VN Ren'Py Our Life: Now & Forever [v1.4.4 Beta] [GBPatch]

[Jiffie]

Why would it be difficult to have multiple love interests in the same game? That's every dating sim visual novel.

Because it's chock full of more personal detailed/focus than "every dating sim visual novel". Every choice really does matters in this one, and the LI remembers/is affected by every response; something that's very hard to do for one LI, let alone 5+.

I don't know about you, but no other VN has met the choice quality standards of OL1 provided with Cove, and for good reason (I can only imagine the nightmare of catering every single choice to every LI, then making that choice affect all the other LIs you don't choose). They're stretching their limits with two LIs as it is...

Not to say other VNs suck or anything, it's just that you don't get that sweet, sweet personalized attention like OL does from your chosen LI when a developer throw in so many LIs; time, attention, and dedication is needed to flesh out romance routes (also fit them into the story, etc.), and the more LIs, the harder that job is = the longer/more work it'd take to finish. Which no one wants.

This is mostly the reason why anyone make single LI games, to get the most out of a LI as possible!

 

[Orphanus]

Okay, Thanks! Gonna try it later.

It isn't at the current point in time and, going by the game they already finished, if anything there will be maybe 1 more or less spicy scene at the very end. Keep in mind most of the game will play out before the characters are even adults.

 

[balitz Method]

Because it's chock full of more personal detailed/focus than "every dating sim visual novel". Every choice really does matters in this one, and the LI remembers/is affected by every response; something that's very hard to do for one LI, let alone 5+.

I don't know about you, but no other VN has met the choice quality standards of OL1 provided with Cove, and for good reason (I can only imagine the nightmare of catering every single choice to every LI, then making that choice affect all the other LIs you don't choose). They're stretching their limits with two LIs as it is...

A lot of those choices, more than half, were just for flavor/roleplaying and didn't affect anything beyond maybe a single line of acknowledgement. There were variations on scenes based on closeness and callbacks to other scenes but a lot of the variation came from economical parser tricks. What you'd usually see, rather than any hard-to-manage branching paths, was a single path that would tailor itself here and there based on some input to feel more custom than it was.

Nothing wrong with that approach, it's a good way to make a player feel engaged while keeping the actual uniquely written material to a minimum, but this is also why the other routes are self-contained. They're written to make use of the particular flags that are relevant to their route, not all of it. In other words it's not more or less work than writing routes with custom MCs in other visual novels.

 

[RNDM]

A lot of those choices, more than half, were just for flavor/roleplaying and didn't affect anything beyond maybe a single line of acknowledgement. There were variations on scenes based on closeness and callbacks to other scenes but a lot of the variation came from economical parser tricks. What you'd usually see, rather than any hard-to-manage branching paths, was a single path that would tailor itself here and there based on some input to feel more custom than it was.

Nothing wrong with that approach, it's a good way to make a player feel engaged while keeping the actual uniquely written material to a minimum, but this is also why the other routes are self-contained. They're written to make use of the particular flags that are relevant to their route, not all of it. In other words it's not more or less work than writing routes with custom MCs in other visual novels.

That's really rather beside the point here. Which is that coding all that without some of the Too Damn Many moving parts involved getting stuck has to be a pain and a half - with *two* major NPCs whose switches interact to greater or lesser degrees I don't even want to think of the amount of sheer spreadsheet autism that goes just into the planning.

 

[portiamento]

I think that’s what OL1 is for and the author created OL2 for those who wanted a female love interest, but couldn’t have it in the original. I think it would be too difficult to have both in the same game?

hmm... it's just they/them pronoun turns me off (not phobia). It will be nice to have a masculine love interest for straight female mc in the second game.

 

[RNDM]

(not phobia)

 

[Orphanus]

hmm... it's just they/them pronoun turns me off (not phobia). It will be nice to have a masculine love interest for straight female mc in the second game.

But there won't be. 1st game was for masculine LIs, this 2nd one has female & non-binary romance options. And since the original game started with exactly 1 romanceable character I can't even genuinely complain that there is only 1 female character to romance so far.

