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

[PaxHadrian17]

So I've been thinking about the development speed for a while now. Throughout Season 1, Ocean has given various reasons to explain the frequent delays, slow development cycles and why the overall progress of the game has been hindered. A large number come to mind, and they've all mostly been resolved:

Spoiler: not so long list

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These were some of the main reasons that Season 1 development was as slow as it was (I am not going comment on the impossibly large amount of natural disasters and acts of God that occur to Ocean). Thus, with them out of the picture, Season 2 releases should conceivably be released in much shorter time periods, or have an even larger amount of content.

Thus, I believe that this next S2CH1/ Chapter 6 release should be the turning point in the development of SG; in that it will become obvious whether or not this game is going to be seriously developed and some day in the near-distant future, completed. Seeing how the general argument against the naysayers/ trolls who do claim that it'll never be finished is that there are circumstances because of which SG's development has been greatly, slowed, and that it will pick up soon once XYZ is complete (see above list).

If we do see a change in the release cycles, it will be an immediate proof as to the above and serve to convince those still on the fence regarding Summer's Gone for these reasons. We've all seen the posts, ranging from the innocent and mostly valid "This game has 5 story updates/1 week progress in five years, should I invest in it?" to the not so innocent "30 years for 30 chapters, my grandkids will be able to play this game xd, this is never getting finished" In terms of how this affects Summer's Gone, we would probably see a bump in SG following, which indirectly translates to popularity, patreons, funding, and thus quality.

Whichever way it goes, I think the future of Summer's Gone can be judged from what happens next.

But I admit I could be vastly overestimating the amount of people on this thread to whom these things genuinely matter (and underestimating the number of trolls), as it could be that I'm the only one cares so much about something so small and irrelevant. In which case, sorry you read tens of lines of nonsensical ramblings for no major reason lol.

I think one thing that gets missed about Ocean versus a number of other devs I follow is Ocean has (up until Very recently) gone with weekly updates where he is very transparent about what is happening re: his workflow and other things impacting his AVNs.

To your points above, I think many devs don't share as much about the things impacting their dev cycle (or at least it feels that way when Ocean gives us weekly updates and many other devs stick to monthly updates, for example).

Some other considerations include:

For those devs who don't buy music and only use more generically available, royalty-free, music - they will not encounter Ocean's issues with depreciation of the value of music licenses getting stretched over 10 years or some of the companies holding the licenses changing the terms of the agreements forcing Ocean to give up songs he literally built animations around (or setting aside the 'don't use my music with adult content' issue).

For those who are not pushing the graphics envelope so hard, they will not worry about the NV link issue with NVIDIA or pushing for such dramatic improvements in the 'look' of early scenes.

Spoiler: 2 old and new render comparisons

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The old renders are perfectly legit for 95% of the other AVNs I enjoy as I don't expect HD level renders for those AVNs (and some would Really benefit from the treatment.)

We have, per Ocean's last count, 27 more chapters to go.

While I think Ocean's 'speed of production' will increase, the proof will be where we are at this time in 2025 and 2026, for example.

How much faster will he create with new equipment and no reworks?

If Steam is a Big success, I anticipate we will get more great music because Ocean will be able to afford it.

The search for this music and, where Ocean decides to build animations around specific songs (like the great animation build around Humble Hey's What My Mama Said) will take time but how much?

My point is just that I trust Ocean to tell us this great story his way, making great use of the $ from supporters on Patreon and SS and Hopefully Many new Steam fans.

Season 1 is Steaming towards us and will hopefully make port Very soon (Apologies for that pun but... I had to )

I have already set my sights on Season 2 and am looking forward to our first official Season 2 dev log post Steam submission.

Cheers!!

 

[Dessolos]

Robin is the most wholesome girl after Vic.

I cant get myself to forgive Robin personally she crossed a line. Which is why I put her at the bottom next to Vanessa as the 2 LI i hate / dislike from this game. Will only play their path after everyone else. I get it wasn't her idea and Nadia and Zara was in on it and was Zara's idea to begin with. But the way she used Nami to lure the MC was crossing a line for me.

