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

[Ragnar]

lol i dont get this logic, why would someone wait until chapter 30 to remake if they are at chapter 5 or something? lets say you make a game, you're not completely happy with the story and the art and you want to maybe tweak the story or change all the art... you would wait until chapter 30 to do that? that would be the biggest waste of time ever and also would demotivate the person making it beyond a joke. i get it, you want a full game to play.. but that doesnt mean the guy has to torture himself to get to 30 just to make it all over again.. if you remake at 6 you only have to do 6 again, if you wait until 30 you have to remake 30.. please use logic.

lmao it's not rocket science. If you are constantly redoing things because you're never happy with the results you will never finish anything. It's a vicious circle.
I ain't gonna talk about names but I know of some games that have been trapped in development hell just like that. Dev adds a new couple of updates and goes back to redo story or renders. It's a neverending tale.

I do not understand why you are hung up on these ominous thirty chapters. Anyone who has not gone through life without their eyes closed should have learned by now that nothing in life is as hot as it is cooked.

Well, the thing is this is not life, this is a VN. Everyone has followed some series in tv, novels, videogames and so on. So yeah, you want a story with a beginning and an ending or several in videogames cases. If you're telling me that this VN is a life project that Ocean's grandchildren will keep making, that's fine, but I doubt many will want that but who knows.

 

[G27111]

lmao it's not rocket science. If you are constantly redoing things because you're never happy with the results you will never finish anything. It's a vicious circle.
I ain't gonna talk about names but I know of some games that have been trapped in development hell just like that. Dev adds a new couple of updates and goes back to redo story or renders. It's a neverending tale.

if you kept going back to redo it yes, but this has only happened once.. idk if he has changed any story when redoing because its only been one episode but he could of seen holes in the original story he wanted to do, regardless it still makes no sense to finish the game when you are not even that far into it just to remake the whole thing. its the biggest waste of time and makes no sense.

ofcourse some people here would want that because you want to play the whole game, but its clear how much he has improved from the old version of his game to the new one, it makes a lot of sense for him to want to bring that into this one and do it right. a lot of people download a game and will judge from the start if they want to play it, you want your best work from the start.

 

[AngelsAfterDark]

legit said this same thing here so much now, i dont get how they dont see it. they base everything on the pace before even though ocean said himself that he can do more now than last year.. its like they think the current pace will never improve, or its impossible that they end up with more support which they can use to get more hardware/software or hire help.. if only people could look at shit from different angles insead of tunnel vision.

Both views are flawd if you ask me, there's no certainty that things will or will not improve but as of rn it's weighing towards the latter because Ocean cares more about the quality of his work than anything else, which i respect. As an artist myself there's nothing more inspiring than seeing someone excel at their preferred art but for this game it comes at a cost unfortunately. You have your argument that Ocean has improved when it comes to release times and you have your argument that it hasn't, neither is incorrect and neither is correct either but for me personally I don't see much improvement in that regard. Quality yes there's a fucking huge improvement but we still getting 1 update a year since the release of the game back in 2019? It's 2022 now and that hasn't changed. You can say "oh but Detroit the updates are much longer now" and you are correct but tell me how much story progression has there actually been? It's what 3 years and we still don't know much about the story or the characters. And Usually that wouldn't be a bad thing, slow burns and all but it doesn't work when the release times are slow burns itself lol and then throw in basketball and fantasy games for whatever reason and once again little story progression. Like Ocean said himself, we've literally just gotten out of the introduction phase and that took like 3 years, it's crazy if you think about it because we haven't even tapped into the main story yet. The first 3 years were practically just to introduce us to the characters and the idea of the story but as I said even then we still dont know much about any of the characters aside from their personalities. I think we're about 2 weeks into the game (maybe) because Bella mentioned in the gym that she only know the MC for a few days, that's between ch1 and ch 3. So that means for like 2 or 3 years of development we are probably only a week into the game, that's crazy.

So with that I think it's fair for people to have the notion that not much will change going forward,im not saying it's correct or incorrect but it's a plausible assumption based on what we've seen and the fact that he has another game of the same quality he's also working on. Of course we all hope that things will improve and they just might, but until we see some actual improvements there's not much to argue against because rn opinions stating other wise are based on hope. It's kinda like religion lol neither is right and neither is wrong but facts remain facts.

