VN Ren'Py Abandoned Strange Gift [v0.12] [Amaraine]

[UnDeaD_CyBorG]

That's kinda how I immediately approached it. Though I didn't play until the end - probably not even day 25, as no nun for me.
A recommendation would be to have darkness rise a bit slower in un-unlocked areas, so there will not be a frustrating case of "oh, new area. Wtf, it's at 45!".
Well, I managed to get all immediately available areas and the pool very low in less than 20, I suppose. Was .8, though.

 

[bacchusplateau]

Okay, I've played your other games before, and I usually like to give new games time to breathe before trying, so this is the first time playing "Gift".

To be honest, I was immediately frustrated. I felt like I applied for the job of cat sitter to find out I had a giant field full of cats, and I had to get them all back to the barn by sundown.

Restart: Second play through was a bit saner. I still felt like I was muddling through, but I was opening up more areas this time around town, and getting the feel of the place. I think I was concentrating too much on the non-magical girls, because places were overcame with evil and no longer available. Eek! Yes, I had found the help page by this time, and I looked at spells for a bit, but I was all like, "Boring! There's a game to conquer! Pew! Pew-pew-pew!"

Restart: Third play through. Ahh, now it makes sense. By the time I decided that I won, all the girls but two were slaves & every area was darkness free. On how I got the game to that point, I'll hide in a spoiler...

Spoiler: My version of getting through the game

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I just wanted to report a bug. At least I think it's a bug. When I try to beat down the darkness a fast as I can, and I defeat it at my house before unlocking the Ex-Nun, the Ex-Nun doesn't appear in my game and I can't go to the church. I think the same with the swinger's club, but I wasn't paying attention to it as closely as the church. The reason the bondage club and library weren't locked out was because I couldn't get my house darkness free fast enough to see if it would stop those triggers.

I tried on multiple play throughs before realising, that removing the darkness from my house could be the problem. The very next play through where I didn't remove the darkness right away, the Ex-Nun appeared and I had the church.

 

[UnDeaD_CyBorG]

Was that significantly changed in 0.9?
Because in 0.8 I never had an option to remove it at home in the first place, though I did get it to -50 or something.

 

[Amaraine]

I just wanted to report a bug. At least I think it's a bug. When I try to beat down the darkness a fast as I can, and I defeat it at my house before unlocking the Ex-Nun, the Ex-Nun doesn't appear in my game and I can't go to the church. I think the same with the swinger's club, but I wasn't paying attention to it as closely as the church. The reason the bondage club and library weren't locked out was because I couldn't get my house darkness free fast enough to see if it would stop those triggers.

I tried on multiple play throughs before realising, that removing the darkness from my house could be the problem. The very next play through where I didn't remove the darkness right away, the Ex-Nun appeared and I had the church.

I set up the situation you describe (darkness defeated at home) and then checked the roster on day 25, and the nun appeared. Her location is random at any point, and it's a bit harder to run into any particular character in the middle of the game than it is early on (or later, actually, because the # of girls in the game reaches its maximum length on day 25). I've modified the randomness so that she doesn't consider hanging out at the church until you have it unlocked, and that should make her a little less difficult.

 

[Amaraine]

Was that significantly changed in 0.9?
Because in 0.8 I never had an option to remove it at home in the first place, though I did get it to -50 or something.

In both 0.8 and 0.9 it's automatically removed at home once it hits 0 -- there's no special ritual necessary.

 

[Bip]

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Spoiler: Release

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Spoiler: Changelog

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[Bip]

@Amaraine did 2 polls for patrons.
I think I can't do polls in an existing thread, so I put them loose.

First one:

Hi there -- lots still to be done on this game, but I wanted to do a poll to see where to focus my efforts. I would request that you not participate unless you have played at *least* 0.9.

