Ren'Py Abandoned Sweet Times [v0.18.9.1] [SLG-Dev]

[Amahl Farouk]

Wow, I'm really overwhelmed by how much negativity is flying at me today just because I'm making a sandbox game.

And the best thing I find is that it's mainly about what I actually find so great about sandbox.

I am the player who invests over 100 hours in Mass Effect to discover every story and I'm happy every time I discover a new corner where there is still something to experience.
This is the kind of experience I am trying to create here and I think it will get better with each update as there will be more and more content.

Not putting a big red arrow on the door saying "this way" is an important part of what I'm doing here I'm trying to keep the GUI as small as possible and that's exactly why I don't want the freerooming mode to look like a Casiono app.

I understand everyone who doesn't like this and I don't force anyone to download this for free the right tags are there now and I apologize to anyone who downloaded this before the tags were there.

I will also stay with the freeroom mode, I have read the arguments against it and will try not to make a grindgame out of this.

But I'm not going to go on about how my game sucks ONLY because it's sandbox.

Anyway to all the people who like it and give me feedback for improvement thank you and also all the new support on itch.io and Patreon.

Edit:

Gleemer

wow thats cool can i upload that on my Patreon and itch.io ?



greetings
Phil

Translated with

You must be registered to see the links

(free version)

You are the dev, and you have every right to do what you want, so I say that right at the first.

But this is why I recommend you dont. First of all are the bugs, you can visit the town more than once and go through the whole coffee shop routine over and over, which given the fact that it is the only thing you can do at the moment may not be such a bad bug after all

It is more than possible to add little bits into the game for a very brief walk about that people can discover, but if it is going to be the main component of your game then I am sorry but it isnt for me, whihc is a real shame because I really like your renders.

So after the bugs, then you have the frustration, wandering around the house napping repeatedly to see what might have spawned and at what time, I hate this about sandboxes, you can make a sandbox work, just look at times stamps lost love for an example of how a really well crafted one works, the main feature of a successful sandbox that doesnt make players go insane is a very helpful walkthrough (in this case via the phone, short cuts to different locations, and othe rlittle tricks that the dev does.

Becaus elets be honest, it is going to take you at least a year to populate the sandbox with enough content throughout the different time periods to make the game worth a playthrough

This is not designed to be negative to you or your efforts, I can truly appreciate the work you will put into it, but if you want to do a really good sandbox game you will need a team behind you, however a really good game is possible without it

Again this is just my two cents, whatever you decide to do, I wish you luck

 

[-DEV-Phil-]

You are the dev, and you have every right to do what you want, so I say that right at the first.

But this is why I recommend you dont. First of all are the bugs, you can visit the town more than once and go through the whole coffee shop routine over and over, which given the fact that it is the only thing you can do at the moment may not be such a bad bug after all

It is more than possible to add little bits into the game for a very brief walk about that people can discover, but if it is going to be the main component of your game then I am sorry but it isnt for me, whihc is a real shame because I really like your renders.

So after the bugs, then you have the frustration, wandering around the house napping repeatedly to see what might have spawned and at what time, I hate this about sandboxes, you can make a sandbox work, just look at times stamps lost love for an example of how a really well crafted one works, the main feature of a successful sandbox that doesnt make players go insane is a very helpful walkthrough (in this case via the phone, short cuts to different locations, and othe rlittle tricks that the dev does.

Becaus elets be honest, it is going to take you at least a year to populate the sandbox with enough content throughout the different time periods to make the game worth a playthrough

This is not designed to be negative to you or your efforts, I can truly appreciate the work you will put into it, but if you want to do a really good sandbox game you will need a team behind you, however a really good game is possible without it

Again this is just my two cents, whatever you decide to do, I wish you luck

Thank you that was nice to read.

I think what I've learned from this update is to take the player a little by the hand and make it a little clearer when what happens, I will definitely include in the next version.

That you can play libby's story over and over again is so intentional and will be turned off in the next version because I think the story fits as far as most complaints come because of the sandbox.

