VN Ren'Py Ravager [v5.3.0] [4MinuteWarning]

[_Maou_]

The Future Of Development
Cancelling The Slopocalypse

Greetings from my increasingly-tropical island! I'm pleased to report that

You must be registered to see the links

continues to work its particular magic. There is a mountain of things to catch up on, but I’m in the process of doing exactly that. And one of those things is to have this conversation with you.

The Monkey’s Paw
When I started Ravager’s development, the technological landscape looked rather different. Even when we arrived on Steam, AI was still mostly the province of science fiction. Now? Now it is impossible to look away from.
It is a contentious topic - righteously and deservedly so. The default position for developers is to stay artfully quiet, and hope the whole thing blows over. But we're not a soulless corporation - we're a small gang of enthusiasts, who've carved out a niche making horny games about dragons. I think you should speak openly and plainly about what you believe, whenever you can. And I can, so I will.
I believe that AI can be a great assistive tool when paired with human talent. It can help break through creative blocks, speed up tedious processes, and open doors for people who might otherwise struggle to realise their visions. That's the optimistic view, and I think there's truth in it.
But let's not kid ourselves. AI is also being used to exploit and exclude human talent. It is drastically lowering the barriers to entry for game development, which sounds great (it is), until you realise we're heading for a kind of slopocalypse: a tsunami of cheaply produced mediocrity, poised to flood every platform. I suspect Steam's algorithms will shield you from the worst of its effects! But as creators, we need to plan for this impending reality.

Our Stance
Ravager will continue to celebrate organic writing, art, voices, and code.
I have no issue with a writer consulting AI for advice on a tricky plot point, or an artist using it to brainstorm potential compositions. That is clever tool use, and does not beggar anyone. But the content that actually features in our games will remain human-crafted.
In line with this commitment, I'll be removing the placeholder machine translations from Ravager. If someone wants to mod them back in, that’s fine - but our support will focus on the excellent fanmade localisations that our community is in the process of creating.
This policy will also extend to our next project, Permission To Dock. It uses some genuinely exciting new techniques and technologies that showcase exactly what coordinated human creativity can achieve. Permission To Dock is being prototyped as we speak, and I look forward to showing you what I mean once Ravager has reached its main release.

You must be registered to see the links

The Road To Victory
‘Reaching main release’ is possibly the best mitigation against the coming slopocalypse - so that remains our primary and overriding priority. Health issues have slowed us down in the first half of this year (most especially mine!), but now we've regathered our momentum, and we’re working smarter than ever. And to avoid those agonising waits between major updates, we're portioning things up more sensibly:

• Version 5.3: The conclusion of Chapter Two
• Version 5.4: The beginning of Chapter Three
• Version 5.5: The conclusion of Chapter Three - and our full release!

We will continue with our monthly updates throughout - and if we hit any further blockers, we’ll slice up our to-dos around them. Bonus endings and character epilogues will arrive after 5.5 as a free update (because you all deserve it), while any further expansions will follow as DLC.

Horde Morale
Another defence against mediocrity is consolidating excellence. As talent gets shaken up by the twisting landscape, I want to link arms with them. We are looking for short collaborations with established creators of all kinds - developers from around the world, artists and animators who haven't touched games yet, writers with fresh perspectives, you name it. We’ll pair them with our resources, our audience, and our perverse sense of mission, and we’ll see what magic emerges.

If you're one such established creator, and this sounds like your cup of tea,

You must be registered to see the links

!

Keeping One Eye Open
All that having been said, it would be folly to tie ourselves completely to one approach when the world is shifting so rapidly beneath our feet. So I'm keeping an open mind about allowing some short-form experiments in future, where team members could create small projects with the assistance of AI.

If successful, such experiments could give voice to game ideas that would otherwise never see daylight, as well as help fund our main projects. However - and this is crucial - we will never use our team's contributions to train AI without their consent, and we forbid others from doing so. If a teammember’s artistic DNA ends up in a project then they'll be properly compensated, by prior agreement on their terms.

I know this position won't please everyone. Some will think we're being too permissive, others that we're being too restrictive. But I believe it is fair, it is right, and it positions us to navigate the coming storms whilst holding fast to what matters most.

