Ren'Py Summertime Saga [v21.0.0 wip.5258] [Kompas Productions]

[Dogeek]

Even us devs need to get some time off for the holidays. I'm sure DC's enjoying a bit of a family time, as we agreed upon. It's also kinda the reason why we pushed hard for 0.17.5 : so that we could take a breather afterwards without feeling too guilty. We don't want to burn out now, do we ?

I agree that the pregnancy stuff isn't the best feature we implemented, and some things are definitely going to be improved upon, but as stated previously, we don't want to turn the game into a baby caring simulator, so the realism will end at some point, but also, you can check on your kids at the daycare, so there's that, and there's a variation of the dialogue if you've had more than one kid.

Also the reason there is no crib or anything is because we want to add more stuff later to many locations, and having a crib there kinda limits the space we have, mostly due to android not handling alpha masks at all, which makes overlapping buttons a nightmare on those devices. Kinda seemed more appropriate to just have one location, the daycare, where kids would stay, and be out of sight, out of mind. It's a matter of compromise, again.

As for Diane's story, it didn't seem that far-fetched to me. I mean, it still is the same as the previous one, with some twists, and (imo) much better dialogues and writing. Also, I'm sorry for the apparent lack of content, but, it is what it is, we want to keep faithful to the game as it was originially designed. So, obviously some of the content stays more or less the same, or it seems that way, but under the hood, you would see that there has been a tremendous amount of work done. As a matter of fact, I worked harder on Diane than I did on Roxxy, even though the amount of content appears to be much less in 0.17 compared to 0.16. Sploosh rewrote all the dialogues, Catbug redid all the posing with the new rig, and I recoded the entire flow from scratch with the FSMs, and DC had to redo the art for the new rig system, which will improve not only the game's size, but also will lead to more flexibility for Catbug to pose stuff, as he can put any face onto any body he wants. It also makes exporting the assets very easy since DC just has to export his original PSD file layer by layer.

I now wonder if I could not automate the exporting process. I'm sure there's a python library out there to read photoshop files...

 

[DrFog]

Having just recently finished the recent 0.17.5 update, I gotta say that this new element was very underwhelming and even the update to Diane's story in general was mostly terrible.

Having now seen what this pregnancy part of the game is like, I really hope it doesn't get applied to every single female character. Do it for Jenny since she keeps mentioning it every time you have sex and maybe Roxxy can get pregnant too, but maybe just leave it at that. I know that DC has said before that Debbie would also get a pregnancy update, but maybe put a pin in that one and say that Debbie either had her tubes tied or is now infertile.

I highly doubt that they are just going to leave Diane alone until the end of the game. There will most likely be more content that addresses the majority of your concerns here, but only to an extent. Like @Dogeek said, making the game into a daycare simulator is pointless and unnecessary.

is "or so" 2 months, in your mind? I wrote "before the end of april", but I think we won't see anything before the beginning of may for sure, in fact.

April is the month after March, so yeah, "or so" makes perfect sense. No way in hell it takes until May, that'd have to be one massive update.

 

[DrFog]

Also the reason there is no crib or anything is because we want to add more stuff later to many locations, and having a crib there kinda limits the space we have, mostly due to android not handling alpha masks at all, which makes overlapping buttons a nightmare on those devices. Kinda seemed more appropriate to just have one location, the daycare, where kids would stay, and be out of sight, out of mind. It's a matter of compromise, again.

This is definitely the way to go about it. This was what I was most concerned about when pregnancy content was announced. It might not be super realistic, but it avoids any unnecessary complications without completely ignoring the children. Not to mention it added Lucy, who I'm eagerly looking forward to smashing.

 

[Ungawa]

Maybe PRIMED SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON? (It's DE's WarFrame MEME)

That's why you always expect Prime Disappointment (Except when Mesa's involved...)

