VN Ren'Py Not Going Back [Ch.2.2] [Cicada]

[MiltonPowers]

How long is one playthrough of the game at the moment?

It's always a little hard to say at an estimate because obviously people play and read games at different speeds. But I'd say it's a broad 'couple of hours'. If you're one for attentively reading everything, I'd be surprised if you got through it much under 3 hours, but if you're more of a skim-reader until a scene properly hooks you in then you could probably get through it quicker.
Ultimately I could see one run-through taking anywhere from 2-6 hours as an exceptionally broad guess at the average time (also depending on what choice-based scenes you see). Hope that helps, sorry I can't be more specific really.

I play at a fairly quick speed, but I do read everything and stop to make notes/add pictures of LIs in my file particularly on my first playthrough. I did that in probably between 2 1/2 & 3 hours. The 5 subsequent paths I did were quicker, because notes were less and some scenes I didn't have to read the text, completed in probably under 2 hours.

 

[Dessolos]

damn you guys makes me feel like in a slow poke I recall it took most of 1 -2 days of my free time and I didn't even add pictures lol. I didn't start doing that till a few weeks after playing the game

 

[AlexMpog]

damn you guys makes me feel like in a slow poke I recall it took most of 1 -2 days of my free time and I didn't even add pictures lol. I didn't start doing that till a few weeks after playing the game

nah, man, totally normal, I also spent few days at the very least (not 24/7 obviously), not only I usually prefer to read in a slow pace but I also spend a lot of time by simply enjoying renders, and considering how many "juicy" renders were in this game.. well, yeah

 

[cicadaNGB]

I play at a fairly quick speed, but I do read everything and stop to make notes/add pictures of LIs in my file particularly on my first playthrough. I did that in probably between 2 1/2 & 3 hours. The 5 subsequent paths I did were quicker, because notes were less and some scenes I didn't have to read the text, completed in probably under 2 hours.

Okay that's good to know. My initial reaction was to guess around 3 hours, but I didn't know if that would be over or under selling it. I erred on the side of it maybe taking a little longer because I figured I would be going through it quicker than most would, but we can roll with it being ~3 hours then as a more accurate estimate.

 

[MiltonPowers]

damn you guys makes me feel like in a slow poke I recall it took most of 1 -2 days of my free time and I didn't even add pictures lol. I didn't start doing that till a few weeks after playing the game

nah, man, totally normal, I also spent few days at the very least (not 24/7 obviously), not only I usually prefer to read in a slow pace but I also spend a lot of time by simply enjoying some renders, and considering how many "juicy" renders were in this game.. well, yeah

I tend to look more deeply into the renders on later playthroughs. My first time through I more get an overall feel, but don't tend to scour the backgrounds (possibly cause I'm too excited to see what happens next), but I have always been a fairly quick reader.

And I don't stop to edit the pictures until the playthrough is over, I just take the screenshot (so that takes like a second per picture).

 

[Dessolos]

I tend to look more deeply into the renders on later playthroughs. My first time through I more get an overall feel, but don't tend to scour the backgrounds (possibly cause I'm too excited to see what happens next), but I have always been a fairly quick reader.

And I don't stop to edit the pictures until the playthrough is over, I just take the screenshot (so that takes like a second per picture).

I actually started to do the pictures as I play as it takes no time and better than having to do all of them at once haha. i'll just change them out after if I take a better one later haha.

It doesn't help I rarely play 1 save all the way through as my first path. I usually am playing multiple saves at the same time on a game with branching like this. I get impatient and can't wait to see content with X character so I just tend to play multiple saves for that reason. Unless I really don't care for any other characters.

 

[AlexMpog]

I tend to look more deeply into the renders on later playthroughs. My first time through I more get an overall feel, but don't tend to scour the backgrounds (possibly cause I'm too excited to see what happens next), but I have always been a fairly quick reader.

well, it depends also on a game and a theme, this game doesn't have some super action that makes you hyped to see what happens next, it has pretty relaxing pace, this is one of the reasons why I love the game, so yeah, I like to look into every detail on renders, especially I love this in fantasy/sci-fi themes, to observe every fucking pixel hahah, I mean considering how much time Devs spend on creating each render it just feels like waste just to skip instead of enjoying it)

And I don't stop to edit the pictures until the playthrough is over, I just take the screenshot (so that takes like a second per picture).

I actually started to do the pictures as I play as it takes no time and better than having to do all of them at once haha. i'll just change them out after if I take a better one later haha.

I only take pictures for cards after finishing the game (make a speed-run), yeah, I know eventually it probably takes more time but I just don't wanna get distracted because knowing me - instead of enjoying playthrough I will be thinking like "damn, that will be a good card, no, wait, THIS will be even better etc etc")))

 

[Dessolos]

I only take pictures for cards after finishing the game (make a speed-run), yeah, I know eventually it probably takes more time but I just don't wanna get distracted because knowing me - instead of enjoying playthrough I will be thinking like "damn, that will be a good card, no, wait, THIS will be even better etc etc")))

I just use the first render I like insert on the google sheets file I have , then i'll store the others I take as I play in folders and go through them all when im done. I just like to have it done with since I tab out frequently and take breaks as I play anyways and rarely play for long periods of time with a taking a AVN break. So it doesn't really distract me from the game at all lol.

