VN Ren'Py My Husband's Boss [Ch.2] [SC Stories]

[Ts Lams]

The following are my personal thoughts on what guides me. I realize I am in the minority.

The only place I see multiple paths working is in a harem story and the player can chose to fuck/not fuck certain love interests based on personal preference. Beyond that I do not get the appeal. I find them distracting, emersion breaking, and unnecessary. I guess I just don't 'put myself' in the shoes of the MC. I'd rather just observe it like I would watching a movie. In fact I tend not to play POV style games where you view the world only from the MC's eyes. If there is a walkthrough mod I use it because I don't want to replay something 15 times trying to russian roulette the right combination to see an event. I stopped playing one particularly long game because I was really just interest in content with 'Jill', but, even with a mod, I fell off her optimal path and I wasn't going to restart that long ass game to try get better story with her. There is another epically long blue ball game that throws up a choice box every 4 fucking frames. FFS, we all want the corruption path... why bother putting up the 'loving wife' choice at all!? (sry... rant over).

In my story there simply isn't a way to add paths that wouldn't derail the track I've put it on. The only thing I could do is maybe let the player chose between a couple outfits or maybe add more views/animations to sex scenes and allow the player to select the one he wants. But even that requires a lot of work that takes away from other scenes or maybe cause me to simply remove some scenes. For example, in the next update there is a transition scene that connects two events at two different locations. It has 200lines of code, 53 renders, and a 600 frame animated camera pull. Would the story work without it? Yes. But now I have a beautiful transition scene that ties the other two together and sets a mood for what's about to happen.

Even for a professional production team, multiple branches are simply a money grab. This is fine because they are making a product and selling it to support themselves, but their goal is not to tell a compelling story from start to finish. Their goal is to get subscribers and keep them as long as possible. That's done by appealing to as large an audience as possible and dragging out the game as long as possible. For AVNs, I think it's okay to have a small side story or the occasional gratuitous scene just for the sake of entertainment, a time out from a serious plot, but some games just jump from one random even to another.

As far as endings go, I think the ending is the most important part of the story. Again, some games just jump from random event to random event and then BAM... here's a random, rushed ending, if they ever get to one. My story is narrowly focused to a specific end. My production goal originally was to create short stories. Just a couple hours long, published as completed/final projects because I hate 5+ year games that never end. My first (unpublished) game is just that. 1.5-2hrs long with the ending guiding the story. I wish more publishes would do something like that but again, you can't make money that way. MHB became much larger than I planned but I think it's length is needed to properly tell the story. It's not long just for the sake of being long. Long being a relative term here, I realize some games could be called epically long.

As far a adding multiple ending to MHB... no, sorry, not going to happen. Again, in a harem game, maybe different endings depending on which love interest wins the MC is okay, but just think about the work creating 5 mediocare endings versus one grand ending. For MHB, sure I could have one 'bad' ending and one 'good' ending but that just makes entire previous 10hrs of content irrelevant because the player picks the ending from a menu. The emotional investment is shattered when that options box pops up.

I think players are just programmed to expect choices and multiple ending because that's all they know. Because nearly all creators want to make money and again, that's how they do it. Maybe they'd enjoy my style more if it was more common. I personally have really been drawn to the 'comic book' style VN's because they do not have choices but I dislike the chat bubble renders. Which brings me all the way back to why I'm making this. It's because this is the style of 'game' I want to play and no one else is making one. And to be clear, because I make this for myself and I am not monetizing it, I am not influenced by consumer desire. Constructive feedback is fine, like bug reports or some people have suggested more sound effects, but my 'vision' overall is what it is. The veterans who have been here from the start know this, just letting some of the newer participants know.

Sorry for the rant but this topic gnaws at me. I try to stay out of this thread as I see it as a place for you guys, not me. Plus I have over two hundred followers now and I don't want to bother them with notifications about trivial stuff.

I'll make an update post in a week or two but short version is things are going as planned. Thanks.

You gentleman have more than my admiration and total respect

 

[Hattyrulz]

Truly, I tell you—everything will happen.

With each passing day and night, Vivian will discover new aspects of her sexuality.
Chris, her lover, will guide her through it (*like in Rita’s Ed cation/Wild Orchid).
Hutch will faithfully wait at home, like Penelope, until Vivian reaches port—he will be her anchor in these wild days.

