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

[Adhdclassic]

I have played all parts of this game. When it arrives on steam I am going to buy it just to see the reworks. When it was reworked before I was giddy over the graphics(Mila). So I look forward to buying it and seeing the changes.

 

[SonsOfLiberty]

my thoughts exactly but it is what it is. Can only hope for a mod that restores it but it's just a few renders so not the end of the world for me

There already is a mod: Summer's Gone Decensored Mod [v0.1] [Meushi], they will just have to update and add back in whatever it is.

 

[BobTheDuck]

Gotta remember the reason for the steam dealy - 5 business days started either Monday or Tuesday, even if Ocean uploaded Friday. Dependingin on timezones of course. Expecting normal business days over Easter is probably unwise of anyone.

I'm really quite excited, could say more, but heck, excitement! ~2309 new thingies! ~ a gazillion new theories to be launched while waiting for S2! ...okay, I know not everyone's excited for that

And very importantly, a definitive canon for S1, with no second guessing what may or may not change. I mean, that's part of the deal with games in development right? Things change based on what the dev needs to do.

 

[Old Man Al]

so i wonder if we will get any type of nudes what so ever in the steam version or it will just be a story based AVN with everyone with clothes on which it's not a AVN it's just a VN ocean sould market his game as a VN not a AVN if we will never get nudes on steam because of the fear of not selling it on steam because maybe steam doesn't like nudes in AVN's and ocean is playing it safe forgetting other AVN's on steam has anal, creampies and the such or is ocean just doing season 1 with no nudes and will do nudes on later seasons ? it's just to the point developers are scared of platforms like patreon and steam with rules of certain tags in their games that they alter the original concept of their game to get in line with the rules of these platforms and then there is other developers that say to hell with these rules and stick to their guns and with the original concept of their games .i guess i understand to a point if the only thing you care about is making money you will sacrifice everything for a buck even your orignal concept or what you had planned to begin with.

Only the first season will be "nude-free". Ocean already told us that he re-did the season 1 so it could go on Steam at all in countries like Germany. Season 2+ I, as a German, can only get via Patreon legally (unless they axe it, like WIAB) unless Steam makes some effort to do a age certification for countries like Germany.

 

[Mr_Mister]

Season 1 - Update

Hello,

First, I apologize for not making a Dev Log in a while. Those on my Discord are a little more up-to-date.

There are reasons for it, none of which I will get into today because... Well, let me deal with it emotionally first.

I will address it after the release of Season 1. But right now, I can't deal with it. I need my head in the right space. A lot happened behind the scenes.

Season 1 has been in the Steam Review queue for a few days, and I'm still awaiting their reply. Maybe I have to fix something, etc.

In the meantime, I'm working on S2 & WiAB's next update. I've also contacted new music artists for Season 2 and it looks like I'm about to sign 16 new songs for S2.

Oh right! SG is now also available for wishlisting on Epic:

You must be registered to see the links

I've also contacted GOG for a developer account, and I'm waiting for a reply.

SG Season 1 is rated as a Pegi 16+ game on Steam and Epic. This could change after the review.

In one of the last Logs, I mentioned that I was under a lot of stress from the rework, etc., and if you followed Discord, you know it got even worse for multiple external reasons.

An hour before I wanted to upload to Steam, my PC bluescreened, and the boot SSD died. The timing couldn't have been any worse. It took me a few hours to figure out what went wrong.

After I checked my backups and saw that Backblaze forgot about 30% of the files, I can tell you... I almost pulled an SG MC after he had too much contact with some girls.

Then I checked sync and saw that sync doesn't update by date, but by name. Thanks for nothing, sync.

I managed to fix it and get the PC running again in less than two days, but my PC is feeling slower now. Daz especially feels like it got hit on the head. But it still worked, and it was enough to finish the bar scene.

After Steam, I will get the new Workstation I've talked about for a while. I saw that some people thought I already had it. No. I got two A6000 Ada and replaced the cards in my current workstation.

Now that this PC feels like it had a stroke, I will indeed upgrade to a new workstation and make this one another slave PC for animation rendering.

Thankfully, I do already have the Adas. This means that the workstation will be cheaper now. ~ 15k€

Steam testing took longer than expected for one reason. The Steam Deck.

