- Thread starter Muff Diver
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- Apr 26, 2017
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It's been up on the website for a while now. I honestly have no idea why people host on third party sites so much. It's not like we charge for downloads or anything, the game is free.
- May 5, 2019
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- Apr 14, 2019
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Huh.
That's my impression of the game after my first playthrough. Huh.
I want to start by saying I admire the imagination, dedication, and passion clearly evident in this game's development. You've done a great job capturing the feel you seem to be shooting for, and it seems like choices are and will be impactful. The characters do start to stand out. The storyline seems epic. All of this makes for a game that feels elevated from much of what's on offer around here. And from what I've seen in the thread, you're pretty responsive, so that's really awesome too. Great work!
That said, perhaps because this seems like a higher ambition, there are some areas I feel bog it down. First, I would really, really appreciate a species list. Everybody in-universe immediately knows what the other crewmembers are likely to be like based on their species, but I don't. I was still getting surprised by characters from the Inanna even in later chapters, for example learning about our own pilot being some kind of liberated sex synthetic. If it's common knowledge to the characters, please, please provide me some way of knowing it before I interact with them. The new species in the new galaxy? Sure, don't give them an entry until we've met and interacted with them a bit. But even with them it's part of our mission to log other species, so eventually putting them in a database as well seems pretty necessary.
Also, you threw a lot of characters at me right off the bat. I couldn't identify a few characters by name until deep into the game, primarily because even people I hadn't met in-game before interacted with me out of the blue like they had (making me second-guess whether this was this person or that person before realizing it was someone totally different - I'm thinking of Armin talking to me about mentioning his conspiracy stuff before when we'd never spoken prior to that point). This issue could also be fixed by an accessible crew log, updated as we meet people. I get that I'm asking for a lot of boring clarification work with all these logs, but sitting in confusion as the second second-in-command man [Michael Faren, I think?] is referred to by both his first name and his last name in the same conversation (making me unsure whether it was two separate people) while looking like Adam Donnelly and having a similar role to Armin (I thought he was the second second-in-command man?) frankly pulled me out of the story.
My point is, with a huge cast of characters (a good thing!) and a huge list of alien species (also a good thing!) it can be an information overload that takes time to unravel, time which isn't given because the story keeps moving along. To circumvent having to slow the story down, two easily accessed lists (which have in-universe reasons to exist anyway) would be incredibly helpful imo.
Next, sex. It's weird, man. Getting the "we've been totally dating awhile!" option right off the bat with a character I don't know anything about sets up a weird relationship. I had no basis for choosing, and again, what do I know about her alien species? Nada. So without knowing Nikka's personality, or even having some measuring stick to guess what her personality is like (though I'd still prefer to know this person personally before I agree I've been dating her), I had to go with the "let's be friends, it's not you it's me" option and hear about silly hats on another alien species I knew nothing about (making the joke less funny). Then I get to my ship, and bam! I get a dossier for a sex sla... er, sex-indentured-servant. Again, no idea what she's actually like, immediate relationship. And the pattern continues. Wanna bang this one? Ze rubbed zir dick on your leg! How 'bout these ones! It's a free-for-all because you're high on lizard spit! This one? It's your pilot, the sex-crazed synthetic you've never directly talked to before! No prior contact necessary!
I don't mean to get too facetious here, but this really rubbed me the wrong way (no offense, Rin). It was off-putting. I got through the whole first playthrough uninterested in fucking anybody. That's not why I signed up for this mission, dammit! And it didn't get better once I knew the characters, because by that point it was Hegemony Harem Time in my playthrough and I didn't feel like coercing my friends into orgies on the off-chance strangers were judging me about it. It felt icky! Plus I'd missed all the triggers for relationships at that point anyway (I think), so it wasn't like I had a game-gf to quietly intro to guilty group sex with the ever-horny auto-pilot as a cop-out.
