Ren'Py Shattered Minds [v0.15] [eXtasy Games]

[Memorin]

i lost my save from end last updated anyone thank u

Honestly, you might as well wait for new update to come out and replay from the start. It's entirely possible our save files might not carry over in the next update even though the dev has proven to be quite competent so far.

 

[HentaiKami]

Honestly, you might as well wait for new update to come out and replay from the start. It's entirely possible our save files might not carry over in the next update even though the dev has proven to be quite competent so far.

Personally i don't bother really keeping saves between different versions, unless there's chapter/episode change and i have to download second part of the game. Usually even competent dev will mess up it at some point when they want to change things from earlier parts of the game or something along those lines. It's not that big of a problem to just put game on skip and play to the point where you were. Also has the added bonus of you getting to remember the good scenes without gallery, or go to other route.

 

[Memorin]

Personally i don't bother really keeping saves between different versions, unless there's chapter/episode change and i have to download second part of the game. Usually even competent dev will mess up it at some point when they want to change things from earlier parts of the game or something along those lines. It's not that big of a problem to just put game on skip and play to the point where you were. Also has the added bonus of you getting to remember the good scenes without gallery, or go to other route.

Thing is, there's only so many times you can replay a scene before you get absolutely sick with it, not to mention that as the game length grows not even skip is enough to cut down the tediousness. If this was the 30th update or something I would be hunting around for a save file myself, but it's early enough that replaying the scenes isn't a hassle yet.

 

[hubvan]

I got quite excited when I saw the 'golden shower' tags in the escort reviews during the game. Is there anything like this planned for the future? Would be great!

 

[omega_rugal]

hi
scenes with heels?

 

[Valkyrie_1999999999999999]

Hey folks so can we actually install the camera that we can buy on the online store and use it to spy on the mom and sis or is that feature not available in the game yet..when i click on the camera there is no option to install it only to remove it from the inventory..

 

[Memorin]

Hey folks so can we actually install the camera that we can buy on the online store and use it to spy on the mom and sis or is that feature not available in the game yet..when i click on the camera there is no option to install it only to remove it from the inventory..

I imagine we'll get to install the spy camera when we can finally advance the quest with computer girl, but for now yeah, they're just for show.

 

[mikec2906]

Really enjoyed this first instalment. Looking forward to the next part.

 

[althworld]

Oh sure, but the way it is presented in this game at least makes it clear that it's complete fantasy, where as there are some real world cases of non-consented sleep sex happening and that is not a fun thing to read.

Yeah, real world's a bitch. Some things happening out there make you grind your teeth in literal rage. And while I have some controversial fetishes, any real-world example also makes me uncomfortable. But, like, as adults, we should have enough sense to know what's game and what's reality. Besides, a game(porn or not) is also a safe place to let yourself go and explore things you wouldn't do in the real world. It also sometimes helps deal with trauma, as someone pointed out.

And contrary to some people, I don't cater to the belief of linking real-world crime with games. Also, this goes without saying, on this site, I don't feel anyone needs to be ashamed of any fetish they have, even if it's controversial.

This is why I like games where I have lots of choices and lots of options. I don't like games that shove something on the player(such as a sexual partner or a fetish they hate) without giving them the option to avoid it. But not, at least, having the option to try is also somewhat of a bummer.

(Also, this might not matter, but while instant mind-control as presented in the game is fantasy, cults and such do use drugs, mental conditioning, and brainwashing to similar effects. There are some crazy fucked up shits happening in the real world that even our darkest fantasies can't emulate. So yeah, real world's a bitch of the highest calibre.)

 

[PyoT]

Insofar as the technical aspects are concerned I find the current state to be pretty good; nothing jarring or out of place that I noticed.

Writing though ... I already knew there'd be some trouble with the "tutorial" that had to actually go and explain what an inventory is. Or the wallpaper app. And not just a sorta "this is your phone. You can access, X, Y, Z" here, but, naw, multiple "funny" lines. Please just don't. If you actually feel the need to explain such basics make it as quick and painless as possible (also so that the people that actually do need to read it will read it instead of just clicking through ...).