 

[BobTheDuck]

I cant get myself to forgive Robin personally she crossed a line. Which is why I put her at the bottom next to Vanessa as the 2 LI i hate / dislike from this game. Will only play their path after everyone else. I get it wasn't her idea and Nadia and Zara was in on it and was Zara's idea to begin with. But the way she used Nami to lure the MC was crossing a line for me. At least Nadia called Bella that's makes up for it more than apologizing , at least to me.

It's a strange situation there - Zara and Nadia pressured Robing into it, but who knows what leverage they had? I can't imagine that it was considered anything but a prank by all three. But it appears to be Robin's idea to use Nami as bait, and also Robin who either calls Bella or Marla. But it's at Sasha's request, and Sasha thinks Nika deserves it.

I potentially feel that Robin is very unconfident, and other people take advantage of her. You have the option to take advantage of her and she owes you a favour, but we see Sasha watching to see what we decide. At the moment I only think we see the real Robin at the book club where she's on home ground and feels safe.

I'm also reminded of the gym and how Robin tries to find out about Bella because they drifted apart. Again Sasha is there being mysterious.

A little earlier, she's the one trying to calm him down from the eraser incident.

So I'm not ready to condemn her just yet. You're right though, it's a shitty thing to have done to scare him about family.

 

[AlexFXR]

Well, yeah, but i think the rework was necessary, i mean, if we compare the old version renders and the new... It´s incredible the good work Ocean is doing.

You are right, SG was developed with the old Genesis, then a new Genesis appeared and the image improved noticeably. After this, Ocean decided to do a rework so that all the pictures would be of the same quality.

It’s just not clear why he made the rework now, and not after the game’s release? New version of Genesis with more realistic skin and hair textures, etc. comes out approximately once every 3-4 years. When it comes out, Ocean will again want to revamp the entire game?

 

[jllkfsdj]

Responding together as you both make the same point. I'm not a Bella fan. Bella being deceptive does not make Vanessa's deception any less deceptive. Vanessa could have been honest and still called Bella out, Vanessa could have just not engaged with Bella, there are so many options to not be deceptive. Vanessa leads Bella on because she love mind games. It's not about tit for tat, responding to fire with fire or anything. Ethics is an independant status that we should hold to regardless of anyone else's two-faced antics. All Vanessa's behaviour towards Bella shows is that she like to play deceitful, manipulative games, which is 100% her character throughout the game. At the point that Vanessa meets Bella, how does she know why? We know why, but Vanessa defaults to ...something because she thinks Bella's someone she can leverage, without even knowing (at that point) why Bella's approaching her. If she does know, is she storing the information for future blackmail/leverage? She is not being transparent or sincere in her first interaction with Bella, regardless of Bella's intentions.

Similarly, there is no ethical way to justify how she exploits Mario's affection for her own purposes. She is blueballing him into wearing a buttplug, doesn't matter that she justifies it to herslef by also wearing one. She is manipulating him into doing something he would unlikely choose for himself by withholding sex, implying that if he submits to her antics, he'll get a reward. She's grooming him for her own amusement, while looking down on him. Is that the basis for a healthy, loving relationship? Sure, hold off sex if you're inclinded to treat it as something special, but leveraging it like that, knowing he would be ashamed if it got out (while telling people she's just met, please let it get out she thinks) while dangling a carrot of a reward - she actually cheapens their relationship. Sex becomes transactional, and a reward for how much he endures. And the first moment she meets Nika, she's attempting to seduce him and cheat on weak, faithful Mario, further abusing him. So she dumps Mario to be sincere? Or does she continue being manipulative and deceitful?

Even throwing out the knowledge of Mario's buttplug is a double game. She can test Nika and Nami's integrity to find out what kind of people they are - if rumours spread about Mario, she knows from where. She's a pretty stand up girlfriend Nika would be wise to notice how she treates Mario as being her default mode of behaviour.