 

[Holy Bacchus]

@Dogeek

I don't think anyone is suggesting turning the game into a "baby caring simulator", but simply stating that it feels like this key focal point of a character's story is very quickly swept under the rug after conception. There is some dialogue acknowledgements, yes, but overall it still feels a little light in terms of how this event is handled by the characters. However, I fully understand that this is just the beginning and that it will likely be expanded upon in the future.

As for Diane's story, the whole part about her demolishing her house to build a barn, complete with hay bales, for the purposes of expanding her milk business that involves milking large-breasted women just felt like it went a little too far, and I say this whilst fully enjoying and accepting the Aqua and Daisy storylines. But it's the introduction of a character like Daisy that makes this whole thing seem superfluous. After all, Daisy is an anthropomorphised cow-girl who both needs and likes to be milked regularly so it seems like she would've been the perfect solution to both the Diane's increasing exhaustion at having to produce so much milk and her need to increase production by getting pregnant. If Daisy were introduced earlier, this could negate the need for both the barn and the pregnancy.

Think about it like this:

1. At the point where Diane is feeling really exhausted trying to fulfill the order for the school, the MC offers to find a way to increase production which starts the whole pregnancy event.
2. At the same time, the MC finds the first piece of the statue whilst gardening (which be a forced event) and this series of events happens in parallel with the pregnancy event but also relies on progressing with Roxxy enough that you can talk to Clyde.
3. Diane completes the school order but then says she's unsure about continuing because of her need to increase production and because she's so exhausted, at which point the MC offers to get her pregnant and she accepts. They try several times (4-6) but she doesn't get pregnant.
4. At this point, provided you've found all the statue pieces and done research on it by talking to Clyde and going to the library, you present the statue to her telling her it's a magical idol that is said to improve fertility.
5. The Daisy storyline happens pretty much the same way with the MC needing to gain her trust and Diane looking after her, but Diane still has the house and no plans to build a barn.
6. Daisy, it turns out, has better quality milk than Diane and can produce more than Diane so she becomes the primary source of milk which is done in Diane's shed on the special milking chair that was added in this update.
7. Diane says she doesn't need to get pregnant anymore but still wants to have sex which you can do in the kitchen during the day and the bedroom at night. She can still get pregnant and the baby would be in the room next to Diane's in her house but after that she'll automatically be on birth control.
8. The MC also still has sex with Daisy, who will again catch the MC and Diane one night, and it will also turn out that this stimulation helps her to produce more milk.
9. The threesome with Debbie could occur by having Diane drop by to have celebratory drinks with Debbie because her business is booming and she ends up crashing on the sofa where she catches you going in to Debbie's room and thus activating the threesome scene.

I'm not saying you guys should do this and I would not expect you to given the tremendous amount of work you put into this update and the tremendous amount still yet to be done. You guys have a vision and a plan and you're following that which I totally respect, I'm just saying that, if it was me, this is how I would've done it.

 

[Max-Payne]

I have downloaded the save, but I have no idea how to install it. Is there a tutorial somewhere?

Put it in the save files. Summertime Saga>game>saves
Then open the first load page and select first saved game.

 

[srksrk 68]

Not to mention it added Lucy, who I'm eagerly looking forward to smashing.

Sure, but that is one part of the problem. Instead of bringing the game closer to an end and finishing story lines, they rewrite Dianes story with no real new content, and introduced four new characters -- leaving even more open ends. Exactly the opposite of what they did with the genious Roxxy update.

The game is already well over 700MB large. It will become DVD size once everything is finished. If not Blu-Ray...

I like the game, but I hope they to not do the same again for the next four months with Jenny.

 

[abduhl phi]

I just downloaded the game but everytime i open my phone it gives me a console error

 

[DrFog]

Sure, but that is one part of the problem. Instead of bringing the game closer to an end and finishing story lines, they rewrite Dianes story with no real new content, and introduced four new characters -- leaving even more open ends. Exactly the opposite of what they did with the genious Roxxy update.

The game is already well over 700MB large. It will become DVD size once everything is finished. If not Blu-Ray...

