VN Ren'Py Not Going Back [Ch.3.1] [Cicada]

[Dessolos]

I played both chapters, I enjoyed this one a lot and will definitely follow .

The thing I liked the most is realism, the story feels realistic, and the characters behave in a believable way, girls don't instantly fall in love with the MC like in other games and the times we had sex felt once again believable, so for me this was a bonus.

That being said I have some problems with the MC who is making some weird decisions that sometimes don't seem to fit him, I imagine this will be explained in future chapters cause it feels a little contradicting:

Spoiler: About MC

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yeah I agree with this I was kind of wondering why he was drinking or at least expected a choice if we drink or not and it would lead to something in the future by how it seems to be a problem for him.

 

[cicadaNGB]

All of this will be explained as we go, don't worry. But it is a bit contradictory for a reason; you don't get a choice for a reason.

And it's also worth remembering it's not just alcohol he admits to having a history with. But yeah, you'd think a guy with an admitted problem in the past with alcohol would maybe try to avoid it, wouldn't you?

 

[MiltonPowers]

All of this will be explained as we go, don't worry. But it is a bit contradictory for a reason; you don't get a choice for a reason.

And it's also worth remembering it's not just alcohol he admits to having a history with. But yeah, you'd think a guy with an admitted problem in the past with alcohol would maybe try to avoid it, wouldn't you?

I do enjoy your teaser posts cicadaNGB. If your intent is to increase interest, awareness and anticipation, Congratulations. It's working on me.

 

[cicadaNGB]

I do enjoy your teaser posts cicadaNGB. If your intent is to increase interest, awareness and anticipation, Congratulations. It's working on me.

Lmao increasing intrigue is never a bad thing tbf. I'm just hoping I execute it all right when the time comes. I'm hoping that most if not all questions/inconsistencies will be answered eventually. But at the same time I'm not going to always spell everything out explicitly. Sometimes it's gonna take a bit of thought.

But it is a little tough for me, because I could literally tell you everything that's going to happen all the way up to chapter 6 at least, play-by-play, pretty much. I could tell you the last line of the game already. So much of it is planned out that, early on, a lot of the foreshadowing etc. can seem like logical inconsistency and I'm sat here with all the answers hoping everything comes together in reality as good as it does in my head. But we'll have to wait and see

 

[MiltonPowers]

Lmao increasing intrigue is never a bad thing tbf. I'm just hoping I execute it all right when the time comes. I'm hoping that most if not all questions/inconsistencies will be answered eventually. But at the same time I'm not going to always spell everything out explicitly. Sometimes it's gonna take a bit of thought.

But it is a little tough for me, because I could literally tell you everything that's going to happen all the way up to chapter 6 at least, play-by-play, pretty much. I could tell you the last line of the game already. So much of it is planned out that, early on, a lot of the foreshadowing etc. can seem like logical inconsistency and I'm sat here with all the answers hoping everything comes together in reality as good as it does in my head. But we'll have to wait and see

I do understand the dilemma of what to share. It's a delicate balance of keeping people intrigued and trying to get people invested. FWIW, I think you're doing a pretty good job so far.

 

[Raziel_8]

I could tell you the last line of the game already.

But it is a little tough for me, because I could literally tell you everything that's going to happen all the way up to chapter 6 at least, play-by-play, pretty much. I could tell you the last line of the game already. So much of it is planned out that, early on, a lot of the foreshadowing etc. can seem like logical inconsistency and I'm sat here with all the answers hoping everything comes together in reality as good as it does in my head. But we'll have to wait and see

That's perfectly fine, i find it more interesting that way, so we can actually see, getting to know and understand the MC.
Just getting everything in info dumbs is lackluster....and easily forgettable.
Even if i wondered, with the drinking for example, i thought we would get an explanation later on, after the MC already explained some things about his past.

 

[cicadaNGB]

I do understand the dilemma of what to share. It's a delicate balance of keeping people intrigued and trying to get people invested. FWIW, I think you're doing a pretty good job so far.