The fact that she is friendly is another misdirection. She knows Noji is important to Nick, so she is the dutiful host. Don't forget that she knows about Bella and Nika, but says "I don't think we share the same social circles" when Nika says he thinks he's seen her before. More misdirection. She triggers Zara to be more competitive towards Nika, then actively bets (the driver's license) against her while knowing what their mom did to Zara, belittling her own sister for the sake of a stranger she's just met - playing games with her sister's mental health.

She applies social darwinism to ther ethics, and that ubermensch mentality is something I despise. Weak people shouldn't be exploited even if we don't like them - or should Vic be exploited like Mario too? Or Damian? How does Nika respond as someone with crippled emotions? He supports Damian to further his own goals (well, baskets), and he has many choices to be kind to Vic, and it seems cruel to me not to take the chance to be supportive.

On the social darwinism, her "I'll never need to work, I'll see where life takes me" attitude also shows she's really entitled, and she's into Mario as a gold digger. Zara still has goals, Vanessa plans to float through life amusing herself at other's expense. If she doesn't go for Mario, does she just sponge of daddy Nick? Her plan for her future is to manipulate people so she can be indolent in her lifestyle.

Nika also doesn't judge Vanessa by what Bella's seen, which is why he calls her to call off interacting with Vanessa, because he realises how manipulative Vanessa is. But I still love this to describe her:

I am literally am too old for that kind of gag, even if I was born yesterday apparently....

Well, I AM a Bella fan and I fully agree with your analysis!

 

[SearingFive]

I believe the one on the far left was spreading the rumour

 

[Pope Alexander VI]

Well, yeah, but i think the rework was necessary, i mean, if we compare the old version renders and the new... It´s incredible the good work Ocean is doing.

It's nice to have for sure but I'd have preferred it if they started on the rework after they finished the game. It definitely wasn't *necessary*.

 

[Don Sucio]

You are right, SG was developed with the old Genesis, then a new Genesis appeared and the image improved noticeably. After this, Ocean decided to do a rework so that all the pictures would be of the same quality.

It’s just not clear why he made the rework now, and not after the game’s release? New version of Genesis with more realistic skin and hair textures, etc. comes out approximately once every 3-4 years. When it comes out, Ocean will again want to revamp the entire game?

Ocean said he won´t make more reworks after this, i believe his word and at least i hope he won´t do that after he finish SG.

It's nice to have for sure but I'd have preferred it if they started on the rework after they finished the game. It definitely wasn't *necessary*.

Could be good too, but i think is better this way. We have to keep in mind that Ocean has changed his view of the game, i´m talking about the strong dark theme in the old version and some changes in scenes too. I haven´t played the old version so i can´t speak too much but i think Ocean started this rework for more consistency in the story, so is good in the end, and the earlier the better.

 

[The Krogan Dude]

Ocean said he won´t make more reworks after this,

He will work on Nami photobook instead ?

 

[Don Sucio]

He will work on Nami photobook instead ?

Ummm , No idea if i´m honest . I have never paid attention to the Nami photobook so i don´t know much about his plans for that

 

[BobTheDuck]

He will work on Nami photobook instead ?

What if those are some of the 1700 new renders? It's possible that was done as part of the gallery overhaul for release.

 

[Niuul]

I think one thing that gets missed about Ocean versus a number of other devs I follow is Ocean has (up until Very recently) gone with weekly updates where he is very transparent about what is happening re: his workflow and other things impacting his AVNs.

To your points above, I think many devs don't share as much about the things impacting their dev cycle (or at least it feels that way when Ocean gives us weekly updates and many other devs stick to monthly updates, for example).

Some other considerations include:

For those devs who don't buy music and only use more generically available, royalty-free, music - they will not encounter Ocean's issues with depreciation of the value of music licenses getting stretched over 10 years or some of the companies holding the licenses changing the terms of the agreements forcing Ocean to give up songs he literally built animations around (or setting aside the 'don't use my music with adult content' issue).

