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

[PaxHadrian17]

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I don't take this as Season 2 will not be available on Steam for everyone, just for Germany in compliance with what I feel are outdated restrictions. I'm not sure how many of us want the cliff notes versus the full 'story' when Season 2 reaches full on sexy times..

I'm not sure if the Japanese version of censorship (blurring everything involving the groin area) will work here. (Perhaps there is a way to have an 'Unsexy' patch applied to Steam content for Germany). I feel bad for suggesting this (an 'unsexy' patch) but I want Ocean to be able to reach the largest audience possible and I enjoy Season 1 far more than most AVNs that already have sexy time in them.

In this case, being one of those 'degenerate Americans' may not be such a bad deal...

 

[Old Man Al]

it was more of a "don't tell..." kind of no.

By the way, is it permanent or not ?

If Steam does something with all the money they get thrown at them and develops a functional age certification instead of shitty controllers and other useless stuff...

 

[Turret]

I don't take this as Season 2 will not be available on Steam for everyone, just for Germany in compliance with what I feel are outdated restrictions. I'm not sure how many of us want the cliff notes versus the full 'story' when Season 2 reaches full on sexy times..
I'm not sure if the Japanese version of censorship (blurring everything involving the groin area) will work here. (Perhaps there is a way to have an 'Unsexy' patch applied to Steam content for Germany). I feel bad for suggesting this (an 'unsexy' patch) but I want Ocean to be able to reach the largest audience possible and I enjoy Season 1 far more than most AVNs that already have sexy time in them.
In this case, being one of those 'degenerate Americans' may not be such a bad deal...

The problem are less German restrictions, e.g. no one is giving a flying fuck if we use uncensor patches or play Hitman and other 18+ games (I even got 18+ stuff delivered from Japan directly and the only thing the toll office wanted to know was, if I am over 18), but stress about the age verification on Steam. Steam went the easy way and blocked most adult stuff for Germany and several other nations which have the same thoughts about age verification. That this is simply a shoddy work by Valve.

 

[Fun Shaundi]

Steam went the easy way and blocked most adult stuff for Germany and several other nations which have the same thoughts about age verification. That this is simply a shoddy work by Valve.

Man, don't tell me this, I gonna move from another country to Germany soon-ish This sucks.

 

[Turret]

Man, don't tell me this, I gonna move from another country to Germany soon-ish This sucks.

Well, unfortunately that is so. Steam went the easy and cheap way. And botched even this with controllers who I have no idea what they do and why. For instance, some games with 18+ sex inside are still available on German Steam (already in or with uncensor patches) and then there are games like "Max´s bigger bust" which is a spoof, has zero sex scenes and - is not buyable! On the other hand, as I said, some games got through even with sex still in it. Totally fucked system.

 

[Razrback16]

That sucks for you guys in Germany with oppressive laws. Well, at least you can circumvent this bullshit with a VPN and F95 and if you find ways to support Ocean along the way, great.

 

[Turret]

That sucks for you guys in Germany with oppressive laws. Well, at least you can circumvent this bullshit with a VPN and F95 and if you find ways to support Ocean along the way, great.

As said, the problem is less the German laws (which can be quite forgiving on some things), even if Steam tries to paint it that way sometimes, but their cheap and easy solution to the verification problem they have with several nations.

 

[Ilhares]

Man, don't tell me this, I gonna move from another country to Germany soon-ish This sucks.

Make sure you keep your steam account region listed as something other than Germany, you should be okay. They aren't, in my experience, limiting you based on your IP range, because people usr VPNs all the time.

 

[Sadboi19max]

im here to announce myself as a proud member of characters building gang!

 

[Uriel ☁]

im here to announce myself as a proud member of characters building gang!

Username checks out

 

[Tremonia]

That sucks for you guys in Germany with oppressive laws.

It's not our law. It's a law of the European Union, but only for german based customers Valve act like this. If the law would be the problem no one in the EU could buy these games on Steam.

 

[D3xzalias]

It's not our law. It's a law of the European Union, but only for german based customers Valve act like this. If the law would be the problem no one in the EU could buy these games on Steam.

Domestic laws and European laws are very different and this is a law of Germany and valve has to abide to it otherwise it can't sell games in Germany.
And it has to do with age rating since Germany is very strict on it. Since everyone can fill in there birthday as 1-1- 1900 Valve said fuck it not going to follow that strict protocol just not gonna sell those games

 

[Tremonia]

Domestic laws and European laws are very different and this is a law of Germany and valve has to abide to it otherwise it can't sell games in Germany.

No, that's wrong. I know Valve told this story to everyone who asks about their shitty behavior but they lie. They lie straight in your face. But it is what it is. The more you told a lie the more people believe this lie. In fact there are ways to buy at Steam these games if you're in Germany. I did this myself more than once. All you need is VPN.

