[Ren'Py] SU Re-Imagined, an UNOFFICIAL Proof of Concept Ren'Py Demo - Community Development Thread

[xMendoza]

I think it's pretty awesome. It'd be nice to also include the Glamour Slam scenes as well.

I generally prefer the format you have, although the only addition/change that could be nice is an optional "Organized by Story". For example, most character's have their alternate costumes introduced in between levels of "corruption". So knowing what the "correct" viewing order would be nice.

I will add later the Glamour Slam to vault scenes, as for "Organized by Story" well I already did that, if you select the first 3 outfits you will have 3-4 dance(1-4) options but the slut outfit will have only 1(dance 4)

 

[rebirth095]

I will add later the Glamour Slam to vault scenes, as for "Organized by Story" well I already did that, if you select the first 3 outfits you will have 3-4 dance(1-4) options but the slut outfit will have only 1(dance 4)

True, I'm just thinking that there may be future content that either breaks that format or has more complicated formats to take advantage of different character backstories/relationships. Especially thinking about some of the Starfire/Blackfire or Supergirl/Powergirl content (or when the "event" content like the prison, costume party, etc gets added). So having a master "story" list could be a nice addition.

 

[Macfinn99]

Sooner or later, there is going to have to be some type of interaction with the Justice League to balance out the game. I've kinda resigned myself that SSR7 is going to keep playing "Gotta Catch Them All" with the original game and never get around to it.

There are several different ways to define storytelling. The one I use most often is: "Identify the Protagonist(s) and Antagonist(s) --> Define the Conflict --> Escalating Actions --> Conflict Resolution" Prologues and Epilogues are optional.

I've got a lot more hope that SU-Rebuilt or SU Re-Imagined will incorporate it into their versions. I see three main routes:
1.) Direct conflict with the League. Even though this is the most logical route, it's also the one that can get the most complicated, (aka: messy), due to the interpersonal relationships between the heroes, heroines, villainesses and villains.
2.) Alliance with the League against a Greater threat, ie: Darkseid, Anti-Monitor, Daleks, Berserkers, Alien/Dimensional Invasion.
3.) Use the Subversion devices against the male League to neutralize them. (You could even use this to start up a Beefcake Brothel. I bet Superwoman would love to be in charge of that, (alternately: a turned Lois Lane, Lana Lang or Hippolyta, I'm betting a lot of Luthors' bored Amazons would love to patronize the establishment not to mention Villainesses, . . .)

There's also a number of other conflicts that SSR7 hasn't used yet that could be inserted into Rebuilt or Re-Imagined. Grodd, Vandal Savage, A union of Gotham villains that fear a Luthor takeover, the Koch Brothers, Martha Stewart, etc.

While I'm on my high horse, . . . Can we please put Gotham back where it belongs across the river from Metropolis, . . .

 

[rebirth095]

Sooner or later, there is going to have to be some type of interaction with the Justice League to balance out the game. I've kinda resigned myself that SSR7 is going to keep playing "Gotta Catch Them All" with the original game and never get around to it.

There are several different ways to define storytelling. The one I use most often is: "Identify the Protagonist(s) and Antagonist(s) --> Define the Conflict --> Escalating Actions --> Conflict Resolution" Prologues and Epilogues are optional.

I've got a lot more hope that SU-Rebuilt or SU Re-Imagined will incorporate it into their versions. I see three main routes:
1.) Direct conflict with the League. Even though this is the most logical route, it's also the one that can get the most complicated, (aka: messy), due to the interpersonal relationships between the heroes, heroines, villainesses and villains.
2.) Alliance with the League against a Greater threat, ie: Darkseid, Anti-Monitor, Daleks, Berserkers, Alien/Dimensional Invasion.
3.) Use the Subversion devices against the male League to neutralize them. (You could even use this to start up a Beefcake Brothel. I bet Superwoman would love to be in charge of that, (alternately: a turned Lois Lane, Lana Lang or Hippolyta, I'm betting a lot of Luthors' bored Amazons would love to patronize the establishment not to mention Villainesses, . . .)

There's also a number of other conflicts that SSR7 hasn't used yet that could be inserted into Rebuilt or Re-Imagined. Grodd, Vandal Savage, A union of Gotham villains that fear a Luthor takeover, the Koch Brothers, Martha Stewart, etc.

While I'm on my high horse, . . . Can we please put Gotham back where it belongs across the river from Metropolis, . . .

My biggest gripe with the original SU is it's a bit unfocused.

Your/Lex's objective is making money off the Glam Slam/Meta Bordello... So why is the majority of the content focused on these 1on1 capture and enslavement scenes? From a gameplay AND story integration standpoint, shouldn't these work with each other? For example, in my mind the game should have a "corruption" and "skill" stat for each character. Each girl is assigned to the GlamSlam until they've been corrupted enough to be placed in the Meta Bordello (where that's the majority of the money). The 1on1s should be to be character specific bits of story that are about raising their corruption and skill and occur in ADDITION to their assignement, not in replacement of their assignment.

And that's where I think the storytelling can really come in. Each of these characters have a ton of lore and insecurities to draw upon, and there could be all sorts of ways to sluttify/bimbofy/etc each of these characters. Also, I would want ways to capture some more of the supervillains as well. It's kinda incredible to me that we've got two versions of Harley with developed scenes, while characters like Star Sapphire, Poison Ivy, and Talia are left for just random story events.

I know this is mainly me projecting my genderbend/feminization fetishes but I do think having additional gameplay that takes out male characters would add more to the game. You've got Ultrahumanite, a character whose backstories is literally body stealing. Imagine if instead of our current Galatea storyline, you got to implant Superman into that clone body and broke her? Or Mad Hatter's mind control and his Alice obsession. Hush and his surgical expertise. Heck, outside of genderbending content, the mind control aspect is surprisingly under played. Besides just getting them to take it in the ass, where's the corruption? Where's the breaking of their loyalty to the League or eroding their morals and sense of justice?

By not involving any male characters, you don't just lose story potential, you're missing out on a huge cast of characters and character interactions. A lot of the 1on1s just aren't that interesting because there's not much history to draw upon between Lex and those characters. Being a bit more critical, if not for the generally great artwork, most of those scenes don't have much going for them, and a lot of that is also due how the gameplay loop and story really aren't complete.

