VN Ren'Py Summer's Gone [Ch. 5 Beta] [Oceanlab]

[h3avenw0rd]

First thing I saw, "Warning, please lower your volume".

That really should instead be turned down, then present the players with "This game has audio, please adjust it to your preferred levels in the options". If you're going to warn the players, don't immediately hit them with the full force and think that's fine. Extra attention to details go a long way, but I definitely appreciate the audio warning nonetheless.

All the blank dialogue displays needs to go (or adjusted to have something, inner thoughts,"...", onomatopoeia, are all better), this is present from the start of the game, so literally boot up the game and you'll see the awkward pauses with the translucent box that requires extra clicks and disrupts flow/immersion.

I really hope singular choice prompts aren't going to be persistent in the future versions, because they've never been good in games. Always present players with at least 2 choices even if they don't differ much, the illusion of choice is better than a mandatory but obviously pointless choice.

Hopefully image size gets toned down a bit, might get bloated quick at this pace.

Other than that, good start, the MC's got issues and it's addressed consistently, lots of characters, decent pace to keep the story moving and not overloading on exposition.

Looking forward to how this progresses.

Edit: The dev was able to address a lot of quality of life changes quickly, this is a very positive sign and much appreciated.

 

[Eerie Entity]

A very promising start. The whole first chapter is a bit emotional, there's a lot of anger, depression and downright hatred inside MC, he's quite the fatalist and pessimist right now, as you keep going forward with the story, you'll understand why, seeing as the title isn't about a Summer season, it's about a girl named Summer, and she's being spoken about in past tense.
I wonder what happened, and I wonder if it's as bad as I think it is, but I hope not, I hope it's nothing that tragic and that one day she and MC would be reunited.
But perhaps with the help of his sister and this girl that got bumped by a car he'll come to, will see the light again and start healing, and why not with the help of other girls too, haha.
But yeah, a very promising start, pretty emotionally charged first chapter, and I'm loving the art and models. The use of light in some of the scenes was beautiful too, pretty cinematic, looked almost real.

I'll be definitely following this game, absolutely. Keep up the good work dev!

 

[Hyped]

I've a feeling the next release is going to be much more even visually. Devs should release shorter demos if they're doing this for the first time. It doesn't matter if your 4rth release is stunning if the intro looks this uneven.

 

[Look-see]

i really like it so far but a part of me is slightly worried that story can be changed based on patreon votes. it really gives the impression at least this game wont die soon, at least two more updates. no idea why i got that impression i just do. dev seems to have a goal to make it non-linear so depending how non-linear he makes it it can be very enjoyable more than it is already. all in all to early for me to give it to much of a review but like it so far and wish dev luck. gonna keep an eye on it.

 

[Deleted member 997153]

Ah yes, college. Known for slow burns, not fast faps.

Yep. The slow burn of gonorrhea.

 

[Nightless]

I will try it later looks good and yeah redhead is always a plus ^^

 

[9thCrux]

Seems like Sinisa is getting popular...
https://f95zone.to/threads/sinisa-hd-for-genesis-8-female.26809/

 

[winterwolf200]

Would you consider a mother/daughter relationship mid or end tier worthy? If i want to see these two together throughout the game, regardless of any plans you might have with the MC.

 

[Rico Caramba]

@Regium I noticed you are from Austria. Your story gave me a strong recollection to the song Jeanny by the Austrian singer Falco. But maybe you are to young to know this song.

 

[AWolfe]

I'm just at the beginning of the game (at the cabin). The only thing that bugs me, for the moment, is to have permanently the "dialog zone" even when there is no dialog. Like here for example :


View attachment 299005

Yes. It gets mildly annoying after a while. Game has outstanding renders. This is very, very impressive for a first release.

 

[NoboodyDies]

Possible compressed version?

 

[blahblah25]

Well that was something feels like I was playing someone who is struggles to understand emotions up side note hope the dev removes where you have to constantly press enter or click to advance to the next image or scene

 

[ThunderRob]

other than the cop showing up in her cruiser wearing a tanktop and jean skirt(because cops always dress like that ) and referring to a dames PERFUME as cologne...it seems ok so far for "ummm..whats going on..am i a supernatural being or something?" best keep playing
ok..super hot redhead..who cares about anything else..

 

[AWolfe]

MC and cute girl Mila smoking totally killed this game for me. I don't know why devs think that smoking is cool or sexy. It's neither.

 

[Hyped]

other than the cop showing up in her cruiser wearing a tanktop and jean skirt(because cops always dress like that ) and referring to a dames PERFUME as cologne...it seems ok so far for "ummm..whats going on..am i a supernatural being or something?" best keep playing
ok..super hot redhead..who cares about anything else..

Better than that overused daz cop costume I guess.

 

[CerbeXxX]

Interesting, to see how it is

 

[Eerie Entity]

MC and cute girl Mila smoking totally killed this game for me. I don't know why devs think that smoking is cool or sexy. It's neither.

A lot of people smoke, to me it's weirder that 99% of the characters in all of the games seem not to smoke, it has nothing to do with being cool or sexy, it's just a habit a lot of people possess

 

[CoffeeDrinker]

other than the cop showing up in her cruiser wearing a tanktop and jean skirt(because cops always dress like that ) and referring to a dames PERFUME as cologne...it seems ok so far for "ummm..whats going on..am i a supernatural being or something?" best keep playing
ok..super hot redhead..who cares about anything else..

Agreed... The cop in a stripper costume completely killed the immersion for me. I was a little afraid we might see her male partner in the police cruiser wearing nothing but a thong and a bow tie

One suggestion, personally I always appreciate when a Dev gives the player the option of naming (or rather re-naming) the relevant characters.

 

[JoJos123]

yea. a game with a Story

 

[Eerie Entity]

Agreed... The cop in a stripper costume completely killed the immersion for me. I was a little afraid we might see her male partner in the police cruiser wearing nothing but a thong and a bow tie

One suggestion, personally I always appreciate when a Dev gives the player the option of naming (or rather re-naming) the relevant characters.

Why is that a suggestion though? That feature been there in the game all along, unless of course you mean the adoptive mother and sister, then yeah I see your point. Odd that you can't rename them, but you can give a name to the girl that gets bumped by the car (and apparently she won't have a name at all if you don't give her one, no default name, at least she didn't when I left her unnamed at first)