VN Ren'Py My Dorm [v0.24.0 S3 Ch.4] [Tropecita Games]

[Trope95]

Trope comes from Spain. This realities are closest to him. And he has something to choose from. He doesn't have to look for a poor Romanian town. Just as he didn't choose slums somewhere in the USA.

Clearly I wasn't talking about Trope and My Dorm, I was generalising in response to generalised comments from other posters. If a dev is from a poor Romanian town, they are more likely to choose a US setting as it would be more appealing to the main market than the hometown the dev knows...

Talking about why I decided to set My Dorm in the US (besides the previous post reasons, that were general and applicable to any game)

There isn't almost any college dorm in Spain directly linked to a university. From what I know, there is one in Pamplona (for a catholic university), Barcelona has a very small one (20 people or so) for the Pharmacy school, and I think Madrid, Granada, Salamanca, and Seville also have some.
In Spain, people try to go to college in their home cities or somewhere they can go in the morning and return in the afternoon/evening (I studied for my first degree on a "

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" ~50 Km from home. You can check the link to Google Maps to see why I wrote "campus". Nothing in common with American campuses).
So, having a game with My Dorm's premise in Spain wouldn't work.

NTR wouldn't exist in a country like Spain (we aren't big on science) or work for the Spanish Government (no international black ops).
It's easier to write an alt-world Point of Divergence focused on Arnold (I don't need to write his last name) running for governorship earlier (with a different POTUS) than focused on a Spanish politician from the 90s who no one outside Spain would know.

Two girls from Chicago and New York are more identifiable than two from Salamanca and Huelva internationally. The first ones can argue about which is the best pizza (both will be wrong) and almost every player will understand what are they talking about. The second pair could argue about which Iberian ham is better, and players won't know why it's so important.

Spain's (touristic) slogan for years was "Spain is different", so setting a game here would need a lot of explanations that would break the flow of the game.

 

[johnny0183]

There are several reasons:
Localization of the assets:
You can't place a game in the UK if a car will be shown. Every Daz car has the steering wheel on the left.
Most electrical sockets in assets are American ones, so that discards Europe as a setting if you don't want to get complaints about the sockets being incorrect. Yes, there are some assets with (continental) European sockets, but you don't want to limit yourself to perhaps 10-15% of available Daz houses/bars/cafes/etc.

Related to the above point, is the perceived housing distribution: Most people in Europe (living in a medium-sized or bigger city) live in an apartment or small house (no pool, no garden to write home about, etc.). Hollywood has "sold" the idea that every middle-class American can live in a big house with huge rooms, a pool, and a big garden. You don't want your characters having sex in a 3mx3m room if you want to move the camera around. The MC's room is 19'3"x23', 442 sqft (5.86x7m, 41m2). There are smaller apartments in some cities in Europe.

Europe has a history. If you set your game in Paris, sooner or later you should show the Eiffel Tower, the Chams Elysees, etc. Same with London (Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament), Rome (Colosseum, Fontana di Trevi), or wherever. Most small towns in Europe have historic landmarks and almost none are available as Daz assets. It's easier to "invent" a small town in the US than one in Europe.

Market: As you can see in the table below, most of my income comes from US players (it shows money percentage, not percentage of players, in Subscribestar in the last year, easier to gather that info than on Patreon)
View attachment 4832316
It's not only a population thing; American players spend more per million inhabitants than any other country (except Australia and New Zealand), followed closely by Germany.

If a market provides you with 65% of your income, has the asset advantage, and also it's easier to invent a setting, it's a justifiable choice to set your game in that market.

The localization is also a bit of a chicken and egg problem; because a large amount of the available assets are American a lot of games will take place in the US which in turn has people make more assets that are American.

The creation of a town being easier in the US I don't full agree with; you can either be vague enough about it's location so it can easily be a town in our reality or just have it take place in an alternate reality where that town was founded (don't have to specifically mention it ofc).

Visiting major cities in Europe has another hurdle; specific building style. Since Europe is so old different cities can have significantly different styles for which you just so happen to be finding assets for. US cities are a lot more uniform in that regard.

 

[JJ1960]

NTR wouldn't exist in a country like Spain (we aren't big on science) or work for the Spanish Government (no international black ops).

No black ops that you know about... After all, they are black ops.

 

[Trope95]

The localization is also a bit of a chicken and egg problem; because a large amount of the available assets are American a lot of games will take place in the US which in turn has people make more assets that are American.

The creation of a town being easier in the US I don't full agree with; you can either be vague enough about it's location so it can easily be a town in our reality or just have it take place in an alternate reality where that town was founded (don't have to specifically mention it ofc).