It feels like the older I get the worst my attention span has gotten where it's hard for me to play AVN's or games in general for hours without taking mini breaks anymore. Even if it just means looking at youtube. But yeah if I didn't play like that id do the same as you tbh. Nothing takes you out of the game like doing optional busy work just because lol.

This talk makes me wonder how big this game is gonna get tho in the future as I started to add Male characters now just so I know who is who lol.

 

[MiltonPowers]

well, it depends also on a game and a theme, this game doesn't have some super action that makes you hyped to see what happens next, it has pretty relaxing pace, this is one of the reasons why I love the game, so yeah, I like to look into every detail on renders, especially I love this in fantasy/sci-fi themes, to observe every fucking pixel hahah, I mean considering how much time Devs spend on creating each render it just feels like waste just to skip instead of enjoying it)



I only take pictures for cards after finishing the game (make a speed-run), yeah, I know eventually it probably takes more time but I just don't wanna get distracted because knowing me - instead of enjoying playthrough I will be thinking like "damn, that will be a good card, no, wait, THIS will be even better etc etc")))

I just use the first render I like insert on the google sheets file I have , then i'll store the others I take as I play in folders and go through them all when im done. I just like to have it done with since I tab out frequently and take breaks as I play anyways and rarely play for long periods of time with a taking a AVN break. So it doesn't really distract me from the game at all lol.

It feels like the older I get the worst my attention span has gotten where it's hard for me to play AVN's or games in general for hours without taking mini breaks anymore. Even if it just means looking at youtube. But yeah if I didn't play like that id do the same as you tbh. Nothing takes you out of the game like doing optional busy work just because lol.

This talk makes me wonder how big this game is gonna get tho in the future has I started to add Male characters now just so I know who is who lol.

I just leave the screenshots until the end and will have a heap to go through and choose the best one at that point.

 

[cicadaNGB]

I just use the first render I like insert on the google sheets file I have , then i'll store the others I take as I play in folders and go through them all when im done. I just like to have it done with since I tab out frequently and take breaks as I play anyways and rarely play for long periods of time with a taking a AVN break. So it doesn't really distract me from the game at all lol.

It feels like the older I get the worst my attention span has gotten where it's hard for me to play AVN's or games in general for hours without taking mini breaks anymore. Even if it just means looking at youtube. But yeah if I didn't play like that id do the same as you tbh. Nothing takes you out of the game like doing optional busy work just because lol.

This talk makes me wonder how big this game is gonna get tho in the future as I started to add Male characters now just so I know who is who lol.

On that last sentence: I've mentioned this a while ago here, but I have a planning spreadsheet which has a character list on it.
Currently, it has 99 characters on it. 31 of them haven't made any appearance in the game yet. So 68 have made on-screen appearances in the game, albeit a fair few just in the background.

Are all of these characters important? Fuck no. But do I know everything about each of them (what their personalities are etc.) in case it's relevant? Yeah, of course. Will you need to know much about most of them? Probably not, but for the sake of world-building I needed them to be there. Even if it's just to fill the background.

kind of a massive spoiler but a fun tease either way
arguably the three most important non-main-LI characters aren't even in the game yet. arguably.

 

[metamorphMP]

On that last sentence: I've mentioned this a while ago here, but I have a planning spreadsheet which has a character list on it.
Currently, it has 99 characters on it. 31 of them haven't made any appearance in the game yet. So 68 have made on-screen appearances in the game, albeit a fair few just in the background.

Are all of these characters important? Fuck no. But do I know everything about each of them (what their personalities are etc.) in case it's relevant? Yeah, of course. Will you need to know much about most of them? Probably not, but for the sake of world-building I needed them to be there. Even if it's just to fill the background.

kind of a massive spoiler but a fun tease either way
arguably the three most important non-main-LI characters aren't even in the game yet. arguably.

AlexMpog dude, I think you'll go crazy while creating your cards, if you will include side girls like you usually do that is

 

[MiltonPowers]

On that last sentence: I've mentioned this a while ago here, but I have a planning spreadsheet which has a character list on it.
Currently, it has 99 characters on it. 31 of them haven't made any appearance in the game yet. So 68 have made on-screen appearances in the game, albeit a fair few just in the background.

Are all of these characters important? Fuck no. But do I know everything about each of them (what their personalities are etc.) in case it's relevant? Yeah, of course. Will you need to know much about most of them? Probably not, but for the sake of world-building I needed them to be there. Even if it's just to fill the background.

kind of a massive spoiler but a fun tease either way
arguably the three most important non-main-LI characters aren't even in the game yet. arguably.

