Ren'Py Of Devotion and Despondence [v0.2.18] [Earliestbird]

[PyoT]

Had some good fun with this one so far. Combat is actually kinda interesting, though I can't quite decide whether Magic isn't too strong - not only can you cripple your opponent to the point where they can't do damage at all, the damage skill basically means you do extra damage per turn (if you only use the magic attack) as each new attack adds 1 vulnerability which you then can "covert" to that damage, and that quickly adds up to a large chunk ...

The girls so far are a bit too much of a non-entity to me, esp. as narratively they also are kinda these convenient porn character types (yeah sure I'll follow you forever now that you've beaten me once ...). If they at least did ... something ... it might feel more like they are people of some kind ^^;

The UI is very basic but since so far nothing too complicated is happening it works well enough. I'd personally prefer the option to show the skills you have when making skill -based choices, and I don't like that sometimes you just see resource icons and sometimes it's just the resource name written out, so you need to memorize the icons, technically, which might not be optimally intuitive at all times (some look kinda "could be all sorts of stuff").

Writing generally is perfectly okay, though, for me personally ... flash forwards are a real pet peeve of mine; I can get over myself as a narrative frame but when I start to constantly be torn out the narrative during the actual story ... I'll never enjoy that; I've not once seen it done in such a way that I felt it added anything to any narration ^^;
And the other thing is of course that the first-person voice as it is unfortunately so often is not very strong. Basically just sounds like "some random guy from the Internet". Which, given the setting, does feel a bit clashing here or there. But generally just like some really generic dude.

But, yeah, I kinda wanted to see what sort of weirdness I'd encounter and it's certainly not "loser dude returns to hometown where suddenly there's this harem" or whatever other porn tropes we get oversaturated with ...

 

[sgenter]

View attachment 2088207

Overview:
Of Devotion and Despondence is a visual novel with heavy RPG elements that follows the journey of a man exiled to a shifting world, a place where humans are not expected to survive for long.
It is written in first-person narrative, and tells an emotional story that focuses on mature prose,
romance, and erotic scenes.​

Thread Updated: 2022-12-06
Release Date: 2022-11-26
Developer: Earliestbird

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Censored: No
Version: 0.1.6
OS: Windows
Language: English
Genre:

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Installation:

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Changelog:

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Developer Notes:

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Is that AI generated art?

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Future tags, future plans:

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( If updating from an old version, delete the old version and start a new game to avoid errors )

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View attachment 2088208 View attachment 2088209 View attachment 2088210 View attachment 2088211 View attachment 2088212 View attachment 2088213 View attachment 2088214 View attachment 2088215 View attachment 2088216​

Good Novel/Game Story however I've attempted to play it 6 times now and always die from lack of essence on or about Day 53. Main reason is that the Developer requires 1 essence per day per person for every 10 days of game time. By the time you reach Day 40, you are consuming 5 essence per person in your camp per day. The Developer should change the required essence to 1 per day per person in the camp period and do not increase it by 1 for every 10 days. For me it is impossible to maintain those numbers and therefore make the Game Unplayable. You could also make harvesting essence in larger numbers and with more locations to harvest. My recommendation is to go with 1 essence per day per person in the camp AND NOT increase it by 1 every 10 days.

 

[Earliestbird]

Good Novel/Game Story however I've attempted to play it 6 times now and always die from lack of essence on or about Day 53. Main reason is that the Developer requires 1 essence per day per person for every 10 days of game time. By the time you reach Day 40, you are consuming 5 essence per person in your camp per day. The Developer should change the required essence to 1 per day per person in the camp period and do not increase it by 1 for every 10 days. For me it is impossible to maintain those numbers and therefore make the Game Unplayable. You could also make harvesting essence in larger numbers and with more locations to harvest. My recommendation is to go with 1 essence per day per person in the camp AND NOT increase it by 1 every 10 days.

Thanks for the feedback, though that is not correct. Upkeep is 1 essence per 10 day total, not per person.
And you can do lots of things to gain essence; adventure events, foraging, the pyre, smelting items, buildings essence nets + upgrade, etc. Some rare items later in the game smelt for 50-60 essence.

 

[Yamemai]

The girls so far are a bit too much of a non-entity to me, esp. as narratively they also are kinda these convenient porn character types (yeah sure I'll follow you forever now that you've beaten me once ...). If they at least did ... something ... it might feel more like they are people of some kind ^^;

You can assign them to gather resources, to upgrade the base. One of the upgrades allows them to find some equipment, but yeah that's about it. -- Similar to load of other games in that vein, them just being a collection, but that's what peeps tend to base harems off of. [Collection of women, for the purpose of making kids and such.]