One option is to work on adding more scripted characters. The top candidates for that, to my mind, is a Dominatrix character (Isabella, the brunette from Strange Gift 0.2) and/or the Housewife Character (Karima, the South Asian girl from Strange Gift 0.2). Right now the game creates a random character with these professions if you haven't succeeded at opening the associated locations. Karima would involve a little "sharing" that turns some people on and turns other people off. With Isabella I'd play up her bisexuality and have her top some of the other characters.
Another is to work on making more scenes and renders for the current three characters of Olivia, Mia, and Chloe.
And finally, there's lots of things that could be done to enhance the non-scripted characters in the game -- a sex @ home render, bondage renders, furtive blowjob renders for all the locations, etc., and more coding too.
I'm going to continue working on the scripted characters already in the game, as well as the non-scripted interactions, regardless -- so a vote for those is a vote for developing those things before considering adding new scripted characters.

1. Add Karima, the swinger housewife
2. Add Isabella, the dominatrix
3. Add some other scripted character (Secretary, ex-Nun?)
4. Work on the scripted characters already in the game more
5. Work on the non-scripted character aspect of the game more.

Second one:
I'm looking for feedback as to the difficulty of the game as a whole. Use the comments for nuance. Please only participate if you have played version 0.10 to the end.

1. Winning the game was too hard!
2. Winning the game was too easy!
3. The game provided the right amount of challenge.

 

[UnDeaD_CyBorG]

In both 0.8 and 0.9 it's automatically removed at home once it hits 0 -- there's no special ritual necessary.

Does that mean it's not listed anymore? Because it definitely was. It was just in the negative.
Or do you just mean it doesn't tick anymore?

 

[Amaraine]

Does that mean it's not listed anymore? Because it definitely was. It was just in the negative.
Or do you just mean it doesn't tick anymore?

When the darkness is defeated in an area, it doesn't tick upward. It can still go further negative. There is a small effect for getting a place to -25 or below, which is that all girls dress wear their most revealing clothing there, even if they don't have a rule that makes them do so.

Some places (the beach, the cafe, the library, and the pool) require a special ritual to defeat the darkness -- one that becomes available only once you have the right girls helping you, and the darkness is less than 5.

At other places (home, the club, and the church) the darkness is defeated the moment you get the darkness to 0. Rituals will be added for all of them eventually, but right now, it's just a matter of getting them to zero.

The office requires a special ritual as well, and for all other areas to be darkness free, but it does *not* require you to get the darkness to a low level first.

 

[N7]

updated op

 

[ThunderRob]

happiness is..a new @Amaraine game update

 

[botc76]

What's the way to play this one?

I get the stats high with regular conversation, but that never changes, next to nothing has pictures, I can't invite any girl home, so I can't get the negative vibes there down...

I don't know, never had problems playing amaraine's games, but this one eludes me somewhat.

 

[ThunderRob]

What's the way to play this one?

I get the stats high with regular conversation, but that never changes, next to nothing has pictures, I can't invite any girl home, so I can't get the negative vibes there down...

I don't know, never had problems playing amaraine's games, but this one eludes me somewhat.

have both red and green bars over around 75-80% full and you can invite em home..make sure ya detect magic on everyone..talk to everyone..get the bsdm and lifestyles club's opened..there you can up their blue bar fast to give them commands...also..meet Olivia on the beach..and spank her...that raises her blue bar..at the library..learn defeat darkness first and fast..Olivia..is the easiest to get to 25 on the blue bar i've found ..then you invite her home and defeat darkness there first...invite her every morning once you got her commanded to help you with magic...
EDIT:the game is ALOT harder now...i'm guessing Amaraine has a thing against players defeating all the darkness...if you play cheat free..you will not prevent some places from disappearing for good..lol..so..save home..office..library ..beach...cafe...pool...church..in that order...office will probably fall cause its really fucked up still..lol

 

[DevilZ]

Spoiler: Console cheat for Darkness

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[EPGerhart]

As expected, my first play-though of 10.1, I lost. I just can't remember when the ex-nun is at the church, and if I do, I don't have enough magic to summon girl AND cast remove darkness, and am too busy trying to prevent disaster elsewhere that I forget that I can make a date there.