Back to Work
That's quite enough pontificating from me. Time to get my head out of the clouds, and back down into the code where it belongs. Look forward to a bumper-sized update towards the end of this month - we've got a proper feast prepared for you!

All the best,
4MinuteWarning
(and the gang)

Support the game!

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

or

You must be registered to see the links

Join the discord!

You must be registered to see the links

 

[DaintyOnes]

Malagar stop being so cool, I don't want to kill Adeline every run. Kind of irked that they introduced two royal lines in order to avoid the inherent cucking needed to preserve the royal bloodline, but you can't tell him to science up the sister instead of Adeline. It seems like an obvious solution, so obvious that it means 4MinuteWarning won't do it. I cry.

 

[Wiliam 1234567]

Malagar stop being so cool, I don't want to kill Adeline every run. Kind of irked that they introduced two royal lines in order to avoid the inherent cucking needed to preserve the royal bloodline, but you can't tell him to science up the sister instead of Adeline. It seems like an obvious solution, so obvious that it means 4MinuteWarning won't do it. I cry.

This is probably not possible yet because Adeline's sister has not yet been truly put into the game (I realize now, but when I have both of them in the harem, the dragon will inevitably have to be betrayed because one of them will have to have a child with a human, otherwise the bloodline will end)

 

[DaintyOnes]

This is probably not possible yet because Adeline's sister has not yet been truly put into the game (I realize now, but when I have both of them in the harem, the dragon will inevitably have to be betrayed because one of them will have to have a child with a human, otherwise the bloodline will end)

I doubt it will be a viable alternative anyhow, since they solidified the Malagar->Darja Queen route on a rather shaky premise. Your agreement with him concerns Valzira, him staying as your court mage is due to both of you profiting from that arrangement. No inherent division between you with the exception of a possible conflict involving Malice sometime in the future, but nothing set in stone.
The reason he even thinks to put Darja on the throne is being put on the spot when she starts crying about wanting to be the queen and thinking 'yeah I might as well'. To him it didn't matter one way or the other, and Darja in all her simple-mindedness can be appeased without turning her into a queen. While I am sure the idea of studying and transplanting the royal bloodline and his love for his niece are enough to motivate him to do it, it was never presented as such a vital concern that it would warrant a falling out if the Dragon is not keen on it. Pre-Act IV we had one scene about all of this, then comes Act IV and he treats it like a deal-breaker.
I suppose it could be seen as character development, rising ambitions and arrogance as he gets more power, but the cost-benefit of him leaving due to us not agreeing to it seems way too skewed for a man who toiled all his life for scraps, is appreciative for what he gets from us, never had ambitions that concern the throne and, while he is soft with Darja, he is not enabling all her wishes. It just seems too hamfisted to me, someone on 4Minute decided the Malagar route will go this way from now on, so it does, earlier presentation be damned.

 

[CuriousKiyo]

Malagar stop being so cool,

Just think about how if he had gotten to the Lair like two days later, his ass would've gotten killed by either the wolves or mercenaries the second he tried any of his magic mumbo jumbo. That's what I do when I feel my spot as "Coolest Guy In The Realm" threatened.

 

[Kartabos]

Is the available version up to date?

 

[GrandPaBrowning]

if he had gotten to the Lair like two days later, his ass would've gotten killed by either the wolves or mercenaries

Seems like Malagar follows good old wizarding tradition:

 

[Aaron236]

Lemme ask any of u this: what the fuck turns Marie-Anne into a goddamn eldritch doe? I know the cataclysm is supposed to be some bullshit, but turning one of my harem girls into a damn lovecraftian doe is out of line. Undo this bullshit, Malice.
You're hurting my power-fantasy fantasy, Dev, how dare you?!

 

[jahall]

Lemme ask any of u this: what the fuck turns Marie-Anne into a goddamn eldritch doe? I know the cataclysm is supposed to be some bullshit, but turning one of my harem girls into a damn lovecraftian doe is out of line. Undo this bullshit, Malice.
You're hurting my power-fantasy fantasy, Dev, how dare you?!

