VN Ren'Py My Bully Is My Lover [Ch.1 Ep.4 - CV] [NiiChan]

[Supreme Breeder]

NiiChan try not to worry too much about everyone's reviews here as what's done is done. The game had a few issues in the past but it has improved a lot with each new update.

As you said you already knew where you fucked up in the past which is a great thing for a creator. Let's leave what has happened till now in dirt and move forward as things are looking well for the game instead of reading and worrying about opinions of every single person.

 

[NiiChan]

NiiChan try not to worry too much about everyone's reviews here as what's done is done. The game had a few issues in the past but it has improved a lot with each new update.

As you said you already knew where you fucked up in the past which is a great thing for a creator. Let's leave what has happened till now in dirt and move forward as things are looking well for the game instead of reading and worrying about opinions of every single person.

I still do read them. They can point out some things, even small ones, that I'm not aware of.

 

[MagicMan753]

Okay, serious question. Throughout most of the reviews in this thread. I see "pacing is off." Is this due to how I handle the girls' progressions in the story? Or is it a bigger issue that I'm not aware of? I'd appreciate someone who can answer this calmly and objectively. And if you're going to answer lack of sex, then don't bother. I know what I'm doing in that regard, and the story will stay a priority.

I think it can be off. There are two issues I had.

The first being a bigger one, the flashbacks. It was a lot. You would spend little time in the present than immediately spend like entire updates on just the past/flashbacks. I just think the flashbacks became too much and really messed up pacing to me.
I even struggled to want to get through game at times, cause it was just hours of flashbacks, when I cared a little more about the present.

The other issue is like I seen some others say is focusing only on 1 girl at a time. It kind of does make the other girls just feel less important and kind of less overall during that time. Like let's only focus on Gwen, or Aine, or Emma, etc. I think the flashbacks only added to this hyper focus on specific girls.
Maybe putting more equal spread at times and not focusing on mainly just one but multiple could help. Like many girls haven't even gotten much or very little development cause of this.

Just my thoughts on this. So I can see how the pacing is a issue and could be improved.

 

[AceOfNiagara]

in order to propertly answer i'll need to replay it and i'm not sure when i'll have the time for it. perhaps at weekend but more likely after the festivities. this was answered from memory and i would like to refamiliarise before delving deeper. sadly there seems to be no compressed version i can find either.

This the compressed you're looking for?

My Bully Is My Lover [Ch1 Ep4] [NiiChan] - Compressed

Win/Linux [1,66 GB]
GOFILE - MEGA -

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Mac [1,66 GB]
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---------------------------------
My Bully Is My Lover [Ch1 Ep4] [NiiChan] - Update only

The patch may break your game, use at your own risk.
Ren'Py/Python version changed, read the Spoiler before installing!

Win/Linux: Ch1 Ep3 Part 2 -> Ch1 Ep4 [1,01 GB]
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Mac: Ch1 Ep3 Part 2 -> Ch1 Ep4 [1,01 GB]
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Win/Linux Compressed: Ch1 Ep3 Part 2 -> Ch1 Ep4 [228 MB]
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Mac Compressed: Ch1 Ep3 Part 2 -> Ch1 Ep4 [227 MB]
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Please @ me or quote this post if there is a new version that doesn't show up on the "Latest Updates" page.

 

[EEBond]

这游戏太棒了，我超喜欢！

 

[NiiChan]

The other issue is like I seen some others say is focusing only on 1 girl at a time. It kind of does make the other girls just feel less important and kind of less overall during that time. Like let's only focus on Gwen, or Aine, or Emma, etc

Hm, yeah... I'm certainly aware of this, and I'm thinking about what I could do in future games. Personally, I prefer to focus on 1-2 girls for each update. I feel jumping from one girl to another in one episode cheapens their arcs, and especially that I'm not only focusing on character development, but I'm mainly writing per arc/full story. Unless I do like... 10-15k lines of code with 80k words per update, but even then, I can only fit three girls in that amount. I always want to dive as deep as I can into the highlighted characters. But even if I wanna do that, it would take me many months to finish one episode. I'd feel guilty doing that.

One fix I'm already making is to reduce the number of love interests in the future (not here, too late for that). With that, I'd likely feel less choked up, and you, the readers, too. The game I'm planning to make after MBML is completed only has six LIs in the lineup.

 

[Mommysbuttslut]

Hm, yeah... I'm certainly aware of this, and I'm thinking about what I could do in future games. Personally, I prefer to focus on 1-2 girls for each update. I feel jumping from one girl to another in one episode cheapens their arcs, and especially that I'm not only focusing on character development, but I'm mainly writing per arc/full story. Unless I do like... 10-15k lines of code with 80k words per update, but even then, I can only fit three girls in that amount. I always want to dive as deep as I can into the highlighted characters. But even if I wanna do that, it would take me many months to finish one episode. I'd feel guilty doing that.

One fix I'm already making is to reduce the number of love interests in the future (not here, too late for that). With that, I'd likely feel less choked up, and you, the readers, too. The game I'm planning to make after MBML is completed only has six LIs in the lineup.

I feel like if you managed to get more slice of life moments in that'd help the girls feel less episodic. For me at least the beach vacation was the second best update after Moon's largely because it was a lot more chill and was more about the relationships than the plot.
This is a very story heavy game though so I get that adding in simple slice of life arcs can be a little tricky, especially if you don't wanna be developing it for the next decade. No real easy answer tbh.

