VN Ren'Py re:Dreamer [v0.18.1] [Dream Team Studio]

[DreamTeamStudio]

Another weird thing is how little control they give you over having sex in the game. I know the setting they used with the game competition necessitates the sex scenes having to happen, but it feels odd that the game gives you so many choices only to railroad you in the parts where the player would actually want choices. But due to the setting, you have to railroad them. The entire competition part of Re-Dreamers adds a lot of restrictions to parts of the narrative that'll be tough for a writer to follow without losing the readers.

(Maybe I don't want Zack to get raped by Keisuke. Maybe I want Zack to run away from him and wander down a dangerous alley and have bad stuff happen to them there instead. lol)

Look at the entirety of this post because those other options are going to be happening.

Another problem I've noticed is the C.H.E.A.T.S system. It seems cool, but in practice, it only serves to highlight how little of an impact your choices have. That's not to say you haven't put effort into it, but it's basically just adding a lot of pointless fluff (especially if you put the awkward stat past 2). With all the dialog you've written for the different stats, you could have easily made a small alternate branch for an event or two.

Keep exploring. There are some small but major branches based on those stats, but the thing about the system is that anything affected by those stats blends in seamlessly enough that most people wouldn't know they were on an alternative branch unless it was specifically pointed out.

 

[Axismundi]

Look at the entirety of this post because those other options are going to be happening.



Keep exploring. There are some small but major branches based on those stats, but the thing about the system is that anything affected by those stats blends in seamlessly enough that most people wouldn't know they were on an alternative branch unless it was specifically pointed out.

I retract that statement then, I'll definitely keep playing around.

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

The 0.10.10 release has been made public! Get it from the OP!

Changelog:

• Finally, re:/Dreamer lives up to its promise of being the Disco Elysium of gender bender visual novels with a line of investigative questioning. At the end of the events of the 0.10.8 update, Zach was knocked unconscious and had to be given medical treatment, leading to the director of Britney's theater department and the lead carpenter he was working with discovering that he was a woman. When Zach wakes up, Britney explains that she had to make up a lie that Zach was a trans man, but her director isn't buying it, and she wants to tell the rest of the club about him. Britney offers to answer any questions Zach might have to help him prepare for the line of questioning... or Zach can just go in blind. Getting advice makes it much easier for Zach to convince the director to stay quiet about him, but it isn't required. I think this is a nice compromise between offering a simple narrative and a winding one and holy fuck I am never doing it again as it was way too complicated (as the flowchart shows).
• Zach's meeting with Molly has been slightly adjusted to make the circle of people who know Zach is a woman but presented as a man smaller. Previously, Zach met with Molly (the director), Karan (the assistant director), and Himiko (the sound lead) in the green room, but Himiko has been edited out. Should Zach fail to convince Molly to let him work on set while presenting as a man, it'll be much easier to keep just the assistant director quiet about Zach first presenting as a man instead of him and someone else.
• The first of the shower CGs has been brushed up in quality a bit and should more closely match Zoey's sprites. There are finished variants for all the hair colors and eye colors, but I wasn't able to get the other shower CGs done in time and it'd look weird if this was the only one with custom colors.

Previews:

 

[htc89234]

Rich route waiting room

 

[Sue-0_nim404]

So, I'm pretty shy, so I don't often post regular messages or reviews here but I'm going to try to do both. Though the review later.

To put it simply, I enjoy what I've played for this so far. It's really well put together and I like how much you seem to be trying to do. Speaking as a weirdo who plays games like this to try to avoid the protagonist getting transformed or undoing their transformation, I really appreciate how customizable the protagonist is. Hell, the first time I've tried it, I started over to see a few different variations of the C.H.E.A.T.S. stuff.

While I wouldn't be surprised if you decide to take it in a direction I didn't prefer with how the protagonist handles the transformation, I know it'll be a quality product even in that case. I honestly wish that I had the money on hand to join on Patreon.

 

[Exoplast]

reDreamer [v0.10.10] [Dream Team Studio] Compressed

PC (1,21GB / 370MB) :

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Spoiler: MD5 Hash

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[DreamTeamStudio]

Rich route waiting room

We've actually got an artist for him now. Expect sprites roughly in January 2023 from the same artist who drew "Hot Zach" near the bottom of this post.

 

[joao2804]

so what are the codes for this version?

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

so what are the codes for this version?

As this post explains,

The features the passwords provide (full jump menu are wholly meant for returning players to make their repeat playthroughs more interesting or to give a special thank-you for supporting the game financially. None of them ever lock story content besides the developer commentary, which honestly should not be on for most readers.