I don't really know quite how to fix this. Again, the logs would help, because at least I'd have a way of checking who these people getting served to me on a silver platter actually are. But, just as you show in this very game, a log is no substitute for spending actual time with a character. I came out good friends with Armin and Michael Faren (I'm like 90% sure that's his name... Sorry, buddy) because I loved watching Space Bond and liked inspiring a slacker to give a shit. And even though
, the voices in my head tell me I like Ziya now (which is a fantastic turn-around!). So other than outright removing sexual content in the early phases of the game - a big no-no as far as this site is concerned - or requesting some major rewrites/additions - a big no-no as far as game devs are concerned - I think I've just got to live with it as-is. Maybe replay and enjoy, knowing what I know now right from the start. I guess all I can really do is reiterate: pretty please with-a-cherry-on-top put in a species database and a character log for future players' sakes!
I want to finish off on a positive note. Giving a major decision like
is shouldering a lot of work for the sake of player choice, and that's truly laudible of you. While I occasionally wish I could take more hardline options - for example, I don't get why we care about the Collective at all, they're as much an enemy of the Empire as the Hegemony so let's leave them to their conflict and work on getting back home - overall I like the thrust of the game and feel like the story will let me become a space dictator just as I always dreamed... er, I mean, I feel like my decisions have weight and there will be a multitude of endings to accommodate just about anybody's playstyle. That's great! Projects on this scale are demanding, but from what I've seen you're def up to the task. Keep it up! Bravo! I truly wish you the best and hope you continue to enjoy making this game (so myself and others can continue to enjoy playing it)! Also, if you read all this, thank you for doing so. Have a great day/night, and I look forward to more! 
That's my impression of the game after my first playthrough. Huh.
I want to start by saying I admire the imagination, dedication, and passion clearly evident in this game's development. You've done a great job capturing the feel you seem to be shooting for, and it seems like choices are and will be impactful. The characters do start to stand out. The storyline seems epic. All of this makes for a game that feels elevated from much of what's on offer around here. And from what I've seen in the thread, you're pretty responsive, so that's really awesome too. Great work!
That said, perhaps because this seems like a higher ambition, there are some areas I feel bog it down. First, I would really, really appreciate a species list. Everybody in-universe immediately knows what the other crewmembers are likely to be like based on their species, but I don't. I was still getting surprised by characters from the Inanna even in later chapters, for example learning about our own pilot being some kind of liberated sex synthetic. If it's common knowledge to the characters, please, please provide me some way of knowing it before I interact with them. The new species in the new galaxy? Sure, don't give them an entry until we've met and interacted with them a bit. But even with them it's part of our mission to log other species, so eventually putting them in a database as well seems pretty necessary.
Also, you threw a lot of characters at me right off the bat. I couldn't identify a few characters by name until deep into the game, primarily because even people I hadn't met in-game before interacted with me out of the blue like they had (making me second-guess whether this was this person or that person before realizing it was someone totally different - I'm thinking of Armin talking to me about mentioning his conspiracy stuff before when we'd never spoken prior to that point). This issue could also be fixed by an accessible crew log, updated as we meet people. I get that I'm asking for a lot of boring clarification work with all these logs, but sitting in confusion as the second second-in-command man [Michael Faren, I think?] is referred to by both his first name and his last name in the same conversation (making me unsure whether it was two separate people) while looking like Adam Donnelly and having a similar role to Armin (I thought he was the second second-in-command man?) frankly pulled me out of the story.
My point is, with a huge cast of characters (a good thing!) and a huge list of alien species (also a good thing!) it can be an information overload that takes time to unravel, time which isn't given because the story keeps moving along. To circumvent having to slow the story down, two easily accessed lists (which have in-universe reasons to exist anyway) would be incredibly helpful imo.
Next, sex. It's weird, man. Getting the "we've been totally dating awhile!" option right off the bat with a character I don't know anything about sets up a weird relationship. I had no basis for choosing, and again, what do I know about her alien species? Nada. So without knowing Nikka's personality, or even having some measuring stick to guess what her personality is like (though I'd still prefer to know this person personally before I agree I've been dating her), I had to go with the "let's be friends, it's not you it's me" option and hear about silly hats on another alien species I knew nothing about (making the joke less funny). Then I get to my ship, and bam! I get a dossier for a sex sla... er, sex-indentured-servant. Again, no idea what she's actually like, immediate relationship. And the pattern continues. Wanna bang this one? Ze rubbed zir dick on your leg! How 'bout these ones! It's a free-for-all because you're high on lizard spit! This one? It's your pilot, the sex-crazed synthetic you've never directly talked to before! No prior contact necessary!