The most important thing is to make the transitions between the story parts as short and understandable as possible. here I have to think of a way how I bring this into my minimalist GUI.

Further I will limit the sandbox to small side stories or just different sexscenes for those who like this.

Thanks for the feedback

 

[OsamaBinQueefin]

is the game proof read or is it written like the overview?

 

[EZ8lt]

Wow, I'm really overwhelmed by how much negativity is flying at me today just because I'm making a sandbox game.

And the best thing I find is that it's mainly about what I actually find so great about sandbox.

I am the player who invests over 100 hours in Mass Effect to discover every story and I'm happy every time I discover a new corner where there is still something to experience.
This is the kind of experience I am trying to create here and I think it will get better with each update as there will be more and more content.

Not putting a big red arrow on the door saying "this way" is an important part of what I'm doing here I'm trying to keep the GUI as small as possible and that's exactly why I don't want the freerooming mode to look like a Casiono app.

I understand everyone who doesn't like this and I don't force anyone to download this for free the right tags are there now and I apologize to anyone who downloaded this before the tags were there.

I will also stay with the freeroom mode, I have read the arguments against it and will try not to make a grindgame out of this.

But I'm not going to go on about how my game sucks ONLY because it's sandbox.

Anyway to all the people who like it and give me feedback for improvement thank you and also all the new support on itch.io and Patreon.

Edit:

Gleemer

wow thats cool can i upload that on my Patreon and itch.io ?



greetings
Phil

Translated with

You must be registered to see the links

(free version)

I loved the first Mass Effect as well, and put just as much hours into at as you did. That game had actually so much in it with all it's possibilities, choices, places, that it made worth to put that much time into it, if you can something do something like that, no one will ever argue about the sandbox, BUT, can you though?

One of the biggest reasons why many avoid sandbox games is because they dwelve into endless meaningless clickfests, that only serve to hide the lack of actual content and try to extend the playtime by placing events on all over the maps at timeslots.

While many would like to see a GTA type of sandbox AVN, realistically, that will never happen, especially not with one man teams.

 

[-DEV-Phil-]

I loved the first Mass Effect as well, and put just as much hours into at as you did. That game had actually so much in it with all it's possibilities, choices, places, that it made worth to put that much time into it, if you can something do something like that, no one will ever argue about the sandbox, BUT, can you though?

One of the biggest reasons why many avoid sandbox games is because they dwelve into endless meaningless clickfests, that only serve to hide the lack of actual content and try to extend the playtime by placing events on all over the maps at timeslots.

While many would like to see a GTA type of sandbox AVN, realistically, that will never happen, especially not with one man teams.

I'm not trying to build a new mass effect at the moment ;D
I can not do that alone

Will it stay like this? I've been contacted by so many people who want to be part of the team only this I can not afford at the moment.

But the support on Patreon and Co. increases more and more when I can afford this sometime I will of course also take help.

So it is probably stay tuned and see how the game develops in the coming months

 

[Jacob VK]

first of loved the game, but the sandbox mood is not a good option. like it might cause issues later and many ppl including stopped any such games because of bugs and all. but please try to avoid the sandbox mode. its such mood killer.

Best of luck for the game. Nice start

 

[ntrswitchoff]

So, viewing incest is allowed, but the MC being involved in it is not?

 

[EdselPresley]

I'll go against the grain and say that I enjoy sandboxes. BUT, I can't do anything in this one. Is this where the update ends? I can just walk around the house but can't do anything.

EDIT: OK, so I had to take a nap...after just waking up?

 

[DanThaMan]

I'll go against the grain and say that I enjoy sandboxes. BUT, I can't do anything in this one. Is this where the update ends? I can just walk around the house but can't do anything.

EDIT: OK, so I had to take a nap...after just waking up?

Talk to Libby and finish her event.. then the end of the update.

