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

[yossa999]

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.

My guess is that even background character models that are not in the camera focus still consume a significant amount of rendering resources, while mannequins are very simple to render as they don't have skin textures, shaders and whatnot.

 

[John972]

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.

Agree. The posing, composition, and attention to detail of the background characters is superb. I suspect the main cast may never even interact with many of these background characters.

 

[PaxHadrian17]

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.

Ocean is adding a feature called Nami's Photobook. It will have pictures Nami takes so that the MC can look at her photobook and get insight about people, places and events even if he was not actually there. That will also add depth to Summers Gone.

 

[HogRocket]

Ocean is adding a feature called Nami's Photobook. It will have pictures Nami takes so that the MC can look at her photobook and get insight about people, places and events even if he was not actually there. That will also add depth to Summers Gone.

Further proof that Nami is the Best Girl. So helpful and talented.

 

[Razrback16]

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.

Ya I will say, Cindy is pretty damn hot. If the relationship opportunities don't develop very quickly with Amber, and there's a chance to have some fun with Cindy before that point, my MC will absolutely be taking advantage of the opportunity.

 

[wd1111]

My guess is that even background character models that are not in the camera focus still consume a significant amount of rendering resources, while mannequins are very simple to render as they don't have skin textures, shaders and whatnot.

if they aren't in focus (and even if they would be in focus, but aren't very close to camera) you can turn down the subd on the character and the assets on it, no one will ever notice, but a lot of these artists pay no attention to such things and then probably spend hours cpu rendering scenes that would normally take 5, maybe 10 minutes on a midrange gpu, I mean you can fit a lot of things in a 400eur 3060 with 12gb memory

 

[Naiton]

For me its the best game on this site but sadly as i played an old version first i have to compare it to itself. I like many changes like more panicattacks which made the trauma more impactful. I do not like that he is somewhat nicer now ...its too fast. I also not like :
1) that there are roommates now (takes the conflict with the "mother" away
2) that vics boobs got massive, namis ass ranges from nice to a trailorparkmom and sasha got also a dcup....everybody now is thicc or rly thicc (besides namis boobs)
3) the fight with b which he goes for your throat then now its just little punches.. fistly it removes the trauma that b has .. also the impact of how much she will defend it.

The faces are now much better in the early chapters. The music eyes and vibe of the game is something else .. sadly the mc was unique at first but getting soft after a few days of college

 

[idontdreamwhenisleep69]

For me its the best game on this site but sadly as i played an old version first i have to compare it to itself. I like many changes like more panicattacks which made the trauma more impactful. I do not like that he is somewhat nicer now ...its too fast. I also not like :
1) that there are roommates now (takes the conflict with the "mother" away
2) that vics boobs got massive, namis ass ranges from nice to a trailorparkmom and sasha got also a dcup....everybody now is thicc or rly thicc (besides namis boobs)
3) the fight with b which he goes for your throat then now its just little punches.. fistly it removes the trauma that b has .. also the impact of how much she will defend it.

The faces are now much better in the early chapters. The music eyes and vibe of the game is something else .. sadly the mc was unique at first but getting soft after a few days of college

I agree that the fight lost a lot of impact.

Nojiko has never been MC's mom, even in patched versions.

 

[John972]

For me its the best game on this site but sadly as i played an old version first i have to compare it to itself. I like many changes like more panicattacks which made the trauma more impactful. I do not like that he is somewhat nicer now ...its too fast. I also not like :
1) that there are roommates now (takes the conflict with the "mother" away
2) that vics boobs got massive, namis ass ranges from nice to a trailorparkmom and sasha got also a dcup....everybody now is thicc or rly thicc (besides namis boobs)
3) the fight with b which he goes for your throat then now its just little punches.. fistly it removes the trauma that b has .. also the impact of how much she will defend it.

The faces are now much better in the early chapters. The music eyes and vibe of the game is something else .. sadly the mc was unique at first but getting soft after a few days of college

Yeah, I agree on the Bella and MC fight scenes - the latter got choozed 'cause Ocean was shafted on the music track. I guess we'll see with the Ch 2.5 rework - the MC was originally overpowered by Bella's aggression (home attack and first basketball game). While toning these down makes the scenes less edgy, slightly changing the basketball scene in particular (he would get blindsided once at most) would stop the MC looking like a five-pound weakling, which would be out of character, even for the newer version of the MC. PS - I hope the reworked scene between Nami and Bella after the Sai fight retains its venom.