She will fuck students and mechanics, businessmen and politicians—some at Chris’s request, some involuntarily, and some of her own accord. Anal, DP,G-B, BBC, lesbian...(niples/clit piercing - CigSmokHutch?? ) Everything will happen*—the question is, how long will Hutch endure?

*i hope pissing/scat not

lol you really have fallen deep into the dark side luc.... even killing christian will not turn you back to the light side. what happend to the man of faith....was duke's temptations too much . we all know that duke's theories how every crazy they may seem at times will come to pass, doesn't mean we have to give up on hope.

after the posts from SC Stories i had a few modifications to different theories since the way he addressed some of his ideas ..... so just waiting on update 2 before i place all my chips on duke's theories.... not saying ill will give-up on my hope for redemption since update 3 is the one with the most probable cliffhanger which dictates who's crazy theories will be right and wrong according to SC Stories posts. assuming SC Stories follows QT approach to storytelling then i'll mostly get the story by update 3's end/cliffhanger.

dont think we will go down the scat route. SC Stories is already trolling addison so she might be important for update 4/5 .... so going down scat route is a big no no.

 

[DarkArchon]

No, Luc. No. You can't do that! Explore your feelings, Luc! I can feel your conflict! Free yourself from your thoughts.
Don't be afraid, the dark side of the Force is trying to seduce your thoughts. Fear is the way to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to unspeakable suffering. Luc you must stand firm

 

[xert13]

Another possibility could be that the same person approaches different games, and sometimes the same games, differently. A person could play one game, and in it project themselves into the main character or other characters, and in a different game not relate to any of characters, but enjoy manipulating the characters and watching the consequences. A person could also switch places between the 2 perspectives in different playthroughs of the same game. I think some people are unable to switch between one or the other, and some people can. A lot of posters on F9 complain that they don't like female protagonists games, and usually it is because they want to project themselves into the main character (assuming they are males). Other posters love female protagonists games even if they are males and don't identify with the female protagonists. Other posters like female protagonist games, male protagonist games, harem games, NTR games, lesbian games, straight games, and play all routes.

I like all sorts of games within the parameters of my "interests." Female protagonist games do not bother me as I do not self-identify. I think you are correct that many do not like female prog stories because they cannot self-identify with a woman.

 

[Sparta158]

I like all sorts of games within the parameters of my "interests." Female protagonist games do not bother me as I do not self-identify. I think you are correct that many do not like female prog stories because they cannot self-identify with a woman.

That sounds very interesting. I prefer stories with female protagonists because i usually find the point of view, the motivation, the thoughts more interesting. I know the male perspective, so it bores me much faster. A good mix of both, like in this VN, is perfect.

 

[K5434]

Normaly im am not a Fan of a Porn Game, who would be rigtht? But in this Case i would like to Support the dev, just because i am thrilled for the next update and hope that it doesnt get abandoned. "Lost in the Rift" or something with a similar Name, was also a great NTR Game, that got abandoned, after the first Release.

So dev: Open a Patreon Page and let us get you a coffee.

 

[3dfriend13]

I'll optimize it on future releases but it is over 5k images already

I just played your game. I just want to say congratulations. It's really awesome. I look forward to more morbid developments.

 

[Dealbreaker]

The more choices/branches a dev offers, the less of an author and the more of a service provider (though a very skilled one in most cases) he becomes.

 

[Hattyrulz]

It will be a seamless continuation. Release 2 picks up the next morning following their heartfelt conversation. I am making a couple VERY small edits to release 1 but I promise they will not change anything and won't be worth re-watching it. I'll include a save point or an option box so you can jump to the fresh content.

If you feel the game is getting too large for a single release, you could always have part 2, 3, etc be separate renpy games. Since there are no choices, it wouldn't be an issue. Plus it would save having to download extra gigabytes each time.

SC Stories the size of the kn can be resolved with splitting the download into parts not the kn itself. or make it a torrent download which is much more easier except for android users. as i said in my status post download size doesnt matter even if its 10+ gigs as it can be split into parts and downloaded by the user. you cant do that with the immersion you lose by making each update a standalone.

feels odd the JoeBlogs are of opposing views here. another way is to make it so that the updates are a patch. to the original so that it doesnt have all the previous content just what is new update. which saves both size and immersion. just some thoughts for SC Stories to considers before making a decision.