I don't mean to get too facetious here, but this really rubbed me the wrong way (no offense, Rin). It was off-putting. I got through the whole first playthrough uninterested in fucking anybody. That's not why I signed up for this mission, dammit! And it didn't get better once I knew the characters, because by that point it was Hegemony Harem Time in my playthrough and I didn't feel like coercing my friends into orgies on the off-chance strangers were judging me about it. It felt icky! Plus I'd missed all the triggers for relationships at that point anyway (I think), so it wasn't like I had a game-gf to quietly intro to guilty group sex with the ever-horny auto-pilot as a cop-out.
I don't really know quite how to fix this. Again, the logs would help, because at least I'd have a way of checking who these people getting served to me on a silver platter actually are. But, just as you show in this very game, a log is no substitute for spending actual time with a character. I came out good friends with Armin and Michael Faren (I'm like 90% sure that's his name... Sorry, buddy) because I loved watching Space Bond and liked inspiring a slacker to give a shit. And even though
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I want to finish off on a positive note. Giving a major decision like
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- May 5, 2019
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Technically is Tarik Rin, dunno if any else.im starting this, who are the futa/trans? so i know who to chase
- Jun 15, 2018
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Her name is Cho-le
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Though I do fully admit in devstreams when it comes up that it was a result of a typo replace/find during Episode 1 Act 2's development (back then Episodes were released in Acts) that completely went unoticed for multiple episodes. No player or tester or any Patron noticed until I think Episode 4 (or at least nobody brought it up).
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- Jun 15, 2018
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Thanks for the feedback, I am going to have to digest that over some time, though I did skim and reread parts of it already.
Though, I do have some responses/thoughts from the skimming.
Some things I railroad for the sake of being able to finish the episodes in some regular pacing. Otherwise I'd still be on episode 3. Though I will say it's interesting, you're the first person I have seen (that I remember) bring up the Aloshan collective as a potential enemy to the Empire. Honestly never occurred to me back during Episode 1/2. Captain Zal's thinking was, these people helped me find my crew and didn't abduct them/threaten me, and I'm alone here with my lone ship, I need some allies until we can message home. When/if they get in contact with the Titan Empire we'll see if they have different thoughts on it all.
Also I am always regretful of jamming Nikka's character into a potential relationship out of the gate for the reasons you mentioned (and of course I know now how to do better world building rather than just throwing the player into the ocean, head first, and telling them to swim). Back during early Episode 1 writing, the game was going to be much more adult and have a lot more sex (to the point of being a porn parody of a sci-fi, just as many adult games seem to be porn parodies of their respective genres), but as the episodes actually came out that part ended up being less the focus in favor of more character and plot to help the sex scenes have more meaning. (More sex focus is also why you have indentured servants, but in the end, that also allowed me to set up the situation back home between the Empire and the Outer Colonies as featured in the Tabletop RPG and the short stories. That will eventually come into play in the game as well beyond a reason why the Empire offers citizenship in an Imperially secured colony to servants).
Fun fact: The game's original spark of an idea was a management game where you run a brothel in a trans dimensional space called The Shard. There's even some artwork that's kinda from that period:
A very very early version of Ashe (who was more demonic back then before I decided that was just not where I wanted to go with the Sinara, and a very early version of Kani in the background there.
As for a codex and stuff, working on it as that is an often requested feature. Hoping to have the main crew done this month and maybe I can put the broad strokes in a menu in game or something (like a crew dossier), which should help with some of your concerns.
Alright, I'm heading back to work on E9 now, but I'll give the post a more thurough read later.