 

[G27111]

Both views are flawd if you ask me, there's no certainty that things will or will not improve but as of rn it's weighing towards the latter because Ocean cares more about the quality of his work than anything else, which i respect. As an artist myself there's nothing more inspiring than seeing someone excel at their preferred art but for this game it comes at a cost unfortunately. You have your argument that Ocean has improved when it comes to release times and you have your argument that it hasn't, neither is incorrect and neither is correct either but for me personally I don't see much improvement in that regard. Quality yes there's a fucking huge improvement but we still getting 1 update a year since the release of the game back in 2019? It's 2022 now and that hasn't changed. You can say "oh but Detroit the updates are much longer now" and you are correct but tell me how much story progression has there actually been? It's what 3 years and we still don't know much about the story or the characters. And Usually that wouldn't be a bad thing, slow burns and all but it doesn't work when the release times are slow burns itself lol and then throw in basketball and fantasy games for whatever reason and once again little story progression. Like Ocean said himself, we've literally just gotten out of the introduction phase and that took like 3 years, it's crazy if you think about it because we haven't even tapped into the main story yet. The first 3 years were practically just to introduce us to the characters and the idea of the story but as I said even then we still dont know much about any of the characters aside from their personalities. I think we're about 2 weeks into the game (maybe) because Bella mentioned in the gym that she only know the MC for a few days, that's between ch1 and ch 3. So that means for like 2 or 3 years of development we are probably only a week into the game, that's crazy.

So with that I think it's fair for people to have the notion that not much will change going forward,im not saying it's correct or incorrect but it's a plausible assumption based on what we've seen and the fact that he has another game of the same quality he's also working on. Of course we all hope that things will improve and they just might, but until we see some actual improvements there's not much to argue against because rn opinions stating other wise are based on hope. It's kinda like religion lol neither is right and neither is wrong but facts remain facts.

He showed his numbers recently in how many renders he can create per day compared to what he used to be able to do and its a lot more than it was, so that backs up what i said about that. My argument to the other guy was more that he cant predict to the end of the game in the amount of time it will take accurately when he is using old info to do it, not considering the fact that he has improved on certain aspects already and could upgrade his own set up or get better software that helps. recently ocean has mentioned the animation software he likes which would improve it even further. Obviously anything can happen but i cant see how he would end up slower, its a lot more logical to think that he will get quicker with it.. regardless idc about the time it takes tbh, its just annoying to see the constant "its going to take 25 years to play this" if they feel like that then why even play it? when they say the 25 year thing they are acting like its facts when its far from it.


With the basketball thing i dont even consider that as a side thing, main story points and a lot of character development can come from that, lets say the mc ends up on the team, its going to be a part of the story.. it could be a way where certain relationships form so i dont see that as a pointless thing.. the tabletop game i dont care about, but he wants it in the game and some might be looking forward to it so im not going to complain, its his vision so ill go with it.

story progression wise you say we are this far in with no real story progression, there is a lot of characters, when you are doing a story like this and its deep story wise it cant be rushed, you need to meet the characters and see a lot about them and get to know them. theres many games where you meet a character and you see a paragraph about them and thats it... they move on with the story and you dont feel anything towards them, its just another basic game.. you will not be as invested in the characters when its done like that.. for me its simple, if people dont like waiting and dont like how long its taking to get into the story just simply move on. i personally love games that go deep on characters and dont mind waiting because i would rather see it done right than rushed. you are not going to meet a complicated character like bella and know everything about her in a hour, it just doesnt work like that.

 

[Uriel ☁]

I liked this thread more when it was about waifu wars

 

[AngelsAfterDark]

He showed his numbers recently in how many renders he can create per day compared to what he used to be able to do and its a lot more than it was, so that backs up what i said about that. My argument to the other guy was more that he cant predict to the end of the game in the amount of time it will take accurately when he is using old info to do it, not considering the fact that he has improved on certain aspects already and could upgrade his own set up or get better software that helps. recently ocean has mentioned the animation software he likes which would improve it even further. Obviously anything can happen but i cant see how he would end up slower, its a lot more logical to think that he will get quicker with it.. regardless idc about the time it takes tbh, its just annoying to see the constant "its going to take 25 years to play this" if they feel like that then why even play it? when they say the 25 year thing they are acting like its facts when its far from it.


