Ren'Py Sins of Night [Release 3.5] [MakinWaves]

[MakinWaves]

With the monster hunting and mention of political factions with non vampire supernatural representation, I am brought to mind of one of the strong appeals in urban fantasy literature. Dresdsen Files and other works get a lot of mileage out of the concept of shadow politics. Hidden organizations and groups controlling different interests in a supernatural community, how the different parts fit in. With that, I like how you have Potency be monster hunting as it has me think of how the different stats for different specialized vampires lends themselves to different kinds of jobs in this wider shadow world. Which is interesting stuff for storytelling.

What inspired the character of Kate? And how is it going from Love and Vice, a mechanically complex smut game with a hollow story to something with lore and a tone from the get to more driven by narrative? I've always liked Love and Vice as a porn experience but its like Taffy Tales in that I want to do cool shit and I am stuck in a plain urban setting without spice. There were hints at a greater story in Love and Vice but it was never the focus. Allowing this supernatural urban fantasy premise opens up more to the experience. I find as I've indulged in these types of games, story and things to do add extra to the porn with action and drama make for something greater.

You seen Moniker Bloodlines? The idea it has of different povs for no set MC is a good one and I enjoy how it aims for a horror tone with a complex evolving story but the editing of the Renders is ass. Lovely idea with the vampire bimbo sluts, but dear lord is there so much wasted time spent on micro adjusting the positions of character models in rendering pages that could have been done in 5 or three clicks worth of render phases. And the writing itself varies between more well done than most to painfully short.

For Vice, I will share that in Love and Vice I noticed that often Love had the stronger story while Vice felt more generic at times. But with the Evelyn Vice scene of buying her the dress and making her wear lt, reversing the power dynamics, I'm curious to see how the emotions of the Vice path can be expanded and given texture to match the Romance's path depth.

So it's hard to answer for Kate, since at this point she came about a few years ago so I've kinda forgotten much of the thought process. Pretty much all my characters just come from very simple ideas or even the way look/present themselves. Then they evolve over time as I flesh them out and fit them into the greater picture, they just get something of a momentum going and start writing themselves usually. Having wider stories they can be inserted into obviously helps a great deal, hence the change in the main plot. I still consider the characters to be the main focus, with the story being a framework for them.

I haven't played Moniker, never really personally liked the HS aesthetic but from the screenshots it does seem like it's captured the vibes pretty well.

So I don't know if the Vice path will ever have quite the same level of story appeal as the love one. Its smutty nature is somewhat at odds with typical storytelling. There's times when you're compelled to abandon realism/immersion in favour of the sex fantasy stuff. Maybe this game's setting will help bridge that gap somewhat?

 

[Fantasyerotica1234]

So it's hard to answer for Kate, since at this point she came about a few years ago so I've kinda forgotten much of the thought process. Pretty much all my characters just come from very simple ideas or even the way look/present themselves. Then they evolve over time as I flesh them out and fit them into the greater picture, they just get something of a momentum going and start writing themselves usually. Having wider stories they can be inserted into obviously helps a great deal, hence the change in the main plot. I still consider the characters to be the main focus, with the story being a framework for them.

I haven't played Moniker, never really personally liked the HS aesthetic but from the screenshots it does seem like it's captured the vibes pretty well.

So I don't know if the Vice path will ever have quite the same level of story appeal as the love one. Its smutty nature is somewhat at odds with typical storytelling. There's times when you're compelled to abandon realism/immersion in favour of the sex fantasy stuff. Maybe this game's setting will help bridge that gap somewhat?

I too had issues with the Honey Select aesthetic but the story drew me in only for the crappy sense of smut to pull me away. Good ideas, creative thought, awkward execution. There's one scene where a sister is offering blood wine to her younger sister to turn her into a vampire slut and it has this strong tension. Really good idea and the way it gets more and more creepy as the older sister tries to force her sister to drink while the younger sister becomes aware of the blood everywhere is fun, but the editing for the render pages is far too many. It slows down pacing and becomes annoying to experience.

Its always nice to have the ability to push characters in interesting places. It opens up exploration of personality and actions they can do so the writer can focus on having fun with them.