Chloe was Loki's agent but turned to my side, to be replaced by Mia who proceeded to make the Cafe inaccessible. I'd removed the darkness from home and lifestyles and "leather and steel" and almost had the library clear. Even though I had a secretary who had agreed to help me with magic, I wasn't given the option to use summon girl at the office.

Not really a bug, but without reading through this thread, it's not clear that darkness below 0 is of any use so the messages at the two clubs that you can't get the darkness any lower without lowering the darkness at home doesn't make sense.

 

[TheNamed]

Enjoyed 0.10.1 though I'm yet to win the game it feels doable (had four areas clear and one below zero but without the necessary events done on my second attempt; the first I never met the ex-nun so lost the church). I think the key will be focus, both on girls and on areas. It's much better to have one girl you can date to reduce darkness than two that just hug and the sooner you stop darkness ticking up in an area the less total darkness you need to clear to win the game.

 

[PolarJade]

Can't figure out for the life of me how to do the rituals for the café and pool

 

[geminiw45]

Great game but way too hard, actually heavily hesitating to start a 5th time, especially since there are gorgeous girls but with too little images/ positions/ outfits of them. I want to, but I don't feel like blind-grinding so much, again, with little or no results/ rewards. Didn't even get to rituals.

Played mostly v 9, and 1 time 10 and a few remarks (I'm not sure it's completely accurate, that's how it felt to me)
- not clear the level of darkness in each room (have to use phone interface)
- not clear which effect have the actions, be it submission (how many points a girl wins or loses) or darkness fighting (does bj, sex or spell have better effects, does it depend on girls or places?), it would be nice to have a message "+/- xx points" after completing an action
- not sure I get why and when I can cast a fight darkness spell with a partner, sometimes it's working sometimes not, guessing it's related to stats but not clear
- when at last I have someone to do the naughty in public, rooms are too dark, bj don't seem to decrease darkness enough, and only one girl to grind with, defeat is coming
- they're really cute characters, but not enough images/ positions/ outfits (more heels please )
- text consistently hides lower part of their body, maybe pictures of the girls in their best positions could be found in the camera phone
- does the camera actually have a function?

Great idea, mechanics and girls, but difficult and not enough visuals for me, yet

 

[TheNamed]

Can confirm 1.10.1 is winnable. I defeated the darkness at it's source on day 50, so had a bit of leeway still, though I did make a fair bit of use of the back button (load empty area = back and try elsewhere; get caught in public = back; fail to learn a skill = back and choose another.)

Tips:
- There is a bonus for the first flirt with each girl each day, but it's still not worth spreading your attention out too widely.
- The scripted girls (Chloe, Olivia, Mia) are essential because you need them to be able to do the rituals in four areas.
- For your first few girls prioritise public BJ's (15 points), allowing you to reduce darkness and build submission during the day.
- If you have darkness low in an area and need a specific girl to complete the ritual, skip straight to 'help me with magic' on that girl.
- Key spells are Summon Girl and Fight Darkness. Don't bother with the others. Only research once you have Olivia able to help.
- Watch for Mia's events or Summon Girl to get her away from the café so you can do more than buy coffee.
- Go to the club whenever it is open as it's the best place to build submission.
- Date a willing girl daily in the church once it's open.
- Magic training is important. 5 is a good number to aim for (5 = summon + fight darkness + summon a different girl for BJ). Going to 8 lets you summon & fight twice).
- Spanking skill is more important than Bondage due to Olivia's event.


Requests/ideas:
- speed up training when appropriate girls ('help with magic' or bondage/spanking consent) are in your home to help.
- threesome/foursome when all girls are willing (would allow really fast darkness clearing in lategame)
- add 'Command' (like Date, but not limited to one per day) with slaves, possibly to set up the preceding (darkness 49 in the church? Tell three slaves to meet you there...)
- the Summon girl menu isn't long enough to include all the girls you might want to summon in the endgame.
- Chloe staying rather than running off once she has been trained sufficiently

 

[Amaraine]

Love all the discussion and feedback. I'm particularly pleased with the description of how TheNamed beat the game -- because it differs in some significant ways from how I beat the game in my tests, and multiple paths to victory is a game design goal.