VN Ren'Py Summer's Gone [S1 Steam + DLC] [Oceanlab]

[Tokenugget]

Of course, it's all your opinion and takes, and I respect it.
Just before I address some of your points, I like the new version a lot more & no reworks will be made. So this is it.




As someone said before, where I live sharing a bathroom isn't a weird thing to do. Nor is occasional nudity.

In the old version, Nami removed her panties and peed right in front of you. Talking about subtle, huh...
She doesn't do that anymore, but instead shows some tiddies, which is like totally not worth mentioning where I come from. Different cultures, I just have to assume you're American, as other Americans have mentioned similar things before.

And fuck yeah, the Wiggly is absolutely stupid and cringe. And it's exactly what I wanted there.

I disagree with you on the old version being more artistic. (Maybe if you take absurdity into the equation and say that art needs to be extravagant and over the top.)

Spoiler: Pee-ggly

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Do you mean the staredown that was already in the old version?

Spoiler: Staring old

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They start staring at each other after being grouped up, and they still had the same interaction in the hallway. (It makes even more sense if you engaged with her. In the old version you just ignored her.)
Yes, some changes were made to his behavior in class. You either like them or you don't.



Yes, her first interaction was changed. It's just a glimpse now, but that doesn't mean that's all Chapter 2 will show of her.
So wait for the second part of an unfinished rework. Ugh.



Now it's getting interesting.
Are you actually trying to explain an irrational reaction to me? Because that's what panic attacks are.
They don't follow any stigma, they don't care about certain criteria being met. (Is stigma the right word?)

And trust me, I know how they work.

"Sorry bud, your trauma/situation isn't enough for a panic attack! Sorry!"
"*Panic attack stops immediately*"

If you pay close attention, they don't happen randomly, there's always something connected to it.



I just have to completely disagree with this one.
In the old version, the MC appeared to be much more creepy and unapproachable.
Now Maja and the MC chatted for a bit before being tackled by a Raccoon.

Also, when did the MC ever act like an asshole to Maja?
- All Maja saw of the MC was him being in the hospital, being the one that "helped" Vic while she was on the ground.
- Then came to the hospital and gave her the purse back, there he almost never addressed Maja directly. (You can pick a choice in their only interaction.)
- Then Vic asks Maja to find you. She does, they have a more intimate chat than in the old version, and she listens through the door (Didn't do that in the old one.), in which he has a totally normal convo with Vic, saying stuff like "You're a positive person. That's the essence to happiness." instead of talking about animals, and optionally raping dolphins.

Ugh! Man, what a fucking asshole emotard he has become.



And scenes like these are exactly the reason why the rework had to happen. It's out of character for Chapter 3 Mila and above.
She has more style than this.

In the end, I'm not saying most of your points are wrong. We all just have a different point of view, and judge scenes by how we see the world.

Well, i appreciate the explanations... Like i said, i love the game, it's probably one of the few games i've played numerous times. I mean hell, i have Sasha as my avatar haha.

I won't debate any of the points made. It's your game after all. I shared my opinion and i'll just leave it at that.

 

[BrockLanders]

Now it's getting interesting.
Are you actually trying to explain an irrational reaction to me? Because that's what panic attacks are.
They don't follow any stigma, they don't care about certain criteria being met. (Is stigma the right word?)

And trust me, I know how they work.

"Sorry bud, your trauma/situation isn't enough for a panic attack! Sorry!"
"*Panic attack stops immediately*"

If you pay close attention, they don't happen randomly, there's always something connected to it.

I was going to interact with the post last night when I read it but didn't want to get started. Thanks for addressing that. While I have been lucky enough not to have panic attacks myself, I grew up with a sibling that was schizoaffective, a mother that had panic attacks when withdrawing from the medication she was abusing and then running out of, and had a 4-year relationship with a beautiful and tragic woman with borderline personality disorder. I feel like I've seen most flavors of panic attacks. You've hit the nail on the head.

Sometimes you can see it coming, but the vast majority of the time it comes out of left field... because you're not in their head to know what the impetus is. My mother was a mess and it was hard to understand at the time... so a lot of what my sister went through was reactionary. They would fight. Like literally fight. There was a lot of hyperventilating, lots of screaming at the mirror turning into sobbing, and lots of rocking in place that I witnessed. I spent a lot of time refining my "talk down" technique through trial, error, and receiving a lot of Indian burns and face screaming.