With the basketball thing i dont even consider that as a side thing, main story points and a lot of character development can come from that, lets say the mc ends up on the team, its going to be a part of the story.. it could be a way where certain relationships form so i dont see that as a pointless thing.. the tabletop game i dont care about, but he wants it in the game and some might be looking forward to it so im not going to complain, its his vision so ill go with it.

story progression wise you say we are this far in with no real story progression, there is a lot of characters, when you are doing a story like this and its deep story wise it cant be rushed, you need to meet the characters and see a lot about them and get to know them. theres many games where you meet a character and you see a paragraph about them and thats it... they move on with the story and you dont feel anything towards them, its just another basic game.. you will not be as invested in the characters when its done like that.. for me its simple, if people dont like waiting and dont like how long its taking to get into the story just simply move on. i personally love games that go deep on characters and dont mind waiting because i would rather see it done right than rushed. you are not going to meet a complicated character like bella and know everything about her in a hour, it just doesnt work like that.

I 100% agree with everything you are saying and I can respect your view, as I said neither is wrong or right. And yes assuming the game will never improve is foolish of course, it definitely will improve how much we or not certain. It could take years before there's any actual improvement with the release times so I can kinda get why he jumped the gun. But in that same regard Ocean could win the lottery tomorrow and get the financial backing needed to get those updates out faster at an even higher quality, nothing is certain.

And perhaps the basketball stuff will be part of the main story we don't know that yet. But I highly doubt the fantasy stuff could play any serious role in the main story, it's just there to show off the characters in a fantasy setting as someone stated before. but like you I dont care or mind having it in the game but it comes at the cost of story progression and that sucks. I'm big on story building, I hate rushed games or brainless pornography based games, Summers gone is one of the few that I can actually say is not a porn game and that's a big plus in my books. But biting off more than you can chew is a reality for most devs and having so many characters which took years to be introduced is wicked and we can only assume that it'll take years before the MC actually builds something with them. So far it's just been Bella, we've spend a lot of time with and getting to know her, seeds have been sown with that kiss but aside from that and the beginning of CH 3.5 she wasn't seen again for the rest of the chapter. Which is okay cause now we can focus on another character but that didn't happen either, we had no progression with any of the other characters aside from Mila telling the MC a lil bit about her personal life. It's been years and so far we only know a little bit about Bella and Milla and buggaral about the rest. Then you throw in basketball which at best could be a side story and that took up half if not more than half of 3.5. Instead during that time there could've been more progression with the main story and characters,not Juicebox almost getting fingered by some dude lol.

Side note I love all those little details, I love everything Ocean is doing with this game, as I I said before in a previous comment, all those side stuff will be great once the game is completed and will be a nice break from the main story and main girls. Its funny to see all the Chad's trying to out Chad each other lol but there's no certainty that we'll ever reach the finishing line so the safer bet would be to push the main story forward and have the side stuff at minimum at best and not take up half the update. Of course it's just my opinion some will agree some won't, nobody is wrong at the end of the day.
I just personally feel like we should know lot more about the characters at this point seeing that it's been 3 years and Ocean said the introduction was to get to know the characters.

 

[G27111]

I 100% agree with everything you are saying and I can respect your view, as I said neither is wrong or right. And yes assuming the game will never improve is foolish of course, it definitely will improve how much we or not certain. It could take years before there's any actual improvement with the release times so I can kinda get why he jumped the gun. But in that same regard Ocean could win the lottery tomorrow and get the financial backing needed to get those updates out faster at an even higher quality, nothing is certain.

And perhaps the basketball stuff will be part of the main story we don't know that yet. But I highly doubt the fantasy stuff could play any serious role in the main story, it's just there to show off the characters in a fantasy setting as someone stated before. but like you I dont care or mind having it in the game but it comes at the cost of story progression and that sucks. I'm big on story building, I hate rushed games or brainless pornography based games, Summers gone is one of the few that I can actually say is not a porn game and that's a big plus in my books. But biting off more than you can chew is a reality for most devs and having so many characters which took years to be introduced is wicked and we can only assume that it'll take years before the MC actually builds something with them. So far it's just been Bella, we've spend a lot of time with and getting to know her, seeds have been sown with that kiss but aside from that and the beginning of CH 3.5 she wasn't seen again for the rest of the chapter. Which is okay cause now we can focus on another character but that didn't happen either, we had no progression with any of the other characters aside from Mila telling the MC a lil bit about her personal life. It's been years and so far we only know a little bit about Bella and Milla and buggaral about the rest. Then you throw in basketball which at best could be a side story and that took up half if not more than half of 3.5. Instead during that time there could've been more progression with the main story and characters,not Juicebox almost getting fingered by some dude lol.