 

[Macfinn99]

My biggest gripe with the original SU is it's a bit unfocused.

Your/Lex's objective is making money off the Glam Slam/Meta Bordello... So why is the majority of the content focused on these 1on1 capture and enslavement scenes? From a gameplay AND story integration standpoint, shouldn't these work with each other? For example, in my mind the game should have a "corruption" and "skill" stat for each character. Each girl is assigned to the GlamSlam until they've been corrupted enough to be placed in the Meta Bordello (where that's the majority of the money). The 1on1s should be to be character specific bits of story that are about raising their corruption and skill and occur in ADDITION to their assignement, not in replacement of their assignment.

And that's where I think the storytelling can really come in. Each of these characters have a ton of lore and insecurities to draw upon, and there could be all sorts of ways to sluttify/bimbofy/etc each of these characters. Also, I would want ways to capture some more of the supervillains as well. It's kinda incredible to me that we've got two versions of Harley with developed scenes, while characters like Star Sapphire, Poison Ivy, and Talia are left for just random story events.

I know this is mainly me projecting my genderbend/feminization fetishes but I do think having additional gameplay that takes out male characters would add more to the game. You've got Ultrahumanite, a character whose backstories is literally body stealing. Imagine if instead of our current Galatea storyline, you got to implant Superman into that clone body and broke her? Or Mad Hatter's mind control and his Alice obsession. Hush and his surgical expertise. Heck, outside of genderbending content, the mind control aspect is surprisingly under played. Besides just getting them to take it in the ass, where's the corruption? Where's the breaking of their loyalty to the League or eroding their morals and sense of justice?

By not involving any male characters, you don't just lose story potential, you're missing out on a huge cast of characters and character interactions. A lot of the 1on1s just aren't that interesting because there's not much history to draw upon between Lex and those characters. Being a bit more critical, if not for the generally great artwork, most of those scenes don't have much going for them, and a lot of that is also due how the gameplay loop and story really aren't complete.

I'm so glad that you're stepping up and volunteering to help resolve this egregious situation. . . . Naw, I'm just pulling your chain. SU has more than just one problem and they've been pointed out and ignored by SSR7 for years.

Per the ProWritingAid's Expert Guide for storytelling, (applies to game development too), the elements of storytelling are: "There are seven elements of fiction that can be found in any story, regardless of the form the narrative takes. These elements are character, plot, setting, theme, point of view, conflict, and tone. All seven elements work together to create a coherent story."

You said that SU is a bit unfocused, this is a gross understatement. SU as a game and a story is incomplete. Admittedly, SSR7's artwork is fantastic and it is what has attracted his fanbase. However, there is no real plot, minor deadend conflicts with other villains and the tone is repetitive, ("Gotta Catch Them All"), to the point of being bland and ultimately boring.

What OhWee and xMendoza are doing with SU Re-Imagined and SU-Rebuilt is to ultimately add those missing elements and create a REAL game of it. That being said I was actually half serious about volunteering to help. OhWee and xMendoza are doing the vast majority of the work, (without remuneration I might add), and have repeatedly asked for assistance. I've added a little help, a few others have added more. Contact either of them and find out what you can do to help.

BTW, if you're interested in the gender reversal element, check out DCU Earth 11 or the legion of Lois Lanes in the new animated "My Adventures With Superman".

Hey OhWee, if you're finished using that yacht, howzabout anchoring it off of Themiscira as a floating Beefcake Brothel to service them Amazons? . . . (Death by Snu-Snu, . . . "We never thought we'd die that way, . . . we always hoped, but we never thought it wuld happen, . . ." ) (Channeling a bit of Futurama there, . . . )

 

[OhWee]

I'll get back to this someday, but I just want to note that people can release content for SU ReImagined (mainly girl pack related) at any time, you don't need me.

Since each girl has her own folder for her artwork and her .rpy file, these can be released independently. Sure, it helps to use the variables I set up for the rest of the game engine to see, but those are already in the .rpy files.

As an example, say that you wanted to have Lex and Kara go out on a date. Entering Kara's cell would be the 'entry trigger' but from there, you'd just put in a trigger 'if Kara_corruption > 12 and if KaraLex_date == False, jump lexkaradate' or some such, mainly you'd figure out at which point in Kara's cell prgression that you want the date to occur, to get Kara out of the cell, and then they can have their date wherever you want. Heck, you could even introduce new background art to 'set the mood'.

I've mentioned before that there's a bunch of cool vector art on freepik.com that can be 'repurposed' for use in ReImagined (with suitable citations of course).

vectorpouch did the background above (look him up on freepik.com), I overlaid the Giganta/WW art which I cropped from a screenshot. My point here is that you don't HAVE to be content with just recoding cell scenes, you can insert your own stories.

All that is required is to put a 'trigger' somewhere that invokes the scene, after which the scene itself can be whatever you want. Maybe Lex Luthor and Diana go to Themyscira so that Lex can Meet Diana's family, 'cuz Diana is now 'dating' lex (after being suitably corrupted). This wouldn't be canon, but this is the entire point of the 'moddability' angle.

I'm not a gatekeeper, I've been hoping that others would start working on girlpacks and coming up with their own content for a while now. I'm more than happy to give a few pointers on how to work within the framework, but I'm not stopping anyone from anything.

The SU ReImagined framework isn't complete yet, but it's far enough along that others can easily add new content without me.

---

On another note, while there are a couple more milestones for SU ReImagined that I'd like to accomplish in 2024, the fact is that I'm just not that interested iin SU anymore, as I have other projects I'd rather be doing right now. SU ReImagined was always supposed to be a team effort, but the fact that no one has made a serious effort to release anything for SU ReImagined in the meantime tells me that there isn't really a team right now. A bunch of people have said that they are interested, but it never gets past the 'might be interested' conversation.

I get that it's a bit intimidating to work with Ren'Py at first, but you don't learn if you don't try. And for some of the characters, a lot of the 'heavy lifting' has been done already (layeredimage, baseline variables, etc.) so it's actually not that hard.

Artwork is the major holdback. Which is why I'm wanting to do something else using Daz Studio. And why I've been clamoring for someone to step up as an 'art curator' that is willing to take the time to pick suitable artwork from the fanart thread, and after getting permission of course, using some of that artwork in SU ReImagined.