I like the game, but I hope they to not do the same again for the next four months with Jenny.

Implying there's something wrong with making the game larger with more characters. Idk why everyone has such a problem with that. Are you really that eager for the game to end? I couldn't give a fuck if this game is still being made 10 years from now so long as they keep adding content that I want to play (and by play, I mean smash).

 

[srksrk 68]

Implying there's something wrong with making the game larger with more characters. Idk why everyone has such a problem with that. Are you really that eager for the game to end? I couldn't give a fuck if this game is still being made 10 years from now so long as they keep adding content that I want to play (and by play, I mean smash).

You are getting only one of my points. I do not have anything against adding more content. But I would like to have open ends closed before they add even more open ends. Nothing speaks against adding more content when those open ends that they already have are closed. And they *can* do it, the Roxxy update proves it.

 

[DrFog]

You are getting only one of my points. I do not have anything against adding more content. But I would like to have open ends closed before they add even more open ends. Nothing speaks against adding more content when those open ends that they already have are closed. And they *can* do it, the Roxxy update proves it.

Implying Roxxy's storyline is complete. (Hint: it's not). Besides, the more open ends they have, the more they can tie characters into each other's storylines. There are characters that could easily be the focus of a major update, but then there are also a ton of side characters that (at least at the moment) wouldn't make any sense to give a full update for. The more side characters there are, the more interaction they can have with main characters, and the more h-content we get as a whole. Now, if they made side characters and then just ignored them for the rest of the game leaving them incomplete at final launch, yeah I'd have an issue with that. Right now however, I'm pretty okay with it every time they add a hot new piece of ass I can look forward to conquering.

 

[srksrk 68]

"every time they add a hot new piece of ass I can look forward to conquering"

That was true before the Diane upgrade...

 

[DrFog]

"every time they add a hot new piece of ass I can look forward to conquering"

That was true before the Diane upgrade...

True, they have introduced plenty of secondary waifus already that we haven't gotten into bed with yet, but I feel like that will make it so much better when we finally do. I'd rather have characters introduced and teased beforehand than just served hot and 100% complete with each update. Feels more natural that way. Although I can see a counterargument having some valid points as well. Just personal preference I guess.

 

[srksrk 68]

Let's not forget that they took over three months for the update, delivering very little new stuff and deleting a complete scene (OK what they deliverd was higher quality, but less quantity). Then there was the text-wise nice Daisy update, but the graphics it felt like a recycled Diane scene. And now they already hint at deleting Jenny scenes as well.

All in all: much room for improvement...

 

[MerlinUSA]

Ok, so Diane now has 2 daughters, and I don't seem to be any closer to progressing with Daisy. I milk her daily, bring her an occasional pizza, but the available dialog doesn't change. Is there something in the story so far that deals with Daisy's prior life? And, what am I missing in order to get her pregnant? Or am I mistaken about that being available?

 

[MerlinUSA]

Can we say, "work in progress"?

 

[DrFog]

Ok, so Diane now has 2 daughters, and I don't seem to be any closer to progressing with Daisy. I milk her daily, bring her an occasional pizza, but the available dialog doesn't change. Is there something in the story so far that deals with Daisy's prior life? And, what am I missing in order to get her pregnant? Or am I mistaken about that being available?

Go to the mall and buy Sunflowers for her. If you've already done that, then Diane is probably pregnant, and I don't think the game lets you breed Daisy until after she's delivered.

 

[MerlinUSA]

Go to the mall and buy Sunflowers for her. If you've already done that, then Diane is probably pregnant, and I don't think the game lets you breed Daisy until after she's delivered.

Yup, already got the sunflowers, and Diane has had the baby. I guess I'll keep trying.

 

[DrFog]

Yup, already got the sunflowers, and Diane has had the baby. I guess I'll keep trying.

Try waiting 2 weeks until the baby is in the nursery.

 

[MerlinUSA]

Yup! Finally got there! And, got her pregnant. Unfortunately, that seems to mean no more sex with her for a while.