VN Ren'Py Seeking Closure [v0.8] [Captain Crystallo]

[AlexMpog]

The MC and Katy will come back to that topic soon, but obviously that doesn't mitigate the fact that you as the player are more clueless than you should be if you're trying to immerse yourself as the MC.

yeah, you are right, as a player, while immersing myself, I only see and know what you show me, so far I tried to be as natural as I could, acting more on instincts and it was all fine, though i haven't played last update yet.
i admit, having some background info before making some not obvious choices would be great, but it is also an additional work as well, I understand it

anyways, I like your game very much, one of my favorite ones nonetheles

 

[Captain Crystallo]

Yep, something in the episode when she appears would've been great. I've run into such problem huge time just today before playing "Seeking Closure", in "The Nymphomaniac". Some girl wanted sex and I didn't know who she was to me, besides her name. But here it is very slight, more about polishing and finishing touches. If we talking about this - when I met El at the pool, I was thinking that she was my ex I dumped, not my best friend, for quite a long time. Maybe I've read something wrong in that episode.

And what's with "if I ever get to make it"? You can create unique looking characters with unique personalities, cool MC's best friends, you can write funny dialogues and hilarious banters. Come on, man, you are a very good author already and you will only be better.

I'll be sure to add some appropriate background information when seeing Katy and El for the first time (and maybe some other instances as well) either to the MC's thoughts or by sprinkling it into the dialogue while trying to make it sound natural. It won't help anyone who's already played it, but it will at least make things clearer for future players.

Thank you for the compliments, but the "if I ever get to make it" mostly refers to the fact that I'm Ukrainian and there's a decently high chance I'll be mobilized into the army at some point, and well.. I don't know if I'll be coming back alive and if I am - it's no secret that war changes and traumatizes people, so who knows what my worldview and priorities would be like at that point.

 

[AlexMpog]

but the number of such choices gets reduced over time since I had a lot of people complaining about "meaningless" options that all lead to the same result (aka the little differences in flavor seemed to annoy them more than anything).

oh, also, I get that probably majority of players don't like choices that only slightly change some dialogues, but i want to say that personally I find this approach very enjoyable, i like the diversity of playing through, even if it's sometimes only in dialogues

 

[Impurity2937]

I'm glad you appreciated the little differences in dialogue based on your choices, but the number of such choices gets reduced over time since I had a lot of people complaining about "meaningless" options that all lead to the same result (aka the little differences in flavor seemed to annoy them more than anything).

Hmm... Not to many can appreciate true art of language it seems but I can relate to that. There are many, many games out there which tried to do the same with rather more annoying and less successful way so I don't blame people to be annoyed right away seeing solution like that. Nevertheless, good job with that.

I've run into such problem huge time just today before playing "Seeking Closure", in "The Nymphomaniac". Some girl wanted sex and I didn't know who she was to me, besides her name.

That is quite common thing unfortunately - lack of little introduction. There are scenarios where a little bit of mystery is good but it should be relieved at the time where player needs to make some decisions. I remember I had this problem in STWA: Unbroken without playing The Author first. MC got a lot of complicated relations with bunch of people straight from the start and even knowing some of them from previous game was not easy to understand what is actually going on both around him and in his head. Where it all began is another tough example and for me it became so unclear what is going on there I actually dropped this game to trash. As far as I remember Summer's gone has also some mystery but it is written much much better.

But yeah, that is the part of writing skill. Most people just see pretty renders and some dialogues but combining it all in right way is what makes game either good or not.

 

[Captain Crystallo]

oh, also, I get that probably majority of players don't like choices that only slightly change some dialogues, but i want to say that personally I find this approach very enjoyable, i like the diversity of playing through, even if it's sometimes only in dialogues

Hmm... Not to many can appreciate true art of language it seems but I can relate to that. There are many, many games out there which tried to do the same with rather more annoying and less successful way so I don't blame people to be annoyed right away seeing solution like that. Nevertheless, good job with that.

I appreciate stuff like that too. It's hard to gauge the percentage of people who feel one way about it or another, so I have no clue if deciding to cut down on such dialogue options was the right move or not.

That is quite common thing unfortunately - lack of little introduction. There are scenarios where a little bit of mystery is good but it should be relieved at the time where player needs to make some decisions. I remember I had this problem in STWA: Unbroken without playing The Author first. MC got a lot of complicated relations with bunch of people straight from the start and even knowing some of them from previous game was not easy to understand what is actually going on both around him and in his head. Where it all began is another tough example and for me it became so unclear what is going on there I actually dropped this game to trash. As far as I remember Summer's gone has also some mystery but it is written much much better, despite bei But yeah, that is the part of writing skill. Most people just see pretty renders and some dialogues but combining it all in right way is what makes game either good or not.