 

[Earliestbird]

You can assign them to gather resources, to upgrade the base. One of the upgrades allows them to find some equipment, but yeah that's about it. -- Similar to load of other games in that vein, them just being a collection, but that's what peeps tend to base harems off of. [Collection of women, for the purpose of making kids and such.]

I have plans to make them more important and they will all weave into the main story. But it will require time to actually write it all. Plus I want them to give bonuses, maybe have skill trees, etc. And of course sex scenes.

There's just a lot to do as a single dev with such a large-scoped game, but I'm taking it one step at a time. And eventually get there, hopefully.

 

[gunzen]

error

Spoiler: error

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just keeps repeating now every time i try to load saved game.

this occurs after after fighting advanced unmade to enter portal and get to meet a purple lady in room of purple shades.
i ask 3 questions.
the last question, my purpose... errors happens while the purple lady is explaining.

She shook herself, as if having said too much.

after that, error hits.

 

[Halbyn]

Any chance of an Android version?
This sounds interesting. Good Luck.

 

[consumptionist]

finally gave this a try and as already mentioned, once i got to and through the portal/gate it hits an error during conversation and closes.
no previous game version played or downloaded.
i was also on the cusp of losing due to lack of essence. i had the silver haired girl farm some stuff while i collected and had built outpost and then the first building after that which boosts collecting stats, but then the silver haired girl ran away and i was forced to fight at the gate or game over, as no other people met yet.
my only other search option was the tower and i had already purchased the sword.

as already suggested, the increase is too fast and forces play and if you choose the wrong location order or skip a location to heal up, you become heavily penalised.
it all seems very limiting for a sandbox/management game, especially when i found myself quickly without anyone to manage

 

[docclox]

I'm also getting a crash - talking to the purple worman and asking about my purpose

Problem seems to be here:

oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
            nvl clear

The "{/i}people{/i}" closes the tag at front and back. I changed that, saved the file and deleted the .rpyc and the error goes away.

 

[gunzen]

pretty sure that made sense to you.

for technologically dumb people like me, say what?

 

[docclox]

pretty sure that made sense to you.

for technologically dumb people like me, say what?

I was aiming at the dev, but yeah, OK. Fair point.

1. Go to the game folder, then open the "game" one underneath it: Of Devotion and Despondence\game
2. open the file _adventuire_events.rpy. Use a text editor. Notepad will do at a pinch, notepad++ is a lot better
3. Find line 1273. It should say oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
4. Where it says {/i}people{/i}, delete the first "/" so it reads {i}
5. Save the file
6. In the same folder, delete the file called _adventuire_events.rpyc
7. restart the game

 

[Earliestbird]

I'm also getting a crash - talking to the purple worman and asking about my purpose

Problem seems to be here:

oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
            nvl clear

The "{/i}people{/i}" closes the tag at front and back. I changed that, saved the file and deleted the .rpyc and the error goes away.

Yep, thanks for all you guys catching this bug and sorry for such an obvious error slipping through.
Will be fixed in the next update.

 

[hermitian]

Just tried this game, and yeah that essence ramp does seem a little bit too harsh especially when you're going blind and don't have any idea what events occur on what places. I was on the brink of starvation and only built the smelter just in time to buy some time.
Maybe slow down the ramp speed to 15 days instead of 10 or start the ramp at the 20-day mark?

 

[gunzen]

I was aiming at the dev, but yeah, OK. Fair point.

1. Go to the game folder, then open the "game" one underneath it: Of Devotion and Despondence\game
2. open the file _adventuire_events.rpy. Use a text editor. Notepad will do at a pinch, notepad++ is a lot better
3. Find line 1273. It should say oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
4. Where it says {/i}people{/i}, delete the first "/" so it reads {i}
5. Save the file
6. In the same folder, delete the file called _adventuire_events.rpyc
7. restart the game

it was basically an italics command error? damn.

 

[Earliestbird]

Just tried this game, and yeah that essence ramp does seem a little bit too harsh especially when you're going blind and don't have any idea what events occur on what places. I was on the brink of starvation and only built the smelter just in time to buy some time.
Maybe slow down the ramp speed to 15 days instead of 10 or start the ramp at the 20-day mark?

I'll see what I can do. Generally speaking I prefer balancing in a way that presents a challenge, and then gives the user several ways to deal with it to provide a sense of satisfaction. Maybe if players have more essence at the start would give them time to build things up? I'll experiment with solutions!