- May 5, 2019
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- Aug 1, 2018
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That's actually really interesting to know! I wasn't aware that, that was even an American name. Also definite kudos to replying, and actively looking at things here. I know a lot of games get posted onto here, and it's really refreshing to see a developer even care to take the time to look at responses for their game on here. Especially more so when they didn't even originally post it.
Normally I'm content just to lurk and keep tabs on the (many, many) game threads I follow here... but I gotta say drmaddoc47 this is some damn good stuff. Some minor complaints, but first I want you to understand:
-It takes something really special to get me to interact on here. Bravo.
-F95 is a veritable ocean of "Ren'Py VN with DAZ CGI stills" and I mostly ignore anything with a pink Ren'Py tag by default. Yet this one managed to not only catch my eye, but enthrall me. Double Bravo.
Now, I did mention complaints, but it mostly amounts to nitpicking.
-The UI could use some love. And I gotta ask, how the Hades did you manage to take the boring-ass default Ren'Py options menu and make it worse?
-For a game that gives off such distinct Mass Effect vibes, it's kinda disappointing we don't have much freedom to roam around the ship and chat up our crew at will. Would love to see this fleshed out a bit more with some kind of "ship map" and the ability to visit with various characters in a way that doesn't rely on forcing the plot forward.
Though, seeing as I'd spend every waking moment with Kani, maybe it's best you don't have that option, as she'd likely get sick of how clingy her Commander's become.
-It takes something really special to get me to interact on here. Bravo.
-F95 is a veritable ocean of "Ren'Py VN with DAZ CGI stills" and I mostly ignore anything with a pink Ren'Py tag by default. Yet this one managed to not only catch my eye, but enthrall me. Double Bravo.
Now, I did mention complaints, but it mostly amounts to nitpicking.
-The UI could use some love. And I gotta ask, how the Hades did you manage to take the boring-ass default Ren'Py options menu and make it worse?
-For a game that gives off such distinct Mass Effect vibes, it's kinda disappointing we don't have much freedom to roam around the ship and chat up our crew at will. Would love to see this fleshed out a bit more with some kind of "ship map" and the ability to visit with various characters in a way that doesn't rely on forcing the plot forward.
Though, seeing as I'd spend every waking moment with Kani, maybe it's best you don't have that option, as she'd likely get sick of how clingy her Commander's become.
- Jun 14, 2018
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I know this is a complaint for you and of course you are entitled to your opinion but...to voice my own opinion, I would hate that. Would probably stop playing the game if it went sandbox. Sometimes I tolerate it but I actively avoid those games for the most part. Not bagging on you just really want to make it clear to drmaddoc47 that not everyone feels that way.
- Aug 1, 2018
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I think sandbox would probably be a bit lame. Despite one of my signatures. Sandbox VNs become a bit annoying after awhile due to not knowing when the content ends. Along with the way the story sets itself too, sandbox would be quite difficult I imagine. I suppose if anything.
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Yeah, I get that. You may have misunderstood me a bit, I'm not talking full sandbox mode - I agree that they tend to get dull or confusing. But just as an example, there's a few time-jumps in the story between episodes that feel like missed opportunities for more interpersonal time with various crew members. I wouldn't expect a day/night time cycle with full schedules for everyone, this is after all a story-driven thing.I know this is a complaint for you and of course you are entitled to your opinion but...to voice my own opinion, I would hate that. Would probably stop playing the game if it went sandbox. Sometimes I tolerate it but I actively avoid those games for the most part. Not bagging on you just really want to make it clear to drmaddoc47 that not everyone feels that way.
Guess in the end I'm just asking for more (varied) opportunities to interact with the characters I like. Right now it just feels either too situational, or too brief. The segment in Ep 6, for instance, where you can visit various crew (or just spend the whole time with one of them) is great - but you only get a few sequences and then Time's Up and you're back to the bridge for the next mission.
- Jun 14, 2018
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I got no problem with more interaction I just don't want to wander around for it.