MC being nicer - IMHO the original MC was just a manipulative, sadistic bully (without money or social status to backup that behavior) and some of his dialogues were frankly cringe-worthy (Vic and the dolphins). The MC spent most of the game looking for blackmail material. These type characters and games are two-a-penny on this site. A realistic and natural progression for that character by Ch 4 would've been him out of school and recovering from when Jeff put his lights out (this happening after other characters become aware of his manipulations and abusive behavior and before college basketball success shields him from the consequence of his actions). Nami would be his only friend.

Now the MC starts the game as a traumatized and antisocial youth. He has a problem being around people, not only because of his trauma but also presumably because of his long period of self-imposed isolation. It's not because he's simply always been an A-social A-hole even before Summer disappeared (Ocean gives the player control on how much the MC chooses to interact with the outside - Jeff at the Gym, Victoria, the Holgerson raid, the second gym session, fight training with Ayua, going to Nia's house etc). He's not looking to be an Andrew Tate fan, IMHO he simply has a fierce desire to prove Summer's parents wrong, and he's happy to take advantage of others to achieve that goal and to take down those people who do him and his friends wrong. I suspect his college social status will improve vastly as he becomes the college's basketball champ, irrespective of his behavior. ...and he was never a horndog (a.k.a. a sex pest) in any versions of the game.

 

[Naiton]

Yeah, I agree on the Bella and MC fight scenes - the latter got choozed 'cause Ocean was shafted on the music track. I guess we'll see with the Ch 2.5 rework - the MC was originally overpowered by Bella's aggression (home attack and first basketball game). While toning these down makes the scenes less edgy, slightly changing the basketball scene in particular (he would get blindsided once at most) would stop the MC looking like a five-pound weakling, which would be out of character, even for the newer version of the MC. PS - I hope the reworked scene between Nami and Bella after the Sai fight retains its venom.

MC being nicer - IMHO the original MC was just a manipulative, sadistic bully (without money or social status to backup that behavior) and some of his dialogues were frankly cringe-worthy (Vic and the dolphins). The MC spent most of the game looking for blackmail material. These type characters and games are two-a-penny on this site. A realistic and natural progression for that character by Ch 4 would've been him out of school and recovering from when Jeff put his lights out (this happening after other characters become aware of his manipulations and abusive behavior and before college basketball success shields him from the consequence of his actions). Nami would be his only friend.

Now the MC starts the game as a traumatized and antisocial youth. He has a problem being around people, not only because of his trauma but also presumably because of his long period of self-imposed isolation. It's not because he's simply always been an A-social A-hole even before Summer disappeared (Ocean gives the player control on how much the MC chooses to interact with the outside - Jeff at the Gym, Victoria, the Holgerson raid, the second gym session, fight training with Ayua, going to Nia's house etc). He's not looking to be an Andrew Tate fan, IMHO he simply has a fierce desire to prove Summer's parents wrong, and he's happy to take advantage of others to achieve that goal and to take down those people who do him and his friends wrong. I suspect his college social status will improve vastly as he becomes the college's basketball champ, irrespective of his behavior. ...and he was never a horndog (a.k.a. a sex pest) in any versions of the game.

I did not play every old version of the game so but i didnt see the mc as a sadistic f. He is or was very manupulative which resembles which his coping trauma in some way. Also as the socialization says like the lable theory i say he was quite an example like b. also shown in the dialog with bella where she also was accused when always bad stuff happened . Iam glad he isnt a horndog.. we have enough mcs that are like that. And while i understand he has to warm up and stuff .. it was still too fast for me. I think it makes sense to connect to b tho (again its weird now that he has to realise after the fight with b he did something wrong instead of nami telling him at home..takes this moment away from her) but overall i have to say when you change the mc midproject... you have to be careful. Its like mid movie the actor gets replaced and while he may still be good .. many will lose the immersion as i did here. Let the mc be asshole... the contrast of his growth will be even higher and more impactful. I laughed at the dolphin dialog because it reminded my of how i met your mother in scene with barney.

It feels like he got cencored over time (its even worse .. after the latest chapter he just have to be the good guy from now on.. the whole cuddle sleepover was weird and out of character) i know it was not their real mom thats why i wrote "mom" but its lost the potential of a conflict in the future.

