Ren'Py Seeds of Chaos [v0.4.08] [Vénus Noire]

[Ajinkya22]

This is their plan

Obviously, I would have liked to have Act I finished by now, but I will be the first to admit there was far too much scope creep, and writing issues have slowed things down, unfortunately. That being said, we are now approaching the end, and I'm hoping to be done by the end of the year or early next year at the latest. After a discussion with the writing staff, here is a good indication of the content left on the slate before we can move on to Act II:

Main:
Astarte - New War Council: Currently at 40%/100%
Updated Pre-Battle: Currently at 20%/100%
Updated Battle: 0%/100%
Updated postBattle: 0%/100%

Epilogue - One very large multi-state event similar to Astarte

Side:
Goblin arc - Che-Lin - 4 + 1 (4 Route events and a short debrief event)
Zii-Zii - 1 (short debrief event)
Tue-San - 1 (short debrief event)
Wedding - 3
Post-Wedding short events: 3

Fae - 2 Heartsong Events
1 Whitescar event
1 Aryzl event
Arzyl Finale/Whitescar Finale (scenes would be released simultaneously but be separate)

NPC:
Andras NTR - 2
Jez NTR - 1
Jez - 2
Hel - 2
X'zaratl - 3

Map:
Ygrisse Chaos Incursion - 3-5
Portal Events - 5 (Short events for unlocking the portal for the first time)
Shrine events - 3 (Three written events about finding shrines to Solansian gods in Rosaria)

Other:
Rastedel edits
Continuing Helayna events rework (5 events) and folding mindless events into a repeatable menu (six short events)


As you can see, there is still quite a bit of work to be done, but we are finally getting to the top of the mountain. The larger tasks are still Astarte and the epilogue, Che-Lin, the Fae, and the Helayna rework, but we will be aiming to hit these with every release to get them finished and eventually free up staff to help in other areas. The good news is we are very close to being finished on both NPC arcs and map stuff, meaning we can put them to bed and focus elsewhere.

Not going to talk about this today, but moving into Act II, we will be looking at ways to reduce workload while still giving you plenty of options, and make it feel like your choices matter. We have learned a few lessons in making this game, and we know that three acts totalling 3 million words plus over eight years each isn't really feasible. We will discuss this more as we start to reveal stuff about Act II in the not-so-distant future, though

 

[Snugglepuff]

Ajinkya22 You don't need to add all that info in both posts. One will suffice.

 

[Ajinkya22]

Ajinkya22 You don't need to add all that info in both posts. One will suffice.

Ok sorry

 

[Foreeever]

as an fyi, that status was in february and there have been 3 updates since then with a bit to every point on the list

 

[Rem002]

Oh I haven't read this in a while. Loving the AndrasxRowan content <3

 

[Geigi]

How do people feel about this game in general? I don't mean those whining about NTR but as an actual game you play is it well liked? I personally stopped playing it a long time ago and just look at the new scenes with the extended replay mod. I might enjoy the scenes more with the additional context around them but the game for me was really a chore to get through and there are so many paths with variables that wanting to just see everything there is requires a spreadsheet and multiple concurrent saves being kept which is just too much hassle. I really like the sex scenes or I wouldn't keep up with it but I've long since given up on the 'game' aspects of it.

The good is good, just skipping a lot of content though.

 

[ｲ尺ﾑｷﾑﾚムﾑ尺 り ﾚﾑW]

I check back here a couple times a year to see if the story has progressed because I'm really interested in the main narrative rather than the side quests. Kinda sad it has not progressed much from what I played like 2 years ago. I personally don't even care about stats and stuff. I just want to read the narrative and see how Rowan gets his revenge on the twins.

Also, introducing too many characters is not my cup of tea because it just spreads out the content so much and the character you like can take ages to get a new scene. Focusing on small handful of characters for sex scenes makes their content appear regularly and not have to wait as long.

 

[Deleted member 2602227]

I check back here a couple times a year to see if the story has progressed because I'm really interested in the main narrative rather than the side quests. Kinda sad it has not progressed much from what I played like 2 years ago. I personally don't even care about stats and stuff. I just want to read the narrative and see how Rowan gets his revenge on the twins.