I think of Nympho Tamer which is both the most degenerate corrupted VN I know but also has layers to the relationship between the MC and his sub kitty. Exploring the power dynamic, how the MC vampire corrupts the girls by preying on their issues like how he becomes the man of the house for Eveyln. Areas of need and want they have that he can fit in and twist. The why of how a woman would fall so far and more interestingly stay fallen. What the Vice path offers to them that keeps them addicted to the way the MC treats and uses them. Maintenance of dependence.


Setting wise, I am looking forward to seeing gun using Vampire prose vs a guy like Hugh who uses blades. The difference in fighting style between modernism and Vampires who rely on their superhuman condition to use melee. Will other girls also have the Dream corruption mechanic of Eveyln or is that unique to her?

 

[MakinWaves]

I too had issues with the Honey Select aesthetic but the story drew me in only for the crappy sense of smut to pull me away. Good ideas, creative thought, awkward execution. There's one scene where a sister is offering blood wine to her younger sister to turn her into a vampire slut and it has this strong tension. Really good idea and the way it gets more and more creepy as the older sister tries to force her sister to drink while the younger sister becomes aware of the blood everywhere is fun, but the editing for the render pages is far too many. It slows down pacing and becomes annoying to experience.

Its always nice to have the ability to push characters in interesting places. It opens up exploration of personality and actions they can do so the writer can focus on having fun with them.

I think of Nympho Tamer which is both the most degenerate corrupted VN I know but also has layers to the relationship between the MC and his sub kitty. Exploring the power dynamic, how the MC vampire corrupts the girls by preying on their issues like how he becomes the man of the house for Eveyln. Areas of need and want they have that he can fit in and twist. The why of how a woman would fall so far and more interestingly stay fallen. What the Vice path offers to them that keeps them addicted to the way the MC treats and uses them. Maintenance of dependence.


Setting wise, I am looking forward to seeing gun using Vampire prose vs a guy like Hugh who uses blades. The difference in fighting style between modernism and Vampires who rely on their superhuman condition to use melee. Will other girls also have the Dream corruption mechanic of Eveyln or is that unique to her?

So the other human girls will certainly have the dream influence. Vampires I'm not sure about. I've already kinda got some stuff going on there so I'll have to see how things develop in that area.

 

[Fantasyerotica1234]

So the other human girls will certainly have the dream influence. Vampires I'm not sure about. I've already kinda got some stuff going on there so I'll have to see how things develop in that area.

I know from the introduction that Hugh's bloodline has lust as its great curse, but how sexual are vampires inherently? In comparison to regular people, are vampires due to their condition more erotic by nature or no? Going back to the idea of Potency playing a role in vampire girl sex interactions, are vampires aroused by greater power and physical dominance? I'm curious where on the smut logic worldbuilding scale you are putting Vampires in this.

 

[MakinWaves]

I know from the introduction that Hugh's bloodline has lust as its great curse, but how sexual are vampires inherently? In comparison to regular people, are vampires due to their condition more erotic by nature or no? Going back to the idea of Potency playing a role in vampire girl sex interactions, are vampires aroused by greater power and physical dominance? I'm curious where on the smut logic worldbuilding scale you are putting Vampires in this.

Those are question you'll have to answer by playing Part of the relationships will be exploring this kinda of stuff so I don't really want to spell it out.

 

[single_guy_from_au]

The game looks really good - MakinWaves

When is the next update coming?

 

[iainmore]

Good luck with this. It has potential. I do like vampire themed games and VN's. The background story initially looks interesting as well. I hope you can add visual variety to some of the grindier elements of this game.

 

[MakinWaves]

The game looks really good - MakinWaves

When is the next update coming?

Sometime next month I hope.

Good luck with this. It has potential. I do like vampire themed games and VN's. The background story initially looks interesting as well. I hope you can add visual variety to some of the grindier elements of this game.

I'll try my best!

 

[Fantasyerotica1234]

Sometime next month I hope.

