VN Ren'Py Completed Price of Power [Ep.30] [Pandaman Games]

4.10 star(s) 156 Votes
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QQP_Purple

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Dec 11, 2020
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HiP1 said:
just finished the update. felt a bit short, maybe because the branching for solo and throuple routes was quite long.
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They always are. That's just the pace of this game with its short but frequent update system. Each update adds about a couple of hours of play and maybe one sex scene.

And that really is not surprising either. As a software engineer my self I can tell you that the general rule of development is: Quantity, Quality, Speed, pick two. So whilst I'd personally prefer a bit more stuff with each update as well I am glad he went for one of the good options rather than the darkness that is quantity+speed.
 
H

HiP1

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Dec 3, 2023
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QQP_Purple said:
They always are. That's just the pace of this game with its short but frequent update system. Each update adds about a couple of hours of play and maybe one sex scene.

And that really is not surprising either. As a software engineer my self I can tell you that the general rule of development is: Quantity, Quality, Speed, pick two. So whilst I'd personally prefer a bit more stuff with each update as well I am glad he went for one of the good options rather than the darkness that is quantity+speed.
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each update are shorter than average AVN standards, sure. but what I meant was that this one felt shorter than the previous ones. it's just a feeling though. I didn't go and check the code. and the branching was quite a big chunk of the update, so it might be because of that. I don't really mind though, the team is consistent in pushing out updates.
 
Pandaman Games

Pandaman Games

Developer of Price of Power
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Mar 10, 2018
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QQP_Purple said:
Quantity, Quality, Speed, pick two. So whilst I'd personally prefer a bit more stuff with each update as well I am glad he went for one of the good options rather than the darkness that is quantity+speed.
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Exactly, I went for quality and speed. :)

HiP1 said:
each update are shorter than average AVN standards, sure. but what I meant was that this one felt shorter than the previous ones. it's just a feeling though. I didn't go and check the code. and the branching was quite a big chunk of the update, so it might be because of that. I don't really mind though, the team is consistent in pushing out updates.
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The dev "team" is just me. ;) I do have a proofreader/tester that I pay, but he doesn't help with any of the development, just with making sure I don't publish too many typos.

Chapter 23 was actually one of the longest updates I've ever written, but because of branching, it feels much shorter than it is in terms of total word count. Lessons learned for the future - branching paths means doing double (or more) work that people never see. :( The average player (rightfully) doesn't care that I've made content for all the possible choices. They only care that they have lots of content for their choices. Even if I write two good half-scenes for a split choice, from the player perspective, I've only written a half scene of content for them when they're expecting a full scene.

Saying that, I'm still sticking with the original outline of the game, so Chapter 24 has even more branching. :p Can't wait for people to be mad that there's only one lewd scene that they see even though I'm gonna be making three... But like I said, I've definitely learned that lesson (among others) for the next game. :)
 
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HiP1

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Pandaman Games said:
Exactly, I went for quality and speed. :)


The dev "team" is just me. ;) I do have a proofreader/tester that I pay, but he doesn't help with any of the development, just with making sure I don't publish too many typos.

Chapter 23 was actually one of the longest updates I've ever written, but because of branching, it feels much shorter than it is in terms of total word count. Lessons learned for the future - branching paths means doing double (or more) work that people never see. :( The average player (rightfully) doesn't care that I've made content for all the possible choices. They only care that they have lots of content for their choices. Even if I write two good half-scenes for a split choice, from the player perspective, I've only written a half scene of content for them when they're expecting a full scene.

Saying that, I'm still sticking with the original outline of the game, so Chapter 24 has even more branching. :p Can't wait for people to be mad that there's only one lewd scene that they see even though I'm gonna be making three... But like I said, I've definitely learned that lesson (among others) for the next game. :)
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actually, I said team because I included the proofreader as he is doing a phenomenal job. made me sub just for his work ;)

I always read all paths to enjoy the game, story and characters to the fullest. don't worry, your work and efforts are not wasted. more branching is a good thing, but it's definitely exponentially more work.
and even though I usually prefer to play throuple/harem routes, I enjoyed Maria's solo scene much more in Chapter 23.

we are all here for the story. are there still people that expect and demand lewd scenes in this game ? :D
 
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QQP_Purple

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Dec 11, 2020
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HiP1 said:
we are all here for the story. are there still people that expect and demand lewd scenes in this game ? :D
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I can only speak for my self and in that case the answer is a definite it depends. Like, this is fundamentally an adventure + romance story. And that means it must follow rules which are fundamentally different from porn.

Porn is supposed to be hot. It's supposed to make you horny. But this is not porn. It's a romance story. And in those it's far more important for each scene to fit in and have a narrative purpose. The best written scenes are those that are in their own right a story playing out in front of the viewer and not just sex animation.

Really, it's comparable to a good vs bad action movie. A bad action movie has lots of shooting and explosions and stuff. And it might get you pumped. But at the end of the day it's just junk food. Or, well, action porn if you will.

A good action movie meanwhile limits the fights only to the spots where the plot demands it and than uses the fights them self to tell a narrative and show the viewer information about the characters through their actions. To see what I mean compare the action scenes in the average Transformers movie to those in Dragonball Z. And the same is true for a good sex scene in romance games.

So whether I expect it to happen depends entirely on the flow of the story up until that point. It being absent when the story clearly should lead to it is going to be disappointing. But not as much as it would be if he just threw in a sex scene haphazardly to satisfy a minimum quota per update even though there just really is no good place for it to fit.

I feel a lot of authors get that part wrong. Either because they feel the need to fill a quota, because they rush to get the sex scenes in early to capture engagement or because they just can't understand how to write a good sex scene because they focus too much on the porn and not enough on the storytelling. It's still supposed to be sexy, of course. But a different kind of sexy if you will. One that bleeds character rather than pornography.
 
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Dessolos

Dessolos

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hshdhhdhshsh said:
good cause most games that are medieval its more like the game fucking your wife while your forced to watch.
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well there is no NTR in this at all. no need to worry about that but it isn't a fuck fest either it's more slow burn when it comes to that.
 
Dessolos

Dessolos

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hshdhhdhshsh said:
You play as a young man (default Michael) who lives in a small village on the edges of civilization in a Medieval-era world who gets sucked into the adventure of a lifetime with his childhood best friend (default Maria).
Wholesome romance and an epic adventure awaits!
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it's not medieval there is a big spoiler as to why it isn't but the overall feel of the game is medieval
 
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4.10 star(s) 156 Votes