Side note I love all those little details, I love everything Ocean is doing with this game, as I I said before in a previous comment, all those side stuff will be great once the game is completed and will be a nice break from the main story and main girls. Its funny to see all the Chad's trying to out Chad each other lol but there's no certainty that we'll ever reach the finishing line so the safer bet would be to push the main story forward and have the side stuff at minimum at best and not take up half the update. Of course it's just my opinion some will agree some won't, nobody is wrong at the end of the day.
I just personally feel like we should know lot more about the characters at this point seeing that it's been 3 years and Ocean said the introduction was to get to know the characters.

in a ideal world we would be at that point but its not lol, i get it. i would love for the game to be complete already and be able to enjoy the whole thing it just doesnt work like that. i stay positive with things usually and just think that soon we will get more into it, a lot of the intro is out of the way and after the next update doing the game thing it should start picking up. its a lot easier to appreciate the slow burn once more is out and there will likely be episodes where things move faster. in my mind it takes time to get to know characters but once you do thats when it picks up the pace and a lot of progress can then be made even in one episode. Hillside is like it in that way where its slow burn but then big strides are made and it doesnt feel forced it stays with the story and progress that was made before it.

A lot of progress was made with bella in the first few and i think she will be the hardest to get through to from what we know already, i dont think other characters will need that much to get to know a bit. we dont know how the fantasy game thing will go and there are quite a few girls that will be there so even in that progress can be made, i have no idea what he has planned with that.

 

[lipe2410]

I'll also say to this what I've been wanting to say to everyone else with this outlook. This view would have been a credible one were we to go based on the assumption that Oceanlab would not improve in any aspect, and continue to release updates at the same pace on a yearly basis. This outlook was formed off of the belief that Oceanlab cannot make any improvements, and thus will not ever improve from the 1 update per year development rate. I personally believe that is quite a flawed view, as Oceanlab has shown and proven that he is the kind of person to put any and all support to good use. He is always searching for avenues to improve for us(his audience). Assuming this next update were to be brought forth sometime this month, or early May, it won't be that far-fetched to hold the belief that he can bring forth another update before the year is finished. Oceanlab is only human. He's made some mistakes, sure, but people are acting like he cannot improve(or has not improved already since Summer's Gone chapter 1). All he's done since taking on Summer's Gone as a serious project is to make improvements. He's not just wasting away the funds. But given what some people are saying, you'd swear that were the case lol.

It's getting a bit funny for me how often I've had to repeat this sentiment, but if people are unwilling to see this game as a long-term investment, then they should save themselves the time and move on. Most people complaining, are complaining due to them liking this AVN, but being too impatient to wait for the author's updates. They love the game but hate the development period. A family member of mine wanted a video game called Cyberpunk 2077. He always expressed how it would have been the best sci-fi game ever and whatnot. Then all of a sudden he stopped bringing it up. When I'd asked him about it, it was because both the audience and the development company made the studio rush their work. What came was not the same work of art that everyone had seemingly been anticipating, but a rather huge let-down that crushed the hopes of many. It's sad too because I actually wanted the game lol. These updates will come when they're ready, not when you(speaking generally) think they should be ready. If you guys(speaking generally) cannot handle that, then it's better for you to move on. But do not come here and complain about something that you're probably obtaining for free, anyway.