Also, introducing too many characters is not my cup of tea because it just spreads out the content so much and the character you like can take ages to get a new scene. Focusing on small handful of characters for sex scenes makes their content appear regularly and not have to wait as long.

I do too, I remember playing it after a couple of years as well and there wasn't much new content for me.
There may be a lot of content if one is a switch (both sub and dom) and bi-sexual and are okay with NTR content.
So not only many characters but many kinks and fetishes too.
There is something for everyone about but not enough for anyone. I guess?

Again, maybe things have changed with later updates but I'm gonna play this game again sometime when it's closer to completion but I don't expect I'll get reincarnated or become some undead or horny ghost when I die and nor do I want it.

 

[CheetoInChief]

I am a bisexual man and have found many paths to be interesting in my playthrough of this game so far. Not only that, but I feel like even if you weren't looking for a specific interest, you could find interesting story here. From the trustful hero to a corrupt one that gave in to interests of the twins, to protect those he loves. To the hero into a sub if you choose to go down that path. To a hero choosing to try and find the path of the least resistance. A very few handful of people will choose to commit to the path that harms the fewest amount of people like Rowan will. I'm looking forward to the continuation of the story!

 

[ScholarOfTheFirstSin]

I am a bisexual man

 

[GyaruSaki]

ok so yall complain about barely any content but then complain about too much and then don't even wanna see if there is any new shit yet expect the creator to make more content that is boring as hell seeing as how rowan already achieved his goal.

The problem has always been the devs had too much scope for this fucking porn game.
Do they want it to be a porn game? Do they want it to be compelling? No one knows what they want to do. They keep adding random bullshit that no one wants or random shit their writers thought of. There is like WAY more fucking goblin shit than anything else in this game and I never see more than like 2 people excited for it.
That and there's the game itself. Like the actual game, the thing between all the porn scenes? It fucking sucks. Like it's legitimately terrible. The hexploration is bad, it's all numbers go up bullshit. the only true fail states are results of not paying attention. The hex map is too large and filled with fucking nothing. The RPG rolls and numbers are meaningless, the research and buildings that don't lead to new porn scenes is wothless. I remember them saying they wanted to release an SFW version of this game once upon a time and I guarantee it would have flopped massively. The porn carries it.
The devs need to either decide to make a glorified VN (which would be infinitely better) or actually put thought into the game itself, which they have not.
The team working on the game's writing also seems to be pretty decently sized, which is crazy how they only get updates once every TWO months or so and the updates have barely anything new to show for it.
The game has been in development hell for so many years now. I can believe poor management and scope, I can believe the devs probably wanted to shove more and more into the game as they get new ideas, but you need to limit yourself. Unfortunately, their patreon just enables them to do this. If they ever ended up releasing the game, the patreon money would stop coming.
That is, if they didn't realize they could release the game and start working on a new game or something. All those extra ideas could be going into different games instead of shoving them all into one game.
The devs also said they want to finish Act 1 by the end of this year. LMAO I will believe it when I fucking see it bro.

 

[monk_56]

The problem has always been the devs had too much scope for this fucking porn game.
Do they want it to be a porn game? Do they want it to be compelling? No one knows what they want to do. They keep adding random bullshit that no one wants or random shit their writers thought of. There is like WAY more fucking goblin shit than anything else in this game and I never see more than like 2 people excited for it.
That and there's the game itself. Like the actual game, the thing between all the porn scenes? It fucking sucks. Like it's legitimately terrible. The hexploration is bad, it's all numbers go up bullshit. the only true fail states are results of not paying attention. The hex map is too large and filled with fucking nothing. The RPG rolls and numbers are meaningless, the research and buildings that don't lead to new porn scenes is wothless. I remember them saying they wanted to release an SFW version of this game once upon a time and I guarantee it would have flopped massively. The porn carries it.
The devs need to either decide to make a glorified VN (which would be infinitely better) or actually put thought into the game itself, which they have not.
The team working on the game's writing also seems to be pretty decently sized, which is crazy how they only get updates once every TWO months or so and the updates have barely anything new to show for it.
The game has been in development hell for so many years now. I can believe poor management and scope, I can believe the devs probably wanted to shove more and more into the game as they get new ideas, but you need to limit yourself. Unfortunately, their patreon just enables them to do this. If they ever ended up releasing the game, the patreon money would stop coming.
That is, if they didn't realize they could release the game and start working on a new game or something. All those extra ideas could be going into different games instead of shoving them all into one game.
The devs also said they want to finish Act 1 by the end of this year. LMAO I will believe it when I fucking see it bro.