I'm just not that interested in working with SR7's sprites anymore, it's 100 times easier to just render characters in a bunch of costumes in Daz Studio, for me anyways, once the character models are decided upon. I have Daz Studio version of a few characters now that you've seen me share every so often. A lot of people are drawn to SU 'cuz of the Bruce Timm homage style that SR7 uses, I'm over it at this point.

And I'd rather just do an 'inspired by' game of my own at this point.

I still think it'd be awesome if xMendoza would 'embrace' what I've done so far in Re-Imagined, and build on that, but he has his own vision of what a remake of SU should look like, so that ship has sailed I guess...

I will be spending a bunch of time this month doing backups of my SSDs and getting my dedicated rendering rig running, and I might dabble a bit with ReImagined, but at this time I'm mainly just waiting for others to 'run with what we have now' for ReImagined. It's time for others to step up and move the project forward.

Just be aware that I accomplished most of my goals coding wise for SU ReImagined already, it's time for others to run with what I've started. I'll still help out, but this isn't a priority for me.

It would have been nice to see Gunmoke & SR7 reach out and work with one of us to help port SU over to Ren'Py, but they have their own guy and have never contacted me here. I have no desire to be a Discord lackey, or Patreon supporter, I give back in other ways, and they just don't care all that much about the F95Zone community. Other developers are more supportive of my efforts when I decide to play in other people's sandboxes, and that is not lost on me.

SU ReImagined isn't dead, and I'll still piddle around with it, but until others here are willing to build on what has been started, yeah not a priority for me. There's a bunch of other stuff that interests me more atm.

I know that this isn't what a lot of you want to hear, but until it's a team effort again...

Also, if I ever want to monetize my creative efforts, well this isn't the project that I can do that with. Too many copyright headaches, and I'd rather do something a bit more unique/less in someone else's IP at this point. Steamboat Willie is now public domain, as long as you don't call him Mickey... J/K!


Just wanted to state my current take on the situation,
OhWee

 

[xMendoza]

I'm not very good with words and I'm not a great talker, that's the main reason why my answers are always short. So first about ReImagined there are 3 reason why i decide to work on rebuild 2 and not on ReImagined.
1 - The concept may look good, but a project that will depend on several people working together is very difficult to achieve. Why?... because: some people will have different points of view, maybe some people will add things that might break other people's work, maybe some people will say they will do something, but in the end they won't do it, etc. This is very difficult to achieve because you will need a leader to assign tasks to people for this work and not everyone will listen .... after all is a free project and they can just say they will not help anymore.
So yeah this is very hard to accomplish.
2 - I'm the type that likes the idea that a rebuild/remake should improve the game but never change the soul/core of that game. Like Gothic 1 Remake I want this game to be like the original but better (graphics, better mechanics, new quest. But I still want the old music, enemies and story to be the same as in the old one)
3 - The idea to add new girls,events or new storys is...... is......quite /very hard to do, because you will need someone to help you make new scenes (if that girl has 3-4 outfits it will be even harder),then a good writer and maybe a good storyteller to help you with the story then you have to spend your time adding all those things to the game.

OhWee you did an amazing work so far don't give up on what you are doing.
So about if I'll join ReImagined, well yes later after I'll add most cells in rebuild 2 I can do that in ReImagined too.

As for people that want to help me.
What I need are:- people that can help me with bug testing when I post a new update
-people that can help me to make the icons for vault scenes
-people that can help me to fix the grammatical mistake from the game
And abouth story, if I'll change the story in rebuild 2. Well the answer for now is no, I do want to make the story to have more logic but for now I need to finish the cell scenes.(and I don't want to change the core of this game)
(like the Joker ending thx again rebirth095 for you help in making that ending) - this small ending adds some stake in the game that some action will have consequence i will add more small ending like this here and there (maybe one for lois if you don't catch her in time)

Well this is all
with respect xMendoza

 

[rebirth095]

What OhWee and xMendoza are doing with SU Re-Imagined and SU-Rebuilt is to ultimately add those missing elements and create a REAL game of it. That being said I was actually half serious about volunteering to help. OhWee and xMendoza are doing the vast majority of the work, (without remuneration I might add), and have repeatedly asked for assistance. I've added a little help, a few others have added more. Contact either of them and find out what you can do to help.

If someone had a list of scenes they needed/wanted filled in (like with the request for the bad ending), I'd be willing to write up new scenes and text. But if I'm being honest, the original Something Unlimited's framing makes for some really repetitive scenes. Having Lex be the protagonist narrows the types of interactions between characters, and if I were personally making a DC themed X-rated game, I think there would be a lot I'd fundamentally change/take in a different direction. Obviously, the original devs were making the game they wanted, but I think it's also a bit obvious they were mainly interested in doing erotica involving certain few characters and a lot of the other heroine options are purely there because they're kind of "expected" to be there.

To really sum up my personal feelings, I'm just not that interested in Lex Luthor sex scenes outside of how it relates to the Superman cast. Sure, the artwork is a massive draw, but I can't say having Lex bang Starfire (for example) was ever on my "ooh, that would be a hot scenario" check list, .

...the fact is that I'm just not that interested iin SU anymore, as I have other projects I'd rather be doing right now. SU ReImagined was always supposed to be a team effort, but the fact that no one has made a serious effort to release anything for SU ReImagined in the meantime tells me that there isn't really a team right now. A bunch of people have said that they are interested, but it never gets past the 'might be interested' conversation.

I've only just recently stumbled on these remake projects, and frankly, a big part of why I hesitated to straight up volunteer or just make something and share is because like you, SU has lost a lot of intrigue for me. Really early on, I was just waiting for Zatanna content (but also Huntress and Black Canary, considering they're literally the starting heroines). Then, we started getting more and more Teen Titans characters and Young Justice Characters (and getting story content for them) before the original 9 were even "mostly" in the game. When I finally got the Zatanna content, outside of decent artwork, I was pretty underwhelmed in how it felt a bit phoned in. As I mention above, almost purely out of respect for the work you and xMendoza have done, I'm actually totally willing to help write scenes if people have certain scenes in mind. But because of the overall narrative of SU, I don't have much of a creative drive to proactively add new girls personally. Like, would I love to see Star Sapphire, Stephanie Brown, or Mera content? 100%. And in my own Twine game experiments and writing, I've written erotica for those characters. But I can't say the idea of writing scenes of Lex stuff feels that appealing.