The features a Patron password provide are (blue is for both $10/month Backers and $20/month Sustainers, yellow is only for $20/month Sustainers):

• In-game C.H.E.A.T.S. adjustment.
• The full route jump menu to return to previous content (not just the new and edited stuff for a release, which is always available).
• In-game developer commentary.
• Saving edits from the sprite viewer to appear in-game (such as Zoey's eye color, hair color, hair style, and outfit).

As stated, none of these features are intended for first-time readers. They also make the game a far more distracting mess to navigate. If you want these features, throw money at

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[MisterNephilim]

I really like this game and the systems and all, but the Britney route is really testing my patience with all the time skips, from the first night skip (the morning) to lunch, then from the date skip to day 8 of all things. It feels like going really wide, but not deep enough.

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

I really like this game and the systems and all, but the Britney route is really testing my patience with all the time skips, from the first night skip (the morning) to lunch, then from the date skip to day 8 of all things. It feels like going really wide, but not deep enough.

I am wholly limited by the pace of art from artists and have to work around that. An earlier post explains the issue in great detail.

The lack of college classes that lead to the Day 8 skip is fair complaint though. I've just been doing a lot of tasks that aren't that because specifically ironing out how the classes change based on the route will be a boring process (i.e., Ryouichi won't have a reason to confront Zach before the psychology lecture, Zach won't be bullshitting his engineering assignment in Britney's route because he actually did it with the compression bra).


I'm not planning on covering Zach's classes in excruciating detail beyond showing that his disguise is working but he's constantly nervous that it will fall apart. They're, for the most part, STEM courses, and I shouldn't put readers to sleep with explaining Calculus 1 (knowing my obsession for researching realistic details, I'll probably end up doing that anyways).

A breakfast with Britney is doable for Day 2, but there's an important detail that I need to iron out behind the scene that I cannot divulge any information about because it is a massive spoiler to explain. There is an entire secret design document for this, but it is meant to be a gigantic reveal at the end of the game and I'm purposefully being tight-lipped and obtuse about it because it's meant to connect a lot of clues the reader didn't even realize were there until the revelation happens. All I can say is that it's not the obvious things you might think it would be, such as Zach's gender identity not being as ambiguous as it seems or a Doki Doki Literature Club! meta twist.
The problem is that for this to work, I have to stick to a very firm list of secret rules, and this specific one is a complex issue that isn't explored much in media but which has good arguments from both sides of it. I am hesitant to proceed with the scene as the answer would completely change how the scene is written.
Oddly enough, I am most likely going to find the answer I am looking for as I proceed with Britney's route for hilarious reasons (trust me on this one).

 

[MisterNephilim]

I am wholly limited by the pace of art from artists and have to work around that. An earlier post explains the issue in great detail.

The lack of college classes that lead to the Day 8 skip is fair complaint though. I've just been doing a lot of tasks that aren't that because specifically ironing out how the classes change based on the route will be a boring process (i.e., Ryouichi won't have a reason to confront Zach before the psychology lecture, Zach won't be bullshitting his engineering assignment in Britney's route because he actually did it with the compression bra).
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I'm not planning on covering Zach's classes in excruciating detail beyond showing that his disguise is working but he's constantly nervous that it will fall apart. They're, for the most part, STEM courses, and I shouldn't put readers to sleep with explaining Calculus 1 (knowing my obsession for researching realistic details, I'll probably end up doing that anyways).

A breakfast with Britney is doable for Day 2, but there's an important detail that I need to iron out behind the scene that I cannot divulge any information about because it is a massive spoiler to explain. There is an entire secret design document for this, but it is meant to be a gigantic reveal at the end of the game and I'm purposefully being tight-lipped and obtuse about it because it's meant to connect a lot of clues the reader didn't even realize were there until the revelation happens. All I can say is that it's not the obvious things you might think it would be, such as Zach's gender identity not being as ambiguous as it seems or a Doki Doki Literature Club! meta twist.
The problem is that for this to work, I have to stick to a very firm list of secret rules, and this specific one is a complex issue that isn't explored much in media but which has good arguments from both sides of it. I am hesitant to proceed with the scene as the answer would completely change how the scene is written.
Oddly enough, I am most likely going to find the answer I am looking for as I proceed with Britney's route for hilarious reasons (trust me on this one).

My problem (mostly) with such a huge (depending on the timescale of the game) skip of 6-ish days is that not only we get to see a glimpse of the future in the relationship between MC and Britney without our player "input", but in my personal case I get a sense/feeling that when we get to see and play those days, my choices and actions really wouldn't alter such relationship that much, since we already "saw" it.