- Jun 15, 2018
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Alright, dfxtent Vainglorious Smogark , so this is a thing I was kinda working on with Episode 9 right now as I decided to call it a night and head to sleep after almost punching my computer (Daz problems), but then I saw fan comments and I just had to jump in. The topic is: player freedom
Episode 9 Aloshan has some 'free time' in the story, and I know a lot of people don't talk to a lot of the crew (for instance, players interested in the female characters will likely never talk sci-fi with Michael or watch a spy movie with Armin if there's a limit to their actions in an episode) and one of the ways that was floated past me to help people deal with this was to allow a bit more movement around during the free time segments.
Now, I was kinda going for a lighter version of Episode 3 in how I was doing this in Episode 9. I was thinking allowing you to have a long list to chose from and not really forcing a jump unless you either had a sex scene (since those take time and also help avoid players breaking relationships and such), or (since I have at least three Patrons who have never played a single sex scene and play for the story) there's an option to move on with plot when you have talked to all the people you want to.
Now, I think this is a system people will enjoy, and honestly it would make my life a bit easier in some respects compared to the horror that was coding Episode 6's blocks of time, but I have no intention of always allowing unlimited free time either (as with Episode 3, sometimes things happen, and to give them weight or urgency in the story it makes sense to break the flow), and I have no intention of doing a sandbox visual novel. If I want to do a sandbox game, I'll get a crew together and slowly chew on Unity.
As for dfxtent's comment "-The UI could use some love. And I gotta ask, how the Hades did you manage to take the boring-ass default Ren'Py options menu and make it worse? " I want a better UI for sure, but it always kinda falls to the back burner because the one that is there is at least workable and not broken functionally (and honestly better than what I could do atm in terms of functionality), it's just rough looking. That said, it has been reaching a point where I can't ignore it any longer (same for the Patreon Code Input) and should at least organize it if nothing else.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Also, of course, plans for Episode 9's 'free time' may change, but that's kinda the direction it's going now as I'm writing.
Alright, off to sleep cause it's way late.
DMD47
Episode 9 Aloshan has some 'free time' in the story, and I know a lot of people don't talk to a lot of the crew (for instance, players interested in the female characters will likely never talk sci-fi with Michael or watch a spy movie with Armin if there's a limit to their actions in an episode) and one of the ways that was floated past me to help people deal with this was to allow a bit more movement around during the free time segments.
Now, I was kinda going for a lighter version of Episode 3 in how I was doing this in Episode 9. I was thinking allowing you to have a long list to chose from and not really forcing a jump unless you either had a sex scene (since those take time and also help avoid players breaking relationships and such), or (since I have at least three Patrons who have never played a single sex scene and play for the story) there's an option to move on with plot when you have talked to all the people you want to.
Now, I think this is a system people will enjoy, and honestly it would make my life a bit easier in some respects compared to the horror that was coding Episode 6's blocks of time, but I have no intention of always allowing unlimited free time either (as with Episode 3, sometimes things happen, and to give them weight or urgency in the story it makes sense to break the flow), and I have no intention of doing a sandbox visual novel. If I want to do a sandbox game, I'll get a crew together and slowly chew on Unity.
As for dfxtent's comment "-The UI could use some love. And I gotta ask, how the Hades did you manage to take the boring-ass default Ren'Py options menu and make it worse? " I want a better UI for sure, but it always kinda falls to the back burner because the one that is there is at least workable and not broken functionally (and honestly better than what I could do atm in terms of functionality), it's just rough looking. That said, it has been reaching a point where I can't ignore it any longer (same for the Patreon Code Input) and should at least organize it if nothing else.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Also, of course, plans for Episode 9's 'free time' may change, but that's kinda the direction it's going now as I'm writing.
Alright, off to sleep cause it's way late.
DMD47
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- May 5, 2019
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Sandbox are ok if well done, but most of the VN with Daz3D renders with "free roam" are just you save scumming looking for content, mostly because time passes in game.
- Jun 15, 2018
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Yeah, I am aware. They end up being a map screen and a 'where the fuck do I go' type thing. You end up trying to find the new bit of content among all the options and it's a fuck ton of busy work... not what I have in mind.