For those who are not pushing the graphics envelope so hard, they will not worry about the NV link issue with NVIDIA or pushing for such dramatic improvements in the 'look' of early scenes.

Spoiler: 2 old and new render comparisons

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

The old renders are perfectly legit for 95% of the other AVNs I enjoy as I don't expect HD level renders for those AVNs (and some would Really benefit from the treatment.)

We have, per Ocean's last count, 27 more chapters to go.

While I think Ocean's 'speed of production' will increase, the proof will be where we are at this time in 2025 and 2026, for example.

How much faster will he create with new equipment and no reworks?

If Steam is a Big success, I anticipate we will get more great music because Ocean will be able to afford it.

The search for this music and, where Ocean decides to build animations around specific songs (like the great animation build around Humble Hey's What My Mama Said) will take time but how much?

My point is just that I trust Ocean to tell us this great story his way, making great use of the $ from supporters on Patreon and SS and Hopefully Many new Steam fans.

Season 1 is Steaming towards us and will hopefully make port Very soon (Apologies for that pun but... I had to )

I have already set my sights on Season 2 and am looking forward to our first official Season 2 dev log post Steam submission.

Cheers!!

Like I said in a prior post, I'll just be happy when updates are all entirely new story. Updates being split 50/50 between reworks and new scenes felt bad. Need to find out where Summer is before I go missing when I lose my mind due to old age and wander off somewhere never to be seen again.

 

[Deleted member 6168082]

Need to find out where Summer is

Why? who is she to you? what will you do once you find out? be like "ah, okay, time to move on" ? she is dead, married or a whore, you get to decide.

You should have your hands busy with Nami and the rest of the LI's the game is throwing at you or will you say "fuck them" and just wait for Summer?

 

[Niuul]

Why? who is she to you? what will you do once you find out? be like "ah, okay, time to move on" ? she is dead, married or a whore, you get to decide.

You should have your hands busy with Nami and the rest of the LI's the game is throwing at you or will you say "fuck them" and just wait for Summer?

B-because it's the namesake of the game. I'd like to know lmao. Wasn't that deep.

 

[FunChaser]

B-because it's the namesake of the game...

According to Ocean SG was named after Odesza album Summer's Gone (2012)

 

[N1ghtcrawler]

We can say Bella is a sociopath (poor impulse control, acting in anger, showing open disdain for social norms even more than Venessa) while Vanessa is a psychopath (cold, more calculating, lies easily). They both have antisocial personality disorder, which is not the same as asocial btw.

All the traits you attribute to sociopaths can be attributed to psychopaths and vice versa. Moreover, coldness and calculating are not necessary traits of psychopaths, they are cliche from the popular media.

Spoiler

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Now, I'm not a psychiatrist, so you can take anything I say with skepticism. But as far as I know, there is no established distinction between psychopath and sociopath. Both are synonymous with antisocial personality disorder, yes. But what is now called APD used to be explicitly called psychopathy. Sociopath is not a formal term. Sorry if you think I'm trying to act smart-ass here, but both words have been used differently so many times that their meanings is completely blurred now.

From an average point of view, I think it would be accurate to say that the stereoptypical serial killer is a psychopath, but the person who calmly steps over a dying body to get to his car is a sociopath.

There's no way Bella has APD. Given her feelings, which she shows to Nika and her sister, this is simply impossible. If you want to see how a person with APD really interacts with people, I highly recommend you to watch Nightcrawler. This is the most realistic depiction of a sociopath/psychopath who is not a typical serial killer. It's also a great movie. Or just watch these scenes

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,

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,

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. Judging by them, Vanessa could be in this guy's place. I didn't think so at first, but after you mentioned it, I can see Vanessa has APD, easily. But it's too early to judge for sure.

It’s the opposite really, her behavior changes accordingly with whom she’s talking to. If the situation requires to be socially appropriate or pretend to get ahead she will. That’s how she fooled Bella.