Re: gob content. I noticed another player had the same view as you that the gob content is taking up all the developer's efforts. I wish it was true - but it simply isn't.

You might feel like there is more goblin smut in the game than anything else- but it is objectively not true. The two biggest content blocks in the game are are definitely human X human and demon x human. There are prob like 250 cgs of the two protagonists together and maybe 100 more if you include swinging. The Andras x Alexia block is similarly sized. Rowan x Hel is like 125 ish cgs. Add in all the other humans in side content. Add in Jezera ect ect. All the random humans and demons. It prob adds up to like 60-70% of the game's content. Straight Rowan x goblin content adds up to like 190 cgs. 100 more for side characters and the gay content. Gob is maybe 10-15% of total.

There *is* a reason while it feels like there is a ton of Gob content though. The team has been "working" on the Blackholt goblin arc for a long ass time. Fact of the matter is that muliple of the writers who were working on it stopped working on it for huge swaths of time (like 2 years) or left the project. So it has been a storyline that the dev team has been talking about, but one you aren't seeing much actual progress on. Much to the chagrin of Goblin fans (myself, ect, ect). Take this release in example, there was supposed to be a Blackholt content block, the writers didn't deliver.

The game writ large seems to be having consistency problems with writers in general- which I would posit has to do with how its finances are, much like Rowan in act 1, just treading water- while the cost of everything in the world goes up, up, up. I wouldn't be surprised if Arioch (lead dev) has to do more writing than he historically has needed to upkeep a decent progression unless either A) the game hits a big windfall somehow (unlikely) or the writers quit waffling (also unlikely).

 

[GyaruSaki]

one of the things you got wrong is the building providing no new sex scenes especially the brothel the forge and breeding pits all of those provide new sex scenes depending on their level and even some other sex scenes if you assign your wife to certain ones. and for the goblin shit crying. its not forced at all and you never even need to do it heck you could go the entire story without doing it. and the stat fails can lead to scenes and the stat winning can lead to new scenes depending on if you just barely pass it or pass it with no trouble. heck there's a scene where you get throat fucked by a drider if you barely pass a stat check which you need 6 or 7 i forgot exactly how much on one of the stats to get the scene.

I said the buildings that DON'T provide sex scenes do nothing

 

[Nym85]

There is no way in god's green earth this act is released in 2024 or 2025. The Astarte rewrite is not halfway through and then they will want to rewrite Rastedel which should take as much if not more. The team members clearly cannot contribute reliably.
And yes I think Rastedel needs a full rewrite. Seeds of Chaos Act I is sold like a full game yet right now there is no pay off in the epilogue. I don't expect us to win the battle but there should be a possible outcome where we are actually praised for it. At the end of the Rastedel battle or immediately after in an epilogue scene, you should be getting at least one porn scene, probably several porn scenes for the major routes you followed (Rowan with either/or Alexia, Andras or Jezera at the very least imo); all you now get is the statue scene.

BUT I don't think there is anything actually wrong with this. Patreon prices haven't changed as far as I'm aware (even though they should to account for inflation). They still deliver 4-5 scenes and about a dozen CGs every two months which is absolutely not great but it is not crazy for the money they are asking. Is it very poor for the size of the team and the length of time this has been going for? Absolutely. But the value for money has not significantly changed over the last few years.

And yeah, I don't get the gobbo fetish either. At least in Goblin Slayer porn a hob shows up by the end! I get why you need multiple options since this is the second main quest of the game so it needs to follow every route (Pure, Corrupt, Obedient to either Twin).