 

[eddie987]

I won't go over the sandbox/free roam thing, since other people already said enough about it. What I'm curious about, after playing this "revised" version of the game (plus Libby's new scenes), is if that type of unavoidable voyeur scenes is going to be a recurring thing.

 

[micojive]

I went through and finished the update after seeing the change log was about Libby, as she is the only girl i'm really interested in so far. And it feels kind of like bait and switch.

The change log says its a Libby update, and its about her route, and the only sex scene is you watching 2 other people fuck in a bathroom. Not really what I was expecting, don't really understand the point of it at all tbh other than to be able to say "hey I have sex in the game now"

 

[DanThaMan]

I went through and finished the update after seeing the change log was about Libby, as she is the only girl i'm really interested in so far. And it feels kind of like bait and switch.

The change log says its a Libby update, and its about her route, and the only sex scene is you watching 2 other people fuck in a bathroom. Not really what I was expecting, don't really understand the point of it at all tbh other than to be able to say "hey I have sex in the game now"

To me that that sex scene seems to have been added just so the game has the incest tag because it's a popular genre

 

[Cpt.SumTingWong]

Renders is good but door clicking simulator ?. Pass

 

[Look-see]

I won't go over the sandbox/free roam thing, since other people already said enough about it. What I'm curious about, after playing this "revised" version of the game (plus Libby's new scenes), is if that type of unavoidable voyeur scenes is going to be a recurring thing.

honestly it wasnt the sandbox that annoyed me as much as unavoidable voyeurism scene. like i dont give two damns about watching other ppl going at it so i thought the second choice would be the "ignore" option but no it just changes dialogue(i think i only read like the first two sentences each choice before i held doen the skip button.

but yeah dev likely threw that scene in there just so that there would be a sex scene. which once again if its not the MC having sex then i dont care. would've been better if it was just some random girl who wanted to hook up with MC or if the Milf wanted to bang MC in front of her son.

sandbox wasnt the great either especially since there was no hint system tell you where to go or whats available.

 

[turkmusun]

will be a mac version in the next update?

 

[tripod70]

Does anyone know the Panty Asset used here....

 

[eddie987]

honestly it wasnt the sandbox that annoyed me as much as unavoidable voyeurism scene. like i dont give two damns about watching other ppl going at it so i thought the second choice would be the "ignore" option but no it just changes dialogue(i think i only read like the first two sentences each choice before i held doen the skip button.

but yeah dev likely threw that scene in there just so that there would be a sex scene. which once again if its not the MC having sex then i dont care. would've been better if it was just some random girl who wanted to hook up with MC or if the Milf wanted to bang MC in front of her son.

sandbox wasnt the great either especially since there was no hint system tell you where to go or whats available.

Yeah, same here. When I saw the second option just removes incest I skipped the whole thing without reading a single line, since I couldn't care less about voyeur scenes. At first I thought that scene was added just for the incest+vaginal sex tags too, but there's also the card she left on the MC's table, which was another let down for me tbh (I hoped it would at least be a random encounter with two people we'll never see again) and that's what made me wonder if voyeurism will be a recurring thing in the game.

The sandbox wasn't that bad (since it didn't involve any grinding), but it took me a while to figure out that you have to go for a nap to actually find Libby and the only reason I knew I had to find her was because I read the changelog here.

 

[-DEV-Phil-]

Thanks to all for the feedback today

here is some of what I will take with me to the new next version

The entrance to freerooming needs to be improved, I have a rough idea how to implement this so that it might fit better into the game without taking the player too much out of the action.
Here I am open for suggestions

Further I will try in the future all Sexscenen to skip to make, here I must watch out that not perhaps the one or other important info is lost in it. Where I would find it a pity not to put the one or the other important info in it to make these scenes not completely unnecessary.

I also need to improve the transition to the first story, when you click through something every day for 4 weeks, sometimes you don't notice such a detail that you have to go to sleep to start Libby's part.

Did I miss something? definitely

I am still open to feedback and suggestions for improvement and am very grateful for all the feedback this helps me to improve my project.