And abouth story, if I'll change the story in rebuild 2. Well the answer for now is no, I do want to make the story to have more logic but for now I need to finish the cell scenes.(and I don't want to change the core of this game)

Just wanted to be clear: when I was talking about what I would personally change about the story, I didn't want to imply that I think you or OhWee should/need to make story changes. Was just theorycrafting about my preferred direction. I honestly appreciate both of your guys's efforts because even though I don't personally like the design of SU, both of your remakes are a HUGE improvement over the original in terms of quality of life, and accesibility.

But the TLDR: Overall, especially if it would help either of you two, I'd be happy to write some scenes. But I'd have a hard time getting motivated wanting to add my own content due to the overall direction of SU.

 

[OhWee]

rebirth095

While I can't speak for xMendoza's efforts, which are intended to stay a bit more 'true' to the path, yeah I have some ideas on where to 'take' the basic premise/storyline of SU. As you've noted, the SU storyline doesn't really 'go' anywhere. Yeah sure new locations have been tacked on for Lex to visit, such as Themyscira and I have no idea about Gotham as I stopped playing SU just before Gotham dropped, but those seem more like afterthoughts/wouldn't it be cool if' additions that are chasing SR7's artistic whims.

As I've mentioned before, I DO have a backstory in mind that IMHO better explains why Lex is doing what he's doing. I do want it to be something 'new' and not just a rehash of some event in the DC canon. Darksieid invading Earth has been done a bajillion times a bajillion different ways, and there's no real 'mystery' there anymore. Sure, you can change things up a bit, but in my mind there's some new player in town (from the Universe perspective at least) that brings about the current situation, and why Lex is doing what he's doing.

Indigo/Braniac 8(?) is intended to be the harbinger of sorts that appraises Lex of the true nature of the situation, as she's perceived it anyways, and is also there for sexy fun time of course! 'Cuz this IS a porn game after all!

But back on topic, yeah I was just pondering Lois and Diana's relationship today as it relates to Clark and Lex, and have some ideas there... the last few WB DCAU movies have really been leaning into Diana and Clark being lovers, and I see some potential there...

In any case, yeah this is just one angle I've considered as it relates to SU ReImagined. My main holdback here is that we really need a team of sprite re-mixers/artists that can create new artwork for any new scenes that SU ReImagined writers may come up with. This is why I keep suggesting that someone take on the mantle of 'Art Curator'. This person would scan the Fanart thread regularly and catalogue usable art, and then if it fits one of the storylines that interests a writer, that can be worked into the overall narrative, the Art Curator would simply point the writer to the artwork in question, and/or maybe put a request in the Fanart thread for additional art along those lines.

I'm not expecting the Art Curator to actually make any artwork (they are free to do so of course) or do any of the Ren'Py coding for associated scenes being created, their job would simply be to watch the Sprite Remix thread for interesting artwork, make inquiries/suggestions in said thread as needed, and help writers find the fan artwork that they are looking for.

The next update of ReImagined will show off my ideas r.e. the alternate backstory that I have in mind, and will start to introduce a few new roles inside of Lex's organization. Understand that on Earth 69, Lex is a different man than other Lex Luthors that we've watched and read about, and I want to lean into that.

I don't think of Lex as a mustache twirling villain in this situation. Sure, he can be ruthless in his business dealings, and has had his hand slapped a few times by the authorities for crossing a few lines, but the alternate backstory is a crucible of sorts that will test Lex's abilities as he comes up with a solution to the current problem, and while he's not becoming 'good' (although good Lex the rebel does intrigue me, he's been shown a few times in DC lore), well he has a new outlook on life after having a near death experience...

But that's why it's an alternate backstory, and why I keep saying that others can use ReImagined to come up with their own backstory ideas, as well as story ideas, as different people have different ideas that they might want to explore.

So yeah, if you are interested in exploring this further, we can discuss. I'd like to maintain a bit of mystery though so that cool plot twists aren't spoiled for others that stumble across ReImagined later on, so yeah such things are best discussed in PMs.

Hope this helps!
OhWee

 

[rebirth095]

rebirth095

While I can't speak for xMendoza's efforts, which are intended to stay a bit more 'true' to the path, yeah I have some ideas on where to 'take' the basic premise/storyline of SU. As you've noted, the SU storyline doesn't really 'go' anywhere. Yeah sure new locations have been tacked on for Lex to visit, such as Themyscira and I have no idea about Gotham as I stopped playing SU just before Gotham dropped, but those seem more like afterthoughts/wouldn't it be cool if' additions that are chasing SR7's artistic whims.

As I've mentioned before, I DO have a backstory in mind that IMHO better explains why Lex is doing what he's doing. I do want it to be something 'new' and not just a rehash of some event in the DC canon. Darksieid invading Earth has been done a bajillion times a bajillion different ways, and there's no real 'mystery' there anymore. Sure, you can change things up a bit, but in my mind there's some new player in town (from the Universe perspective at least) that brings about the current situation, and why Lex is doing what he's doing.

Indigo/Braniac 8(?) is intended to be the harbinger of sorts that appraises Lex of the true nature of the situation, as she's perceived it anyways, and is also there for sexy fun time of course! 'Cuz this IS a porn game after all!

But back on topic, yeah I was just pondering Lois and Diana's relationship today as it relates to Clark and Lex, and have some ideas there... the last few WB DCAU movies have really been leaning into Diana and Clark being lovers, and I see some potential there...

In any case, yeah this is just one angle I've considered as it relates to SU ReImagined. My main holdback here is that we really need a team of sprite re-mixers/artists that can create new artwork for any new scenes that SU ReImagined writers may come up with. This is why I keep suggesting that someone take on the mantle of 'Art Curator'. This person would scan the Fanart thread regularly and catalogue usable art, and then if it fits one of the storylines that interests a writer, that can be worked into the overall narrative, the Art Curator would simply point the writer to the artwork in question, and/or maybe put a request in the Fanart thread for additional art along those lines.

I'm not expecting the Art Curator to actually make any artwork (they are free to do so of course) or do any of the Ren'Py coding for associated scenes being created, their job would simply be to watch the Sprite Remix thread for interesting artwork, make inquiries/suggestions in said thread as needed, and help writers find the fan artwork that they are looking for.

