Ren'Py Monster Girl Dreams [v26.8a Alpha] [Threshold]

[HumanRug]

I've been thinking and...

What kind of place is the Temple anyway?

Like when I think of a Temple, I think of a place of worship.
The Forest Dungeon makes sense contextually. It's Sophia's dungeon, and a place where the Demon Queen hid the sigil of allure.
The forest makes sense as it leads up to the forest dungeon.
The mountain and caves make sense contextually as well.

The Temple though... kind of doesn't? None of the girls in the Temple seem to have any connection with spirituality.

I can't even visually imagine it if that makes any sense, since the red and blue corridors are probably placeholders.

Well, if you ever played any The Legend Of Zelda game, you can conclude a temple in these contexts isn't exactly a place of worship, but a place of challenges and trials intended to either strengthen anyone that wants to put their skills to the test, or to keep trespassers out in order to guard a given "treasure" (in similar contexts, an idol representation of the god worshipped by those that built the temple).

 

[TheUnsaid]

Well, if you ever played any The Legend Of Zelda game, you can conclude a temple in these contexts isn't exactly a place of worship, but a place of challenges and trials intended to either strengthen anyone that wants to put their skills to the test, or to keep trespassers out in order to guard a given "treasure" (in similar contexts, an idol representation of the god worshipped by those that built the temple).

I'm pretty sure the Temples in Zelda are landmarks of worship to an idea or concept as well though?

Like the Temple of Time and what not.

Other places are usually considered "dungeons" right?
Keep trespasser out to guard a given treasure sounds like a dungeon to me.

 

[Master of Puppets]

I'm pretty sure the Temples in Zelda are landmarks of worship to an idea or concept as well though?

Like the Temple of Time and what not.

Other places are usually considered "dungeons" right?
Keep trespasser out to guard a given treasure sounds like a dungeon to me.

If you're going to be pedantic about the definition of "temple" though, then by the same standard a dungeon is a prison. Not a treasure vault.

 

[TheUnsaid]

If you're going to be pedantic about the definition of "temple" though, then by the same standard a dungeon is a prison. Not a treasure vault.

Ah... for real. You're absolutely right. I was overthinking the meaning of it being considered a Temple.

I guess since there's no real world equivalent, video games have their own definitions.

 

[iamnuff]

Ah... for real. You're absolutely right. I was overthinking the meaning of it being considered a Temple.

I guess since there's no real world equivalent, video games have their own definitions.

In video-game terms, a pyramid would probably be a temple, right?

It's not really a place of worship, but it is a historically significant site of vague spiritual implication.

That said, the whole 'heroes path' in this game feels like a gameshow or something. It's all planned out and the monsters are in on it.
So the 'temple' is basically just a set for them to host one part of the contest in.

Same as Sofia's dungeon and the labyrinth.

In light of that, complaining that the temple of power isn't a real temple is kinda like complaining that Takeshi's Castle isn't a real castle.

 

[TheUnsaid]

That said, the whole 'heroes path' in this game feels like a gameshow or something. It's all planned out and the monsters are in on it.

Yeah, that's by far my least favorite aspect of the narrative.

That being said, I understand that's a preference thing. MGQ felt like a Quest. Like an adventure as things happened dynamically and the protagonist was visiting locales based on his ever changing goals.

MGDs on the other hand, feels like a pre-planned journey where the protagonist's path is set in stone.

So the 'temple' is basically just a set for them to host one part of the contest in.
Same as Sofia's dungeon and the labyrinth.

Sofia's dungeon didn't really feel too much like a "Set." I think it makes sense to have a dungeon be so far away from the castle proper, and to have a high level monster guarding it.

Hmmm... I can see your point though. It's very nebulous what's setting off my specific feeling of incongruency.

Either way, I guess the consensus is that the Temple is just a place that looks like a stereotypical Temple, and that I shouldn't put any energy into thinking about its meaning in any greater context than that?

EDIT:

complaining that the temple of power isn't a real temple is kinda like complaining that Takeshi's Castle isn't a real castle.

I don't think I was complaining, but just trying to gain further insight on it from other users here.

My original question was "What kind of place is the Temple anyway?"

 

[Master of Puppets]

ThresholdMGD
Reactions to 25.8:

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[iamnuff]

Sofia's dungeon didn't really feel too much like a "Set." I think it makes sense to have a dungeon be so far away from the castle proper, and to have a high level monster guarding it.

My point is that it's neither an actual dungeon (prison) or a treasure-vault.
It's a place that exists solely to be attacked by adventurers trying to get Sofia's token or stamp so that they can move onto the next dungeon.

it's basically a stage in a gameshow, where all the monsters and bosses are in on the act.

it's kind of interesting actually? I don't know where the treasure and monster-drops come from (other than natural stuff like Imp juice or Slime Blobs or whatever) but the idea that the whole country's economy is based on the dungeon/adventurer trade.

A hero walks into the dungeon, 'fights' a bunch of monster-girls by having sex with them (which keeps them fed) and in return he gets item-drops and cash-money for defeating them.

Anyway, your adventurer then goes back to town and spends his money on food and a room at the Inn or new sex-toys or whatever, and so the people in the town earn money.

It's basically a form of trade? Your hero trades sex for money and then spends the money in exchange for goods.
In a sense, your protagonist is a prostitute.
Lmao.

 

[HumanRug]

Other places are usually considered "dungeons" right?
Keep trespasser out to guard a given treasure sounds like a dungeon to me.