The situation requires is the key here. She changed her behavior because she suspected Bella is one thing, she changed her behavior because she views Bella as upper/lower class is different thing.

No, I realise this. This is actually what I expect, it's like the entry level of society. Someone who believes in the norms of decency when they meet new people. It's the default setting for 95% of people (in the context of their culture), and Vanessa shows how selfish she is by ignoring such things. I'm not arguing for conformity, but even Nika who is considered rude and antagonistic, knows how to bite his tongue. How you achieve something is as important as why and what

People who don't believe in normal social interactions tend to end up isolated. Try to make up your own language in order to communicate and see how many people understand you; it's the same thing. All interaction is a dialogue, and requires both expression and reception. Dismissing how people percieve/recieve you puts you at a disadvantage. Nika understands this when he's manipulative, and uses people's expectations or thoughts as his guide to be subversive.



Mila's complicated though - she's been accused of the Holgerson theft, or at least was untile we see how that scene plays out in full. I guess I should try playing a few different paths to see how Vanessa changes if your pursuing Vic or Mila instead of Bella. I've defaulted to Bella's path as it has the most content currently.

Here I was writing an epic reply. "What the hell are you talking about?" "We were arguing about whether Vanessa was intentionally hostile to Nika" blah blah blah. Then I opened the dialog file.

Spoiler

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Bruh.

So yes, you were right and I was right, she was intentionally hostile to him, but because of the way he looked at her.
The longer we wait for the final version, the more we forget and the more pointless debates we have.
But hey, now you can lower your Vanessa is evil rating at least 80%. 85% considering you were half right.

I'm not arguing for conformity, but even Nika who is considered rude and antagonistic, knows how to bite his tongue.

Spoiler

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Yeah he sure does.


However, I noticed something when I was reading the dialogs. Bella mentioned that Stefan lusts after her mother. When I remembered how weird Amber was acting with Nika, and I was like . I mean, during my playthrough her behavior didn't seem odd to mee because this is an adult VN. But maybe in the context of Bella's hatred towards Stefan, the problem is actually Amber?

 

[burbero]

Could Venessa have done research before she met Nika? I mean, I don't remember the exact conversations, but I thought she knew a lot more about Bella and Nika.

 

[yossa999]

Could Venessa have done research before she met Nika? I mean, I don't remember the exact conversations, but I thought she knew a lot more about Bella and Nika.

She even knows a lot about Mila and Nika if you're on Mila's route.

 

[BobTheDuck]

All the traits you attribute to sociopaths can be attributed to psychopaths and vice versa. Moreover, coldness and calculating are not necessary traits of psychopaths, they are cliche from the popular media.

Spoiler

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Now, I'm not a psychiatrist, so you can take anything I say with skepticism. But as far as I know, there is no established distinction between psychopath and sociopath. Both are synonymous with antisocial personality disorder, yes. But what is now called APD used to be explicitly called psychopathy. Sociopath is not a formal term. Sorry if you think I'm trying to act smart-ass here, but both words have been used differently so many times that their meanings is completely blurred now.

From an average point of view, I think it would be accurate to say that the stereoptypical serial killer is a psychopath, but the person who calmly steps over a dying body to get to his car is a sociopath.

There's no way Bella has APD. Given her feelings, which she shows to Nika and her sister, this is simply impossible. If you want to see how a person with APD really interacts with people, I highly recommend you to watch Nightcrawler. This is the most realistic depiction of a sociopath/psychopath who is not a typical serial killer. It's also a great movie. Or just watch these scenes

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

,

You must be registered to see the links

. Judging by them, Vanessa could be in this guy's place. I didn't think so at first, but after you mentioned it, I can see Vanessa has APD, easily. But it's too early to judge for sure.
The situation requires is the key here. She changed her behavior because she suspected Bella is one thing, she changed her behavior because she views Bella as upper/lower class is different thing.