The next update of ReImagined will show off my ideas r.e. the alternate backstory that I have in mind, and will start to introduce a few new roles inside of Lex's organization. Understand that on Earth 69, Lex is a different man than other Lex Luthors that we've watched and read about, and I want to lean into that.

I don't think of Lex as a mustache twirling villain in this situation. Sure, he can be ruthless in his business dealings, and has had his hand slapped a few times by the authorities for crossing a few lines, but the alternate backstory is a crucible of sorts that will test Lex's abilities as he comes up with a solution to the current problem, and while he's not becoming 'good' (although good Lex the rebel does intrigue me, he's been shown a few times in DC lore), well he has a new outlook on life after having a near death experience...

But that's why it's an alternate backstory, and why I keep saying that others can use ReImagined to come up with their own backstory ideas, as well as story ideas, as different people have different ideas that they might want to explore.

So yeah, if you are interested in exploring this further, we can discuss. I'd like to maintain a bit of mystery though so that cool plot twists aren't spoiled for others that stumble across ReImagined later on, so yeah such things are best discussed in PMs.

Hope this helps!
OhWee

We can take more specific story points to DMs to avoid spoilers, if there's plot idea's you'd like to troubleshoot/bounce off with someone.

When it comes to Lex Luthor, the key traits I always associate with him is resentment. It's why I really like the idea of him being physically fit (was so annoyed by the Jesse Eisenberg casting) and how he describes himself in All-Star Superman: He truly believes he's earned everything he's gotten in terms of intelligence, fortune, and body. As such, Superman as a concept insults him because in his mind, this is an entity that surpasses him without any of the work. But simultaneously, I think there's an overestimation of himself that's key. During the storyline where Superman walks the Earth for a year, so is "missing" from the world, Superman confronts Lex after returning, and hits him with a "What have you accomplished while I've been gone?" Because for all of Lex's rhetoric that "if not for me wasting time on dealing with Superman, I could accomplish great things and have saved humanity myself", that's really just a lie he tells himself. Because at the end of the day, Lex didn't get where he is truly "by himself".

Regarding Diana/Clark, I think it's kind of funny as after the pairing grew in popularity after Dark Knight Strikes Again, it feels like writers started criticizing the pairing a bit more recently. Injustice in particular comes to mind, as WW is almost treated as a bad influence (I'd argue, a lot of this also stems from the fact that in the last decade or two, WW has slowly started being written as the member of the Trinity that's ok with killing, putting her more at odds with Clark). That said, especially in a porn game, I am more than happy to explore more pairings/scenarios as that's something I really do find missing in SU. I mean, we're gonna do a porn game set in the DC universe, but not have all three Batgirls in an orgy? Or the male Robins triple penetrating Steph (the one female Robin)? Or threesome as Starfire and Barbara fight over Nightwing's cock? Threesome between Aquaman, Mera and her evil twin sister where the player has to figure out which is the real Mera? So many possibilities

I totally get your point about the art being the limiting factor. That's mainly why for my pet project, I was more text focused and was making a Twine game. So when I was writing a chapter of a story arc where after a blood infusion, Barbara started transforming into Starfire, I was able to do some photoshop work to make an illustration just to flavor what's really a text based story. As you pointed out, for a visual novel, not only do you need the images for the scene itself, but if you want to preserve continuinty, you need images for the characters modified appropriately for that scene for the dialogue (at least for the way SU presents itself currently).

I've not tried it, but I wonder if any of the AI art generators do a decent job with the Bruce Timm's style (or even just something adjacent)? Because, I think having to write around art does make the process less exciting, creatively (imo). So if there was a way to at least get some of those scenes that way, even if the character spirtes aren't doable, that could at least fill in some gaps.

 

[Macfinn99]

We can take more specific story points to DMs to avoid spoilers, if there's plot idea's you'd like to troubleshoot/bounce off with someone.

When it comes to Lex Luthor, the key traits I always associate with him is resentment. It's why I really like the idea of him being physically fit (was so annoyed by the Jesse Eisenberg casting) and how he describes himself in All-Star Superman: He truly believes he's earned everything he's gotten in terms of intelligence, fortune, and body. As such, Superman as a concept insults him because in his mind, this is an entity that surpasses him without any of the work. But simultaneously, I think there's an overestimation of himself that's key. During the storyline where Superman walks the Earth for a year, so is "missing" from the world, Superman confronts Lex after returning, and hits him with a "What have you accomplished while I've been gone?" Because for all of Lex's rhetoric that "if not for me wasting time on dealing with Superman, I could accomplish great things and have saved humanity myself", that's really just a lie he tells himself. Because at the end of the day, Lex didn't get where he is truly "by himself".

Regarding Diana/Clark, I think it's kind of funny as after the pairing grew in popularity after Dark Knight Strikes Again, it feels like writers started criticizing the pairing a bit more recently. Injustice in particular comes to mind, as WW is almost treated as a bad influence (I'd argue, a lot of this also stems from the fact that in the last decade or two, WW has slowly started being written as the member of the Trinity that's ok with killing, putting her more at odds with Clark). That said, especially in a porn game, I am more than happy to explore more pairings/scenarios as that's something I really do find missing in SU. I mean, we're gonna do a porn game set in the DC universe, but not have all three Batgirls in an orgy? Or the male Robins triple penetrating Steph (the one female Robin)? Or threesome as Starfire and Barbara fight over Nightwing's cock? Threesome between Aquaman, Mera and her evil twin sister where the player has to figure out which is the real Mera? So many possibilities

I totally get your point about the art being the limiting factor. That's mainly why for my pet project, I was more text focused and was making a Twine game. So when I was writing a chapter of a story arc where after a blood infusion, Barbara started transforming into Starfire, I was able to do some photoshop work to make an illustration just to flavor what's really a text based story. As you pointed out, for a visual novel, not only do you need the images for the scene itself, but if you want to preserve continuinty, you need images for the characters modified appropriately for that scene for the dialogue (at least for the way SU presents itself currently).

I've not tried it, but I wonder if any of the AI art generators do a decent job with the Bruce Timm's style (or even just something adjacent)? Because, I think having to write around art does make the process less exciting, creatively (imo). So if there was a way to at least get some of those scenes that way, even if the character spirtes aren't doable, that could at least fill in some gaps.