I think that everything you say is right. And just to be clear, because i think i'm not: i'm not complaint or saying that he is not improving. I talk about his improvements in my last paragraph. The estimated time i made is just that, a estimation, and is based in the current scenario and information available because this is what we get right now. Of course things can and will improve and when this happen and the scenario changes, we will can make news and better estimations. My point is only highlight how time is a serious issue because it can affect not only the current games but also the future games he wanna make (trying see the big picture). I'm not saying "updates should be in x times because i want it", i'm saying "releases speed need improve for he be able to achieve his goals". Just to put into perspective: you believe that after chapter 4, next release (4.5) can come out still this year. I believe in that, too. But if 4.5 is the last update this year, it will not be a improvement in release pace yet because the pace of 1 chapter per year will sustain at least until next year.

 

[rerderrum]

I didn't want to write about this again because 5 pages later it will start again and I have excruciating back pain but anyway.

Ocean started his first game WIAB in 2018 with an i5+1060! In the first 14 months he did 5300 renders (4000 stills).
Chapter 3 took ~12 months with 1850 stills and ~10000 animation renders.
Chapter 3.5 which took <7 months had 1546 stills and between 3500-5000 animation renders with waay higher quality.
At 29 March this year he finished 2700 still renders for SG and WIAB, animation renders unknown. (~7 months >2000 stills SG, ~4 months 700 stills WIAB)


According to Ocean, who never lied about render count as far as I'm aware, he currently does ~22000 renders per 6 months:

From 5300 low-quality renders per 14 months (~ 4000 stills + 1300 A-Frames) to 21.800 high-quality renders per 4-6 months. (2800+ stills and 19000 A-Frames.)

So he definitly is getting faster and better every year. We can't tell how long everything will take, but I certainly don't believe 26 years. Also he only wants to do half-chapters for the first 5 or maybe 10 Chapters, I'm not sure because I can't find the post. For SG Chapter 4 he also outsourced something, but I also can't find the post rn.

Also more support will most likely mean faster development because Ocean wants to outsource some tasks but can't afford it. Right now he cannot afford MotionBuilder as example, because it's an annually paid software for 2045$. At least he will hopefully get more support with the next SG release, the last two updates raised his patreon amount significantly:

January 2021 SG Chapter 3 release ~160 patreons -> ~480, August 2021 Chapter 3.5 release ~600 -> ~850 patreons. Right now ~900.

He also said that Chapter 5 SG will release on Steam which, fingers crossed, will increase support as well.


Anyway I don't agree with you guys at all that Ocean will take 25+ years and I believe the numbers definitely back me up. If you want it faster maybe consider supporting Ocean on Patreon instead of writing walls of text without even having all the information. I want the old SG Thread back!! You hear me mods?

Edit: Wrong render count for March 29.

 

[Razrback16]

On the bright side, we should see the next update soon, yay Looking forward to it.

 

[mitymity]

Hopefully sometime in the next 4-5 weeks, can't wait

 

[TheSmoothCriminal]

So from the reviews and looking through this thread this is an adult game without any actual adult content? Seems like this site is the wrong place for just a normal game no?

 

[Claire R.E.]

I would really like to see more animations added to this game, something like in this video.
set the preview to Full HD 1080 resolution.

You must be registered to see the links

 

[dotritch]

So from the reviews and looking through this thread this is an adult game without any actual adult content? Seems like this site is the wrong place for just a normal game no?

Correction. There's no adult content yet.

 

[TheSmoothCriminal]

Correction. There's no adult content yet.

Well damn. 3 years in too. Is the final update where the sexy time is supposed to happen?

 

[Mortarion]

I would really like to see more animations added to this game, something like in this video.
set the preview to Full HD 1080 resolution.


Original

The thing with animations like this is ...

... well ...

... i want to play a game, not watch porn.

Don't get me wrong, nothing against Oceanlab and his works he puts in his animations. They are a mighty tool for storytelling, and he has proofen this many times in this game, but - in my opinion - it will be never more, it just won't fit into a h-scene.

The rework of WIAB is a great example of this. While the sex with Miru there is quality wise done extremely well, i can't really find it erotic, it misses something, and that is imagination or let's call it "head cinema", excuse the crude way of desribe it with this poor term... Just compare it to the description of a scene in a book and the later film version. The movie doesn't do the book justice - never.

A well writen scene with static renders can contain way more erotic than a high qualtiy animation. I can - and will - always pull the Gracie scene on the roofs of the Town of Lucania from The Deluca Family as example, that scene was a "only" a frigging kiss, but i was boiling over with erotic, it have rarely seen so much erotic in such a - content wise - innocent scene, if at all in any game i have played till now.

