Ren'Py Rivers of Astrum [v0.2.1] [Paper Tiger]

[Paper Tiger 83]

Really promising start! I liked it a lot and I'm excited to see where the story goes. Bit of feedback though, the fight scene with the zombie was really uncomfortable to watch. Not because of any of the content, but the completely black screen with unskippable bright flashes felt awful on my eyes. If anyone is playing at night in a dark room, you're just flashbanging us twice on every hit. I had a headache by the end of the fight. Please make the flashes skippable or change the style of these scenes. I don't have epilepsy, but I think this could potentially be dangerous for people who do have it. Outside of the discomfort, I don't think it's a great way of conveying action either. I'm not asking for animation, it would make more sense to put a blur/movement filter on the stills of action shots and play the sound effects there, rather than cutting to a black screen.

Another (very minor) complaint is that some of your transitions feel a little too long. Outside of sex scenes, transitions like walking to the bar or changing clothes would make more sense if they were half as long as they are currently. I ended up clicking to skip through the transitions at a certain point, but that sometimes means missing multiple slide transitions, which I don't want to do.

Lastly, I'm hoping that we can get an LI with a more petite body type. I'm really glad none of the girls have those unrealisticly huge boobs seen too often in games, but Kim, Cara, and Sandra all seem to have similarly sized, busty chests. Vex looks skinnier, but she's got got a rack and a half. So, it'd be nice to see at least one LI that's smaller for some variety. Some of us just prefer a B-cup to a D-cup.

Regardless, I think this game is off to a really good start. I'm already invested in the story and I like the characters so far. In most games with voice acting (AI or real) I usually end up turning the voices off at a certain point, but I really liked them in this. Big props to your VA, she did an amazing job!

Hey Justaflynn,

Some replies:

The fight scene hadn't received any such complaints before, so it was something I never revisited in my head. The flash transitions were more or less an attempt at adding a bit of substance between the fight renders. I can brainstorm it a bit, but at present the best thing I can think of to do would be to change the color of the flashes, perhaps to a dull red. I can't spend too terribly much time going over the starting content anymore, as it would delay development, but given the epilepsy was something I hadn't considered before, I'll see what I can do.

In regards to the standard transitions: I set them to what I feel matches the pace of the scene. Even in the case of quick transitions, you're going to have people (probably the majority, I would expect) clicking through them, regardless. One of the things I always say to myself is "You have to accept the fact that many players will just be clicking through for the porn, and all this work on scenes and environment will go unnoticed by them." But for those who appreciate the varied pacing (such as myself), it's there. There are some action sequences coming in the next update that have much quicker transitions, but it all depends on the pace of the scene.

In regards to breast sizes: The characters have all been created, though many won't make it into the story until much later. That said, I understand if they're not to everyone's liking, but they are what they are. There is at least one that fits your description, but I won't be adding new ones, or changing existing ones. Vex does indeed have a rack and a half XD Only one character has larger breasts than her, but she won't make an appearance for a while. Cara's are relatively small. I'd call them a B-Cup, myself.

And I'm sure my voice actress would love to hear that. I worked with her quite closely on getting the voices right. She's done an *outstanding* job, and we're already beginning to discuss the voice work for this next update, but I'll certainly pass on your compliments

I do truly appreciate the feedback. If any of my responses sounded short or annoyed, please know that it wasn't my intention. It was just something I hadn't considered problematic before (the fight scene and the transitions), I will see what I can do about the former at least. And thanks a ton for it! Any feedback is always welcome

If there's anything else that comes to mind, please don't hesitate to bring it up!

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

We're at roughly the halfway point with the next update. Just thought I'd let everyone know

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

Got a poll running for future releases. Just to get an idea of what everyone might be thinking

 

[GokutheG]

I prefer to have bigger updates over quicker updates because I like to actually immerse myself into a game instead of being done in like 5 minutes.