I don't have one, but I asked the Valve Dev Distribution team for one. But it will take months until I get one, and the only testing we could do was through a member of my testing team, who had a Deck.

It works... But the damn trackpad isn't recognized, and I tried everything to fix it. Sadly, googling for specific Renpy-Steam-related issues is hopeless.

I still need to finish the German version/translation.

The Light
As stressful as the past weeks have been, something gave me so much energy—something I've been waiting to say for a very long time.

The rework is done.

While I "suffered" under the rework, I know you guys did too.

I seriously want to thank you guys for going through this with me. It was brutal. You guys had to muster up a lot of patience, and I know exactly how it feels when a game you like spends a significant amount of time on a rework. (Some even get stuck in limbo.)

But it's finally done, and while it asked a lot from us, I say it was absolutely worth it. The render quality is night and day. The adjustments to the dialogue also make everything flow better, especially in Chapters 1 and 2.

A big thanks for going through this with me. Seriously guys.

Lightroom says I did postwork on 2309 renders for the Full.

Around 1900 are new renders, and the rest are renders I adjusted.

Examples of what I adjusted:

I changed Amber's blouse transparency in Chapter 3. It was cringe that you could see her nipples and everything, and it undermined the storylines I have for her. It was too early, and SG still followed lewd logic back then.

I added bubbles to the Jacuzzi scene in Chapter 4. The scene now looks much better. Less tiddies tho. Still some flashes here and there, but it adds some mystery to it and hides the shitty flat water texture.

I adjusted the Nami Lake scene only for the Steam/Epic/GoG version. She's not topless in that version.

A lot of little things were adjusted to prevent license issues in the future.

Here are some previews of some other scenes I redid too: (4K attached at the bottom.)

Old Parking space scene (I changed Ayua's car.)
View attachment 3511685
New
View attachment 3511681
Old Chapter 3 - Pre-class meetup
View attachment 3511687 View attachment 3511686
New
View attachment 3511680 View attachment 3511683

I also reworked the shower scenes for Mila, Nami/Nia & Bella.

This one was posted on Discord before.
View attachment 3511676

Old Bar scene
View attachment 3511682 View attachment 3511684

New
View attachment 3511678 View attachment 3511677
I have built a new bar environment in preparation for Season 2. The bar opening was a significant event, and I didn't have another bar asset back then.
For some reason, the bar also doubled in render count. Previously, it had around 65 renders, and now it's close to 130.

I added something new to the bar scene and adjusted the dialogue. In addition to the group previously at the bar, there's a second group now.
View attachment 3511679

I will make another post after the game is through Steam's review process and I have a release date.

For bibi info, follow Discord. There's a channel called Bibi-News where I sometimes post news that is not big enough for an entire Dev log.

The rework is finally done, and I still can't believe it. I was so busy that I didn't notice it for a few days until someone mentioned it.

It's done, man... Dobby is free.

After the S1 release, I will showcase the new UI for Season 2... And boy, does it look amazing.

I will also talk about the next focus in terms of quality improvements.

In Season 2, 'Sounddesign' will play a significant role.

Dev Logs will return to their usual Bi-weekly cycle after the release, and yeah... Let's hope Steam/Epic/GoG takes away some of the uncertainty and dread I felt in the past weeks.

Ocean

 

[Ray_D]

Season 1 - Update

Hello,

First, I apologize for not making a Dev Log in a while. Those on my Discord are a little more up-to-date.

There are reasons for it, none of which I will get into today because... Well, let me deal with it emotionally first.

I will address it after the release of Season 1. But right now, I can't deal with it. I need my head in the right space. A lot happened behind the scenes.

Season 1 has been in the Steam Review queue for a few days, and I'm still awaiting their reply. Maybe I have to fix something, etc.

In the meantime, I'm working on S2 & WiAB's next update. I've also contacted new music artists for Season 2 and it looks like I'm about to sign 16 new songs for S2.

Oh right! SG is now also available for wishlisting on Epic:

You must be registered to see the links

I've also contacted GOG for a developer account, and I'm waiting for a reply.

