VN - Ren'Py - Repopulation: The Returning of John [v1.0.0 Day 3] [imKdev]

adding a map to fast travel is the only thing i think it needs. file size its a bit large but if it has a gofile link to download it fine . theres not an subscribestar or patreon page where i can subscribe to support or vote for the direction of the story. great work keep it up.

Loved it. Everything from how the uncle slowly takes advantage, to the twerking competition.. really into it. The graphics personally didnt affect me at all. Would've loved it even more if it was a full VN, it does turn into sandbox at a certain point. But to me the positives really outweighted the negatives

Some harsh comments and reviews from other users about this game urged me to balance the scale a bit.

In terms of technical implementation and proficiency, yes, it is not that great - please read to the end.
The game's concept in being kinda sandboxy has no real meaningful impact at this point and room navigation is disorienting (at least the first few times you have to interact with it) because of the multiple different and incoherent points of view/perspectives while traversing the map.
It begs the question of 'why is this a thing in the game at all', but it really doesn't matter that much.
Just click your way across the map from scene to scene and you are good, it is not a huge time sink or waste. Also, there is no grind whatsoever - the dev is not disrespecting your time, atleast with the current initial release.

The graphical capabilities are definitely outdated. At this point I can not really say how limiting a factor this is going to be in terms of representing 'the action', but for now the dev manages quite well to visualize his intent.
Design wise the characters look hot - female, and silly/ugly - male, a common trope.
Female bodies are of the stacked variety, meaning fat, round tits and asses accompanied by thin waists with wide hips, which I personally quite like.
Their faces are pleasing to the eye and conventionally beautiful, showing innocence combined with makeup and sensual features like big lips - attractive.
Lighting issues sometimes creep in and coloration of the eyes becomes a bit freaky looking, whatever.
Someone posted a screenshot showing some blocky looking feet, this didn't take me out of the experience and in my opinion can be overlooked.
These graphical issues often even vary and the dev doesn't make them to obvious and succeeds (imo) in covering them up by directing your gaze through pov shots and his camera work. One exception to this: please dev always make the butts look perfect
This game has animations, they feel and look like there is some actual weight to the characters, as opposed to how animations can sometimes look "floaty".
I would suggest a little bit more deceleration and acceleration at the right times, to give a better feeling and understanding of flesh friction/collision/penetration and the physical force used.

Overall the outdated graphics should only be a deal breaker to people who skip text and thus do not partake in the eroticism and setting provided by the characters and the interactions with one another in their environment and circumstances.

So, next let me talk about the scenes and why you should bother with this game.
The story is about control, power disparity and sexual corruption in an extreme scenario.
You, the MC, are an experienced, capable, self-determined, self-reliant and seemingly tough guy in a harsh post-apocalyptical world.
They, the LIs, are inexperienced, somewhat book educated but probably with no trained critical thinking skills - very maluable, innocent and ripe women.
You reconnect with them after a long period of 6 or so years of separation and find them still leading isolated lives in the sheltered, selfsufficent bunker, you left them in. Now they are fully grown and physically developed, maybe even somewhat guided by you in this aspect.
The hole in their understanding of social/sexual norms, that had formed at this point, needs to be filled ...

This game at heart is a 'Trainer', where the dev can present us with opportunities to influence the behaviour, personalities, appearance and actions of the LIs, all the while with them showing gratefulness for being "educated" and protected by their "daddy".
All of this sets up the opportunities for the player to instill in them a twisted framework of sexual appetites and debauchery - fun!

I will not spoil the current content and just say, the dev has shown glimpses of what could be seen as great moral degeneracy and him being a man of culture. This of course is just the first impression based off of the first release.
The game builds up erotisicm and heat quite well. The 3 women are always vulnerably ignorant and the MC is getting his mind constantly sidetracked to bonertown, because of the abundance of shapely flesh mounds in front of him, wherever he goes.
The writing to convey the scenes is alright and there is dialogue during all kinds of interactions, not to short either, which is good.
Grammar and wordiness of the dev is sufficient, only sometimes you get the sense: maybe he uses specific phrases, that don't translate all that well between languages.
The writing concerning the overarching plot/world building/rationalities, well... it is there... maybe it is going to get better, but eitherway this game is foremost a porngame - no game/story with porn.

Lastly I want to mention what the dev said regarding development time and regular updates. This still has to be shown true, but it was said (if I am not mistaken): there is going to be something like a weekly update schedule, with extensive content in each.
This statement is also the reason why we consumers should reflect a bit more, before reflexively trashing something like 'renderquality'.
It is sadly common place that game devs whose games land on this site, have unreasonable long development cycles - I understand why (even disregarding something like milking donors), but I don't wannt to accept this as the only feasible way of doing things.
Maybe(!) this dev can somehow present an alternative to the status quo.. we have to wait and see.

People who are looking for a captivating plot and character intrigue will rate this 1/5
People who are cgi fetishists and like animation go faster/slower buttons will rate this 1/5
People who are slightly autistic and/or show OCD like tendencies by overanalyzing and picking apart everything, disregarding prevailing limiting factors rate this 1/5

I like it and want more and am rating this 5/5
My opin.. rating was formed and influenced by hopeful-excitement.
There is a lot of room for improvements, a lot of them don't really matter to what is at the heart of it.
Do I wish it to be a little bit less lacking in the graphical, UI-related and game-systems department, sure.
Do I wish to hinder further progress and make the dev question his every decision, no!