Regardless of my views I ultimately make the game for you guys, so if people say it's too harsh, then I'll try to make changes <3

 

[AM97]

I'm getting this error during my conversation with purple woman about my purpose

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While processing text tag {/i} in u'"For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you\'ll come to know."'.:
File "game/_adventure events.rpy", line 1273, in script
oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
File "game/_adventure events.rpy", line 1273, in script
oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
File "renpy/common/00nvl_mode.rpy", line 381, in do_display
**display_args)
Exception: u'/i' closes a text tag that isn't open.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "renpy/bootstrap.py", line 331, in bootstrap
renpy.main.main()
File "renpy/main.py", line 662, in main
run(restart)
File "renpy/main.py", line 148, in run
renpy.execution.run_context(True)
File "renpy/execution.py", line 922, in run_context
context.run()
File "game/_adventure events.rpy", line 1273, in script
oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
File "game/_adventure events.rpy", line 1273, in script
oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
File "renpy/ast.py", line 721, in execute
renpy.exports.say(who, what, *args, **kwargs)
File "renpy/exports.py", line 1419, in say
who(what, *args, **kwargs)
File "renpy/character.py", line 1249, in __call__
self.do_display(who, what, cb_args=self.cb_args, dtt=dtt, **display_args)
File "renpy/common/00nvl_mode.rpy", line 381, in do_display
**display_args)
File "renpy/character.py", line 647, in display_say
rv = renpy.ui.interact(mouse='say', type=type, roll_forward=roll_forward)
File "renpy/ui.py", line 298, in interact
rv = renpy.game.interface.interact(roll_forward=roll_forward, **kwargs)
File "renpy/display/core.py", line 3325, in interact
repeat, rv = self.interact_core(preloads=preloads, trans_pause=trans_pause, pause=pause, pause_start=pause_start, **kwargs)
File "renpy/display/core.py", line 3839, in interact_core
self.draw_screen(root_widget, fullscreen_video, (not fullscreen_video) or video_frame_drawn)
File "renpy/display/core.py", line 2565, in draw_screen
renpy.config.screen_height,
File "render.pyx", line 492, in renpy.display.render.render_screen
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 826, in render
surf = render(child, width, height, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 826, in render
surf = render(child, width, height, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 826, in render
surf = render(child, width, height, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/screen.py", line 688, in render
child = renpy.display.render.render(self.child, w, h, st, at)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 826, in render
surf = render(child, width, height, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1264, in render
st, at)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1029, in render
surf = render(d, width - x, rh, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1264, in render
st, at)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 987, in render
surf = render(d, rw, height - y, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/transform.py", line 733, in render
return transform_render(self, width, height, st, at)
File "accelerator.pyx", line 187, in renpy.display.accelerator.transform_render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/text/text.py", line 2096, in render
virtual_layout = Layout(self, width, height, renders, drawable_res=False, size_only=True)
File "renpy/text/text.py", line 610, in __init__
self.paragraphs = self.segment(text.tokens, style, renders, text)
File "renpy/text/text.py", line 1039, in segment
raise Exception("%r closes a text tag that isn't open." % text)
Exception: u'/i' closes a text tag that isn't open.

Windows-10-10.0.22000
Ren'Py 7.4.11.2266
Of Devotion and Despondence 0.1.6
Wed Dec 7 17:21:27 2022

 

[Earliestbird]