 

[Nym85]

The game writ large seems to be having consistency problems with writers in general- which I would posit has to do with how its finances are, much like Rowan in act 1, just treading water- while the cost of everything in the world goes up, up, up. I wouldn't be surprised if Arioch (lead dev) has to do more writing than he historically has needed to upkeep a decent progression unless either A) the game hits a big windfall somehow (unlikely) or the writers quit waffling (also unlikely).

I mean solo devs who make nothing deliver insane amounts of content while also working. I am sure it is much better for straight content but I can tell you I follow multiple gay projects with far better output. Most NSFW games seem to be passion projects. They ver much depend on writers' free time and free time can radically change with the most basic and common changes in your life. So a writer might be able to deliver 2-3 scenes every two months for multiple updates and then goes radio silent cause they are in a new relationship, they get a new job, they have a kid, they have a sick parent and those 40-50 hours they had available across two months suddenly become 5.
I know people here are unhappy about the pace and I know that the couple of devs who show up here try to put on a brave face but to me it seems they are just as burned out as we are. Not because they hate the game or anything but because they want a certain level of polish and the amount of work absolutely seems daunting given how expanded the scope is. The only ones who are really working regularly are their artists who I hope take the lions share of the patreon pot cause they very much deserve it.
I still think the biggest issue is project management but hey, most people don't start creating a NSFW project with a background in management; they start it with a coding or creative background. Usually their experience with project management is complaining about it

 

[Nym85]

ok why do you lying? go read this guys post.
monk_56
Active Member

And? why are we talking about total scenes? Why not about scenes released in the past X updates instead?

 

[Ellioto]

wondering what 2 scenes are called in the unren menu.

first the new xratal scene
second whatever scene has this art

 

[Foreeever]

i guess the xratal it's an alexia x cubi castle event and the rowan jezera is somewhere in the rastedel battle, tried to make an attempt to update the gallery mod but so far have a crash for it so idk, maybe tomorrow evening if i'll have time

 

[Gopnikas]

The issue here isn't scope. You can have all the scope you want, Sierra be my witness. The real issue either a lack of will to actually live up to that scope and stop the steady Patreon cash cow income, or incompetence on a level matched only by the most mismanaged Hoi4 mods (which for those unaware is saying a lot). If it's the former, the scope is actually just a nonexistent smokescreen to squeeze money out of fans and meaningless as a concept to be discussed. If it's the latter, then no amount of scope reduction would help without essentially killing the concept. I don't know which idea is sadder given that I've seen much, much smaller teams get infinitely more done in far less time for far less money than this. It's barely changed in the 5 years since I last tried it.

I adore the concept. I've wanted this to succeed for the longest time. I made this account to keep a better eye on this. But the team, to quote a friend of mine, "lacks the stuff" to actually carry it to its conclusion.

 

[darkduck09]

The issue here isn't scope. You can have all the scope you want, Sierra be my witness. The real issue either a lack of will to actually live up to that scope and stop the steady Patreon cash cow income, or incompetence on a level matched only by the most mismanaged Hoi4 mods (which for those unaware is saying a lot). If it's the former, the scope is actually just a nonexistent smokescreen to squeeze money out of fans and meaningless as a concept to be discussed. If it's the latter, then no amount of scope reduction would help without essentially killing the concept. I don't know which idea is sadder given that I've seen much, much smaller teams get infinitely more done in far less time for far less money than this. It's barely changed in the 5 years since I last tried it.

I adore the concept. I've wanted this to succeed for the longest time. I made this account to keep a better eye on this. But the team, to quote a friend of mine, "lacks the stuff" to actually carry it to its conclusion.

You're correct for the current team. The Andras x Alexia content up until the moment he gives her the bikini outfit is pretty fantastic. In fact, most of the writing was fantastic for a while. This is indicative of there being a clear goal and the team being passionate.

Now the team is worn and burnt out. They even admitted as such when their writing team basically dipped from burn out and they had to hire new writers.

Basically, they missed their chance to remedy the situation by tightening the scope. Now they've made a bunch of promises (both in the writing narrative and as developers) that they are never going to be able to deliver. Tightening the scope now just wouldn't make sense, and also with the team being worn and burnt out, wouldn't come out well regardless.

So you're correct, but so is the other guy.