Visiting major cities in Europe has another hurdle; specific building style. Since Europe is so old different cities can have significantly different styles for which you just so happen to be finding assets for. US cities are a lot more uniform in that regard.

Let's say I set my next game in a fictional town in a not disclosed place in Europe. I should place it somewhere in my planning to know the climate, if it has a beach nearby, etc.
Let's say I use the local laws (remember I know in my head where it is). First problem: Drinking age. You know people will complain about it. Even after the night at the Jazz Corner, when it's explicitly explained why they can drink at 18, people who are past that update complains.

Second problem: Distances. People in Europe (middle class) can go for a special event (I did it a couple of times for a date, to impress a girl, and flying 30 years ago was more expensive than today when I can fly to London and return for 35€ or to Bergamo for 18€, cheaper than flying to Madrid) to another country, have dinner or go partying and return the same or the next day. It's more common to go for a full weekend, but in a harem game that would also mean not having any content with the other girls for a couple of in-game days.
That means the MC could take girls on dates to almost any European city (depending on the place that was set in my mind). That means, as you said, different architecture, different landmarks, etc.

I guess no one from Miami goes to LA to have a date with a girl who also lives in Miami. Let's not talk about changing countries and going to Ottawa. There are some assets of buildings in New York, but not enough to do a full AVN. That's why most of them are in fictional places or they don't name the place.

Having a game in the (fictional) US is way easier than in Europe. I could go on and on.

No black ops that you know about... After all, they are black ops.

Spanish spies should learn something from Eva and Amanda. Some years ago, a (national) black op was discovered because a spy forgot his ID card and his CNI card (CIA equivalent, but which can also operate inside Spain) in his hotel room from where he was spying on someone.

 

[johnpouljones]

Let's say I set my next game in a fictional town in a not disclosed place in Europe. I should place it somewhere in my planning to know the climate, if it has a beach nearby, etc.
Let's say I use the local laws (remember I know in my head where it is). First problem: Drinking age. You know people will complain about it. Even after the night at the Jazz Corner, when it's explicitly explained why they can drink at 18, people who are past that update complains.
View attachment 4832680
Second problem: Distances. People in Europe (middle class) can go for a special event (I did it a couple of times for a date, to impress a girl, and flying 30 years ago was more expensive than today when I can fly to London and return for 35€ or to Bergamo for 18€, cheaper than flying to Madrid) to another country, have dinner or go partying and return the same or the next day. It's more common to go for a full weekend, but in a harem game that would also mean not having any content with the other girls for a couple of in-game days.
That means the MC could take girls on dates to almost any European city (depending on the place that was set in my mind). That means, as you said, different architecture, different landmarks, etc.

I guess no one from Miami goes to LA to have a date with a girl who also lives in Miami. Let's not talk about changing countries and going to Ottawa. There are some assets of buildings in New York, but not enough to do a full AVN. That's why most of them are in fictional places or they don't name the place.

Having a game in the (fictional) US is way easier than in Europe. I could go on and on.

I admit that it is appealing to make the game take place in say 15 European countries showing different cultures. For example, it could turn out that a meal on a date can be something other than a burger. And every date would be different.

It would be easiest to make a game in line with the old theatrical principle of unity of place and time. The action would take place in one string without any time jumps and in one room.

 

[MarsUltor]

Reading this discussion about English and it's variants, makes me feel OK with how Portuguese has been working.

If you don't know, there are a bunch of regional variants of Portuguese. They are spoken and written by an awesome amount of people. Yet, all the countries that have Portuguese as it's National Language, joined efforts and are harmonizing the differences. That means that EVERYONE has to make changes to theirs, not only this one or that one. It is still far from done, but the effort is being made.

This doesn't apply only to the higher level writing and speaking, but, goes all the way down to the common language everywhere. Yes, pt-PT, may still be the reference, with pt-BR and pt-AN (that's Brazil and Angola the 2 biggest masses of speakers) but there's constant harmonization in grammar and even on how to write or say several words. The tendency and the goal, is not to eliminate differences, it is to make each of the living variants to grow along the same routes, preserving their identities but remaining recognizable and learnable for everyone.

The main issue is the different (vary different) levels of alphabetization in all these countries. But, we are getting there.

Portuguese from being the first REAL global language, with it's presence in all but one of the 7 continents, is not an easy language for foreigners to learn. But it is an awesome one.

Peace

Muito legal, irmão!

I just had a stroke of genius (or maybe just a stroke...)!! Português should be standardized to the Macau variant... or Cabo Verde... or Paulista Caipira...