I'm getting this error during my conversation with purple woman about my purpose

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While processing text tag {/i} in u'"For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you\'ll come to know."'.:
File "game/_adventure events.rpy", line 1273, in script
oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
File "game/_adventure events.rpy", line 1273, in script
oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
File "renpy/common/00nvl_mode.rpy", line 381, in do_display
**display_args)
Exception: u'/i' closes a text tag that isn't open.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "renpy/bootstrap.py", line 331, in bootstrap
renpy.main.main()
File "renpy/main.py", line 662, in main
run(restart)
File "renpy/main.py", line 148, in run
renpy.execution.run_context(True)
File "renpy/execution.py", line 922, in run_context
context.run()
File "game/_adventure events.rpy", line 1273, in script
oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
File "game/_adventure events.rpy", line 1273, in script
oracle_text "For now, just know that you are {i}needed{/i}. Not just for the world itself, but more importantly, for the {/i}people{/i} in that world that you'll come to know."
File "renpy/ast.py", line 721, in execute
renpy.exports.say(who, what, *args, **kwargs)
File "renpy/exports.py", line 1419, in say
who(what, *args, **kwargs)
File "renpy/character.py", line 1249, in __call__
self.do_display(who, what, cb_args=self.cb_args, dtt=dtt, **display_args)
File "renpy/common/00nvl_mode.rpy", line 381, in do_display
**display_args)
File "renpy/character.py", line 647, in display_say
rv = renpy.ui.interact(mouse='say', type=type, roll_forward=roll_forward)
File "renpy/ui.py", line 298, in interact
rv = renpy.game.interface.interact(roll_forward=roll_forward, **kwargs)
File "renpy/display/core.py", line 3325, in interact
repeat, rv = self.interact_core(preloads=preloads, trans_pause=trans_pause, pause=pause, pause_start=pause_start, **kwargs)
File "renpy/display/core.py", line 3839, in interact_core
self.draw_screen(root_widget, fullscreen_video, (not fullscreen_video) or video_frame_drawn)
File "renpy/display/core.py", line 2565, in draw_screen
renpy.config.screen_height,
File "render.pyx", line 492, in renpy.display.render.render_screen
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 826, in render
surf = render(child, width, height, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 826, in render
surf = render(child, width, height, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 826, in render
surf = render(child, width, height, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/screen.py", line 688, in render
child = renpy.display.render.render(self.child, w, h, st, at)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 826, in render
surf = render(child, width, height, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1264, in render
st, at)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1029, in render
surf = render(d, width - x, rh, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 1264, in render
st, at)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/layout.py", line 987, in render
surf = render(d, rw, height - y, cst, cat)
File "render.pyx", line 170, in renpy.display.render.render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/display/transform.py", line 733, in render
return transform_render(self, width, height, st, at)
File "accelerator.pyx", line 187, in renpy.display.accelerator.transform_render
File "render.pyx", line 263, in renpy.display.render.render
File "renpy/text/text.py", line 2096, in render
virtual_layout = Layout(self, width, height, renders, drawable_res=False, size_only=True)
File "renpy/text/text.py", line 610, in __init__
self.paragraphs = self.segment(text.tokens, style, renders, text)
File "renpy/text/text.py", line 1039, in segment
raise Exception("%r closes a text tag that isn't open." % text)
Exception: u'/i' closes a text tag that isn't open.

Windows-10-10.0.22000
Ren'Py 7.4.11.2266
Of Devotion and Despondence 0.1.6
Wed Dec 7 17:21:27 2022

Yep, it's already on the list of things to fix soon! For now you can continue the game with "had no more questions."

 

[AM97]

Yep, it's already on the list of things to fix soon! For now you can continue the game with "had no more questions."

All right. Will we be able to go back there ?

 

[PyoT]

Regardless of my views I ultimately make the game for you guys, so if people say it's too harsh, then I'll try to make changes <3

It imo follows a classic but somewhat problematic curve, namely that it's a bit tight at the beginning (depending on how good/lucky/etc you are), but then gets really easy once you got things sorted. Which may make some sense narratively (you start with nothing, then get more established), but gameplay-wise you'd want an easier beginning and then things ramping up, normally ...

Anyway, are saves supposed to be compatible? Because for the city fights I'm getting all sorts of errors in 0.16 with a 0.15 save.
It's complaining about "$ player_shield_max = player.arcane*5 + player.bonus_shield" but bonus_shield isn't set. Which might be due to the older save?

Also, with Unmake Unreality, the game says it's 11 damage, but it seems to be something like 10.5? Either way when I'm supposed to be doing 55dmg it does 53 or so ...

 

[Earliestbird]

Anyway, are saves supposed to be compatible? Because for the city fights I'm getting all sorts of errors in 0.16 with a 0.15 save.
It's complaining about "$ player_shield_max = player.arcane*5 + player.bonus_shield" but bonus_shield isn't set. Which might be due to the older save?

Saves between different versions are not compatible unfortunately. Maybe once the game is close to finished it can be done, but right now there are so many hidden variables and mechanics changing in the code that it's pretty much impossible to keep track of.
Once you have played the game, I recommend waiting out a couple of patches before going again.

Also, with Unmake Unreality, the game says it's 11 damage, but it seems to be something like 10.5? Either way when I'm supposed to be doing 55dmg it does 53 or so ...

*Added to notes*

EDIT: Looked into Unmake Reality and things seem to be in order. Did you include the enemy's Arcane Resistance into your calculations? An enemy with 2 AR will be dealt 2 less damage.