PS: i'm strongly against splitting the kn into parts.... think about it.

PPS: about the quality... most feel that the image are lacking in quality but its the opposite. this is due to SC Stories using DoF/OoF (depth of field and out of focus) in his images which make them look like they are of lower quality but they aren't.

I'm stunned. Almost 14 hours without posts. What happened?

all theories exhausted from current update and creativity fatigue?? just guessing.

 

[gino.pilotino]

I'm stunned. Almost 14 hours without posts. What happened?

 

[Sparta158]

SC Stories the size of the kn can be resolved with splitting the download into parts not the kn itself. or make it a torrent download which is much more easier except for android users. as i said in my status post download size doesnt matter even if its 10+ gigs as it can be split into parts and downloaded by the user. you cant do that with the immersion you lose by making each update a standalone.

feels odd the JoeBlogs are of opposing views here. another way is to make it so that the updates are a patch. to the original so that it doesnt have all the previous content just what is new update. which saves both size and immersion. just some thoughts for SC Stories to considers before making a decision.

PS: i'm strongly against splitting the kn into parts.... think about it.




all theories exhausted from current update and creativity fatigue?? just guessing.

In my opinion, the update option you suggested is much better. The other option would significantly worsen the immersion of the VN.

 

[lolo540]

Why not imagine a global file when all the updates are released? ( A final version in one file ).

In the meantime, updates will arrive one by one. Whether we like it or not, we won't have a complete game before Update 5. So in the meantime, it's no problem to have 2, 3, 4 files in an MHB directory on my PC.

 

[Hattyrulz]

Why not imagine a global file when all the updates are released? ( A final version in one file ).

In the meantime, updates will arrive one by one. Whether we like it or not, we won't have a complete game before Update 5. So in the meantime, it's no problem to have 2, 3, 4 files in an MHB directory on my PC.

the global file wouldn't be possible until may 2026. optimistically speaking. but if you split kn into updates now it will lead to more work later on. using a update option or just splitting the file needed for download is better and lowers the work required. you have to consider SC Stories side of things. dont want him to be overworked for our needs.... it's his hobby project with a predetermined vision, im just giving him ideas so that he can choose whichever lowers the workload.

i think most people are here for the immersion factor of the kn .... even TheDuke9999 would agree i think.

i already posted some of these ideas in my conversation with SC Stories but I'm guessing that they were lost in the numerous conversation from others, and hence the no response.

I saw posts predicting the next release around 10 gb. So it's going to be a 25/35 gb game in the end? That seems a bit much to me. But maybe I'm remembering wrong.

assuming each update is 5gb in size... but well have to wait and see till sept. since that's the release window for update 3. we wont know until then unless SC Stories confirms that each update will be of similar size(5gb each).

 

[gino.pilotino]

I am quite ignoring the thread because as I said I find it too active. I did want to ask, though: speaking of size, which as we all know doesn't matter but you just have to know how to use what you have well, speaking of size, if I remember correctly I saw posts predicting the next release around 10 gb. So it's going to be a 25/35 gb game in the end? That seems a bit much to me. But maybe I'm remembering wrong.

 

[Luc77]

speaking of size

speaking of size... it must be at least 20 cm... uhmm...
i mean 20 GB...

 

[gino.pilotino]

speaking of size... it must be at least 20 cm... uhmm...
i mean 20 GB...

I however hope that the author will have the kindness to post only updates. It is like a movie, as has been said. There are no choices that alter the flow of the movie. I hope the author will let us download only the update without re-downloading the first part. Here maybe what do I know: cd1, cd2.... cd5 and for those who want the whole dvd. Where I live I download at KB/S, or if I'm okay with weather and clouds, 1 or 2 MB/S



I started six hours ago

 

[JoeBlogs]

@SC Stories the size of the kn can be resolved with splitting the download into parts not the kn itself. or make it a torrent download which is much more easier except for android users. as i said in my status post download size doesnt matter even if its 10+ gigs as it can be split into parts and downloaded by the user. you cant do that with the immersion you lose by making each update a standalone.

feels odd the @JoeBlogs are of opposing views here. another way is to make it so that the updates are a patch. to the original so that it doesnt have all the previous content just what is new update. which saves both size and immersion. just some thoughts for @SC Stories to considers before making a decision.

