VN Ren'Py Our Home [v2.19.2] [Old Hiccup]

[JJJ84]

So, my thoughts/reactions on the game (hence, not exactly a review) after trying it out to some extent;

This post is not to bash the dev and his work, but to give honest constructive feedback.

(game was played on VN mode)



The beginning of the game felt promising.
There was a sense of mystery as to who MC's father is, and especially I liked the part there may be corruption in the Police department linking to Norah.

While there were couple of aspects that I wasn't fond of (such as Patreon code appearing in-game, as well as the MC frequently breaking fourth wall) and some remaining sandbox elements felt a bit awkward (one part, I was actually lost what to do and went circles around until I figured it out lol), I was hoping story would keep me engaged.


And I'm sad to say,....... it didn't.


The whole opening chapter starting with MC working at Norah's house, while I felt quite iffy about that I pushed on thinking things will move onto more serious side.
I think I might have seen a glimpse of that when the arc with elderly man and his granddaughter came out.
Emily's family company being in trouble was also something that had me slightly intrigued.

However, what engagement I may have had with the story took a nosedive when I went into Julianna's gym arc.
For the past 2 days, I've been struggling to get through (and still haven't finished it) and this has been dragging the game for me and couldn't finish it.

Now, I'm a player who really loves conflict, drama, conspiracy, mystery, chaos in my games, and love it when my MCs are put through the wringer.
So part of this could be that I may not be the target audience of this game whom may be more into "slice of life."

But honestly, I feel the whole lump-sum LI release approach of storyline reveal (i.e.. Norah → Coffee shop girl and her grandpa → Julianna), is becoming more of detriment to the game than benefit.

For example, with Julianna's gym arc, it seems MC spends at least couple of days with Julianna (and her daughters Ruby and Priscilla it seems), and it feels like his meet with Emily or other characters seem pretty much forgotten.
It gives me the impression that the storylines are......disjointed only in their own little bubbles, instead of being interconnected, even slightly?


Makes me wonder whether the story might have been better felt distributed had I played sandbox mode, but the whole point of me going through it with VN mode was to avoid the grind and just enjoy the story on its own.



So sadly, I'm dropping the game.
Wouldn't say it's the dev's fault though.
As I said before, it could be possible that I'm not the target audience intended.
But yeah.
Regardless, I wish the dev the best of luck with the game.

 

[OldHiccup]

So, my thoughts/reactions on the game (hence, not exactly a review) after trying it out to some extent;

This post is not to bash the dev and his work, but to give honest constructive feedback.

(game was played on VN mode)



The beginning of the game felt promising.
There was a sense of mystery as to who MC's father is, and especially I liked the part there may be corruption in the Police department linking to Norah.

While there were couple of aspects that I wasn't fond of (such as Patreon code appearing in-game, as well as the MC frequently breaking fourth wall) and some remaining sandbox elements felt a bit awkward (one part, I was actually lost what to do and went circles around until I figured it out lol), I was hoping story would keep me engaged.


And I'm sad to say,....... it didn't.


The whole opening chapter starting with MC working at Norah's house, while I felt quite iffy about that I pushed on thinking things will move onto more serious side.
I think I might have seen a glimpse of that when the arc with elderly man and his granddaughter came out.
Emily's family company being in trouble was also something that had me slightly intrigued.

However, what engagement I may have had with the story took a nosedive when I went into Julianna's gym arc.
For the past 2 days, I've been struggling to get through (and still haven't finished it) and this has been dragging the game for me and couldn't finish it.

Now, I'm a player who really loves conflict, drama, conspiracy, mystery, chaos in my games, and love it when my MCs are put through the wringer.
So part of this could be that I may not be the target audience of this game whom may be more into "slice of life."

But honestly, I feel the whole lump-sum LI release approach of storyline reveal (i.e.. Norah → Coffee shop girl and her grandpa → Julianna), is becoming more of detriment to the game than benefit.