I would like for the dev to explain again and in more detail, how we can support the game going forward. This point still is a bit unclear to me.
Also, I hope his expectations don't clash too much with reality or that he just appreciates people like me, who honor the shared depravity and keeps it coming.

Wow. This has to be the worse game I have ever played for navigation. You enter a room with one orientation only to exit with a different orientation. So doors to rooms jump around all the time in the same fucking hallway. The game doesn't use icons that you can see am memorize no it uses mouse highlights to enter different section or rooms. Which is bad enough but the orientation of the hall changes so if you enter the wrong room and exit you have an even change to be looking at a different picture for the same fucking hallway and you think the highlighted area is a different room but its not so you just wasted time entering the same room you left!

Why have two pictures for the same fucking hallway? It is stupid it creates frustration it doesn't improve the game experience because you WILL walk back into the same room you just walked out of and that just wont happen in real life. So for the sake of immersion just BS.

The game starts off as a VN then switches to sandbox but it isn't a sandbox you will have to meet the three female characters full stop and you can't do anything else but do those three events SO why create the fake sandbox crap with the worse navigation system when you can't do anything but those three events? So often then not an event will cause the game to go back to VN mode and will tell a story only to fall back into sandbox mode for no reason you can't do anything at all but meet the three females characters once. It makes no sense there is no agency to seeing the 2nd girl first and the fist girl last when you have to see all three girls, you can't do anything in sandbox mod. So arriving at the gym isn't a chance to work out but either there is an event there or there isn't.

The game has no agency so it is a kinetic novel more than a VN and it adds sandbox elements with nothing to do. If you want to make a sandbox game then do it right! create mechanics that require the player to get something out of going to any location you create. If the purpose of your location is to be empty except for that one event. DON'T fucking bother with the location create a cut scene that takes you to the location do the event. There is zero point to having a location that doesn't include some reason to go there daily or every other day.

What value do developers think they are giving the player to force us to wander around a sandbox hunting and pecking for a location that triggers an event? THERE ISN'T ONE. This is doubly true when you HAVE to do all three events just skip the sandbox and you pick the order of the event or give us the option on the screen!

If I enter the shower then let me take a shower but only if there is actually a hygiene mechanic in the game otherwise DON'T bother with the room! If you have a laundry then put a reason for the MC to actually go to the location! A TV room why is that a location if there isn't anything to do there and so on and so on. If the room exists to automatically start an event when you enter the room JUST FUCKING START THE EVENT without making the player search all over the fucking place for the room!

A sandbox is not a bunch of empty locations with hidden events in them that you trigger. So many developers think that it is a system of mechanics that require you to do something at a location for a reason. Is it a place to acquire money? If yes then you need a reason to have money! And so one without the interconnecting multiple layered mechanics it is a fucking waste of time.

Engrish is strong in this game and for a VN that is a killer. There are no mechanics in the game so there is zero game to this game. The navigation system is stupid beyond belief. The story is fucking stupid. I have no idea why the fuck they need some mercenary as a prisoner who acts more like a bandit. There are contrived situations , The MC goes to meet up with his partner whom was gone for three days and when the MC goes to meet him he just happens to find his partner not killed but knocked out by the mercenary. Why the fuck leave the guy alive why not kill him take his stuff and leave the fucking area why hide? If the guy is dead he can't tell the MC anything and the dead guy can't recapture you again. Like I said the story doesn't make sense! Where do they find the Merc? At a house the partner found and spied on to see a father fucking his daughter. That the father was paranoid about the partner seeing his daughter so why did the fucking daughter wonder out of the house for then! And after the partner is spying in the house retreats when he makes a sound but spies on the house from afar he goes back and finds the merc there trying to fuck the daughter after killing the father? WTF this house is in the general area the merc escaped from why fuck around there? How did the merc come after the partner when the merc has a head start and if the partner passed the merc how did both men not see the other! The story doesn't make sense. The sex scenes are pretty meh at best.

It isn't worth the download because it fails as a game no mechanics, it fails as a VN no choice. It fails as a kinetic novel because if forces sandbox on you. it fails as a sandbox because there isn't a purpose aka no mechanical reason to create a location that doesn't do anything.

v1.0.0 day 3 (or just v1 to those who passed math )

a premise that is the bread and butter of active imaginations for horny pulse holders, it is not bad. not good either as it will highlight any poor writing. delivery is key and from what i see hits that average button. events and shenanigans will no doubt ensue.

some attempt to alleviate the pressure comes in the design form of free-roaming, despite the current lack of a point-and-click tag and both VN and kinetic novel tags in evidence.
it may hide a few sins in dialogue but will also turn some away, like myself, as some are just not a fan of blindly clicking to progress....it's boring.

the other side is a middling feature, the imagery. having lived the age of home computing the images do come across a little dated to me, but i am okay with them. i like orange as a colour. it's so L.A
but seriously it's not an eyesore and certainly not the weak link. a much better effort than the extra abs, ripples, thumbs, clits, vaginas of the deformed elven women AI art spits out so thumbs up for that.....all 7 of them

also no errors. yay

early days and this could be pretty good but sadly, for me at least, that design choice pulls it down heavily. just seems like an immersion breaker for no reason.
good luck dev/s