PS: i'm strongly against splitting the kn into parts.... think about it.

PPS: about the quality... most feel that the image are lacking in quality but its the opposite. this is due to @SC Stories using DoF/OoF (depth of field and out of focus) in his images which make them look like they are of lower quality but they aren't.

It's all good, I still love you Hattyrulz. We all like what we like.

Just some points (my opinions so don't get too worked up)

1. I don't care about sooper-dooper high quality images when it comes to story driven games. I'm in it for the story and the images just need to be respectable. A 2 mb png HD image (1920x1080) can be converted to an equivalent webp with minimal to no loss and end up being about a fraction of the size (give or take). This isn't a problem. I've played plenty of compressed games and have not noticed any jarring problems with image quality.
We have all seen tonnes of Golden palace / New gens /Dicktaker Daz genitals in every other game, so I don't care if they are not in high quality. I'm in love with the concept of where this story can lead to.

2. Making separate executables for each update was a suggestion to keep patches reasonable. It would mean not worrying about merging new code into old code, but more importantly it would mean have a smaller patch file for downloading. I can't see how this would break immersion. By that reasoning, it's already broken because we have to wait for months between releases.
They can even be named accordingly:
My Husband's Boss: A Husband's Sacrifice
My Husband's Boss: The Price of Love
My Husband's Boss: Shadows of Forgiveness
My Husband's Boss: Shadows of Silence
My Husband's Boss: Where we stand and where we fall?

3. The nature of this game being a choice-less movie like release means that you can get away with separate releases for each update. It also means that it would be quite simple to have a combined complete version as well (either at end, or as option with each release). Not sure how many here have played with renpy, (I have and I'm pretty good at it too), and with the way SC Stories has structured the game code, this would not be difficult at all.

4. As gino.pilotino suggested as well, update only patches are also a possibility, and maybe a good compromise.

5. Finally, I like downloading from MEGA where possibly. Unless you have a paid subscription, you are limited to 5GB a day. I'll be spewing if I have to wait days to download this gem

 

[Manshino]

I'm stunned. Almost 14 hours without posts. What happened?

Earth rotation

 

[gino.pilotino]

It's all good, I still love you Hattyrulz. We all like what we like.

Just some points (my opinions so don't get too worked up)

1. I don't care about sooper-dooper high quality images when it comes to story driven games. I'm in it for the story and the images just need to be respectable. A 2 mb png HD image (1920x1080) can be converted to an equivalent webp with minimal to no loss and end up being about a fraction of the size (give or take). This isn't a problem. I've played plenty of compressed games and have not noticed any jarring problems with image quality.
We have all seen tonnes of Golden palace / New gens /Dicktaker Daz genitals in every other game, so I don't care if they are not in high quality. I'm in love with the concept of where this story can lead to.

2. Making separate executables for each update was a suggestion to keep patches reasonable. It would mean not worrying about merging new code into old code, but more importantly it would mean have a smaller patch file for downloading. I can't see how this would break immersion. By that reasoning, it's already broken because we have to wait for months between releases.
They can even be named accordingly:
My Husband's Boss: A Husband's Sacrifice
My Husband's Boss: The Price of Love
My Husband's Boss: Shadows of Forgiveness
My Husband's Boss: Shadows of Silence
My Husband's Boss: Where we stand and where we fall?

3. The nature of this game being a choice-less movie like release means that you can get away with separate releases for each update. It also means that it would be quite simple to have a combined complete version as well (either at end, or as option with each release). Not sure how many here have played with renpy, (I have and I'm pretty good at it too), and with the way SC Stories has structured the game code, this would not be difficult at all.

4. As gino.pilotino suggested as well, update only patches are also a possibility, and maybe a good compromise.

5. Finally, I like downloading from MEGA where possibly. Unless you have a paid subscription, you are limited to 5GB a day. I'll be spewing if I have to wait days to download this gem

i plan first what i want to play. while i play one game i decide what the next ones will be and in the meantime i download and mark them as to be done. i can't afford, with those times, to finish one game and then decide what to do next. There's also to say that when I finish a good game I feel emotionally drained and don't immediately want to start another one. But that's another matter. With the bandwidth I have I have to plan what I want to see.

 

[TheDuke9999]