Before you can start inserting any love interests into the game, tou really need to have some artwork to play with. The only male heroes that have made an appearance so far are: Batman, The Question and Wally West, (The Flash - Not Barry Allen). ( No, I'm not going to include Harvey Bullock, . . . that would be disgusting, . . . ).

To start, you would need to have at least new sprites for Superman, Green Lantern, (John Stewart and Hal Jordan), Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow and Aquaman plus a sprite for their secret identities. If you expand to the JLU and Teen Titans/ Young Justice, you would need a helluva lot more artwork. Just ask OhWee about how much fun it is to drag out a couple of new artwork pieces from the fanbase for new projects much less about a hundred or so, . . .

Getting away from all of the villain/hero personal and sexual interactions, you still need to establish some type of conflict(s) to be able to move the plot along. I'm hoping that any new revisions will break up the SU game into a series of chapters each featuring a rising series of conflict. I proposed some time ago that the easiest one to initially construct was to expand the existing one with Grodd. A number of the artwork pieces already exist to be able to construct a plot structure around a rival group of supervillains under Grodd, (see attached). Artwork for two of the proposed villainesses, (Roxy Rocket and RedClaw), have since been added by SSR7 to the base SU game.

 

[rebirth095]

Before you can start inserting any love interests into the game, tou really need to have some artwork to play with. The only male heroes that have made an appearance so far are: Batman, The Question and Wally West, (The Flash - Not Barry Allen). ( No, I'm not going to include Harvey Bullock, . . . that would be disgusting, . . . ).

To start, you would need to have at least new sprites for Superman, Green Lantern, (John Stewart and Hal Jordan), Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow and Aquaman plus a sprite for their secret identities. If you expand to the JLU and Teen Titans/ Young Justice, you would need a helluva lot more artwork. Just ask OhWee about how much fun it is to drag out a couple of new artwork pieces from the fanbase for new projects much less about a hundred or so, . . .

Getting away from all of the villain/hero personal and sexual interactions, you still need to establish some type of conflict(s) to be able to move the plot along. I'm hoping that any new revisions will break up the SU game into a series of chapters each featuring a rising series of conflict. I proposed some time ago that the easiest one to initially construct was to expand the existing one with Grodd. A number of the artwork pieces already exist to be able to construct a plot structure around a rival group of supervillains under Grodd, (see attached). Artwork for two of the proposed villainesses, (Roxy Rocket and RedClaw), have since been added by SSR7 to the base SU game.

View attachment 3250265

Frankly, unless there's someone that is willing to commit to do artwork the way SSR7 does for Gunsmoke Games, I don't think trying to match the art direction of what has been done is a viable option. Gunsmoke can take a storyline or set of scenes from beginning to end and ensure that there's artwork for all of that. Unless there's an artist that is willing to do that for a mod, scraping together fanart won't be able to match that.

Just as important as plot, I think it needs to be decided what kind of game is trying to be made. If we're talking about porn first and foremost, and that there's no loss condition: that's fine. But that's different than trying to make a game where there's a gameplay loop with a loss condition. That's related and tied into how much of the gameplay and story are segregated. If you want to write a story where there's increasing conflicts with other supervillains, from a gameplay standpoint, that needs to be tied into your core gameplay loop.

There's quite a few ways to handle this. If you still want to keep the core loop around enslaving superheroines, with the end goal of effectively taking out the Justice League: The simplest progression would be to have Lex work his way through different "tiers" of heros/villains. And it would help with the coherency of the plot as well (seriously, why the hell is Lex in Metropolis, and the first pick up is Batgirl, Huntress, or Black Canary?)

Just theory crafting:

Imagine if you start instead in Gotham, working your way through enslaving the various Batgirls, Birds of Prey, and even some of the Gotham City Sirens. Along the way, you take out/corrupt various Robins, other Batfamily until the "chapter boss" of taking out Batman.

Maybe this opens some branching threats: Capturing the Birds of Prey puts Green Arrow on your ass, while dealing with Batman has Zatanna and thus the Magic side of things gunning for you. So you have to shore up your resources to address those problems. This could even be where alternative resources open up. You start whoring out your captures to the magic side of things for a "magic" currency that you can use to develop certain tech to help you. Again, culminating with a "chapter boss" for those respective sides.

With some more magic on your side, you can start dealing with more of the heroes/villains with powers. Or the powers you're messing with draws the attention of more cosmic entities like the Green Lantern Corps or exotic powers like Themescera or Atlantis.

All the while, as you start bringing in resources under your belt, you have more ways of corrupting/using your capture targets (joker venom, mad hatter's mind control, various forms of kryptonite, wearing a star sapphire ring, etc). Now, this is a pipe dream to have such a storyline while having enough artwork to support it using the model of the original SU where everything is illustrated. I'm not advocating/demanding/requesting that someone "step up" to provide that kind of artwork. I'm only pointing out that from a gameplay standpoint, if I take a step back and brainstorm directions I think would have been more coherent, I'd have suggested focusing the game in the above direction, rather than the current direction with this obsession of redrawing the same scenes, just with a different outfit.

I think we all can agree, the original Something Unlimited is a mess across the board. There's no meaningful gameplay loop, and the gameplay contradicts itself in its objectives (again, from a gameplay standpoint: the only gameplay loop is you need to make money, but you're gonna bring all of the girls into your private harem where they aren't making money...?). It's pretty vanilla when it comes to sex and outside of decent artwork is pretty basic as a porn game. The writing isn't particularly great, and there's basically no meaningful plot. As a game, it's also buggy as hell, takes forever to replay through after each patch and seems to be hard to code for because of an unwillingness to bite the bullet and rebuild it in a smarter way.

These reimagined projects do a great job in fixing some of those major issues, which is by switching to Renpy and coding it smartly, content is much easier to add and presumably troubleshoot. I just don't think it would be sustainable to try to match the amount of sprites Gunsmoke was using in their scenes for any new content. The fan art can be mined to fill in as many blanks as possible (and be used to outline or be the deciding factor when choosing between two equally viable story directions), but it seems more trouble than it's worth to try to replicate Gunsmoke's direction (especially with having Alt costumes).

That's why, in my mind: rather than getting stuck waiting/hoping for artwork, I think it would more productive to figure out what the gameplay loop is, how that ties into the story, and what scenes compose each of those story beats. You can flesh out the details or expand content within that loop or within each chapter after the fact, but if you don't have your framework for gameplay down, or have an outline for the story, you're never gonna get anywhere. Just look at Something Unlimited: It's been years and it's just meandered around, propped up only by its artwork and teasing more scenes with XYZ character.