 

[ggezwux]

hmm... it's just they/them pronoun turns me off (not phobia). It will be nice to have a masculine love interest for straight female mc in the second game.

dawg there's already masc lis in the first game, the whole point of the second game is having a chance to date characters that arent identifying male. if you want a straight female mc with a male love interest so bad, go play the first game. don't play the second one if "they/them pronouns turn you off", there are no guy LIs in ol2 so this game isn't for you if that's what you want.

 

[Princess Groundhog]

But there won't be. 1st game was for masculine LIs, this 2nd one has female & non-binary romance options. And since the original game started with exactly 1 romanceable character I can't even genuinely complain that there is only 1 female character to romance so far.

But maybe as a DLC, like Derek and Baxter. But that will be much later and I wouldn't mind at all. Though if this is supposed to be more of a game for feminine love interests, then probably not.

 

[balitz Method]

That's really rather beside the point here. Which is that coding all that without some of the Too Damn Many moving parts involved getting stuck has to be a pain and a half - with *two* major NPCs whose switches interact to greater or lesser degrees I don't even want to think of the amount of sheer spreadsheet autism that goes just into the planning.

That's what I'm saying - that it's more the illusion of a massive amount of moving parts and unique content. A parser is some simple code that will spit out a variation based on a simple defined value. The simplest one in a game like this is remembering the player's name but all of them work on the same principle. Once you set those values you can write one passage with a parser call that will spit out whatever the player chose rather than having to write the same thing 5 times for each combination of which slushie to pick or whatever.

 

[Jiffie]

That's what I'm saying - that it's more the illusion of a massive amount of moving parts and unique content. A parser is some simple code that will spit out a variation based on a simple defined value. The simplest one in a game like this is remembering the player's name but all of them work on the same principle. Once you set those values you can write one passage with a parser call that will spit out whatever the player chose rather than having to write the same thing 5 times for each combination of which slushie to pick or whatever.

The point isn't that each choice/response was hand crafted/typed paragraphs/coding and slaved over with unique, world shattering branches, the point is that each scene focus on the intimacy of you and the LI; regardless on how the developer does it. Using short cuts/"cheats"/whatever doesn't matter, as doing that exact same thing to 2+ more LI is still more work than just doing it for 1.

The point is, instead of trying to focus on a narrative and unique background/plot for 10 million LIs, it's a lot easier to do so for just 1 LI.

Plus, add in the fact that I've felt more intimacy in OL than I have any other VN. in existence. because they were able to put all of their time and love into Cove, instead of cutting those very corners, much like the ones you've mentioned, to factor screen time for other LIs (like literally every other VN does when showing equal attention to their LIs; I'm sure OL2 is going to split time between Tamarack and Qui, and, highkey, that's really pissing me offI respect the healthy space and boundaries my character needs to have from their LI...). This is why no one should be mad that they don't have tons of LIs.

Even the flavored text and the "single path that would tailor itself here and there based on some input" felt loads fuller than any of the longer VNs that took me days to complete, especially the ones with multiple LIs. I don't care if they used smoke and mirrors to make their job easier, and convince me my game time catered to my favorite LI and no one else; it works, and it made OL the number one VN, in my opinion, and I'm sure for GB Patch Games, it was a ton of work that they're not nipping at the bit to implement for 5+ more LIs, at this time.

And I understand and don't blame them.

 

[portiamento]

But maybe as a DLC, like Derek and Baxter. But that will be much later and I wouldn't mind at all. Though if this is supposed to be more of a game for feminine love interests, then probably not.

Wish I can be with Derek or Baxter at the start of the game

 

[portiamento]

View attachment 2147282

I'm not scared of them (what phobia means), I just don't want to have a romantic relationship with them.

 

[balitz Method]

The point isn't that each choice/response was hand crafted/typed paragraphs/coding and slaved over with unique, world shattering branches, the point is that each scene focus on the intimacy of you and the LI; regardless on how the developer does it. Using short cuts/"cheats"/whatever doesn't matter, as doing that exact same thing to 2+ more LI is still more work than just doing it for 1.