 

[Wildehilde]

Most germans get their game from us in Austria anyway. Like it happened back in the L4D area time. Where they had to censor shit in Germany lol.

 

[Sigma_Wolf]

Damn, I love the Chetto, although kind of reminds me as myself with her crude humor haha

 

[Razrback16]

It's not our law. It's a law of the European Union, but only for german based customers Valve act like this. If the law would be the problem no one in the EU could buy these games on Steam.

Hmm, kinda weird. I was just reading through a few writeups on this and maybe those were wrong (I admittedly am not that familiar with this issue). Sounds like the beef is with the age verification - Germany wants Steam to enforce a more stringent policy and Steam basically says fk you. I see both sides of the argument if that's the case.

Assuming that what I said above is the crux of the issue, I applaud Germany trying to make sure little kids aren't getting access to adult material, but on the other hand, Steam shouldn't have to change their system, and I'm not a fan of draconian censorship measures, either - the last thing we need is more regulation & oversight, parents simply need to be responsible for what their kids are doing. I say punish the parents for not regulating what their kids are doing - don't trust them not to access porn, then don't give them unsupervised access to the internet, or a cell phone, etc.

If I lived in Germany, the way I'd look at this though, is "great, free games for me" - I'd just use my trusty VPN and pirate everything - F95 for adult content, and Fitgirl repacks for everything else - I'd look at it like, ok German government, you don't want me to be able to buy stuff...then I won't. German government won't get the tax revenue on purchases that they've banned, and Steam will miss out on those purchases as well - lose lose for German government + Steam, and win for consumer.

 

[Tremonia]

Sounds like the beef is with the age verification - Germany wants Steam to enforce a more stringent policy and Steam basically says fk you.

That's pretty much what's going on with the only restriction that it is only about having an age verification at all. Most companies do this by checking the credit card. But Steam don't want this. It's a little bit funny because every member state of the EU have ratified this EU law. It's exactly the same in every EU member state. But only for Germany Steam goes nuts and they haven't even had any problems with the authorities or any state institution. There were no court cases or anything like that. They just pee their pants in front of Germany. As stupid as that sounds.

 

[Schattenfang]

News in the latest Dev Update just now:
"I'm around 70% done with the full version of Chapter 4.5."

 

[Marley300]

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Hello,
(I attached the new Steam/Ambient Trailer. Watch it in 4k. Otherwise, it looks like pixel-mud thanks to the YT compression.)

So... First of all sorry for not doing a Dev Log when it was supposed to be out. The last Dev Log date fell exactly on the date I moved across the country.

Then a week later, I flew back and spent Christmas with my family.

I'm currently pretty damn sick. Not sure if Covid or the Flu... But it also doesn't matter. It'll go away eventually.


I finished setting up the PCs etc. not that long ago. Got my desk, and everything that's needed for work.

One WiAB hard drive died, but I didn't lose anything game related. (I had a backup.)


I'm around 70% done with the full version of Chapter 4.5.

All that's left is the college part plus Amber/Bella.



2. Steam


Summer's Gone is coming to Steam next year. The first Season will include Chapter 1 to Chapter 5.

If you want to support the game beyond Patreon, consider wishlisting the game. (Even if you don't necessarily plan on buying it. It still helps a lot with no additional costs attached.)

You must be registered to see the links

3. Music-related stuff

So, the biggest headache in development again...


I met up with a law firm and discussed quite a bit of music-related stuff. In the future, I will never ever use a site like Shutterstock, Epidemic, etc. again.

All deals will now be made directly with the artist/label.

I mentioned before, that I was in the process of making a deal... Well, besides their very dubious actions towards me. (Promising me stuff that wasn't in the license agreement and would have gotten me into serious legal trouble, I will remove A LOT of music again for Season 2.

Summer's Gone Season 1 will keep all the music. (Chapter 1 to Chapter 5.)

But with the start of SG Season 2, I'll look for new music, far away from these fucking licensing sites.

That's why I'll work with a law firm in the future. Secure the licenses, etc.


It's very possible that music will take a place in the back for a year or two... I just really don't wanna deal with this permanent anxiety of breaching some weirdly designed line in a contract, that is open for all sorts of interpretation.

The lawyer said, that the best way would be to create original soundtracks for the game.

But it's way too expensive at the moment.


But someday we'll do it.

And Steam has the potential to be the first big step toward original soundtracks.


3. Previews

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Anyways, I'll try to finish the rendering part for Chapter 4.5 Full in the next two weeks.

I'm currently taking it easy to recover from my flu/covid. So I'm not at 100% efficiency. (Also still have to take care of a lot of stuff due to the move. I don't even have a bed right now.)


See ya then.

- Ocean

 

[89898hh]

Hopefully we can see more regular updates !

This game and WIAB have huge potential