SG Season 1 is rated as a Pegi 16+ game on Steam and Epic. This could change after the review.

In one of the last Logs, I mentioned that I was under a lot of stress from the rework, etc., and if you followed Discord, you know it got even worse for multiple external reasons.

An hour before I wanted to upload to Steam, my PC bluescreened, and the boot SSD died. The timing couldn't have been any worse. It took me a few hours to figure out what went wrong.

After I checked my backups and saw that Backblaze forgot about 30% of the files, I can tell you... I almost pulled an SG MC after he had too much contact with some girls.

Then I checked sync and saw that sync doesn't update by date, but by name. Thanks for nothing, sync.

I managed to fix it and get the PC running again in less than two days, but my PC is feeling slower now. Daz especially feels like it got hit on the head. But it still worked, and it was enough to finish the bar scene.

After Steam, I will get the new Workstation I've talked about for a while. I saw that some people thought I already had it. No. I got two A6000 Ada and replaced the cards in my current workstation.

Now that this PC feels like it had a stroke, I will indeed upgrade to a new workstation and make this one another slave PC for animation rendering.

Thankfully, I do already have the Adas. This means that the workstation will be cheaper now. ~ 15k€

Steam testing took longer than expected for one reason. The Steam Deck.

I don't have one, but I asked the Valve Dev Distribution team for one. But it will take months until I get one, and the only testing we could do was through a member of my testing team, who had a Deck.

It works... But the damn trackpad isn't recognized, and I tried everything to fix it. Sadly, googling for specific Renpy-Steam-related issues is hopeless.

I still need to finish the German version/translation.

The Light
As stressful as the past weeks have been, something gave me so much energy—something I've been waiting to say for a very long time.

The rework is done.

While I "suffered" under the rework, I know you guys did too.

I seriously want to thank you guys for going through this with me. It was brutal. You guys had to muster up a lot of patience, and I know exactly how it feels when a game you like spends a significant amount of time on a rework. (Some even get stuck in limbo.)

But it's finally done, and while it asked a lot from us, I say it was absolutely worth it. The render quality is night and day. The adjustments to the dialogue also make everything flow better, especially in Chapters 1 and 2.

A big thanks for going through this with me. Seriously guys.

Lightroom says I did postwork on 2309 renders for the Full.

Around 1900 are new renders, and the rest are renders I adjusted.

Examples of what I adjusted:

I changed Amber's blouse transparency in Chapter 3. It was cringe that you could see her nipples and everything, and it undermined the storylines I have for her. It was too early, and SG still followed lewd logic back then.

I added bubbles to the Jacuzzi scene in Chapter 4. The scene now looks much better. Less tiddies tho. Still some flashes here and there, but it adds some mystery to it and hides the shitty flat water texture.

I adjusted the Nami Lake scene only for the Steam/Epic/GoG version. She's not topless in that version.

A lot of little things were adjusted to prevent license issues in the future.

Here are some previews of some other scenes I redid too: (4K attached at the bottom.)

Old Parking space scene (I changed Ayua's car.)
View attachment 3511685
New
View attachment 3511681
Old Chapter 3 - Pre-class meetup
View attachment 3511687 View attachment 3511686
New
View attachment 3511680 View attachment 3511683

I also reworked the shower scenes for Mila, Nami/Nia & Bella.

This one was posted on Discord before.
View attachment 3511676

Old Bar scene
View attachment 3511682 View attachment 3511684

New
View attachment 3511678 View attachment 3511677
I have built a new bar environment in preparation for Season 2. The bar opening was a significant event, and I didn't have another bar asset back then.
For some reason, the bar also doubled in render count. Previously, it had around 65 renders, and now it's close to 130.

I added something new to the bar scene and adjusted the dialogue. In addition to the group previously at the bar, there's a second group now.
View attachment 3511679

I will make another post after the game is through Steam's review process and I have a release date.

For bibi info, follow Discord. There's a channel called Bibi-News where I sometimes post news that is not big enough for an entire Dev log.

The rework is finally done, and I still can't believe it. I was so busy that I didn't notice it for a few days until someone mentioned it.

It's done, man... Dobby is free.

After the S1 release, I will showcase the new UI for Season 2... And boy, does it look amazing.