I share your pain. I don't think Malice has any power over how the cataclysm unfolds, though. Yes, her birth caused it to begin, but I don't think she could change or undo it even if she would like to.

 

[Wiliam 1234567]

aside from the story and character interactions, does having malice have any mechanical advantage?

 

[ChubbyFatBoy]

Lemme ask any of u this: what the fuck turns Marie-Anne into a goddamn eldritch doe? I know the cataclysm is supposed to be some bullshit, but turning one of my harem girls into a damn lovecraftian doe is out of line. Undo this bullshit, Malice.
You're hurting my power-fantasy fantasy, Dev, how dare you?!

I used to be like you in regards to that situation. Completely against it and wondering why they would even do that. But then.... I later realized I'm weird and into that shit so. I personally wouldn't mind if they go deeper with it. Both out of curiosity on how fucked up it will get. And just because I want to see things get even weirder.

 

[DaintyOnes]

Seems like Malagar follows good old wizarding tradition:
View attachment 5055733

As the kids would say, he was aura farming

 

[darkwolf0x]

Anyone know how to make Mina's piercings permanent? I can't figure out what needs to be done to make them permanent additions.

 

[jahall]

aside from the story and character interactions, does having malice have any mechanical advantage?

I'm not clear what you mean by "mechanical advantage". But ATM it looks like somehow overcoming the cataclysm is going to be the intended ending of the game, and no Malice means no cataclysm, so you'd probably be left finishing on a big anticlimax.

 

[simonmcKEY]

Last update was over a month ago, anybody know when the next one is going to be?

 

[OnlyNeverNow]

I dropped this game a long time ago when Act 5 started, would someone mind letting me know if its worth jumping back in now? Is there a decent amount of act 5 content?

 

[jahall]

Last update was over a month ago, anybody know when the next one is going to be?

Updates are generally monthly, usually on the first Sunday of each month. I'm not sure if they missed the July update for some reason or if it just hasn't found its way to F95zone yet.

 

[DaintyOnes]

I dropped this game a long time ago when Act 5 started, would someone mind letting me know if its worth jumping back in now? Is there a decent amount of act 5 content?

I would wait still if I was you. While there is content it lacks payoff. You dick around on the throne and make decisions but there are no consequences. You can get mercy/cruelty/prosperity but it doesn't mean anything, so far at least. Like a whole third of an act to prepare you for conflict and another whole act to resolve it is missing.

 

[Essta]

I dont know if its my route but i found act 3+4 to be really irritating. There was just 1 opportunities to get hoard before the act four, giving up helioe for cash. Obviously a character seemed more valuable than the cash, and while i dare say that that has been well worth it. No other opportunities whatsoever? Just that one event where the kobolds find the dress...
Why is it that the catgirl twins presence in the harem is also the exact reason why they could not find any would be hoard to pilfer? You'd think you could, ah, persuade them to reveal where they brought the loot and then bring it back to you with more loyal underlings, or perhaps just your share if you felt generous.

I've also collected the other two elves, the swamp one of which seemingly has no content (unless you impregnate her with malice?). The wisps, contary to what was said, were not revisitable upon her capture. Nor did they deign to give me wolf zombies of whatever given i ended up trading them for that elf, unbeknownst to me, apparently because you cannot have both because both represent control over that area in a later act. So not worth it ugh!

And because of it, i was stuck with only kobolds led by the femboy. Getting no hoard still. But of course, act 4 expects you to spend a lot on raising morale, and the game just about forced me to spend the ENTIRE harem collected from acts 1 and 2 to that end, besides two that i could literally not dismiss, Helioe and the Femboy.

Ugh how irritating. Hoardless, bitchesless and for what? I feel like i missed out on all the storylines the game could possibly tell. Or maybe, just ones i expected it would be able to tell, since neither the wolf girl nor swamp witch seemed to have anything whatsoever.


Suffice to say, while i enjoyed the game a lot, especially early on, the mid parts onward left me with more and more frustation and irritation to the point im feeling rather conflicted about the game.

 

[Steelgrass]

Am I missing something to get the current version (5.2.5) running? I've tried both the Universal Starter and the suggested run cmd posted elsewhere in this thread, and both promptly close the program after it has seemingly finished loading.