But that obviously was only a small thing; the bigger thing afterwards I suppose is the mind control aspect. Lead and his best friend ... I can't say they feel like interesting characters, that all already feels like such a generic set of porn game characters to go do generic things to generic people.
And when it comes to the moment of actual mind control, it just felt superficial and inconsistent to me. Like, okay, there's clearly the idea you gotta do some level of convincing and come up with an appropriate solution (ie with the slimy boss, you can't just command him to have notlandlady work less), but then randomly you kinda don't; apparently randomly you can only do some mild thing and then suddenly something incredibly extreme (like slimy boss just casually won't ever having any sex again). And the scenes themselves don't really feel give much of a vibe of gradual erosion of will or anything of that sort; just sorta clunky "yeah, that's it now, do the thing, done, conviniently you'll forget it all anyway...".

Compared to various other mind control/hypnotism/etc. games (or even ones where the protagonist discovers other superpowers and that's the angle) I just find the execution so far lacking. They sometimes struggle with making it interesting too and not just walking up to a character and clicking a button and then it's done, but the better ones get some pretty good (and most importantly: hot) character interaction out of it. This here I don't think really manages so far.

 

[Sycho]

Insofar as the technical aspects are concerned I find the current state to be pretty good; nothing jarring or out of place that I noticed.

Writing though ... I already knew there'd be some trouble with the "tutorial" that had to actually go and explain what an inventory is. Or the wallpaper app. And not just a sorta "this is your phone. You can access, X, Y, Z" here, but, naw, multiple "funny" lines. Please just don't. If you actually feel the need to explain such basics make it as quick and painless as possible (also so that the people that actually do need to read it will read it instead of just clicking through ...).

But that obviously was only a small thing; the bigger thing afterwards I suppose is the mind control aspect. Lead and his best friend ... I can't say they feel like interesting characters, that all already feels like such a generic set of porn game characters to go do generic things to generic people.
And when it comes to the moment of actual mind control, it just felt superficial and inconsistent to me. Like, okay, there's clearly the idea you gotta do some level of convincing and come up with an appropriate solution (ie with the slimy boss, you can't just command him to have notlandlady work less), but then randomly you kinda don't; apparently randomly you can only do some mild thing and then suddenly something incredibly extreme (like slimy boss just casually won't ever having any sex again). And the scenes themselves don't really feel give much of a vibe of gradual erosion of will or anything of that sort; just sorta clunky "yeah, that's it now, do the thing, done, conviniently you'll forget it all anyway...".

Compared to various other mind control/hypnotism/etc. games (or even ones where the protagonist discovers other superpowers and that's the angle) I just find the execution so far lacking. They sometimes struggle with making it interesting too and not just walking up to a character and clicking a button and then it's done, but the better ones get some pretty good (and most importantly: hot) character interaction out of it. This here I don't think really manages so far.

I can tell you from first-hand experience, most people do not pay any attention to tutorials and intros. Invariably, someone always skips through the dialog, then comes back later asking how to do something that had already been explained had they paid attention during the tutorial.

 

[PyoT]

I can tell you from first-hand experience, most people do not pay any attention to tutorials and intros. Invariably, someone always skips through the dialog, then comes back later asking how to do something that had already been explained had they paid attention during the tutorial.

Yes. That's the point. That is why IF you actually do a tutorial make it very concise, very direct. This is the phone. It does X, Y, Z. Click here. Click there. Maybe there's a Help button for further explanation.

Don't do "haha here is you phone. It's on the top right corner of the screen. What screen? Haha meta joke. Open the inventory here. The inventory is there to add and remove items. The next app is ..." - half the players will already have gone into the options and pressed CTRL ^^

Minimize the chances that anyone zones out and skips by making it as short as possible; make it so that even if somebody just skims through it's likely they'll nonetheless hit the important points because there is nothing else presented then.

That's why typically commercial games do NOT mix narrative and tutorial. Tutorial will be an obnoxious system message that's very much "CLICK HERE" "DO THAT". And it won't be some sort of funny narrative where an ingame character or the like vaguely explains a thing making it ten times more tedious (exceptions positive and negative exist ^^).

 

[Sycho]

Yes. That's the point. That is why IF you actually do a tutorial make it very concise, very direct. This is the phone. It does X, Y, Z. Click here. Click there. Maybe there's a Help button for further explanation.

Don't do "haha here is you phone. It's on the top right corner of the screen. What screen? Haha meta joke. Open the inventory here. The inventory is there to add and remove items. The next app is ..." - half the players will already have gone into the options and pressed CTRL ^^

Minimize the chances that anyone zones out and skips by making it as short as possible; make it so that even if somebody just skims through it's likely they'll nonetheless hit the important points because there is nothing else presented then.