Yeah, but they're called temples too. I know, I don't have any real life examples, but apart from games, a good example is portrayed in Raiders Of The Lost Ark: the place where Jones and Satipo look for the Chachapoyan idol of fertility is called "Temple of the Chachapoyan warriors", and it's a dungeon at best.

 

[ThresholdMGD]

v25.8a is now out for bug fixing.

Hey, just wanted to say that I haven't seen this in the 'latest updates' page and when I tried to find this it said this was last updated eight months ago.
It's not a big deal but it might hurt discoverability.

...Oh I've been forgetting to do that. Oops.

For some reason, after I met Vili -- the game said I got the Bosom Buddy Gem, but then it never appeared in my inventory. And I can't get access to Vili's Trial of Titties. This event is broken beyond repair. No matter how many times I rush into the Imp Den again, the option to open up a hidden door never appears after the initial run.

That's very not good and concerning!
Were you using any mods that might have caused weirdness?

Is it just me, or did all of the internal-room areas vanish?

I'm sure there used to be a background for inside the guildhall, and one for Bon Bon Bun, but now the former scenes take place in the middle of town and the latter at a random spot in the woods?

Bon Bon Bun never had a background tho? Or the guild hall interior?
Unless you added in a mod or such for it.

Forgor changelog in the head post.

I fix.

 

[FirstDesperado]

That's very not good and concerning!
Were you using any mods that might have caused weirdness?

I was cramming a ton of mods down the game's throat. Sorry. I'll only use the Dirty Cheats Done For Free mod from now on. Edit: Also the Azure Blaze mod as well.

 

[Fluffy Neko]

Welp, I just spent 20 minutes trying to figure out which mod is breaking mod manager, and it wasn't due to any mod but to me putting [ ] symbols in this game's main folder name. After removing those symbols, everything works fine.

Edit. Welp x2 It works fine as long as I don't put this game's folder in any other folder that contains [ ] symbols.

 

[Ritsujin]

Ushris now has a few new fluff conversations (accessible via the "Ask more about her." talk option), one of which unlocks a footjob scene.

Okay, this is epic.

 

[Roninonix]

Damn this would be much more fun with animations

 

[Bpitoto]

Author should wrap this up, this game wont be over until maybe 2035. Guess he just wants to milk that sweet Patreon money, he doesn't even write most of the scenes anyway lol.

 

[Amarinth12]

Author should wrap this up, this game wont be over until maybe 2035. Guess he just wants to milk that sweet Patreon money, he doesn't even write most of the scenes anyway lol.

Ah yes this typical case, at least author decides to let people mod the game with story and features added, unlike any other text based game devs. Still sad tho, to see game like this tend to be in eternal development mode. No wonder people mostly choose 3D western game with blocky face nowdays.

 

[NinjaNamedBob]

Author should wrap this up, this game wont be over until maybe 2035. Guess he just wants to milk that sweet Patreon money, he doesn't even write most of the scenes anyway lol.

Ah yes this typical case, at least author decides to let people mod the game with story and features added, unlike any other text based game devs. Still sad tho, to see game like this tend to be in eternal development mode. No wonder people mostly choose 3D western game with blocky face nowdays.

The developer is paying people for art. They do their own writing, pass it off to a team of editors, and then when everything is put together, they give it to a team of testers who stress test the game for bugs and such that might cause problems for the consumer. Now, I'm no defender of devs who clearly want to milk their audience and reject all forms of criticism (Zion of Olympus being the most prominent), but Threshold does update their patrons frequently and does warn us ahead of time of any potential delays or issues that prolong the process.

Like, I'm not even going to point out that game development on its own is not a short process. Even someone capable of rigging and animations on their own is going to take a few years to finish their project, and that's assuming it's a simple game with a bare-bones story and maybe a handful of h-scenes. There is a process and while I would like to jump on the wagon of blindly accusing devs of laziness or exploiting their patrons, such is not the case here. That said, I also get why someone might lob the accusation at Threshold given they did go through a period where they focused more on a side content waifu than furthering the main story. I got no excuse for that, nor do they. Heck, they even made a couple patron posts where they confessed that they got stupidly side-tracked and apologized for it.

So, yeah, Threshold does get side-tracked and/or life happens, but it's not as if they're delaying the process to milk their patrons for money.

 

[Jorenthar]

How often is this game updated btw?

 

[pichkas]

How often is this game updated btw?

thresh tries to do monthly content updates but as poster above mentions, the meat of the game is 1 man team so its not always consistent.

 

[triplebrc]

Author should wrap this up, this game wont be over until maybe 2035. Guess he just wants to milk that sweet Patreon money, he doesn't even write most of the scenes anyway lol.

You are correct that its likely about milking the game for money at this point by drip feeding content. The rate at which content comes out is a joke, not just in general but also compared to how fast it used to come out, gotta be intentional at this point especially since, like you said, most of what actually does get in is not even done by the developer himself. I don't really agree that the game should be wrapped up though, clearly there is a lot of potential there, and while the world building is bare bones the characters that are there are interesting, at least compared to most other games of the genre.

My hope is that the community will produce some good mods instead of relying on a scene or two per month being added. From what I have seen it is not all that hard to mod the game, yet there are very few decent mods out there. Something like the Beris mod that gives more interactions could, if more of these were to be done by people who are interested in more content for certain characters, make the game feel a lot more in depth than it actually is.

If it was written in my native language I probably would have long since made a mod or two for it, but me writing stuff tends to sound hella unnatural. I have seen some decent results using AI for story writing, perhaps soon these programs will be advanced enough to help with that.