View attachment 3984668

That's perfectly fine, i find it more interesting that way, so we can actually see, getting to know and understand the MC.
Just getting everything in info dumbs is lackluster....and easily forgettable.
Even if i wondered, with the drinking for example, i thought we would get an explanation later on, after the MC already explained some things about his past.

Good to know I'm on the right track with how I'm doing it. Thanks.

I do need to rewrite the ending now, though. I can't believe someone guessed it.

 

[Dessolos]

I do need to rewrite the ending now, though. I can't believe someone guessed it.

damn well I do hope when it's over you do tell us the original ending haha or make that as an extra non canon ending or something as id be curious to see what it was from what changed.

 

[MiltonPowers]

damn well I do hope when it's over you do tell us the original ending haha or make that as an extra non canon ending or something as id be curious to see what it was from what changed.

The original ending is a couple of posts above.

 

[Dessolos]

The original ending is a couple of posts above.

View attachment 3984835

o I didn't get that was a guess of the last line which was guessed. I thought the context of what happens is what was guessed and needs to be changed not just some of the dialogue.

 

[MiltonPowers]

o I didn't get that was a guess of the last line which was guessed. I thought the context of what happens is what was guessed and needs to be changed not just some of the dialogue.

I think he was just making a joke.

 

[roe_jogan]

This is a great game.

One question, I've managed to get 3 scenes (Mia/Chloe/Tegan), is that it? An gallery would be a huge help, I dunno what I'm missing if any at all, completely in the dark and the scenes are actually not easy to get.

Also, hopefully Rose gets some love down the road? There is no way she's not a mainstay man.

Great job. Keep it up.

 

[MiltonPowers]

This is a great game.

One question, I've managed to get 3 scenes (Mia/Chloe/Tegan), is that it? An gallery would be a huge help, I dunno what I'm missing if any at all, completely in the dark and the scenes are actually not easy to get.

Also, hopefully Rose gets some love down the road? There is no way she's not a mainstay man.

Great job. Keep it up.

I didn't get it cause I didn't want it, but there is a Lauren scene too.

Spoiler - Rosie is a side girl. (May or may not get scenes).

 

[cicadaNGB]

This is a great game.

One question, I've managed to get 3 scenes (Mia/Chloe/Tegan), is that it? An gallery would be a huge help, I dunno what I'm missing if any at all, completely in the dark and the scenes are actually not easy to get.

Also, hopefully Rose gets some love down the road? There is no way she's not a mainstay man.

Great job. Keep it up.

Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it! There were 4 scenes in chapter 2, so you missed one. It's a short scene with Lauren, it's available if you do not have sex with Tegan (as another option to complete that pledge challenge)

Considered adding a gallery for the release of chapter 2, but coding is by far my weakest skill and I'm scared to break shit really. I'm also planning on making a walkthrough/guide at some point (it's low priority atm) for people to follow if they want which will make getting the scenes you missed easier.

Some of the scenes might be easy to miss in the end, I think (at least for side girls). There's one in particular in Chapter 3 I'm going to be interested to see who actually gets

 

[MiltonPowers]

Thanks for playing, glad you enjoyed it! There were 4 scenes in chapter 2, so you missed one. It's a short scene with Lauren, it's available if you do not have sex with Tegan (as another option to complete that pledge challenge)

Considered adding a gallery for the release of chapter 2, but coding is by far my weakest skill and I'm scared to break shit really. I'm also planning on making a walkthrough/guide at some point (it's low priority atm) for people to follow if they want which will make getting the scenes you missed easier.

Some of the scenes might be easy to miss in the end, I think (at least for side girls). There's one in particular in Chapter 3 I'm going to be interested to see who actually gets

A gallery or walkthrough would be extremely helpful. I and many others like to know we aren't missing anything.

 

[cicadaNGB]

A gallery or walkthrough would be extremely helpful. I and many others like to know we aren't missing anything.

I was initially kind of against the idea because the purist in me wants the player to do everything blind, so that they have no idea what's coming, they make the decisions they would actually choose (not just pick whatever leads to a certain outcome), and so the surprises are, well, surprising. But I realized that people should also be allowed to play the game however they want.

