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

[yossa999]

What's mysterious about Nami besides the earring?

For example, something she did in the past that they agreed not to bring up? And so now therapy is useless for Nika unless he shares this thing with Amber. Do you understand what their conversation was about in ch4x5, and what Nami did? I don't.

 

[LHDLLB]

I disagree, after all the story revolves around him. What's mysterious about Nami besides the earring? Nothing, but there's a lot more regarding Nika both with what he's going through and whatever interest some characters might have in him. The way Sasha looks at him numerous times shows that she, for some reason, dislikes him not the opposite.

I fear I have not expressed myself well enough, of course the story revolves around Nika he is the MC, my point was that Nika do not need to be related to the Zanes in any way. He does not need secret parents or a mysterious past, those elements, I think, would be better employed on Nami - at the same time that frees Ocean of some headache. We may be lead to believe that Nika is "special", the lost son of the Zanes or the antagonist or some other family, and in fact the only thing special about him is his circunstancies. Nami so far at least has a real connection with the Zanes, she has Leia's earrings, Nika has nothing.

Sasha, yeah, she shows disinterest because she is interested. Maybe she does not know how to process the feeling of actually being attracted to someone, and looking at her experience with males, she may want to be certain that Nika is not a scumbag that will fuck her and piss off. It is just speculation with out much to back it up ? Sure, it is, but so is the idea that Sasha is some long lost friend or a spy of the Revera looking out after Nika. I always tend to think that the more simpler the answer is, higher the likelihood of it being true, and a over protected rich girl being zealous over who she befriends and dates is a more plausible scenario than the alternatives.

 

[Mr_Mister]

Honestly it seems right up his wheelhouse. Ocean is 100% the type of "writer" to gives us the Arrival DLC, let us watch how the destruction of a single mass relay wipes out an entire Batarian system and have multiple endings where all the mass relays in the galaxy blow up while ignoring the damage that would have caused. Trillions of lives lost, planets and star systems gone for good and all the survivors stranded forever wherever they are. Poor Reapers couldn't even dream of doing 1% of the damage that Shepard did to the galaxy.

Ocean could totally write for Bioware! He is as much of a fan of narrative logic as they are.

i've stated a lot of times , that Oceans will put himself into a corner because of the simultaneous developing of WIAB and SG both stories could ended up sucking .
specially when Oceans tendencies are to re-write characters and dialogue just because his state of mind has changed .
and we know that he change his mind as often as his undergarments!

 

[Ray_D]

For example, something she did in the past that they agreed not to bring up? And so now therapy is useless for Nika unless he shares this thing with Amber. Do you understand what their conversation was about in ch4x5, and what Nami did? I don't.

Who knows? maybe nami is indirectly to blame for summer's disappearance or death.

 

[Pl@y3r]

All I can tell you is that if you stick around this thread for too long and play both WIAB and SG more than once, your theories will start to diverge significantly from your initial conclusions.

That's probably because of the reworks too.

or Nika is William's son

Or nephew.

 

[Mr_Mister]

I fear I have not expressed myself well enough, of course the story revolves around Nika he is the MC, my point was that Nika do not need to be related to the Zanes in any way. He does not need secret parents or a mysterious past, those elements, I think, would be better employed on Nami - at the same time that frees Ocean of some headache. We may be lead to believe that Nika is "special", the lost son of the Zanes or the antagonist or some other family, and in fact the only thing special about him is his circunstancies. Nami so far at least has a real connection with the Zanes, she has Leia's earrings, Nika has nothing.

Sasha, yeah, she shows disinterest because she is interested. Maybe she does not know how to process the feeling of actually being attracted to someone, and looking at her experience with males, she may want to be certain that Nika is not a scumbag that will fuck her and piss off. It is just speculation with out much to back it up ? Sure, it is, but so is the idea that Sasha is some long lost friend or a spy of the Revera looking out after Nika. I always tend to think that the more simpler the answer is, higher the likelihood of it being true, and a over protected rich girl being zealous over who she befriends and dates is a more plausible scenario than the alternatives.

yup ! , i've been saying Mc and Nami should not be related to no one from WIAB and the crossroads between both stories has to be the mystery surrounding "Summer's disappearance"

 

[dameromexxx]

I can't imagine that someone stole Leia's earrings and then gave them to Sasha and Nami (*WiaB update drops and Krayt break in and steal the earrings, leaving behind more spiders to sow maximum confusion*). I'm kinda against the whole college being in on Nika's situation like it's the Truman Show though. It is likely that Sasha and Ayua have some sort of idea of what might be going on, but remember that Stefan's sister was(is still?) Katie's gf, and Emilio worked for Leia. If both of those people who were at one point close to the Zanes don't know any Cyrus'

Well, Bob, maybe the mystery surrounding Cyrus's lineage will turn out to be a sob story from a $1.99 romance novel that would only appeal to the local country housewives club and not to the local influential businessman or former gangster turned information dealer, given Sasha's interest in this type of literature is starting to fit.