 

[yossa999]

For me its the best game on this site but sadly as i played an old version first i have to compare it to itself. I like many changes like more panicattacks which made the trauma more impactful. I do not like that he is somewhat nicer now ...its too fast. I also not like :
1) that there are roommates now (takes the conflict with the "mother" away
2) that vics boobs got massive, namis ass ranges from nice to a trailorparkmom and sasha got also a dcup....everybody now is thicc or rly thicc (besides namis boobs)
3) the fight with b which he goes for your throat then now its just little punches.. fistly it removes the trauma that b has .. also the impact of how much she will defend it.

The faces are now much better in the early chapters. The music eyes and vibe of the game is something else .. sadly the mc was unique at first but getting soft after a few days of college

Yes, I agree with a lot of that, but for me the biggest improvement was how alive the environment became after the rework. There are cars and passers-by on the streets, a crowd of students wandering around the college and in the halls. You can't sit in peace in the damn Mensa for a minute without being disturbed by a hottie or two. Now it looks so natural and usual that at first you may not even pay attention to such details. Then you switch to another VN, and it hurts your eyes to see empty streets as if they were copied from "I Am Legend" or "The Walking Dead", empty buildings with no life detected except for a small group of protagonists (probably on a rescue mission from "Aliens"). The best ones just use scenes that aren't supposed to have any background characters. And only a dozen other VNs after you finally realize the difference and really appreciate the work Ocean has done on the background details.

 

[yossa999]

MC being nicer - IMHO the original MC was just a manipulative, sadistic bully (without money or social status to backup that behavior) and some of his dialogues were frankly cringe-worthy (Vic and the dolphins). The MC spent most of the game looking for blackmail material. These type characters and games are two-a-penny on this site. A realistic and natural progression for that character by Ch 4 would've been him out of school and recovering from when Jeff put his lights out (this happening after other characters become aware of his manipulations and abusive behavior and before college basketball success shields him from the consequence of his actions). Nami would be his only friend.

Unfortunately (or not) we didn't chance to see that infamous dark path in all it's glory, so it's hard to tell would he turned into a sadistic bully or not. But at the moment before the rework I wouldn't call him that, rather manipulative and agressive. To be honest, I expected him to be something along the lines of the Talented Mr. Ripley and the Good Will Hunting, with a few adjustments, of course. His manipulativeness looks like the exact tool to deal with all those rich spoiled bitches that populate the SG world and fight for his place in it, especially for a guy with no money or social status. But the renewed MC seems to have decided to befriend all of them, so this change in character did not go unnoticed. I like both versions, just prefer to be able to choose the path. But apparently this will require a double amount of work, two different games in one bundle, so goodbye to the dark path.
And as Naiton rightly pointed out, we played the old version and we are comparing both versions to ourselves. To me it feels like I'm watching a movie adaptation of a book, and they couldn't help themselves but "improve" the author's original script. But most players who start right away with the new version will not notice anything like this and will get the perfect experience from the game, exactly what the dev wanted to show.

 

[John972]

I did not play every old version of the game so but i didnt see the mc as a sadistic f. He is or was very manupulative which resembles which his coping trauma in some way. Also as the socialization says like the lable theory i say he was quite an example like b. also shown in the dialog with bella where she also was accused when always bad stuff happened . Iam glad he isnt a horndog.. we have enough mcs that are like that. And while i understand he has to warm up and stuff .. it was still too fast for me. I think it makes sense to connect to b tho (again its weird now that he has to realise after the fight with b he did something wrong instead of nami telling him at home..takes this moment away from her) but overall i have to say when you change the mc midproject... you have to be careful. Its like mid movie the actor gets replaced and while he may still be good .. many will lose the immersion as i did here. Let the mc be asshole... the contrast of his growth will be even higher and more impactful. I laughed at the dolphin dialog because it reminded my of how i met your mother in scene with barney.

It feels like he got cencored over time (its even worse .. after the latest chapter he just have to be the good guy from now on.. the whole cuddle sleepover was weird and out of character) i know it was not their real mom thats why i wrote "mom" but its lost the potential of a conflict in the future.

With the sleepover, I got the impression that at the very least, the MC's there because Nami's there (depending on choices). While there, the MC can do things reluctantly or not at all.

I appreciate (and Ocean has acknowledged, I recall) that to keep the game 'real,' a much darker MC would lead to too many complications and branching paths. The MC should get pushback or get shunned by other characters if he continued to treat them badly (as a case in point, Bella's shunned and despised outside of her clique, Sai has a bad rep) and it would require so many extra scenes to cover the outcomes of differing interactions.

