VN Ren'Py Abandoned No Saints [Ch. 1-6] [DynamiteSaint]

[longjohngold]

Renders are alright... story is alright... engine isn't the worst but I can't see a reason it's not in Renpy... sex scenes are annoying coded, if it's going to cycle back and forth between 2 renders 20 times then you've gotta sit there and watch it, it's not coded as just a loop you break out of with the next key press, and that's going to be real annoying if you end up replaying the whole game to see how different choices change things.

Biggest problem is how the choices are done.
No idea why I couldn't get the girl to do coke, was literally the first time you've get to make a decision for that character.
The others also either seem to not matter (I played that final party twice chose the opposite thing for the 2 decisions you get - nothing changed), or you've not really got any idea of what it changes later... I guess that'd be corrected with a walkthrough mod but as it's not renpy I dunno if someone will make one.

 

[Inzi1993]

Renders are alright... story is alright... engine isn't the worst but I can't see a reason it's not in Renpy... sex scenes are annoying coded, if it's going to cycle back and forth between 2 renders 20 times then you've gotta sit there and watch it, it's not coded as just a loop you break out of with the next key press, and that's going to be real annoying if you end up replaying the whole game to see how different choices change things.

Biggest problem is how the choices are done.
No idea why I couldn't get the girl to do coke, was literally the first time you've get to make a decision for that character.
The others also either seem to not matter (I played that final party twice chose the opposite thing for the 2 decisions you get - nothing changed), or you've not really got any idea of what it changes later... I guess that'd be corrected with a walkthrough mod but as it's not renpy I dunno if someone will make one.

at the petrol statiob, click dont tease... when you get to the option of hug him or kiss him, click hug then click 'get ic cream'. later click on ' dump him' then later you get to the coke scene

 

[darlic]

If this is in response to my comment, let me clarify: your choices do seem to matter as in they determine what the character you're controlling at that moment does or does not. But my gripe is that they also seem to affect other seemingly unrelated things in unclear ways.

No, I was referring to this extract of the dev's note:

... And some of the choices you make may not have the desired outcomes you thought they might.

Basically, he is asking the player to save scum like hell. This is a wrong and bad gameplay decision IMO

 

[NateGrey]

Thanks for the kind words and critique, Nate! I helped a bit on the writing side, but that's mostly Danny, my partner. I do know that the main reason for some of the choices (or lack thereof) is because, based on some of the early choices in the game, the characters backstories could change and shift, making them act in ways they wouldn't in other paths (Abbie doing coke or not even having the option in a couple paths is a perfect example.) Based on the choices you made as other characters, it actually changed her backstory a bit in the game, so if she has no choice in doing the coke, then her and Ellen's (her best friend) relationship before the start of "No Saints" changes to where Ellen is a bit wilder, whereas Abbie learned from doing drugs when they were still in high school and refuses because she learned from her mistakes in the past. Danny and I likened it to the old "choose your own adventure" books that we liked back when we were kids, where you just guide the characters in a direction and the story goes on from there and it could change based on the choices you made. I know this type of storytelling isn't everyone's cup of tea, but, rest assured, we do have it mapped out where things aren't just slapped together so to speak lol. And we will be putting a walkthrough out at some point, though that might take a while, as we both have full-time jobs and finding the time can be a bit crazy.

Thanks for your response Ellen! I understand a bit more now how/why Ellen's choices affect Abbie's choices (or lack thereof). What I would like (and it's of course entirely up to you whether you think it's a good idea) is to have that connection between the choices more visible to the player. It doesn't need to be too explicit or spoon-fed ("Warning! Choosing this will cause Abbie to use cocaine later!") but make it somehow recognizable, perhaps by internal monologue by Abbie, that her behaviour is partly influenced by Ellen's behavior. I like to play these games intuitively without a walkthrough and don't mind the occasional surprise twist or unexpected outcome of my choices, but I do like to have a general idea of the consequences.

