The colors are nice, and I think she's pretty hot now. The miniature size was cute but didn't have that sex appeal, in my view.

Daz crashed on me earlier though, and I had to recreate the scene. I'm not sure what happened, but the file ended up corrupted (wouldn't open at all in daz, the saved scene file) and my panes / settings in daz were lost when I rebooted the software, was first time that's happened. Not as much fun today as usual.

 

[mrbigchungus]

It's like...bad luck, man. Recreated scene again after a crash this morning, now finally rendering an animation I figured would be done earlier yesterday. Stuff like this isn't part of my schedule, which is why I'm not keen on dates yet - I'll figure those out in a few weeks.

The Big Chungus Productions(tm) brand tho' - something I've been pondering, since Bear in the Night is taken, my first thought was, "I'll do Bear in the Woods," but then I realized - it sounds like he's going to pinch a loaf, you know?

Then, my idea about a gorilla, banging his chest, welp, it won't work for those avatar sized images (like the default M here for me - lookin' okay, but something personalized would be best). Dr Pink Cake, Lewd Lab, NLT Media - those developers all have nice logos, I figure go big, or go home, right (though...I'm working from home, so maybe "go to another part of the house?"). I digress.

It hit me, right after I hit something else, and I had the image. A gorilla. Smoking on a lit ...something, dangling from his mouth...the animation plays, the smoke comes out, forming into "Big Chungus," above the head, and below, "Productions."

For the avatar, it's just the gorilla, smiling with the lit cigar or what not, mid puff, happy. Maybe giving you a conspiratorial wink, like, you don't need to say anything. You both understand each other.

You get it.

Feel me?

 

[mrbigchungus]

Howdy


Took a few minutes but...*worth it*

 

[mrbigchungus]

Magical Restart: Demo version coming soon on F95 free

When the demo is completely ready for some beta testing, I'll share the links to it here. For now, this is where the project stands, along with an idea of what I'm planning to release for beta, then the official first release after that I am still unsure for a date. It's been an awesome month, have learned a ton, and know I have a list to get through before it's fully ready, but I'm confident I'll have something I'd like to share in a few weeks.

What's going to be in the beta?

• 231 images (probably will be around 300 give or take)
• 5 music tracks (might be another 1-3, ish)
• 25 animations (will be more)
• 1 intimate scene (more planned), no nudity or sex yet, just kissing (sex / nudity will be in the beta)
• Variables that, based on the in-game menus, impact the narrative, and scenes the character experiences
• Ability to rename MC (placeholder name Chad McBadass) to, say, Player McPlayerface, or Big Chungus, if that's your thing - or just be happy being Chad McBadass. Up to you.
• Visual novel style play, with RPG elements like magic, special sound effects & animated sequences throughout a lot of the beta version when the fairies are around, as they like to fly.

Thanks for reading and all the feedback I've learned from here as I've begun treading down this path.

 

[mrbigchungus]

Today's progress was something like this:

• Added a new "Character Info" page - draft layout, improvements needed
• Updated the Scene Gallery, which will be used to replay scenes, once there are adult scenes in game
• Added a bare-bones character sheet for a few characters (fairies); others pending
• Added the progression for the various stats & attributes for the Protag's character sheet
• Sound effects now happen for 7 spells in game; the Protag has cast 6 so far and then will use the last one in a future scene;

The Swagometer is in place in the Protag's character sheet page, so you can see what the stats are anytime. I've opted to use a character sheet, rather than adding clutter to the main interface, as some variables change less often than others, and I'm not certain I'd like to lose the screen real estate in the game UI.

It's not a sandbox game, but I like the addition of the RPG elements (scores, branching narrative based on in-game stats, more agency) and those have transformed the experience in the first 10,000 words (surprised it's that much already).

Getting excited to share a beta in a few weeks!

 

[mrbigchungus]

Got some more really good stuff done in Magical Restart this week, figured I'd share, now that I'm even closer to figuring out what all goes in (and doesn't) go into the first version.

I did debate a little about not including any sex scenes in the first version, but then I realized: what if everything else is good, but people are hesitant to buy in because while it's a lot of story, solid animation, great renders & choices that matter...it's just not a complete adult fantasy game without those scenes.

Ya, that would be crappy. Also I feel like with the 350+ images, 30+ animations, and over 11,000 words...if that's not enough plot to sink your teeth into, whelp, nothing would be "good enough," I think. Where the size is now, at least, it's one of the larger first editions I've seen So that box is definitely checked!

• A little breakdown of the stuff completed / done in the last few days -
• Updated character sheets (close to final, we'll see); also ensured a "progressive reveal," where the character sheet isn't visible in-game until you meet them (wild, I know...just took me a minute to code through).
• Post-processing of a bunch of images to remove any minor artifacts (fingers crossed when I launch I got 'em all)
• Added the kissing scene in-game to the Scene Gallery feature; while it's just a kiss, it's a pretty hawt kiss This way, it's a "chronicle of intimacy," where every one of those precious moments can be replayed after they're experienced for the first time. I like that metaphor for the feature.
• Identified the next 4 scenes, in progress, for the story + demo; could be a little longer, but I think the next traunche of content should push it over the top to where I want it.

Spoiler: Gabi image from hunting scene

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Thought I'd put the image behind a spoiler tag to ensure it makes for easier / quicker reading.

I'm certain the demo will be final before month's end, could be a little sooner, the next week I'll have a lot more clarity. Can't wait to share, it's pretty dope.

 

[mrbigchungus]

In making plans, I've noticed the advice early in the thread, "Reduce scope," was very good - thanks for that!

Turns out over the last week, making brand assets (animated render, video composition in Photoshop, getting Webm to work for an intro screen in Ren'py so you gotta have sound, etc) took time, then of course going over all the variables & things so far even in a visual novel style game takes work. It's not just plug & chug a bunch of renders

What's the latest status on the beta?

• 380+ images - probably will be around 300 give or take, is what I said last time I shared a number...not *exactly* sure how many it'll end up, but more than it has now
• 7 music tracks - TBD how many more
• 845 animated frames; in these, there are 30 FPS more "smooth," animations, and there are some kissing / blinking animations that are 2 frames each with a pause, then there are a few that are smaller / less robust with between 10-29 frames, depending on the animation.
• 2 intimate scenes (one kissing only; one with kissing, nudity + more...in progress), both of these will go into the Replay feature.
• 12,500 words - perhaps another few thousand to finish off the remainder? TBD.
• 25 in-game variables, with most of them implemented in Magical Restart; these influence the MC, relationships, his personality, dialogue / scene options.

After the scene in progress, I have an additional three to five scenes planned for the beta, which I'm expecting to take less than a week.

I can't wait.

 

[mrbigchungus]

The early alpha version is here on F95, released yesterday. There's always more to do, but I felt there was enough now for people to form an opinion on the story, renders, variables, game play, music, sound effects, & overall experience.

Half expected comments about the lack of denoise on some renders...unfortunately, I learned how to use that Daz3d feature about 2/3 into making the game, and turned it on for scenes toward the end of the alpha (renders + animations) but not earlier - it should be obvious which use denoise, which don't. Or it's not obvious, which is fine.

What's next?

A ton, really, if you play the alpha version, there's another scene next...but, depending on your choices, it's one of two different scenes next in the game. That will happen more & more as the plot develops, where you play through the scenes based on the choices you make in game.

If you see any bugs, grammar, spelling, or other things that need fixing, do let me know. I went over everything multiple times, but there's always that chance I missed something.