Much later, my girlfriend was exponentially worse. Once, I was getting the silent treatment all evening after we ate out, lots of staring off into space, sudden deep breaths and ragged exhales and getting up out of my lap and running to the bathroom. Later that night I wokef up to my girlfriend holding a knife to her own throat telling me she was going to "do it". It took a while to deal with that in the middle of the night. Why do it? She thought I was going to leave her for the waitress because I kept smiling at her and thanking her when she brought us things.

We were both servers at the time. :/

No rhyme or reason. No explanation fits all. Sometimes they just "are". All you can do is be a rock and hope they don't crash into it. Or leave.

I'm a fresh reader that put this VN away and then picked it back up after viewing the opening cutscene last year. I just finished a "say yes to everything and end up with Victoria" run. I've said it before here. The improvements you've made make the difference between the new work and the original attempt look like *night and day*. You've taken an average VN and applied thoughtful artistic intent to it. The only characters that feel "extra" now to me are the coaches, and you dialed that back plenty as far as I can tell. I really appreciate how hard you've obviously worked to improve and the script absolutely shows this. While there may be quibbles from some as you've acknowledged, I can appreciate what you're trying to accomplish.

Mental health is not an on|off switch to pull.
Choices have consequences.
The best way to show others who you are is to tell them what you see.

Thank you for sharing this with us.

Also, damn you for making me choose between these beautiful LIs lol

Keep it up. Make your art. We will adapt to your vision. I told TD1900 the same thing. We may not all like all of it, but it will be yours. At least we'll feel something. It's what defines art after all.

Cheers.

 

[BrockLanders]

Guys, why are all the good girls here blonde? Only Nami got hair dye?

I showed screenies to my friend and he said they all like like Melania Trump and posted vomit emojis. How do I patiently explain to him that all these irl people and Kardashian wannabes get surgery to desperately try to imitate Monica Belucci lol

 

[Razrback16]

First time I gave this game a try, incredibly good writing. I forgot to fap and spent 4 hours going through story, amount of tease is just enough to keep you invested. I really enjoyed going through the content so far and I'm really disappointed it's not finished because I want to know what happens. Also can't wait to get some epic sex scenes. Bit worried in how will relationships be managed once we inevitably enter harem phase. Hopefully there will be a lot of choices that matter and not just a fuck everyone I see type of story.

Ya, like someone else said, no harem in this game (which I'm happy about), but given the projected length of the game at ~30 chapters (another thing I'm happy about), I'm looking forward to this game having something akin to "relationship mechanics" where once the player is able to successfully enter into a relationship with one of the LIs, I think it'll be fun to see numerous scenes with the LI, both sexual as well as maneuvering around the assorted road blocks that the game will likely have here and there related to narrative-based-drama, other characters' jealousy of anything related to the MC or his inner circle, etc. The length of the game has the potential to create quite a living, breathing, world of engaging interest for us to enjoy and I'm very much looking forward to it. Hopefully once the re-works are done, the updates will come a bit faster as those re-works are likely making it so Ocean is working on effectively (3) different projects.

 

[Turret]

I showed screenies to my friend and he said they all like like Melania Trump and posted vomit emojis. How do I patiently explain to him that all these irl people and Kardashian wannabes get surgery to desperately try to imitate Monica Belucci lol

I normally try not to judge people I do not know at least a bit, but in the case of your friend I have the sad message that he is the victim of one of the worst plagues we currently have in the world.
Going only by WHO said/did/looks as something, instead of WHAT is said/did/looks as. This is strongest in the young generation, but present not only there. And this one thing which is bashing our societies against the railings at the moment!

Too many persons don´t get or do not want to get, that even people you do not like can have some really correct ideas/arguments on some topics, as it can happen that people you like have absolutely stupid ideas/arguments on some topics.

 

[Yvier the Duck]

Replaying again the game because, well, is a fucking amazing game I'm in the bathroom when the MC has a panic attack and fuck, I'm really sad that Robin will not be a LI, I really think that she is an amazing character, and although I understand she is a support character and that's cool I think she is one of the most interesting girls in the game. Is an early fase, I'm sure the others girls are gonna be more important and steal my heart but man, I really like Robin.

 

[BrockLanders]

Replaying again the game because, well, is a fucking amazing game I'm in the bathroom when the MC has a panic attack and fuck, I'm really sad that Robin will not be a LI, I really think that she is an amazing character, and although I understand she is a support character and that's cool I think she is one of the most interesting girls in the game. Is an early fase, I'm sure the others girls are gonna be more important and steal my heart but man, I really like Robin.