For example, with Julianna's gym arc, it seems MC spends at least couple of days with Julianna (and her daughters Ruby and Priscilla it seems), and it feels like his meet with Emily or other characters seem pretty much forgotten.
It gives me the impression that the storylines are......disjointed only in their own little bubbles, instead of being interconnected, even slightly?


Makes me wonder whether the story might have been better felt distributed had I played sandbox mode, but the whole point of me going through it with VN mode was to avoid the grind and just enjoy the story on its own.



So sadly, I'm dropping the game.
Wouldn't say it's the dev's fault though.
As I said before, it could be possible that I'm not the target audience intended.
But yeah.
Regardless, I wish the dev the best of luck with the game.

I deeply appreciate your detailed and honest feedback about the game. I greatly value people like you who express their opinions in a constructive and friendly manner, with a genuine interest in helping me reflect on my development choices and striving to create something even better.

Juliana's arc, along with Marta's and Danielle's, runs parallel to the main story, which revolves around Emily and the protagonist (MC). Some decisions I made were strategic, with a focus on the game's sustainability. For instance, Juliana's arc was chosen by our $10 Patreon supporters, who expressed interest in exploring that story further. Although Juliana's arc isn't directly tied to the main narrative, it introduces actions at the end that involve Wilson, the police chief, who is also connected to Norah's story. These events add details about Wilson's corrupt personality, serving as background for the main story.

For those who prefer to focus solely on the main plot and avoid these side stories, I always offer the option at the start of a new storyline to choose whether the player wants to explore these parallel arcs or not. This initial choice makes it clear that ALL content related to that character will be ignored in both VN mode and free-roam mode. This allows you to concentrate only on the content you truly want to explore. However, there are characters like Emily, Willian, Mirella, Lana, Emily, and Sabrina for whom this option is not offered, as they are directly tied to the central plot.

Unfortunately, allowing supporters to choose the content they want to see is a way to keep the game's development sustainable, as only $10 supporters have this opportunity. Over the past seven months, this approach has generated around $490, which allowed me to finance the purchase of a new graphics card (lol). I know this choice might disappoint some people, but thanks to this strategy, I was able to include more intense scenes in the game without compromising the main narrative, which will take longer to introduce those scenes. Also, thanks to this, I managed to improve the quality of the renders. I still have many months ahead to finish paying off that graphics card, but I see a wave of growth at the moment, so things might change in the future.

I hope that with these explanations, I can convince you to continue playing, offering the option to skip Juliana's arc and go directly to the missions with Emily, which occur after Juliana's arc.

In version 2.20, which I just released, the focus is entirely on the protagonist's story, a choice made by our $10 supporters. We are considering the possibility of changing the release dynamics so that every quarter, we release three character versions and one main story version. However, this is still an idea in development, as it's already a big challenge to release monthly versions, and adding a fourth version within three months could be quite demanding for us.

I agree that in VN mode, there might be a break in the story's rhythm, as it can be abruptly interrupted by another event. However, I believe it’s possible to work around this, considering that in real life, we often deal with several situations at once. Unfortunately, this dynamic isn’t something I can change without directly impacting the entire game. The best I can do right now is to offer, at the start of each character’s story, the option to skip all of it, and I will make sure that if you choose to skip, you won’t miss anything important from the main storyline.

Once again, I sincerely appreciate your feedback.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The other way to directly influence this is by becoming a $10 or $30 supporter, which gives you voting power. This ensures that everyone has the opportunity to choose the order in which content will be developed. There are stories for almost every character, though some content, unlike this small part of Juliana's story, will have no relation to the main storyline. Juliana's story still has some connection because of the relationship between Karina and Wilson.

 

[tmu500]

Hopefully the new update be here soon. Keep up the great work

 

[SamOldSnake]

Sory, Mirella, but this boy's heart belongs to Emily!

 

[Mravac Kid]

Is there a patch or something to stop people talking about their "tennants"? It's really jarring and often nonsensical.
*EDIT* Yes, I've noticed there's an option to change them manually, but that's quite a bit of a hassle considering how many there are.