 

[Dessolos]

AlexMpog dude, I think you'll go crazy while creating your cards, if you will include side girls like you usually do that is

haha that's why I just insert them in a spread 10 - 30 seconds each character and done when I do mine for this game. The tricky party figuring out who is a side girl and who is just a one night stand lol

 

[metamorphMP]

haha that's why I just insert them in a spread 10 - 30 seconds each character and done when I do mine for this game. The tricky party figuring out who is a side girl and who is just a one night stand lol

Well, I don't have to do it at all, I can always take a look into Alex's database
I mean, this is how he hooked me on AVNs in the first place)))

 

[camube]

but I won't pretend I don't get a little frustrated at times that the game doesn't seem to draw much intrigue from other places.

i can only speak for myself but for me, the fact you do not have a patreon (or subscribestar) contributes heavily to me not wanting to check your game for a while.

you may have your own consideration why you do not want to make a patreon, but i strongly recommend you open one even if not many people is subscribing.
Patreon to me (or subscribestar) is essentially wisdom of the crowd. I don't read reviews much cuz i don't want to get spoiled. The number of patreon members or how active the dev is on it contributes highly to me even checking the game in the first place

I happen to ran out of game to play and have a bit of a free time so I decided to check it. anw, food for thought

edit: https://f95zone.to/threads/not-going-back-ch-2-2-cicada.166812/page-26#post-14777637
I just read that.
You can do whatever you want, it's your patreon page. You don't have to stagger tier release or offer custom render or anything else like that

 

[Dessolos]

i can only speak for myself but for me, the fact you do not have a patreon (or subscribestar) contributes heavily to me not wanting to check your game for a while.

you may have your own consideration why you do not want to make a patreon, but i strongly recommend you open one even if not many people is subscribing.
Patreon to me (or subscribestar) is essentially wisdom of the crowd. I don't read reviews much cuz i don't want to get spoiled. The number of patreon members or how active the dev is on it contributes highly to me even checking the game in the first place

I happen to ran out of game to play and have a bit of a free time so I decided to check it. anw, food for thought

edit: https://f95zone.to/threads/not-going-back-ch-2-2-cicada.166812/page-26#post-14777637
I just read that.
You can do whatever you want, it's your patreon page. You don't have to stagger tier release or offer custom render or anything else like that

I wish I could disagree with this but often times I do look at patron just to see activity when im not sure about a game but when im sure I don't bother. It all depends on my interest level and honestly if it wasn't for MiltonPowers I wouldn't of given this game a try or a second look if im being honest as I had no idea about it till he told me about this game

 

[MiltonPowers]

I wish I could disagree with this but often times I do look at patron just to see activity when im not sure about a game but when im sure I don't bother. It all depends on my interest level and honestly if it wasn't for MiltonPowers I wouldn't of given this game a try or a second look if im being honest as I had no idea about it till he told me about this game

I can't remember how I found about it. Most likely through the latest updates page on F95.

 

[adagium]

On that last sentence: I've mentioned this a while ago here, but I have a planning spreadsheet which has a character list on it.
Currently, it has 99 characters on it. 31 of them haven't made any appearance in the game yet. So 68 have made on-screen appearances in the game, albeit a fair few just in the background.

Are all of these characters important? Fuck no. But do I know everything about each of them (what their personalities are etc.) in case it's relevant? Yeah, of course. Will you need to know much about most of them? Probably not, but for the sake of world-building I needed them to be there. Even if it's just to fill the background.

kind of a massive spoiler but a fun tease either way
arguably the three most important non-main-LI characters aren't even in the game yet. arguably.

Random question, do you plan on making a Discord server to post updates on current progress?

 

[Ciaran8023]

I also managed to find it through Milton, it's quite an eye-catching signature and I'm always on the hunt for good games and stories.

 

[camube]

i can only speak for myself but for me, the fact you do not have a patreon (or subscribestar) contributes heavily to me not wanting to check your game for a while.

you may have your own consideration why you do not want to make a patreon, but i strongly recommend you open one even if not many people is subscribing.
Patreon to me (or subscribestar) is essentially wisdom of the crowd. I don't read reviews much cuz i don't want to get spoiled. The number of patreon members or how active the dev is on it contributes highly to me even checking the game in the first place

I happen to ran out of game to play and have a bit of a free time so I decided to check it. anw, food for thought

edit: https://f95zone.to/threads/not-going-back-ch-2-2-cicada.166812/page-26#post-14777637
I just read that.
You can do whatever you want, it's your patreon page. You don't have to stagger tier release or offer custom render or anything else like that

adding to my patreon comment, there are devs out there that hasn't post a story update for one and a half year but people still patron them (hundreds of subscribers).

Once people put subscription on a CC, some people are pretty checked out. It's really not that serious to some people if you don't have an update for an extended period of time. They can just unsubscribe.