VN Ren'Py Tales from the Unending Void [S3 v0.23 Extra Edition] [Perverteer]

4.40 star(s) 152 Votes
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Coaxmetal

Coaxmetal

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Perverteer said:
I believe you've mentioned this before, but I'm not entirely sure what a good replacement would be. The idea of the choices is that players have some agency over the order in which the story unfolds. If I string all those scenes in sequence, I feel the whole thing becomes more of a kinetic novel. Or maybe I misunderstand and you'd prefer something like the choices screen that's display when the Iron Bastard is travelling?
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Have I? :D Don't recall honestly.

I definitely understand how you've ended on this structure. Not easy to maintain the "modularity" of the girls. Yet I don't see how it would change the nature of the game / story if the events were stringed together – as it is we're only choosing what to see next, but it doesn't feel organic.

What about dividing the events by day? For example – day 1 we arrive at the beach planet. Thim shows us around and afterwards we leave him there and see the sisters chilling by the pool. From there we can decide if we want to go see Vess or someone else. Then day 2 begins with a choice of a morning event (the one not chosen will be on the third day) and so forth.

What I would possibly get from this is A) Time would be moving forward more coherently B) small "connective" elements would make it a deeper experience.

I am very happily still supporting the game. The overall story is great, but just noticed some weariness due to the structure this time.
 
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PVNUser

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Jan 22, 2022
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MrJii said:
Hopefully Perv figures a way out of the formulaic event structure soon. Isn't really engaging to see the wall of buttons at every hub world. Something to tie the events together, some downtime, anything.

Love the characters and the scenes themselves but maybe getting a bit tired of the "to-do-list" structure.
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In a certain sense this type of structure is inevitable because branching narrative needs to return to a common point in order to avoid exponential story branch growth.

An alternative might be to have a chain of choices e.g. Talk to A or B, followed by Talk to C or D. This could reduce the "check list" feeling when players have 5-6 choices, however unless there is an effort toward making this type of chain meaningful (e.g. Eva becomes jealous if you talk to Lilly first) then this is just a different presentation of the same elements.
 
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Coaxmetal

Coaxmetal

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PVNUser said:
An alternative might be to have a chain of choices e.g. Talk to A or B, followed by Talk to C or D. This could reduce the "check list" feeling when players have 5-6 choices, however unless there is an effort toward making this type of chain meaningful (e.g. Eva becomes jealous if you talk to Lilly first) then this is just a different presentation of the same elements.
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What about: talk to A or B, A leads to C, B to D. Afterwards we get a choice of "evening" events which (possibly) lead to waking up with the person chosen. The consequences wouldn't even need to be super meaningful, just some carry-over from the previous event if possible. For example the MC could be plastered in the next event after raiding the wine cellar with Thim – this is not possible if everything is separate.
 
Perverteer

Perverteer

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Nov 19, 2017
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MrJii said:
Have I? :D Don't recall honestly.

I definitely understand how you've ended on this structure. Not easy to maintain the "modularity" of the girls. Yet I don't see how it would change the nature of the game / story if the events were stringed together – as it is we're only choosing what to see next, but it doesn't feel organic.

What about dividing the events by day? For example – day 1 we arrive at the beach planet. Thim shows us around and afterwards we leave him there and see the sisters chilling by the pool. From there we can decide if we want to go see Vess or someone else. Then day 2 begins with a choice of a morning event (the one not chosen will be on the third day) and so forth.

What I would possibly get from this is A) Time would be moving forward more coherently B) small "connective" elements would make it a deeper experience.

I am very happily still supporting the game. The overall story is great, but just noticed some weariness due to the structure this time.
Click to expand...
I get what you're saying. The choices can be more evenly dosed of course. Sisterly Lust had a very strict day system and I ended up hating it, as it didn't give much freedom in terms of narrative. That said, I could group those choices using a more loose sense of day and night (sunbathing obviously is a daytime activity, drinking with Thim and going out happen in the night).

MrJii said:
What about: talk to A or B, A leads to C, B to D. Afterwards we get a choice of "evening" events which (possibly) lead to waking up with the person chosen. The consequences wouldn't even need to be super meaningful, just some carry-over from the previous event if possible. For example the MC could be plastered in the next event after raiding the wine cellar with Thim – this is not possible if everything is separate.
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Trouble with a lot of those events is that they're optional. The event with Thim didn't happen for quite a few players, so having the MC hungover in a subsequent event would be an option as well, leading to a lot more extra writing and rendering. But there might be a balance that can be struck, I'll keep it in mind for the next episodes.
 
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Coaxmetal

Coaxmetal

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Perverteer said:
I get what you're saying. The choices can be more evenly dosed of course. Sisterly Lust had a very strict day system and I ended up hating it, as it didn't give much freedom in terms of narrative.
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Of course – you need to be happy yourself. It's great for creativity to switch things up and important to drop things that aren't working. I think everyone will be happy about the end result if you can maintain your passion for the game – maybe sometimes changing things will help in this in the long run?

It's just so great you're so active here too. I love theorising about game/story structures and thinking what if scenarios.
 
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LordGMLP

LordGMLP

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May 15, 2017
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Fucking awesome game. Top notch references and choice of music. Gorgeous models. Though I must say Nadya's confession was rather predictable. Making things ever more exciting nevertheless. Looking forward to the season finale.
 
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JJDrakken

JJDrakken

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Oct 28, 2021
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I'm already anxious for next update, I seriously need to detox from this for like a year & hope for a larger clump of content to do, lol.
 
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4.40 star(s) 152 Votes