I will also talk about the next focus in terms of quality improvements.

In Season 2, 'Sounddesign' will play a significant role.

Dev Logs will return to their usual Bi-weekly cycle after the release, and yeah... Let's hope Steam/Epic/GoG takes away some of the uncertainty and dread I felt in the past weeks.

Ocean

 

[Massagecook01]

Only the first season will be "nude-free". Ocean already told us that he re-did the season 1 so it could go on Steam at all in countries like Germany. Season 2+ I, as a German, can only get via Patreon legally (unless they axe it, like WIAB) unless Steam makes some effort to do a age certification for countries like Germany.

i understand that some countrys and even people are pruds and are not into nudes in movies and games it's like they are stuck in the 1950's and below.

 

[Old Man Al]

i understand that some countrys and even people are pruds and are not into nudes in movies and games it's like they are stuck in the 1950's and below.

The thing is, Germany doesn't give a fuck about nudity, it would only be porn content that would be banned for under 18. But Steam likes to "play it safe", so this is on them not on Germany (cannot speak for other countries).

 

[Massagecook01]

there are games on steam that have been sold for years with everything like incest and the such and these game developers have been making money off them on steam and steam has not banned them but when someone like ocean wants to sell summers gone he has to play it safe and not have nudes in his game to sell on steam it's kinda dumb. does anyone know if steam is not in certain countries that these game deveoplers cant sell there game in from steam ?

 

[Dessolos]

there are games on steam that have been sold for years with everything like incest and the such and these game developers have been making money off them on steam and steam has not banned them but when somoone like ocean wants to sell summers gone he has to play it safe and not have nudes in his game to sell on steam it's kinda dumb. does anyone know if steam is not in certain countries that these game deveoplers cant sell there game in from steam ?

it isn't that he can't have nudes as far exactly as far I can understand it he wants Summers Gone to have a certain rating and fly under the radar without it being tagged as an adult game since there is no sex scenes in Season 1. At least that's what I read once, forgot if it was from Ocean or what.

 

[BobTheDuck]

The thing is, Germany doesn't give a fuck about nudity, it would only be porn content that would be banned for under 18. But Steam likes to "play it safe", so this is on them not on Germany (cannot speak for other countries).

Exactly, it is just a too hard basket for them to be bothered with - I'm assuming they just don't want to have to deal with legitimate age verification vs privacy rules etc.

Does this mean GOG doesn't sell adult games in Germany either?

there are games on steam that have been sold for years with everything like incest and the such and these game developers have been making money off them on steam and steam has not banned them but when someone like ocean wants to sell summers gone he has to play it safe and not have nudes in his game to sell on steam it's kinda dumb. does anyone know if steam is not in certain countries that these game deveoplers cant sell there game in from steam ?

Regional stores have different content, based on what is permitted in the region. If you're in a region, you will have no idea what isn't allowed in your store, it just won't show. Ocean's trying to avoid that for the first season, so he can get the game to more people, who might then look to follow it other ways, such as buying it on other stores that don't have such restrictions.

 

[Massagecook01]

it isn't that he can't have nudes as far exactly as far I can understand it he wants Summers Gone to have a certain rating and fly under the radar without it being tagged as an adult game since there is no sex scenes in Season 1. At least that's what I read once, forgot if it was from Ocean or what.

ok but does that make sense that season 1 will not be tagged as a adult visual novel with no sex or nudes so it can sell but season 2 and so on will .so season one will sell in certain countries on steam but season 2 and so on will not because of the adult visual novel tag. yeah you make money in certain countries n0ow but later you will not if you are playing it safe with season one but later you stop playing it safe. it's like you are thinking in the now and not future.

 

[yossa999]

it isn't that he can't have nudes as far exactly as far I can understand it he wants Summers Gone to have a certain rating and fly under the radar without it being tagged as an adult game since there is no sex scenes in Season 1. At least that's what I read once, forgot if it was from Ocean or what.

Yeah, he explained in detail why he wants to keep the first season as non-adult. In short, there are two main reasons:

So as not to give false expectations to people who want to buy a porn game and will not find the desired content there. Anyone can just count the number of "sex when-ers" in this thread to understand what to expect.
To keep the licensed music, since its use in adult games would be a violation of the license.