Robin is so goddamn hot. Her hair and those eyes. Hooooo boy

 

[rudy007]

Robin is so goddamn hot. Her hair and those eyes. Hooooo boy

Agree. But... Ocean created an, well, ocean full of beautiful and attractive girls... And woman...

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

Agree. But... Ocean created an ocean full of beautiful and attractive girls... And woman...

Totally agree, people are missing a lot of hotties because there are lots of them. Like I never see someone says how hot Cindy is, people simply overlook her but if she was in another game she would be worshipped by fans. It goes same for the main characters also. All I am wondering how many ending there will be, because each beauty will have own fanbase and if they won't have at least meaningful ending for their favourite, they will riot.

 

[rudy007]

Totally agree, people are missing a lot of hotties because there are lots of them. Like I never see someone says how hot Cindy is, people simply overlook her but if she was in another game she would be worshipped by fans. It goes same for the main characters also. All I am wondering how many ending there will be, because each beauty will have own fanbase and if they won't have at least meaningful ending for their favourite, they will riot.

At least attractive was probably the teacher, Maria, but she's with new hairstyle quite a looker. Coach Hill is a beauty too. Nojiko is "simple", but beautiful too.

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

At least attractive was probably the teacher, Maria, but she's with new hairstyle quite a looker. Coach Hill is a beauty too. Nojiko is "simple", but beautiful too.

Maybe we should tier list them. Is it against the rules? It's about the game but not exactly.

 

[den_tiger]

Agree. But... Ocean created an, well, ocean full of beautiful and attractive girls... And woman...

Even the random girls are hot.

 

[rudy007]

Maybe we should tier list them. Is it against the rules? It's about the game but not exactly.

I don't think it's against the rule, but We all know that first two places are in advance reserved. It's not fair, but those characters had the most screen time too. Possible after Ocean finishes the game.

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

Even the random girls are hot.

Like this one, who the hell is she? Isn't she a little too hot to be just a background character?

 

[rudy007]

Like this one, who the hell is she? Isn't she a little too hot to be just a background character?

View attachment 2574418

We know that Ocean's random characters could be main cast in practically every other game. The worst is black silhouettes...

 

[twiztid]

We know that Ocean's random characters could be the main cast in practically every other game. The worst is black silhouettes...

I agree Ocean puts great detail in the full cast. When you have a fully built background cast that stands out, it ties everything together. You can even take it a step further and make a group of people gossip and let the Mc gain knowledge of events, Lis, or anything just from background characters. It just adds life to the story, or world.

 

[rudy007]

I agree Ocean puts great detail in the full cast. When you have a fully built background cast that stands out, it ties everything together. You can even take it a step further and make a group of people gossip and let the Mc gain knowledge of events, Lis, or anything just from background characters. It just adds life to the story, or world.

That's not a bad idea, I would like that.

 

[Mortarion]

The worst is black silhouettes...

That was something I have never understood from some devs, why put this dummys into the scene? To let the - otherwise lifeless place - appear more vivid? Really?! I'm sure a mannequin, or many, that stands useless around like in some kind of crrepy movie makes the scene waaay more busy...

Personally I would never put such a thing into a scene - a sure way to make a laughing stock out of myself. If I lack the computing power for such a scene would rewrite the scene to fit it for my hardware.

Luckyly, in this game this will never be the case.

 

[Defenestrator.for.traitor]

I agree Ocean puts great detail in the full cast. When you have a fully built background cast that stands out, it ties everything together. You can even take it a step further and make a group of people gossip and let the Mc gain knowledge of events, Lis, or anything just from background characters. It just adds life to the story, or world.

That is not a bad idea and even implemented to the game somewhat at the bathroom scene. Though, wouldn't be too much of a hustle to deal with?

 

[rudy007]

I agree Ocean puts great detail in the full cast. When you have a fully built background cast that stands out, it ties everything together. You can even take it a step further and make a group of people gossip and let the Mc gain knowledge of events, Lis, or anything just from background characters. It just adds life to the story, or world.

Probably to avoid buying a character, clothes, posing, could be to accelerate production. There is one game that comes monthly and use it, then I can understand that. (Fun fact: First game from this developer had no silhouettes and came out monthly too. And was way better then his second game) But no, I just don't like it.