 

[ellensaint]

I totally understand, Nate And that's a good suggestion about the internal monologue. Something we obviously didn't think of lol. Just getting this feedback from everyone here has been eye opening, for sure. It's given us a few things to think about moving forward and how people play this little game... What they like... And don't like. Obviously, we're going to create the story we'd like to tell, but tweaking things and making things more enjoyable for the player is a main goal, too. Since I'm off today, I'm doing a bit of changing things as we speak... The path you were on, for instance, I thought could use a bit of touching up. It's different when you have a few friends play testing something for you and they say "It's great!" vs when you release it to people who don't know you lol. We'll make some changes and do a re-release sometime in the near future, while also moving forward on Chapters 5-7. Anyway, thanks again for the suggestions and comments They all help us make a better game!

 

[CobraPL]

So you make choices but in the end, they don't really matter? This sounds very rage-inducing, to me at least

Mass Effect 3?

 

[Great Red Dead]

If possible, change to renpy. Tyrano is very uncomfortable to play.

 

[longjohngold]

at the petrol statiob, click dont tease... when you get to the option of hug him or kiss him, click hug then click 'get ic cream'. later click on ' dump him' then later you get to the coke scene

That gives a different coke scene to the screen in the OP (where it looks like she stays on the couch and gets eaten out by Rayne).

But I still maintain the way the choices work is really borked... if the first girl teases twice at the petrol station then the second girl will fuck her bf (even if you choose the hug option)... and those 2 people haven't even met at that point so couldn't be influencing each other at all.

 

[Ragnar]

Good first update with enough content to get the game feel. The engine is not as stable as renpy but it plays the same. Story from several povs is different and welcomed.
My only complain is how choices aren't organic or intuitive. At the end the best way to advance is trial and error to see different outcomes.
Also the game could use a skip animation button for replay purposes.

 

[Gavrilo Princip]

write 777 tags to players download game and later delete !!! where is male protagonist ? where is incest ?

 

[redwind21]

So far, so good. Can't wait for more!

 

[Rihan Majid]

An incredibly boring game! you cant skip over scenes or fast forward through them.

 

[ilovenudemods]

An incredibly boring game! you cant skip over scenes or fast forward through them.

It's not a game, it's a visual novel, as shown by the large [VN] at the top of the screen. Visual novels require reading, not spam clicking. Most VNs don't allow skipping unless you've already seen the scene, so that's nothing new.

That said, this story is off to a really great start! I can't wait to see where it goes and how it comes together as more chapters are released! The writing is great, the characters actually look like real people instead of inflated bimbo idiots, and I'm really impressed with it. I also don't mind this engine at all, it ran great for me with no issues!

 

[xmilteach]

thx

 

[RottenPlum]

I hate scum saving and with this engine there is no quick skip like with ren'py. This game needs walkthrough, because there are a several variatons of the scenes in the chapters and they are determined by some variables that players can't know.

 

[Some_Dude?]

I hate scum saving and with this engine there is no quick skip like with ren'py. This game needs walkthrough, because there are a several variatons of the scenes in the chapters and they are determined by some variables that players can't know.

skip line you mean like skipping through talking like holding CTRL, it still works, i do agree this game needs a walkthrough

 

[Some_Dude?]

I wish you could save during sex scenes, not knowing when the sex is about to happen with the animation you got to save before it, its a pain

 

[RolandG.]

I like it so far, I will definitely continue to watch it.

 

[dagoeba]

The game looks good, but it really needs a "skip animation" option/button.

 

[eightypercent]

So you just popped in to let us know all that? Awesome!

First four chapters (very short chapters by the way) looked OK and I think there's definitely some potential here. My main dislike was that the choices you make seem influence in opaque and unintuitive ways other choices you get. For example, based on the choices I had made with other characters, I either had a choice or no choice about using coke as Abbie. I'm not a fan of that since it almost necessitates using a walkthrough.

I 100% agree with the Abbie Choice remark... it would be far more meaningful to allow each character to make their own choices rather than have some convoluted system which would require a BORING WALKTHROUGH... I generally avoid [hate] games where you need walkthroughs; if the game is good, and this one has the potential to be good, then I would rather role play each character as I see fit, which allows repeated playthroughs.