That's why typically commercial games do NOT mix narrative and tutorial. Tutorial will be an obnoxious system message that's very much "CLICK HERE" "DO THAT". And it won't be some sort of funny narrative where an ingame character or the like vaguely explains a thing making it ten times more tedious (exceptions positive and negative exist ^^).

A tooltip might also help a lot along the way. That way when you hover over one of the apps on the phone, it'll tell you what it's for. The dev I work with uses them in his last two games.

 

[HentaiKami]

Yeah, real world's a bitch. Some things happening out there make you grind your teeth in literal rage. And while I have some controversial fetishes, any real-world example also makes me uncomfortable. But, like, as adults, we should have enough sense to know what's game and what's reality. Besides, a game(porn or not) is also a safe place to let yourself go and explore things you wouldn't do in the real world. It also sometimes helps deal with trauma, as someone pointed out.

And contrary to some people, I don't cater to the belief of linking real-world crime with games. Also, this goes without saying, on this site, I don't feel anyone needs to be ashamed of any fetish they have, even if it's controversial.

This is why I like games where I have lots of choices and lots of options. I don't like games that shove something on the player(such as a sexual partner or a fetish they hate) without giving them the option to avoid it. But not, at least, having the option to try is also somewhat of a bummer.

(Also, this might not matter, but while instant mind-control as presented in the game is fantasy, cults and such do use drugs, mental conditioning, and brainwashing to similar effects. There are some crazy fucked up shits happening in the real world that even our darkest fantasies can't emulate. So yeah, real world's a bitch of the highest calibre.)

Oh sure, it would be nice if people could always differentiate between media and real world, sadly some people can't. And yes, media is usually safe place for people, as long as it doesn't trigger any unwanted memories/emotions happening, which is why it's good thing we have tags and discussions about them. And i know that it is often quite common for some people to joke about others getting triggered by something the watch or read, sadly it's not really fun thing to witness when it actually happens and not just "happens". It's can cause kind of similar reaction to what combat vets with PTSD might experience if the trauma behind trigger is deep and painful enough.

But yes, games should allow people to explore even darker parts of them, since that has been shown in some studies to actually reduce the likelihood of people acting out on those darker thoughts in real life.

 

[Insomnimaniac Games]

Oh sure, it would be nice if people could always differentiate between media and real world, sadly some people can't. And yes, media is usually safe place for people, as long as it doesn't trigger any unwanted memories/emotions happening, which is why it's good thing we have tags and discussions about them. And i know that it is often quite common for some people to joke about others getting triggered by something the watch or read, sadly it's not really fun thing to witness when it actually happens and not just "happens". It's can cause kind of similar reaction to what combat vets with PTSD might experience if the trauma behind trigger is deep and painful enough.

But yes, games should allow people to explore even darker parts of them, since that has been shown in some studies to actually reduce the likelihood of people acting out on those darker thoughts in real life.

It's weird that a game of all things is where people are having this discussion. No one complained when Game of Thrones had realistic depictions of rape.

 

[HentaiKami]

It's weird that a game of all things is where people are having this discussion. No one complained when Game of Thrones had realistic depictions of rape.

Oh there were discussions about it, but in case of game it's bit different, the perceived agency affects the end result quite a lot.

 

[althworld]

Oh sure, it would be nice if people could always differentiate between media and real world, sadly some people can't. And yes, media is usually safe place for people, as long as it doesn't trigger any unwanted memories/emotions happening, which is why it's good thing we have tags and discussions about them. And i know that it is often quite common for some people to joke about others getting triggered by something the watch or read, sadly it's not really fun thing to witness when it actually happens and not just "happens". It's can cause kind of similar reaction to what combat vets with PTSD might experience if the trauma behind trigger is deep and painful enough.

But yes, games should allow people to explore even darker parts of them, since that has been shown in some studies to actually reduce the likelihood of people acting out on those darker thoughts in real life.

I think a content warning is a good way for those who'd like to avoid certain things. And as you said, games give us agency. But we also have that agency in real life. So we can choose to avoid whatever content causes us discomfort. And while in real life, we often don't get to make all the choices we'd prefer, I'd like to think we're at least free to choose the media we consume.

 

[fishbrain]

umm money??? Oh well mod it is..

 

[HentaiKami]

umm money??? Oh well mod it is..

You can quite easily get money by playing blackjack on the computer, just save before each game and bet everything, you double your money and can quite quickly get so much money that you can buy everything currently in game.

 

[EagleEyes]

Good job with Eleanor, would love to see more of the roommate and landlady