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

I prefer to have bigger updates over quicker updates because I like to actually immerse myself into a game instead of being done in like 5 minutes.

Aye, I'm the same, and it seems many others are. I just wanted to get a feel for everyone's opinion on that

 

[Joe Steel]

I prefer to have bigger updates over quicker updates because I like to actually immerse myself into a game instead of being done in like 5 minutes.

I do as well, but would note that it is pretty simple to just ignore four smaller updates and play them when you play after the fifth update, say. That's what I do for Malevolent Planet, and the lots of smaller updates satisfy players who want that. It's a win-win.

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

I do as well, but would note that it is pretty simple to just ignore four smaller updates and play them when you play after the fifth update, say. That's what I do for Malevolent Planet, and the lots of smaller updates satisfy players who want that. It's a win-win.

Aye, I mean the current scene, with all of its branches, was supposed to be one of 4 that i completed before the next update, but with all the branching paths, options, and outcomes, it's turning out to be much larger than i originally anticipated, so i intend to release it as an update once this scene is complete. In terms of straightforward play time, it will add some, but certainly not a whole lot. In terms of all the branching options and paths, though, there is a good bit to explore for those who wish to see all of them.

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

Sneak Preview from the upcoming update. Cara and Sandra have a heart to heart ... update is still a while out, but we're moving right along

 

[GokutheG]

I do as well, but would note that it is pretty simple to just ignore four smaller updates and play them when you play after the fifth update, say. That's what I do for Malevolent Planet, and the lots of smaller updates satisfy players who want that. It's a win-win.

But then you'll have to worry about people complaining about the length of an update eventho they come out quicker. The quick/short updates will open up accusations that the dev isn't really working since the update was over quick and that's bad word of mouth.

This is also why I think beefer updates that takes longer is superior. Those types of complaints can't really take root if every time there's an update it has a ton of content.

 

[Kagarus]

But then you'll have to worry about people complaining about the length of an update eventho they come out quicker. The quick/short updates will open up accusations that the dev isn't really working since the update was over quick and that's bad word of mouth.

This is also why I think beefer updates that takes longer is superior. Those types of complaints can't really take root if every time there's an update it has a ton of content.

Sure, but on the other hand, with larger updates that take longer you have to worry about people complaining about the dev taking too long between updates, and may get accusations that the dev is just milking and not working - also bad WoM.
If updates have a regular, reliable schedule, there's always progress one can point to.

I'm not saying that regular updates are better (I'm fine with either), just showing that no matter which of the two approaches you take, some will find something to complain about

 

[GokutheG]

Sure, but on the other hand, with larger updates that take longer you have to worry about people complaining about the dev taking too long between updates, and may get accusations that the dev is just milking and not working - also bad WoM.
If updates have a regular, reliable schedule, there's always progress one can point to.

I'm not saying that regular updates are better (I'm fine with either), just showing that no matter which of the two approaches you take, some will find something to complain about

Yeah basically someone gets upset regardless. According to the poll here atleast bigger updates seems to be what fans want.

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

Yeah basically someone gets upset regardless. According to the poll here atleast bigger updates seems to be what fans want.

Aye, that's what I'm seeing as well. As I mentioned earlier, the only downside to including a ton of options / paths / branches is that each one has to be rendered, though a player may only travel down one. So all of the other work goes unseen, and the straight-through play time is short. It's gonna be a balancing act. I may revert to the original plan of getting the end of Kim's entire first day done prior to the next update. Or I may release a smaller update earlier, depending on how long that takes. We'll just have to see where the cards fall.

 

[GokutheG]

Aye, that's what I'm seeing as well. As I mentioned earlier, the only downside to including a ton of options / paths / branches is that each one has to be rendered, though a player may only travel down one. So all of the other work goes unseen, and the straight-through play time is short. It's gonna be a balancing act. I may revert to the original plan of getting the end of Kim's entire first day done prior to the next update. Or I may release a smaller update earlier, depending on how long that takes. We'll just have to see where the cards fall.