The point is, instead of trying to focus on a narrative and unique background/plot for 10 million LIs, it's a lot easier to do so for just 1 LI.

Plus, add in the fact that I've felt more intimacy in OL than I have any other VN. in existence. because they were able to put all of their time and love into Cove, instead of cutting those very corners, much like the ones you've mentioned, to factor screen time for other LIs (like literally every other VN does when showing equal attention to their LIs; I'm sure OL2 is going to split time between Tamarack and Qui, and, highkey, that's really pissing me offI respect the healthy space and boundaries my character needs to have from their LI...). This is why no one should be mad that they don't have tons of LIs.

Even the flavored text and the "single path that would tailor itself here and there based on some input" felt loads fuller than any of the longer VNs that took me days to complete, especially the ones with multiple LIs. I don't care if they used smoke and mirrors to make their job easier, and convince me my game time catered to my favorite LI and no one else; it works, and it made OL the number one VN, in my opinion, and I'm sure for GB Patch Games, it was a ton of work that they're not nipping at the bit to implement for 5+ more LIs, at this time.

And I understand and don't blame them.

It's more work to do two things than one thing, yes, but what I was saying is that neither game's systems mean more work writing a character route than is standard for visual novels. Pointing out the smoke and mirrors was to say that they were actually very economical in saving work for themselves. I'm glad that approach worked for you so well but the question was "why would it be difficult to have more than one love interest in the same game?".

 

[senaizumiP]

I'm not scared of them (what phobia means), I just don't want to have a romantic relationship with them.

yk you could have just said you werent attracted to anyone who wasnt male or that you were straight or something dude

 

[igg]

The leading lady in colors.

Her expressions

And her growth

 

[thatoneguy543w745387]

The leading lady in colors.

Her expressions

And her growth

so the only romance option that doesnt have a penis is a fatty.

 

[Deleted member 3293393]

so the only romance option that doesnt have a penis is a fatty.

Cry about it.

 

[Princess Groundhog]

I think she looks adorable!

 

[Jiffie]

It's more work to do two things than one thing, yes, but what I was saying is that neither game's systems mean more work writing a character route than is standard for visual novels. Pointing out the smoke and mirrors was to say that they were actually very economical in saving work for themselves. I'm glad that approach worked for you so well but the question was "why would it be difficult to have more than one love interest in the same game?".

I took some time to reflect on the disconnect here, and I believe I see the problem.

Your question came up after a user has posted "I think that’s what OL1 is for and the author created OL2 for those who wanted a female love interest, but couldn’t have it in the original. I think it would be too difficult to have both in the same game?" My response was in support of that statement, because of your statement; I don't know if it was poor timing on your part/you misunderstood what that user was meaning to say/or you're still missing the point, but my entire statement was not "This game put more work into coding than any other VN in existance, so multiple LIs are too difficult for them or anyone who tries".

My statement was "Multiple LIs are a lot of work for all VNs, this VN, in particular, likes to put detailed intimacy by dedicating specific scenes towards an LI; that's a lot of work regardless if it's a VN or just a regular novel (more writing/coding = more work = 'too difficult'; this is what I [can't speak for Princess Groundhog] meant by 'difficult'; not that it's too complicated/not simple; doing simple things over and over again can be 'difficult' given the amount of times you have to do them). GB Patch Games have already released a statement that they find it too difficult/more time consuming to focus their work on multiple LIs and produce the same quality for all, so they would rather take it 1 LI at a time(not a direct quote); OL2 will be them finally pushing their limits of 1 LI, in the OL style, and may or may not have the time for the work it would be needed to add more (also not a direct quote). I, personally, also think coding for each LI to recognize gender and sexuality of the MC and other LI characters would also be more work, which, after hearing their statement about the single LI Cove, I would assume would be 'too difficult' for them, at this time, which is why we're getting 2 LIs, and not 5."

I'm sorry, if this isn't clear enough for you, I don't know how to help you understand my point, and I'll have to concede to a "agree to disagree."