Will the phone bug on web version be fixed? I'd give a full review of the current content but that problem has made it impossible to complete version 1. And I don't want to be soft locked out of version 2's public web version. You put the work in, I'll do my best to give thoughtful reaction to the effort.

 

[MakinWaves]

Will the phone bug on web version be fixed? I'd give a full review of the current content but that problem has made it impossible to complete version 1. And I don't want to be soft locked out of version 2's public web version. You put the work in, I'll do my best to give thoughtful reaction to the effort.

Yeah I haven't investigated that bug yet but will do soon and ideally get it all fixed for R2. Though if I end up having to replace the phone system entirely, I might have to push that back into post R2 work.

 

[labatadoria]

Off to a great start, MakinWaves! The content so far is great, and this is some of the smoothest gameplay I've seen from a RenPy game.

I did spot an error: your phone lists your mom as your landlady even if you made the appropriate switch.

How much diversity in body types can we expect? Any plans for some women with more small-chested/slim builds? Will we have some VTM-style disciplines in our toolkit, and on a scale from Potency to Proteanism to Animalism, how exotic can we expect them to get?

Can't wait to see the game expand! Thank you for sharing your fantastic work!

 

[Fantasyerotica1234]

I like the lightning. It is a small detail that creates a large effect. The use of colored shadows and dim light to highlight certain tones in the Renders has generated a unique atmosphere. The moments look good, with an artistic flair because of the careful attention spent to not pouring flat light everywhere. I rarely see a porn novel game in 3D that cares about this and it has made the experience better. Pretty models aren't good by themselves. They need environmental design to pop.

 

[MakinWaves]

Off to a great start, MakinWaves! The content so far is great, and this is some of the smoothest gameplay I've seen from a RenPy game.

I did spot an error: your phone lists your mom as your landlady even if you made the appropriate switch.

How much diversity in body types can we expect? Any plans for some women with more small-chested/slim builds? Will we have some VTM-style disciplines in our toolkit, and on a scale from Potency to Proteanism to Animalism, how exotic can we expect them to get?

Can't wait to see the game expand! Thank you for sharing your fantastic work!

Thanks for reporting, I already fixed that bug for the next release!

So body types wise, Hazel is actually very slim and perky. I kinda have to be careful with flatties because that can sometimes get you in trouble. There will be some smaller girls like I said though.

I recently started designing the combat abilities and such, which includes all the usual vampire stuff like speed and strength. I would like to add claws etc (there's actually a hint of it in the intro) but that's more a question of if I can get good assets for it for the accompanying renders. Full body transformation is probably out of the question for the mc in his infancy, but I wouldn't rule out it appearing in game at some point.

I like the lightning. It is a small detail that creates a large effect. The use of colored shadows and dim light to highlight certain tones in the Renders has generated a unique atmosphere. The moments look good, with an artistic flair because of the careful attention spent to not pouring flat light everywhere. I rarely see a porn novel game in 3D that cares about this and it has made the experience better. Pretty models aren't good by themselves. They need environmental design to pop.

I'm glad people can notice that at least! A fair amount of the renders didn't come out as well as they could have, but obviously I wanted to give it a unique and atmospheric look to the best of my limited ability. Does take a long ass time though.

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

How much diversity in body types can we expect? Any plans for some women with more small-chested/slim builds?

Very much agree, also a fan of this style and hope to see more of Hazel or others with similar figures; given Evelyn will capture much of the 'voluptuous' crowd; it can only attract more fans to have some bodies at the other end of the spectrum.

So body types wise, Hazel is actually very slim and perky. I kinda have to be careful with flatties because that can sometimes get you in trouble. There will be some smaller girls like I said though.

Hopefully you'll be fine as long as they don't look like kids - past the oft-spoken conversations here on f95 about "reee patreon nazis" and "well acksually sum middle aged women just have petite frames", I think we all have a pretty good common sense understanding as to what to avoid. Leave the growing up g8 sliders alone, do B/C cup figures not As, etc.