 

[Fortuna ღ]

So from the reviews and looking through this thread this is an adult game without any actual adult content? Seems like this site is the wrong place for just a normal game no?

Have you tried... I don't know... actually playing the game? What do you know about this game aside from the fact that it does not feature adult content? I've noticed that you're rather new here(on F95), so I'll give you some advice. Next time, please consider actually playing the game before commenting on which site it belongs to. It'd also do you great favors to actually read the first post on their threads. The ones all about the AVN. On this thread, there's a section on that post labeled "Developer Notes". Usually, they tend to give you a pretty good indicator of whether or not that game is suitable for you. I'd recommend giving them a read next time♡

Well damn. 3 years in too. Is the final update where the sexy time is supposed to happen?

If "sexy time" is all you're after, then you're wasting your time here. Ocean puts the story first, so don't expect any scenes of sexual nature until it makes sense for the characters and their storylines. Sorry... but this AVN isn't focused on the MC having sex with everything that breathes. There are literally hundreds of other AVNs on this site that have what you're looking for lol. So instead of complaining, I'd suggest giving them a try

Edit: It's a bit weird that people are feeling the need to come here just to complain about either the development period or lack of sexual content. Move on if it's not your cup of tea. How hard is that? But no, you have to come here to let it be known your distastes for whatever's happening with the game. Can someone remind me when was the last time this worked on a dev? Like has this ever magically fixed the developer's issues and made their project better? Lol. I can understand if the developer was wrong in any way, but Ocean's working almost every day. Oceanlab is constantly working on decreasing the development period, as well as finding ways to better the quality of his games for all players. He's not a developer that deserves any of the negativity being thrown his way. I can understand constructive criticism, but most people just come here, complain, then leave. That's getting a bit annoying

 

[Razrback16]

The thing with animations like this is ...

... well ...

... i want to play a game, not watch porn.

Don't get me wrong, nothing against Oceanlab and his works he puts in his animations. They are a mighty tool for storytelling, and he has proofen this many times in this game, but - in my opinion - it will be never more, it just won't fit into a h-scene.

The rework of WIAB is a great example of this. While the sex with Miru there is quality wise done extremely well, i can't really find it erotic, it misses something, and that is imagination or let's call it "head cinema", excuse the crude way of desribe it with this poor term... Just compare it to the description of a scene in a book and the later film version. The movie doesn't do the book justice - never.

A well writen scene with static renders can contain way more erotic than a high qualtiy animation. I can - and will - always pull the Gracie scene on the roofs of the Town of Lucania from The Deluca Family as example, that scene was a "only" a frigging kiss, but i was boiling over with erotic, it have rarely seen so much erotic in such a - content wise - innocent scene, if at all in any game i have played till now.

I understand what you're saying, but I do disagree in some areas - I think animations done right will really add to the intimate scenes. Things such as kissing (such as the Jill kiss in Episode 4 of Being A DIK after the date with her) can add a lot of emotional attachment between characters on-screen and ratchet up the intimacy during a sex scene as well. A properly detailed scene of a LI on top riding the MC in a slow, intimate way can be well-combined with static renders to give the scene the right conveyance to the audience, and I'm in favor of shorter animations in such an instance, nothing real long where the whole scene feels animated or anything, but just a proper combination of the two methods would get my vote for sure.

 

[BeingADikDik]

You most likely misunderstood my wording! I like this game very much it has very beautiful graphics and high quality! I just want to see more beautiful animation in this game!

If the trade is 300 renders per 1 animation, then I think many would consistently opt for the renders. Animations are 'payoffs' - and given how much time it takes to produce quality animation, they should be used sparingly for key story moments / endings to allow more story to be told.

 

[Mortarion]

You most likely misunderstood my wording! I like this game very much it has very beautiful graphics and high quality! I just want to see more beautiful animation in this game!

I understood you very well, but i - for myself - don't put much value into animations. I just disagree with you about the further use of animation like the one you have posted as an example.

But hey, i will for sure don't judge you for this, we have just diffrent opinions - and this is totally fine by me. The other way around life would be so boring...

At the end of the day not my or your wishes count, but only the vision Ocean has for his game - and that is the only thing that matters!

Peace!