Here I was writing an epic reply. "What the hell are you talking about?" "We were arguing about whether Vanessa was intentionally hostile to Nika" blah blah blah. Then I opened the dialog file.

Spoiler

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Bruh.

So yes, you were right and I was right, she was intentionally hostile to him, but because of the way he looked at her.
The longer we wait for the final version, the more we forget and the more pointless debates we have.
But hey, now you can lower your Vanessa is evil rating at least 80%. 85% considering you were half right.

Spoiler

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Yeah he sure does.


However, I noticed something when I was reading the dialogs. Bella mentioned that Stefan lusts after her mother. When I remembered how weird Amber was acting with Nika, and I was like . I mean, during my playthrough her behavior didn't seem odd to mee because this is an adult VN. But maybe in the context of Bella's hatred towards Stefan, the problem is actually Amber?

Pointless debates??? We're just twiddling out thumbs while we wait, we'd forget more if we didn't! Some of these discussions

I chose all the nicest choices with Nika - I'm certain most evil/heartless choices will backfire in a story about healing. But by the context of the dinner with the Benz's, he manages to defuse the Zara situation, and by the end of the night has turned it around. THe subsequent scene with Zara on the street court, her being eager to have Nika around, show that Nika can bite his tongue. He specifically mentions he's there to support Noji when he almost drops Zara in the pool. The locker room thing he takes the hit to prevent too much resentment. There's heaps of times he masks purely to fit the social expectations, and he's rusty, not used to being out in people's faces. Yet, he manages at the book club again. And he knows not to play with private toys he doesn't own, unlike the girls. So yeah, I'd say that he knows when to be polite, and he also knows when to push it. The earlier stuff is a direct result of him not socialising - he's disconnected. By Ch5 he's stressed still by people, bt he's remembered how to respond, how to interact to a fair extent.

Vanessa is also trying to suss him out, but uses Zara as a proxy, tries to get her angry at Nika almost constantly. Sibling rivalry is a thing, but even still. Vanessa might be intelligent, but she seems the odd one out of the Benz's, Nick an Zara both act like solid people even in Zara's case when she's angry. Vanessa for all her intelligence is really obvious in the way she tries to trigger everyone, even Noji. Nick calls her out on it as well, not just Zara. Also her ego makes her think she's special, the way she smiled when she said:

va "Not that I'm not used to being stared at... I mean, look at me.

She's way too into herself.

Regards, Amber, as a psych, she knows exactly what she's doing. Remember that she's giving Stefanie relationship advice on the phone. It seems to me that her professional warmth and empathy go maybe too far - Nika notices it at the bookclub when he realises why she's introducing herself to him - she is perhaps very considerate and it gets misread. But she also has pierced nipples, so, a wild child as well. Bella's got an example of how to live large and calm down later right at home. I think as we find out more about Amber's other daughter we'll get a better idea of this.

Considering Bella stole back the teddy, I'm wondering if it was her sisters, and she sees AMber giving it away as AMber becoming resigned to her sister never waking, while Bella still hopes.

Could Venessa have done research before she met Nika? I mean, I don't remember the exact conversations, but I thought she knew a lot more about Bella and Nika.

Absolutely she does know. Noji would've spoken about them at least, just like you already know that one of Nick's kids is very unique. There's also a case to be made that Vanessa already knows what she needs to know, and is just toying with Nika to prove her superiority, or to make him nervous enough to make a mistake.

"You know the answer":
$ VaInt = True
scene ad706 with dssa
va "*whisper* I do indeed."

Or she just needs people to acknowledge she's better, just like Zara does, and sets people up to prove how she's outmanoeuvred them.

 

[Don Sucio]

Why? who is she to you? what will you do once you find out? be like "ah, okay, time to move on" ? she is dead, married or a whore, you get to decide.

You should have your hands busy with Nami and the rest of the LI's the game is throwing at you or will you say "fuck them" and just wait for Summer?

Well, i don´t feel nothing about Summer, Nika yes but not me, i will need that Ocean make me love Summer is she is going to return at some point.