 

[PaxHadrian17]

The devlog it's this week or the next one?

Ocean was spending time with Family through very early Dec. The dev log 'should' be this week if his trip did not get extended for some reason.

Cheers!!

 

[Pl@y3r]

Who knows? maybe nami is indirectly to blame for summer's disappearance or death.
View attachment 4298280

I'd say directly:

 

[BobTheDuck]

Ocean was spending time with Family through very early Dec. The dev log 'should' be this week if his trip did not get extended for some reason.

Cheers!!

He wrote on discord that he was back on Monday, so with luck it is soon.

 

[LHDLLB]

and we know that he change his mind as often as his undergarments!

Well Ocean change his mind every other update, I sure hope he changes his underwear more frequently than that. Other wise he will get worms in his wormy and I do not get updates.

yup ! , i've been saying Mc and Nami should not be related to no one from WIAB and the crossroads between both stories has to be the mystery surrounding "Summer's disappearance"

I like Nami or Nika being Zanes, both of them is a big no,no. And I like more if Summer is not related to WiaB, I prefer the whole Summer thing only as a character trait to Nika and not a overall plot point of the story, in fact I prefer that we never discover what happened with Summer.

 

[Dr.TSoni]

I'd say directly:
View attachment 4298314
View attachment 4298315

Shit happens

 

[omgx123]

Sure, and those small changes are what give it a more cinematic feel than most AVNs. That's actually a feature for me, that Ocean doesn't reuse renders; if a dialogue cuts back and forward between two renders, the conversation tends to feel stilted. I like the fact Ocean will render close ups of eyes or lips, the pupils dilating, the change of expression. It helps give a sense of the body language, whether a person really means what they're saying, if the situation makes them feel uncomfortable or if they have some sort of ulterior motive.

I think for this update, there will also be quit a number of optional activities - players who chose to ignore Nia for example, probably won't get as much content with her, different rnders for group scenes if you're on Nami's path (like we already have when she gets upset Nika is flirting if you've admitted you like her back) or Bella's path etc.

Everyone has a different idea of what the plot being developed is, to me it is not any singular LI's path, or the basketball or the criminal activities, the story is Nika coming to terms with himself learning to be a functional member (joke intended) of society. SO I see a lot of plot development. People who want to know about the Zane influence on the college haven't seen much development, people who want just Bella's path want more Bella etc. We're all seeing the game through our own preferences.

Details are good and all if the dev has the rig capable of rendering fast enough, but he doesn't, so these unnecessary renders are causing the update to be once per year for a visual novel game. This game and WIAB are gonna stay stuck in this circle unless the dev changes his way of thinking. Focus less on such "zooming, cinematics and extreme details" so he can dish out updates more often which in turn would attract more people and he can raise moeny faster to get more GPUs to render.

 

[dameromexxx]

I like Nami or Nika being Zanes, both of them is a big no,no. And I like more if Summer is not related to WiaB, I prefer the whole Summer thing only as a character trait to Nika and not a overall plot point of the story, in fact I prefer that we never discover what happened with Summer.

I understand your preferences but I think that interactive visual novels should be reactive and respond to what the player is pursuing. The ideal situation for me is one in which the game responds to what the player chooses. Those who cared about finding Summer should complete their investigation and find her and those who didn't care should not. At some point in the story, an important dialogue option should simply appear whether to forget about the past and focus on building a new relationship or continue chasing the ghost of the past even at the risk of burning out existing relationships. This could be an important element of the romance with Elsa if it is still planned. On the one hand, you tell her that you love her and on the other, you obsessively search for her cousin who you lost contact with years ago.

In the end it's an interactive medium different players react differently to what it offers some have already found their LI and are only interested in that others may still ask questions who is the mysterious red cheeto it's a long journey lasting over 10 years what do you say to those who have been following something else for all these years and the investigation in search of summer will come to a standstill or the ocean will copy lovecraft and Nika will disappear possessed by Cthulhu.

Mister Ocean stole mister a dozen years of my life mister they say. Using much more vulgar language

 

[LHDLLB]

I understand your preferences but I think that interactive visual novels should be reactive and respond to what the player is pursuing. The ideal situation for me is one in which the game responds to what the player chooses. Those who cared about finding Summer should complete their investigation and find her and those who didn't care should not. At some point in the story, an important dialogue option should simply appear whether to forget about the past and focus on building a new relationship or continue chasing the ghost of the past even at the risk of burning out existing relationships. This could be an important element of the romance with Elsa if it is still planned. On the one hand, you tell her that you love her and on the other, you obsessively search for her cousin who you lost contact with years ago.