 

[OhWee]

Y'all are coming up with some good ideas. I'm still distracted with my Space Journey X mod, I keep finding other things to tweak, but I'll get back to this soon.

I missed an opportunity to pick up an 18TB external HDD locally for backup purposes this week (went out of stock at the local store before I was ready to make the trip to grab it), but I'm scanning other options daily. The prices have jumped a bit thanks to demand, so I'm looking for a deal I can live with. I want to back up a bunch of stuff before I get my dedicated rendering rig up and running as far as the software I still need to install, and getting Daz Studio working again will be a bit tricky, so I still have a few things to do first. Dedicated Rendering Rig is otherwise ready to go (it boots, just need to install an OS, etc).

 

[OhWee]

OK, so I have my Space Journey X Gameplay Mod more or less where I want it for now, and at this point I think most of us that are interested in that game look forward to yv0751 getting back to said project soon (fingers crossed). There's a couple more things that I want to do gameplay mod wise, but my muse is telling me to shift gears, so I just dragged a bunch of SU ReImagined stuff onto my new laptop's drive and am easing back into things.

In any case, for those of you that expressed interest in helping out (again) with SU ReImagined, now might be a good time to start PMing me about ideas, stuff you've been working on, etc..

I'm focused on that 'special mission' thing that I talked about a few months back. For now, I'm just going to put in placeholder art until someone decides to tackle the character sprites that I need.

My goal is to tackle a few more things and hopefully get some interest from others r.e. girlpack stuff, i.e. transcribing and enhancing scenes, that sort of thing.

Note that I have a code example in SU ReImagined currently that shows how you can make the SU Unity animations work in Ren'Py without a whole lot of work, in case that might interest anyone that is interested in tackling such things.

SU ReImagined is designed in such a way that other people can contribute at their own pace, essentially pick your favorite character and work on getting content added for said character, while I focus on more 'backbone' related stuff. My next goal is to get the Meta Bordello working, which I could use a bit of help on as it relates to coding each gal's MB scenes. I'll be setting up the code to check the relevant girl's .rpy file for scenes related to the activity in question (Bordello/Private/Playpen), with a generic 'scene not currently available' if the associated label hasn't been coded yet for that gal.

I may tackle a couple of gals for example purposes, but again the goal here is for others to tackle a lot of this stuff. Also note that I have other projects that I want to tackle this year, so my desire is to get others onboard to tackle such things.

NOTE that this doesn't limit people wanting to contribute to JUST existing scene content. New content is also welcome, as long as we can work it in to the existing framework. A lot of people want to see the existing content too, so that's a bit more of a priority, but yeah some people want fresh content too!

People have been playing the original SU Unity for around a decade now, so while seeing the existing stuff in SU ReImagined is all well and good, well part of the point is to give them new stuff to experience as well! There's some interesting fan fiction in the SU Sprite Re-Mix/Fanart thread, and it might be fun to see some of that fan fiction incorporated into SU ReImagined in some form!

Anyways, yeah my role here is mainly head cheerleader, as well as the backbone guy, so hopefully I can inspire a few of y'all to contribute to the effort!

That's it for now. Back to it!
OhWee

 

[OhWee]

OK, so while I'm getting back up to speed with SU ReImagined (I've adjusted a bit of code already, seeing some things that should be addressed at some point involving scene fades)...

I just wanted to make a couple of notes for those that have or want to contribute to this effort.

From my perspective, I'm perfectly fine with people working at their own pace, and chipping away at things a tiny bit at a time. I get that, say, transcribing and setting up all of Miss Martian's scenes as an example looks intimidating, but you don't have to tackle it all at once. Tackling such things in small bites is perfectly fine, and I don't mind incorporating small updates (say one scene at a time) into the 'master build', although you can of course just share your efforts on your own. .rpy files are tiny, so you can just share them here in this thread. Sprite art is a bit more involved, but again, small steps.

Of course, setting up a layeredimage for each gal is a more involved process, but that's something that can be tackled as needed. Long term, layeredimage is a LOT more flexible, so it's worth spending the time at the beginning to get it right. Some characters have layeredimage set up already, so helping add content for said characters isn't a bad place to start.

As I've been replaying through the intros and intiial scenes, I do want to note that I think some of those scenes could use a bit of retooling dialogue wise. The SU Unity dialogue is fine, but if someone wanted to be a bit more creative, just noting that I'm personally not opposed to such things. This goes back to my comments about making things new and fresh so that it's more interesting to SU Unity veterans that have clicked past said dialogue a bajillion times...

I had a fun idea involving capture scenes, where there could be a checkbox added that would enable extended capture scenes (if such scenes have been coded/exist), essentially a cutscene that pops up during the overnight transition, where you see the villain(ess) gal setting up the capture attempt, and her intended target, with some appropriate background (say Batgirl hanging out outside of Wayne Enterprises or some such). This could be a fun place for people that want to get their creative muse on to show off!

Anyways, yeah I just wanted to make it clear that IMHO baby steps are perfectly fine, and I don't mind helping out via PMs for people that are getting their feet wet in Ren'Py for the first time, or that just need a few clarifications r.e. how to set things up so that the game backbone gets the information that it needs.

I'm the 'head cheerleader' aroiund here, and I'm more than happy to help cheer other people on and help out a bit here and there!

Kelby and Mitzi (gals in my forum avatar) have much better looking legs though!

 

[OhWee]

Just a quick progress report on my efforts r.e. SU ReImagined.

The new 'special mission' is working in my test build more or less as I intended, I just need to finish writing the associated scenes that relate to this mission. I also will be using some placeholder artwork for now, for the new characters that are being introduced.

I've already fixed a couple of other minor things, taking a 5 month break helped me get a new perspective on some stuff, and the plan is to release a new build soon.

Note that there's a LOT of SU Unity content that still needs to be set up and transcribed for various characters, so hopefully my efforts will inspire others to (again) contribute as well to SU ReImagined. We have the extracted dialogue and sprites from SU Unity already, it's just a matter of converting things over to the SU ReImagined framework...

Anyways, yeah slowly plugging away!

 

[OhWee]

OK, I'm looking for a few brave betatesters to test SU ReImagined V0.28.