TIL that Unbroken actually has a game that precedes it. I'll be sure to play through it before getting back to it.
I also agree with the fact that Summer's Gone handles its mysterious elements better, although I didn't play WIAB after the rework yet so maybe it got changed for the better.

 

[maybemaybe]

Thank you for the compliments, but the "if I ever get to make it" mostly refers to the fact that I'm Ukrainian and there's a decently high chance I'll be mobilized into the army at some point, and well.. I don't know if I'll be coming back alive and if I am - it's no secret that war changes and traumatizes people, so who knows what my worldview and priorities would be like at that point.

Hopefully that useless war will be all over as soon as possible and you'll be far from it. Because you have a real talent for creating Vn's

 

[Captain Crystallo]

Hopefully that useless war will be all over as soon as possible and you'll be far from it. Because you have a real talent for creating Vn's

Thank you, I greatly appreciate the sentiment and hope for that as well.

 

[Captain Crystallo]

maybemaybe
In regard to the hairstyles that you've mentioned in your review. I also much prefer Katy's and Fleur's haircuts in the past, but I thought it was a bit unrealistic for them to keep the same hairstyle for 5 years, which is why I decided to change them. I've been debating doing a poll on my Patreon to ask people if they'd like for some of the LIs to get their hairstyles back (as in, they've met the MC again and it inspired them to go back to the look they've had back then or something), but hadn't gone around to it yet.

 

[maybemaybe]

maybemaybe
In regard to the hairstyles that you've mentioned in your review. I also much prefer Katy's and Fleur's haircuts in the past, but I thought it was a bit unrealistic for them to keep the same hairstyle for 5 years, which is why I decided to change them. I've been debating doing a poll on my Patreon to ask people if they'd like for some of the LIs to get their hairstyles back (as in, they've met the MC again and it inspired them to go back to the look they've had back then or something), but hadn't gone around to it yet.

I was thinking that for Katy growing long hair makes a lot of sence plotwise since she is living through tough times. If (fingers crossed) she manages to get through, cutting them short again would symbolize her being her cheerful self again.
As for Fleur, I was thinking the same thing as you- logically she grew, she changed and all that, but at the same time that was SUCH a damn shame for her to lose her tomboyish charm.

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If you want I can delete that later not to spoil possible variants if you like any.

 

[Captain Crystallo]

I was thinking that for Katy growing long hair makes a lot of sence plotwise since she is living through tough times. If (fingers crossed) she manages to get through, cutting them short again would symbolize her being her cheerful self again.
As for Fleur, I was thinking the same thing as you- logically she grew, she changed and all that, but at the same time that was SUCH a damn shame for her to lose her tomboyish charm.

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If you want I can delete that later not to spoil possible variants if you like any.

Yeah, I had a similar line of thinking and I might implement it closely to how you've suggested it. The only thing is that it won't be up to the player in-game if a LI changes her hairstyle or not because that would mean I'd to render all future scenes with them twice for each hairstyle, which is too much work for not enough benefit. I'll probably just make a poll on Patreon and maybe here and the side that loses will just have to live with it, sadly.

 

[maybemaybe]

Yeah, I had a similar line of thinking and I might implement it closely to how you've suggested it. The only thing is that it won't be up to the player in-game if a LI changes her hairstyle or not because that would mean I'd to render all future scenes with them twice for each hairstyle, which is too much work for not enough benefit. I'll probably just make a poll on Patreon and maybe here and the side that loses will just have to live with it, sadly.

Double renders crossed my mind, but inspiration carried me away higher than tecnical details. Come on, Patreon! Go for Team Tomboy!

 

[UnfinishedSentenc]

Is there any way you can upgrade the interaction of the sex scenes and, possibly, prolong them, as well? They are so short, lifeless, and boring. The MC acts no more stimulated while having an orgasm than eating a worm or taking a crap. At the very least, he could announce to his LI that he is going to cum.

 

[Captain Crystallo]

Is there any way you can upgrade the interaction of the sex scenes and, possibly, prolong them, as well? They are so short, lifeless, and boring. The MC acts no more stimulated while having an orgasm than eating a worm or taking a crap. At the very least, he could announce to his LI that he is going to cum.

Hey,
I'll try to make the sex scenes more engaging going forward, and I plan to revisit and brush up on some of the existing scenes before finishing and publishing the first part of the game (after Chapter 8).