 

[NiiChan]

I feel like if you managed to get more slice of life moments in that'd help the girls feel less episodic. For me at least the beach vacation was the second best update after Moon's largely because it was a lot more chill and was more about the relationships than the plot.
This is a very story heavy game though so I get that adding in simple slice of life arcs can be a little tricky, especially if you don't wanna be developing it for the next decade. No real easy answer tbh.

We'll come up with something in the future; for now, we'll stick to what we do to avoid drastic change. Again.
I just hope you people are ready for the ending of this game.

 

[Pumpal]

Okay, serious question. Throughout most of the reviews in this thread. I see "pacing is off." Is this due to how I handle the girls' progressions in the story? Or is it a bigger issue that I'm not aware of? I'd appreciate someone who can answer this calmly and objectively. And if you're going to answer lack of sex, then don't bother. I know what I'm doing in that regard, and the story will stay a priority.

The biggest thing by far that threw off the pacing for me was how lengthy flashbacks can be. I fully understand they are necessary to flesh out characters but when they drag on that long it really can be frustrating as it’s effectively putting a stop to the flow of the story that is happening in the present. Emma’s and Lily’s flashbacks were particularly rough. Imo that was handled MUCH better in Sicae.

Other than that I felt that the beach island part took a bit longer than it needed to. Kinda felt like the filler beach episode you see in anime. The fan service was great don’t get me wrong but again it made the story grind to a halt.

 

[NiiChan]

The biggest thing by far that threw off the pacing for me was how lengthy flashbacks can be. I fully understand they are necessary to flesh out characters but when they drag on that long it really can be frustrating as it’s effectively putting a stop to the flow of the story that is happening in the present. Emma’s and Lily’s flashbacks were particularly rough. Imo that was handled MUCH better in Sicae.

Other than that I felt that the beach island part took a bit longer than it needed to. Kinda felt like the filler beach episode you see in anime. The fan service was great don’t get me wrong but again it made the story grind to a halt.

Would you rather I take it through short flashbacks with bits of exposition? Like how I handle it in Sicae.
But tbh, I'm very lazy on doing flashbacks now, even the thought of doing it, because now I do agree that it halts the progress in the present a lot.

 

[nzn]

This the compressed you're looking for?

awesome, not sure why search failed me but thanks (a really unwelcome change to this site tbh)

 

[nzn]

We'll come up with something in the future; for now, we'll stick to what we do to avoid drastic change. Again.

that is possibly the best aproach to have. take criticism on board, adjust where needed, but keep your general vision going. much better than the high on own supply and echo chambers i've seen crop up in general and especialy recently.

Would you rather I take it through short flashbacks with bits of exposition? Like how I handle it in Sicae.
But tbh, I'm very lazy on doing flashbacks now, even the thought of doing it, because now I do agree that it halts the progress in the present a lot.

not sure how it is in sicae (wasn't ready for another of your games) but that sound pretty decent. my main advice is to avoid flashback ception and any scenario where time starts feeling warped and it is unclear what is a flashback anymore

I just hope you people are ready for the ending of this game.

few ever are.

 

[Pumpal]

Would you rather I take it through short flashbacks with bits of exposition? Like how I handle it in Sicae.
But tbh, I'm very lazy on doing flashbacks now, even the thought of doing it, because now I do agree that it halts the progress in the present a lot.

I feel Sicae handled the flashbacks perfectly. Long enough to appropriately communicate what happened but short and to the point enough to not disrupt the flow of the story. Im actually currently replaying Sicae after replaying MBML and can say with confidence that the pacing is nearly perfect there. You absolutely nailed it

 

[crazymantis]

I hope NiiChan doesn't mind. But this should be enough as a I-Patch for the latest version.
Then you can change the roles of the childhood and landlady characters again.
Simply copy this Script.rpy file into the game folder and overwrite the old one with it. Maybe back up the old file first, though.

Playing on the android version. is there a way to apply the patch on the android application itself?

 

[NiiChan]

I feel Sicae handled the flashbacks perfectly. Long enough to appropriately communicate what happened but short and to the point enough to not disrupt the flow of the story. Im actually currently replaying Sicae after replaying MBML and can say with confidence that the pacing is nearly perfect there. You absolutely nailed it

Alright. I'll take this on board. See how we can adjust those flashbacks in the future.

 

[NiiChan]

I think one way we can avoid excessive flashbacks in the future is to also avoid preset relationships, like what Supreme Breeder pointed out. That way, there's nothing for us to go back in time, or barely. Flashbacks are still good if used right.

 

[NiiChan]

any scenario where time starts feeling warped and it is unclear what is a flashback anymore

This can happen during the scenes after the credits roll. Any scenes that happen after that, before the actual next episode jumps in, are always teasers for the upcoming episode. They're not part of the main content. Kind of an MCU thing.

I guess one of the downsides of my writing style is that I'm not really writing the game in a VN format. But more like a series or a in movie structure. People aren't used to that in this medium.

 

[hyu2805]

Does anyone collect pictures of Moon?

 

[Pimer666]

is it just one version with incest and the other isn't? both getting same updates?

 

[Ozymandias037]

Does anyone collect pictures of Moon?

I gotchu fam

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