It's a personal complain that at the end of the day maybe it won't affect the final product that much if all fits together, but it still makes my brain itch in not a good way.

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

My problem (mostly) with such a huge (depending on the timescale of the game) skip of 6-ish days is that not only we get to see a glimpse of the future in the relationship between MC and Britney without our player "input", but in my personal case I get a sense/feeling that when we get to see and play those days, my choices and actions really wouldn't alter such relationship that much, since we already "saw" it.

It's a personal complain that at the end of the day maybe it won't affect the final product that much if all fits together, but it still makes my brain itch in not a good way.

As the time skip in Britney's route explains in-game:

Honestly though, the college classes aren't going to be the focus of this game's story at all, and from the first day of classes on, the plot is going to be zooming ahead.
re:/Dreamer is going to be taking place over a six-month period, but the meticulously-detailed intro to the start of the game likely gives a false impression of the density and the pace of the story.
Once I've established the tone of each friend's route and the fact that Zach is able to survive in classes while disguising his new sex, the story is going to be skipping to a mix of set events common to each route and unique events for a specific friend's route.
For two examples of the former... Zach is going to be dragged to a Halloween party in a stereotypical costume and then have his body and part of his personality changed by a re:/Dreamer event (i.e., becoming a vampire dominatrix with a penchant for red wine as a substitute for blood, kissing as a substitute for sucking blood, and a dominant bedroom demeanor)...
Zach is also going to be taking a trip to Southern California in the springtime with the route partner for a beach trip.
We already have a design picked out for the outfit for the day (scroll above on this page on F95zone to see it).
For some examples of the unique events for the routes...
Zach is going to be dragged around by Keisuke to some of his swim meets and end up a de-facto manager/mascot for the university's swim team, all while starting to get fitter, happier, and generally more social from swimming for exercise; there's also a trip down memory lane with Keisuke on a home visit on the winter holidays...
Britney is going to have a focus on Zach being forced to help her theater department, but she'll also lure Zach to an anime convention later and finally get him to wear girly magical girl cosplay; and Zach is going to spend Thanksgiving break at Britney's place and touted around to her parents as her nice, wholesome boyfriend...
And Rich will be forcing Zach to partake in "rich people" activities (for lack of a better term) such as horseback riding, golf, a yacht race, and a horse derby, all with the explicit goal of corrupting Zach into Zoey, a high-class woman who can't live without the luxuries that Rich can provide her.
Some of these will advance the story by days or even weeks, making this game completable in a human lifetime.

tl;dr the early pace of this game is misleading.

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

I've got an important

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talking about how the game is moving over to monthly releases on the first Friday of every month for the foreseeable future, with the reasons why this change is happening and the plans for the first release in this new system, the 0.11.0 release on Friday, October 7th that will immediately be free to the public without any Patron password system in place.

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

The special 3rd Anniversary release of re:/Dreamer (0.11.0) has been made public to everyone, at the same time, with no password system in place! Get it from the thread header or wherever you get it!

Previews:




Changelog:

• Happy third anniversary, re:/Dreamer (and happy 29th birthday to me, CaptainCaption!)
• Zach finally has his day in the sun with a new intro. About 40-60 minutes long (more on the "about" in a bit), the last day in his life before he foundre:/Dreamer. I think the writing slaps as it sets a ton of the tone for the game, gives great foreshadowing, and really provides context that Zoey isn't just some girl who says she is a guy as it provides visible context of who that guy was. I can understand that not everyone will want this introductory day to Zach's new life to be as long as it is (for reasons other than wanting to more more easily self-insert as the excessively detailed protagonist of this visual novel) which is why it gets shorter (particularly the lectures) if Awkwardness is the default value of 3 or below. C.H.E.A.T.S., by strict canon, is not supposed to exist yet, but I am bending my rules a bit to make this game more enjoyable for more people.
• The writing and expressions from the end of the transformation to the choice menu that can lead to the first bad end has been polished. This largely meant making the expressions match the quality standards set from the middle of the Britney mall date and beyond, but a few lines have been altered; most notably, Ai first looks up her player on his phone (she had previously just known his name) and realizes that the woman in front of her doesn't match that man, and she starts to piece things together from that.
• The first masturbation scene in Zach's dorm room has been adjusted and expanded so that Zach finds a thick permanent marker to help him as he doesn't have enough knowledge for his hands alone to do the job. This has the benefit of making the focus for Zach's inability to climax in Keisuke's dorm room being that he was using his bare hands. I'll be getting to that scene soon, once the last of the CGs for the alternatives to the sex scene come in.
• The bad ends have been polished with some cool new graphics and better expressions.
• The explanation by Zach to Molly and Patrick can now be done fully in one loop with the maximum starting points because I changed a few of the penalty points to allow for it.
• The "Stratus" thing with re:/Dreamer having a social media component has been removed since it added nothing to the game and was an old plot point. There's now just a generic player profile thing that Ai uses, with the implication that she can only call her player by the name on that profile.
• C.H.E.A.T.S. is explained more clearly to players new to it on its screen and in the story with Zach at the character creator.
• I changed the name of Zach's primary gacha from "Steel Blue Sky Corridor" to just "Steel Blue Sky" as it's less wordy. Also, the game actually has a screen based on Azur Lane's old 2019 user interface. I have to resist calling the game "Azur Plane" after someone mentioned the pun...
• The arcade games, quick menu on the main dialogue window, and C.H.E.A.T.S. screen now highlight and work properly with controller and keyboard (minus Zone of the Zombies 2, where Zach blames his light gun for not firing a single shot). The C.H.E.A.T.S. bars (all the bars, in fact) the still require you to press the enter key or A button to select, but it works. Honestly, Ren'Py is not very pleasant to navigate with just a controller, but there's really not much I or Espeon can do about it.
• A potential bug with Zoey hovering in the Britney Day 2 clothing store changing room has been fixed. I wasn't able to replicate a user reporting the issue, but Zoey's sprite has been hardcoded to be in the right position there.
• Some minor polish to the expressions in the Keisuke route (mostly in the konbini). I'm saving the expressions overhaul in the route for when I get all of the Keisuke dorm room HCGs, but fixing a minor issue led to me doing some ahead of time.
• Except on the title screen, you now have to unlock viewing every character in the sprite viewer by reading to certain points in the story (or jumping past them in the story jump menu). This sort of keeps characters, mainly Zoey, a surprise... but let's be honest: you likely know what you're getting into if you download this game.
• There's now a variable tracking the route you are currently on. This will be used for common overlapping events later, like Zach's classes.
• The World Information alert bar now works with sub-entries and clicking on it no longer advances to the next line (meaning that you're free to check the information in the moment it becomes relevant without a consequence of the story moving past that). The alert bar also shows for 6 seconds instead of 3, but it disappears at the next line of dialogue as usual.
• Zach's sabbatical (and a few other World Information entries) now have fancy stock photos that cost a lot of money. They break up things so they're not just a wall of text.
• I changed the expressions in Zach's sprites slightly. Most of this was making some lines less harsh and changing the order of the faces to make more sense (at least to me) of what Zoey parts they were based on, but mouth_0 is now Zoey's mouth_11 because it works a lot better as a neutral face than the slight frown it was.
• Ai's sprite code has completely changed to allow a non-insane way of dealing with what direction she is facing. You can also make her background pink!

 

[Cgad]

Could you please add something akin to an asexual route or at least the option to stay a virgin the whole way through, especially since the sex scenes that are here are of questionable consent. I'm only here for the actual story (and maybe the nudity too).

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

Could you please add something akin to an asexual route or at least the option to stay a virgin the whole way through, especially since the sex scenes that are here are of questionable consent. I'm only here for the actual story (and maybe the nudity too).

You can turn off the sex scenes and/or all nudity in the preferences screen, but sex is a vital element of this game's story and cannot be removed.
As this post explains, the sex scene you are likely upset about is being changed with alternatives to the dubious consent scene.

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

It feels like this game is lacking smth

yeah lol, it's still very much in alpha

 

[Dr.Midori]

You can turn off the sex scenes and/or all nudity in the preferences screen, but sex is a vital element of this game's story and cannot be removed.
As this post explains, the sex scene you are likely upset about is being changed with alternatives to the dubious consent scene.

That is my favorite scene. It added some spice to the too vanilla content. Without this it will become missionary clothed sex only for purpose of making children and nothing else. I hope that we get to keep some spice with proper S.P.E.C.I.A.L. point spending.

 

[DreamTeamStudio]

That is my favorite scene. It added some spice to the too vanilla content. Without this it will become missionary clothed sex only for purpose of making children and nothing else. I hope that we get to keep some spice with proper S.P.E.C.I.A.L. point spending.

The scene is still staying there, but there are soon going to be options to avoid it since dubcon does bother a lot of people (though not me personally).
Also, that's a little hyperbolic, isn't it? Zoey has topped Keisuke is what is technically public sex.
Also also, that's not how the stats system works at all.