And yes a MAC version is available:

You must be registered to see the links

Unfortunately I can not test them myself

Edit:

tripod70

You must be registered to see the links

many greetings
Phil

 

[EZ8lt]

Last time I commented I haven't tried to newest version, only the previous one but I had a general outline why people dislike the sandbox in games. Now that I played it, it confirmed that points. The current state of the free-roaming in the game is a prime example what people hate about the genre. In short, it's directionless and a blank clickfest.

I say directionless, because you have no sense of direction. There's the picture, where you can hoover over places, items, and they get highlighted if you do, so you might try your luck there. Even with hoovering there, you can't find a description, like this door leads to here or there, or this item is this or that. Like moving your mouse over your bed, and the name "bed" would appear. Although, the perfect solution for this problem would be a minimap, which decreases the uneccessary clicks by a far margin. The other thing is the lack sense of time. The scenery gets a bit darker in the afternoon, but you'll be easy to forgot that if you have to pay attention to something else for a while. There should be a daytime counter somewhere. I called it blank, because it is. No hints or anything towards what you should do or when. I clicked through the house twice then went to bed then clicked again so I could find the Libby thing. This wasn't an exploration, it was a frustrating process where I had to click all over the place numerous times thanks to lack of pretty much everything.

About the voyeur content. I wanted to skip it as well. I for one not into that stuff, even if it's just basically strangers. If she becomes something more in the future, then I'm double uninterested in the scene. Characters having their own life is before the MC is perfectly fine, but it doesn't mean I have to witness them having sex. It always feels like a sex scene for the sake of having a sex scene, and I always think that the time and resource into making those, could be put into making something that is story related.

Btw, if you finished the Libby event but you click on her again in the afternoon, the whole things just repeats instead of an "end of content" title.

 

[-DEV-Phil-]

Last time I commented I haven't tried to newest version, only the previous one but I had a general outline why people dislike the sandbox in games. Now that I played it, it confirmed that points. The current state of the free-roaming in the game is a prime example what people hate about the genre. In short, it's directionless and a blank clickfest.

I say directionless, because you have no sense of direction. There's the picture, where you can hoover over places, items, and they get highlighted if you do, so you might try your luck there. Even with hoovering there, you can't find a description, like this door leads to here or there, or this item is this or that. Like moving your mouse over your bed, and the name "bed" would appear. Although, the perfect solution for this problem would be a minimap, which decreases the uneccessary clicks by a far margin. The other thing is the lack sense of time. The scenery gets a bit darker in the afternoon, but you'll be easy to forgot that if you have to pay attention to something else for a while. There should be a daytime counter somewhere. I called it blank, because it is. No hints or anything towards what you should do or when. I clicked through the house twice then went to bed then clicked again so I could find the Libby thing. This wasn't an exploration, it was a frustrating process where I had to click all over the place numerous times thanks to lack of pretty much everything.

About the voyeur content. I wanted to skip it as well. I for one not into that stuff, even if it's just basically strangers. If she becomes something more in the future, then I'm double uninterested in the scene. Characters having their own life is before the MC is perfectly fine, but it doesn't mean I have to witness them having sex. It always feels like a sex scene for the sake of having a sex scene, and I always think that the time and resource into making those, could be put into making something that is story related.

Btw, if you finished the Libby event but you click on her again in the afternoon, the whole things just repeats instead of an "end of content" title.

I find it hard how many people are disappointed with my game because there is too little content here or too much sandbox there.

I would like to emphasize this again very clearly, I am here in the construction and already infest as much time as I can, I share this here to get feedback and clear to get supporters I would lie if I said it would not be so.

But I read now for the I don't know 10 times that you can play the Libby story again and again and that is a bug or error when I already write in the changelog that this is intended for this version and I have also mentioned this in other post.

I am happy about any feedback and suggestions for improvement
But this all repeats itself slowly and I have the feeling no one reads my posts that I react to many of the things and work on it

But everyone has their preferences and I will not be able to please everyone