Well, and all sorts of "minor" reasons, such as a wider audience coverage if the age rating is at least 18+ (or even better remains 16+.) Availability of the game in a larger number of regions. Things like these.

 

[BobTheDuck]

ok but does that make sense that season 1 will not be tagged as a adult visual novel with no sex or nudes so it can sell but season 2 and so on will .so season one will sell in certain countries on steam but season 2 and so on will not because of the adult visual novel tag. yeah you make money in certain countries n0ow but later you will not if you are playing it safe with season one but later you stop playing it safe.

Correct, but I'm guessing that it acts as advertising - buy season one on steam because it shows up all nice and friendly, buy season 2 on Epic or GOG where it can maybe dance around the age issues - GOG at least makes you tick that you're of legal age for the content, even if it's not verified, and I think Epic does as well. Having it on Steam and generating interest in the Steam circles is a good thing regardless, it's worked for enough AVNs that it's worth doing, even if some regions are restricted. Once people have it in their library, Ocean can communicate with them via Steam as well, on the community pages, letting them to know to look on his own website for Season 2 for regions who can't access it via Steam maybe.

 

[Old Man Al]

...

Does this mean GOG doesn't sell adult games in Germany either?

...

That is right, but you can... evade that via VPN, strangly sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. On Steam it doesn't work at all, they are not to lazy to care about THAT stuff sadly.

 

[BobTheDuck]

That is right, but you can... evade that via VPN, strangly sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. On Steam it doesn't work at all, they are not to lazy to care about THAT stuff sadly.

Maybe using Heroic to access Gog/Epic might also be a workaround.

 

[Massagecook01]

Yeah, he explained in detail why he wants to keep the first season as non-adult. In short, there are two main reasons:

So as not to give false expectations to people who want to buy a porn game and will not find the desired content there. Anyone can just count the number of "sex when-ers" in this thread to understand what to expect.
To keep the licensed music, since its use in adult games would be a violation of the license.

Well, and all sorts of "minor" reasons, such as a wider audience coverage if the age rating is at least +18 (or even better remains +16.) Availability of the game in a larger number of regions. Things like these.

but what about later in season 2 and so on if he adds nudes and sex and it's a adult visual novel like other games will he violate the terms of service of these music companys and steam and not make money it's not looking to the future only in the now you have to plan ahead and look at what could be and what might happen as a business person. he might gain a greater number of players in the short term but lose those players later when he adds nudes and sex in season 2 +. i dont understand the logic of not now but later by not adding nudes and sex in the short term but in the long term he loses by adding them. i don't think these companys will change their minds in a year or two about sex and nudes in AVN's.

 

[yossa999]

ok but does that make sense that season 1 will not be tagged as a adult visual novel with no sex or nudes so it can sell but season 2 and so on will .so season one will sell in certain countries on steam but season 2 and so on will not because of the adult visual novel tag. yeah you make money in certain countries n0ow but later you will not if you are playing it safe with season one but later you stop playing it safe. it's like you are thinking in the now and not future.

You're so strategic, bro! Let the future worry about itself. For now, the question is about making the game much more popular than it is now and raising funds to continue the project.
Even if Ocean start to work at the speed of a rocket, no reworks, delays, etc., it is unlikely that he, continuing to work solo, will be able to release the second season earlier than in 2-3 years. And by that time 18+ people will already reach 21. You see, the problem is solved. Do not thank me.

 

[MorbidViews21]

will season 2 finally have sex scenes? This game could probably be very popular if he added sex scenes.

 

[yossa999]

but what about later in season 2 and so on if he adds nudes and sex and it's a adult visual novel like other games will he violate the terms of service of these music companys and steam and not make money it's not looking to the future only in the now you have to plan ahead and look at what could be and what might happen as a business person. he might gain a greater number of players in the short term but lose those players later when he adds nudes and sex in season 2 +.

Seasons will be separate entities. No music licensed under the terms of the first season will be used in the second season, as far as I understand from the dev logs.

As for age restrictions, these players will grow up and come of age when Ocean releases adult content.