I'd still love everyone to do a blind playthrough for their first try, and see what they end up with, but for some people that's not how they play these games. So giving an optional guide/walkthrough for those who want it is the plan, and then it's also there for people to check if they think they've seen everything or if they don't know how to get certain scenes in future playthroughs.

And I'm hoping to kind of meet in the middle with the gallery. I'll mess around with coding again soon, but I'm hoping to have one of those galleries where you can see the number of available scenes, but it doesn't show who they're with, because I'd still like to keep a little mystery in the game itself (as in, I don't want people to go into the gallery from the menu and be spoiled on any content. But the information will be available in other formats, ie the guide/walkthrough for those who want it).

Essentially, I'd like to still keep the game relatively cryptic, for lack of a better word, but provide an alternative for those who want it.

 

[MiltonPowers]

I was initially kind of against the idea because the purist in me wants the player to do everything blind, so that they have no idea what's coming, they make the decisions they would actually choose (not just pick whatever leads to a certain outcome), and so the surprises are, well, surprising. But I realized that people should also be allowed to play the game however they want.

I'd still love everyone to do a blind playthrough for their first try, and see what they end up with, but for some people that's not how they play these games. So giving an optional guide/walkthrough for those who want it is the plan, and then it's also there for people to check if they think they've seen everything or if they don't know how to get certain scenes in future playthroughs.

And I'm hoping to kind of meet in the middle with the gallery. I'll mess around with coding again soon, but I'm hoping to have one of those galleries where you can see the number of available scenes, but it doesn't show who they're with, because I'd still like to keep a little mystery in the game itself (as in, I don't want people to go into the gallery from the menu and be spoiled on any content. But the information will be available in other formats, ie the guide/walkthrough for those who want it).

Essentially, I'd like to still keep the game relatively cryptic, for lack of a better word, but provide an alternative for those who want it.

Can't speak for others, but at least for me a locked gallery is helpful. I know there is something to look for.

 

[AlexMpog]

I was initially kind of against the idea because the purist in me wants the player to do everything blind, so that they have no idea what's coming, they make the decisions they would actually choose (not just pick whatever leads to a certain outcome), and so the surprises are, well, surprising. But I realized that people should also be allowed to play the game however they want.

I'd still love everyone to do a blind playthrough for their first try, and see what they end up with, but for some people that's not how they play these games. So giving an optional guide/walkthrough for those who want it is the plan, and then it's also there for people to check if they think they've seen everything or if they don't know how to get certain scenes in future playthroughs.

And I'm hoping to kind of meet in the middle with the gallery. I'll mess around with coding again soon, but I'm hoping to have one of those galleries where you can see the number of available scenes, but it doesn't show who they're with, because I'd still like to keep a little mystery in the game itself (as in, I don't want people to go into the gallery from the menu and be spoiled on any content. But the information will be available in other formats, ie the guide/walkthrough for those who want it).

Essentially, I'd like to still keep the game relatively cryptic, for lack of a better word, but provide an alternative for those who want it.

Personally I use gallery only after finishing the game, first - my canon playthrough/main girl route. With gallery I check whether I missed some content with a girl or not. The same after finishing other girl's routes. It would be really great if we could for example filter in a gallery particular girl (at least when it comes to 8 mail LIs), all other girls can be tagged "Others" or smth like that.

As for walkthrough - it's cool to play blind, I do it sometimes, but, it's so subjective. I mean what can be obvious for you - is not for me, and vice versa.

For example I play the game and want to get on a girl's path, while interacting with her I have choices - gentle/romantic OR rough/jerk options, naturally I would go with 1st option, but, apparently - I had to go with more jerk-ish choices cause the girl likes it rough. You see, so when you establishing possible choices. you as Developer already know what type of a personality LI has, because you created this character, unfortunately not all players can read between lines while playing. It's a bit rough example though.

So, yeah, personally walkthrough kinda helps me to choose an approach at least with some characters at the beginning.