In a nutshell, the problem I had with the original versions is that when the MC consistently acted like an asshole, those he wronged would be back freely interacting with him like like nothing happened, i.e. similar to the less A-holely path.

In the rework, the MC can open up or remain a loner (depending on choices), and give blunt and snarky replies. Admittedly, some things happen anyway (2nd Vic visit, MC/Bella revenge scheme, tabletop session, sleepover) but I appreciate that some of these drive the story forward or at least ensure Chapters have content and/or sexy-time.

Thus, in-game player choices determine if the MC is "warming up" too quickly or hardly at all. I've tried the 'loner/fully antisocial' playthrough - it cuts out interactions/content.

 

[John972]

Unfortunately (or not) we didn't chance to see that infamous dark path in all it's glory, so it's hard to tell would he turned into a sadistic bully or not. But at the moment before the rework I wouldn't call him that, rather manipulative and agressive. To be honest, I expected him to be something along the lines of the Talented Mr. Ripley and the Good Will Hunting, with a few adjustments, of course. His manipulativeness looks like the exact tool to deal with all those rich spoiled bitches that populate the SG world and fight for his place in it, especially for a guy with no money or social status. But the renewed MC seems to have decided to befriend all of them, so this change in character did not go unnoticed. I like both versions, just prefer to be able to choose the path. But apparently this will require a double amount of work, two different games in one bundle, so goodbye to the dark path.
And as Naiton rightly pointed out, we played the old version and we are comparing both versions to ourselves. To me it feels like I'm watching a movie adaptation of a book, and they couldn't help themselves but "improve" the author's original script. But most players who start right away with the new version will not notice anything like this and will get the perfect experience from the game, exactly what the dev wanted to show.

The game still has potential for some "dark" things to happen, just not not in a Bad Bobby Saga way. I don't know what Ocean has planned, but what if the MC gets into a situation where he has to betray or sacrifice one of his new-found 'friends' to make the first team, or use information to blackmail/coerce someone for the same ends? The second basketball game shows that the MC will use and manipulate people (in both his own and the opposing teams) to win. The ongoing Holgerson revenge saga shows he's willing to use and manipulate people to get revenge (on a certain playthrough, the MC is simply using Bella).

Judging from the original WIAB up to Ch 6, the infamous dark path would've been nasty. As I've said before, I might have balked at that kind of playthrough because this reworked game has such complex and fleshed out characters (Melanie Ceril excepted; so far she's a stereotypical villain). I know that's just me. I understand and appreciate the game started out promising themes/paths that attracted a lot of players but then baited-and-switched later on.

 

[yossa999]

[...] Thus, in-game player choices determine if the MC is "warming up" too quickly or hardly at all. I've tried the 'loner/fully antisocial' playthrough - it cuts out interactions/content.

Yes, this is a common thing that I don't like in many VNs. Your choice doesn't change the result much, but instead of showing a different event branch, it just disables some scenes, and that's it. Especially when it comes to the corruption trait Bad girls spend a lot of sexy time and shine on the screen. Good girls, well, like the previous ones, but they are deprieved of the lewd scenes and only boring things are left for them.

 

[John972]

Yes, this is a common thing that I don't like in many VNs. Your choice doesn't change the result much, but instead of showing a different event branch, it just disables some scenes, and that's it. Especially when it comes to the corruption trait Bad girls spend a lot of sexy time and shine on the screen. Good girls, well, like the previous ones, but they are deprieved of the lewd scenes and only boring things are left for them.

I don't mind it in this game, 'cause choices should have consequences.

One of the many things I like about the game as it stands is that Ocean strives to make the non-MC characters "their own people," each of whom will react differently to the MC's choices/behavior. Ocean's mentioned mapping out scenes from the perspective of the non-MC characters to ensure he gets it right. How many devs do that! It will be interesting how Ocean will make the various LIs play out - will there be some that are untouchable/out of reach if the MC exhibits the wrong behavior/makes the wrong life choices?

So many AVNs contain cardboard characters whose only purpose is to serve the needs of the player/MC. For me, it's a bit like GoT - the seasons based on the published books had characters living and dying in a world outside of their control. The last couple of seasons had the typical Hollywood trope of the world bending to the needs of a few main untouchable characters.

 

[squares]

I don't mind it in this game, 'cause choices should have consequences.

One of the many things I like about the game as it stands is that Ocean strives to make the non-MC characters "their own people," each of whom will react differently to the MC's choices/behavior. Ocean's mentioned mapping out scenes from the perspective of the non-MC characters to ensure he gets it right. How many devs do that! It will be interesting how Ocean will make the various LIs play out - will there be some that are untouchable/out of reach if the MC exhibits the wrong behavior/makes the wrong life choices?