I like the lightning. It is a small detail that creates a large effect. The use of colored shadows and dim light to highlight certain tones in the Renders has generated a unique atmosphere. The moments look good, with an artistic flair because of the careful attention spent to not pouring flat light everywhere. I rarely see a porn novel game in 3D that cares about this and it has made the experience better. Pretty models aren't good by themselves. They need environmental design to pop.

So much this, and I'm glad waves is on the same page.

Many players don't realize this (and those fluent in daz will), the #1 thing that makes scenes and games feel "lifeless" is overuse of ghost lights and washed out palettes, little contrast, making everything look like a Terry Richardson photoshoot.

 

[sagerock820]

Thanks for reporting, I already fixed that bug for the next release!

So body types wise, Hazel is actually very slim and perky. I kinda have to be careful with flatties because that can sometimes get you in trouble. There will be some smaller girls like I said though.

I recently started designing the combat abilities and such, which includes all the usual vampire stuff like speed and strength. I would like to add claws etc (there's actually a hint of it in the intro) but that's more a question of if I can get good assets for it for the accompanying renders. Full body transformation is probably out of the question for the mc in his infancy, but I wouldn't rule out it appearing in game at some point.

I'm glad people can notice that at least! A fair amount of the renders didn't come out as well as they could have, but obviously I wanted to give it a unique and atmospheric look to the best of my limited ability. Does take a long ass time though.

Yeah, that gets me, as if adult women can't have small breasts.

 

[MakinWaves]

Very much agree, also a fan of this style and hope to see more of Hazel or others with similar figures; given Evelyn will capture much of the 'voluptuous' crowd; it can only attract more fans to have some bodies at the other end of the spectrum.

Hopefully you'll be fine as long as they don't look like kids - past the oft-spoken conversations here on f95 about "reee patreon nazis" and "well acksually sum middle aged women just have petite frames", I think we all have a pretty good common sense understanding as to what to avoid. Leave the growing up g8 sliders alone, do B/C cup figures not As, etc.

So much this, and I'm glad waves is on the same page.

Many players don't realize this (and those fluent in daz will), the #1 thing that makes scenes and games feel "lifeless" is overuse of ghost lights and washed out palettes, little contrast, making everything look like a Terry Richardson photoshoot.

I think with the coming content I've made some improvements in balancing the colour contrasts. So would definitely appreciate some perspectives on it when it's available to play!

 

[Pr0GamerJohnny]

I think with the coming content I've made some improvements in balancing the colour contrasts. So would definitely appreciate some perspectives on it when it's available to play!

Look forward to seeing it!

If you weren't already aware, there's so much you can do in the Render Settings -> Tone Mapping section, from changing shutter speed to changing ISO which affects the exposure value:Shutter speed ratio, all things that affect the overall appearance of light in a scene, and good to play around with.

Of course it's possible to go overboard the other direction too; excessive contrast and shadows where plain old dialogue scenes are hard to see - but I remember the first release as having a good balance.

 

[Fantasyerotica1234]

I am looking forward to seeing the mind control of a Vampire explored further and enjoy the quality of dialogue. A funny truth i've discovered on f95 is people will get mad about crappy story. Its astonishing how on a porn forum, you will see many reviews where people will go in depth on why a story is crap, what makes the characters boring, and how they want better writing.

There's a need for a VN that is both very erotic, lots of porn keeping the focus on smut, but has strong storytelling and interesting narrative. People want the porn logic but they also want a engaging experience.

 

[Firaxius]

A very good start, love VN's about vampires, sadly not many good ones out there. This one seems of a good start though. The sandbox atm is a bit same loop hole, hope on that part will be added much more to do and even do the same option again that it will have different images, not everytime the same one. I'm looking forward to the future of this VN sandbox.

 

[SqueeZed]

This may have already been said, I read the first page and saw NTR is avoidable but not other love interests for the MC. So for example, lets say i wanted a "Landlady" only route and avoid other love interest's (granted i'll miss a chunk of other saucey content...). Can i, i'm not required to sex up other LI's to progress the story am i?

I like the wincest concept with vampires and there is little of them other than Area69. Turning your landlady into a thrall and the whole power dynamic shift is hot. Even if this mommy, i mean landlady looks like she could eat me for breakfast...literally.