Damn, I am reading now what I just wrote, I hope I didn't confuse you even more with my explanations hahah.
I just woke up and got a coffee, it should get better in a bit)

 

[Dessolos]

I was initially kind of against the idea because the purist in me wants the player to do everything blind, so that they have no idea what's coming, they make the decisions they would actually choose (not just pick whatever leads to a certain outcome), and so the surprises are, well, surprising. But I realized that people should also be allowed to play the game however they want.

I'd still love everyone to do a blind playthrough for their first try, and see what they end up with, but for some people that's not how they play these games. So giving an optional guide/walkthrough for those who want it is the plan, and then it's also there for people to check if they think they've seen everything or if they don't know how to get certain scenes in future playthroughs.

And I'm hoping to kind of meet in the middle with the gallery. I'll mess around with coding again soon, but I'm hoping to have one of those galleries where you can see the number of available scenes, but it doesn't show who they're with, because I'd still like to keep a little mystery in the game itself (as in, I don't want people to go into the gallery from the menu and be spoiled on any content. But the information will be available in other formats, ie the guide/walkthrough for those who want it).

Essentially, I'd like to still keep the game relatively cryptic, for lack of a better word, but provide an alternative for those who want it.

my 2 cents when it comes to a Gallery. While it would look alot cleaner and more organized if you click on a character and see her scenes that way. I dislike that style because it tends to spoil what scenes are in X update or just how many scenes they have in general even if some are locked. I much prefer if it isn't organized but you just go through different pages of scenes, that way if there is locked ones it doesn't spoil anything if it's a character you actually care about spoilers. Tho adding a way to filter it be nice for those that don't care about a small spoiler about a scene.

At the end of the day I don't really check gallery till I finish my first playthrough but that's just more or less my preference cause of spoilers especially for a game like this where it seems easy to miss scenes. As I rather check how many scenes ive missed but not with who

 

[cicadaNGB]

Personally I use gallery only after finishing the game, first - my canon playthrough/main girl route. With gallery I check whether I missed some content with a girl or not. The same after finishing other girl's routes. It would be really great if we could for example filter in a gallery particular girl (at least when it comes to 8 mail LIs), all other girls can be tagged "Others" or smth like that.

As for walkthrough - it's cool to play blind, I do it sometimes, but, it's so subjective. I mean what can be obvious for you - is not for me, and vice versa.

For example I play the game and want to get on a girl's path, while interacting with her I have choices - gentle/romantic OR rough/jerk options, naturally I would go with 1st option, but, apparently - I had to go with more jerk-ish choices cause the girl likes it rough. You see, so when you establishing possible choices. you as Developer already know what type of a personality LI has, because you created this character, unfortunately not all players can read between lines while playing. It's a bit rough example though.

So, yeah, personally walkthrough kinda helps me to choose an approach at least with some characters at the beginning.

Damn, I am reading now what I just wrote, I hope I didn't confuse you even more with my explanations hahah.
I just woke up and got a coffee, it should get better in a bit)

Yeah, I get what you mean overall. Those first two sentences are exactly how I tend to play games as well. I'll always do a blind run first, and that'll always be the first one I play when a new update drops. You should see the state of my 'main' Being a DIK playthrough. I feel like I've made dozens of mistakes that are gonna fuck me over there.

For me it was always about not wanting to spoil anything. But then I realized that people who really care about this sort of information would probably look it up anyway, so it's easier for for everyone really if there's a walkthrough, gallery etc. available, and people can use it if they want.

The character bit is interesting too. I'd never want to 'Alex's Pen' anyone, to coin a phrase. Essentially, block off a whole route or option without even giving a hint as to what the correct choice should have been. With the main girls I hope it'll be relatively clear what they are and aren't into, and I'm not really going to massively punish a player if you do make one mistake, for the most part. There might be some exceptions I can't think of right now. But mostly, for main girls, it should be pretty simple to get on their path; if you like them, you'll probably naturally make the right choices. Just like in real life, just don't overthink it.