 

[jI11jaCksjAkk]

General comment on all the English/language discussion:

Spoiler: opinion on critiques of this game and others

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I cannot imagine anyone ever intentionally saying that. That said, even though there are numerous turns of phrase that don't sound natural to me I can always get the gist of what you're trying to get across.
So, I agree that the dialogue very often doesn't feel natural for the setting I don't think its a big deal.

Wait until you get a little older, and the young 'uns start using words to mean new things even where you thought you knew the language and it 'felt natural' to you before. Nothing makes me feel more instantly old than having run to the urban dictionary online to look up a word I know suddenly being used in a completely new context.

That will be the point where we loose HP for good

That redhead Martha render a few months back almost pushed me over the edge with thoughts of a super-taboo M+M threeway (sit on my mouth, not on my hands!)

Well, other than getting it the wrong way round, with it being the Americans taking the "u" out of words because of whatever reason won't get me attacked for making fun of them!

Pretty consistent messaging: just another way Americans go out of their way to tell the rest of the world "We don't like u."

Nevermind, the vast mayority of the world don't even knows that Uruguay exists

I'm not a guay, you're a guay!

Having a game in the (fictional) US is way easier than in Europe. I could go on and on.

Makes complete sense for all the reasons you have posted about. Unfortunately, many US players see the pattern in AVNs/games and assume it must mean that most devs like the US more than their own countries and, QED, the US is better than all other countries.

 

[TonyMurray]

Pretty consistent messaging: just another way Americans go out of their way to tell the rest of the world "We don't like u."

Pretty clever point in today's climate, to be fair.

 

[MorteRivenditore]

General comment on all the English/language discussion:

Spoiler: opinion on critiques of this game and others

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Wait until you get a little older, and the young 'uns start using words to mean new things even where you thought you knew the language and it 'felt natural' to you before. Nothing makes me feel more instantly old than having run to the urban dictionary online to look up a word I know suddenly being used in a completely new context.

You mean shit like skibbity and all that bs that they are using now.... Like my generation had sayings and slang but at least it was somewhat English. The shit they use nowadays.... Its not even close to real words! Legit anyone over id say 20-25 can think about the slang and sayings they use to use then listen to any teenagers and have their brain melt tryna figure out what brainrot happened to the new generation. lol

 

[johnny0183]

You know people will complain about it. Even after the night at the Jazz Corner, when it's explicitly explained why they can drink at 18, people who are past that update complains.

I always forget how annoying people can be. Just enjoy a game a developer has put many hours into. If you see something you think could be better maybe try some constructive feedback if the developer appreciates it but if you're just going to complain please move on to something else. Maybe counting ants in your backyard or something.

 

[jI11jaCksjAkk]

You mean shit like skibbity and all that bs that they are using now.... Like my generation had sayings and slang but at least it was somewhat English. The shit they use nowadays.... Its not even close to real words! Legit anyone over id say 20-25 can think about the slang and sayings they use to use then listen to any teenagers and have their brain melt tryna figure out what brainrot happened to the new generation. lol

So has said every generation ever, though. That paragraph contains a whole lot of non-traditional word usage from the POV of my generation, but that doesn't make it "wrong" does it? The world changes, new things are discovered and created, and so language always has to add new words and/or new meanings for old words as time passes. I just think the so-called problem lies less with the words and more with the inflexibility of the more...mature minds when faced with the new. The irony is of course that kids today, who resent adults bashing their slang, will in just a few years be bashing the slang of the generation that follows them.

 

[MorteRivenditore]

So has said every generation ever, though. That paragraph contains a whole lot of non-traditional word usage from the POV of my generation, but that doesn't make it "wrong" does it? The world changes, new things are discovered and created, and so language always has to add new words and/or new meanings for old words as time passes. I just think the so-called problem lies less with the words and more with the inflexibility of the more...mature minds when faced with the new. The irony is of course that kids today, who resent adults bashing their slang, will in just a few years be bashing the slang of the generation that follows them.

Well dont get me wrong im not saying its wrong its just... How do they come up with the new crap. Like for example ya i use slang, BUT its at least close to the real word and tbh basically everything i said was english and in the case of me using slang its slang from the 90s so. Also i dont tend to use ' in words cause my fingers dont work how they use to so i cba to move my hand in a way that i can actually hit it (if thats what your referencing). But lets both be honest, mines understandable. New generation slang aint understandable unless you learn the new slang an wtf it means lol. Thats what i was tryna get at, not that it was "wrong" or "bad" just as i said brainrot for any generation but the newest generation lol.

 

[e6mill]

New generation slang aint understandable unless you learn the new slang an wtf it means lol.

On God, fr, fr. No cap. Stay on fleek or get yeeted.

 

[Satou Pendragon]

On God, fr, fr. No cap. Stay on fleek or get yeeted.

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