I can only speak for myself but I love when my choices actually have impact even if it means I may miss out on something for taking a certain path and I appreciate devs who take the time to support different choices.

That's one of the reasons I liked Witcher 2 so much so much of the game changes for siding with the elves/non humans.

 

[Kagarus]

Yeah, I also have a strong preference for meaningful decisions/branching... as long as they're well-managed so that it doesn't explode into a project-killing workload.
Witcher 2 is a great example of handling that well, it has a branching decision that splits most of what comes afterwards (extremely expensive), but that's the only really big split (no exponential growth). And other decision just cause the content to branch out for a while before the branches rejoin (and maybe causing similar shorter branches later on, meaning there's still long-term reactivity/"feeling like your decision matters" while being cheap compared to a complete split).

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

Yeah, I also have a strong preference for meaningful decisions/branching... as long as they're well-managed so that it doesn't explode into a project-killing workload.
Witcher 2 is a great example of handling that well, it has a branching decision that splits most of what comes afterwards (extremely expensive), but that's the only really big split (no exponential growth). And other decision just cause the content to branch out for a while before the branches rejoin (and maybe causing similar shorter branches later on, meaning there's still long-term reactivity/"feeling like your decision matters" while being cheap compared to a complete split).

I certainly agree, though my game reference for choices mattering tends to be the Mass Effect trilogy (except for the last 5 minutes of ME3, and the disaster otherwise known as Andromeda XD)

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

So, in the spirit of full transparency, just wanted to let everyone know what's been going on the last week and a half. My car shit the bed, long story short I've been rebuilding my front end suspension. Now, thanks to MF's render queue, I've been largely able to keep renders running while I was out in the shop doing that, but there were some days where the render queue finished considerably earlier than i expected, which - in my mind - translates as lost development time. Still making quite a good bit of progress, but I've got another day or two of work with my car before that's done. It didn't slow things down *too* much, but it did a bit, so that will delay this update, but only a little. I always want to be the guy who lets everyone know what's going on, so there it is

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

Welp, the voters have spoken, the poll trends primarily to Natural Breaking Points. So, moving forward that will be the release plan. That said, I'm on the last sub-scene of Cara's branch in this particular event. Then just Sandra's branch, and the final encounter. Cara's stuff always takes a lot of time (if i haven't said this already) because her magic is light based, and those shots take ... a while. But, almost there!

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

At the halfway mark with Sandra's branch. Should be another 3 days or so for that, maybe 4. Then the final encounter, which doesn't have quite as much branch work. As I always say, I'm hesitant to give release date expectations, because estimating how much time the work will take is pretty tough. If there's any good news to be had on that front though, it's that I've dove headlong into this, and ordered a massive studio rig, with TWO 4090 Tis in it. That should be here in a week, and then everything will get much faster. I'll also be able to do renders and animations simultaneously. The new PC is what i was waiting for to get to the heavy / busy renders and the animations, so I'm extremely excited for what this'll do for the game

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

 

[Paper Tiger 83]

Alright, took a little longer than i thought (battling a lot of things in RL trying to steal all my time atm), but Sandra's branch is done. I've planned/plotted out the ending of the scene, and got the first 10 renders for it in the queue. It *is* going to take a little longer than I originally thought as well ... That's the downside of providing branches/options/variable paths, is that they spider out into more. But I wouldn't have it any other way ... kinetic VNs just really aren't my style. I love games where the player gets a copious amount of choice, particularly when those choices are meaningful, and truly impact the world/story. And as I've always said, with Rivers of Astrum, I am doing nothing if not making the game that I would want to play. All that said, there will be 5 possible endings to this scene, based on previous choices. I've got all of the endings blocked off, written and coded. Now it's just the rendering. I try not to make too many posts and just annoy you guys with progress updates, but i also wanna balance that with keeping everyone informed and being as transparent about the development process as i can So this is me, doing that