There are two major additions.

- A new "Injustice: Unyielding" alternate backstory intro. (Consider this a first draft...)
- A new special mission that involves Cheetah. This mission request will show up on the fourth (possibly later) time that you Hire Cheetah, IF Harley has joined Lex's ranks as a Consort. Note that some of the sprites are 'placeholders' for now (no fancy gesture/expression swapping), as my goal is simply to show off how special missions are set up and how they function.

There a number of other minor fixes as well, nothing fancy.

PC and Mac versions, no Android (I don't have Android skills, or Android devices to test on in any case).

Mega Links (changed to Version 0.28.1):
PC:

You must be registered to see the links

Mac:

You must be registered to see the links

Hopefully this inspires others to tackle girlpack stuff again! My focus remains on getting the rest of the backbone in place in the meantime...


As usual, feedback is always appreciated!


Edit: found a couple of issues, but you shouldn't see them until after the special mission. Also, apparently I added Stripperella a few months back, but she's not fully implemented yet so don't try to assign her to any slots yet... A fix is coming for the other issues, but I need to do some other things/run errands. You can use Ren'Py console (shift + o) in the meantime after the special missiion to set Mercy and Harley's outfits back to 0, i.e.
Harley_current_outfit = 0
Harley_head = "mask"
Mercy_current_outfit = 0

There's another issue with Mercy getting added to Lvl 3 henchmen, but that's a more involved fix so save before you upgrade the Legion Hideout to Level 3...

Edit 2:

Links updated to 0.28.1. Stripperella now has options...

 

[Macfinn99]

OK, I'm looking for a few brave betatesters to test SU ReImagined V0.28.

There are two major additions.

- A new "Injustice: Unyielding" alternate backstory intro. (Consider this a first draft...)
- A new special mission that involves Cheetah. This mission request will show up on the fourth (possibly later) time that you Hire Cheetah, IF Harley has joined Lex's ranks as a Consort. Note that some of the sprites are 'placeholders' for now (no fancy gesture/expression swapping), as my goal is simply to show off how special missions are set up and how they function.

There a number of other minor fixes as well, nothing fancy.

PC and Mac versions, no Android (I don't have Android skills, or Android devices to test on in any case).

Mega Links:
PC:

You must be registered to see the links

Mac:

You must be registered to see the links

Hopefully this inspires others to tackle girlpack stuff again! My focus remains on getting the rest of the backbone in place in the meantime...


As usual, feedback is always appreciated!


Edit: found a couple of issues, but you shouldn't see them until after the special mission. Also, apparently I added Stripperella a few months back, but she's not fully implemented yet so don't try to assign her to any slots yet... A fix is coming for the other issues, but I need to do some other things/run errands. You can use Ren'Py console (shift + o) in the meantime after the special missiion to set Mercy and Harley's outfits back to 0, i.e.
Harley_current_outfit = 0
Harley_head = "mask"
Mercy_current_outfit = 0

There's another issue with Mercy getting added to Lvl 3 henchmen, but that's a more involved fix so save before you upgrade the Legion Hideout to Level 3...

Is it recommended that you start a new game?

 

[OhWee]

Is it recommended that you start a new game?

It would be helpful, yes.

 

[OhWee]

I was going to upload a patch for V0.28, but I decided to tackle something else instead.

OK, so about Stripperella...



So I figured out how Managers are going to work. Note that in the lower left corner, the 'current Glamour Slam Level' icon has been removed, as the Glamour Slam is now fully upgraded. This has been done to make room for the new 'Manager' slot, which Stripperella is currently in.

This also relates to having Villainesses work in the Glamour Slam (and Meta Bordello maybe). By default, Villainesses won't do this, but the idea will be that once Lex has fully corrupted them (i.e. banged them a few times), you will be able to have them work in the GS or MB if you so choose. I haven't set this up yet, but this relates to their device level, or more specifically lack thereof.

Gals that are assigned a device level of -2 and that are currently considered 'stripteasers' or 'sexworkers' will be able to work at the Glamour Slam or Meta Bordello. This relates to Stripperella, who despite being a 'good gal' is now working for Lex willingly, and has a Device Level of -2. In interface terms, what this will do is replace the 'device' icon in the lower right corner of her profile pic with a 'sexworker' icon, like so:



Note the GS on top of the icon. This indicates that Stripperella will only work at the Glamour Slam, but currently not at the Meta Bordello. Note that this could change if Lex can convince her to do the sexworker thing instead of just the stripteaser thing, but for now Stripperella is only willing to do the Striptease thing.

Note the + 20 to income next to her icon in the lower left corner of the screen - this should be +15 but Ren'py is being annoying atm and I already uploaded this screenshot so bear with me.

Essentially, if any gal is assigned as a manager (i.e. Erotica Jones, Exotica Jones, some Villainess...), there is a nightly income bonus of 5% plus her manager bonus. In this case, Stripperella/Erotica has +10 manager bonus, so if she's working as a manager, yeah +15% to Glamour Slam income.

Stripperella could also be assigned to dancing/stripping/eroplay instead of the Manager slot, but then of course her manager bonus won't be added to the nightly income bonus.

Right now we don't have any dancing/stripping/eroplay sprites for Stripperella, so no joy there, but you get the idea.

The next thing I want to do is add some 'regular' performers to 'fill in' at the Glamour Slam when most/all of the available Heroines, etc. are busy elsewhere, so that the Glamour Slam isn't a ghost town when this happens. Regular performers won't make as much money, but they also won't add to the threat level when they are performing...

In any case, for now my goal is to finish adding some backend stuff so that Stripperella is more or less functional for now. Eventually some quarters at Lexcorp or perhaps a way for Lex to visit with her elsewhere will need to be arranged, but for now she's living 'offsite' somewhere in Metropolis 69, and will be available for crimefighting, similar to the other Heroines, as well as working at the Glamour Slam...

So yeah, since I'm changing a few things under the hood here, I may just upload a full version of SU ReImagined again (V0.28.1) as this is a pretty significant change, along with the other stuff I've fixed (discussed in the V0.28 post above).

It'll be a bit before the next version is ready, so be patient. Still looking for feedback on 0.28 in the meantime.

If you encounter an error while playtesting V0.28 use rollback and save just before the error pops up, your save should be 'good' once you update to V0.28.1.

Back to it!