In the end it's an interactive medium different players react differently to what it offers some have already found their LI and are only interested in that others may still ask questions who is the mysterious red cheeto it's a long journey lasting over 10 years what do you say to those who have been following something else for all these years and the investigation in search of summer will come to a standstill or the ocean will copy lovecraft and Nika will disappear possessed by Cthulhu.

Mister Ocean stole mister a dozen years of my life mister they say. Using much more vulgar language

I fully agree with you, ideally, this is what would happen. But I fear that even if this was something that Ocean wanted to do - and I don't think it is- the cost of realizing it would render it impossible. Every split means more render, more dev time, more resources. I am not saying that Ocean should do what I think is best, he should always do what he think is best. Maybe I will be proved wrong and having Summer disappearance being a plot point is gonna be excellent, maybe it is related to WiaB and that also will be a incredible plot twist. Just that we all have expectations while reading a story, and at the moment, mines are those.

 

[F.L.HX99X]

Season 2 - Chapter 1 - Dev Log #20
New
Just now
Hello,

So, I returned from my family trip and took an additional day off to take care of my apartment and return to the usual Wednesday Dev log.
Let’s get into the Dev Log.

Sound design.
In one of the first Dev logs for Season 2, I mentioned that I would improve the game's sound design.
In an ideal world, a game would be like a movie… However, I don’t have voice actors and would never consider getting them before the games are finished.
So, the "tone of the voice" relies on the reader's imagination. I can only influence it through expressions, music, and the composition of the images.
I personally dislike repeating playlists and would like an additional tool to transfer the right mood.

Contrasts & timing.
If you listen to a song repeatedly, it loses its power.
In future updates, I will implement ambient sounds. Not just random nature or street noises, but precise ambient sounds. There’s a clock in the room, you will hear from where it’s coming.
For example, in Summer’s Gone Chapter 2, Bella and MC are in her kitchen after the heist.
You would hear the room's ambiance, a slight buzzing from the refrigerator, a faint clock somewhere in the living room, etc.
Meanwhile, music would be used to accentuate special scenes. Or I might let it play quietly in the background?
I’ll figure this out and create polls about it. I will also have a scene in the upcoming update where I'll try out some different ideas.

Before I went to visit my family, I ordered the Tascam DR40X Audio recorder and started building my own library. “Why don’t you just buy the sounds?”
Because I’m sick of having to play Minesweeper with licenses and by building an SFX and Ambient library myself, I'll always be on the safe side.
I’ve already made several recordings, and they just need to be edited, dialed in, and sorted.
Don’t get me wrong; the game will still use a lot of music. However, sometimes less is more… Silence with some faint ambient noises followed by a slow introduction of, for example, Vesky—Aurora has a much bigger impact on the mood of the scene than a constantly repeating playlist.

I’m still in the figuring-out phase, but my wish is that it improves immersion, especially in future cinematics.
And I'm looking forward to your feedback on it.

Season 2 - Chapter 1

I’m currently working on three scenes simultaneously, and I really like what’s coming together.
It’s nice seeing the script fill up with all the renders. The holes vanish slowly, and we get closer to a release.

I’ve also continued the German translation, but my Discord admin, who translates the game into Spanish, has found that the generated translation files don’t contain all choices, etc.
I checked it in my German translation and noticed the same.

The translations will be out later than expected because we must determine what’s missing and then fix it.
But it has a lower priority than everything else.

Previews: 4K
Meet Miss Marla

A series of unfortunate events.

(The renders following the upper one are some serious gourmet shit. The composition & color sympathy... Damn. You'll see them in the update... Maybe. The scene is behind a choice.)
I’ll see you in two weeks on Christmas Eve with a new render count and a preview of that cute Bellchen render that I talked about in one of the earlier Dev Logs.

• Ocean

 

[LHDLLB]

Season 2 - Chapter 1 - Dev Log #20
New
Just now
Hello,

So, I returned from my family trip and took an additional day off to take care of my apartment and return to the usual Wednesday Dev log.
Let’s get into the Dev Log.

Sound design.
In one of the first Dev logs for Season 2, I mentioned that I would improve the game's sound design.
In an ideal world, a game would be like a movie… However, I don’t have voice actors and would never consider getting them before the games are finished.
So, the "tone of the voice" relies on the reader's imagination. I can only influence it through expressions, music, and the composition of the images.
I personally dislike repeating playlists and would like an additional tool to transfer the right mood.