 

[Deleted member 3186353]

Is the MC the only guy with a dick in the game? just asking...

 

[512]

Man, if you went to a resort with your significant other IRL and spent 90% of your time there with other people (seperate of the SO), they'd almost certainly be supremely pissed at you.

 

[SlapE]

Man, if you went to a resort with your significant other IRL and spent 90% of your time there with other people (seperate of the SO), they'd almost certainly be supremely pissed at you.

Yeah, this is the only thing that worries me about this game, it looks interesting but I'm afraid I won't get much content since there are quite a few characters and I would only be interested in pursuing Julia in the present day. Sure there would be some scenes in the past, but I'm not gonna cheat on Julia in the present day, and I know a lot of scenes won't even have Julia present. This makes me hesitant because I'm not sure how much time I'll actually get with my desired LI, and how much less content I will get compared to most people.

 

[camube]

since I had a lot of people complaining about "meaningless" options that all lead to the same result

I'm saying this as a patron of yours, I concur with what Impurity2937 said

> I really like what is done with choices in dialogues where every option leads to exactly the same point and often even means the same but THE WAY you tell something changes how others will react and see you. Sounds pretty obvious and simple, yet I really like how it is handled here and you really need to have some writing skill to make it consistent.

That part is actually the best point of your game tbh.

I like the early chapters because the dialogue options feels like actual options an actual person might choose, and the response from the characters from what MC said sounds like actual response people would say

I seriously think you gotta bring that back or realize that that is one of your game's strong point.

I don't know what other patron of yours think (whether they complain about meaninglessness) but for me I decide to want to see your game continuation because of how you wrote those early chapters options. It was really great tbqh

 

[Captain Crystallo]

I'm saying this as a patron of yours, I concur with what Impurity2937 said

> I really like what is done with choices in dialogues where every option leads to exactly the same point and often even means the same but THE WAY you tell something changes how others will react and see you. Sounds pretty obvious and simple, yet I really like how it is handled here and you really need to have some writing skill to make it consistent.

That part is actually the best point of your game tbh.

I like the early chapters because the dialogue options feels like actual options an actual person might choose, and the response from the characters from what MC said sounds like actual response people would say

I seriously think you gotta bring that back or realize that that is one of your game's strong point.

I don't know what other patron of yours think (whether they complain about meaninglessness) but for me I decide to want to see your game continuation because of how you wrote those early chapters options. It was really great tbqh

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on the matter.

Truth is - the only feedback I got on this matter was on a different site with comments like:
"Another shit game that gives player 3 options that all have the same outcome so it turns out player gets one option so zero stars for this tripe"
"You are getting pushed in the direction the dev wants you to go , no choice what so ever . Options are there for the show ."

Usually, I wouldn't give such criticism too much attention because of how harshly it's worded, but since I didn't have any other responses to go by, I thought that this was the general sentiment as well.

Now that I've received positive feedback on this topic from multiple people, I'm definitely going to bring back such scenarios since I quite enjoy writing them when they're applicable. I'd even retroactively add some to the previous chapters, but that would probably be pointless since I can't attach any variables to them without messing with future checks.

 

[ArunPrime]

Here's my Replay Unlocker Mod for Seeking Closure v0.5

Spoiler: Installation

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It's working now.
But I have a question why not unlocking after watching the scenes.

 

[camube]

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on the matter.

Truth is - the only feedback I got on this matter was on a different site with comments like:
"Another shit game that gives player 3 options that all have the same outcome so it turns out player gets one option so zero stars for this tripe"
"You are getting pushed in the direction the dev wants you to go , no choice what so ever . Options are there for the show ."

Usually, I wouldn't give such criticism too much attention because of how harshly it's worded, but since I didn't have any other responses to go by, I thought that this was the general sentiment as well.

Now that I've received positive feedback on this topic from multiple people, I'm definitely going to bring back such scenarios since I quite enjoy writing them when they're applicable. I'd even retroactively add some to the previous chapters, but that would probably be pointless since I can't attach any variables to them without messing with future checks.

I don't think it's my place to say this but, if in doubt, you might want to consider polling things with your existing patrons.

i've seen other devs do that.

I actually like the aspect of your game so much i shilled your game on this thread https://f95zone.to/threads/story-first-games.86340/

That's a thread where people that like story-first AVN talks with each other. It's great for getting recommendations about games with interesting stories, like yours. There are some devs that are active there too, maybe like, 2 or 3 of them.