So many AVNs contain cardboard characters whose only purpose is to serve the needs of the player/MC. For me, it's a bit like GoT - the seasons based on the published books had characters living and dying in a world outside of their control. The last couple of seasons had the typical Hollywood trope of the world bending to the needs of a few main untouchable characters.

It's a double edge sword. You can't make choices reading a book or watching the movie, you are in a hands of it's author. In case of AVN or any other "make your own story" media, you expect your choices will be a defining factor, otherwise it would feel like a forced drama, unless it's done right. For example, despite mature theme of games presented here, some people were very sensitive to a certain events in a certain AVN. While you can rely on game tags to seek or avoid kinks/fetishes, no one saw what was coming to them, since there were no tag for that, that tag just does not exist. There is a rule about discussing other AVN so I think I'll stop here, unfortunately. But I still see people complaining about that event and avoid or afraid to experience other work of the author.

But even if there is, say a NTR warning, and with that in mind you make choices for the MC and suddenly that NTR event happening not because of your choices, but because it was necessary for the story. Yet, your MC is suffering the consequences. I think you'd be sad or mad, or disappointed. I think, I would...

 

[John972]

It's a double edge sword. You can't make choices reading a book or watching the movie, you are in a hands of it's author. In case of AVN or any other "make your own story" media, you expect your choices will be a defining factor, otherwise it would feel like a forced drama, unless it's done right. For example, despite mature theme of games presented here, some people were very sensitive to a certain events in a certain AVN. While you can rely on game tags to seek or avoid kinks/fetishes, no one saw what was coming to them, since there were no tag for that, that tag just does not exist. There is a rule about discussing other AVN so I think I'll stop here, unfortunately. But I still see people complaining about that event and avoid or afraid to experience other work of the author.

But even if there is, say a NTR warning, and with that in mind you make choices for the MC and suddenly that NTR event happening not because of your choices, but because it was necessary for the story. Yet, your MC is suffering the consequences. I think you'd be sad or mad, or disappointed. I think, I would...

Yeah, I know the AVN you're referring too. Thank God SG doesn't have a character named Leah. And there was another recently concluded AVN that broached very difficult and sensitive topics (suicide) in a 'forced' way because it was part of the overarching narrative. I see SG very much being in the mold of that one.

In terms of choices, I just mean SG has latitude within certain limits.

It's these limits that are a point of contention here because it caused paths/routes to be abandoned to constrain the game within certain manageable production parameters. I understand why Ocean did it. Even within the narrower parameters of the rework, the variables based on previous choices/interactions are becoming increasingly complex because of a cascading effect.

Besides, Ocean also has to balance choices/paths with telling the overarching story. I can't think of too many forced choices in the rework yet that I would really object to (although some annoy me a little).

 

[Naiton]

Yes, I agree with a lot of that, but for me the biggest improvement was how alive the environment became after the rework. There are cars and passers-by on the streets, a crowd of students wandering around the college and in the halls. You can't sit in peace in the damn Mensa for a minute without being disturbed by a hottie or two. Now it looks so natural and usual that at first you may not even pay attention to such details. Then you switch to another VN, and it hurts your eyes to see empty streets as if they were copied from "I Am Legend" or "The Walking Dead", empty buildings with no life detected except for a small group of protagonists (probably on a rescue mission from "Aliens"). The best ones just use scenes that aren't supposed to have any background characters. And only a dozen other VNs after you finally realize the difference and really appreciate the work Ocean has done on the background details.

Absolutly true ! The environment is a great change so are the faces in the early chapters.

Maybe its me but again the darker path would be something new in that regard. I agree that you said it has alot of more work to be done for that so i understand if the author has to scrap it ( a shame tho) For the still dark options i hope that we will get
1) the haircutter (forgott his name) will lead us to the underworld in some way
2) I hope the streetraces may have something to do with the vic accident (maybe it forced the teacherto dodge the cars and hit vic)
3) more manupulative shit with and without bella but ofc to protect his new little family
4) nami mentioned that the mc might be overloaded from social contact and will get a hard setback

 

[Rhaegar Targaryen]

I haven't gotten much deeper into game yet
Are all the paths exclusive? since there is no harem tag
Currently I want to do a Nami playthrough, then perhaps Bella
are these 2 gonna be exclusive paths?