Contrasts & timing.
If you listen to a song repeatedly, it loses its power.
In future updates, I will implement ambient sounds. Not just random nature or street noises, but precise ambient sounds. There’s a clock in the room, you will hear from where it’s coming.
For example, in Summer’s Gone Chapter 2, Bella and MC are in her kitchen after the heist.
You would hear the room's ambiance, a slight buzzing from the refrigerator, a faint clock somewhere in the living room, etc.
Meanwhile, music would be used to accentuate special scenes. Or I might let it play quietly in the background?
I’ll figure this out and create polls about it. I will also have a scene in the upcoming update where I'll try out some different ideas.

Before I went to visit my family, I ordered the Tascam DR40X Audio recorder and started building my own library. “Why don’t you just buy the sounds?”
Because I’m sick of having to play Minesweeper with licenses and by building an SFX and Ambient library myself, I'll always be on the safe side.
I’ve already made several recordings, and they just need to be edited, dialed in, and sorted.
Don’t get me wrong; the game will still use a lot of music. However, sometimes less is more… Silence with some faint ambient noises followed by a slow introduction of, for example, Vesky—Aurora has a much bigger impact on the mood of the scene than a constantly repeating playlist.

I’m still in the figuring-out phase, but my wish is that it improves immersion, especially in future cinematics.
And I'm looking forward to your feedback on it.

Season 2 - Chapter 1

I’m currently working on three scenes simultaneously, and I really like what’s coming together.
It’s nice seeing the script fill up with all the renders. The holes vanish slowly, and we get closer to a release.

I’ve also continued the German translation, but my Discord admin, who translates the game into Spanish, has found that the generated translation files don’t contain all choices, etc.
I checked it in my German translation and noticed the same.

The translations will be out later than expected because we must determine what’s missing and then fix it.
But it has a lower priority than everything else.

Previews: 4K
Meet Miss Marla

A series of unfortunate events.

(The renders following the upper one are some serious gourmet shit. The composition & color sympathy... Damn. You'll see them in the update... Maybe. The scene is behind a choice.)
I’ll see you in two weeks on Christmas Eve with a new render count and a preview of that cute Bellchen render that I talked about in one of the earlier Dev Logs.

• Ocean

Sound design is very nice and it seems that he is going at a steady pace. But the amount of Noji teasing in this update is gonna be criminal, truly criminal.

 

[NIAmyEMOgirl]

Emilia is Nojiko's best friend.


For some reason she hides from them whatever she knows.


While playing, I was thinking that Sasha and her friend actually know Nika but for some reason he doesn't remember them? What if he caused Sasha's scar, ended up in a hospital during the altercation (that flashback) and lost some memories in the process? Or maybe someone important (from WIAB?) asked Sasha and her friend to look after him 'cause I don't believe it's a coincidence how they are around him sometimes and also Sasha having those pills on her that Nika needs.

i also think Sasha and robin know Nika. but I don't think Nica mistreated them in the past, cuz they are kind to Nika. like LHDLLB said, which I also think is maybe Sasha might find him attractive, since Sasha is one of Nika's potential lovers.

 

[LeoL774]

My jod, Nadia side boob is insane

 

[BobTheDuck]

Details are good and all if the dev has the rig capable of rendering fast enough, but he doesn't, so these unnecessary renders are causing the update to be once per year for a visual novel game. This game and WIAB are gonna stay stuck in this circle unless the dev changes his way of thinking. Focus less on such "zooming, cinematics and extreme details" so he can dish out updates more often which in turn would attract more people and he can raise moeny faster to get more GPUs to render.

Well, to be fair that seems like the current plan - to buy a duplicate rig that means he can churn through electricity mining the renders. Currently his limit to rendering is not the speed of the rig, but that he has to stop rendering to work on scenes. Having multiple rigs with duplicate assets is a great plan, which (based on the tax dramas we've been bored by in past devlogs) is likely to happen once he's dealt with his provisional tax and ensured he meets his obligations. So you're right. But, consider that he's making an update that has 2/3 of the number of renders of Season one in less than a third of the time it took to make season 1. Despite us feeling like it's forever between updates, this is the fastest he's ever worked. The proof will be once he drops the update though, no point counting it until then.

Meet Miss Marla

So is the implication two Marlas?

...and for the cheesy comment, Summer might be gone, but damn it's hot wherever Wollust is, they all dress like it's permanent summer. Ocean missed the opportunity to make it permanent autumn

ANd thank you again for sharing the devlog with us F.L.HX99X it's always very appreciated!